Chapter 4 - Debut!
writer:-90°      update:2022-08-22 14:56
  Atlas Studios

  Atlas Studios

  Ten days!

  Lu Ming had been rampantly creating cards for ten consecutive days!

  During this period, Zhang Xiaopang dropped by once.

  He could not understand Lu Ming’s way of creating the cards. “Brother Lu, you can make and sell the cards at the same time.”


  “You will understand in the time to come.”


  Lu Ming smiled but said nothing.

  Ten days. Three hundred cards. He had to make an average of thirty cards per day!

  This was already Lu Ming’s limit!

  If he had not exhausted his scarce resources and almost depleted his Energy Stones, he would most likely have continued creating cards rampantly for a few more days! Cheers, this was the prerequisite skill of a programmer!

  “Three hundred cards. Don’t know how much I can earn.”


  Lu Ming took a deep breath.

  Three hundred Fruit Ninja one-star cards.

  The blank card costs thirty yuan each and one card depleted energy at a cost of about twenty yuan. In that case, the cost price would be about fifty yuan.

  Three hundred blank cards. Just the cost alone was one hundred thousand and five thousand yuan.

  This was the last of Lu Ming’s savings.

  If this were to fail……

  Most likely, he would really have to sing “Chrysanthemum Terrace” [1. Chrysanthemum Terrace is a famous Mandopop song by sang by Jay Chou, that depicts melancholic and sorrowful feelings.].

  “If we want to market Fruit Ninja, it will be a fad. Therefore, we have to manage the time we have well.”


  Lu Ming had been calculating.

  As to the number of uses…… It was best to use a specialized Illusion Activator.

  The specialized Illusion Activator was specially developed for the Illusion Card. Typically, there was only one card slot on it for inserting the Illusion Card. The center of the equipment was used to store the Energy Stone.

  There were only two buttons on it, a ‘start’ and ‘stop’ button.

  Lu Ming had his reasons for selecting the Illusion Activator. First, the rate of energy consumption. Normal portable card activators used Energy Cards!

  It was more cumbersome and costly to create and use Energy Cards. If he did that, the cons would outweigh the pros.

  As such, although the Illusion Activator was not portable, it used Energy Stone.s This would do.

  Second was for safety reasons.

  The Illusion Activator was specially designed for Illusion Cards. It was typically safe to use. Upon the detection of danger, the machine would automatically trip, giving the user substantial protection.

  Third, was because of the frequency of usage.

  Normally, the card would be dissipated after a one-time usage. With the Illusion Activator, one could continue to activate the cards uninterruptedly as long as there was still energy and time left!

  As long as the illusion time had not been used up, one could continue with the activation.

  It was very powerful.

  In that case, one card could be used many times. If those people could only persist for a short time, most likely the frequency of usage would be higher!

  Three hundred cards was more than sufficient.

  Lu Ming went through the plan again to confirm that there was no issue before he took a break.

  Early the next morning, under the radiant shine of the sun.

  When the crowd on the streets began to grow, Lu Ming walked out of the shop, carrying an enormous poster and standing on the side of the street in front of the door.

  “Eh?”


  The passersby were stunned as they casted unintentional glances at him.

  There was no other reason.

  It was because of the shocking tagline: Persist for one hundred seconds if you are a man!

  The contents of the poster were even more stunning.

  “Are you a man? If you are, come and challenge your limit! This is the powerful secret of a civilian grandmaster…… He used this training method! The powerful reaction speed made him persist longer than ordinary folks!

  This is the first Cultivation Card in history!

  It will improve your reaction speed in all areas. Greater efficiency, greater focus!

  One experience only costs you one hundred yuan. You will neither be shortchanged nor conned! You can buy an opportunity to boost your ability!

  PS: The one who can persist for the longest time in seven days will receive ten thousand yuan as a reward!”


  The content was shocking and surrounded by screaming exclamation marks.

  This humongous poster attracted all the passersby’s attention instantly.

  “This is…… ”


  Many people halted their steps.

  There was a lot of content in the poster. Beside the bold words, there were many rules, prices and information written in neat and tidy handwriting below them.

  Challenge the limit?

  The first Cultivation Card?

  Can improve your reaction speed?

  The powerful secret of a grandmaster?

  The one who persists the longest will be rewarded with ten thousand yuan?

  And one experience only costs you one hundred yuan?……

  Undoubtedly.

  Many people were tempted.

  These keywords undoubtedly enticed them.

  Improving your ability required hard work and practice. Even if one had various heavenly and earthly treasures, it was not something achievable by an ordinary person. However, this place……

  Only one hundred yuan? Why not give it a try?

  Furthermore, there was a solid reward of ten thousand yuan!

  “Is it real or not?”


  “Don’t know. Why don’t you go and try it?”


  The crowd began whispering and discussing with one another.

  The number of onlookers was increasing.

  Lu Ming squatted in front of the door, smiling and looking at the people before him. In the eyes of these people, he had become a mobile money sign.

  One hundred yuan……

  One hundred yuan……

  He felt at ease and happy as he swept his glance across the crowd.

  “Boss, let me try,” A middle-age passerby said calmly.

  To him, one hundred yuan was not a problem but his time was very precious. Hence, he did not wish to waste it further. He might as well try it out.

  “Sure.”


  Lu Ming welcomed him into the shop.

  In the middle of the shop, he had reserved sufficient space and drew a dot on the middle of the floor. He asked the middle-aged man to stand on the dot and then prepared the Illusion Activator.

  “Hurry.”


  The middle-aged man hurried him impatiently.

  “Alright.”


  Lu Ming smiled.

  The people around the door stood on the sidelines.

  Click!

  Lu Ming pressed the start button.

  At that very instant, the eyes of the middle-aged man focused. Obviously, he had entered the illusion.

  “What kind of rubbish is this?”


  The middle-aged man furrowed his brows.

  Seemingly, he had never seen such a rubbish illusion before! No, not seemingly. He really had not seen such an ugly and trashy illusion before!

  Background?

  No way.

  He took a glance and there was nothing ten meters away.

  This illusion was only a small thing before him, and it was truly an extremely lowly and dilapidated restaurant that gave him goosebumps!

  As he looked ahead……

  It was like a beginner’s graffiti. The scene was full of mosaics!

  “This kind of…… rubbish…… can be built into an illusion too?”


  The middle-aged man couldn’t believe his eyes.

  Illusions were not something that could be casually formed by some things. At the very least, a stable and complete cycle was needed to create it successfully.

  These…… were actually considered complete?

  At that instance, although the onlookers at the door could not see the illusion, they were a little disappointed after hearing the middle-aged man’s words.

  True enough……

  They knew that nothing could be both cheap and good!

  What could one hundred yuan improve on?

  “It’s a hoax.”


  “It seems so.”


  “This young guy is so good looking…… I didn’t expect that he would actually con others.”


  “Humph. I will go and report him to the area manager later. Close down this rubbish shop!”


  There was a lot of discussion in the crowd.

  “Hehe.”


  Lu Ming was smiling and looking at them. He was not anxious.

  He believed that there would definitely be a positive outcome.

  At this very moment……

  In the illusion, that middle-aged man lifted the knife after reading the rules of the game.

  “In order to achieve a better cultivation, you’re not allowed to use energy? Hehe. Obviously, this illusion is too shabby. The use of energy from any cultivator will only cause the illusion to collapse? For the sake of cultivation outcome…… tsk tsk…… ”


  The middle-aged man ridiculed the game.

  “Also, the feeling of this knife? What the hell? It feels very uncomfortable.”


  The middle-aged man was already speechless.

  He was certain he had never seen such a rubbish illusion!

  The existence of such a card was simply an insult!

  He was about to ridicule the game again when, all of a sudden, a gust of wind blew past him. A yellow object attacked him. When he instinctively moved away, the fruit fell onto the ground with a loud thud.

  Bang!

  The illusion was over!

  When he regained his senses, he was back to the dot at the center of the shop.

  Middle-aged man: “??? This……”


  He had a look of confusion on his face.

  Obviously, he did not expect the illusion to end so quickly!

  “How long did you persist?”


  Lu Ming took a curious glance.

  The amount of energy depleted was recorded on the Illusion Activator. When the middle-aged man raised the knife, his energy began to deplete rapidly, and the duration that he persisted……

  “You actually persisted for only one second?”


  Lu Ming looked at the middle-aged man with shock and surprise.

  “I…… ”


  That middle-aged man’s face was swelling in red. “This rubbish illusion…… ”


  “The illusion is indeed simple and crude,” Lu Ming said matter-of-factly. “This is an illusion for beginners. If the illusion is too complicated, the difficulty level will increase greatly. However, you can’t even get through this kind of difficulty level…… ”


  Lu Ming’s tone was full of doubts.

  “I can! I just wasn’t focused.” The middle-aged man explained, “I was only paying attention to the items in the illusion…… ”


  Lu Ming gave a long sigh. “Precisely, there is nothing in the rest of the illusion. This is to prevent people like you from being distracted. Otherwise, the difficulty level will be too high! How much more cultivation do you need?” Lu Ming said in a serious manner.

  “Let me try it again!” The middle-aged man’s expression was a little ugly.

  In particular, when he saw the gazes of countless people around him coupled with Lu Ming’s bewildered look of ‘You actually persisted for only one second’, he felt a tinge of pain in his heart.

  It was fine that his wife said that to him at night. Why did you have to say that too during the day?!

  “I’ll try again.”


  The middle-aged man gritted his teeth.

  “One hundred yuan.”


  Lu Ming said with a smile.

  “Sure.”


  The middle-aged man gnashed his teeth and entered the illusion again.

  The surrounding people looked at one another. They had not expected to see such a scene. If the illusion was truly trash, shouldn’t he have come out of it and immediately scolded him?

  It seemed that……

  This situation was quite interesting.

  The onlookers were already planning to leave but their interests were suddenly piqued.

  At this very moment…… in the illusion.

  That middle-aged man raised his knife in preparation.

  Swoosh!

  With ease, he slashed the first fruit that dropped and the fruit vanished.

  So, that was the goal.

  He finally understood what this so-called cultivation was about. He very quickly familiarized himself, picked up the knife in a relaxed manner and began to slash the fruits.

  The time on the display board also began to roll.

  In the end……

  At ninety-three seconds, he did not manage to slash one fruit out of carelessness. The illusion ended. This made him boil with anger, especially when he saw the headline ‘Persist for one hundred seconds if you are a man’.

  “I’ll try again!”


  After exiting the illusion, he did not hesitate at all. He simply paid the money.

  “Sure.”


  Of course, Lu Ming was delighted with what was happening.

  The people from outside surrounded them, looking at one another.

  This……

  What was happening?

  The reaction of the middle-aged man seemed to have made them realize something. Could this so-called Cultivation Card really improve their reaction speed?

  If that was really the case……

  At this very moment…… in the illusion, the middle-aged man was fully focused on staring at the fruits flying towards him.

  Ninety-two seconds!

  Ninety-three seconds!

  Ninety-four seconds!

  True enough, he managed to pass the stage that he was not able to earlier!

  It was just that……

  Before he could regain his senses, a fruit flew towards him at lighting speed. He instinctively slashed towards it but did not succeed. The fruit simply smashed onto the ground.

  The illusion was over!

  “Damn. Why didn’t I see it? Almost…… If only my reaction time was a little faster…… ”


  The middle-aged man was sure.

  That was not too difficult and he could definitely manage it. It was just a slip up.

  “Again!”


  After he exited, he entered the illusion without any hesitation again.

  This time, he persisted till ninety-six seconds!

  “Again!”


  This time, he persisted till ninety-seven seconds!

  “Again!”


  This time, he persisted till ninety-nine seconds!

  “Again!”


  It was still ninety-nine seconds!

  “Again!”


  It was still ninety-nine seconds!

  “Again!”


  “Again!”


  “Again!”


  “Again!”
……

  “Almost!”


  “Just a little more!”


  The middle-aged man was like an intoxicated man.

  He knew that he was only lacking a little. As long as he reacted a little faster and more agilely, as long as he prepared well, he could definitely persist till one hundred seconds!

  He knew.

  He could definitely pass it.

  “Again!”


  That middle-aged man touched his pocket. He actually ran out of money.

  At that moment, the middle-aged man widened his eyes.

  How could that be possible?!

  He had brought three thousand yuan with him when he left the house! Thereafter, he looked at the records. He had actually tried it for thirty times?!

  Was it that many times?

  He actually indulged in this rubbish illusion for that long?

  PS: The more, the merrier. Please give your vote~!