The surroundings were eerily quiet. Ke Jin was very sure that the island in the middle of the lake was the background location in the short video, but none of the people who had appeared in the video could be seen at this moment.

Xiaoju lay listlessly on Qi's shoulder. Opening the transmission channel consumed a lot of its energy. Ke Jin immediately fed it some of the cards he carried with him. While Xiaoju was eating to restore its strength, Qi and Ke Jin began to explore the surroundings carefully to see if they could find any useful clues.

The island in the middle of the lake is not big, and the ground is covered with green lawns, but the fresh green grass leaves have begun to turn yellow and dry, and the surrounding bushes and trees are also withering visibly, losing their vitality.

Ke Jin and Qi found nothing in the surrounding area, and the only thing left to explore was the card pool in the center of the island.

The two looked at each other, neither daring to be careless. Ke Jin directly activated the advanced defense card given by the military, and under the protection of the protective barrier, he and Qi carefully approached the card pool.

But nothing unusual happened, and they arrived at the card pool very smoothly.

The water in the card pool was calm, blue and clear, and even reflected people's figures. At first glance, there was nothing strange about it. Ke Jin was about to ask Qi if he wanted to try to draw a card once, but suddenly his expression froze and he raised his head alertly.

"Did you hear any strange noises?" Ke Jin said.

Qi and Xiaojiu fell silent immediately. In the silence, they could faintly hear a strange "gurgling" sound, which seemed to be the gurgling sound of a spring, or the sound of some sticky creature crawling.

Ke Jin turned around and took a deep breath, his voice trembling.

"Look..."

At some point, the lawn behind them began to turn into a sticky black swamp. Starting from the outermost part of the island, the ground was corroded inch by inch, and everywhere it passed became a black swamp, approaching Ke Jin and the others step by step.

When Ke Jin and the others looked over, the approach of the black swamp suddenly accelerated, as if it was an enraged beast, and even raised waves. Before Ke Jin could even use the cards, the black waves had hit their protective shields, and the transparent barrier cracked. At the same time, the card pool behind them suddenly generated a powerful suction force, which instantly enveloped the three of them and dragged them into the pool.

***

It was pitch black.

Ke Jin only felt his thoughts were hazy and confused, as if a dying person was recalling the past. Scenes flashed before his eyes like a kaleidoscope of light, and finally a soul-tearing pain came over him, which made him wake up all at once.

Thinking of the black swamp he saw before he fell into a coma, Ke Jin looked around quickly and was surprised to find that he was floating in the air. There were twinkling stars all around him, making him think for a moment that he was in the starry sky. But when he looked closely, he found that those twinkling lights were cards. He reached out to touch them, but his hand passed through the cards. It turned out that these cards were just shadows.

"Qi? Xiaochu?"

Ke Jin searched everywhere but couldn't find them. After a little hesitation, he swam downwards based on his intuition.

He couldn't tell why, but he always felt like there was something below that was calling him.

Along the way, Ke Jin saw countless card shadows floating around like duckweed. Some cards were blank, while some had patterns on them. If you look closely, you will find that the patterns on the cards are some sleeping figures. Combined with the information about the Demon King that he had read before, Ke Jin suspected that these figures were the people who appeared in the video, and the Demon King had sealed their souls into the cards in a special way.

What about Oroi? Could he also be sealed in a card like this?

The deeper Ke Jin went, the more human silhouette cards he saw. Gradually, he even began to see people in Federation Galaxy uniforms, presumably the soldiers who had tried to explore the Castle of Thorns but lost contact and were missing.

It was obvious that all those who had appeared around the lake island and those who later tried to enter the Castle of Thorns were sealed into the cards and floated in this card pool universe. Ke Jin thought that if he was not immune to the power of the "Demon King", he would probably be one of the card phantoms now.

Later, Ke Jin saw an unexpected acquaintance.

——His Royal Highness the Second Prince of the Imperial Galaxy.

Ke Jin clearly remembered that Oloy said the second prince went to the honey travel planet, so why did he appear here? Was he also at the scene when the incident happened?

This doubt suddenly gave Ke Jin an epiphany, and he suddenly remembered what Major General Leng Yan said, that those who drew cards from the artificial superpower card pool were also contaminated to varying degrees.

Ke Jin immediately thought of the strange love card that the Second Prince had used on him... Could it be that the Second Prince had drawn that card from the artificial power card pool that was influenced by the Demon King? Was he trying to contaminate himself? And Oloy suddenly received an invitation from the Lord of Gadi Star to come here for the first draw of the new card pool. Could it be that the Second Prince was behind this?

"You really haven't been affected."

A cold voice suddenly came from behind him. Ke Jin immediately turned his head and his expression froze.

——It’s the “Devil King”.

Just like the photo seen in the information, although many years have passed since his last appearance, time has not left any traces on him. He is still that handsome and cold young man, staring at Ke Jin without blinking with his cold purple eyes without any emotion.

Ke Jin was so nervous that the hairs on his body stood up. He slowly and cautiously stepped back, and then found that the state of the "Devil King" was a little strange - there was a hazy light flickering around him, as if he was just a phantom, just like those floating cards.

"Where's Orloy? What did you do to him?"

Ke Jin tried his best to keep his voice normal. While backing away, he quietly took out a protective card from the card library and hid it in his palm.

"You came here for him?" The devil narrowed his eyes, looked at Ke Jin with a scrutinizing gaze, and said to himself, "There is no sign of contamination... That love card should have no effect on you, and you are so foolish as to fall into the trap?"

Ke Jin was stunned. All his previous vague guesses were confirmed because of the Demon King's words - the Second Prince's chance encounter with himself by the lake was not a coincidence. The other party had already been hinted or even controlled by the Demon King, so he would forcefully use the love card on him.

Using the supernatural cards to seduce or even control people's hearts is one of the tricks used by the devil. From what he said, if he was affected by the cards, he would follow Oroi to Gadi Star this time, and then both of them would fall into the devil's trap.

"Do you think everyone will let you do whatever you want because of the cards?" Ke Jin said angrily, "I came here because of my own will. It has nothing to do with the cards! You say I'm stupid only because you don't understand human emotions at all."

The devil was not angry, but just looked at Ke Jin expressionlessly.

"Who are you?" he suddenly said, "No ordinary person can resist my power, not even the lucky one with extraordinary luck. You must have a great secret..."

secret?

Does it count if I came from the outside world?

Before Ke Jin's thoughts took shape, he suddenly pounced to the side and activated the defense card in his hand. A black card appeared out of thin air where he had been standing, and countless tentacles composed of black mist burst out from it, attacking the black-haired young man like dancing poisonous snakes.

While dodging, Ke Jin threw out another card. It was the "Destruction Card" that Orloy had used to shatter the strange black card. However, it only destroyed the card itself. The black tentacles still existed. They surrounded Ke Jin's defensive barrier and dissolved the barrier at an astonishing speed.

At this time, the devil had slowly finished speaking the rest of his words.

"…No matter what secrets you have, as long as you disappear completely, there will be no more threats."

Ke Jin was trapped in the barrier. Although he kept using new cards to strengthen the barrier, he could not keep up with the speed at which the barrier was eroded. Obviously, under the power of the Demon King, the power of all supernatural cards had been greatly weakened.

In the blink of an eye, the barrier was eroded to the point of collapse. Just as the barrier was about to break, a blue light shot into the layers of tentacles like a sharp arrow. As if purified, all the tentacles turned back into black mist and quickly dissipated. At this time, the barrier also broke, revealing Ke Jin, who was pale. He almost thought that he was doomed.

Two figures slowly emerged in front of Ke Jin, one was the gloomy Qi, and the other was...

Ke Jin opened his eyes wide in surprise. The man standing next to Qi was a handsome young man with blue hair, but apart from the hair color and clothes, his appearance... was exactly the same as the "Devil King"!

Just as he was stunned, the boy turned his head and glanced at Ke Jin, smiling faintly. His bright black eyes were clear and lively, and when he blinked gently, they were a little playful and cute, which made Ke Jin subconsciously think of -

Xiaochu? Could it be... this is Xiaochu? It, oh no, he, has transformed into a human form? ?

The appearance of these two people made the expressionless "Devil King" suddenly darken his face. He stared at the boy who looked like him with hatred and said with gritted teeth.

"You again." The demon king's voice was filled with anger. "I've already let you and Qi go, why do you keep coming out to get in the way?"

"Brother, stop it." The blue-haired boy stared at the shadow opposite him quietly, his voice clear and pleasant, "You have already failed once, don't you understand that this world is not what you think it is?"

elder brother?

Ke Jin felt that his brain was totally inadequate.

Why does Xiaochu call the Demon King his brother? Is he, is he a twin brother of the Demon King?

"You are the one who doesn't understand. We were born to be gods. Why should we let greedy humans take away our authority?" The devil growled, and suddenly smiled coldly.

"Well, since you're here, don't even think about leaving." He raised his hand, and layers of black mist appeared around him, making his originally vague figure even more ethereal. "You and I are born from the same origin. Since you've come to my door, you can become my nourishment!"

In a flash, the two were entangled in a fight, the black and blue lights collided violently in the air, and the stirred up air currents made it almost impossible for Ke Jin to open his eyes.

Suddenly he felt someone pulling his arm, Qi took him to a farther place and then spoke seriously.

"Xiao Ke, get out of here quickly." Qi said, "The demon king here is not in his true form. Xiao Ju and I can temporarily resist him together. Once he fully recovers his strength, no one will be able to stop him." As he spoke, he looked around at the floating card shadows around him, his voice becoming increasingly low.

"And these people...can never be saved."

Qi didn't say it explicitly, but Ke Jin already understood - the other party should have seen Orloy's card. If the Demon King cannot be stopped in time, the person he most wants to save will never come back.

"What can I do?" Ke Jin asked immediately.

Qi looked at the two people who were still fighting in the air with fear, and lowered his voice: "Xiao Jiu and I have just roughly figured out the situation here. What you have to do now is..."

Qi quickly informed Ke Jin of the countermeasures he and Xiaojiu had worked out, and gave him some final instructions.

"This can only be done by the Chosen One. We will try our best to hold back the Demon King. The rest... depends on you."

Ke Jin nodded solemnly. He took a last deep look at the blue light that was trying its best to suppress the black light, then turned his head quickly and swam rapidly downwards.

***

The deeper he sank, the more card shadows appeared floating around him. Ke Jin had no time to look at them and just kept speeding up.

Finally, he saw a bright spot of light in the distance, and when the distance was closer, he could see it more clearly - the spot of light was a pool of blue water. According to Qi, it was the card pool of this small universe, and the real bodies of those virtual cards existed in this card pool.

When Ke Jin was about to approach the card pool, black fog tentacles appeared around the card pool again, but because he was prepared, Ke Jin used the power card to destroy them all before the tentacles took shape. Perhaps because Qi and his team had tied up most of the power of the demon king, after the black fog here was cleared, there were no new obstacles.

No matter how strange this card pool is, the basic rules of the card pool will not change, that is -

To draw a card, you must insert a coin.

According to Qi, this card pool is currently an ownerless card pool with no artificial pricing. As long as you put in a coin, you will get a response. Ke Jin felt in his pocket, but only took out three coins.

This means that he only has three chances to flip a coin and draw a card.

Ke Jin was very aware of his luck. Before drawing the cards, he used all the special cards that could enhance his luck, then took a deep breath and threw a coin into the card pool.

Ripples appeared in the blue pool, and a card was spit out. It was an empty card.

Ke Jin's face was solemn. He drew the card a second time, but it was still an empty card.

Holding the last coin, Ke Jin hesitated to throw it - this was his last chance to rescue Oloy, and he dared not act rashly.

What he needed most now was luck. He didn't know if his luck was really too bad or if he was affected by the power of the "Demon King". He had already used so many cards that could improve his luck, but he was still so unlucky. If only he could have such incredible luck like when he first entered Mobis City...

Huh? When we first entered Mobis City?

Ke Jin's eyes lit up, and he quickly took out a card from the card library. This was a time-reversal card that could allow a person to return to the state at a certain point in time. Although the state after the reversal could only last for ten minutes, for a seriously injured person, ten minutes of full health resurrection was enough to allow him to escape. As long as he was rescued before returning to the near-death state, he might be able to escape death and save his life.

Ke Jin is using it now, not to save his life, but to return to the only time when he was extremely lucky!

Without any hesitation, Ke Jin quickly activated the card, while silently reciting the time he wanted to go back to - that day left such a deep impression on him that it was effortless to recall it.

The light from the card quickly enveloped Ke Jin. When the light faded, Ke Jin threw the last star coin into the pool in front of him.

The water in the pool was rippled, and a golden card flashing brightly jumped out of the water. It seemed that the power the card had to bear exceeded its limit. Before it fell into Ke Jin's hands, it had already activated itself and turned into a human form, floating in the air.

Ke Jin was so nervous that his heart was in his throat. When the light faded, he finally saw the man's appearance clearly -

"Oloy!"

Ke Jin almost cried for joy and swam over quickly. At this time, Oloy slowly opened his eyes.

"Ke Jin?" Upon seeing Ke Jin's face, the blond young man, whose eyes were still a little hazy, instantly woke up, "Why are you here?" Oloy quickly noticed the strangeness of the surrounding environment, looked around, and his expression became more and more surprised.

"I remember that I was on an island in the middle of a lake before I lost consciousness. Where is this...?"

"Time is running out. I'll tell you the details later." Although he had a thousand words to say, Ke Jin still restrained himself and turned his gaze to the Azure Card Pool that had calmed down.

"The key to stopping the Demon King is in this card pool. I want to go in now. Do you want to stay here and wait for me, or..."

Before he could finish his words, his hand was held by Oloy.

"What nonsense are you talking about?" As if afraid of being abandoned by the other party, Oloy held the other party's hand tightly, "Of course I want to go with you! The bastard 'Demon King' tortured me so badly, I really want to give him a good return."

"Okay." Ke Jin smiled, "Let's go now."

"Um!"

***

Normally, if one is not the exclusive card user of the card pool, one cannot enter the card pool at will, but Ke Jin happened to have a card that opened the access permission, allowing him and Oloy to enter the card pool smoothly.

As soon as the two appeared in the card pool hall, they were immediately shocked by the scene in front of them - the place in the center of the hall that was supposed to be the crystal sand pool had turned into a huge vortex abyss, and countless thick energy crystal pillars like conduits protruded from the void, extending all the way to the depths of the vortex. These crystal pillars continuously poured energy in. Ke Jin took a look and saw that a thick layer of energy had gathered at the bottom of the vortex. The moment the vortex was completely filled, perhaps it was the time for the Demon King to regain all his power.

Ke Jin and Oloy tried to stop the infusion of energy, but every time they tried to use the cards, no matter how powerful the cards were, when they approached the energy crystal column, they would instantly transform into energy beams and be injected into the abyss vortex along with the energy from the artificial supernatural card pool.

It is obviously impossible to rely on cards to fight against this energy conversion.

The method Qi had mentioned before was to let Ke Jin seize control of the card pool and use the power of the Chosen One to become the new owner of the card pool. But the card pool was not yet exhausted, so there was no way to reawaken it. Even if he was the Chosen One, he could not force himself to become the new owner of the card pool.

Is there nothing we can do?

The vortex abyss was filled with energy layers bit by bit. Various thoughts flashed through Ke Jin's mind quickly. Suddenly, an idea jumped into his mind, like a spark that set the prairie on fire. This idea instantly formed a complete plan.

"I've thought of a way." Ke Jin said slowly.

"What is the solution?"

"Hechi."

"What?" Oloy didn't react for a moment.

Ke Jin looked at those thick energy crystal pillars and felt that this method was feasible: "I want to connect my card pool with this place and force the pool to merge."

Your own cards have a restraining effect on the pollution created by the Demon King, and the energy of the cards all comes from the card pool. If you merge the card pools now, maybe the energy of your own card pool will be able to suppress the opponent, thereby seizing control of the card pool?

"Unilaterally force the pool to merge?" Oloy asked in surprise, "Can this be done?"

Normally, pool merging requires both card users to reach an agreement before the operation authority can be opened. Ordinary card users cannot force pool merging, but Ke Jin is different... He has a system!

"I have my own way." Ke Jin said, "At this point, no matter how small the hope is, I have to give it a try."

Seeing that Ke Jin seemed to be somewhat confident, Oloy naturally had no objection. The pool needed to be merged in the card pool's main control room, so the two left the hall and quickly entered the main control room.

Oloy's card library has been automatically unsealed since he woke up. In order to prevent the "Devil King" from causing accidents, he set up many restrictions around Ke Jin and protected him tightly in a stable barrier.

Ke Jin stood still, closed his eyes slightly, and quickly called up the system interface in his mind.

After years of hard work, Ke Jin had accumulated a lot of points, more than 85,000 in total. He called the system's online manual service and asked directly.

"I want to use my points to redeem the permission to force a pool merger. Is that ok?"

[Yes.] The system answered immediately, [Please select the energy source required for the pool: 1. Points exchange; 2. Existing card pool supply.]

Ke Jin hesitated for a moment and chose "points exchange". The energy of his card pool originally came from the system, and the energy exchanged through points also had a suppressive effect on the Demon King. If the points were not enough, it would not be too late to open the card pool again.

[Received, pool merging is about to begin. ]

About a minute later, with a clear system prompt, the pool merging officially began. Ke Jin saw the points on the upper right side of the system interface begin to decrease, and the green bar showing the progress of the pool merging slowly moved forward.

【Current progress: 1%. 】

The situation in the card pool hall can be seen in the main control room. Ke Jin stared at the vortex abyss with wide eyes and saw that it had not changed at all.

The points were decreasing faster and faster, but the progress bar of the combined pool was moving slowly. The points that had gone from over 80,000 points dropped to over 10,000 in an instant, and the progress bar of the combined pool had only progressed to 7%.

At this rate... we won't be able to successfully merge the pools...

Ke Jin gritted his teeth, called up the item bar, and started selling the items he had bought but not used. Because the system mall was refreshed regularly, in order to prevent himself from being unable to buy the right items in the mall when he needed them urgently, Ke Jin developed the habit of hoarding items. Every time the mall was refreshed, he would reserve some items. He thought that these items would turn into points again before he had time to use them...

While Ke Jin was busy selling everything he had for points, the progress bar of the combined pool finally and slowly broke through 10%. The vortex abyss that had been swallowing up the crystal column energy like a bottomless pit gradually showed some changes.

The originally stable energy layer began to waver, as if something was rolling and tumbling underneath, unable to rest. This gave Ke Jin a feeling: the card pool energy provided by the system did have a certain restraining effect on the Demon King. The two originally incompatible forces were forcibly bound together by the merging of the pools, and the quantitative change led to a qualitative change, which finally caused an internal conflict.

After the progress bar exceeded 20%, an obvious fault appeared in the energy layer of the vortex. The vortex shook violently, even causing the entire card pool hall to vibrate. A black mist suddenly broke through the door of the control room and attacked Ke Jin in the center of the room, but was quickly dispersed by a stream of light.

"Go on, I won't let them get in your way." Oloy stood in front of Ke Jin, holding several cards in his hand, and said without turning his head.

Ke Jin had no time to speak, he just nodded. The merging of the pool would trigger the power of the card master. Ke Jin had not felt it in the past, but this time it might be the conflict between the two forces that also affected him. Ke Jin felt that his mental power was being rapidly drained. A lot of sweat oozed from his forehead, and his breathing became rapid. He had to be extremely alert to barely continue to pay attention to the dynamics of the merging of the pool progress bar.

30%……

50%……

70%...

When the progress bar was about to reach 80%, Ke Jin found that the remaining points were far from enough to continue the energy injection, so he immediately called the system.

"After the points are used up, I will directly draw the energy needed to merge the pool from the card pool I own."

【receive. 】

Because it was a forced merging of the pools, and the vortex itself had a devouring nature, when the energy of Ke Jin's pool was drawn over, the original pool's energy would be emptied. If it could not be replenished in time, the pool would be on the verge of exhaustion and become a dead pool. This choice was equivalent to Ke Jin betting on all the hard work he had put in over the years, but now was the critical moment, even if it was extremely painful, he could not care so much. Ke Jin's only worry was that the more pools were merged, the more energy would be needed, and his own pool of cards must hold up...

The progress bar that had once stagnated began to move forward again, and the number of available card pools appeared next to the cleared points. Ke Jin took a moment to look around and found that the strength of the barrier around him had increased again. Layers of halos blocked his sight, making him unable to see the outside scene. He could only vaguely hear some fierce wind sounds, and the ground shook from time to time. Perhaps Oroi was fighting against the rebound of the Demon King's power...

Please, go faster! Ke Jin stared at the progress bar anxiously and prayed desperately.

As the progress bar moved forward, perhaps Ke Jin's power finally gained the upper hand, the chaotic sounds outside gradually weakened, and the ground calmed down. Just when Ke Jin thought he could hold on to the end in peace, an angry voice suddenly came from nowhere.

"Arrogant! You dare to touch my power?!"

It's the voice of the devil!

Ke Jin's heart tightened. He didn't know if this was the Demon King's true form. He also didn't know how Xiao Jiu and Qi were doing now. Did they accidentally let the Demon King escape, or were they...

Ke Jin didn't dare to think further, and tried his best to focus all his attention on the progress bar. The Demon King's rage was obvious, but the barrier protecting Ke Jin remained stable. The fierce wind that had stopped roared again, and the ground under his feet trembled as if it could crack at any time. The barrier was shaken and cracked several times, but it still stood firm and did not break. Ke Jin could fully imagine that Oloy must be doing his best to deal with the "Demon King" and buy time for himself.

On the system screen, the energy of card pools was drained one after another until only the last card pool was left - the card pool in the Seven Star City of Azure Star. It was the first card pool that Ke Jin had entered this world. It was the beginning of everything, and it might also be the end of everything...

The noise outside the barrier rose and fell continuously until it suddenly stopped. The next moment, the barrier that was constantly being repaired and reinforced suddenly squirmed, and strands of black silk extended from the inner wall of the barrier. When they were about to wrap around Ke Jin's body, the black-haired young man suddenly smiled.

[Pool merging progress: 100%. ]

The system interface changed dramatically in an instant. From this moment on, Ke Jin truly became the new owner of this card pool and had all the permissions. The first command he issued was -

"I want to permanently ban this card pool." Ke Jin said softly to the system.

"Let it...die forever."

【receive. 】

Like a faded picture, everything in front of him began to turn gray and dark, losing all color. Faintly, Ke Jin seemed to hear the angry roar of the "Demon King", but the seal of the card pool had begun. The black silk that tried to entangle Ke Jin quickly dissipated due to the loss of power. Everyone was thrown out of the inner space of the card pool. After a while, Ke Jin felt that he fell heavily onto the cold land covered with grass, and he was back to the island in the middle of the lake.

"Ke Jin!"

It was Qi's voice, but Ke Jin didn't have the strength to stand up. He just turned his head with difficulty and looked at the disheveled Qi limping towards him. Qi was still holding Xiaochu, who had shriveled into a round pancake. It was obvious that he had overdrawn his strength and could not maintain his human form, so he turned back into jelly form.

"Ke Jin." A weak and familiar voice suddenly came from beside him. Ke Jin immediately turned his head and saw that Ouloy was also lying on the ground like him. The other party looked very weak and tired, with blood oozing from the forehead. He tried to get up several times but failed. In the end, he could only move slightly to Ke Jin's side and groped to hold his hand.

"You're amazing." Oloy looked at him without blinking, with a gentle and gratified smile in his eyes.

Ke Jin shook his lover's hand vigorously and smiled too.

"The same to you."

The two people lying on the ground stared at each other for a long time, like childish children, laughing foolishly and unable to stop.

At this time, the thorn fortress surrounding the island in the middle of the lake began to dissipate as the power of the devil disappeared. On the distant horizon, a ray of light broke through the night, bringing the first ray of dawn.

It’s great that everything is finally over... Ke Jin thought.

The sun is finally rising again.

※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※The main text officially ends here!

Of course, there are still some things to write about, such as what happens after the boss battle, how Ke Jin will continue to complete the task of opening card pools all over the world, and his engagement and marriage with Oloy...

These contents are rather fragmentary and don't fit in with the main text, so I decided to end the main text here, and leave the rest to be explained in the extra chapter.

Thanks to all the little angels who have persisted in reading here. Before the extra chapter is released, all the friends who leave messages in this chapter will be given a small red envelope~^_^

By the way, I'd like to advertise the sequel -

"Premeditated Favor [Rebirth]", one-sentence summary: After the younger brother is reborn, he and his elder brother fight for his sister-in-law.

The new article is purely emotional. Since the pre-collection started quite late, the collection of this book is currently worrying. If it is convenient for the little angels, please help collect it. The humble author is very grateful! QAQ