A volunteer
"name?"
"Ning Xi".
"Citizen ID?"
"I forgot."
The soldier tapped his head. Looking at the woman's bewildered eyes, he sensed something was amiss: "Don't tell me you don't remember anything."
Ning Xi looked surprised: "I really don't remember anything. How did you know?"
...
Three days later, Ning Xi reluctantly left the 13th Army's garrison.
She was among the first group of people to be evacuated. This situation did not arise because of any special background she had—in fact, the military was unable to verify Ning Xi's identity through iris recognition, and her personal information was currently completely blank.
"It's just that I asked a few more questions about the cards... I clearly respect the military, and I didn't ask about anything classified!"
Ning Xi recalled the vehicle card used by the military card on the day she was rescued.
A small card instantly transformed into a massive starship that blotted out the sky, crushing all monsters that stood in their way and providing them with a profound sense of security. This also allowed her, who had been wandering within the "domain" for months, to finally set foot on the land of the outside world.
Having had that experience, it's normal for her to be interested in card games, right?
As for kicking her out by saying something like "ask the volunteers about the cards," is that really the case?
Despite her complaints, Ning Xi wouldn't actually question the military's decision. She opened her terminal and sent her photo to the volunteers assigned by the government.
Ning Xi: I'll be waiting for you right here.
[The Melody of Destiny: I'm coming right away!]
Not long after, Ning Xi heard someone call her name.
"Ning Xi!"
At the end of the street, a young man in a brightly colored jacket raised both hands and waved vigorously in her direction.
Ning Xi waved to him, indicating that she had seen him. The young man jogged over and extended a hand to her: "Hello, I'm Yu Xiangyin, a student at Mingxin Academy."
"Mingxin Academy?"
She knew from the beginning that the volunteers came from various universities and were all freshmen who needed to earn credits.
But Mingxin Academy... that sounds familiar, doesn't it?
Did she apply to this school before she lost her memory?
"You know our college?" Yu Xiangyin was also a little surprised. As a volunteer, he had done his homework in advance and knew about Ning Xi's amnesia.
However, he quickly became animated as he introduced the academy: "Our academy is one of the top card-collecting academies in the Vast Ocean Star Region! Hmm... although our ranking has slipped a bit recently, we still have a rich history!"
“Card Academy? No wonder it sounded familiar.” Ning Xi nodded, guessing that she had been interested in cards before she lost her memory.
"Are you also interested in cards?" Yu Xiangyin had guessed this. "Our college has a card museum. After you've settled your luggage, I can take you to see it."
Oh, right, luggage.
Yu Xiangyin then noticed that the thin girl was carrying a large bag. He reached out his hand without allowing any refusal, wanting to take the backpack: "I'm a volunteer for this major incident, here specifically to help the victims. Here, give me the backpack."
"Thank you, but the bag is quite heavy, so please be careful," Ning Xi reminded her.
Yu Xiangyin laughed: "Don't worry, we Card Masters have specially trained our physical strength—hmm!"
The young man let out a muffled groan. Despite being mentally prepared, he still couldn't bear the weight of the card immediately.
"Are you alright?" Ning Xi helped hold the backpack, somewhat annoyed. "The soldiers said I packed too much stuff... I'm sorry, maybe I should carry it myself!"
"No need, I am a Card Master."
Yu Xiangyin took a card out of her card holder and inserted it into the card reader.
This is a white card with nested geometric shapes drawn on it.
Seeing that Ning Xi was very interested in the cards, Yu Xiangyin reached out her hand and asked her to take a closer look at the patterns on them.
"This is a space card, a common auxiliary card that can store inanimate objects. The invention of the space card is thanks to Master Sona's theory of space folding, and its card diagram is a schematic diagram of space folding drawn by the master."
Ning Xi felt a surge of energy, and a moment later, her luggage disappeared.
No, it didn't disappear, but rather it moved to another space.
"The designs on the cards seem to be of all kinds," Ning Xi asked tentatively.
"Of course! Cards are all-encompassing and include everything. Our educational philosophy at Mingxin Academy is to guide students to explore the limits of card types and create cards with more effects and more varieties!"
"What a noble ambition!" Ning Xi praised sincerely.
"Unfortunately, the ideals of Mingxin Academy are increasingly neglected." Yu Xiangyin sighed. "After all, what's the use of human-made cards, no matter how many styles they have? They are completely inferior to naturally born cards that possess spirituality."
"Card makers don't need to think about how to create cards; they can just focus on gaining recognition from nature cards."
He reached out and patted Ning Xi's shoulder lightly: "But it's okay, our academy has plenty of funding, and the cafeteria is top-notch. After you've packed your luggage, I'll take you out for a meal, and then we'll go see the museum, if we have time."
Ning Xi touched her belly, her eyes shining: "Okay."
Although the army wouldn't let her go hungry, the place was completely dominated by nutritional supplements, with practically nothing else to eat. The thought of soon being able to eat normal human food filled her with anticipation.
"Your accommodation is near the academy, so it's safe. Although the 33-star level isn't considered a dangerous zone, a major descent event just happened, so the surrounding area is probably not safe. Many alien beasts have invaded the real world, and it's impossible to defend against them all."
"Strange beasts invading the real world..." Ning Xi pondered Yu Xiangyin's words, "You mean, monsters in the domain? Like that tree?"
She raised her hand and pointed to the side of the street, where a strange tree had sprung up from the ground, waving its branches and roots, attacking panicked passersby.
Yu Xiangyin was startled. But he quickly recovered and activated a card. Unlike his space cards, which were more about daily life, all his combat cards were stored in the card reader for easy access.
For example, right now, he can activate the [Musician] skill immediately, and the musical staff transforms into flowing waves, surrounding him along with the notes.
"So handsome!" Ning Xi exclaimed, her eyes widening.
"You still have the mind to think about this?" Yu Xiangyin smiled wryly.
[Musician] is a summoning card that can summon materialized musical notes to fight for him. With a thought, a musical note, carrying waves formed from the staff, carried Ning Xi away into the distance.
Ning Xi wasn't idle either.
She had found a hiding place the moment the tree began to move. Now, she was running towards the shop.
"Don't worry! I'll take good care of myself!"
Yu Xiangyin sensed that something was wrong.
His original intention was for Ning Xi to run away as quickly as possible, the farther the better. However, Ning Xi seemed to intend to stay near the battlefield and watch him fight the entire battle.
Her eyes showed no fear of encountering a strange beast, but were instead filled with... a certain longing?
Ning Xi held her breath and stared at the mutated giant tree. It had lush branches and strong roots. Although it moved slowly, its branches were very flexible and could hurt people when they hit it.
The tree was covered in tiny white flowers, sacred and beautiful, but no one would consider them useless decorations. Ning Xi could sense an invisible energy field enveloping the giant tree, helping it resist the attacks of the autonomous robots.
Ning Xi clenched her fists. This unbreakable and indestructible energy field was a major obstacle to her killing the alien beasts. Even after being rescued, she couldn't come up with a way to deal with it.
What would a card master do?
The pedestrians had long since dispersed, leaving only the mutated giant tree and Yu Xiangyin, who was preparing for battle, on the street. The young man's hands clenched as if he were plucking something, and a few seconds later, the musical notes scattered like arrows released from a bow, flying towards the giant tree.
They bypass the spiraling roots and tangled branches, striking precisely into the trunk—and then, like a clay ox sinking into the sea, disappear without a trace.
The giant tree's movements became sluggish; its branches and leaves trembled and tangled, as if it could not find the right target.
The card skill has taken effect.
His card, "Musician," may look cool, but it's actually a pure support card. It can inflict the "Deafening" effect on enemies, causing them to temporarily lose their sense of their surroundings and become blind.
"Blindness" is a conceptual description. It means that the skill can work even if the target of the skill is blind.
Now, this big tree may look fierce, but in reality, all its attacks miss and cannot cause any damage.
Just wait a little while, and the patrol will arrive and put an end to this monster.
I see.
Ning Xi nodded repeatedly. Like beasts, cards have their own energy fields, so they can restrain and influence each other's energy fields, and even cover the opponent's, thus playing a role in influencing and damaging them.
However—the energy field of the strange beast showed unusual activity.
...
In another shop, a mother and daughter were panting. They stared at the raging giant tree, unable to suppress their fear.
Not everyone can evacuate in time. According to federal statistics, each invasion of territory results in anywhere from tens to thousands of deaths on average.
They...they can't be one of them.
The mother gently patted her daughter's back to comfort her, but her trembling hands betrayed her true feelings.
"Mom, it smells so good..."
The daughter murmured softly. The mother hugged her tighter. She deliberately blocked her daughter's view, thus ignoring something—a dark, wrinkled fruit rolled in through the crack in the door.
Get out of the way!
Ning Xi kicked the door open and sent the fruit flying. It was propelled into the air and suddenly exploded, sending fragments flying everywhere.
This is happening all over the streets. People are constantly being forced out of their shops, exposed to the giant tree's attack range.
Ning Xi was one of them. These strange beasts were changing too fast; she had never seen anything like the giant tree in the domain.
What's more troublesome is that these exploding seeds seem to be deliberately luring her closer to the giant tree.
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