Chapter 148: 148 Blind Boxes, The Sinful Beginning_1
When Hua Zhuo looked at the batch of new cards submitted by Wen Jiang, she started to smile. First, it was a gentle smile that grew louder, until finally, she was laughing while clapping her hands, with even a few tears seeping from the corners of her eyes.
"Senior Brother, Senior Sister, can you see this? Your daughter, she is outstanding! In the future, she will surely become an unstoppable UR-Rank Spirit Card Master. She will create history for Yunxia. She definitely will!"
*
The Mount Flower Card Factory of the eight great families of Yunxia seemed to come to life overnight.
They recruited a large group of new workers to make ordinary cards; after all, this was a modern assembly line method, merely producing paper cards that required ordinary people to operate. Signing a contract would do the job.
For Card Makers, Mount Flower still posted recruitment criteria. They didn’t seem in a hurry about those Card Makers who had left, as the requirements were still the same as before, with no increase whatsoever.
What they did urgently seek was a large group of ordinary Spirit Card Masters. They didn’t need to know how to make cards. Being able to duplicate them was sufficient.
Spirit Card Masters who could also make cards were rare, and duplicating cards was a sought-after position. With the generous compensation offered by Mount Flower, they quickly recruited the required number.
Although Mount Flower’s compensation was already generous, for a factory that was on the verge of collapse, how could they expect to recruit any good Card Makers without improving the conditions?
The remaining Card Makers, regardless of their rank, all received a request to first duplicate a batch of new R-Rank cards. The higher the rank, naturally the faster and more they could duplicate, and they would be paid by the number of cards. This was a way for idle Card Makers to earn extra money. Generally speaking, releasing a thousand or so R-Rank Cards into the market at one time was enough, as the demand from R-Rank Spirit Card Masters was limited, and the output from one factory’s Card Makers was entirely sufficient for operations.
If it were only a few cards, it would have been manageable, but this time Wen Jiang produced fifty-two Founding Emperor cards at once.
When the Spirit Card Masters saw those exquisite R-Rank cards, they could hardly believe their eyes, each pinching their own philtrum in disbelief.
Releasing just two or three of these cards onto the market would be incredible, let alone fifty-two, and all of them historical figures. This was impossible! It completely shattered common sense. How could historical figures be made into Card Spirits?
Especially for Jiao Zhongwei, she was almost emotionally struck by Ying Zheng. She had seen countless versions of Ying Zheng, but never had any Card Spirit version seemed so vividly alive: the authoritative aura without anger, the deep, dark eyes that seemed to gaze upon everything with a sense of equality, and beneath the gorgeous long robe, such a majestic emperor. The first emperor of Yunxia’s first feudal dynasty, an emperor for the ages, Qin Shi Huang. He deserved every accolade.
Jiao Zhongwei had not been much interested in history before; those stumbling blocks of historical culture seemed to her like superficial traces that didn’t reach the depths of her heart.
But this time, the new cards came with a batch of paper manuscripts, which not only depicted several different styles of the emperors’ images but also gave simple introductions to these figures’ lives, narrating their remarkable deeds one by one, even more comprehensively than any version released by the Empire before.
Jiao Zhongwei was secretly amazed and quickly captivated by such powerful emperor stories, immersing herself in them.
She liked the manuscript most for Qin Shi Huang and Wu Zetian. One was an emperor unmatched through the ages, and the other the only female emperor in history; their historical significance was truly extraordinary.
However, Wen Jiang only drew one manuscript, requesting it to be made into a comprehensive background introduction for the Founding Emperors, as Mount Flower’s tradition from then on was that each card would come with a background story, especially since the Four Great Classical Novels were also to be released.
Purchasing 10 or more blind boxes at once came with a free gift. A single book purchase cost twenty Yunxia Currency, equivalent to the price of two cards.
Producing paper cards was also costly. Although the production cost might seem low, the card designs drawn by Wen Jiang were exquisitely infuriating in their beauty. The quality was top-notch in the current market. Even after several decades, the cards would not show any signs of wear. Truly a seller with integrity!
Or so thought Wen Jiang, who would later be universally condemned as a ruthless merchant because of the blind box controversy.
Jiao Zhongwei quickly became fascinated. After she finished reading, she went to find Shao Lanxiang, "Aunt Shao, I love this Emperor Card Set! I really don’t know which Card Maker made them; they’re so impressive. The life stories of each emperor in it are more complete than the information provided on the official website. For example, the stories of Emperor Wang Mang of the Xin Dynasty and Liu Xiu are fascinating. I’ve never seen those vivid anecdotes on the official website. Did the Card Maker make them up?"
Shao Lanxiang shook her head. She had been making cards for decades and had never seen such vividly detailed R-Rank Card Spirits. This batch of cards, in terms of both quality and significance, was far superior to any on the market and reminiscent of the style of a famous Card Maker she knew from before.
Dual-Change Card Set, Moon Palace Card Set. Background stories even more complete than the official website—all the elements were there. Could it be the same Card Maker? Shao Lanxiang couldn’t help but wonder.
Who on earth could they be, to come up with fifty-two R-Rank Cards? Ordinary Spirit Card Masters wouldn’t even dare to dream about it.
However, she knew one thing and burst into jolly laughter, "Mount Flower is probably going to make history indeed!"
*
Xie Lingyan from the Xie Family had also received news of unusual movements in the Card Factory. Unfortunately, all his informants had been found and dismissed by Hua Zhuo. Combined with those who had left with the Qiao Family, Xie Lingyan couldn’t get any further information, relying only on some tidbits leaked by workers who had stayed.
The factory had produced a new batch of exceptionally high-quality cards, and the old Spirit Card Masters had rated them as an opportunity for the Jimo Family to make a comeback.
Xie Lingyan instinctively didn’t believe it. They’re in such a miserable state. If Mount Flower can still make a comeback, I’ll twist off my own head and let Wen Jiang kick it like a ball! Hmph, do they really think of themselves as saviors? It must be fake news released in desperation before they go under, a last-ditch attempt to deceive the public into buying their cards one last time! Thinking this, Xie Lingyan sat down and calmly waited for the factory to announce its imminent bankruptcy.
December 15th was an ordinary day before the New Year, just half a month away (in this era, the Gregorian calendar was the main reference).
According to feedback from the Card Factory, all production lines were ready to go, and various departments were also warming up for the New Year’s event. Other associations had released various new cards early on, and this year saw many more Dual-Change Card Sets, all inspired by Wen Jiang’s cards. However, Wen Jiang’s spiritual power when making cards was so strong that unless the paper cards took a different approach, they were easily overshadowed by comparison. Currently, the leading sales among Dual-Change Sets belonged to the one from Mount Flower.
Mount Flower had released about a dozen new cards earlier, but the feedback from fans wasn’t good, and Mount Flower was at a loss.
But today, Mount Flower finally had a moment to be proud.
The official account released a teaser for the New Year card event online.
Mount Flower Card Products V: To celebrate the New Year, Mount Flower is proud to release the Founding Emperor Card Set, with fifty-two Emperor Cards available for purchase as blind boxes in various malls or for pre-order on the official website. Blind box: Upon opening, randomly obtain one of the fifty-two Emperor Cards. Order 20 blind boxes and receive a free bound volume of emperor biographies (click for details on the bound volume content). Collect all fifty-two cards from the Founding Emperor Card Set to redeem an exclusive, mysterious gift package on the official website!