A Card In Hand

Chapter 62: Weren’t We Supposed to Fail Together?

The newcomers’ eyes widened in disbelief.

Initially, everyone expected Lie Feng to kick off with a flying start, but unexpectedly, he failed spectacularly right from the outset.

What about Lie Feng himself?

Boasting that he was the prince of the Upper Capital’s White Elves, he was completely dumbfounded by a white card dangling in front of him.

A white card?

A card with no rank?

Could it at least not have been a black iron card?

Was this how his long-awaited Destiny Chest, which he had been hoping for over a decade, dismissed him with just a white card?

Wait a minute.

If the white card was a special item, there might still be hope!

It could be something uniquely suited for him, just like Tang Guo, who also received a white card, but ended up with her long-desired Ice Cream Secret Recipe, Dreamy Snow!

Reignited by a flicker of hope, Lie Feng focused intently on the white card.

Inside the card was something round and smooth.

The message was simple.

An egg.

“An egg?”

Lie Feng couldn’t figure out what he had to do with an egg.

He materialized the egg from the card and was shocked, “This looks familiar, isn’t this a Gugu Bird egg?”

“It indeed is a Gugu Bird egg, no mistake!”

Li Ao nodded.

He realized that the Destiny Chest was truly capricious because he remembered that in Lie Feng’s previous life, the chest had yielded a Black Iron-grade War Beast card, not a Gugu Bird egg.

Reborn, the once gloomily-faced Lie Feng, now had an even darker complexion that seemed to shine with blackness.

The Gugu Bird was a bird species unique to the Tianfeng Continent, named for its ‘gugu’ cooing sounds.

It was round and chubby.

Flightless, without wings.

The fluffy Gugu Bird had no combat capability to speak of.

Relying on large flocks for survival, Gugu Birds could only subsist on small insects and plant fruits.

If one had to point out a feature, it was that the eggs it laid were exceptionally large, the biggest being one-third the size of its body, which was quite exaggerated.

Because humans discovered that not only were the eggs of the Gugu Bird delicious, but its meat was also exceedingly tender, they were hunted extensively, nearly driving this pitiful creature to extinction.

Fortunately, merchants found that Gugu Birds bred under captivity laid more eggs and had a longer laying period, and the chicks grew faster, which allowed this utterly non-combatant creature to narrowly escape extinction.

Even so, it became rare to see Gugu Birds in the wild jungles of the Tianfeng Continent.

A Destiny Chest that yielded a Gugu Bird egg for a newcomer?

Lie Feng was completely dumbfounded!

In an instant.

He felt a profound sense of loss, momentarily losing his direction in life. His mind was swamped with existential questions like ‘who am I’, ‘where am I’, ‘where am I going’, ‘what am I doing’, ‘what is the meaning of life’, and so forth.

Hahahaha…

Cang Yue and the others burst into uproarious laughter.

Fuxi was even laughing to tears, rolling on the ground.

How did it matter that he ranked sixth on the Challenge List or that he had contracted a Gold-grade Native Card?

What did it matter how strong he was?

Before the Destiny Chest, everyone was equal!

When his luck turned sour,

he immediately felt the terror of being dominated by fate!

“Ha, the most famous White Elf Prince in Upper Capital, after being identified by the Destiny Chest, is actually the Black Marsh Frog Prince from the sewer of the Seventh District of Upper Capital. Identification complete, congratulations are in order!”

Cang Yue earnestly congratulated Lie Feng, who wanted to cry but had no tears, as everyone burst into even crazier laughter.

Meanwhile, cousin Qiu Ye, floating in mid-air, flew over and silently patted Lie Feng on the shoulder as a gesture of consolation.

“Why not spend more and go for a ten-times draw? You’re not short on money anyway!”

Qian Nian felt somewhat sympathetic towards Lie Feng, whose first male opening was a cuckoo bird’s egg, likely to become a historic laughing stock, and even if Lie Feng ascended to legendary status in the future, he couldn’t wash away this hilariously explosive label.

“Stop wasting efforts, haven’t you understood yet?”

Shuanghan couldn’t help but retort with his biting sarcasm, “Opening a cuckoo bird’s egg means they want you to have a good meal!”

“Do you even have any sympathy, Ice Cube? How can you say that to classmate Lie Feng?” Li Ao sternly criticized Shuanghan.

“Am I wrong?”

Shuanghan cooperated tacitly.

“Of course you’re wrong.”

Li Ao nodded, “I’ll give you a chance to rephrase that!”

“Then I’ll rephrase it!”

Shuanghan, not usually talkative, could be lethally sarcastic: “Classmate Lie Feng, don’t rush to have a good meal because you’re going to open many more cuckoo bird’s eggs. The revelation from the Destiny Chest is probably suggesting you should start a cuckoo bird farm and become a qualified farmer!”

“Pfft!”

“Ha ha ha…”

“Oh my belly!”

“I can’t take it anymore; I’m done!”

The newcomers rolled around laughing, stumbling and bumbling, tears flying everywhere.

Lie Feng sat collapsed on the ground, his eyes filled with bewilderment.

It would probably take him a long time to recover from the psychological shadow of being dominated by fate.

The first male opening had failed spectacularly.

Who would go second then?

The newcomers suddenly became fearful, wondering if they would also continuously fail.

You know, bad luck usually comes in streaks, and this thing is just so evil.

What?

Don’t believe in curses?

The last person who didn’t believe in curses ended up crying and fainting in the bathroom!

“Shuanghan, you go!”

Man Huang thought it best to follow the Challenge List. Randomly jumping the queue didn’t end well, as the confidently prepared Lie Feng had just spectacularly demonstrated.

“Hmph.”

Shuanghan didn’t believe he would be as unlucky as Lie Feng; he reached out and pointed at his Destiny Chest.

A burst of intense light rose from the Destiny Chest.

Everyone was disappointed.

Ah!

This cold-hearted guy didn’t fail, how annoying!

But it was only after the final transformation that it was revealed Shuanghan had opened a Silver-grade Fire Orb…

Shuanghan was also a bit stunned.

“How is it this thing?”

“The Flame Orb is pretty good, but can I make use of it?”

“Even though a silver-grade treasure was opened, Shuanghan still didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.”

“Qian Nian was so envious that he was practically drooling. How nice it would be if the Flame Orb were mine. Why did it go to Shuanghan?”

“Next, Qian Nian opened a bronze-grade low-level Hawk Beak Tortoise, equally stunned, not knowing how to use this primarily defensive water attribute, and just a bronze-level battle beast. Qian Nian thought, are you playing with me? Wouldn’t any random fire attribute battle beast be better, why did it have to be a water turtle?”

“After everyone finished congratulating the tragic Shuanghan, they found more joy in Qian Nian’s similar plight.”

“Fuxi and the others danced around Qian Nian.”

“With great enthusiasm.”

“Letting you, geniuses of the challenge list, show off, now try to show off again, I dare you?”

“Qiqu opened a black iron-grade one-legged doll. Although it was black iron-grade and worthless, at least he opened something of his own.”

“He secretly wiped away a cold sweat.”

“How terrifying!”

“This fear dominated by fate is really… recalling it still sends shivers down the spine, chilling to the bone!”

“Next up was Cang Yue, the big-eyed monster.”

“Everyone hoped he would fail.”

“But they didn’t dare say it out loud.”

“Like the super toxic-tongued ice block Shuanghan, this big-eyed monster was not easy to provoke.”

“Upon opening, Cang Yue unveiled a pair of high bronze-grade Claw Weapons, very suitable for his use, and most importantly, these claws possessed some degree of spiritual intelligence and could be upgraded in the future.”

“Now everyone felt uneasy.”

“What’s going on?”

“Wasn’t it agreed we’d all fail together?”

“Why is what you opened so good?”

“With your face so pale, how can we still play together in the future?”

“Li Ao led the way, pinning Cang Yue to the ground and beating him up fiercely, shouting, ‘I’ll show you for being pale, for being outstanding, for opening such good things!'”

“‘Idiot, you haven’t opened yours yet, what if yours is even better?’ Cang Yue was furious. ‘Li Ao, you haven’t opened yours yet, what if you open something even better?'”

“‘Big-eyed monster, isn’t that obvious?’ If Li Ao hadn’t been reborn, he wouldn’t be able to escape the fear of being dominated by fate, because his face wasn’t pale at all, at least not in his past life. In his past life, not only was Li Ao’s face not pale, it was quite dark, because he had opened the Newcomer’s Destiny Chest and ended up with a black iron-grade low-level Giant Pincer Scorpion, which was a heartbreaking outcome for him who was desperately hoping for a bronze-grade battle beast.”

“You know.”

“He didn’t even pass the first year.”

“Li Ao in his past life only passed the supplementary exam in the second year to open the Newcomer’s Destiny Chest.”

“At that time, he already had a black iron-grade battle beast, but he urgently needed to contract a bronze-grade battle beast… With the high price of bronze-grade battle beasts and being as poor as a church mouse, he placed all his hope on the free Newcomer’s Destiny Chest, only to find it was black iron, shattering his hopes instantly!”

“‘I’m about to open it!’ Li Ao, through the undying fire of resilience in his soul, could sense the changes in the Newcomer’s Destiny Chest through those faint threads of divine sense.”

This small box contained a slight force of fate.

It held hundreds, thousands of changes.

Some were good, some were bad.

Some appeared beneficial but were actually a curse.

Others seemed unremarkable but if persisted with, often turned into hidden blessings.

For example, the White Card previously quietly issued by Qiu Ye, transformed into a rooted leaf when it landed.

To others, this leaf was useless, but if combined with Qiu Ye’s talent of Rising with the Wind, the implication of this leaf was not simple!

The force of fate mixed all sorts of changes together, any time, any state, any way it was opened, would lead to different changes.

Li Ao estimated that even with power beyond legendary.

For instance, a legendary powerhouse.

Taking action personally.

It would hardly be possible to explore and take the best things from the newcomer’s Destiny Chest by force.

Li Ao, whose soul naturally connected with the divine realm, knew that using his current power to lock onto the newcomer’s Destiny Chest was useless, the gap in power levels was too large. But what if he used the supreme power of time to capture what he wanted?

Li Ao thought it might be worth a try!

The power of time could surely contend with the power of fate, especially since the force of fate hidden in the newcomer’s Destiny Chest was minimal, almost imperceptible.

Of course, the power of time that Li Ao currently possessed and could control was also limited.

Take a chance.

If successful, he could escape a lifetime of dismal fate.

“Fate, give me a hint, my life is no longer confused, may luck always be with me, and calamity stay far away…”

Li Ao muttered a bunch of meaningless words.

As he spoke, he gathered the Rock Source Energy to form an enormous rock arm, and at the same time made the silver chains transformed from the Shadow Halberd fly all around, creating a spectacular effect to disguise the momentary infusion of time power into opening the newcomer’s Destiny Chest.

If the three elder gods of the Pantheon of Myriad Realms weren’t present.

Li Ao wouldn’t need to go to such lengths.

But they were watching all the time.

Unmasked.

There was a great chance that the three old men would see through him.

With such an elaborate disguise, plus the very short duration of time power injected into the newcomer’s Destiny Chest, Li Ao was confident he could deceive them.

Even if he couldn’t, at least they wouldn’t be sure what he possessed; at most, they would suspect he had some powerful mysterious artifact.

As soon as the power of time was injected.

Li Ao felt as if time suddenly slowed, the flow of time became very slow.

The ever-changing contents within the newcomer’s Destiny Chest also slowed down significantly under the effect of the time power.

He found it!

There was something resonating with his spirit!

In one-hundredth of a second, Li Ao spotted a valuable item, he had no time to examine it closely, nor to choose a better one, he immediately locked onto it with a sense of it, connected with the power of time, and quickly retracted the time power back into his Sea of Consciousness.

Boom!

A blazing column of light shot up from the opened newcomer’s Destiny Chest…