293: Mailing address

"I was talking about the essence of flight before, but now I'm talking about the difficulties of attaching force to cards. First, you have to consider how much force needs to be attached; the gravity of objects varies. Also, if someone swallows this card, how can you guarantee the force isn't applied inside their stomach? Could it tear a hole in them? And once the card is in the stomach, how do you ensure the direction of the force? What if they want to stop flying... forget it, I won't go on, it's too disgusting. Anyway, there are all sorts of problems. I think instead of obsessing over cards, why not make machine cards that can let people fly?"

Xu Bai pulled his hand away while the other person was listening intently, then left one final sentence before escaping the scene.

"If you're interested in flight, go listen to Bai Xiaobai's report at two o'clock tomorrow afternoon. You'll find what you want to know there."

The surrounding crowd didn't stop him, but Xu Bai's words left an impression on them, so they also thought about going to hear Bai Xiaobai's report at two tomorrow.

After escaping that spot, Xu Bai wiped the sweat from his forehead. The other person was truly too enthusiastic; it was his first time meeting someone like that, and it was a bit frightening.

"Pfft."

A burst of bell-like laughter came from beside him. Xu Bai looked up and saw his old classmate Wang Shanshan, whom he had met yesterday.

Seeing Xu Bai look over, Wang Shanshan asked with a smile, "I heard some of what you said just now. You must be researching flight-related cards as well, right?"

Xu Bai nodded. Indeed, but he wasn't just researching it; he had already succeeded.

"By the way, you just suggested they attend Bai Xiaobai's report tomorrow afternoon, so you must have a connection with Bai Xiaobai. I wonder if you could leave me your mailing address? If there's something I don't understand, could I mail you? If you don't understand it either, would it be possible to mention it to Card Maker Bai and then write back to me with his suggestions? Please."

After saying this, Wang Shanshan gave Xu Bai a bow.

Xu Bai didn't refuse. He quickly took out the small gift he had just received, wrote his mailing address in the notebook with a pen, tore it out, and handed it to Wang Shanshan.

Wang Shanshan took the slip of paper with the address, then pulled something out of her pocket to give to Xu Bai before saying her goodbyes and leaving.

Xu Bai opened his palm and looked at what she had given him. It was a business card with her name and mailing address. There were even faint patterns on the card; it was clearly meticulously made.

At the same time, he understood why she had said goodbye so quickly. She must be looking to befriend more powerful Card Makers, exchange mailing addresses, and leave her business card with them.

Her behavior seemed quite utilitarian. After all, she hadn't thought about giving Xu Bai her address yesterday, and only today, after realizing he might know Bai Xiaobai, did she want to leave it for him.

Xu Bai didn't resent her behavior. He had once acted the same way. In another sense, her actions showed a thirst for knowledge; not everyone had a golden finger.

Putting her business card in his pocket, Xu Bai continued browsing the booths.

At the same time, he discovered some very interesting things.

Different ideas sparked different flames. At some booths, one person would debate a crowd, with many people offering their own ideas while everyone constantly recorded inspirations in their notebooks. At other booths, ideas were so heavily rejected that the person, unable to bear the burden, would tear down their thesis title and leave dejectedly.

Xu Bai thought those booths would stay empty, but he didn't expect people to have anticipated this. They had printed their own thesis titles, and after pasting them up, they stood aside waiting for others to challenge them.

Hahaha, it was like an arena battle; it was quite interesting.

Although having one's ideas rejected and criticized as worthless was embarrassing, those Card Makers wouldn't shrink back because of shame. He believed that after this baptism, their future paths as Card Makers would be much smoother.

Many of the card-making ideas at the booths in the hall were very useful. Xu Bai learned a lot from them, filling the notebook he had received at the entrance with dense inspirations for card making.

"Dong, dong, dong."

Three bell chimes rang out. The bells reminded everyone that the reports were about to begin, and those interested should head to the lecture hall as soon as possible to listen to the speeches.

Xu Bai looked at his watch and saw it was 5:57 PM, three minutes before the report started. He decided to go to the lecture hall to hear the ideas of more professional Card Makers and also to learn some things for his own report tomorrow.

Entering the lecture hall, it was much quieter than the main hall. Many people were already seated, waiting for the report to begin. Xu Bai picked a random seat and sat down.

Coincidentally, the speaker for this report was the first person Bai Shan had introduced to Xu Bai this morning—the one with the bulging muscles.

"Hello everyone, I am Yu Caizhe. The theme of my report today is 'Production Ideas and Principles of Weapon cards'..."

Xu Bai listened intently to the speaker on stage, occasionally making notes in his notebook.

Suddenly, he thought of the "Feasibility Analysis Report on Human Flight" he had heard not long ago. The difference between the two presenters was like night and day.

However, that person seemed to have one good idea—not the one about swallowing cards to fly, but the idea of directly imbuing a card with a certain ability.

This idea gave Xu Bai some inspiration.

Xu Bai had some understanding of weapon production. After all, many people in the Research Institute had directly or indirectly participated in making weapons and had rich experience.

So, through osmosis, Xu Bai had also gained some knowledge of weapon making.

Generally speaking, the cards Xu Bai made now were for auxiliary attacks; it seemed he really hadn't made any weapon cards for direct attacks.

How about... giving it a try?

Acting on the thought, Xu Bai began to think about the production of weapon cards.

There are currently two forms of weapon production. One uses star energy stones, where energy is emitted—Xu Bai thought it was very much like a laser. The other uses ammunition; although to increase power, a bit of star energy stone is actually added to the ammo, it's essentially a solid attack. Both forms have their pros and cons.

Xu Bai was now thinking that cards also seemed to be made with star energy stones. Could a Card Maker pen draw directly on a star energy stone?