26: Chapter 26 The Light That Shines Through the Darkness

In reality, what Chen Sheng did not know was that he had exposed his lack of professionalism the moment he spoke.

Professional card collectors would state, for example, the XX-XX season XX card pack when buying, unlike Chen Sheng, who just started with "NBA."

However, the Shop Assistant did not show any other emotions due to Chen Sheng's lack of professionalism and enthusiastically pointed him in a direction, "Handsome Guy, the star card gift boxes are all over there. The NBA star cards you want are placed on the third row."

Unaware that he had already exposed himself, Chen Sheng nodded confidently at the Shop Assistant and walked over to the display rack on the right side of the store entrance.

But when he saw the NBA star card gift boxes on the third row, he couldn't help but twitch the corner of his mouth again.

"This thing is freaking expensive!"

The card pack gift boxes on the third row all had price tags of 3000.

To be honest, if it weren't for the accurate information provided by the daily intelligence, Chen Sheng would never have bought this thing, even if it killed him.

He would rather have spent this money at that Western restaurant he went to the night before last; at least he could have put something in his stomach.

Chen Sheng opened the system panel and expanded the intelligence prompt bar.

[Daily Intelligence 1: Yutang Card Store on the fifth floor of Yida Mall in Jinjiang District, Shu City, just purchased a batch of star card gift boxes a few days ago. The gift box with batch number XXYP-124 xxxxxx contains a Curry serial-numbered memorabilia autograph card. The market value of this card is $500 - $3000.]

[Note 1: This intelligence is valid until July 4th at 19:00; after that, this intelligence will automatically become void.]

Then, while keeping the system panel open, he picked up the gift boxes to check the numbers on them.

"This isn't it!"

"This isn't it either!"

"XXYP-124 xxxxxx, this is the one." Chen Sheng compared the number again, confirmed they matched, and then took the gift box to the counter.

Arriving at the counter, Chen Sheng handed the gift box to the Shop Assistant and said, "Please check me out! And help me get a set of card outer sleeves."

"Alright, sir, it's 3150 yuan in total. I'll scan you here."

Chen Sheng took out his phone and opened the payment code. The Shop Assistant used the scanner to scan the payment code, and the successful payment prompt sound rang out.

After the machine printed the receipt, the Shop Assistant stuffed the receipt and the gift box into a shopping bag and handed it to Chen Sheng, "Sir, thank you for your patronage. Please take your purchased items."

"Thanks!" Chen Sheng nodded, took the shopping bag, and walked directly toward the rest area nearby.

His goal was very clear: the man who was live-streaming card pulling in the rest area.

Perhaps due to the consecutive losses earlier, by the time Chen Sheng came over again, the crowd that had originally surrounded the man had dispersed. The man wasn't pulling cards at the moment, but was facing the camera, making all sorts of flags to the netizens in the live streaming room.

"You say my luck has always been bad? Impossible, absolutely impossible. The number of rare cards I, Chen Card King, have pulled is in the thousands. Today is just a small Waterloo in my life."

"You don't believe me? Heh~ I'll play it safe today. Tomorrow, just tomorrow, same time, same place, I will definitely pull a rare card. By then, I'll blind your titanium alloy dog eyes."

"Chinese people don't lie to Chinese people. If I can't pull one, I'll perform a handstand hair wash on the spot."

"What? You say a handstand hair wash is outdated? Alright then! If I can't pull one, I'll quit the card circle directly." The man was clearly pushed to the limit by the netizens stoking the fire in the live stream, which is why he blurted out such irrational words.

The man clearly realized this problem as well. When he finished saying this, his complexion instantly turned from flushed red to pale.

The corners of his mouth twitched, his eyes darted around, and the CPU in his brain ran at high speed, thinking about how to survive this professional crisis.

Faking it?

Or spending a high price to buy a gift box that guarantees a hit.

Just at this moment, a pair of bony, well-defined hands reached out, holding a box of this year's newly released NBA card gift box, and handed it in front of him.

The man looked up subconsciously, and what met his eyes was a handsome face that was just a tiny bit less handsome than the esteemed readers, with a warm, spring-breeze-like smile on it. He said in an extremely gentle, low voice, "Buddy, could you please do me a favor and open this box of cards for me?"

At least at this moment, Chen Sheng's voice sounded extremely gentle to him.

The man's eyes instantly welled up.

From being flattered by everyone to having no visitors, yet there was still someone who believed in him, Chen Card King.

This trust was priceless to him.

But...

He could not fail the trust of this Buddy.

The man hurriedly stood up, took the card box handed over by Chen Sheng, and gripped Chen Sheng's hand, which he hadn't yet pulled back, tightly, "Buddy, sit down quickly, let's sit and talk."

After Chen Sheng sat down, the man tapped his finger on the card box and then pushed the card box back to Chen Sheng, "Buddy, what should I call you?"

"We are of the same clan; my surname is also Chen." Chen Sheng looked at the man, somewhat puzzled.

The man smiled sheepishly, "Brother Chen, first of all, thank you for your support, but my luck today is a bit damp. You'd better do it yourself."

Chen Sheng pushed the card box back in front of the man, "Buddy! I believe in your strength as the Card King."

Hearing Chen Sheng's words and seeing the card box pushed back without hesitation, the man hurriedly turned his head, inadvertently brushing his cheek with the back of his hand to secretly wipe away that unfilial tear.

At this moment, in his eyes, Chen Sheng was like a beam of light in the darkness that not only illuminated the darkness but also guided the way.

Not dazzling, but warm enough to make one want to cry.

Turning back again, facing the camera, he was still the man ridiculed by fans as the Hard-Mouthed King of the card world.

The man sniffled his sour nose, made up his mind, grabbed the card box that Chen Sheng had pushed back tightly with his hand, and said with a resolute expression, "Brother... no, Buddy, from today on, you are my, Chen Chen's, Buddy."

"Don't worry, Buddy. Since you trust me, I will definitely pull a rare card for you today. If I can't, I'll give you a collector's edition item. I absolutely won't let you lose money."

While speaking, Chen Chen secretly glanced at the live stream out of the corner of his eye, then quickly looked away.

At this moment, in the live stream.

"Wow! It's lit up~"

"That man is back."

"This... I'm crying to death!"

...

The barrage, which was mostly mocking Chen Chen, was also turned around by Chen Chen's speech that sounded like a desperate final stand.

Chen Sheng nodded and said in a firm tone, "Buddy, I believe you will definitely pull a good card today."

With the system intelligence, he was extremely calm at this moment.

"Alright!" Chen Chen slapped the table hard, immediately attracting the attention of the customers who had previously dispersed in the store.

Seeing Chen Chen holding Chen Sheng's box of cards, he talked endlessly to the camera, introducing various information about the card box, such as when it was released and what kind of rare cards of what value had been pulled from this type of card box.

In the live streaming industry, this is called stalling for time.

After all, you can't just open something worth several thousand in two quick swipes!

The customers exchanged tacit glances and moved their feet one after another, surrounding Chen Chen again, preparing to see what kind of crap he would pull this time.

The gazes of the crowd included mockery of Chen Chen's arrogance and mockery of Chen Sheng for placing his trust in the wrong person; none of them were optimistic about the two. At least at this moment, none of them believed that this card box worth 3000 could produce a high-value rare card.

They sat and waited for another scene of disbelief, heartbreak, and near-madness from losing everything...