Ding ding ding…

Early the next morning, Su Liqian’s communicator rang, and the contact labeled “Big Customer” flashed a few times. 

May I Make It to the Finals: Ahhh big boss, big boss! I finally won! Waaah it wasn’t easy at all! 

May I Make It to the Finals: I kept losing before, but ever since I bought your cards, my luck totally turned around! 

May I Make It to the Finals: Big boss, I even grabbed the new cards you just posted—I hope your buff helps me make it to the sector finals! 

That former user “NotChangingMyNameUnlessIWIn” had indeed changed their name after finally winning. Overjoyed, they even snatched up a few of the new cards Su Liqian had just uploaded. 

Qian Qian Smile: Congrats! Wishing you the best in the finals 😊 

As a future “long-term potential customer,” Su Liqian naturally wanted to maintain a good relationship, so she replied politely and wished them success in advancing to the competition. 

Once she wrapped that up, she finally checked out the aftermath of last night’s chaos. 

The school forum was still buzzing with her name, the video of her match was climbing in views, and even her profile on the Star Art site was flooded with new comments. 

Of course, it wasn’t all praise—while that match brought honor to their school, it also earned her a serious grudge with people from Chenya. Although her name was now widely known, she’d also become a target for criticism. 

This meant that more and more people would be watching her. The moment she slipped, those waiting to gloat would swarm in. 

This must be what it feels like to be in the spotlight. 

Su Liqian sighed softly and waved her hand to turn off her smart computer. 

Things were quickly spiraling out of her control. But at the end of the day, she was just a card enthusiast, a totally average contestant in this massive card competition. All she could do now was focus on winning, one match at a time. 

She grabbed a sticky note from her desk and wrote on it carefully: 

“Current goal: Qualify for the Star District Finals!” 

Her current record was three wins and one loss, so qualifying for the district finals was still within reach. 

Su Liqian opened her AI assistant and logged into the official Interstellar Card Tournament website. Once she submitted her biometric data, she could view her profile. 

The official site streamed matches in real-time and also updated rankings and scores of players from every district. 

Su Liqian clicked into the rankings for the Sixth Star District. As expected, the person in first place was the one who had beaten her—Ji Yanxi. 

So far, Ji Yanxi had won all four of his semifinal matches and held a solid lead with 40 points. 

Su Liqian scrolled down the list. Besides him, there were eight other players with perfect scores. 

Clicking on any of their avatars brought up their personal profile pages. Each one listed basic info, match replays, and even had a discussion area where fans could chat, cheer, or gossip. 

She opened Ji Yanxi’s page. 

He was a seasoned competitor with a solid reputation, and it showed—his page had over a million followers. But Su Liqian just skimmed through his recent matches before backing out to find her own rank. 

Because of her earlier loss, she’d already dropped out of the top 100. Although she was still within the qualifying range, the risk was definitely higher. 

Still, the current rankings were far from final—because the real game-changer, the Challenge Matches, hadn’t started yet. 

Unlike regular matches, challenge matches let players choose who they go up against instead of being randomly assigned by the system. 

In the regular matches, a win gives 10 points and a loss gives nothing. But in challenge matches, you steal 50% of your opponent’s points if you win—and lose 50% of yours if you lose. 

In other words, the points you could gain depended heavily on your opponent’s score. Challenging a high-ranked player and winning could shoot you up the ranks, possibly pulling you from the brink of elimination right into the finalist status. 

But with great reward comes serious risk. Players with high scores weren’t just lucky—they were either incredibly skilled or incredibly lucky. Picking who to challenge was a strategy in itself. 

After all, this system was basically a huge gamble. One loss, and half your points would be gone. 

If Su Liqian wanted to reach the finals, she couldn’t afford to lose even one challenge match. 

This was going to be all-out chaos. After just two rounds of challenge matches, the current rankings would be totally scrambled. 

With only a week left until the challenge matches began, it was time for her to start scouting potential opponents. 

Of course, choosing your opponent wasn’t completely up to you either. To avoid cheating, the system had some rules in place. 

For example, each contestant gets two “challenge invitations” they can send to any two participants. But just because you choose someone doesn’t mean they’ll automatically be your opponent. 

Players are grouped into “pools” based on their scores. So, those who scored 40 points with a perfect record would all be in the same pool. 

When you send out your challenge invitations, they go into different pools based on the person you’re targeting. 

If you want to challenge someone in a specific pool, the system will take your selected player and randomly pick five others from the same pool. Then, one of those six people will be randomly chosen as your opponent. Once the draw is done, the system automatically sends out the challenge invite. 

You can use your invitations to pick who to challenge, or respond to one or two of the invitations you receive from others. 

However, once all the challenge invitations are used up, the contestant enters a passive “defense” phase. If no mutual selections are completed before the deadline, the system will automatically match an opponent. 

This system is in place mainly because of the large number of participants in the Star District Competitions. To prevent match-fixing and other cheating behavior, the officials have implemented this set of rules. If one advances to larger competition later, those events will operate under an entirely different set of rules. 

Su Liqian stared at the screen deep in thought. 

There were many options in front of her: choose a higher-scoring opponent for a better chance at advancing, though the risk was greater, or go for someone with a lower score—less likely to help her advance but also less risky in terms of losing. 

But honestly, the whole thing was a gamble. No one really knows how their choices will play out. 

Both strategies had their pros and cons, and with the final round of the regular matches still undecided, Su Liqian didn’t want to rush into anything. 

For now, her priority was gathering info on her potential opponents, so she’d have something to base her decisions on later. 

No matter what she ends up choosing, one thing is for sure—she has to win both of those challenge matches. 

She flipped through recent match videos of the top players, her eyes starting to ache. Rubbing them gently, she saved all the research she’d compiled. 

Knock knock knock. 

“Xiao Qian.” 

Her mother, Bai Yao, knocked on the door and walked in after getting permission. 

“Still watching?” 

She walked in with a glass of water, looking at her daughter with concern. 

“Get some rest. You’ve got school tomorrow.” 

“Mhm, I’ll sleep in a bit,” Su Liqian replied obediently. After Bai Yao left, she finally gave in to exhaustion and collapsed onto her bed. 

She slept deeply that night. The next morning, her body clock woke her up early, and she headed to school feeling refreshed. 

It had only been a few days since she’d been away, but it somehow felt like forever. 

Standing in front of the school gates, Su Liqian took a deep breath. 

As expected, the days of simply studying were the most relaxing. 

But before she could step inside, someone called her name from behind. 

“Junior! Su Liqian!” 

She turned instinctively and saw a girl with a tired-looking face, staring at her with starry, admiring eyes. Several others nearby had also turned to look at her. 

The girl waved excitedly and ran over. 

“You’re Su Liqian, right?” 

Even though she asked, the look in her eyes said she already knew. 

“I am,” Su Liqian nodded. 

“Oh my god, it’s really you! My idol!” 

The girl’s pale face lit up with a huge smile. She looked super excited—exactly like how Sen Ya acted when fangirling over her favorite celebrity. 

“Uh? Do we know each other?” 

The girl nodded first, then quickly shook her head. 

“No no, I mean, I know you, but you probably don’t know me.” 

She paused for a moment. “Hi, I’m Qi Xi, a senior at Lanxi… the one who got hurt in that match a while ago.” 

Her words were vague, and she smiled a little awkwardly. 

But Su Liqian immediately realized what match she was talking about—and that the person standing in front of her was the one who’d kicked off that whole “war.” 

“Nice to meet you.” 

Though she didn’t really know Qi Xi, Su Liqian politely responded. 

Everything she knew about Qi Xi came from what Sen Ya had told her. This was their first time meeting in person. 

“Nice to meet you too!” 

Qi Xi beamed. “Idol, I’ve watched your match videos so many times! They were so satisfying to watch! You just crushed that arrogant guy like BAM BAM BAM! I’d love to see if they dare act cocky again! From now on, I’m officially declaring myself the president of your fan club at Lanxi!” 

---

You can grab the full book now on my Ko-fi page, available in both PDF and EPUB formats! 🖤
📎 Here’s the link to the full novel