“Aaaaah! Brother Fred, it’s a misunderstanding! I really didn’t betray the Cardmate Alliance, I truly didn’t betray the spirit of card players!!”

“I was forced to join!” Both of them were dragged away amid heart-wrenching screams, it was a truly pitiful sight.

Within Carillian Campus existed various clubs. Many of these clubs had no connections with each other, but some, due to certain reasons, were in competitive relationships.

Establishing a club required approval. The Card Player Alliance had only officially become a registered club at Carillian Academy this semester. As for the reason, Winnie still remembers how Fred stormed back from the club department to their gathering spot, slamming the application form onto the table.

“I submitted the form to establish the Card Player Alliance! The student council already issued the document, but they refused!”

“I think the student council is threatened by our growing power as card players!”

However, the truth proved otherwise. This guy had simply submitted the form to the wrong place, instead of the Student Council Club Department’s office, he’d handed it to the Discipline Committee’s office, and it got rejected.

Carillian Academy’s standards for establishing clubs were quite lenient. After all, with immense academic and competitive pressure, clubs were truly meant for entertainment, leading to a flourishing variety of all kinds of bizarre clubs.

But that wasn’t the point. Without rules, nothing could be accomplished. Even a relatively loose organization like the Card Player Alliance had its own rules, and this was the fate of those who betrayed it.

The Card Player Alliance had always shown zero tolerance for traitors, upholding the principle of “No women in heart, naturally divine at cards.” Any traitor found will be immediately dragged away for severe punishment!

Of course, it was all a joke.

“Ah, what a disgrace to the family, such disappointments, what kind of example are they setting, useless??” After their voices faded away, Fred shook his head, exuding the aura of a gang boss.

“So what were those two actually here for?” Winnie looked bewildered.

This move left him utterly confused. These two had just exposed their identities, yet gained nothing in return, mutual destruction.

Why would anyone do something so self-destructive?? In the end, both ended up in deep trouble.

Furthermore, Winnie truly couldn’t understand the conflicts between clubs. Different interest clubs had different goals and activities; they could just do their own thing. Why get into conflicts?

“Brother Winnie, you don’t know?” Fred raised an eyebrow.

“What should I know?” Winnie asked, puzzled.

“Ah, looks like you’re truly out of the loop on campus gossip,” Fred shook his head. “The fan clubs supporting the two top campus beauties, Aesphyra and Isatia, have always been the most popular supporter groups on campus.”

“There’s actually such a thing??” Winnie almost wanted to retort, ‘These people really have nothing better to do,’ but then he thought, hey, aren’t these people exactly the ones with nothing better to do?

In the end, clubs were just a means to relieve stress and have fun. If you seriously discuss this topic, every single club was full of people with too much free time, even their own Cardmates Club.

“Yeah, these two clubs were fine last semester, but then no one knows how it happened. Maybe as they grew larger, conflicts arose during recruitment, leading to friction, and eventually escalating into disputes. Of course, there seem to have been conflicts in other areas as well,” Fred explained seriously.

“Besides recruitment, why else would there be conflicts?” Winnie didn’t understand.

“I’ve heard about this. It started during an academy beauty ranking contest. Aesphyra’s fan club insisted Aesphyra was the top beauty, while Isatia’s fan club claimed Aesphyra wasn’t worthy, and that Isatia was the true number one. Then, well, conflict erupted.”

“These people are insane,” Winnie grimaced. “They must be seriously bored.”

“Who says otherwise?”

“Wait, only their two fan clubs are involved? Didn’t other campus beauties’ fan clubs join in?” Winnie asked.

“They do exist, but their scale isn’t as large as these two. Also, that beauty ranking seems to have restrictions, only first-year students were eligible to participate.”

“Eligible to participate? What kind of unofficial ranking is this?” Winnie scoffed. Such a random poll probably meant even the two involved beauties, Isatia and Aesphyra, didn’t know they were contestants, while their respective fans waged a phantom battle in their names.

“You know how it is. The world’s never short of bored people. Wherever there are people, there’ll be conflict. It’s unavoidable,” Fred said, shrugging.

“I’m serious, arguing over who’s the top beauty or not is meaningless. Such an old topic,” Winnie crossed his arms. “If you ask me, it’d be more interesting to debate who deserves the title of top campus heartthrob.”

“Well, no need to debate that. It’s completely unnecessary. You think if you randomly grabbed any male student on the streets of Carillian Academy and asked who the top heartthrob is, wouldn’t they all answer ‘myself’?” Fred stated confidently.

“Yeah, that’s true. Too many people lack self-awareness. Ah, seriously speaking, if there really were a heartthrob choice, I wouldn’t even enter. It’d be too unfair. If I joined, others wouldn’t stand a chance. Hahaha.” Winnie brushed his bangs back, laughing smugly.

“Brother Winnie, it’s truly you. So ruthless you even fool yourself,” Fred gave Winnie a thumbs-up.

“What the hell! With my handsome looks and dignified appearance, why can’t I be the number one heartthrob??” Winnie shot Fred a glare.

“Listen, Brother Winnie, the heartthrob title is about handsomeness and masculinity. What do you have? Honestly, I feel I completely outshine you,” Fred wasn’t being humble, adding mockery. “Not to put you down, Brother Winnie, but you don’t have a shred of masculinity. If you wore women’s clothes, you might even compete for the top beauty title next door.”

“Interpret your dreams! Do you even have eyes??” Hearing this, Winnie instantly flared up. “My entire being exudes majestic aura and manly spirit! How dare you say I lack masculinity??”

“I’m definitely better than you no matter what!”

“Brother Fred, Brother Winnie, the two traitors have been punished. What’s next?” Just as the two argued, a cardmate reported back.

“Cough, I think this incident reveals a glimpse of the bigger picture,” Fred waved his hand. “Clearly, our Card Player Alliance has been thoroughly infiltrated by external factions!”

“What I mean is, when you see a cockroach in the room, it means there’s definitely more than one, there must be a cockroach nest!” Fred glanced at Winnie beside him. “What do you think, Brother Winnie?”

“Oh? That makes sense,” Winnie frowned, feeling the situation was serious. “These are no ordinary card players. We must strike hard.”

“What do you two mean, exactly?”

“Since we’ve started, let’s investigate thoroughly!” Fred declared. “Everyone, open your inner linings, surprise inspection!”

“Eh? Is this really necessary?” Everyone froze upon hearing this.

“Of course it’s necessary. What, do you have a problem with that?”

“N-no, no problem at all.” Seeing Fred’s sharp gaze slowly shift towards him, the cardmate in front quickly shook his head.

“Alright then, everyone, no hesitating. Don’t make me look down on you. Come on, show your purest Card Player Soul, reveal your inner linings!” Fred called out.

Hearing this, many card players complied, but a portion hesitated, standing frozen in place.

“I said, what exactly are you hesitating about??” Fred’s gaze instantly swept over the hesitant ones.

Hearing this, the hesitant ones could only grit their teeth and reluctantly opened their inner linings.

The final result was shocking.

A third of the Card Player Alliance members had joined other campus beauties’ fan support groups. After they were disarmed, Winnie saw a dazzling array of fan badges, besides Aesphyra and Isatia, there were also Mirexia, Milian, Luna, and others.

Well, it could only be said that tastes differed, some liked ice-cold beauties, some preferred unreachable flowers, some favored ethereal elegance, and even elven brat had her fans.

Every single one of their heroes, huh??

Besides that, Winnie spotted an extremely niche badge. The name written on it made him gasp in shock.

Oh my god, they didn’t even spare the adorable Moon elven girl! Shikondell’s public identity was male, right??

What beasts are these?

“Ah, truly, you don’t know until you investigate. All of you usually claim to be so pure, focused only on playing cards, yet you’re all traitors??” Fred looked heartbroken, angrily rebuking them.

As a veteran and leader-level figure in the Cardplayers Club, Winnie felt he should also prove his innocence. So he opened his inner lining to show it, after all, he’d never joined any of these weird clubs, and couldn’t understand why these people would join such bizarre groups.

Maybe it was because all these people were from his surroundings, Winnie had absolutely no bias towards them.

“Exactly! You’re truly disappointed. This is what pure Card Player looks like, understand?” Winnie displayed his spotless inner lining, looking at the embarrassed card players below.

“Next, let Brother Fred show you all a thing or two, teach you what true faith is!” Winnie said, then slapped the nearby passing table.

According to everyone’s expectations, Fred will now reveal his own clean inner lining, proving why he was the big brother of the Card Player Alliance.

However,

“…” An eerie silence fell.

“Brother Fred??” Winnie felt strange. Logically, Fred, who had been shouting so fiercely, wouldn’t miss such a chance to show off, right??

Yet, what he received was an eerie silence.

Now, not just Winnie, but the other card players also found it extremely odd. Why had Fred, who moments ago was so confident and outspoken, suddenly gone silent??

Looking over, they noticed Fred’s expression had become slightly stiff.

“Hey, what’s wrong with you today??” Winnie’s expression grew increasingly strange, his eyes clearly conveying his meaning.

Everyone’s watching. Don’t you dare falter at this crucial moment??

So he personally walked over and opened Fred’s inner lining.

Fred seemed completely unprepared for Winnie’s quick action, instinctively trying to react, but due to the sudden movement, a badge fell beside his foot, and right before everyone’s eyes.

“……..” Upon seeing it, everyone fell into a deathly silence.

The Card Player Alliance had been completely wiped out.

It turned out, that damn spirit of Card Player? There was no such thing at all!

“Brother Fred, oh you… What should I even say about you? As the founder and manager of the club, You’ve truly let me down. Now I understand, when the top is crooked, the bottom will be crooked too!” Winnie broke the silence, scolded the silence, embarrassed Fred, while picking up the fallen fan badge from the ground.

Speaking of which, whose fan badge was this again??

How could there be so many campus beauty fan clubs? Winnie felt he’d seen enough.

Whose fan badge was this? And it was blue.

Winnie casually straightened the badge and modified it. Upon seeing the name, he broke into a cold sweat, as if struck by lightning.

The name on this fan badge, he both knew and didn’t know. He knew the name, but the person it represented simply didn’t exist!

There, clearly written on the exquisite blue fan badge, were the characters ‘Winiya’.

Could it be, there was truly someone named Winiya on campus??

Just as Winnie was bewildered and hesitant, he noticed another line of text at the badge’s corner: ‘Lady Winiya won the campus beauty contest championship in her first semester.’

Looking at the sides of the badge, there were also decorative elements similar to bangs, styled in shoulder-length twin tails.

“……..”

Now it was confirmed. That terrifying thought had come true.

This name could belong to no one else, because Winnie himself had participated in that beauty contest. He knew that besides his own alias, there wasn’t a second contestant named ‘Winiya’!

Woah??

Winnie stared in shock at the dazed and bewildered Fred, instantly stepping back several paces.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep