Fang Xiang

This is both a work of science fiction and an exploration of the meaning of life, love, literature and art. Brainpower is no longer the main ingredient for being human in this far distant future world.  Spirituality, physical balance, and diligence all come together as integrity for Chen Mu, the Card Apprentice.  The cards which Chen Mu masters in his own scrappy way, distill all the powers of the cosmos –  human and nonhuman –  into something that is not a book, not technology, and neither art nor magic, but is these and more.  Learn about these strange cards, which can embody everything you might imagine for the future of technology, but also a future beyond technology which promotes the best, and sometimes the worst, from mankind’s past.

The Card Apprentice

What was that? Chen Mu suddenly had a feeling of great danger, tightening in on him from all around. He was about to explode from holding off that pervasive feeling of oppression! The perception that he had been extending all around his body seemed to be getting compressed back into him by a tremendous force.

That sudden bout of oppression had come out of thin air.

He was struggling to hold up, and didn't dare to let up. He wasn't hearing a word of the president's lecture from the podium. The whole world seemed far away from him, while he kept holding on to his own shred of clarity!

Just when he felt that he couldn't hold out any longer, that oppressive feeling disappeared without any sign.

In an Emergency