Chapter 171 The Fall

Lin Cai's grip on the windowsill loosened, and she almost slipped and fell from the height. She then frantically grabbed the windowsill again.

She heard Yanlan laugh again.

Perhaps it was because of relaxation, but Yanlan's eyes and brows under the moonlight were gentle in a way that Lin Cai rarely saw in her memory.

Lin Cai looked up and stared blankly for a few seconds, momentarily thinking that she had returned to the past.

Those were the times he and Yanlan walked through the ruins after the world barrier collapsed.

She slowly forced a big smile: "Lanlan, good evening."

The dust she picked up while climbing the wall stuck to Lin Cai's cheeks, making her smile look somewhat disheveled.

The protagonists of shonen manga are truly creatures with boundless vitality and omnipresence.

Whether it's the current Lin Cai, or the future version of Lin Cai within Lin Cai herself.

They all look very durable and resilient.

However, Lin Cai's entrance was a bit too much.

Lin Cai's head was sticking out of the windowsill. Yan Shi reached out and wiped the grime off her face: "How did you get in?"

The owner of the shed only gave Yan Shi an admission ticket. When they parted ways at Novano Port an hour earlier, Lin Cai did not have the right to enter the auction.

At that moment, Chu Mengfu's face was filled with disappointment and resentment.

Lin Cai returned to the city with Chu Mengfu.

Could it be that Lin Cai found an admission ticket right after they separated?!

That would truly be the law secretly giving its protagonist a back door.

I really want to report it.

But if one already has an admission ticket, what is the meaning of Lin Cai crawling in the shadows outside the auction house?

“The floating auction is essentially a black market auction.” Lin Cai adjusted her posture and leaned on the windowsill to look at Yan Shi.

Yan Shi: "Mm."

She gestured for Lin Cai to continue.

"So you can send your items to the auction house until the auction officially begins," Lin Cai said.

A common practice in black market auctions.

Only more valuable items can attract more desperate criminals to participate.

Yan Shi understood this, but, "Given the scale of the floating auction, without an admission ticket, even if you send in priceless items, you won't get in." She looked at Lin Cai.

Lin Cai: "Lanlan, the items can be brought in for auction."

Yan Shi: ?

The curtain in the glass display case, which had been trying to recreate her appearance, attacked her again.

Yan Shi: ...

She understood what Lin Cai meant.

Lin Cai submitted herself to the auction, and then climbed out of the glass display case just like Gui Ge Mu.

"The floating auction accepts any living being," Yan Shi complained. "There are already so many puppets."

Lin Cai: "...A puppet?"

She turned her head and looked down at the window below.

Countless figures moved back and forth in the glass-enclosed corridor.

Lin Cai laughed again, her face radiating an unyielding coldness: "I see." She said softly, "It really is the other world."

The Heart of Light allowed Lin Cai to see through all illusions; she didn't notice anything amiss when she saw the bustling crowd in the corridor.

All I can say is that these puppets are real living beings.

Yanlan, however, said that these were puppets.

Manipulating living beings, causing their souls to wail silently in agony within their bodies, is a common practice favored by powerful families in the underworld.

Lin Cai had never been to a floating auction before, and when she worked at the Seiro City Bureau of Extraordinary Affairs, she had only heard rumors about the floating city.

Her biggest question was: if the world barrier collapsed and ordinary, unarmed creatures in the outer world were at the mercy of others, what about those creatures from the outer world who went to the inner world?

Why didn't they step forward to save their own people, but instead remained silent throughout the entire catastrophe?

Where are they?

Today, Chu Mengfu mentioned that the Floating City is a wandering city built by beings from the surface world, and she wants to go and see it.

Lin Cai also wanted to go and see.

It seems unnecessary now.

What good things could someone have that would mean choosing to stay in the Otherworld after graduating from Zhanzhou, never to see their blood relatives and friends again in this lifetime?

They're all birds of a feather.

Not all living beings are like Yanlan.

The Otherworld is so terrible and crazy. The higher Lin Cai went in her position at the Seiro City Bureau of Extraordinary Affairs, the more easily she was swept up by the world around her, and she began to see everything irrational as normal.

She would refuse to place bets in the arena or control the lives and deaths of others, but that would be all.

The weak are those who have no right to self-determination.

Therefore, it is perfectly normal for their personality and life to be trampled on and manipulated.

Only Yanlan, like the radiant moon, has soberly walked through all death and nightmares, her soul forever shining brightly, refusing to sink with the world.

Lin Cai snapped out of her daze, then looked back at Yan Shi with renewed focus, shaking her head: "Lanlan, the Floating Auction does not accept living beings."

Yan Shi: ?

What are Lin Caihe and Guigemu?

Lin Cai stepped firmly on the bricks, freeing one hand to touch her right chest: "What I'm photographing is my heart."

"The auction house wanted to ensure its integrity, so I was brought in as the container for the heart," Lin Cai said.

Lin Cai's heart...

Yan Shi suddenly realized.

Lin Cai's heart is a heart of light, like the crown of the blazing sun, the authority of the spirit.

It is indeed priceless.

But from this perspective, what exactly is Guige Mu auctioning off by consigning himself as an item?

Before Yan Shi could figure out a solution, the entire auction house suddenly trembled.

Yan Shi looked over Lin Cai's head and back.

The entire castle was shaking violently. The faint glow of the array and runes on the outer walls instantly became dazzling, and blue halos flowed across the walls like ripples on water.

"Lanlan..." Due to the violent shaking of the auction house, Lin Cai's movements on the outer wall became more difficult, and small pieces of brick from the outer wall slid down from her feet.

She began to falter.

Yan Shi reached out, trying to pull Lin Cai up through the window, but the moment his right hand touched her fingertips, Lin Cai vanished from the spot.

Yan Shi: ?

Not only did Lin Cai disappear, but when Yan Shi looked down from the window, the lights in the corridor went out one by one, and the interior of the corridor gradually became invisible.

The auction hall was instantly plunged into darkness, with only the occasional sound of wind passing through the covered bridge.

This is starting to sound like a horror story.

The floating auction house is indeed a great place to be used as an escape room.

Yan Shi thought about it and then realized the crux of the problem: Lin Cai had disappeared and the auction house was dark, so it looked like it was closed. Why was she still here?

---

Lin Cai fell backward amidst the violent tremors in the auction hall.

Behind us is the endless sky.

The wind howled, and she could feel her heart pounding faster. As she fell, Lin Cai struggled to adjust her posture, trying her best to protect her vitals.

This is the experience she learned from countless brushes with death.

As long as it's not fatal, the Heart of Light will slowly heal all injuries.

Finally, Lin Cai felt a solid weight behind her and landed on a soft patch of ground. She heard the sound of waves gently lapping against the shore, mixed with what sounded like the noise of people.

She breathed softly, feeling the power of the Heart of Light within her slowly circulating, repairing the damage caused by her fall. Her fingers unconsciously grasped a handful of sand; the delicate touch brought her a slight sense of peace.

"This is...?" Lin Cai opened her eyes and found herself back on the beach of Novano Port.

Unlike when we went to the floating auction house, which was deserted, the beach was now bustling with all sorts of creatures.

Various airships, magical artifacts, and carriages pulled by demonic beasts were either suspended in mid-air or parked on the beach.

Beside her stood mages in magnificent robes, or cultivators exuding an ethereal aura. Occasionally, a few beastmen would pass by, their bodies covered in scales or feathers they deliberately retained even in human form.

However, Yanlan was not present.

Lin Cai glanced around, then slowly stood up and patted the sand off her body.

She was pulled out of the auction house, so what about Yanlan?

"Lin Cai?"

She heard shouts coming from behind her.

Lin Cai turned around and looked down, then lowered her head: "Director Gui."

The woman standing next to Gui Gemu, whom Lin Cai did not recognize, chuckled: "Now she's not Director Gui anymore, she should be called Director Gui."

Gui Gemu glanced at her: "Lu Jian, if you can't speak properly, you should shut up." Then Gui Gemu looked at Lin Cai, "Lin Cai, what are you doing here?"

He was promoted to section chief after returning to his post.

Lin Cai lowered her eyes. There weren't many departments stationed at the General Administration of Foreign Affairs, and the heads of each department were all powerful figures.

Gui Gemu's Confidentiality Department is under the Information Division. The fact that Lu Jianneng, the director of the Information Division, and Gui Gemu appeared together with seemingly harmonious relations suggests that Gui Gemu was not promoted to the position of director of the Information Division. So, which department was she transferred to?

Or rather, something big has happened in one of the departments of the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television.

Lin Cai noted down the information, then explained, "I came here with Teacher Yanlan to attend the auction, and suddenly I came out." She feigned anxiety and asked, "Gui Chu, have you seen Teacher Yanlan?"

"Yanlan is taking you here to the black market auction tonight..." Lu Jian said with interest. "She's been quite friendly to students since she started working in Zhanzhou."

Gui Ge had already bumped into Yan Lan at the auction that evening. He wasn't surprised, but simply raised an eyebrow slightly: "Weren't you with her?"

Lin Cai shook her head: "They were together just now, but they were scattered after being poured out."

"Are you sure Yanlan was sold off at the auction?" Lu Jian pondered.

She and Guige Mu couldn't find Yanju on the beach either.

But Director Yan said on the phone that she was already inside.

Theoretically, all the participants in the previous floating auction have already left the auction house, so where is Director Yan?

Yanlan has also disappeared.

An auction that shook the entire underworld overnight saw gods displayed and their authority up for sale, drawing powerful figures from all races of the underworld to gather in one place...

And Yanju, who has yet to appear.

Lu Jian sighed inwardly, feeling vaguely uneasy. She always felt that Director Yan was playing a very big game, and Lu Jian couldn't see the situation clearly.

Bian jumped off an airship not far away, answering a phone call as he walked over to them. "...Okay, all those arrested will be taken to the branch prison at the Will Hub for immediate detention. They will be interrogated again tomorrow after work."

After she hung up the phone, she looked at Gui Gemu and said, "Gui Chu, if you don't answer the phone, the execution team's emergency call came to me."

Returning to the Pavilion: ?

She hadn't quite adjusted to her role as acting head of the executive department yet, and besides, "If I have to work overtime in the middle of the night, I'll talk about it tomorrow." Gui Gemu smiled, "Now is my rest time."

It's difficult to calculate overtime pay when you work voluntarily.

Returning to the inner chambers, one's talents will not be wasted.

Bian Zheng: "There are no black market auctions or a bunch of desperate criminals who are suddenly thrown off the auction house during the day, nor are there any powerful guards who can lend a hand."

Returning to the Pavilion: ...

“I didn’t think we were here to complete our weekly performance evaluation and KPIs,” she said softly.