"Thump."

The wooden box landed on the auction table covered with red velvet with a dull thud.

The entire room fell silent.

Everyone craned their necks, staring intently at the box.

Compared to the thousand-year-old jade box that previously held the Tide-Listening Shells, this wooden box looks like it was pieced together from firewood picked up from the roadside, with even rough wood grain and splinters visible on it.

This... is the treasure of the mainland?

Amidst the puzzled gazes of the crowd, Ning Rongrong extended her slightly trembling hand and opened the box.

The next second, everyone in the auction hall had the same expression as Ning Rongrong just now.

solidification.

Inside the simple wooden box, there were no jewels, no energy fluctuations, and not even a strange fragrance.

Yes, there was a handful... dark, damp, and it even smelled faintly fishy...

silt.

That's right, it's silt.

The entire room fell silent.

If the previous appearance of Tingchao Bei was met with awe-inspiring silence, then now it is a silence caused purely by shock and absurdity, a silence as if the brain has crashed.

Everyone was stunned.

Tao Jingyun rubbed his eyes, wondering if he was hallucinating.

Ning Fengzhi's hand holding the teacup froze in mid-air, and the smile on his face also froze.

Even Bibi Dong's face showed a slight crack, her beautiful brows furrowing as if she were pondering the deeper meaning of this handful of mud.

Ning Rongrong felt a chill run down her spine and wished she could disappear into the ground.

But since things had come to this, she had no choice but to bite the bullet and begin introducing the "auction item" in a voice that even she herself found ethereal.

"Ahem... This... This item is called 'Soil from the Ten-Thousand-Year-Old Trench'."

"It...it comes from a deep trench ten thousand meters below the surface of the sea, where it has been dormant for more than ten thousand years."

"According to... according to the provider, it is rich in a variety of trace elements that are beneficial to plant growth, as well as the... corpses of countless unknown microorganisms."

As she spoke, Ning Rongrong's voice grew softer and softer; she didn't even dare to look at the expressions of the people below the stage.

She paused, as if summoning her last bit of courage, and added:

"Perhaps... it can be used as fertilizer."

"...The effect is outstanding."