Chapter 166 (Temporary Auction)
Gui Gemu stopped what he was doing and opened his mouth.
She may have said something, but Yanshi couldn't hear it through the thick glass box.
Yan Shi tilted his head and made a confused expression.
The next moment, Gui Gemu lowered his head again, forcefully wedging the talisman knife into the corner of the glass display case.
The glass box made a crisp "crack" sound, and then cracks began to appear from the corner where the talisman knife was stuck. Soon after, the entire box shattered and broke into pieces on the ground.
"Yanlan?" After the glass case shattered, Guige Mu emerged from the display case. "You're here too? And on this floor?"
Yan Shi: ?
Is there anything special about this floor?
She remained outwardly calm and said, "Just browsing."
Guigemu: "You came to browse around and casually consigned a very valuable item for auction?"
It's important to know that aerial auctions differ from regular auctions in that they limit the number of bids an individual can make, and the items are auctioned entirely blindly.
There is no reserve price, and other bids are not visible; the value is estimated solely by the bidders themselves.
In the event of a tie and the highest bid, the first bidder wins.
Meanwhile, the items for the floating auction come from two sources: one is provided by the auctioneer each time, and the other is items provided by the participants themselves.
The floating auction house itself is a massive alchemical artifact, entirely transformed from the former site of the once glorious floating church in the inner world.
All participants receive the same admission ticket, and after verification, they will be transported through the main gate to the first floor of the auction hall to await the start of the auction. However, consignors who provide items for auction can enter their own item room.
Because of the complex layout of the rooms and the crisscrossing corridors inside the auction hall, some participants may not be able to find the room containing the final item even by the time the auction ends.
So there's an unspoken rule here.
The more valuable the item being consigned, the higher it will be positioned in the auction, meaning closer to the final items. This makes it easier to find the item and place bids earlier.
“If nothing unexpected happens, the room where the final item of this auction is located is just across the central corridor on this floor.” Gui Gemu looked at Yan Lan with a probing gaze. “You can’t find this place just by wandering around.”
Yanlan really wasn't trying to fool her.
Wen Ying and Meng Shi consigned their personal weapons for auction, and Gui Ge Mu even offered himself as an auction item...
Yan Shi seemed to be deep in thought; it seemed that the location of the room where the auctioned items were placed was very important.
Suddenly I'm grateful for the value of the blazing sun.
Gui Gemu saw Yan Shi remain silent for a long time, then walked over the glass of the display case on the ground toward the door. "Yan Lan, take your time browsing. I'll be going now."
Yan Shi didn't reply to her. Instead, she looked again at the shattered display case and the Guige curtain that had escaped from it, and raised an eyebrow. "There should be security cameras in the auction house, right?" She raised her voice. "I want to report this. The exhibit has escaped."
Returning to the Pavilion: ...
She stood there, turned around, and said with a forced smile, "I'm sorry to disappoint you. To protect the interests of our clients, there are no security cameras in the rooms, only in the hallways."
Yan Shi: "You reminded me, I should go to the hallway and report it to the camera."
Returning to the Pavilion: ...
She took a deep breath, turned around, walked to the door, and turned on the display screen.
Although the overall decor of the rooms is very different, the display screens are the same.
A simple amount box + numeric keypad.
Yan Shi curiously walked behind the curtain of Guige and looked at it from the side.
After turning on the screen, Guige Mu almost without hesitation typed in a string of 8s.
【88888888】
Before Yan Shi could even count the digits, Gui Ge Mu had already taken out a token engraved with "Ragnarok" and swiped it to submit.
Yan Shi: ?
She slowly cracked open.
Is the unit for this amount still yuan?!
Since Guige Mu is so rich, what is he trying to achieve by constantly demanding a raise?
The salary of the Foreign Affairs Bureau isn't even enough to cover a fraction of this offer.
Yan Shi deeply felt the unevenness of the world.
After making his offer, Guige Mu took out his phone from his pocket and checked the time.
22:58.
The auction will start in 2 minutes.
Guige Mu and Yanlan were not really familiar with each other; they had only met a few times.
As Guige Mu was lost in thought, unsure of where to begin, Yan Shi suddenly asked, "Why did you come here to buy an admission ticket for the Floating City?"
"From what I understand, the official organizers should provide admission tickets."
"Yes, there is." Gui Gemu shrugged. "If you have the opportunity to travel independently, of course you should choose independent travel. Group tours are too restrictive."
Yan Shi understood.
Just as she was about to ask for more details, the lights in the room suddenly turned on, and the entire auction house fell silent.
It's like the world suddenly goes quiet, even the slightest sound of wind or the rustling of fabric disappears, leaving only a deafening emptiness.
Only three distant chimes could be heard, their melodious tones echoing through the air.
The chiming of the bell seemed like some kind of opening signal, and then, in the next second, the world suddenly returned to sound, even with the clamor of human voices.
Yan Shi looked up and saw that Gui Ge Mu had hurriedly opened the door to the room, and outside the door was a bustling crowd.
Gui Gemu's figure squeezed into the crowd and disappeared.
Yan Shi: ?
The number of people at the entrance is comparable to that of the peak tourist season. Yan Shi sees this number of tourists every day when he passes by the Summer Palace after get off work.
However, when Yan Shi walked down the corridor, it was deserted.
Moreover, according to Guige Mu, this room is located across the middle corridor, which is where the final item of this auction will be sold, so the room should be in a very good location.
How can there be so many people?
At first glance, all I could see were unfamiliar faces.
Even more strangely, Yan Shi stood at the door, his gaze sweeping over the crowd.
It was incredibly diverse, with people of all races, dressed in various styles, some chatting in small groups, others hurrying by alone.
Yan Shi only remembered that there were only two rooms with crystal balls lit up outside their doors along this corridor. She guessed that only these two rooms contained items for auction.
There was a one-in-half probability, but no one entered the room.
Yan Shi hesitated for a moment before stepping out of the room.
The moment she stepped into the crowd, she sensed something was wrong; there was an indescribable feeling of unease.
Everyone around seemed to be looking at Yan Shi.
Unfamiliar faces and unfamiliar eyes of various colors were all turned toward her.
It brings a chilling sense of oppression.
Yan Shi stared back, his face expressionless.
It seems she has temporarily given up the opportunity to photograph the blazing sun.
This auction was not interesting at all.
Yan Shi closed his eyes briefly: "The illusion dissipates."
The crowd was still there, their eyes still glued to her, creating an eerie atmosphere that sent chills down one's spine.
It's not an illusion.
The blazing sun was no longer there, but the watery creature obediently clung to her fingertips, seemingly sensing Yan Shi's distress, and moved closer to her face.
Yan Shi felt a chill in his eyes.
This floor is located on the highest level of the auction house, extremely close to the sky.
Outside the window, the moon hangs nearby.
Moonlight streamed through the glass, swirling around the water droplets, converging into fine lines before Yan Shi's eyes. These lines intertwined, gradually forming a veil, and finally creating a soft, transparent eye mask that covered Yan Shi's face.
What lay before them were not human beings, but puppets, faceless beings whose limbs were made of intricate metal and indescribable runes.
Although he was no longer being watched by countless eyes, Yan Shi still looked away when he saw so many messy things crammed together in the middle of the night.
I seem to have nightmares a lot at night.
Because the corridor was full of puppets, the only living person would stand out.
Guigemu had already walked quite a distance, and his figure was about to disappear around the corner.
Yan Shi assessed her own sense of direction and silently decided that it would be better for her to follow Gui Ge Mu.
She also stepped towards the covered bridge.
The auction house's covered walkway is a semi-open-air design that connects the left and right areas. Standing on the walkway, you can see the brightly lit corridors inside the auction house.
The corridor was bustling with people.
They all look like puppets.
The fact that so many puppets are being used at the auction suggests that the auction probably doesn't have many customers, so they need to use puppets to make it look more impressive.
Yan Shi felt that he had seen through the true intentions of the auction house.
She had just crossed the covered bridge when she suddenly saw several living people walking up the stairs among a group of faceless puppets.
Yan Shi stopped in his tracks.
The leader had silver hair and blue eyes, and wore a deep purple velvet robe with exquisite tailoring and a gold-threaded emblem embroidered on the chest. Underneath the robe, she wore a simple white silk shirt, buttoned tightly to the collar, with tiny pearls adorning the edges.
A very typical Western aristocratic outfit from the Otherworld.
Yan Shi looked around and came to a conclusion.
The leader looked somewhat familiar.
Yan Shi was still wondering where he had seen them before when the group of people came upstairs, with Libertas following closely beside the leader.
Libertas was dressed the same as he had been at the governor's mansion during the day, with his longsword slung over his back, but he did not take it to the auction.
Now Yan Shi remembered why the leader looked so familiar.
Libertas and the leader look about six or seven parts alike, except that Libertas is younger and more outgoing.
Judging from this, the leader should be none other than Libertas's mother, the renowned Archmage Lorenz from the Underworld.
Because the staircase is right next to the covered bridge, the group of people and Yan Shi are now very close, to the point where there is no way to avoid it.
However, for some reason, after going upstairs, Libertas almost never looked to the side, brushing past Yan Shi without noticing him at all.
They spoke in hushed tones.
“Rita,” said Grand Duke Lorenz, “the black market auctions are indeed inextricably linked to the sale of undocumented immigrants, which is why we strictly prohibit and crack down on them within our territory. But their existence is justified.”
"I brought you here because I am powerful enough that no one can get past me and harm you. But not all of our people have such strength."
Libertas: "Therefore I will use the sword in my hand to protect our people."
“That’s something for when you’re older,” Archduke Lorenz chuckled. “I want you to understand clearly that existence is its own justification. But existence doesn’t necessarily mean it’s absolutely correct.”
The Lorenz family's territory of Kersei is located in the central part of the western human territory on the map. Novano Port, on the other hand, is at the intersection of the eastern and western human territories, and the two are not close to each other.
Grand Duke Lorenz traveled all the way here, bringing Libertas with him to this auction; it seems the floating auction is indeed quite special.
Moreover, the fact that Archduke Lorenz was able to go to the top floor at the very beginning of the auction indicates that the items she offered for auction must be quite valuable.
An interest flashed in Yan Shi's eyes.
Although her wallet was empty, she was at an auction right now.
What a great place to get rich quick!
Yan Shi stopped in his tracks, suddenly remembering that he actually had an expensive "item" in his storage space that he wouldn't mind giving away for free even if he auctioned it off.
She randomly stopped a puppet passing by, stared at the puppet's face, and asked, "Hello, could you please add another item to the auction now?"
The puppet stopped moving and stared at her blankly.
Yan Shi's eyebrows curved slightly. "I know you're watching, auctioneer. Can we add more items to the auction now?"
The puppet paused, as if receiving an order, and said stiffly, "Madam, in principle, it is not allowed."
"What if the item I offer is valuable enough?" Yan Shi looked up, no longer looking at the puppet, but staring at the camera hidden in the corner of the ceiling, and said, word by word, "I want to auction off a god."
"God, who knows authority and whose candidates are yet to be determined."
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