Chapter 173 (Chapter 172) Overtime work comes unexpectedly...
For some reason, even though the terrace was high up and so far away, Yan Shi could still clearly hear the whispers of the people below.
It might not have been whispering.
The voice rang directly in her mind, and Yan Shi struggled to discern the Guige curtain within it.
So how did Guige Mu know that the items auctioned at the Divine Auction were consigned by Yanlan?
Yan Shi remembered that the invitation letter did not specify the name of the consignor, and according to her understanding, such black market auctions should pay great attention to the privacy of the participants.
The floating auction house and Gui Wujiu really aren't keeping secrets at all.
As the crowd took their seats, the lights in the hall were turned off one by one until only the beam of light above the central auction stage remained.
As the surroundings darkened, Yan Shi noticed that some of the interior of the terrace next to her was also lit up.
Blue specks of light swayed gently in the darkness.
"Welcome to the Divine Auction tonight."
Gui Wujiu walked from behind the auction stage to the center.
She had taken off the black robe she had been wearing and changed into a more formal auctioneer uniform, which was white and gold with blue shimmering fabric that displayed intricate patterns under the light.
After Gui Wujiu finished speaking, Yan Shi noticed that there were shimmering spots of light on the wall behind her on the terrace.
Yan Shi approached out of curiosity and discovered that there was a display screen here that was the same as the one in the room where the previous items were auctioned.
The screen then lights up, displaying only two simple options.
[Price Increase] [Suspension Lights]
This terrace looks a bit like a VIP room at an auction house, but...
Yan Shi's gaze fell to the bottom of the screen, where there was a small "Services" option.
The VIP room at the auction house was just a completely empty terrace, which seemed highly unusual.
Sure enough, after clicking on the service, a series of options immediately popped up on the screen. These covered a variety of furnishing elements to choose from, including different styles of furniture such as sofas, coffee tables, and flooring, as well as various exquisite meals such as desserts, fruits, and snacks. Each option came with a dynamic preview, showing how they would look placed on the terrace.
It's a bit like playing a virtual home renovation game.
Fun.
Yan Shi's eyes lit up, and he excitedly tapped and flipped through the screen, painstakingly selecting the most pleasing pattern from the emerald-colored furniture. After comparing it repeatedly, he pressed confirm.
The terrace floor trembled slightly.
Except for the area where Yanshi was standing in front of the display screen, the bottom of the rest of the area opened silently. Then, the selected items slowly rose from under a hole, the sofa and coffee table landed precisely, the floor material adjusted accordingly, and various desserts and snacks were automatically placed on their corresponding trays.
In the short time it took for Yanshi Soft Furnishings Terrace to sell, the auction price below had already risen to an astronomical figure.
Because there was only one item up for auction, and the details of the item were clearly described, Gui Wujiu completely abandoned the persuasive rhetoric of a normal auctioneer and simply and directly started the auction with no reserve price.
She even brought out a high stool in the center of the auction table, sat quietly on it with her hands supporting her face, and her mechanical eyes rotated back and forth, counting the bids below.
"Eight hundred and seventy million."
"Nine hundred and thirty million."
...
When the amount becomes large enough, money becomes an empty number.
Before the auction began, Yan Shi thought Claire might be somewhat valuable, but he didn't expect her to be this valuable.
This far exceeded Yan Shi's original plan: to sell a useless item in his storage space to get some cash to buy things at the floating auction.
The new problem is that, even if the entire amount is eventually settled in cash, Yan Shi doesn't have a bank card with such a large limit for receiving payments.
Will she be warned for allegedly laundering money and defrauding bank accounts, and then be approached by colleagues from different institutions on the other side of the Summer Palace?
Yan Shi's expression gradually became serious.
No way!
However, there are really a lot of rich people in the other world.
Although the terrace was high up, from Yan Shi's angle, all he could see was a sea of heads, not the faces of the bidders below. However, judging from the angle of Gui Wujiu's eyes, the positions were not fixed, and there were currently a great many participants in the bidding.
Putting aside the issue of payment for the moment, as an observer, Yan Shi was very curious about just how astronomical the final transaction price would be.
Suddenly she felt the entire space become quiet.
It wasn't the kind of silence that comes when the noise abruptly stops, but rather as if an invisible hand had pressed down from mid-air, suppressing the flow of the entire space, carrying an undeniable, chilling sharpness.
The air seemed to freeze, and the lights flickered silently. The constant raising of bidding paddles ceased, and Gui Wujiu's calm, unwavering voice also stopped.
Gui Wujiu looked up at the terrace from below.
It wasn't in the direction Yan Shi was facing, but on another terrace not far from her.
A slightly aged voice came from the terrace. The voice itself was not loud, but it seemed to be ringing in one's ears: "Little girl, you guys are really daring."
She spoke slowly, each word carrying weight and pressing down on one's heart: "A blatant auction of a god?"
The air seemed to freeze for a moment.
Gui Wujiu narrowed his eyes slightly.
The voice continued, with a half-smile: "Before the deal is finalized, why don't we let the person who consigned the item meet me?"
The moment she finished speaking, the silence in the entire space deepened.
Gui Wujiu clenched his fingers, remained silent for a moment, and then slowly spoke: "The Floating City has never had a precedent of suspending an auction. We respect the equality of transactions."
Her voice chuckled, and the entire space seemed to tremble slightly with her laughter. "Interesting."
She said, "I remember that the lord of the Floating City should be very clear about what happened to the last being who publicly involved 'gods'."
Gui Wujiu's expression suddenly changed slightly.
She paused for a moment, then said with certainty, "She's a smart woman; she would never agree to you risking the reputation of the Floating City by holding this auction."
Then he paused slightly, "What do you think?"
"Yanlan." From the terrace where the voice came from, a tangible gaze seemed to sweep across every terrace. "Or perhaps, it's Director Yan, who actually provided the auction items?"
Yan Shi: !
It felt like I was slacking off in class and then suddenly being called on by the teacher.
Before she could decide whether or not to answer, or how to answer, another voice came from another terrace to Yan Shi's left, sounding somewhat familiar: "Chun Yuqing, long time no see. You're quite nosy."
At the same time, a gentle force emanated from the left terrace, directly confronting the previous sharpness. Golden specks scattered, and the space began to flow again.
The dark curtain wall that had been covering the left terrace vanished in an instant, revealing a figure that Yan Shi had seen not long ago.
Archduke Lorenz.
At this moment, she was alone on the terrace; Libertas was not beside her. She sat on a dark velvet sofa, now dressed in a more formal outfit, the Lorenz family crest neatly pinned to her chest.
After the curtain wall on the terrace where Archduke Lorenz was located dissipated, several other sections of the curtain wall on the higher terraces also disappeared intermittently. The woman whom Archduke Lorenz referred to as Chun Yuqing was indeed an elderly woman.
Yan Shi observed her with great curiosity.
The main issue is that Yan Shi has basically never seen an old man in the inner world.
Even Guan Yunji, after glimpsing the future several times, only had gray hair, her face remained unchanged.
The old man before me looked just like any other elderly person nearing the end of their life that one often sees in hospital wards. He sat in what appeared to be a wooden wheelchair, his hair thinning, his skin loose, his body hunched over, unable to lean back, his back seemingly unable to straighten.
It was completely unimaginable that the chilling power that had previously dominated the entire auction house originated from her.
Chun Yuqing also turned her head to look in Yan Shi's direction: "Aren't you going to show yourself?"
"Yan Bureau."
Yan Shi: ?
She confirmed once again that the terrace she was on had a curtain wall, and theoretically this curtain wall should be similar to one-way glass.
Yan Shi scanned the area again and then discovered a blind spot. All the terraces with interior lighting had automatically removed their curtains, except for the one where she was.
It is arguably the brightest star in the night sky.
Yan Shi: ...
I feel like I'm being ostracized, just like at work.
She finally found the button to close the curtain wall next to the armrest of the sofa.
Yan Shi slowly adjusted her posture, transforming herself from a relaxed, slouching posture to a proper, upright sitting position for work. At the same time, she subconsciously touched her wrist, trying to feel the warmth from the blazing sun crown, before belatedly realizing that she seemed to have forgotten to retrieve the blazing sun crown after bidding it at the floating auction.
Awkward.jpg
There's one more thing to handle: I need to go to Gui Wujiu after the auction to get the Blazing Sun Crown.
Yan sighed.
The next moment, a flickering spark squeezed in from under the closed door of the terrace.
The blazing sun, carrying its anger, burned the carefully chosen carpet pattern, leaving a scorch mark. Finally, it reluctantly withdrew its heat and voluntarily shrank to fit around Yan Shi's wrist.
They're quite well-behaved.
Yan Shi burst out laughing, touching his wrist; it was familiarly warm.
She slowly retrieved her work uniform from the storage space, carefully buttoned each button, and finally leisurely closed the curtain wall.
At the behest of the blazing sun crown, the fire spirit gathered and surged, roaring as it suppressed the two opposing forces outside.
Countless eyes turned to Yan Shi.
"It's quite lively tonight. This is the first time I've seen this since I took office."
She scanned the balconies that were currently occupied, and finally looked at Gui Wujiu in the center of the auction stage below: "Continue."
Grand Duke Lorenz was also observing Yan Ju, whom he had heard of but was meeting for the first time.
Chun Yuqing is a demigod who has attained enlightenment through the sword; his sword intent is killing, and his habit is ruthlessness. Even with Grand Duke Lorenz's mastery of light magic as a high archmage, he could only manage a stalemate with Chun Yuqing without using his full strength.
The flames had just devoured all the sword intent and light.
Under the scorching sun, two things cannot coexist.
It is indeed rare for the Heavenly Mandate Platform to appoint a director who is truly capable of overseeing the Bureau of Extraordinary Affairs.
The Bureau of Extraterrestrial Affairs, as a law enforcement agency that maintains order and stability in the underworld, should never be a place for the younger generation of various families to play house.
What puzzled Grand Duke Lorenz, however, was that she herself had spent many years traveling in the Otherworld before assuming the title of Grand Duke Lorenz. Before Director Yan joined the Bureau of Extraterrestrial Affairs, she had never heard of any powerful figure associated with the blazing sun with the surname Yan.
The only place in the Otherworld she didn't know was the Destiny Platform.
Could it be that he personally intervened at the Heavenly Mandate Platform?
Author's Note: I'm back!
From now on, I'll be updating daily around 7-9 PM. I have three chapters saved up in the backend. Actually, I've been intermittently saving up chapters and writing, but it hasn't been very consistent. I've decided to resume writing once I have a stable writing schedule and a solid backlog.
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