"Weber, what on earth do you want to do?"
Back in the room, the white-haired young man grabbed El-Melloi II and asked loudly.
"There's no way El-Melloi is prepared to pay that much money right now! Or do you want to provoke the Thousand World Tree?"
“I really don’t have that much money.”
El-Melloi II nodded.
"But we have to keep going, once the auction is over, it's over."
"Have you ever thought about what would happen if that young lady suddenly changed her mind and decided not to buy it? Wouldn't your El-Melloi family be finished? This train is not the kind of place where you can write IOUs!"
The white-haired young man sighed helplessly.
"In fact, we have almost given up, haven't we? What's the point of raising the price like this? As long as the young lady raises her hand, she will win in the end."
"Does Miss Red Ponytail have so much money?"
Hearing this, Gray next to her couldn't help but ask in surprise. To be honest, after the amount reached hundreds of millions, she almost fainted. With the current amount, this poor country girl couldn't imagine it anymore.
"Of course, you may not know that the Thousand Worlds Tree has become very famous in the surface world in recent years. It controls the production and sales of semiconductor raw materials, as well as the pharmaceutical industry..."
At this point, El-Melloi II shook his head helplessly. Few people actually know about this kind of thing. After all, the Thousand World Tree is indeed rich, but ordinary people really can't imagine it. This is also normal. For example, everyone knows AMD and Intel as chip manufacturers, but few know about raw material suppliers such as Umicore and Nichia Chemical.
In fact, the products provided by these companies are not secret weapons, but household names, such as battery compounds, optoelectronic materials, LED optical components, battery raw materials, etc. However, to the general public, these companies are far less famous than Toshiba, Intel, Samsung and other companies.
However, the products they provide are the most indispensable.
In short, Intel may go bankrupt, Samsung may also go bankrupt, but companies like Umicore will almost never have to worry about development prospects and raw material sales. Unless there is a new material that completely subverts the current global technology products and makes all the previous ones become waste, they don't have to worry about anything.
Qianjieshu is also a raw material supplier, mainly responsible for providing high-quality and low-cost semiconductor materials and raw materials for LED displays. In the current era of rapid technological development, with the help of Qianjieshu's own financial resources and Founder's forward-looking vision, Qianjieshu has become one of the world's largest raw material suppliers in just a few years.
However, most magicians don't care about technology. Although some of them control many mines, they only supply raw materials. High-tech raw materials supply is a completely different matter. Relying on seizing opportunities and occupying the market, the current Thousand World Tree... is not much worse than the Twelve Monarchs of the Clock Tower.
Not to mention that Fang Zheng can get money from the CIA and FBI anytime and anywhere.
"But... this isn't a good idea..."
Even so, Gray still felt bad. After all, no matter how rich Qianjieshu was, he would not be fooled by others. Now her master was bidding a price to delay time. If it was just to delay time, it would be fine, but every time she bid a price, the amount would increase, which meant that Red Ponytail would need to spend more money to buy the magic eye.
It would be fine if Red Ponytail was her enemy, but she had just helped heal El-Melloi II's injuries... In Gray's opinion, her master was a bit ungrateful.
"When that happens, I will go and apologize to her in person."
This is all El-Melloi II can say at the moment.
Soon, everyone returned to the Ten Thousand Demon Eyeball Bank, and the auction that had been suspended started again. In fact, whether it was El-Melloi II or others, it seemed that they also took this opportunity to collect enough money for the final battle.
As a result, the auction price began to rise again, rapidly increasing from 240 million to 260 million. At this time, the pink-haired girl joined the fight again and directly raised the price to 300 million.
Then, the auction price continued to rise, and stopped once when it reached 370 million. Then the white-haired young man increased it to 400 million.
This time, Kanono Hishiri was the first to withdraw from the fight, leaving only the white-haired young man and the pink-haired girl to fight each other.
finally……
"Five hundred million."
The pink-haired girl raised the sign again with a smile, while the white-haired young man chose to give up silently.
However, at this moment, El-Melloi II raised his hand again.
"Please wait a moment."
Seeing El-Melloi II raise his hand, the auctioneer shook his head.
“This auction will not accept a second break.”
"It's not a halftime break, I just want to give the Magic Eye Collection Train some suggestions."
El-Melloi II spoke, but at this moment.
"In that case, it won't be too late to bring it up after the auction is over."
Fang Zheng stood up.
"One billion, if no one else wants it, I'll take it."
“…”
This time, no one spoke.
Although it was expected, Gray couldn't help but cover her mouth. Even Seo Shizune and Asagami Fujino beside Fang Zheng gasped. One billion dollars, that's not a small amount. Although Red Ponytail had always successfully seized the Magic Eye at twice the highest price before, everyone thought that Red Ponytail would not do it again this time. After all, no matter what, rising to 500 million dollars was already exaggerated. In their opinion, Red Ponytail could only add 50 million at most to end the auction.
But unexpectedly, she still gave a price without hesitation that no one could imagine.
"A billion dollars once, a billion dollars twice, a billion dollars three times...deal."
The auctioneer banged his gavel.
"Congratulations, Miss Red Ponytail."
"You're welcome. Now just wait until this show is over."
Having said that, Fang Zheng glanced at El-Melloi II.
"I'll settle the score with you later."
After saying this, she sat down and reopened the PSP. Hearing what Red Ponytail said, El-Melloi II also smiled bitterly. Then he coughed and waved to the side.
"Come here, Coles."
"yes."
Hearing El-Melloi II's call, Colles walked to the center and opened the briefcase in his hand.
“……!”
"What is that?"
Seeing the contents of the bag, all the magicians present were shocked. Even Ryougi Shiki opened his eyes wide with curiosity and looked down. What was exposed in the bag was a woman's head.
To be precise, it was the head of Theresa, the first victim of the previous "Magic Eye Train Murder Case".
"To those of you who know nothing about the incident, please allow me to take up your time. As the ruler of the modern magic department, I am begging you."
At this point, El-Melloi II bowed solemnly, and the magicians did not say anything more. Now that the auction has come to an end, the Thousand World Tree has bought all the magic eyes in one go, and they can't get other magic eyes. In this case, they will just listen to what El-Melloi II has to say and treat it as a way to kill time.
"First of all, starting from this case, the victim Theresa was beheaded. As Miss Huaye said, the murderer was Carabo, and the method was to use the power of his Foam Mystic Eye. But in fact, a similar series of serial murders occurred in London seven years ago. The victims were also beheaded, and their heads were missing. So, what do you think after hearing this?"
El-Melloi II spread out his hands while saying this.
"That is, they are all dead."
“……???”
Upon hearing this, everyone present fell silent, and Ryougi Shiki was also stunned.
"Isn't this normal? If a person loses his head, he will die naturally, right?"
"It's different, ma'am."
El-Melloi II shook his head.
"Now we have proved that Theresa's head was hidden by herself, so what about the others? What if we assume that the victims seven years ago were all holders of the evil eye?"
"So what you mean is that the criminal killed those people in order to use the magic eye?"
Olga Marie also joined the conversation at this moment.
"But isn't it only possible to remove the evil eye and transplant it into someone else's body on this train? If you want to use the evil eye, does that mean we are also accomplices here?"
"Of course not."
El-Melloi II shook his head.
"For this reason, the murderer did not remove the evil eye, but took the head away with it."
"???"
Hearing this, Ryougi Shiki, Seo Shizune and Asagami Fujino looked at each other in confusion, while the other magicians seemed to have thought of something, and Olga Marie also turned pale.
"So, you mean the heads..."
"That's right."
El-Melloi II nodded.
"The victim's head was taken away, still alive."
"Why?!!"
Hearing this, the three girls cried out in surprise, while Fang Zheng snorted.
"What's so surprising about this? Isn't there a similar experiment in modern medicine? As long as instruments are used to simulate organs and blood flow, a gorilla's head can be kept alive for several minutes. If even modern medicine can do it, magic certainly can't be a problem either."
“Woo…”
Faced with Fang Zheng's explanation, the three girls all looked a little ugly. Asagami Fujino even reached out her hand to touch her neck involuntarily - if she only had a head left, it would be a fate worse than death!
It would be better to die!
"But you've been talking for a long time and you still haven't said who the real murderer is."
"That's true."
Just as El-Melloi II finished speaking, suddenly, a white light flashed, and then turned into chains, tightly restraining the young man holding the head.
"Old, teacher?"
Faced with this scene, Colles showed a surprised expression, while El-Melloi II shook his head and looked at Colles.
"The real murderer who manipulated Carabao Frampton and killed Theresa Firoz is you."
"Why?!"
Hearing this, everyone was stunned.
"Wait, isn't that Mr. El-Melloi II's student?"
"Oh, he's a fake."
Fang Zheng manipulated the plumber to pass another level while casually answering Jingyin's question.
"By the way, the Servant who attacked you before was also summoned by him."
“Huh?”
Hearing this, not only Shizune, but also Ryougi Shiki and Fujino were stunned.
"Really? Xiao Hong?"
"Of course. When you were dealing with Fuhailin's son, this guy ran into my room and said something nonsense about wanting to cooperate with Qianjieshu, but I refused, so he manipulated the servants to attack you... He wanted to take you as hostages, but you did a good job, so the guy ran away in embarrassment."
"Is it him?"
After hearing Fang Zheng's answer, Ryougi Shiki narrowed her eyes dangerously and stood up. Fortunately, Fujino next to her was quick to grab her.
"Wait, Shiki-san, don't get excited..."
At the same time, Coles, who was restrained, also showed an embarrassed expression.
"Teacher, are you serious? But just based on these, you say I am the murderer..."
"Indeed, I have no evidence."
Having said this, El-Melloi II turned his head.
“So, I’ve been waiting for him.”
At the same time, the others also looked in the direction El-Melloi II was looking and then showed surprised expressions.
"Thanks for catching up."
"It's really tiring, teacher, but fortunately I made it in time."
The boy with glasses sighed and looked down with a wry smile. His appearance, looks, and even clothes were exactly the same as those of Koles below.
It was obviously Colles himself.
“It really surprises me.”
Seeing this, Colles—or someone pretending to be Colles—smiled.
"I also want to ask you, how did the real Corles get here? To be honest, I thought I could still get away with it if you exposed it over the phone or with magic."
"That, of course, depends on my efforts."
At this time, a second figure walked in. She looked about the same age as Olga Marie, with golden hair and bright red eyes that shone as if burning.
"Because of my sister who cares about me, she traveled thousands of miles and performed flying magic to get here."
"I was sleeping soundly at home, but when I opened my eyes, I found myself in an abandoned building. I thought someone had cast an illusion on me, and when I woke up, several days had passed!"
At this moment, Coles was glaring at the impostor with gritted teeth.
"Now, you can tell me your true identity."
"certainly."
In response to El-Melloi II's question, the other party blinked, and after a moment, the boy who was previously bound disappeared, replaced by a tall and thin man with flaming hair and fair skin. His clothes also changed into a sea-blue suit.
"You are the former head of the Modern Magic Department, right?"
"That's right."
The man nodded.
"That's the right title, because I've never been a LORD, unlike you. As for my name... my old friends all call me DR. Hatteras, and I'd be happy if you could call me that, too."
"I didn't expect to meet you here."
"This is normal. After all, when you took over as Dean, you were not able to hand over the position in person. I had already given up the Clock Tower at that time."
Hatteras's expression did not change at all, and he still had that plain smile on his face.
"By the way, what about my motives? Have you come to a conclusion yet?"
"certainly."
El-Melloi II took out a cigar - but after taking a look at the red-tailed man playing the PSP, he had to put it back.
"Your purpose is to summon heroic spirits, right?"
“That’s right.”
Hatteras snapped his fingers happily.
"It seems you are quite smart."
"Not only that, you were the one who designed the appearance of Fuhailin's son here. The track of the Demon Eye Collection Train is on the spirit vein, but the staff should have confirmed it in advance. But Fuhailin's son still appeared, so it can only be considered that someone deliberately designed it. Putting Fuhailin's son and the Demon Eye Collection Train on the same spirit vein will inevitably cause distortion, and you used this to try to summon the Heroic Spirit, right?"
Having said that, El-Melloi II clenched his fists.
"So, when you summoned the Servant, you have already achieved your goal."
“That’s right.”
Hatreth nodded, lowered his head, and then raised his hands.
"Well, you should know that as a master, you have three absolute powers of command."
At this point, Hatteras smiled slightly.
"For example... in the name of the Command Spell... come here!"
As Hatreth's words fell, the next moment, a dazzling white light suddenly appeared, completely erasing the barrier that bound Hatreth.