The new auction host made a new opening speech to the few audience members in the venue. Afterwards, she stretched out her hand to the elevator beside her. Amid the continuous mechanical sounds, new items were slowly being delivered to the stage.
"Without further ado, let me now present to you the nineteenth lot of the evening, which is also the first extraordinary lot, the bark of the Oru man-faced tree!"
As the host was speaking, the new item was finally completely lifted onto the stage. What was displayed in front of everyone present was an old tree bark with a human-shaped face hanging on the exhibition stand. On the rough, wrinkled and bumpy bark, there was a lifelike human face, and it was still breathing evenly, as if the whole bark was really alive.
"It is rumored that the Auru people, who have been extinct for several years, have a secret method of tree burial. After death, the Auru people will voluntarily let the trees in their habitat devour their bodies, so that their faces will grow on the trees, forming a human-faced tree. The human-faced tree with hundreds or even thousands of faces has powerful extraordinary powers and can become the patron saint of the Auru people. The facial bark of the human-faced tree also has many extraordinary effects. It is an important tool in many "cup" rituals, and is also a key material for making living wood and disguise masks.
"A piece of bark from a human-faced tree. The starting price is 40,000 riels. The auction begins now."
Facing the cold and desolate scene before her, the masked female host made an announcement in a tone without much emotion, and then a new round of intense bidding slowly began.
䀴At this moment, the pale-faced man with dark circles under his eyes was still sitting in his seat, waiting for something, and had no intention of competing for the things in front of him.
As for the man wearing the snake-shaped ring, he and his servant had already disappeared into his box. To them, the second half of the auction did not seem to be attractive at all.
…
䀴Just as the auction at the Huanlang Theater was entering the second half, a raging fire was burning dangerously inside Junhai Fort, the most solid castle in Mon Carlo.
"ah!!"
In the huge audience hall of Junhai Castle, a shrill scream echoed in the vast space. The extraordinary person named Tony was lying on the floor of the audience hall covered in blood, twitching all over. There were dozens of blood holes of different sizes on his body, with blood gushing out of them. His blood-stained expression was full of fear and confusion.
"Oh... love, Edward... what's going on... why..."
Falling to the ground, Tonic stared at the old man who was sitting on the main seat in the audience hall, struggling and stammering, and Edward, who was sitting on his throne, said coldly with a gloomy face while shaking the small crystal bottle in his hand.
"What's going on? I wanted to ask you this question... Is this the Fountain of Youth that Jian Lin promised to trade me? How can the spirituality in it be so thin? Is this the essence of life that can bring ten years of life? Do you really think I'm easy to fool..."
"The spirituality is thin...that's not right...this crystal bottle should be correct...it should be the fountain of youth..." Hearing Edward's cold words, Tony said in a trance while enduring the severe pain in his body, and Edward responded seriously.
"Shut up! There is no room for talking here now, let Jian Lin talk to me in person!"
Edward looked directly at Tony and roared. Hearing Edward's angry roar, Tony paused slightly, then he raised his arm tremblingly, opened his sleeve, revealing a pair of tightly closed organs on his forearm.
Then, Tony brought his penis-like forearm to his mouth, whispered something, and then tremblingly asked Edward to lift him up. Then his eyes and mouth slowly opened, and he saw Edward sitting in the seat speaking in a man's voice.
"What's going on? Edward, you should have received your reward. The Fountain of Youth can grant you ten years of life."
"The Fountain of Youth... You call this thing the Fountain of Youth?! The spirituality is so thin, the main component is just ordinary water! Do you want to fool me with such a thing?! Sword Scale Boy!"
Looking at the squirming organ on Tony's arm, Edward spoke angrily. He slammed the armrest beside him, breaking the entire seat into pieces.
"The spirituality is thin... water... No, Edward, I gave you the real fountain of youth! Did you make a mistake? Or do you think what you got is not enough... and you want to blackmail me for more?"
After hearing Edward's words, Jian Lin on the other side of the human organ altar paused for a moment and then spoke vigilantly. It was obvious that none of Edward's words were credible to Jian Lin, and all he responded to was Edward's continued angry words.
"Bullshit! There is something wrong with your fountain of youth, and you want to bite me back? This is the content in your little crystal bottle that conceals spirituality. I took the picture according to what you said. Come here and see for yourself whether these drops of water can last for another ten years! If you don't come, I will come and invite you over personally..."
With a threatening tone, Edward looked at Jianlin and said angrily. After hearing what Edward said, Jianlin was silent for a while before continuing to speak.
"Hmph... I don't know what tricks you are up to, but what I want to say is that you can't find me now, so don't bother trying to catch me. But if there is really something wrong with the Fountain of Youth you got, I advise you to look for the reason somewhere else and don't always target me. I have already given the real Fountain of Youth to your auction house..."
"Auction house..."
Listening to Jian Lin's words, Edward suddenly paused, then frowned slightly, as if he was thinking about something. At this moment, there was a burst of hurried footsteps outside the door of the audience hall. Edward glanced and saw his son Lauran walking quickly into the audience hall.
"Father! There are some special situations at the auction house." Kneeling on one knee on the carpet in the audience hall, Loran looked at Tony who was covered in blood beside him and said respectfully to Edward, who responded immediately.
"What's going on? Tell me..."
"They were employees of the auction house. The employee in charge of the first half fainted during the handover. It took a while to wake them up...
"But... after being awakened, they were actually in a hurry to come to work! They completely forgot their memories of working tonight, and didn't know their shift was over tonight. They said that they seemed to be very sleepy when they came to work, and then they fell asleep inexplicably and slept until just now! Father, there must be extraordinary power involved here, and there may be problems with the second half of the auction."
Looking at Edward, Lauran reported the strange incident and conjecture she was dealing with just now. Listening to Lauran's words, Edward couldn't help but stare blankly in place with his eyes slightly widened, and then he slowly opened his mouth and murmured softly.
"Hypnosis...sleepwalking..."
As he spoke, Edward's tone became heavy and his expression became terrifying. He gritted his teeth and uttered a word.
"Black Dream..."
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