Yongning City Inn
After searching all day without finding a clue, Zhou Mu returned to the inn, his previous arrogance gone.
Dragging his weary body, Zhou Mu lay on the bed, staring blankly at the dilapidated ceiling, a hint of desolation in his dark eyes. "Dandan...where did you go?"
Bang bang bang
A flurry of footsteps sounded, and then Lu Shan rushed in. Upon seeing Zhou Mu, he immediately lunged at him and hurriedly said, "There... there's been a location."
"No." Zhou Mu was so dispirited that he spoke listlessly.
He wondered what form this calamity would take if Zhou Dandan hadn't appeared, or if Zhou Dandan had shielded him from it.
Clearly, his initial goal was the Divine Radiance Sword, but when the price of the Divine Radiance Sword soared to a sky-high price of 60 million Origin Stones, even with the advantage of having powerful backers, he couldn't afford such an exorbitant price and had no choice but to give up.
In this way, the trip to Yongning City was in vain.
Just as he was preparing to go back, this incident happened. He didn't believe it was an accident; someone was definitely plotting behind the scenes.
Anyway, that person knew his identity and background, and the only good news was that Zhou Dandan was not in immediate danger.
However, he didn't know how long this inexplicable sense of security would last. He was clear that if he didn't take any action, Zhou Dandan's situation would become dangerous.
With that thought, Zhou Mu let out a long breath.
Upon seeing this, Lu Shan took a few deep breaths and hurriedly said, "No... I didn't mean that. I meant... someone saw Dandan enter the Nine Star Auction House and then never come out again."
Zhou Mu jumped to his feet, his eyes wide, staring intently at Lu Shan, his tone full of disbelief, "You mean, the people from Nine Star Auction House kidnapped Dandan?"
Lu Shan said, "That's not what I meant. I just said that someone saw Dandan go in. As for whether it was kidnapped by the Nine Star Auction House, I don't know."
At that moment, Zhou Mu had no time to think about anything else and immediately rushed out, his figure turning into a series of afterimages.
Regardless of whether it was Nine Star Auction House that did it, at least things are finally starting to look clearer.
About fifteen minutes later, Zhou Mu arrived at the Nine Star Auction House.
What used to be an hour's journey now took only a quarter of an hour, or even less.
When the gatekeeper saw that it was Zhou Mu, he did not dare to stop him. Zhang Ming had instructed him to treat Zhou Mu as an honored guest. So the gatekeeper hurriedly came forward, bowed, and said, "Greetings, Lord Zhou."
Zhou Mu was about to walk inside when he stopped and glanced at the gatekeeper. "Have you been here the whole time?"
The gatekeeper didn't know what Zhou Mu meant, but seeing that Zhou Mu's expression wasn't too good, he said, "Yes, I'm on duty today, and I've been here since this morning."
"Have you ever seen my sister Zhou Dandan?"
"Um..." The gatekeeper hesitated, stammering for a long time before timidly saying, "I have never seen your sister, and there are many men and women coming and going here every day, so I don't know who your sister is."
This was a fairly standard and conventional statement.
Zhou Mu didn't need to get angry with a disciple, and he couldn't find a reason to be angry, since what this person said made sense.
So he snorted and strode inside.
Seeing the angry figure disappear from sight, the gatekeeper, who was always good at reading people, clearly sensed that something was wrong and that trouble might be brewing. So, he walked to the side, waved his hand, and a guard quickly came over.
"What is it?"
"It is the guard," said the guard.
The gatekeeper recounted the whole story, then added his own speculation, and repeatedly instructed, "Remember, you must make it clear to the Second Master that someone has come looking for trouble."
Finally, he added, "The master has instructed us not to offend Lord Zhou. I hope you can pass this on."
Seeing that even a gatekeeper was so dedicated, the guard looked down on him and said, "Just mind your own business. The rest is for the Second Master to worry about."
After saying that, he left quickly without waiting for the gatekeeper's reaction.
The Nine Star Auction House is enormous, with as many as thirteen large-scale auctions alone. Each one is as big as a football field and can accommodate nearly ten thousand people.
After passing through several large auction houses, it's another 15 minutes' walk to that pavilion symbolizing power.
The guard knew the shortcut, so he arrived at the reception room of the Nine Star Auction House ahead of time. There, he saw Zhang Peng and immediately knelt on one knee, saying, "Second Master, Lord Zhou has arrived."
"So what if he's here? My brother said that whenever Zhou Mu comes, it's as if he's here in person, and there's no need to announce it."
At this moment, Zhang Peng was still unaware of the seriousness of the situation.
He continued to leisurely sip his tea, but seemed to find it a bit too hot. He frowned, swallowed a mouthful, and after a long while, slowly savored the sweetness in the tea's aroma.
The guard said, "But... Lord Zhou seems to have come with ill intentions. The gatekeeper said... Lord Zhou's sister may have gone missing at the Nine Star Auction House."
"So... Lord Zhou is here to cause trouble."
Zhang Peng was taken aback, slammed down his teacup, and thought to himself that something was wrong. He then got up and took a few steps forward, his tone clearly urgent, "Go quickly, find out who the fool was who touched the person they shouldn't have."
After the guards left, Zhang Peng finally panicked. Only then did he remember to look for his brother Zhang Ming. In the past, whenever something big happened, as long as his brother was there, it was like having a backbone, standing firm and unshakable in the face of great storms.
However, at this moment, a guard hurriedly reported that his elder brother was not in the auction house. Moreover, not long ago, his elder brother went to the city lord's mansion, and in the blink of an eye, three or four hours had passed, and he still hadn't returned.
"Quickly...quickly go to the city lord's mansion and invite the master back."
Zhang Peng quickly gave the instructions.
"yes."
The guard obeyed and immediately rushed out.
Zhang Peng was extremely flustered at this moment.
He couldn't get in touch with his elder brother, and as for the so-called disappearance of Zhou Dandan, he was a hands-off manager for many years. Apart from being somewhat interested in large-scale auctions, he was completely unfamiliar with the daily work arrangements and personnel of the Nine Star Auction House.
However, he knew that some of his servants were bold enough to seduce innocent women, since they had the Nine Star Auction House as their backing, and ordinary forces dared not provoke them.
Therefore, he was unsure whether the people inside the Nine Star Auction House were up to no good.
At this moment, he was truly caught in a dilemma.
However, the trouble didn't last long. Led by a servant, Zhou Mu arrived at the reception room.
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