Chapter 183 Death Game X's Painting
Hearing Lin Xi say this, many people in the crowd laughed.
"Ma'am," someone said, "until the lot is officially unveiled at auction, the lot is—in theory—confidential."
"However, everyone here has their own sources of information, so it's not surprising that they've heard about the auction items."
"Furthermore, sellers who are also eligible to participate in the auction may also be present at the dinner. It is also possible that they are actively spreading information about the auction items to attract other people's interest in the auction."
"That's right," the sturdy man continued. "Perhaps the seller himself leaked the information about the miracle drug."
Lin Xi fanned herself gently, "I see. I also heard about an auction item on the way here, and I'm still trying to figure out whether the news is true or not."
"Oh?" said the short man wearing a metal half-face mask. "Ma'am, could you please share?"
"Of course," Lin Xi said, "but I can't guarantee that this news is true. You'll have to determine its authenticity for yourself."
Seeing everyone quiet down, eyes staring at her from behind masks of all colors, Lin Xi slowly spoke, "I heard one of the items at this auction is a virus."
"Haha, of course it's not a biological weapon that can make people sick. I heard this virus is a special kind of computer virus."
"It also has an interesting name. It's named after a character in Yusaku Kudo's detective novel series: 'Night Baron'."
She observed everyone's subtle movements as she said this, but didn't notice anything unusual in anyone.
"So, ma'am, did the information you received explain the effects of this virus?" The short man was very supportive and continued to ask Lin Xi.
"Well, I don't know much about computers. But I heard that if I get this virus, it can prevent information from being leaked. It's very practical."
The short man nodded. He touched his half-face mask, and Lin Xi noticed that he seemed a little nervous.
"This auction has a wide variety of items, all useful for different purposes, and they're not limited to specific objects," he said. "In addition to antiques, famous paintings, and medicine, there's also news about certain people or events, job titles, and other things that only certain people need. However, this is the first time I've heard of a computer virus. As time goes by, the items are becoming more and more up-to-date."
"Indeed." Lin Xi tilted his head.
She noticed that a few people who seemed to be familiar with each other were also approaching.
A young man and woman walked towards Lin Xi hand in hand.
The man was wearing a fox mask that covered half of his face. White fox ears stood up on his head, and red patterns were painted around the fox's eye sockets.
The woman holding his hand was wearing a cute rabbit mask, which was also half-face, but the texture was not as smooth as the man's fox mask, but fluffy and furry.
The man had a slender figure, and his exposed skin was pale to the point of being transparent, with a sickly air; the woman had a rosy complexion and a slightly plump body, and she held the man's hand tightly, with a sense of attachment in her movements.
Behind them, there were two more people standing.
The two men were older and seemed to be a couple. They wore two almost identical golden masks on their faces. The masks had hollow patterns and tiny gems inlaid on the edges.
Lin Xi slightly turned sideways to make room for the newcomer. At the same time, she also felt a strong gaze fixed on her.
She followed his gaze calmly and saw that it was the male of the older pair.
The man's gaze lingered on her legs exposed by the high slit, then looked upwards, refusing to leave the half of her face that was not covered by the mask.
Seeing Lin Xi's mask turned towards him, he couldn't help but grin and nodded at Lin Xi. Even the woman next to him noticed his abnormality and gave him a indifferent glance.
...Do you know Sayuri Mizutani?
Lin Xi opened the fan to block the man's gaze from looking at her face.
She did not respond to his proactive greeting, and covering her face with the folding fan seemed to be a subtle refusal.
However, the man did not seem to understand her intention and still squeezed into the crowd and stood beside her.
Being able to recognize her just by looking at half of her face... This person must be very close to Sayuri Mizutani.
Moreover, Sayuri Mizutani is a socialite with many lovers, including some powerful people. Could this man be one of her lovers?
Lin Xi had a headache.
When she borrowed Sayuri Mizutani's identity, she had not planned on being recognized by her ex-lover.
After all, she had never met Sayuri Mizutani before, and her transformation into her appearance was entirely based on her personality based on paper data. If she came into contact with someone familiar with Sayuri Mizutani, she might be exposed.
I hope this guy will be more sensible and not come to look for Mizutani Sayuri when he comes to the auction with his wife... Lin Xi thought so as she looked at the same ring on the man's hand as the woman's.
Several people in the crowd also noticed the subtle atmosphere, and Lin Xi felt that there were more eyes secretly observing her.
"lady."
The blond man appeared at this moment. The black half-face mask he wore added a touch of mystery to him, but his clothes were too informal, causing the female guest wearing the stuffed rabbit mask to let out a small exclamation.
Toru Amuro handed the plate to Lin Xi, and squeezed in between the man with the hollow gold mask and Lin Xi, separating the two.
Lin Xi put away the fan, took the plate with a smile, and said with a hint of anger: "Why are you here so late? And you brought so much?"
Amuro Toru readily agreed and acted along: "I'm sorry to have kept you waiting for so long. I saw that everything on the table looked delicious, so I wanted to take a little bit of everything so that you could have a taste of it all."
"It's okay. If you can't finish it, I can help you with the rest."
He smiled brightly on the surface, but actually he was complaining in his heart: Can't you finish it?
If no one stops you, you won't miss any of the delicious food at this dinner.
"Thank you, Ayang." Lin Xi tasted the food.
Well, the dessert is okay; the grapes can be eaten with the skin.
The shrimp and fish were very fresh. As expected of a building hidden on an island, it is very convenient to buy ingredients directly from the fishermen on the island.
The man separated by Amuro Toru snorted heavily.
The woman holding his arm glanced at him and said, "Honey, what's wrong?"
Man: "Nothing, I just saw an annoying peacock—uh, cough cough."
He was right next to Amuro Toru, so naturally he saw Amuro Toru's indecent clothes and his handsome face even though it covered the upper half of his face. He was convinced in his heart that this was another new love of Sayuri Mizutani.
Damn, slutty woman! He was secretly angry. It had only been so long since she left him, and she was already finding a new man!
This man looked different from him. He was dressed like a gigolo. He definitely had no money and no prominent status. Where did Sayuri pick up this random guy?
The woman holding his arm was silent for a moment, then gently patted the man's arm: "It's okay, dear. Are you feeling okay? Do you want to go back and rest first?"
The man rejected the woman impatiently.
He was just physically weak and had no other illness. If the woman hadn't kept persuading him to try his luck at the auction and see if there was any medicine to enhance his physical fitness, he would not have traveled so far.
What's the point of all those medicines? To get better, you still have to rely on...
He licked his lips.
However, the wives don't need to know.
The plush bunny guest saw it all, her eyes revealing undisguised disgust. She leaned closer to the slender young man in the fox mask and said, "Xin, look, that old man is at it again. He can't take his eyes off every beautiful woman he sees, and he doesn't care about my mother's feelings at all. Oh, really... You wouldn't do this to me, right, Xin?"
The young man called Ah Xin smiled and coughed weakly twice, "Of course. I will never betray you, Ah Xiang."
The woman was very happy to hear this and hugged the young man even tighter.
"How corny." A guest complained in a low voice, but was immediately glared back by the plush bunny girl guest and stopped talking.
The four new people were just a trivial incident and were quickly drowned out by the new discussions.
As the dinner was coming to an end, with the help of Toru Amuro, Lin Xi had tasted almost everything at the dinner and also received various pieces of information.
First of all, what surprised her the most was the news revealed by the burly man wearing a pure white full-face mask.
If what he said is true, then Miss X's work will appear at tomorrow's auction.
This was inconsistent with the information she had received from Amuro Toru, who said that Miss X—that is, Lin Xi herself—had destroyed all of her works at an exhibition a year ago, and no original works remained.
If the painting that appears at the auction tomorrow is not a fake, there are only two possibilities - one is that the exhibition a year ago did not display all of Miss X's works; the other is that not all of the works on display in the exhibition were destroyed in the fire.
Because of the mystery of his own identity, Lin Xi became more interested in the painting and asked the burly man a few more questions during their subsequent conversation.
However, although the man solemnly guaranteed to Lin Xi when she questioned the authenticity of his information that Miss X's original work would definitely appear at the auction, he was clueless when Lin Xi asked for specific information about the painting.
At the same time, as she asked these questions, she noticed that the man in the African mask and three-piece suit was paying close attention to their conversation and was keeping an eye on them.
After learning that there were paintings by Miss X among the lots, the man became very anxious.
Lin Xi mentally classified both the African masked man and the pure white masked man as key observation targets.
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