Chapter 186

Gu Hongying was very frustrated: "Then what should I do?"

Several people fell silent. After a while, Eric suggested, "There is a large auction being prepared recently. It is jointly held by the East and the West. There are many strange things in it. I remember there is a thing called 'Fox Mask'. Legend has it that it can see through all disguises."

Gu Hongying: "Isn't the information of this kind of auction usually kept confidential?"

“Our family is one of the sponsors,” Eric said. “As the heir of the family, I can naturally get some detailed information about the auction items.”

The other three: "..."

Damn it, I feel like I’ve been manipulated by Versailles!

Gu Hongying had tried many methods, but none of them worked. When he heard about the "fox mask", he was immediately attracted: "Is it expensive?"

Eric: “Not very expensive.”

"In the inner world, there are many things that can see through a person's disguise. It is extremely rare that a spell cannot see through it, and neither the mantra water nor the divination can do anything about it." He added, "It is only a legend of the Fox Mask that it can see through all disguises. You know the legends, many of which are just rumors and distort the facts. It is difficult to guarantee their authenticity. So rather than saying that the Fox Mask is a magic weapon for identification, it is better to say that it is an ancient object. It has had three owners in total. It is said that only the first owner saw the truth through it."

Although Eric usually likes to compete with Gu Hongying, he seems quite reliable when he really encounters difficulties: "You can bet on the probability, but you have to know that probability is luck... It's a very metaphysical thing."

Gu Hongying, Yu Tu, Hao Zhizhi, Eric: "..."

Everyone, including Eric himself, felt as if they were being scolded after he said it.

Thinking about the eventful experiences of the past year, Yu Tu found it difficult to convince Gu Hongying to buy the fox mask.

Gu Hongying's expression was also very tangled. Finally, he gritted his teeth and said, "Buy it!"

He has tried everything and will not give up as long as there is a glimmer of hope.

"The auction will be next Wednesday," Eric said. "If there are special circumstances, you can submit an application to the teacher to move your June holiday to a later date."

"Each invitation to the auction allows you to bring two people," Eric said. "Teacher Olivia should also have an invitation. If she's going, you can ask her to bring one too. Then all four of us can go."

As he spoke, he took out his watch and asked, "Who should contact Teacher Olivia?"

The other three people looked at him in unison.

Eric: “…You want me to do everything by myself?”

Hao Zhizhi: "Eric, you know there is a kind of service called one-stop service."

Eric's expression twisted for a moment: "Why do you ask that?"

The process of contacting Olivia went smoothly, but Olivia said that there were too many people at this year's auction and she was too lazy to go. She had already forwarded the invitation letter to Robert and asked them to just talk to Robert directly.

Last time, he and Robert lived and died together in the old courtyard. After being rescued, they experienced the "1,000-meter high-altitude ropeless bungee jumping" together. The unpleasantness brought by the "Toboro incident" had long since disappeared. Robert, with tears in his eyes, regarded them as friends of life and death, and added their numbers one by one. If the desert rose flower was not poisonous, he would have wanted to pick one of his flowers for each of them and make a specimen to give to them.

Since he had already contacted teacher Olivia, Eric simply solved the problem of contacting Robert at the same time: "Robert had no problem, and he even asked us if we had any items we liked."

Robert——A sweet and naive desert rose who is easily disgraced but rich.

The matter was resolved in a few words in a strange and smooth manner.

But no one noticed that when they were sending messages and discussing in the laboratory, a black crow was perched in the blind spot of their sight. The black crow tilted its head, and silver light flashed in its eyes. It flapped its wings and flew across half of the campus, landing in a spacious office. The magic items in the office were running along a regular track. The black crow politely stopped in front of the window sill:

"Weiweiwa——Weiweiwa——"

Xie Jianwei, who was making magic items in the office, looked up and saw it.

Xie Jianwei: "Bella?"

She raised her hands, and the magic objects in front of the windowsill moved away, leaving a path for Bella to fly over.

Bella flew over from the window sill. Xie Jianwei took out colorful candies from his pocket and stuffed them into Bella's pocket: "What's wrong?"

"Weiwei wow——" Bella rubbed Xie Jianwei's fingertips and made a coquettish gesture, then explained the situation in a cryptic manner, "Gu Hongying and the others have taken action wow——"

Xie Jianwei: "Where are you going?"

Bella skillfully tore open the candy wrapper with her claws: "Auction - that super big auction -"

"It's really troublesome..." Xie Jian sighed, "Mystery has never been peaceful..."

"Olivia is hiding - Olivia won't go -" Xie Jianwei combed Bella's feathers. Bella was so comfortable that she became paralyzed like a crow and betrayed her master without paying attention. "Condemned -"

The black crow, whose mouth was exposed, covered his face with his wings in embarrassment, and decided to forget about it after eating the candy - Olivia didn't know about it anyway!

After having eaten its fill and enjoying a combing session, the black crow flapped its wings and flew away from Xie Jianwei's window. It flew back to the teachers' villa area, skillfully used its claws to push open the window latch, and nestled into the floating bird's nest.

Olivia was testing a new magic circle on the laboratory table. When she heard the familiar movement, she didn't even raise her head: "Where did you go to play again?"

Bella buried her head under her wings: "Do good things——"

Olivia: “……?”

Olivia: "Are you still capable of doing good things?"

"Discrimination against Crow——" Bella raised her neck, "Olivia discriminated against Crow——hurt Crow——"

Amid Bella's magical sound that filled the entire house, Olivia skillfully set up an all-round soundproofing array around her laboratory table.

Bella in the floating bird's nest stared at Olivia's back and used her claws to press the only remaining colorful candy under her belly. The crow was angry because Olivia's candy was gone!

*

The application for the June leave adjustment had been approved. On Wednesday, the four of them got up early and after leaving Millerkel, they successfully reunited with Robert.

This was the first time for Robert to work with so many friends, and he was very excited:

"Long time no see, everyone! Do we need to make any preparations? Like a cool outfit? Something that looks like a group outfit? What do you think of a magic robe with embroidery and a hood that covers the chin? Doesn't it look mysterious and cool? Or should we embroider a circle of sparkling rubies on the edge of the magic robe and go for a luxurious and mysterious route?"

His brilliant ideas came one after another, making the four people sweat profusely.

Eric: "Robert, calm down. The lower the profile of the auction, the better. Do you want to have the words 'stupid people with lots of money come quickly' and 'looks like a big fat sheep' printed on your forehead?"

Robert scratched the back of his head and smiled with his big white teeth: "I have never participated in an auction since I was a child. How about you?"

As the heir of the Anthony family, Eric has been attending various occasions since he can remember. Before Hao Zhizhi was picked up by Zhihuai, his daily routine was to make sure he had enough to eat and not be bullied. Gu Hongying and Yu Tu did participate in auctions, but that involved a series of events including black auctions, zombies, wanted criminals on the inner world's most wanted list, and mountain collapse... It's better not to mention them.

Gu Hongying: "I participated once, and it was... unforgettable."

Yu Tu: "The auction I attended, the auction just started... and then the auction collapsed."

"That's really unfortunate for you two," Robert said. "I remember that the chances of accidents happening at auctions are very low."

Yu Tu: "We both participated in the same event."

Eric whispered to Hao Zhizhi quietly but clearly: "See, I told you that we are not the ones with bad luck."

Hao Zhizhi nodded in agreement.

Then they both received angry glares from Yu Tu and Gu Hongying.

Feeling that the atmosphere among his friends had suddenly become a little strange, Robert took out the invitation letter and tried to ease the strange situation: "How about we go to the auction house first?"

The auction usually starts after dark, but most of the guests who really want to participate in the auction enter during the day. As a large-scale auction jointly organized by the East and the West, there is a certain threshold for issuing invitations. Arriving early during the day is also a good opportunity to actively expand your network.

Robert held up the invitation letter and turned around while muttering something: "Who of you will I take in?"

Gu Hongying was closest to him: "Then take me with you."

Robert nodded and started mumbling again. The invitation letter turned into a golden stream of light in his hand. The stream of light split into two streams, the thicker one fell on the back of Robert's hand, and the thinner one fell on the back of Gu Hongying's hand.

Robert: "This is the identification of the mystery."

Eric did the same thing, and the invitation letter turned into a golden mark that appeared on the back of his, Yu Tu, and Hao Zhizhi's hands.

Inject spiritual power into the golden stream mark, and the golden stream mark will float up from the back of the hand. The mark pattern will change, forming a small cross-domain teleportation portal that can accommodate three people.

Small cross-domain portals are very expensive, and building one for each guest holding an invitation letter can be considered a huge luxury.

Because he held two invitations, two small cross-portal portals appeared. Eric's small cross-portal portal was fiery red, and Robert's small cross-portal portal was ice blue.

Eric: "Go in through the inter-domain portal first, and then we'll send the message and gather in one room."

Robert made an OK gesture: "No problem!"

The five people were divided into two groups and entered the portal one by one. After confirming that everyone had entered, the fiery red and ice-blue portals slowly shrank and finally disappeared into the air.

When Robert was sent to the Mystery site, he was still a little confused. He turned around and asked Gu Hongying: "Are all auctions like this?"

Gu Hongying: "Don't ask me, I didn't even enter the auction last time."

On the eve of the auction, they were looking for the "smell of the living soul" that Lu Susu had mentioned, but for some unknown reason, several of them triggered a formation and were transported to the mezzanine between the above-ground auction house and the underground auction house. In order to escape, they dug through the mezzanine and were almost killed by a mirror that fell from the sky...

Who would be so unlucky as them when participating in an auction?

"The message can't be sent out. It seems that there is a special signal shield in the mystery." Robert was a little dumbfounded. "What should we do now?"

The place they were transported to by the small cross-domain teleportation array was as luxurious as a palace. At the front of the palace, there was an entire one-way "floor-to-ceiling window". Looking out from the floor-to-ceiling window, one could overlook the entire magnificent auction stage.

As the two looked at each other, a golden nightingale flapped its wings and flew down from the golden cage at the front of the palace. It landed in front of them and a mechanical but not harsh voice was heard:

"Welcome two distinguished guests to [Mystery]."

"It has been detected that Mr. Robert holds an invitation letter from the great magician Olivia. Mr. Robert, do you need the King's Lantern?"

Robert pointed to the exquisite lantern under the eaves that looked like a giant carved pearl. "Are you talking about this?"

Golden Nightingale politely replied, "Yes, Mr. Robert."

Robert asked, "Did my godfather Olivia order it?"

Golden Nightingale: "Mr. Olivia has hung the royal lantern several times."

Robert felt something was wrong, but he couldn't put his finger on it. He looked at Gu Hongying, who was also confused. Robert didn't know what he understood from the look. He looked at Golden Nightingale hesitantly: "Then could you help us point it out?"

"We have received your request." A light flashed in the ruby ​​eyes of the Golden Nightingale, as if it was a feedback from some kind of formation, "【Palace in the Sea】Lantern of the Hanged King——"

Gu Hongying hadn't even figured out why Robert decided to light the lamp after looking at him: "Robert, don't you even ask what the Hanged King's Lamp means?"

Robert suddenly realized: "I mean, something doesn't feel right!"

Before the Golden Nightingale left, Robert asked, "Hello, little Nightingale, I want to ask what the King's Lantern means?"

Golden Nightingale: "Mr. Robert, the meaning of the hanging lantern is that as long as [Palace in the Sea] participates in the bidding for a certain item, no matter how much others bid, [Palace in the Sea] will compete with a higher price than others."