Chapter 198

The car turned at the end of the street and nothing could be seen.

Yu Tu returned to the teahouse. The large suitcase he had packed was still standing there. After Xiao Hui left, the whole teahouse suddenly seemed empty and desolate.

Yu Tu has the illusion that he is an empty-nest elderly person ().

He put away the huge suitcase. In the busy process, he always felt that it was too quiet around him. Sometimes he would subconsciously look at his feet, worried that he would step on a blue-gray ball.

It was time for lunch at noon. Yu Tu subconsciously called out "Xiao Hui" and then waited for a furry dog's head to suddenly pop out from a corner of the teahouse. After a few seconds without any response, he realized that Xiao Hui was not there.

Yu Tu was stunned for a moment, he thought, habit is really a terrible thing.

He dawdled like this until the afternoon, when he gradually got used to the fact that Xiaohui was not there. There was no clingy little cat circling around his feet, no blue-gray ball rolling and kicking its legs while holding its toys, no happy puppy eating like a bulldozer, and no little snoring sound after falling asleep.

Everything seemed to have returned to the beginning.

Yu Tu slumped back into the recliner, ignoring the aching wounds on his body, and took out his cell phone, ready to divert his attention—according to Tian Yan's update schedule and pattern, the update progress of "The Language of Mountains and Seas" should be postponed.

Sure enough, when I opened the comic website X, I saw an update logo on the cover of "Shan Hai Zhi Yu".

Yu Tu skillfully scrolled to the bottom of the catalog and clicked it. The last updated plot was about Gu Hongying returning home to see his mother Gu Xingzhu after the month-long vacation, but finding that something was wrong with Gu Xingzhu. The last scene of the comic was when Gu Hongying turned around and the bright smile on his face instantly disappeared, replaced by a gloomy look.

Tian Yan outlines this scene with extremely cold tones, as if some shocking conspiracy is taking shape, but it's like a movie suddenly showing an advertisement at the most exciting part, a pure love segment stuck on the eve of a confession, a criminal drama suddenly changes the channel when the identity of the murderer is determined through clues and is about to be announced... The main plot comes to an abrupt end at an important node, which is heartbreaking.

At the end of the previous chapter, comic readers had created dozens of topic buildings in the forums to scold Tian Yan.

This update did not continue from the end of the previous chapter, but started with an extremely magnificent scene. The perspective was looking down, and it could be seen that it was an auction. The circular rooms circled upwards, like fixed stars, and each "star" was lit with light of different colors, with boxes next to them for annotations - [Small cross-domain teleportation array].

[I think I saw my hair burning...]

[No matter how many times I watch this scene, I will always wonder if Tianyan has a person growing out of his liver...]

[Too much effort, too much effort! I hope all the comic book authors I follow will be like this! [Put the artist in a small dark room.GIF]]

After the big scene, there are close-ups of some rooms. Each room has a different style, but the only constant is that under the eaves of every room, there is an exquisitely made but unlit lamp.

[Based on my many years of experience in the comics industry, I’d bet a bag of spicy noodles that these lights will definitely work!]

[Add one more pack!]

[Two additional packs!]

[Follow three packs!]

On the previous page, comic readers were still making bets, but on the next page, an exquisite lantern that looked like a giant carved and hollowed-out pearl lit up, illuminating the world.

A notice went out throughout the auction house:

"【Palace in the Sea】Lantern of the Hanging King——"

This scene was shocking and heroic, but the next second, the comic's storyboard changed and entered a room. Before anyone spoke, they heard:

"Robert, don't you even ask what the Hanging King's Lantern means?"

Characters began to appear in the storyboard, namely the confused Gu Hongying and Robert who suddenly realized.

Robert had a cute little light bulb on his head and knocked his left fist against his right palm: "I mean, something doesn't feel right!"

In front of Robert stood a golden nightingale. He squatted down and looked into the nightingale's ruby ​​eyes. "Hello, little nightingale. I want to ask what the King's Lantern means?"

The Golden Nightingale held her head high and gave a responsible explanation of the King's Lantern.

Then... Gu Hongying and Robert in the comics both turned gray.

[Hahahaha what kind of injustice is this!]

[Although Tianyan did not draw what happened before the hanging of the king's lantern, but based on my understanding of Robert, this naive rose must have been fooled.]

[Why do you two losers dare to get together (angry)? Don’t you want to find someone with better luck to combine with you? Hahahaha———]

[Where are they going to get lucky? Aren’t they the non-African protagonists?]

[嘤嘤: I feel offended.JPG]

Amid the readers' laughter, Robert unexpectedly delivered a critical hit. After continuing to inquire about the Golden Nightingale, the grayish white on the transformed Desert Rose gradually faded, and the luster of money shone. He patted Gu Hongying's shoulder and said, "Just pat Fox Face. My little treasury will definitely be enough, don't worry."

But his pride did not last for more than three seconds, as it was shattered by a call from the room called "Voice of All Things". On the other end of the call was Eric's face that looked like it was about to take a turn for the worse.

[嘤嘤：Yes and No.JPG

Heartless Rose: Hesitant and Submissive.JPG

Hahahahahaha the two little losers couldn't even lift their heads up after being scolded by Eric ~]

[Eric: Who understands? Two careless companions didn’t keep a close eye on the things and ended up being taken advantage of…]

[No matter how fierce or how much he cursed, Eric finally solved the problem. Eric, don't be so arrogant! There is no future for being arrogant now!]

[Eric——The most arrogant person who says one thing and means another!]

After the incident with the hanging lantern passed, there were still three hours before the auction started. Gu Hongying and his friends decided to play flying chess together in two rooms. There were obviously four people playing flying chess, but they played it in a chaotic manner. The word "chaos" was not enough to describe the chaos on the flying chess board.

The first game of flying chess lasted them two hours. In the comic, the two people and their projections fell into a strange silence, and finally they all said that flying chess was boring. After Eric came back triumphantly in this weird atmosphere, they started the second game. This game... made Eric silent as well.

[How can they make such a simple game of luck like flying chess so complicated? I don’t understand! !]

[Who is the good guy? A game of flying chess starts at one hour. None of the four people can trigger the jumping, flying, and continuous throw bonuses! ]

[Oh oh, the image of the five of you trying to save face with a stubborn face is really hilarious, hahahaha———]

[Hahahaha, Eric was smiling when he came in, but now his face is dark~]

[I counted with my fingers and found that the luck of these five people is negative, negative, negative, negative, so there is no positive luck! [Play on loud speaker.JPG]]

[With this level of luck, it is already very difficult for them to grow up safely (relieved)]

After this little episode of the game of luck, the auction officially began. Tian Yan did not draw all the auctions, but only picked two. One was a close-up of [Fox Mask] after [The Sound of All Things] took the bid for it, with a mottled white background, dull gems, and strange red stripes. After Yu Tu put on the mask, he fell into a coma, and after waking up, he seemed to have awakened the ability of "precognition".

The gem on the mottled white mask rolled its eyes lively, and red lines flowed, transforming into a mini red fox with a tuft of smart white hair on the tip of its ear.

The other scene was the Hanging King Lanterns in the other three rooms. The four Lanterns began to compete for an item called [Antique Fragments]. Di Changqing in [Flying Lights] was lazily "playing dirty" at first, but then he suddenly jumped up and opened his eyes wide in shock, as if he had met someone who absolutely shouldn't be here.

[No, who did this funny guy Di Zhangqing see? Why does he look like that?]

[Damn it! The little red fox that crawled out of Tutu's mask was picked up and the scene was cut off!]

[Even though only two fingers were exposed, my intuition told me that it was my wife!]

[It can’t be the Never-Night Marquis. Do you think, given his personality, he would come to participate in such a noisy auction?]

[My wife definitely doesn’t like to attend auctions, but her baby Tutu is here and almost got hurt~]

[Hiss—After hearing that, I suddenly realized that it was my wife who was pulling the little fox’s skin by the back of its neck!]

They had many guesses, but the comics seemed to keep this suspense and not tell the readers who it was. The auction would proceed in an orderly manner, and after a few shots, it would jump to the last four items.

Each of the last four lots has a close-up and a corresponding person. The first one to come out is a sword inserted diagonally into a stone. Looking a bit old, this lot named Kunwu Sword is reflected in Gu Hongying's eyes, separated by a "glass", with a kind of vague, fateful fit.

Next to the "floor-to-ceiling window" where Gu Hongying was, there was an introduction to the Kunwu Sword:

[Kunwu Sword]

It is cast from copper from Kunwu Mountain. The blade is light green and shines like red fire. It is smelted with the blood and flesh of insects. It can dispel nightmares and repel evil spirits.

Note: The magic sword has no spirit. 】

The scene of Gu Hongying gazing at the Kunwu Sword looks like one of the exquisite posters that comes with a book when it is published. The sense of oppression of fate comes layer by layer because he is the protagonist.

Yu Tu looked at the picture. Even though it was just through the screen, he couldn't help but shudder. There was a kind of... uneasiness rising from deep in his heart.

Turning over this somewhat frightening picture, what appeared on the auction table again was a stringless harp made of paulownia wood. The tail of the harp was a little burnt, and there were several cracks starting from the tail, distributed as densely as tree branches, spreading in all directions. The comic's perspective was pulled to the [Sound of All Things] where Yu Tu and the others were. Behind the floor-to-ceiling window, Yu Tu saw the profile of Buye Hou.

Yu Tu was very sure that when he was looking at the stringless harp on the table and the little fox said, "That's a broken harp made by the big fat chicken," his attitude was definitely curiosity and surprise. But in the comics, after Tian Yan's color processing, Buye Hou actually looked confused and lonely.

Yu Tu: “…”

If he hadn't been the real person, he would have almost believed it.

As Yu Tu expected, as soon as this somewhat heart-wrenching scene appeared, the comic readers burst into tears.

[Wuwuwu my wife, my strong, beautiful, and miserable wife——]

[Is my wife thinking of an old friend? Could the big fat chicken that the little fox mentioned be the phoenix?!]

[I watched my old friends disappear one by one in this world, unable to stop them, powerless, so when I saw the relics, I was reminded of the past... Is this knife my wife? This knife is clearly mine!!!]

[My wife didn’t take pictures of this thing. Was it because she didn’t want to be reminded of the past, or was it because she had too many relics from her old friends? No, either one of them would be too expensive. QAQ]

[There is no possibility. My wife has lived in this world for such a long time. She herself is a "relic", a relic that carries many memories...]

[Comic fans in front of me, do you have any murderous KPIs to complete? Stop talking!!

(Screaming)(Going crazy)(Crawling in the dark)(Roaring in helplessness)(Shedding Lanzhou Ramen-style tears)]

[My wife, my dear wife, why are you so miserable———]

Yu Tu moved his toes in his shoes. Although he was used to comic readers calling Buyehou "wife", he sometimes still had the urge to dig out a big villa with his toes.

The reason why he didn't buy the stringless harp made of paulownia wood was not only because he was not very interested in it, but more because he had no money!

He! Has! No! Money!

The tea tree sheds tears of misery.JPG

Yu Tu watched the auction of the harp in the comic come to an end. After it was taken off the stage, he sighed and turned the page of the comic. The third item had already been put on the auction stage. It was a sword that looked like a burning torch. If the previous Kunwu sword was a typical oriental style, this sword was a western sword.

The blazing torch is as long as half a human arm, and looks like an exquisitely carved, smoothly shaped golden pillar. Its front end is burning with a golden flame. In the comics, the flame actually has a sharp metallic texture.

[This sword is called the "Sword of Light", which sounds very cool in a Western way. Does it mean that if you swing a torch, the golden flame will turn into a sword?]

[The last tip of the introduction always makes me feel that this sword is not a good thing. How can such a thing be so fiercely bid for? [Subway Grandpa looking at his phone JPG]]

[Generally, the more powerful something is, the greater the side effects are. Maybe this sword is the same?]

Yu Tu looked at the speculations of the comic readers and turned his attention back to the introduction of the sword:

[Sword of Light]

The torch is like light that never goes out. Darkness has no place to hide under it. Once it is unsheathed, it will win and no one can defeat it.

Note: The sword holder will not be defeated, but will eventually die by the sword. This is fate and cannot be changed. 】

In the comic, the bidding for this sword was as fierce as the previous two items. In the end, it was bought by a room called "Urdu's Fountain". The sword of light was taken off the auction table and sent to this room. The comic gave a close-up of the owner of the "Urdu's Fountain" room - he stretched out his hand and grasped the bottom end of the torch. The golden flame suddenly became stronger, coating his short red hair with a layer of faint glow.

[This person also has red hair and green eyes...Is he related to the heartless Rose?]

[The biggest feature of “Shanhaizhiyu” is that there are no repeated characters in it, even if they are just background characters—and the only person with red hair and green eyes that I remember is Robert!]

[The more I look at him, the more I feel his features are similar to Robert's! Okay, okay, let's play it this way, right?]

[Hiss... I always feel that the name of his room seems to be taken from some myth or legend. I think Tianyan’s room names are not chosen randomly. The principal’s [Yao Ling An Zang], Di Changqing’s [Fei Guang Bu Du], and this one [Wulde Spring] which I have never seen before and is suspected to be related to Little Rose!

PS: I can’t think of any other room except the one Yingying is in :)]

The confusion about the name of the room caused by the third lot has not been sorted out yet, and the fourth lot presented in the comic is even more puzzling, because the name of the fourth lot is [Stone of Destiny].

Unlike the first three lots which were clearly introduced but with some mysterious annotations, this lot is more cryptic and the annotations seem to have a deeper meaning.

【In the torrent of fate, it is just a stone. 】

[I am dying of laughter. Although the introduction is very impressive and this is the last big scroll, the competition for this item is obviously not as fierce as the first three items.]

[This introduction in the mist seems to be of no use at all. I wonder who would buy it...]

[I feel like each of these last four lots is like a different kind of blind box gamble. [Cosmic Cat Head Sublimation.JPG]]

[I just went to the back and saw that the wronged person we were talking about was Di Changqing...

I:???]

[There is a subtle feeling of seeing the fun of others, and there is also a subtle feeling that he has made a profit - it is hard to judge, really.]

With the sale of the Stone of Destiny, the auction came to an end. The last scene of the auction was a side-by-side presentation of the room where the last four items were sold.

Xie Jianwei took a picture of the Kunwu Sword.

The man in the black robe that covered his chin took a picture of the harp.

The mysterious man with red hair and green eyes took a picture of the Sword of Light.

Di Changqing took a picture of the Stone of Destiny.

The four items that were auctioned off have each found their own destination.