Chapter 63
When the numbers on the invitation in Takeharu's bag flashed, the person who was two people away from her and had already walked into the dry well suddenly paused.
[Temporary control through blood?]
The person in the tenth position uses telepathy to communicate with the person in front of him.
[Probably.] The person in front of him who was also wrapped tightly responded to him, [The person controlling it probably didn’t learn the skill well enough, otherwise there wouldn’t be any need for physical contact.]
The two tightly wrapped people were Team Leader Tu Jiaojiao and Deputy Team Leader Lan Huiyu of Team Nine. Bai Ling and Xiao Shuo were about 500 meters away from the locust tree, ready to respond at any time.
[Don't stop, go in first.] Lan Huiyu felt that Tu Jiaojiao behind him seemed to be about to stop, so he used telepathy to remind him, [These ordinary people are still useful to them, and their lives will not be in danger for the time being.]
After knowing that the two silver-grey invitations needed to be identified by blood, the people in Group 9 realized that something was wrong. Normally, in order to prevent the invitations from being lost, the holders would be required to leave their own identification on the invitations, that is, their own spiritual power fluctuations. For extremely strict requirements, they would be required to leave their soul breath.
However, whether it is the fluctuation of spiritual power or the breath of soul, it only plays a role of identification and is harmless to the person. However, blood recognition or soul imprinting can have a certain impact on the person if certain conditions are met or with the help of special media.
This so-called auction house simply takes advantage of the fact that ordinary people don't understand these twists and turns and dares to act recklessly.
They walked along the dry well and turned many corners. The cold and dampness became stronger and stronger, and there seemed to be the sound of dripping water coming near and far in their ears.
Suddenly, a ray of light lit up in the dark passage. The dim light made people feel uneasy. The leader walked to the intersection of light and darkness. His figure flashed and suddenly disappeared - they finally arrived at the so-called auction house.
The auction room is elliptical, like a funnel, and the light is so dim that it looks like an old-fashioned kerosene lamp from the 1970s and 1980s. At the bottom of the "funnel", in the center of the ellipse, a mist enveloped the auction table, and circles of seats surrounded it.
They arrived neither too early nor too late, and more than half of the seats were already occupied. Everyone was wrapped up tightly, and it was impossible to tell their gender or age.
After they sat down in a daze, it was as if some strange spell had been lifted. Some of the previously stiff people suddenly became "alive". Although they still didn't speak, judging from their walking posture and movements, they seemed to have suddenly "awoke".
[The smell of corpse is so strong.]
Lan Huiyu frowned. She and Tu Jiaojiao picked a seat closest to the auction table. As soon as they sat down, the faint stench of decay passed through the masks and lingered at their noses.
[Luckily, it wasn't Xiao Shuo and Bai Ling who came.] People with spiritual power have sharp senses. Even though Tu Jiaojiao was wearing thick clothes, he still looked pale from the stench. [Xiao Shuo would probably faint from the stench if he came in, and Bai Ling would be scared silly on the spot.]
[Team leader, don’t think about this anymore.] Lan Huiyu replied, [Let’s find the source of the corpse qi first.]
*
"What's wrong?" Guiyu waved her slender fingers in front of Yu Tu's eyes, "Why did you suddenly freeze?"
Yu Tu shook his head in a trance, and then he took the auction brochure from Guiyu's hand with his hand frozen in the air: "...Nothing."
He just felt the breath of "leaf" - the bracelet that Takeuchi wore on his wrist.
Why did Takeya Arashi appear at the auction?
Yu Tu had no intention of looking at the auction brochure in his hand. He turned his head to the window. The lights outside were bright. The dome was covered with crystals, refracting the light in a brilliant and colorful way. The exquisite and gorgeous auction stage was shrouded in a velvet red curtain, on which floated a three-dimensional ball of light, which contained a countdown to the start of the auction.
They were in a private room on the second floor, and from the second floor, they could see the lobby on the first floor. Yu Tu looked carefully at every person sitting in the lobby on the first floor, and looked twice, but he didn't see Wu Yulan.
It can be sensed that it is indeed coming from below.
"Tu Tu?" Elder Guiyu stuffed a cup of hot tea into his hand, "What are you looking for?"
"Elder Guiyu." Yu Tu hesitated for a moment, "Is this the only auction place? Is there one underground as well?"
"Wuhu~" Guiyu smiled brightly, "Tutu really understands~"
"In most cases, auction houses are divided into two types: above ground and underground. Above ground auction houses mainly sell things that are useful to people in the inner world, such as spells, pills, robes, etc. Underground auction houses sell some special medicines, food ingredients, and items that are only allowed to be sold to the surface world after the first level of the barrier."
Yu Tu continued to ask bravely: "Can we sell things that are not allowed by the first level of the barrier law?"
"That's called a black shoot—" Guiyu suddenly leaned over and put her hands across her neck, her tone deliberately sinister, "If you're discovered, you'll be 'snapped' and uprooted~"
Yu Tu: “…”
“Are there a lot of black shots?”
“Not many.” Guiyu said, “More formal auction houses basically don’t engage in shady auctions. Once discovered, they will lose their credibility in the underworld.”
If an auction loses its credibility, it will be the beginning of its demise.
"If there's a black auction site that can be seized someday, I'll secretly take you there without telling Elder Di Xiu and the others." Guiyu winked at Yu Tu, with a cunning look as if she was going to lead someone to do something bad. "But you have to keep it a secret. If you tell anyone, you won't be able to go!"
Yu Tu: “…”
For some reason, he felt that he was not far from being seen.
"Okay, let's put this aside for now." Guiyu pointed at the auction book in Yu Tu's hand, "Tu Tu, take a look and see if there is anything you like. Pick out a few as a meeting gift from me?"
Yu Tu flipped through the pages casually. Before he could see the names of the items being auctioned clearly, the zeros following the names were already terrifying.
*
[I’m really going to be suffocated.] Tu Jiaojiao wailed to Lan Huiyu with his heart sound, [I’m going to pass out from the stench!]
[I feel like there is a stench of corpses everywhere———]
Lan Huiyu: “…”
[Team leader, please stop howling in my head.] She replied very calmly, [Howling is useless, we still have to do what needs to be done.]
[Ayu, you are becoming more and more cruel...] Tu Jiaojiao endured the increasingly strong stench and carefully released his mental power to check, while checking he complained, [Don't you have a sense of smell?]
Lan Huiyu was also having a hard time, so she chatted with him casually while checking to distract him: [I——]
Her heartbeat suddenly stopped.
The second after her voice stopped, Tu Jiaojiao realized something was wrong and immediately held her hand, transferring endless spiritual power from him to Lan Huiyu. After half a minute, Lan Huiyu's tense body suddenly hunched over, and she was covered in cold sweat, shaking helplessly like a dying fish.
[Ayu! Ayu!]
Tu Jiaojiao kept calling her in his heart voice, but there was no response from her. Instead, Lan Huiyu held his hand very tightly, as if she was grasping at the last piece of driftwood in despair.
Tu Jiaojiao wanted to get up and change seats with her, but Lan Huiyu held him down.
[Don’t… move…] Lan Huiyu’s heartbeat continued, [The poison puppet master… is here…]
The Poison Puppet Master—ranked fifth on the world's most wanted list, he is brutal, cruel, and has killed countless people.
[Fuck! Why is it this bastard?!]
In the heart sound, Tu Jiaojiao cursed harshly, if the zombies were Bai Ling's psychological shadow, then the poison puppet master was Lan Huiyu's lifelong nightmare.
If people had previously only suspected that the underground auction was a shady one, it became a certainty after the appearance of the Poison Puppet Master.
*
"One million and sixty thousand times!"
"One million and sixty thousand twice!"
"One million and sixty thousand three times!"
"make a deal!"
The red velvet curtains had been removed, and the auction officially began in the brilliant light. The items at the beginning were not of great value, but were only used as a trigger to stir up the atmosphere, so the price of the items was naturally limited.
Guiyu swallowed the cake in her mouth and asked curiously, "The auction has already started, why haven't Hongying and the others come yet?"
After she gave Yu Tu an invitation, she also went to the guest residence of the Grass Tribe to invite the people who brought Yu Tu here. The special team seven declined. They had completed the task of escorting Yu Tu to the Grass Tribe. After completing the task, they had to return to the headquarters. There were still many things that needed them to submit reports for finalization.
Luo Susu expressed a strong desire to go because she was already counting down to returning to her clan, and she thought this was her last chance to get some fresh air before a long period of confinement. Although Gu Hongying's parents were both related to the other world, he himself had just opened the door to the new world, so he was very excited about the auction he had only seen in books. Yin Li was dispensable, but she couldn't resist Luo Susu's constant persuasion, so she came along.
Guiyu brought Yu Tu and the others to the VIP box. Since they arrived early, the auction had not started yet. Except for Yu Tu who didn't want to move, everyone else planned to walk around outside - the auction was held in a place deep in the mountains. The scenery in the mountains was very beautiful, and there were many viewing platforms near the auction for viewing the scenery.
The security measures at the auction were good. Guiyu placed a spiritual consciousness on each of them to ensure that she could rescue them in time if they were in danger, and then let them go out to stroll around.
They agreed to return before the auction started.
Guiyu sensed the spirits she had placed on them and confirmed that they were not in danger, perhaps they were stuck by something. Children in the other world were mostly lively and active, so it was normal for them to encounter some unexpected situations.
But she still asked Yu Tu for her opinion: "Should Tu Tu go find them?"
The purpose of coming to this auction is to make their newly found cub happy.
"I have already sent—"
Yu Tu had just started talking when he heard the passionate auctioneer loudly introducing the second lot.
"The item for auction this time is a mirror as tall as a person. If you look at yourself in the mirror, there is a certain probability that you can see your fortune for the day. Gold light means good fortune, white light means ordinary fortune, black light means bad luck, and red light means disaster. I don't need to explain how rare it is to have a magic weapon that can see your fortune!"
After the auctioneer finished his brief introduction, he pulled off the special cloth covering the mirror, and a seemingly ordinary full-length mirror appeared on the auction table.
The specially made base placed under the mirror rotated 360 degrees along the auction table, showing the auction participants a full range of views before returning to its starting point.
The auctioneer stood in front of the mirror and said, "Let me show you how to do it. Let the mirror shine on me first. Can I predict your fortune for today?"
———His figure was reflected in the full-length mirror, with a pitch-black spot on top of his head.
Auctioneer: “…”
Good news, there is a certain probability of winning.
Bad news, it's bad luck.
The auctioneer smiled awkwardly: "It seems that I am unlucky today..."
Low laughter could be heard from the lobby on the first floor and the private rooms on the second floor.
The auctioneer prepared to step back and remove himself from the mirror, but half of his figure was still in the mirror, and the black color became darker and darker.
Auctioneer: “……?”
Before he could figure out what was happening, he felt an earthquake and a mountain shaking. Suddenly, there was nothing under his feet and the auction stage... collapsed.
The confused auctioneer and the mirror fell into the hole under his feet. There was a crisp cracking sound, and then—
A terrifyingly blinding red light emanated from the hole!
The red light was refracted by the crystals, and the entire auction house was covered in an unknown blood-red.
The entire auction house suddenly became chaotic. It was not known whether it was Yu Tu’s illusion, but in the chaos, in that huge hole, he seemed to hear a very short scream of a fox.
Yu Tu: “……?”
He took out his cell phone. He had previously sent a message to Gu Hongying asking where they were, but there had been no reply. After the void appeared, the delayed message finally came.
【We were enjoying the view from the observation deck. Su Su said she smelled the scent of a soul, so we followed her to find it, and we found an old locust tree. The heart of the locust tree was hollow, and we fell to the ground as soon as we entered!!!
[crying with head in hand.JPG]
We are digging a hole now. Yin Li calculated the direction of the shortest path. If everything goes well, we should be able to dig it out in a while! 】