Auction

The history of our [Return Society] is quite extraordinary. We once produced a great being of [Mystery] 7. Whenever he talked about his society, Liu Bo's face would light up with excitement.

Hearing this opening, Chen Miemie immediately knew that this [Return Society] must not be doing very well right now.

If they were currently in their prime, no one would start off by reminiscing about the past.

Despite his thoughts, Chen Miemie didn't interrupt.

Seeing Chen Miemie acting like an attentive newbie, Liu Bo was very satisfied and continued his introduction.

Our [Return Society] is an expansion-oriented society. We don't care much for the petty profits within Sixiang City, nor do we compete with local societies. Our main focus is on cooperating and trading with other cities.

Chen Miemie nodded continuously on the surface, repeatedly expressing his admiration.

In his heart, he ruthlessly criticized: So it's just a weak, trashy society that can't compete with the locals and has to run outside to scrounge for scraps.

Liu Bo was getting into the mood for chatting: Chen Miemie, do you know about our society's president? He's a renowned top expert in all of Sixiang City, codenamed [Gustatory Theologian], known to people as the God of Taste!

That's a bit arrogant, daring to call himself a god. God of Taste, does he have a God's Tongue or something? Chen Miemie made a reasonable guess.

Hehe. Liu Bo smiled proudly. I can't disclose his specific abilities, but according to publicly available information, what he cooks isn't food, but theological concepts.

Cooking concepts? That sounds a bit hard to understand.

I don't know the details of the God of Taste's [Mystery], and I couldn't say even if I did. Anyway, he's just incredibly strong.

How does he compare to that Rubik's Cube president from my society? Chen Miemie was very curious.

Liu Bo's boastful expression suddenly froze, as if a bucket of ice water had just been poured over his head. Well... I'm not really sure about that. The auction is about to start, let's focus on business first.

Such a blunt change of subject undoubtedly made the conversation awkward.

Chen Miemie didn't press further. Through his roundabout probing just now, he knew that Liu Bo, as a newcomer to the society, wasn't aware of how the society's medical assistance quotas had been used previously.

At 14:59, the auctioneer walked onto the stage.

Welcome, friends. I am today's auctioneer, Velar. Without further ado, let's bring up our first auction item—the [Carpet of Guilt].

This is a carpet that can be placed in a living room, by a bed, or at a doorway. It can absorb the guilt of anyone who steps on it. Once accumulated, it forms a miniature relief sculpture of the guilty scene.

The side effect is that the carpet will be surrounded by countless voices of 'moments of unsaid apologies', which erode the minds of those near the carpet. If one cannot resist it, it will lead to suicide.

The starting price is 300 years, and each bid increment must be no less than 10 years.

Chen Miemie's attention was not on the mysterious item being auctioned. He frowned slightly, looking at the auctioneer on the stage.

The auctioneer looked to be about 50 years old, with a slender build. He wore a well-fitted suit and glasses, sporting a grayish-white goatee on his chin.

Chen Miemie wasn't interested in the auction items for roughly three reasons.

First, this was an auction. The items were all genuine articles that had been inspected multiple times. When the bidding started, the prices would mostly be inflated, making it hard to find a bargain.

Second, it was daytime. Without his red-and-white cheat, Chen Miemie couldn't see the [Strength] of the mysterious items.

Third, the source of Chen Miemie's massive amount of time was shady and couldn't withstand investigation. He wouldn't easily flaunt his wealth.

This auctioneer, Velar, why does he sound a bit familiar? I feel like I've heard this name somewhere before, Chen Miemie muttered softly.

Master Velar is very famous. The [Archaeologist] Velar is a leading figure in the circles of antiques and mysterious items, Liu Bo instinctively replied.

[Archaeologist] Velar! Chen Miemie remembered.

According to Elder Jiang's investigation, the porcelain vase that nearly wiped out the Jiang family had this [Archaeologist] Velar as its previous-previous owner.

At the time, Elder Jiang found a second porcelain piece that had passed through the hands of the [Archaeologist], and it also had its secondary side effect hidden.

Elder Jiang said that this involved deep complications and didn't let Chen Miemie look further into the matters that followed.

Originally, Chen Miemie was just dragged here by Liu Bo to be a spectator, treating it as simply watching the fun. But now, he became serious.

Liu Bo, what are you buying today? And how do you have so much time?

How could I have this much time myself? This is what my dad scraped together by selling everything we own. There's a mysterious item coming up later that has a special use for me, and I must get it at all costs.

Chen Miemie nodded.

Having seen the transaction prices of the previous few auction items, Chen Miemie had a rough idea of the prices of these mysterious items.

Generally speaking, the price of a mysterious item is directly proportional to its utility and inversely proportional to the magnitude of its side effects.

Powerful mysterious items usually have major side effects as well, so they aren't necessarily expensive.

The most expensive ones are those with moderate utility but side effects that can be bypassed through special means. Once such an item appears, it basically fetches an astronomical price.

Liu Bo was a good friend of his, so Chen Miemie would try to take a look at the item he won.

If it was porcelain, the blue-and-white pattern on his neck could tell if there was a hidden secondary side effect.

Items were showcased, bid on, and sold one by one.

When a new auction item was brought onto the stage, Liu Bo sat up straight.

That's it! The [Commandment Door Lock].

The target had appeared. Chen Miemie looked at the object that had just surfaced on the stage.

It was a rusted door lock that looked completely battered.

Velar began the introduction:

The [Commandment Door Lock]. Unlike ordinary door locks, the owner of this lock can set a rule, such as 'You must knock on the door before unlocking it'.

If the person coming to open the door violates the rule, gear-like teeth will grow inside the keyhole. Even if they have the key, it will be bitten off once inserted.

The side effect is that the set rule equally applies to the owner of the door lock. Furthermore, if the lock owner violates it themselves, all ten of their fingers will turn into keys, and it will be difficult to revert them back.

The starting price is 400 years, and each bid increment must be no less than 10 years.

In Chen Miemie's eyes, this door lock was completely worthless; it would only add trouble for the door owner when opening their own door.

The bidders present didn't think so, however.

In their eyes, this side effect was practically a non-issue.

If you fell victim to a rule you set yourself, you might as well go bang your head against a block of tofu and die.

Taking a step back, even if you forgot one day and actually triggered it, having your fingers turn into keys wasn't exactly fatal.

450 years.

460 years.

500 years. Liu Bo also joined the bidding ranks.

...

760 years. Liu Bo was sweating slightly on his forehead.

770 years. A burly man continued to bid.

After passing 700 years, only Liu Bo and this burly man were left bidding.

Mysterious items were good, but they still had a price limit. So-called astronomical prices generally referred to anything exceeding 700 years.

800 years. Liu Bo raised his placard again.

810 years. The burly man still followed up with a bid.

Everyone present knew very well that this already far exceeded the item's intrinsic value. If these two bidders weren't holding a grudge and bidding out of spite, then this item had to be extremely important to them, and neither would let it go.

"900 years." Liu Bo directly added 90 years at once to show his determination to win.

The burly man indeed hesitated.

After a few seconds, he spoke again, "930 years. That's all the time I have. If you can offer more, it's yours."

Liu Bo was very glad that he had brought 1,000 years with him today. Before leaving the house, he had even said he could settle it within 800 years.

"940 years," Liu Bo called out the new price.

Hearing this, the burly man slumped back into his chair and didn't raise his hand again. He really was out of time.

The auctioneer, Velar, knew that the bidding for this item had ended. Without delaying any further, he called out three times and swiftly brought the hammer down.

"Congratulations, Liu Bo, you've successfully got your hands on it."

The expression on Liu Bo's face was conflicted, showing both the joy of getting what he wanted and the heartache of bleeding so much wealth.

All that talk about being triumphant and arrogant after winning an auction was a lie.

What was there to be proud of when he had paid such a huge premium to get it? He would probably have to survive on plain steamed buns for a few months after going back.

It wasn't just Liu Bo who reacted this way.

The burly man who failed to win the bid, after a slight sigh, also showed a sense of relieved relaxation.

Chen Miemie craned his neck and stared at the rusty door lock for a long time. Unfortunately, it wasn't porcelain, so he couldn't make heads or tails of it.

Liu Bo didn't intend to elaborate on his purpose for buying the [Commandment Door Lock]. Since [Mystery] items were private in nature, Chen Miemie didn't have the chance to learn more about it.

Just when Chen Miemie thought he wouldn't make a single move today.

A mysterious item caught his attention.

Velar introduced it with an uncertain tone for the first time.

"[Lunar Phase Cheese]. Its maturity and flavor will change with the lunar phases of the three moons. During a new moon, it is as hard as stone; during a full moon, it flows like honey. As the moons wax and wane, as long as you don't scrape off too much at once, you will never finish eating it. As for the side effects... well, I'm sorry, they are currently unknown."