“Mr. Supervisor, how does your auction house handle shill bidding?” Lu Yaoyao suddenly asked.
“That’s right!” Wen Zixing exclaimed in realization. “Isn’t it against the rules for auction house staff or even the owner to participate in the bidding? This City Lord Hua was in the private room next to ours, and every time Yaoyao bid on something, the neighboring room was always competing against her. Isn’t that shill bidding?”
“Tsk, tsk, tsk,” He clicked his tongue with a deliberate elongated, “This City Lord Hua is truly wicked, huh? If it weren’t for her fake bids, we wouldn’t have had to spend so much on these items. That’s against the rules, isn’t it?”
Baitong added fuel to the fire, “I’ve really learned something today. I’ll have to share this with my two elder brothers.”
Having no way to defend himself, the second supervisor’s face turned pale. While an underground auction could hardly be called proper, there were still rules that needed to be followed. After all, offending the wrong people would only harm the business.
Quickly cornered, the second supervisor had no choice but to adopt an extremely humble attitude, agreeing to reduce the cost of all the items Lu Yaoyao and her group had won by half and canceling the charge for the missing item. He even compensated them with three spiritual plants.
It seemed that the second supervisor, who earlier claimed he couldn’t make decisions, actually had quite a bit of authority.
Lu Yaoyao was happy to spend only half of the expected price to obtain the demons and devils she wanted. Now aware that they were on the territory of someone they had a conflict with, they naturally didn’t want to linger any longer and immediately chose to leave.
Yan Zihui was genuinely worried that City Lord Hua might disregard her dignity and force them to stay. Fortunately, she still had some reservations, and they were respectfully escorted out of the auction house and once again boarded the flying carriage.
The carriage sped along the deserted road, with another carriage transporting the demons and devils closely following behind. The second supervisor watched as Lu Yaoyao and her group departed, a malicious glint in his eyes. Since these people were connected to the Guiyuan Sect and had openly offended the City Lord, there was no way they could leave Moxuan City alive. In that case, the items they bought and the ones they were given would soon be back in their possession!
The group had won a lot of items at high prices—the fifty percent discount was certainly a significant loss for the auction house. Just the thought of it made his heart ache!
The second supervisor was just about to report back to the City Lord when, suddenly, an explosion echoed in the distance. A tremor ran through the floor below the corridor, causing a shower of dust to pour from the eaves.
…
Inside a grand hall, Hua Bailing, who had been leisurely sipping tea on the main seat, noticed the commotion and slammed her cup down. “What’s going on?”
Soon, a guard rushed in, looking disheveled and panicked. “Reporting to the City Lord, several parts of the auction house have been bombed.”
Hua Bailing, enraged, let out a cold laugh. “Since when did this auction house become a sieve? Can people just come and go as they please, doing whatever they want?”
“Forgive us, City Lord!”
One of her personal guards had gone to investigate the disturbance and immediately returned with a report, “Reporting to City Lord, the auction house has been hit with a large number of the devil race’s Thundercrashes.”
As the guard spoke, more explosions continued to blast one after another. At the same time, the second supervisor came forward to beg for forgiveness.
Hua Bailing’s voice turned icy. “This is the result of your management?”
The second supervisor prostrated himself on the ground. “Forgive me, City Lord. I realize my mistake.”
Hua Bailing snorted coldly. With a flick of her sleeve, a wave of spiritual energy came crashing into the second supervisor, slamming him against a pillar and sending him rolling to the ground.
The second supervisor felt as if his internal organs had been shredded and yet, he forced himself to maintain the position of kneeling, swallowing a mouthful of blood and enduring the excruciating pain without a single grunt.
“A mere ant beneath my feet can cause such chaos. Old Second, you’ve become more and more useless over the years.” Hua Bailing knew that the escaped item was a high-level devil. Even though it had been auctioned off and should no longer be a threat, the fact that it had found a way to cause such trouble was a failure of the auction house.
“Please give me one more chance to atone,” the second supervisor said respectfully. “The item can’t have gone far; it must still be within the auction house.”
“Hmph.” Hua Bailing glanced down at her red-painted, beautifully trimmed nails, her tone indifferent. “Is such a trivial matter worth all this fuss? It’s just a slightly valuable piece of item.”
Hua Bailing didn’t regard the escaped slave as a serious concern. To her, the matter was simply an embarrassment, and she had more important things to attend to. She couldn’t be bothered to deal with the auction house’s problems at the moment.
As she strode out, her voice, authoritative and imposing, drifted back, “You have three days. If this isn’t resolved by then, don’t bother returning.”
“Understood. Safe travels, City Lord,” the second supervisor said, still kneeling until Hua Bailing and her guards had left. Only then did he slowly rise to his feet.
“Someone—” he called out.
…
As Lu Yaoyao and her group left the auction house’s territory, the atmosphere inside the carriage grew heavy, and no one spoke for a long time. After a while, Wen Zixing finally voiced his concern, “That City Lord clearly had bad intentions. Do you think she’ll ambush us on the way?”
Baitong responded calmly, “Not immediately, but—”
“But what?”
“It’s unlikely you’ll be able to leave Moxuan City.”
Wen Zixing muttered, “That person is too narrow-minded! It’s all ancient history, yet she still holds a grudge against us juniors.” They were just innocent children!
“It seemed like City Lord Hua was quite wary of Senior Brother Bai,” Chao Muxue looked at Baitong, hoping he could mediate on their behalf.
Baitong shook his head, “Don’t count on me. I won’t be helping you.” For information brokers, staying neutral was their best self-defense. All they did was provide the information someone else desired at a fair price, and they must never be involved no matter what kind of grievances their clients had with one another. He had stepped in earlier because of his friendship with Yan Zihui, but he wasn’t going to help a second time.
Lu Yaoyao blinked and said softly, “Senior Brother Bai, can’t you just be a good person and help us get out of the city?”
Baitong refused, “I’m not a good person. Unless—” He looked at Lu Yaoyao, “You tell me who your mother is.”
Lu Yaoyao hesitated, “…can I trade some other information instead?”
Baitong considered it, “You can. But the extent of my help depends on how much your information is worth.”
Lu Yaoyao’s eyes darted around, “How about I tell you a piece of gossip about my father’s love life?”
“!!!” Baitong’s eyes widened. The love life of Dao Venerable Hengwu, she said?!!!
“Deal!!!” Baitong’s voice almost cracked with excitement.
The others: “?!?!?” They want to know too!!!
Lu Yaoyao walked over to Baitong, stood on her tiptoes, and whispered in his ear. Baitong leaned in close, eagerly listening.
Meanwhile, Yan Zihui and the others strained their ears, trying to catch the conversation.
Lu Yaoyao whispered, “My father is very popular, and he…”
Wen Zixing instinctively leaned forward, desperately wanting to eavesdrop, but unfortunately, the two were using a spell to communicate, so he couldn’t hear a thing.
As Lu Yaoyao continued, Baitong’s expression shifted from initial excitement and anticipation to a stiff, awkward look.
When she finally finished, Lu Yaoyao stepped back, returned to her seat beside Yan Zihui, and gave Baitong a sweet smile, “Senior Brother Bai, I’ve told you everything.”
“…” Baitong’s lips twitched slightly. Hah, such a big secret….!!!
“Yaoyao, we want to know too…” Wen Zixing nudged and whispered.
Lu Yaoyao cupped her face and pretended to be shy, squirming in her seat, “How could I possibly talk about my father’s love life?”
Wen Zixing and the others: “…” Ugh, how fake!
Lu Yaoyao blinked innocently at Baitong, “Senior Brother Bai, I swear to heaven that everything I said is true!”
Baitong: “…Haha.”
“Senior Brother Bai, you promised to help us!”
Baitong’s expression was blank; he suddenly no longer wanted to help!
The flying carriage traveled smoothly, taking them out of the auction house’s domain. After some time, it finally stopped in front of a mansion.
Everyone inside the carriage disembarked. “Where are we?” someone asked.
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