Chapter 24 p3: Auction
The cruise ship on the sea transformed into a flying ship with a skull painted on its hull with special paint, and then quickly sailed towards the sky.
It successfully docked with the giant starship waiting in space.
The skull was the most notorious star pirate gang in the galaxy. Three years ago, they had made a living by selling people. Their strength was not strong, but they were best at escaping, and it was said that no one could find their true location.
But after the existence of aliens was exposed, they started the business of auctioning aliens.
They were selling the public’s curiosity.
And after these aliens were exposed, they would generally be afraid to come into contact with normal people and would often hide on unknown planets, praying that they would not be discovered by normal people.
The skull had searched countless unknown, fringe planets over the years. After these few star pirates returned to their headquarters.
Starship main control room.
After a “ding” sounded, a man in a neat suit looked down at the message on his communication terminal.
After he replied nonchalantly, he used the pad of his finger to turn the prosthetic eye that had been turned behind his eye socket back. A mechanically synthesized voice came from his mouth: “Let’s see the goods. What kind of good stuff could make them so excited?”
A “yes” came back from the earpiece.
The blue screen in the main control room automatically switched to the surveillance footage in the bottom hold of the starship. In the dim environment, a black water tank was dragged out of the flying ship. A dozen or so star pirates quickly aimed their energy guns at it. A few seconds later, the outer shell made of special material began to dissolve, revealing a transparent layer.
The goods gradually appeared like a treasure.
The moment they saw it clearly.
The entire bottom hold became deathly still.
The man who had been playing with his eyeball out of boredom adjusted his prosthetic eye, his breathing slightly rapid. After a long while, the mechanical voice let out a low laugh. “What a big surprise.”
The second Jiaoren variant alien in the entire galaxy, besides the Imperial Marshal, had actually fallen into his hands.
This was a surprise worth hundreds of millions.
The mechanical voice sounded again: “I will personally host this auction.”
The leading star pirate in the bottom hold replied through his earpiece: “Yes, should we start the auction warm-up immediately?”
“Of course,” the host smiled slightly.
As long as they used the name of being the same race as the Marshal and released the news that this was the only Jiaoren besides the Marshal.
There would definitely be many people interested in participating in the auction.
The skull’s auction was conducted via live stream. The host behind the scenes sent a reminder announcement on the public channel, releasing the news of the new species to be auctioned tomorrow.
After a night of fermentation, the popularity quickly soared.
Not long before the broadcast started, there were already many people squatting in the live stream room.
From the time he was knocked out to the time he was transported away, the star pirates, to prevent the alien from going berserk, had been constantly injecting Deng Xi with tranquilizers. From yesterday until now, he had been in a semi-conscious state.
The star pirates had timed it perfectly. After the effects of the tranquilizer slowly wore off, the auction was also about to begin.
Deng Xi groggily opened his eyes in the darkness. His gills slowly trembled, drawing in the underwater air. His nose was filled with the unique salty smell of seawater.
Deng Xi struggled to lift his hand and touch his empty stomach.
It must have been a long time. Because he hadn’t eaten for a long time, his stomach was burning with pain.
During this drowsy period, because of the stinging pain of the injections, Deng Xi had woken up countless times. He couldn’t count how many times he had woken up in the darkness and passed out in the darkness again.
The overdose of tranquilizer made him feel a little nauseous even in his extreme hunger. Deng Xi’s limbs were weak, and he didn’t even have the strength to speak.
He didn’t, like the previous few times, struggle to straighten up with his tail to explore this dark body of water and find out where he was being held.
Because soon, the humans would inject him with the drug again, and he would pass out again.
Before Deng Xi’s eyes was an endless darkness.
So tired,
and it hurt so much.
This new world was too dark. Deng Xi couldn’t find any way to escape. He hadn’t even seen a single glimpse of the little mute.
He couldn’t find the silver-tail.
And he couldn’t save himself.
Mermen were simply too weak.
Deng Xi closed his eyes, and tears overflowed from the corners of his eyes due to the physical pain, silently dissolving into the water.
He didn’t know how long had passed in the darkness before his eyeballs suddenly felt a hazy light. Deng Xi opened his eyes, but was stung by the sudden bright light, and tears came out.
His surroundings were no longer dark.
Deng Xi seemed to see a glimmer of hope. He supported his weak body and struggled to flick his tail fin, swimming towards the surface at an extremely slow speed.
The closer he got to the surface, the more clearly Deng Xi could see outside.
He seemed to be in a large pool, which was specially filled with seawater. The outside seemed to be in the shape of a funnel, with circles of seats slowly shrinking towards the pool in the center at the bottom.
A dazzling light shone down from the top.
Every seat was strangely empty. The vast venue seemed to be occupied only by Deng Xi in the pool.
The golden-haired, blue-tailed merman broke through the water in the center of the pool.
This was the furthest Deng Xi could swim, because there was an electronic lock ring on his neck, connected to the wall of the pool by an iron chain.
After swimming out of the water, Deng Xi looked up. The air was filled with a dense array of round cameras, their dark lenses, flashing with red lights, all aimed at the pool filled with seawater.
Cameras, lights.
The auction begins—
In the virtual space, this place was not empty.
The dense seats were packed with people. Every virtual avatar was a real human behind the dark web.
Thousands of people surrounded the pool, their eyes shining, their expressions excited. They were so amazed by the blue-tail who had broken through the water that they waved their arms and cheered.
His tail was a blue that was close to the sky, a pale shade that gradually deepened to a dark blue at the end, blending in with the deep blue of the seawater. The water was unconsciously stirred up by his fan-shaped tail fin. His light golden hair was smoothly draped over his fair, slender back, floating slightly with the ripples of the water.
His face, covered in water droplets, was also of a beauty beyond human imagination. His existence was synonymous with beauty and prettiness.
A face that was exquisite to perfection, with an inexplicable, enchanting charm that made it impossible to look away. But his eyes were a very, very light blue, the same color as the sky, clear and transparent, completely washing away any gaudiness.
Gasps of admiration were endless.
The virtual world was noisy and chaotic, but Deng Xi, in the pool, was holding the lock ring on his neck, which was choking him painfully, and looking blankly at the silent, empty surroundings. What were those dark, flying things, and why were they all circling around him?
A hard, cold, black restraint.
A weak, beautiful, and ignorant auction item.
The humans with blurred faces in the seats were looking down and rapidly sending bullet comments: “Is this auction item the peak of beauty in history?”
“Oh my god, he’s so beautiful, his eyes are so pretty!”
“Help, so cute. If only aliens didn’t go berserk, I’d love to take him home and raise him.”
“Name your price, I’ll bid on it!”
Most people were amazed by the auction item’s appearance.
Every time they looked at the blue-tail’s unbelievably beautiful face, they would recall the videos of aliens going berserk that they had seen before. Bloody, ugly, nauseating.
The difference was so great it was staggering.
Countless people were moved and urged the organizer to announce the starting bid.
The man in the suit, codenamed “Host,” was sitting in the main control room. On the blue screen in front of him were countless surveillance screens. The largest one displayed the live stream page on the dark web. He tapped his fingertips and sent an announcement.
The camera suddenly went dark, and the live stream was paused. Six words slowly appeared on the screen, in a standard white, bold font—One Billion Imperial Star Coins.
The font was neat and serious, but these six words were no less than a huge joke to everyone. More than ninety percent of the people who had come here for the fun of it found this astronomical figure to be nothing but ridiculous.
The bullet comments instantly became much fewer. The remaining ones were in disbelief: “Are you sure you didn’t type it wrong? A billion???”
“Although he’s really beautiful, are you guys crazy for money?”
“A face, a billion, are you serious?”
“Speechless, I’m out.”
The large “0” at the bottom of the live stream room was as ridiculous as the screen full of mocking bullet comments. That was the number of people participating in the auction.
But the host unhurriedly sent another announcement—[It can be confirmed that the auction item is of the same atavistic species as that person, an Eastern Jiaoren who can defeat the Zerg King with his bare hands. Whether its strength is worth a billion, please wait and see.]
This pinned announcement that spanned the entire screen instantly pushed the popularity of the live stream room to its peak. Even though there had been speculation, when the skull’s organizer officially confirmed that the auction item was of the same cruel and powerful Jiaoren race as the Imperial Marshal, all the viewers couldn’t help but boil with excitement.
That was the Imperial Marshal who had led the Empire to become the strongest power in the galaxy, almost invincible in battle. This race could even single-handedly slaughter the Zerg King without any thermal weapons!
The bullet comments were flying by, all urging for the “warm-up show” to start.
“I’m looking forward to it. With that person’s monstrous strength, a billion is a steal!”
“But he looks so small. Does he really have the strength to tear apart Zerg with his bare hands?”
“If it really doesn’t work out, I’m not against bidding if the starting price is lowered.”
“Hurry up and start. If he’s really a Jiaoren, the starting price is indeed worth it.”
…
In the earpiece was the inquiry from the star pirate guarding the beast cage: “His condition is not right. Do we still need to do the pre-auction warm-up?”
The host frowned slightly.
Before the auction started, he had specifically instructed that the tranquilizer injected should be half of the previous dose, to prevent an overdose from affecting the Jiaoren’s true strength.
He had studied the video of the Imperial Marshal killing the Zerg King and had done a data analysis of the Jiaoren’s strength. This dose should not be enough to make the auction item unable to even move its tail.
The host: “It could be his disguise. Proceed according to the original plan.”
The star pirate: “Yes.”
The cage of the beast cage was opened. In a corner of the pool that Deng Xi hadn’t noticed, the silver-white wall of the pool silently retracted, revealing a black hole. Salty water also flowed in from the other side of the pool.
A giant creature swam out of the black hole in the pool. It was a great white shark, a full 7 meters long, with a gaping, bloody maw and sharp, terrifyingly serrated teeth.
There was more than one.
A total of ten massive great white sharks swam out of the black hole in the pool. They all swam towards the unsuspecting auction item.
The camera perfectly recorded all of this.
Imperial Military Headquarters.
The adjutant frowned as he looked at the dark web live stream room displayed on his comm.
The Imperial military had long planned to wipe out the skull star pirate gang, those dead flies. Yes, dead flies.
As one of the three giants among the star pirate gangs, the skull was in the business of human trafficking. Compared to the other two star pirate gangs, the skull’s military strength was not strong, and could even be considered weak.
They had no advanced weaponry, no high-tech warships, and were often short on energy stone supplies.
But they were very good at hiding.
Like a dead fly that could never be swatted.
Their equipment was outdated, and they were often unable to get timely supplies, also because the skull was always hiding. This led to their galaxy coordinates constantly changing, making it impossible to confirm their specific location.
And the Empire occupied more than a dozen galaxies, with a vast territory and a large population, and was also the most harassed by the skull. Every year, countless cases of people being abducted and sold by the skull were reported to the military headquarters on the capital star.
The military had spent a full three years to figure out the skull’s operating methods in various sectors and had destroyed many of the skull’s small strongholds, but they had never been able to find the skull’s headquarters.
But their investigation team was always keeping a close eye on the skull’s movements on the dark web.
When the skull star pirate gang was conducting an online auction warm-up, using the Imperial Marshal’s banner for publicity, the data analyst reported the news all the way up. Because it involved the Marshal himself, the adjutant eventually took over.
Quantum surveillance clearly captured the blue fish tail that was similar to a Jiaoren’s and broadcast it to the live stream room.
The adjutant’s expression instantly became grave.
The adjutant was walking and checking his comm. He still made up his mind and decided to report it to the Marshal.
The elevator shot straight into the sky, reaching the top floor of the building.
The adjutant familiarly walked to the Marshal’s office floor and knocked.
The system had the adjutant’s access rights. Logically, as long as he gave a slight indication, he could enter and exit freely, but the adjutant always stood at the door and waited, as quiet as a chicken.
He never wanted to recall the first time he had accidentally entered the Marshal’s office floor and was punched by the training commander, fracturing a bone. He had lain in a high-level treatment pod for five days before he got his life back, and he still had lingering fears.
Five minutes later, the adjutant finally received the command to enter.
He walked all the way without looking sideways, and finally stopped at the door of the treatment room.
The room was pitch black.
Ever since the Marshal had gone missing and returned to the Empire, he didn’t know what had stimulated him, but his mental rampages had become more frequent. Only by staying in the treatment room, which was equipped with a special magnetic field, would his mental sea slowly return to calm.
Every time the adjutant came to the treatment room to report important matters, he could see the Marshal sitting in the pitch black, quietly staring at a decoration on the table, and he could stare at it silently for a whole day.
It was a small, blue-green conch shell.
The cracks on the conch shell, which had been artificially glued together, could still be seen.
Because there were too many cracks, it was not good-looking.
The adjutant really couldn’t understand.
He knocked on the door and reported in a low voice, “Marshal, the skull star pirate gang has just released news, claiming that they have captured a Jiaoren of the same race as you.”
