Chapter 8: The Replica
The auction hall was bustling with people. Romeo moved through the crowd, and no one paid him much attention.
He was just a very common character at this auction—a young, handsome, wealthy Alpha. There was nothing strange about that.
Romeo’s steps were light, like a field mouse passing through a field, silent, darting here and there. He arrived at a deserted corner where there was a door. The door was carved with ornate gilded reliefs, and above it was written:
“Staff Only”
Romeo glanced at the dark camera above the door and sneered. Of course, that thing couldn’t stop him. He looked around, and after confirming that no one was there, he pushed open the door and went inside.
The door closed, and Romeo’s figure disappeared with it.
The next moment, a person dressed as a waiter came over, gently pushed open the door, and like a black snake that had spotted a field mouse, flicked its tongue, its scales scraping against the floor without making a sound, and silently followed him in.
Wen En’s gaze was like a camera, locked tightly on Romeo’s figure.
Where is he going?
Wen En couldn’t figure it out. But he was certain that Romeo was up to no good.
It was dark and dim here. Fortunately, the contact lenses Wen En wore had an infrared night vision function, allowing him to move unhindered in the dim environment.
Romeo didn’t have such high-tech equipment. He used a more common method. He took a finger-sized flashlight from his pocket, turned it on, and a bright white light illuminated the path ahead.
Romeo complained internally. This hotel was so magnificent, yet they didn’t even install lights. In his opinion, the underground vault at the central bank looked more opulent. At least there, the air circulated, and there wasn’t a strange smell of mold.
He held the flashlight and walked forward gently until he reached the door with the number 7. This door also had a warning sign:
“Storage Room, Staff Only.”
Found it, Romeo thought smugly. It was too easy.
The next step was to simply open the room, go inside, and take that great work of aestheticism.
Just as Wen En had expected, Romeo was up to no good.
Wen En knew this place. When he was coordinating with the hotel manager, the manager had told him about it.
This was the storage room for the items to be auctioned today.
Romeo had come here with a clear purpose: he was going to steal a priceless auction item, perhaps an antique vase, or maybe some jewelry.
Whatever Romeo intended to steal, Wen En would not let him succeed.
This storage room used an old and complex mechanical lock, but for Romeo, this was nothing.
Like a mouse with a piece of cheese, Romeo held the flashlight in his mouth. He squatted down and, from a hidden pocket inside the sleeve of his jacket, pulled out a very thin needle, slightly longer than his middle finger. He inserted it into the lock core and fiddled with it a few times.
The mechanical lock made a “click” sound, indicating that it was open.
The corners of Romeo’s mouth turned up slightly. Told you it was easy.
He seemed completely unaware that someone was behind him…
Wen En sneered inwardly. This is not the level of vigilance a thief should have.
Wen En decided to give Romeo a surprise. He walked up, reached out, and gently tapped Romeo on the shoulder.
“Ah—”
Romeo let out a loud cry and turned his head, a look of terror on his face.
He still had the flashlight in his mouth. The light from the flashlight shone up from below, illuminating Wen En’s face and casting a shadow under his defined brow bone.
“Having fun?”
Wen En gave a cold smile.
His deep brown pupils reflected the light of the flashlight, sharp and piercing, like a ghost from hell holding a sharp scythe, ready to take Romeo’s life.
Romeo’s eyelid twitched. Without any hesitation, he turned and ran towards the exit.
He’s fast.
Wen En thought to himself, but his body was a step ahead of his mind, already in pursuit.
“Sigh—”
There was still half an hour until the auction officially began.
But the manager in charge of the event was worried and sighing constantly.
Remember the customer Della had given the middle finger to? He had complained to the manager. The manager had just barely managed to resolve the complaint, and after settling the dispute, he felt like he had lost half his hair.
“Sigh—”
He should have stopped his boss from agreeing to cooperate with that F.I.A.D. organization back then.
Look at those unruly agents, turning this place upside down, and in the end, it was up to him, a middle-management worker, to clean up the mess.
“Sigh—”
The manager sighed again and again.
He was carrying a bottle of champagne for a guest, walking in a daze, until he passed a deserted corner.
The ornate, gilded door next to him was slammed open by some unknown force. The heavy door hit the champagne on the tray, and under the force of the impact, the champagne flew into the air and crashed heavily against the wall.
The bottle shattered, leaving only a wall stained with wine and a floor covered in glass shards.
The manager was dumbfounded.
“Make way.”
Before he could recover, two figures, one after the other, flashed past him.
Was that… Mr. Wen En? And the person he was chasing, was that a guest from the auction?
Before this, the manager had a pretty good impression of Wen En. Among the F.I.A.D. agents, Wen En was much easier to talk to, at least not like Della, who would give the middle finger to the auction guests or splash wine in their faces at the drop of a hat.
And now… the manager looked at the broken glass of the champagne bottle on the floor and shook his head.
He should never have had high expectations for this group of agents.
“Stop right there!” Wen En shouted.
“In your dreams!” was Romeo’s response.
The two of them, one like a startled mouse, the other like a snake coiled to strike its prey, plunged into the crowded auction hall, causing a strong reaction from the crowd.
Several Omegas, swaying their hips and touching up their makeup, blocked Romeo’s escape route. Romeo was forced to stop.
Wen En seized the opportunity, grabbed his tie, and yanked it back hard.
The soft tie, at this moment, was more lethal than an iron wire. It tightened around Romeo’s windpipe, threatening to separate his head from his body.
The Omegas, encountering such a scene for the first time, clutched their chests, their legs turning to jelly in fear. They had no strength to run, and what little strength they had left was used for screaming.
Romeo’s face turned red. Damn it, my neck is going to break. In his panic, he randomly grabbed a loose powder compact from the hand of a nearby Omega and threw it at Wen En’s head.
The loose powder flew out of the box and puffed into Wen En’s face. The sweet, cloying scent made Wen En sneeze one after another, and the hand holding the tie subconsciously loosened a little.
This loosening gave Romeo an opportunity. He quickly undid his tie and gasped for air.
“Hey, that’s the new loose powder from Chan’del!” The Omega, suddenly full of energy, walked up to Romeo and said indignantly, “Do you know how long I had to save up my salary to buy that?”
I really don’t want to know.
Seeing that Wen En was about to charge over again, Romeo had no intention of being gentle. “Go tell him that,” Romeo sneered, grabbing the Omega’s shoulders and pushing him towards Wen En.
The poor Omega, who had worked so hard, dieting every day to achieve a light and slender body, just wanted to find a rich Alpha husband. He never expected to be used as a human shield by an unknown Alpha.
Fortunately, the Beta caught him. “Sorry,” the Beta seemed very calm. After making sure the Omega was standing steadily, he continued to chase after the rude Alpha.
The Omega stood in place, watching the Beta’s retreating back, his heart pounding in his chest.
It felt like… something was about to jump out of his chest.
“Are you okay?!” The other Omegas gathered around and asked with concern. “Your face is so red. Are you hurt?”
“I’m fine…” the Omega said, covering his face and lowering his head.
He suddenly didn’t feel like finding a rich Alpha husband anymore. Perhaps, for him, a stable Beta was a better choice.
Because of the Omega, Wen En was a few steps behind, but he quickly and keenly spotted Romeo’s trail in the crowd.
Romeo also keenly sensed his gaze. He turned his head, glanced at Wen En, and then turned and fled.
Wen En’s face was grim. He thought, This time, I’m definitely going to teach this selfish brat a lesson.
The chairman of the Andersen Grand Hotel was a fan of medieval culture. The walls of the hotel’s corridors were hung with replicas of various ancient artifacts from all corners of the world.
Wen En stopped. On the wall to his right hung a replica of a Tang dao. The entire sword was more than half the length of an adult, with a very thin and sharp blade. The hilt was black, carved with an exquisite silver-plated dragon.
The sword was like a sleeping silver dragon, waiting for the right person to awaken it.
Without hesitation, Wen En grabbed the hilt and took the sword down.
But when he held the sword in his hand, Wen En frowned.
Something wasn’t right. Why was this sword so light?
Wen En looked at the description of the artifact in the frame on the wall. It read: “Artisanal Replica, Material: Oak.”
“…”
Wen En was silent for a moment.
He knew it was a replica, but this “counterfeit” was just too half-assed.
