parentshiftbook Chapter 642 The Auction and New Strange Events
Chapter 642 The Auction and New Strange Events
Chapter 642 The Auction and New Strange Events
About fifteen minutes later, a middle-aged woman in a dark blue uniform walked onto the platform.
Her uniform was very similar to Victor Ryan's, but she had four gold bars on the collar, one more than Victor.
Her hair was neatly combed, she wore no makeup, and her expression was serious but not stern.
"Ladies and gentlemen," her voice wasn't loud, but it could be heard clearly throughout the hall, "Welcome to this internal meeting. I am Elena Walker, the auction manager for the Association's Chongqing branch."
She paused, her gaze sweeping across the lobby.
"The auction is about to begin. The rules are the same as before: highest bidder wins, cash transaction, and no returns or exchanges after the auction. Please keep your numbered paddles safe; simply raise them when you place your bid."
Jemin looked down at the wooden number plate that the waiter had handed him when he entered.
The sign had a number written in ink: Thirty-seven.
"Now, the auction begins." Elena Walker clapped her hands, and the side door opened, with two waiters carrying a tray covered with a red cloth.
Jemin looked at the tray, his eyes shining with anticipation.
That was his main purpose in attending the internal exchange meeting.
The information about this auction was one of the intelligence he had gathered during the day by spreading his mental energy throughout the city.
The Psychic Association holds a small internal auction every now and then after the lectures. Participants are mainly members of the association, well-connected businessmen, and "insiders" like him who have learned about the event through various channels.
The items up for auction mainly consist of various gene-based drugs, as well as information, materials, and even finished products related to the supernatural.
Jemin leaned back in his chair, his fingers tapping lightly on the armrest.
After working with those intermediaries, he accumulated a considerable amount of money.
That money didn't really mean much to him, so he might as well spend it.
For him, the meaning of money in this world is to exchange it for research materials.
Anyway, he doesn't need to use money to prove anything, nor does he need to save money for retirement.
And if it really isn't enough—
He glanced at the pile of coins he had obtained from shady brokers and bandits in his inner world, then at the other people in the hall, feeling no pressure whatsoever.
The auction went very smoothly.
The first batch of items to be auctioned included gene-based drugs, some from official sources and some from private sources, some common and some rare.
The bidding was fierce; it's fair to say that many people come here specifically for these items.
Jemin wasn't interested in these official gene-altering agents; the official agents were processed too thoroughly, leaving too little of their strange power.
For Jemin, the research value was actually not as high as that of those banned drugs.
His interests lie elsewhere.
The fourth item was a palm-sized black stone slab with intricate runes engraved on its surface.
Elena explained that this is a one-time-use material that can seal away strange things. It comes from a mine in the north and has an extremely low annual output.
Starting bid: fifty silver coins.
Jemin held up his number.
"Number thirty-seven, fifty silver coins."
Someone in another direction held up a sign: "Sixty-five silver coins."
Jemin raised his sign again. "Eighty silver coins."
"Number thirty-seven, eighty silver coins. Anything higher?"
No one raised their sign anymore.
Jemin bought the black stone slab for eighty silver coins.
The waiter handed him the stone slab, he paid for it on the spot, and then put the slab away.
The seventh item, three strange fragments, were encased in resin and were classified as hazardous.
Starting bid: 120 silver coins.
Jemin made another move and finally won the bid for 230 silver coins.
The eleventh item is a research manuscript about a bizarre and dangerous situation, authored by a senior investigator from the association.
The manuscript details the strange creature's birth, its activity patterns, and its eventual sealing away.
Starting bid: 300 silver coins.
The competition has become a bit fiercer.
Three buyers competed with him, and in the end, Jemin won the bid for 550 silver coins.
He photographed and bought each item one by one.
He decisively acquired all materials and information related to the supernatural, and the price was just a number to him.
People around him started to notice him.
After all, what Jemin displayed was far too bold.
When others make a bid, they will hesitate for a moment, weigh the options, and wait for others to make the first bid before considering whether to follow suit.
But this person is different.
He would simply raise his paddle when he wanted something, without any hesitation, as if money wasn't money at all.
People started whispering among themselves in the lobby.
"Who is number thirty-seven? I've never seen him before."
"I don't know him. He's dressed very casually, but his moves are very steady."
"Could they be from some family? Deliberately dressing so discreetly?"
"Not really. His demeanor—is unlike that of people from those families."
Jemin ignored these comments.
His eyes remained fixed on the items up for auction on the platform, waiting for the next one.
Then, the final item of the auction was brought out.
The waiter carried in a metal box about the size of an A4 sheet of paper.
The box was silver-white and had no decorations on its surface, but Jemin's gaze froze the moment he saw it.
There was an extremely subtle energy fluctuation on the surface of the metal box. The fluctuation was so weak that even a typical psychic might not be able to detect it.
But Jemin's mental perception was far more precise than anything else in this world; he could clearly "see" that fluctuation.
The box itself is a sealing device.
And it's a very high-end one.
Elena Walker walked over to the box and placed her hand on the lid.
She didn't open it immediately, but first looked around the lobby to make sure everyone's attention was on her.
"The last item up for auction." Her voice was slightly lower than before, as if emphasizing its special nature, "A completely sealed monster. Level—Dangerous."
A low commotion arose in the lobby.
Jemin's eyes lit up.
The complete bizarre.
So far, he only has two complete mysteries.
More importantly, this strange entity in front of us is sealed by the Psychic Association.
This means that it's not just the sealed anomaly itself that has research value.
The mysterious sealing technique is also worth studying.
It could even be argued that, considering that Jemin has already obtained multiple complete monsters of the same level, the research value of this sealing technique even surpasses that of this complete monster!
The materials of the sealing container, the structure of various patterns, the method of energy locking, and the principle of suppressing the strange activity—all these things combined represent the essence of humankind's research accumulated over thousands of years in the face of the strange!
It is no exaggeration to say that this is the true core technology of this world's civilization.
"Starting bid." Elena Walker's voice pulled Jemin back to reality. "One thousand gold coins."
The lobby fell silent for a moment.
One thousand gold coins.
This is a number that could bankrupt the vast majority of middle-class people.
Even among those present, many couldn't come up with that much cash.
But the bidding still started.
"One thousand one hundred gold coins." A middle-aged man in the front row held up his number plate.
"One thousand two hundred gold coins." A woman in the back row immediately followed.
"One thousand three hundred gold coins."
"One thousand five hundred gold coins."
Prices are rising rapidly.
Although the people present came from different backgrounds, most of them had the same purpose in attending this auction—to gain greater power!
So, what does it mean to have a complete, sealed-off monster?
For the people of this world, it is naturally possible to seal it into their own bodies through some kind of ritual and become a psychic!
This is the path to extraordinary power.
Although there is a high mortality rate in this process, this power is not obtained through methods like gene-based drugs, but is genuine superhuman!
For those who crave power but lack the means, this opportunity is more precious than anything else.
"Two thousand gold coins." The middle-aged man in the front row bid again, this time with a large increase, as if to show his determination to win.
"Two thousand two hundred gold coins." The woman in the back row did not back down.
"Two thousand five hundred gold coins." A hoarse voice rang out from another corner.
Jemin didn't rush to make an offer.
He sat quietly in his seat, listening to the price rise little by little, while observing the expressions and postures of the bidders.
The middle-aged man in the front row had a flushed face and beads of sweat on his forehead.
The woman in the back row had a calm expression, but her fingers were trembling slightly.
The owner of that hoarse voice sat in the darkest corner of the lobby, and you could feel a chilling aura emanating from him.
When the bidding reached 3,000 gold coins, only three people remained.
A middle-aged man, that woman, and a dark figure in the corner.
The middle-aged man withdrew after reaching 3,500 gold coins.
His face was pale, his lips were tightly pressed together, and the number plate in his hand creaked as he gripped it, but in the end he did not raise it.
When the amount reached four thousand gold coins, the woman withdrew.
She leaned back in her chair, closed her eyes, and took a deep breath, as if trying to calm some intense emotion.
The dark figure in the corner held up a number plate.
"Four thousand one hundred gold coins."
Elena Walker's gaze swept across the lobby. "Four thousand one hundred gold coins, is there anything higher?"
The lobby was very quiet.
"Four thousand one hundred gold coins, for the first time."
Jemin held up his number.
"Number 37, bid 4,200 gold coins."
All eyes turned to him.
The dark figure in the corner also turned its head. Jemin could feel two sharp gazes piercing him, as if they wanted to burn two holes in his face.
"Four thousand three hundred gold coins." The shadowy figure's voice was even hoarser.
"Number 37, 4,400 gold coins."
"Four thousand five hundred gold coins."
"Number 37, 4,600 gold coins."
The two people walked one after the other, and the price steadily climbed like climbing stairs.
Everyone else fell silent, watching the contest between the two.
Jemin's expression remained unchanged.
He always held up his number plate steadily, neither too fast nor too slow, neither hurried nor impatient.
The shadowy figure began to hesitate.
He was bidding slower, pausing longer before each time he raised his paddle.
"Seven thousand gold coins," Jemin announced a new figure.
A collective gasp filled the lobby.
Seven thousand gold coins.
This figure exceeds the wealth that most people present could accumulate in a lifetime.
The shadowy figure remained silent for a long time.
Jemin could feel that gaze fixed on him, as if it were weighing something or calculating something.
Finally, the shadowy figure put down the number plate.
"Seven thousand gold coins, for the first time."
Elena Walker's voice echoed in the lobby, tinged with a hint of excitement.
She hadn't expected this item to fetch such a high price, far exceeding the usual dangerous and bizarre benchmark of four thousand gold coins.
"The second time."
"The third time."
The mallet fell with a dull thud.
"Sold. Number 37."
Jemin's lips curled up slightly.
The waiter brought the silver-white metal box to his seat.
The box was heavier than it looked, probably weighing fifty or sixty pounds.
In addition, various items he had previously purchased were piled up next to his seat.
Using his suitcase as cover, Jemin retrieved cash from his inner cave.
Gold and silver coins were neatly stacked on the tray, the number of which was precise.
Some of those gold and silver coins were obtained from shady brokers and bandits.
There is another part —
It was something he "created" on the spot within his internal psychic realm.
Thanks to alchemy.
By simply grabbing some scrap metal and rearranging its molecular structure within the body's internal space, one can create coins that are exactly the same as real currency.
Jemin wasn't worried at all that anyone would be able to tell the gold coins were real or fake, because the metal he created through alchemy was of a higher purity than that of the official mint in this plane.
Moreover, it can be artificially aged using alchemy, and when used with genuine coins, no one can tell the difference.
Jemin packed the silver-white metal box and other purchased items into his suitcase, stood up, and walked towards the exit.
Others in the lobby were still bidding on subsequent items.
There were a few more ordinary items, but Jemin had already lost interest.
He has achieved all his goals for today.
He stepped out of the oak door and walked back down the corridor he had come from.
The gaslight cast dappled shadows on the red brick walls, and footsteps echoed in the narrow corridor.
Suddenly, Jemin's eyes twitched slightly.
He sensed it.
There were several pairs of eyes watching from behind.
Although many curious eyes were fixed on him, Jemin easily recognized a few unusual gazes.
The emotions conveyed in those gazes were quite dangerous.
Undoubtedly, some people have already harbored wicked intentions towards a fat sheep like Jemin.
Jemin didn't react at all.
His steps remained unchanged, as if he were completely unaware of those gazes, and he calmly and composedly walked out of the exhibition center's doors.
Meanwhile, members of the psychic association also noticed the situation.
In a secluded room next to the auction hall, Harding patted Dirk, bringing his colleague, whose attention was focused on the surveillance video, back to reality.
"Let's go."
"What are you doing?"
"People have spent so much money to buy our products, so at least we should guarantee after-sales service."
Dirk shook his head helplessly upon hearing this, lazily stood up, and followed Hardin beside him: "Fine, consider it a pastime."
>