Chapter 638 - Disdain?
Ling Lan knew that she was suspected but she wasn't upset. She was prepared to be exposed when she made the decision to follow the princess to this auction. However, it happened faster than she expected.
With Little Four's help, Ling Lan found out where the princess and Senior Colonel Mu Youyun were at. The organizers of the auction put a lot of effort into making sure that they were far away from each other. If something really did happen to the princess, they would be unable to come to her aid.
Ling Lan pondered over her actions and decided to stay put. She believed that although the organizers of the auction wanted to kill the princess, they couldn't bear to destroy the underground auction. Hence, they would not act during the auction. They would most probably do something after the auction when they would be heading back with the Babu scepter. This meant that the princess was safe for now.
Thus, Ling Lan and her friends played around happily in their booth without any worries. Soon, it was time for the auction to start.
An image suddenly appeared on the wall that was made of glass. It was a live broadcast of the auction. There were many people at the auction. No seats were left empty. Not everyone had a booth like them. A huge portion of the guests was at the auction.
Ling Lan glanced at Li Lanfeng secretly. Li Lanfeng understood what she wanted. He wore a curious expression on his face and walked to the optical supercomputer in the room. He started looking through the items up for auction.
There were all kinds of items up for auction. The total number of items was 6000. However, only 50 of them would be auctioned off on the spot. Those were all rare items. You could bid for the other 5950 items before the auction for the 50 rare items starts. As long as your bid was the highest, you would win the bid. The item would be sent to you personally after the auction ended and the necessary documents would be signed on the spot.
The rest of the group gathered around the computer. When they saw a used ace mecha of the Federation on the auction list, they gasped in shock. Everyone knew that an ace mecha was forbidden to be sold on the market. If the Federation knew that someone bought an ace mecha privately, they would use all means to snatch the ace mecha back.
To protect the Federation, powerful weapons like an ace mecha, which might be the deciding factor in a battle, was not allowed to be in the hands of the public. Even elite families couldn't own any weapons like this.
However, the Federation probably never expected their ace mecha to be auctioned off on a planet a few millions of light-years away.
The ace mecha wasn't the only forbidden weapon on the list. Other powerful technology from other countries appeared on the list too. For instance, the information about the ATOMIC BEAM BAZOOKA invented by the Caesar Kingdom. Based on rumors, it could be equipped onto a mecha and its power was enough to destroy a military vessel.
However, the Caesar Kingdom hadn't made the ATOMIC BEAM BAZOOKA into a mecha weapon yet. It was still an explosive that could only be used on a military vessel. Ling Lan believed that many countries would be interested in this set of information.
"Boss, they are not selling the information of the latest version of the ATOMIC BEAM BAZOOKA. It is just information about the first generation ATOMIC BEAM BAZOOKA," Little Four could hear Ling Lan's thoughts so he quickly told her what he found out.
"Can someone make the ATOMIC BEAM BAZOOKA based on this information alone?" Ling Lan didn't believe that that was the most updated information for the weapon too. As a subordinate of the Caesar Kingdom, Aoqi would not sell such important information.
"You can make the ATOMIC BEAM BAZOOKA but the materials are very difficult to obtain. Even if you could obtain the materials, you would need to research for a long time before succeeding in making the weapon," Little Four said with disdain.
"As expected. Caesar would not release the results of their research so easily," Ling Lan replied. She suspected the appearance of the information about the ATOMIC BEAM BAZOOKA was to cover up the appearance of the ace mecha. That way, the Federation would not be able to do anything to Aoqi even though they knew that their ace mecha was being auctioned off. After all, even the weapon invented by Caesar was on the auction list. This showed that the auction was based on a free-market.
"Yes. Caesar is already researching the third generation of ATOMIC BEAM BAZOOKA. Even if other countries bought that information, they would be behind Caesar Kingdom by 10 to 20 years. Caesar would still be the leading nation in atomic weapons. If the other countries placed their emphasis on this document, they would be unable to surpass Caesar in terms of weapon making."
"I hope that our Federation will not fall into their trap," Ling Lan said.
"Let me tell you a piece of bad news. I just gathered the guestlist for this auction. There are at least four different groups of people who came from the Federation," Little Four replied.
"Who are they?" Ling Lan was curious.
"One of them is a merchant with the surname Jiang. His background is a mystery. He seemed to have some business with the 3rd Division," Little Four said in a mysterious manner.
Ling Lan flicked his forehead and said coldly, "Speak properly. He is just a representative of the 3rd Division."
Little Four rubbed his forehead. He asked in a depressed tone, "Boss, how do you know that?" He wanted to create some excitement for his boss but before he could say anything else, his boss exposed him.
"Even my father doesn't dare to offend the three great marshals of the Federation. If he has a business relationship with the great marshals, it would mean that he is under their wing." As she aged, Ling Lan understood more things. After entering the 23rd Division, she experienced how powerful the three great marshals were. They were so powerful they could control almost anything. That was why her proud father chose to work under the First Marshal.
Little Four didn't dare to fool around anymore. He quickly told her about the other three batches of people. "The other two groups came from the two most powerful elite families of the Federation, Li family, and Ye family. However, I don't know what their motives are. The last group is from the Yun family."
"Li family?" Ling Lan looked at Li Lanfeng instinctively. Although Li Lanfeng was just a branch descendant of the Li family, Ling Lan felt that the Li family placed huge importance on him. He was treated differently from the other branch descendant, Li Jinghong.
This was Ling Lan's instinct. She trusted her instinct. However, Ling Lan would not ask Little Four to research about Li Lanfeng's background. That was his personal affairs. As his friend, she respected Li Lanfeng's private life.
Li Lanfeng noticed Ling Lan's gaze and looked at her with a puzzled look.
Ling Lan smiled. Li Lanfeng was stunned. He quickly lowered his head and looked at the optical supercomputer. He looked as though he just saw a ghost. Ling Lan's smile froze. After a while, her facial expression turned cold.
"Do I look ugly when I smile?" Ling Lan gritted her teeth and asked herself. She rarely smiled so her smile might seem a little stiff. However, she didn't think that she would be that bad.
Little Four pinched his nose. He wondered if he should tell his boss the truth. Her smile was… Little Four recalled the smile that he saw just now. He felt blood flowing out of his nose. To protect his image in front of his little brother, Little Four decided to make a move first. As for the explanation… he was not the one being misunderstood. Li Lanfeng wanted to snatch his boss's love from him. He would not be so kind and help him.
Little Four disappeared from Ling Lan's mindscape.
Li Lanfeng felt the cold aura coming from Ling Lan. He regretted his actions just now. He didn't expect himself to be stunned by her smile. It was not something he should do to his rabbit! He thought about how he hated it when other people looked at Ling Lan…
His rabbit must hate him now! Li Lanfeng's mind was in a mess. He was controlling the optical supercomputer but his mind was blank. All he was thinking about was the fact that Ling Lan disliked him. Li Lanfeng started to lose his composure.
"Hey, don't flip through the list so quickly." Li Lanfeng was forced out of his position by the huge force. The huge force allowed Li Lanfeng to regain his senses.
Li Yingjie had angrily taken over Li Lanfeng's spot. He started observing the items on the optical supercomputer carefully. Li Lanfeng flipped through it too quickly just now so they couldn't read the description of the items properly. If it was only done once, they could bear with it. However, Li Lanfeng did it too many times. Hence, Li Yingjie got angry and pushed him away.
Li Lanfeng calmed down a little. He saw Ling Lan standing at the side. He thought about it for a while and walked towards her. "Rabbit, I'm sorry."
Ling Lan glanced at him. "What are you sorry about?"
"I couldn't control myself just now." Li Lanfeng was not someone who gives up halfway.
"Was it scary?" Ling Lan raised her eyebrows.
Li Lanfeng smiled bitterly. "Yes, it was scary." That smile was too enchanting!
"Hmph!" Ling Lan was unhappy. With Ling Xiao and Lan Luofeng as her parents, she could never be ugly. Ling Xiao's smile was able to warm people's heart but her smile could only scare people? Her mother's smile was as gentle as her father's. Was it because her parents' smiles were too beautiful so he didn't like the way she smiled?
"Rabbit, I think that you should just keep a cold face." Li Lanfeng knew that some powerful people liked to collect all kinds of pretty faces. Although Ling Lan had Ling Xiao helping her, it was still better to be careful. Some people would do anything to get what they wanted.
Keeping a cold face is better? Does he not like my smile that much? Ling Lan looked at Li Lanfeng coldly. She squeezed the words out of her mouth, "Leopard, I thank you for your advice."
She would never forgive this stupid leopard! Ling Lan turned her head and looked at Li Yingjie. She ignored Li Lanfeng.
Li Lanfeng felt an even colder aura coming from Ling Lan. His rabbit seemed to be really angry at him! Li Lanfeng felt cold sweat on his forehead. A sense of danger, which he never felt before, rose in his heart.
No way. He must regain his image in rabbit's heart. Li Lanfeng clenched his fist secretly.
The other four people in the room didn't notice the strange atmosphere between Li Lanfeng and Ling Lan. They were enthralled by the list of items in the auction. Unfortunately, they were supposed to be poor people so they couldn't get anything. Even Li Yingjie's fake identity wouldn't have the money to buy these items.
They decided that when they go on another vacation, they must find a way into this auction again. Then, they would get anything they wanted.
Of course, not everything in the auction was expensive. There were many interesting little gifts and items which couldn't be identified. The difference between the prices were enormous. Some was only worth a few thousand credits while others needed a few hundred millions.
1000 credits was the lowest price in this auction. Anything lower than 1000 credits would not appear in the underground auction.
"Boss!" Little Four suddenly appeared with an obedient looking expression.
"What?" Ling Lan was on her guard. Every time Little Four looked at her with that expression, nothing good would come out of it.
A 3D image of an item appeared in front of her. It was a cylinder made from an unknown material. It was yellowish brown in color and there was a layer of dirt on it. The description said that the dirt couldn't be removed and the material underneath the dirt was unknown.
The Aoqi auction identified this item as a part of a building which had been around for a long time. Most of its other parts were lost so they couldn't identify its true form. Hence, the price was low. The starting price was 3000 credits.
A few people had started bidding for it. However, the highest bid was just 3280 credits. Not many people were interested in it. The people that bidded just felt that since it was cheap, there was no harm buying it and bringing it back for research. If it was just a useless thing, all they lost was just 3000 credits. It was not a lot to them.
Chapter 639 - Bidding!
"What is that?" Ling Lan asked curiously.
Little Four replied, "An energy block."
"An energy block? Really? Why didn't anyone find out?" Based on the description of the item, it was only around 200 years old. How could they not recognize an energy block made 200 years ago?
"That is because it is not from your star system. It is from the Mandora star system. With the technology now, there is no way to test the energy stored inside this block. Of course, this might be an energy block that had been used," Little Four replied immediately.
Ling Lan frowned. She asked Little Four in a serious tone, "How did that energy block appear here?"
That year, Little Four came to earth for some reason and met her by coincidence. He recognized her as his master during that time. This was already a rare occurrence. However, ten thousand years later, another item from the Mandora star system appeared. Ling Lan was vigilant. How many things had entered this star system after the Mandora star system was destroyed? Were there other intelligent entities like Little Four?
If it was only small items like the energy block appearing into their star system, it was fine for them. However, if there was another intelligent entity, Little Four and Ling Lan would have to be careful. They might be exposed.
"It might be because of the spatial tear. If I can come out from the spatial tear, other objects could too," Little Four replied.
"Is there a possibility that another intelligent entity entered into our star system?" Ling Lan asked.
Little Four thought about the question seriously. "I don't think so. I can't sense any similar presence in the virtual world."
Little Four explained again when he saw his boss's serious expression. "We are very sensitive to the presence of other intelligent entities. Even if we never met, we can sense each other's presence. I have only found a few entities that have been evolving by themselves in the virtual world after so many years. They are very weak compared to me. Ah…" Little Four thought about something. "Does Little Blossom count?"
Although Little Blossom was the Doomsday Flower of the Mandora star system, he was initially just a seedling. He could evolve due to the help of hackers. By right, Little Blossom wasn't from the Mandora star system.
Ling Lan knew where Little Blossom came from so she shook her head firmly. "Little Blossom does not count."
"Then there are no intelligent entities like me." Little Four said firmly.
Little Four's reply made Ling Lan felt at ease. She looked at Qi Long and the others. They were not looking at her but she felt someone was staring at her intently. Ling Lan knew that it had to be Li Lanfeng.
Her other companions would only look for her when they needed her or had something to tell her. However, Li Lanfeng would stare her all the time. He would be the first person to know if she had any request or needed anything. Ling Lan was puzzled. Li Lanfeng knew her better than her companions who grew up with her…
Ling Lan remembered the time when she trained with Leopard and felt that this might be the reason.
That year, she trained hard together with Li Lanfeng and they improved together. This was a real form of companionship. As compared to her other friends who only viewed her as an almighty boss, Li Lanfeng took her as his close friend. That was why he always paid attention to her.
All these little things cause Ling Lan to view Li Lanfeng differently. Compared to Qi Long and the rest, Li Lanfeng had a special position in her heart.
Ling Lan put away her unhappiness and lowered her hands. She did the series of actions surreptitiously.
Li Lanfeng moved towards Li Yingjie and patted his shoulder. "Ma Rao, you looked at it for a long time already. Can I take a look now?"
Li Yingjie glared at him. "I am still looking."
Li Lanfeng popped his head over the shoulder and laughed. "You are looking at things which cost more than 10000 credits. Can you even afford it?"
"We can widen our perspective," Lin Zhong-qing glanced at Li Yingjie and hurriedly replied for him.
Li Yingjie controlled his temper and snorted. He looked back at the screen.
Li Lanfeng didn't care if he offended Li Yingjie. He pushed Li Yingjie away and took over the control of the optical supercomputer. He flipped to the items which had the lowest price. "We should look at things which we could afford. Maybe we can buy one back and boast it to our friends."
Li Yingjie wanted to yell at Li Lanfeng. However, his eyes lit up at Li Lanfeng's words and his anger dissipated. He said, "That's right. Since we are here, we should buy something back as proof."
He leaned over and started to discuss with Li Lanfeng about what to buy.
Li Yingjie adapted quickly. Since Li Lanfeng was with Boss Lan just now, he must be acting on Boss Lan's orders. He needed to cooperate with Li Lanfeng.
Finally, after looking through all the items, they chose the three cheapest ones. One of them was a thumb-sized white porcelain piece. It was more than ten thousand years old but since it was broken and so small, no one was sure what it was. Hence, the price was low. The starting bid was 1500 credits and only one person had bid for it. Li Yingjie thought for a while and entered 1550. He kicked the other bidder out of the bid.
Another item was the cylinder that Ling Lan wanted. It was still at 3280 credits. Li Lanfeng discussed with Li Yingjie and decided to bid 3300 credits for it. Everyone knew that the price was just temporary. The real mind game would start a few minutes later.
The last item was an old tree branch. Visually it was the cheapest and yet, it was the most expensive one. It's starting bid was 4500 credit. It was because the branch was taken from a living plant on the newly discovered Green Sea Planet.
After some research, it was found that the tree was not rare. It could be found almost everywhere on the Green Sea Planet. However, since the planet was not opened to the public, Aoqi decided to put this item into the auction list for collectors who liked to collect new breeds of plants or for people who just liked interesting things.
Aoqi predicted people's mind accurately. Among the three items, the tree branch had the most amount of bidders. Its current bid was at 6700 credit. Li Yingjie pressed 6800 credit. He just wanted to have some fun. The other people were stunned. This was almost half the price of their cruise trip.
However, the bidding that happened after that caused them to give up on the tree branch. Within a short time, the bid had skyrocketed to more than 10000 credits. They didn't have that much money. Even if they had, they didn't want to waste it on a normal plant. Hence, everyone focused their attention on the other two items.
It was getting near 2 pm. In the last five minutes, the prices of various items shot up. There was only one bidder for the porcelain piece. After Li Yingjie overbid him, he stopped bidding. Li Yingjie's interest was perked up so he turned his attention to the cylinder.
There were two to three people interested in the cylinder. When the price shot up to 5000 credits, only one person was left bidding against Li Yingjie.
The other party increased his bids by the hundreds. Li Yingjie was irritated. In the last minute, he got angry and pressed an additional 0. The number '6200' became '62000'. After he pressed enter, Li Yingjie froze. He squatted on the floor with his head between his knees.
He hit his head in despair. He cried, "I entered another zero. I'm so stupid. I'm so stupid…"
Lin Zhong-qing's face turned pale. He pushed Li Lanfeng away and stared intently at the number on the optical supercomputer. He shouted crazily, "Buy it, hurry up and buy it!" He wished that the other party would act rashly and overbid them.
Li Yingjie was enlightened by what Lin Zhong-qing did. He still had some hope. He clamped his hands together and seriously prayed that the other party would overbid him…
In the surveillance room, Brother Xu smiled coldly. The one who bid against Li Yingjie was him. His anger was vented when he saw the mistake Li Yingjie made. He would take their money as payment for the room.
The bidding time ended. Li Yingjie and Lin Zhong-qing's prayer didn't work. Their bid was the highest and the cylinder was won by Li Yingjie. The porcelain piece was his too.
Li Yingjie was in a daze. He asked, "How much in total?"
"64,300 credits." Lin Zhong-qing lowered his head.
Li Yingjie gritted his teeth. He calmed down a little and said, "I only have 53,400 credits. Do you guys have extra credits?"
Qi Long took out his communicator and replied, "I have around 2200 credits."
Zhao Jun scratched his head and said embarrassingly, "I used a lot of my credits recently. I only have 2000 credits left."
Li Lanfeng sighed. "I have 2600 credits."
"1800," Ling Lan said. Her appetite was good these past few days so her credits were spent quickly.
"I only have 1100 credits." Lin Zhong-qing lowered his head in embarrassment. His family was the poorest among the six people. He only took 1500 credits out for this trip and tried to save as much as possible.
"We still lack some credits." Li Lanfeng smiled bitterly.
Zhao Jun blinked. "Shall we ask the princess to lend us some money?"
They all looked at each other. This was their only choice. They couldn't tell the people at the auction that they didn't want the items anymore, right? They would be killed by the organizers.
Luckily, the items would only be sent to them after the auction. If they were able to help the princess get the Babu scepter, she would probably not reject their request. The people in the booth decided to get the Babu scepter so that they could get out of their predicament.
The live auction started at 2 pm. The huge screen showed the live broadcast of the auction. A handsome young man was the auctioneer of this auction. Before he introduced himself, the crowd started clapping.
"Ladies and gentlemen, I am the auctioneer, Aobu Ruoya. I will be hosting the auction today." The auctioneer smiled and bowed at the audience. Many people gasped when they heard his name.
Little Four showed Ling Lan data about Aobu Ruoya. Ling Lan understood why everyone was so excited.
Aobu Ruoya was actually Aoqi Aobu. He was the only son of President Feila. President Feila was the person who made Aoqi from a poor country into a rich business and tourist utopia within 30 years. He was well-liked by the citizens of Aoqi and was even requested to make the Aobu family into a royal family. They are the representative of the Aoqi Kingdom.
This suggestion was rejected by President Feila. However, the Aoqi citizens got more passionate about this suggestion. This request would be brought up at the parliament. Once it went through, Aoqi would become Aoqi Kingdom and Aoqi family would become the royal family of the Aoqi kingdom. That would mean that Aobu Ruoya would be the next king.
Of course, Aobu Ruoya was not popular just because he was the son of President Feila. He was also an impressive explorer and a top-tier auctioneer. When he didn't reveal his true identity, he had already auctioned off many luxurious items and became the most popular auctioneer in Aoqi. Since this underground auction was able to hire him as the auctioneer, it meant that the organizer had a rich and powerful background. They must also have a close relationship with the government of Aoqi.
Aobu Ruoya calmly auctioned off the items. Ling Lan and her friends waited for the Babu scepter to appear. They ignore all the other items.
However, when the ace mecha appeared, the six of them were tempted. The only thing that was stopping them was the price. They could only look at the mecha with greedy eyes. Of course, even if they had the money, it would be useless if they bought it.
There were many people who wanted the ace mecha. There were four main bidders. One came from the Southstar Galaxy, one came from Aoya Alliance, one came from the Chaotic Lands, and the last came from the Ye family.
The Southstar Galaxy was situated in the most southern part of the human world. The people there were all brave and skillful in warfare. However, they had a simple mind. This caused the development of mechas in that galaxy to be slower than other powerful countries. The Southstar Galaxy wanted to get this mecha so that they could research it.
In a battle, the mecha operator of an ace mecha would choose to self-destruct if they lost. This was to protect the secrets of the ace mecha. Hence, no one was able to scavenge any ace mechas back from battlefields.
This was why the Southstar Galaxy went all out and wanted to get the ace mecha.
The other two parties wanted the ace mecha for similar reasons. The Ye family, on the other hand, received orders from the Federation to bring back the ace mecha.
In the end, the Ye family managed to get the ace mecha. During the bidding, the Ye family disappeared for a while. Little Four went to take a look and realized that the Ye family was contacting the Li family. The Ye family received the order quite late so they didn't prepare enough credits. The price of the mecha exceeded the amount of credits they brought so they had to borrow some from the Li family.
Although the ace mecha returned to the Federation, the Ye family, or rather the military, paid a huge price for it. The amount of credits spent on this ace mecha was enough to build 40 more ace mechas. However, this was a necessary sacrifice. If other countries discovered the secret of their ace mecha, the Federation would suffer more loses. Then it would not be an issue about credits anymore.
Of course, this was not the end. The military would definitely find the culprit who smuggled the ace mecha out. This would cause a huge commotion in the military. The betrayer would definitely be tortured.
Since this had nothing to do with Ling Lan, she just threw it to the back of her head. She had more important things to attend to. The Babu scepter was the next item in line.
When Aobu Ruoya described the Babu scepter, everyone turned silent. They all knew that the Babu scepter was only useful to the people of the Balaya Kingdom. To other people, it could only be a collector's item. However, it was not worth provoking a huge country to get this item.
"Babu scepter. Starting bid: 1,000,000 credits." Aobu Ruoya said calmly. The ace mecha was already sold for a huge sum of credits so he was not shocked by this amount.
"1,100,000." Booth#103 started bidding. Ling Lan looked at the booth number and knew that it was Princess Gulibaduo. As expected, she was unable to control herself and was the first one to bid.
After Gulibaduo bidded, no one continued. Gulibaduo was elated. She might be able to take back the sceptre easily.
"Booth#103 calling once! Although the Babu scepter is just an antique, it represented the royalty of the Balaya Kingdom. The Balaya Kingdom once made a promise. They will fulfil one wish to the person who brings back the Babu scepter for them. Credits is one thing but with the scepter, you will have a chance. You might even have another chance of living. I think that everyone here knows how important this item is. Let me ask again. Is there anyone who wants to bid?"
Princess Gulibaduo gritted her teeth in anger when she heard Aobu Ruoya telling everyone the secret of the Babu scepter. She knew that getting the Babu sceptre back would not be an easy task now.
"1,500,000!" The moment Aobu Ruoya finished speaking, the person in Booth#7 bidded.
Chapter 640 - Time To Act!
"Boss, it is the people from Twilight!" Little Four immediately reported.
"They are the enemy of the Federation. They will definitely try to make things difficult for us." Ling Lan had expected trouble.
After that, a few more people bid. They were all from different countries. Although the people who bid were merchants, everyone knew that they represented a certain faction in their country. Some even represented the entire nation.
"Boss, the Yun family is bidding now."
"Yun family? Seems like Yun Feiyang really wants to gain the heart of Princess Gulibaduo." Ling Lan guessed the intention of the Yun family.
After a few rounds, Princess Gulibaduo bid again. She raised the bid of the Babu scepter to a hundred million credits. She wanted to use this amount to show the other countries that the Balaya Kingdom was determined to get the Babu scepter back. The other countries should weigh their choices and see if it was worth offending the Balaya Kingdom.
However, Gulibaduo's actions didn't have much effect. A new round of bidding started. As the price got higher, Aobu Ruoya's smile got brighter. If the price of an item got higher, it showed that he was a good auctioneer.
"Seems like the other party doesn't want the princess to get the scepter so easily…" Ling Lan observed for a while and understood what the other countries were trying to do. They knew how important the Babu scepter was to the Balaya Kingdom but they still bid for it. They wanted the Balaya Kingdom to lose a huge fortune.
After some time, a few bidders gave up. There were only five bidders left. Ling Lan looked up and glanced at Li Lanfeng.
As expected, Li Lanfeng was focusing on Ling Lan. Although his eyes were staring at the optical supercomputer, he looked up when Ling Lan glanced at him. Their eyes met.
Li Lanfeng lowered his head casually and said to Li Yingjie, "Ma Rao, do you think that we should act now?"
Li Yingjie looked enlightened. "Yes. The princess allowed us to come in so that we can help her. Thanks for reminding me. If not, I will feel sorry for the princess." He added ten million to the current bid without any hesitation. Since he was not using his own money, he didn't feel any burden when entering all the zeros.
"Booth#239 bid 580 million credits." The appearance of a new bidder silenced the crowd.
"Who is inside booth#239?" The businessman from Twilight narrowed his eyes when he saw a new competitor.
His assistant flipped through the information that he received and said, "They are people from Aoqi."
The businessman pondered. "Is Aoqi trying to interfere in this matter?"
"Ah, boss, I have just received a new message." The assistant's communicator beeped.
"What is it?"
"Aoqi says that they will be taking over the bidding from now on," the assistant replied carefully.
"What is this? Didn't they ask a few of us to cooperate to bleed the Balaya Kingdom?" The businessman from Twilight was furious. He was unhappy that Aoqi kept changing their mind.
"They explained that it was because the Balaya kingdom will continue to increase the bid. It is okay for us to reveal our bottom line but if we reveal it too often, we will be discovered. The Yun family from the Federation is participating in the bidding too. They even have an ace hacker with them," His assistant replied.
"I see. Since that is the case, we will stop after we reach the base price Aoqi gave us." The businessmen from Twilight was shocked. That ace hacker might discover their relationship with Aoqi. The anger in him died down. He decided to give up the bidding. Now, he understood why Aoqi looked for him. It was to maintain the image that Aoqi was a fair country.
The other two parties received similar messages from Aoqi. After the price hit a billion credits, the three of them stopped bidding. Only the Yun family, Gulibaduo, and Li Yingjie remained.
Drops of cold sweat appeared on Yun Feiyang's forehead. He had a limited amount of credits but booth#239 seemed to be very wealthy. They didn't hesitate when bidding. He didn't even have the chance to gain the favor of the princess.
Yun Feiyang gritted his teeth. Since he was already committed in this, he must not give up. He wanted to increase the bid but at this moment, he felt his communicator vibrating. He glanced at it angrily. Which idiot dares to disturb him at this time…
His eyes lit up with happiness. The person who messaged was Princess Gulibaduo. He opened the message and realized that Gulibaduo was asking him to stop bidding. She said that she was grateful for the help of the Yun family.
Yun Feiyang heaved a sigh of relief. If he didn't need to use his own credits, that would be the best. He felt that he made a good decision to contact the princess at the start of the auction to tell her his booth number. That way, she would know his intentions. Yun Feiyang reached his motive so he happily stopped bidding.
At that moment, Gulibaduo received a message too. She opened the message and was elated. She immediately replied. After Yun Feiyang stopped bidding, Gulibaduo bid again. Then, Li Yingjie was provoked by Aobu Ruoya's words and bid against her.
Just as everyone thought that Gulibaduo would increase her bid but she gave up. The Babu scepter was won by booth#239 at the heavenly price of 1 billion 320 million credits.
Gulibaduo was relieved when she heard that booth#239 got the bid. She was proud of herself. Getting Ling Lan and her friends into this auction was the right decision. As there were many people targeting her…
However, Gulibaduo was curious. Why didn't the other people find out that booth#239 was from Balaya Kingdom? Why didn't they stop them?
Gulibaduo was a smart person. She immediately understood what had happened. Her eyes turned cold. "Looks like my siblings doesn't want me to get the Babu scepter too. How can they ignore the interest of the Balaya Kingdom for the sake of inheriting the throne? Damn…"
Gulibaduo was angry. Her confidant was shocked and instantly said, "Princess, why didn't you continue bidding? We didn't reach our bottom line yet…" She knew that the princess was transferred a billion credits from the Balaya Kingdom just in case things got out of hand. However, since she needed to use many channels to transfer the money over, she could only transfer in batches. But, she could ask the organizers for a loan first and repay them when they have the money.
Gulibaduo opened her mouth. Just as she was about to speak, she saw Qian Jialin and stopped.
These people were arranged by the Balaya Kingdom. Were they really loyal to her and the Balaya Kingdom? Or were they loyal to her siblings?
Gulibaduo couldn't help but smile coldly. If these people were bought over by her siblings, they would definitely leak the information to her siblings. She couldn't endanger Ling Lan and her friends. Gulibaduo knew that getting the Babu scepter was easy. Bringing it back would be difficult.
Gulibaduo looked like a straight-forward and simple-minded person but she was not. She knew that some people in the Balaya Kingdom wanted her dead. She also knew that there were many assassinations that occurred behind her back.
Thus, Gulibaduo swallowed her words and replied coldly, "The Babu scepter is just a symbol of the Balaya royalty. It is not worth so much effort."
Qian Jialin smiled when he heard what the princess said. Honestly, he didn't understand why the Balaya Kingdom used so much wealth and effort to get back a useless symbolic item. This wealth could be used to improve the livelihood of their citizens. Compare to the Federation, the commoners of the Balaya Kingdom were extremely poor.
However, since the Balaya Kingdom was a loyal supporter of the Federation, Qian Jialin would not express his opinions openly.
After the Babu scepter, a few more items were sold. There was a super energy storage unit which could automatically gather energy from the universe and use the energy to power up a mecha. Ling Lan was tempted. But, she knew that she couldn't act now even if she wanted it. She regained her composure.
No mecha master would be able to resist against an energy storage unit that could automatically replenish its energy. Mecha masters knew that if they met an opponent who was as strong as them, the person who had a higher capacity energy storage unit would win.
Unfortunately, it was hard to make a super energy storage unit. Only imperial mechas would be equipped with it. The only ace mechas that could get a super energy storage unit were the mechas used by people like the Sky God and the King of Hell. There were no such items sold on the market. Even in the black market, it rarely appeared. This showed how well the various countries protected this item.
Little Four started searching for a super energy storage unit the moment Ling Lan advanced to an ace operator but to no avail. He didn't expect it to appear in Aoqi.
Little Four wanted to create a fake identity to buy the super energy storage unit. Ling Lan stopped him. She knew that even if they managed to buy the super energy storage unit, they would not be able to find someone to collect it. Also, Ling Lan suspected that this super energy storage unit was used to test her since it was not on the initial auction list.
Little Four calmed down after Ling Lan reminded him. This item was indeed not on the initial auction list. Little Four was not prepared for it to show up so he was caught off guard and became extremely excited. In the end, they didn't bid for the super energy storage unit.
"Am I thinking too much?" Brother Xu started doubting himself. The appearance of the super energy storage unit only caused a commotion in booth#239 but they didn't bid for it. If they were actually powerful warriors, they would not be able to resist the temptation.
The super energy storage unit caused another uproar in the audience. Many people started bidding for it. It was more expensive than ace mecha. The starting bid was 5 million credits. It shot up to a few hundred million and crossed the billion mark within a short time.
It was sold to the Li family in the end. The Li family increased the price by a hundred million credit each time they bid, scaring their competitors away.
"The people in booth#11 are wealthy." Ling Lan suddenly exclaimed. Li Yingjie and Li Lanfeng felt their mouth twitching when they saw the jealous look on her face. Was their captain mocking the Li family?
The Li family had to buy the super energy storage unit but their boss just had to ask his father if he ever wanted one. This was the difference between their power.
The Li family had a strong influence in the political world but their power in the military was weak. This was why the Li family envied the Ye family.
The Ye family didn't have any political power but they controlled an entire division. The Li family was not able to do this. They had their own people in two divisions but they didn't have control over the entire divisions. Their faction was suppressed by other factions. If the Li family didn't have influence in the political world, their position as the first elite family of the Federation would be overtaken by the Ye family.
The two of them pretended that they didn't hear anything and focused on looking at the next item. Soon, it was time for the ATOMIC BEAM BAZOOKA documents to show up.
Ling Lan just wanted to be a bystander but when she saw the businessman with the surname Jiang, the Li family, and the Ye family bidding for it, she frowned.
As the price climbed higher, Ling Lan made a decision. "Little Four, ask them to stop bidding."
Little Four got excited immediately. "Yes, boss!" Boss finally allowed him to act. He didn't have to hide anymore. It was time to show you my true power!
A long time ago, Little Four gave himself a nickname. He didn't have the chance to use it for so long but now, it was finally time for him to make his nickname known to the human world!
Chapter 641 - The Son of God!
Ling Lan thought for a second then ordered, "Little Four, you make the decision!"
Was letting Little Four take charge correct? It was the first time Little Four received the power to make a decision. He didn't hesitate and rushed into the circuitry to help his Boss resolve this issue.
In the Li family's booth:
The assistant responsible for bidding in the auction saw that the price he bidded was raised by his competitor. He didn't even think for a second, he entered a new bid and sent it out.
"Sending…" After a while, another round had passed, but it didn't actually show their bid. The assistant knew something was wrong. He immediately raised his head and yelled, "Boss, I think something malfunctioned."
The representative from the Li family from who was originally half asleep immediately opened his eyes. He coldly asked, "What happened?"
"The bid I had just entered was not received by the auction house. They didn't show our bid." It was clear that his bidding price was the highest in that round.
The representative from the Li family's expression changed slightly and immediately ordered, "Contact the auction house and have them resolve this issue as soon as possible." After saying that, he could help but swear under his breath. It he didn't successfully acquire the data of the ATOMIC BEAM BAZOOKA today, his big boss would not let him live it down.
He knew clearly that his big boss wanted to use this data to his advantage by acquiring another bargaining chip in competing for the position of master in the faction… After thinking about the outcome of his failure, sweat began to drip from his forehead. He had lost the composure he had in the beginning and a hint of anxiousness began to show in his expression.
"Boss, I have already requested for help from the auction house," the assistant responded immediately.
The representative from the Li family nodded his head. He endured the anxiousness and waited for the auction house to resolve this issue.
In the booth of the Ye family:
"Boss, our bid wasn't received by the auction house." Similarly, the assistant responsible for bidding saw that the new round of bids did not have the one he had sent in. He immediately reported this to his Boss.
The representative of Ye family frowned. He knew the underground auction house on Aoqi very well. Although it seemed like a black market on the outside, it was actually controlled by government officials. It was just that the items being auctioned were considered smuggled goods and the auction house could not explain their origin to the countries bidding for it. Thus, it went from public to private and changed these items into black market goods.
However, the auction house's defense system and military force was top tier on Aoqi. It was impossible for a malfunction like bids not being received to happen… The representative from the Ye family's first thought was that the auction house was being attacked?
"Major Lu, the anti-hacker barrier we borrowed doesn't have any issues right?" The representative from the Ye family asked the astute young man standing beside him with an imposing look. The representative was thinking whether if the attack was by a group that was hostile towards the Federation, the military and the Ye family.
"There won't be any issues. Even imperial level hackers wouldn't be able to find an opening." Major Lu said without hesitation. The anti-hacker barrier was something that was created by a group of imperial level hackers from the military. It wasn't something that one or two imperial hackers could easily crack.
The representative from the Ye family had a grasp of the situation. He turned around and spoke to the bidding assistant, "Contact the auction house and ask them to resolve this issue immediately." Since the situation was playing out like this, they could force the auction house to give them an explanation. Secretly, the representative even hoped that this problem would persist and continue until the auction ended. This way he would be able to have the auction house to give him a copy of the weapon data for a lower price. Using the least amount of money to get what they wanted was something he very much wanted to do.
The merchant with the surname Jiang had also discovered this problem. He showed a faint smile on his face. Similarly with the Ye family, he also patiently waited for the auction house to give them an explanation.
Although the top three competitors were out, the other competitors didn't care. These other competitors were enthusiastically bidding for the data of this weapon that used a new energy source. Aobu Ruoya had said that this weapon could change the fate of the entire universe. The price of the data rose to a shocking sky-high price…
"They're all crazy!" Ling Lan saw the auction and speculated that the only reason this universe constantly had wars was completely because humans were too selfish and didn't want to give up on their own agendas. This was what caused the universe to be tainted by war.
However, waiting would not give them any results. Little Four had cut off all communications from all three booths and Brother Xu, who was responsible for monitoring the booths, only saw what Little Four allowed him to see on his screens. In the auction house, everything was perfectly fine. It showed that there were no bids coming from the three booths.
Although the auction house felt something was off, they didn't suspect any foul play. After all, not bidding was a right the client had and the auction house had no right to intervene.
Of course, if they had suspected a little bit more and compared the images in all three booths, the auction house could have found a flaw in the surveillance footage. That was because the surveillance footage were actually on a loop. However, Little Four had split the video clips apart. If the person watching wasn't a top expert, they wouldn't be able to tell the difference.
"How come they're still not here?" Seeing that the amount of people bidding decreasing, the auction house did not notify them and didn't even send a staff member to their booth, the representative from the Li family couldn't wait any longer.
The guard standing at the door turned to the keypad after his Boss gave him the order. He inputted a string of numbers and was getting ready to open the door of the booth.
However, the door didn't open. Now, everyone knew something had happened.
They first used their communicators to contact the people outside, but discovered that their communicators didn't not work too. They were like a rat in a hole, unable to contact the outside world. Everyone's expressions changed instantly and suspected this act was the auction house purposefully going against them.
After the Li family's representative gave the signal, the guard was ready to take out his beam gun to take the door down by force. Right when he was about to do that, the assistant who was staring at the screen the entire time shouted, "Boss, take a look at this."
The representative from the Li family immediately jumped over. The screen showed a savage skull. The skull's mouth cracked open and a string of words flew out, "The data of the ATOMIC BEAM BAZOOKA only belongs to me! I will definitely not let you people meddle with it! If you all obey, I will let bygones be bygones. Otherwise, I will be very very angry and then I'll…
The other two booths also had this image pop up. After this string of words appeared, another image appeared. The images were the large palace-like mansion of the Ye family and the residence of the people backing the merchant with the surname Jiang. These images suddenly exploded and turned to dust in a raging inferno.
"Completely destroy them, so don't make me angry okay?"
"Finally, please regard me as the Son of God!"
After saying that, all the images vanished. The screen returned to the image of the auction. The bid for the data of the Atomic Beam Bazooka had already gone past five billion credits. It had set the record for highest ever bid in the auction house.
"It's hackers!"
Seeing the images, the representatives from the three booths understood the situation. They were at ease temporarily, but smiled bitterly right after. Now, they definitely couldn't acquire the data of the Atomic Beam Bazooka.
They knew very well that Aoqi's organization would station three imperial level hackers for this auction specifically. However, an existence that even three imperial level hacker could not track was definitely a god-level hacker for the imperial hackers to not be able to find out the problem.
However, god-level hackers were a country's last line of defense and would never step out of the country. Who was this god-level hacker? He named himself as the Son of God. Could it be that he actually thought he was a descendant of a god like deity?
The three of them from the booths thought deeply for a while. Then they ordered their subordinates to not publicize this incident. They knew that the government of Aoqi probably wouldn't be able to do anything if a mysterious god-level hacker had a made a move. Aoqi would definitely not be able to find any problems and would even suspect them deliberately causing a disturbance. Pestering the organization might also expose their own background.
The representative from the Ye family thought about his plans with regret. At that moment, they were more in a hurry to return to the Federation and contact the only god-level hacker within the Federation. He may know which god-level hacker had made a move. After all, only an expert of the same caliber would be able to find the details.
Not long after, the data for the ATOMIC BEAM BAZOOKA was won by booth #91.
As the bid for the data had ended, the government of Aoqi also declared that the auction had ended.
After all that, those who were in the three booths could finally communicate with the outside world.
These people didn't hesitate and contacted their forces in the outside world. They ordered their forces to dig up all the details of the people in booth #91. Since the people from that booth had won the bid, then the Son of God definitely had a connection with them. The Son of God could have been invited by those from booth #91.
After auction ended, the people from the three booths didn't stay at the auction house. After they paid the organizer for their items, the three parties quickly left the location. Not long after, the starships that belonged to all three parties all flew out of Planet Aoqi.
Since they left in a hurry, they didn't get to know the string of events that happened on Planet Aoqi afterwards. Those events almost crippled Planet Aoqi's economy to the dark ages.
Because of the Li family, Ye family and merchant Jiang's concealed the information, Aoqi's organizer didn't know that a hacker had presented himself. However, Aoqi wasn't completely off the hook because the Babu scepter caused some friction between them and their allies.
As for the Babu scepter, it was originally going to be won by the Balaya Kingdom with a high price. However, the person who won the bid for the Babu scepter wanted Balaya to buy it from him. Although the bidding price for the scepter was very high in the end, it had not reached half of the amount the person had requested. This fiasco made Aoqi blame their allies for giving up early.
Their partners of course felt very wronged. They blamed Aoqi for sending them a message to tell them to stop. Aoqi's government of course thought their allies were spouting nonsense and asked their allies for proof. Their allies were originally very confident, but when they searched through their messages, they couldn't find that specific message. Their allies instantly understood that they had fallen into Aoqi's trap. They fully believed that Aoqi had silently betrayed them and sided with the Federation.
The two sides criticized each other. Aoqi's government also suspected that their allies were preparing to throw Aoqi out as a scapegoat. The perfect relationship between the two parties instantly had cracks formed between them. Even after the country, Caesar, had comforted both sides, the two parties still couldn't control their anger. On the outside it seemed as though they were just as friendly as before, but the relationship between them could never return to what it once was. Both sides now held grudges against each other.
Little Four didn't know that his barbaric, unreasonable, and completely flawed move actually caused Aoqi and Caesar to have grudges against each other. In the future, the relationship between Aoqi and Caesar will completely break into pieces. Of course, all this was in the future.
This whole event had this kind of effect because Aoqi was confident in their hackers' capabilities. Of course, at the same time, Caesar was also confident in Aoqi's hackers' capabilities. The people that could cause trouble during the auction could only be Aoqi… Thus, confidence was a good thing and an advantage, but too much confidence would create problems. Too much of anything would be a bad thing.
Ling Lan's group didn't know that Aoqi and their allies were at each other's throats. They settled their bids with Aoqi's auction house. They were lucky the account that was bound to the invitation card had enough money. They successfully acquired the three items they had bid on. They left the booth with the help of a staff member.
After getting to the elevator, Li Lanfeng smiled and said, "Thank you. We can go down from here ourselves. You don't need to come with us."
The staff member politely said, "It is part of our job to take our customers to the front door. Please get into the elevator." The staff member ignored Li Lanfeng's polite rejection of his services. He stood beside the elevator and asked Ling Lan's group to enter the elevator as the doors opened.
Li Lanfeng smiled, shook his head and lead his group into the elevator. The elevator was so big. Out of habit, Ling Lan walked to a corner and leaned on the wall of the elevator with her head down as though she was thinking about something.
The others didn't bother her. The rest of them stood there nonchalantly as they watched the number on the screen, waiting for the elevator to reach the first floor.
Right as the screen showed the number for the third floor and everyone waited for the next number to show up, all of the lights in the elevator suddenly turned off. At the same time, a draft of wind suddenly flew towards Ling Lan, who was at the corner.
"Bang!" The clash between blades caused sparks to fly within the darkness. Right after another sound was heard and something had hit the wall of the elevator with great force causing the entire elevator to shake.
"Bam!" The elevator was lit up once again as all of the lights lit up at the same time. At that moment it could be clearly seen that the staff member was lying on a corner lifelessly while Qi Long stood in front of him waving his arm. In the staff member's right hand was a three inch military knife.
"You actually dare to ambush my Boss in front of me. You're looking for a death wish!" Qi Long snorted coldly.
Li Lanfeng, who stood in front of Ling Lan, curled his finger. A short sword retracted into his sleeve. The person who had blocked the staff member's sneak attack on Ling Lan was none other than Li Lanfeng.
The staff member spat out a mouthful of blood and said without any expression on his face, "You won't be able to escape. The video feed would instantly be sent to the control room."
Ling Lan tapped on the shoulder in front of her that was seemingly weak and frail, but was actually full of strength. She meant for Li Lanfeng to move aside.
Li Lanfeng knew Ling Lan had something to say and moved aside without hesitation.
Ling Lan walked towards the staff member slowly. Seeing this, Qi Long automatically moved back and opened up a spot for Ling Lan.
Ling Lan stared at the staff member, bent down slightly and said, "There are 8 surveillance cameras in total with a 360 degree view of everything. Since I know you have that many surveillance cameras, then why would I turn on the lights in the elevator?"
The staff member's expression changed instantly. He remembered that the plan was for him to turn on the lights after he succeeded in killing the six of them. Otherwise, the mission would be deemed as failed. However, his mission had failed, but the lights were turned on. He clearly knew that he was the only one who knew about the mechanism to turn on the light.
"You're wondering how I knew right?" Ling Lan snapped her fingers and the elevator turned pitch-black once again. She snapped again and the lights turned back on.
"Who the hell are you?" Elder Brother Xu said that this seemingly harmless young man was the strongest out of all six of them. At that time, the staff member didn't believe that, but he still listened to Elder Brother Xu's orders to attack this person first. However, he didn't think that he wouldn't even have a chance to get close to his target and was taken down by those around his target…
"Who am I? You probably guessed it haven't you?" Ling Lan stood up and looked down at the staff member as if a giant looking down at an ant. This act made the staff member's expression changed instantly.
"You're very smart. Of course, since I turned on the lights, I of course have the ability to show the people in the security room a fake video feed. Even as we speak, the video feed they see is still pitch black. Then after a while it will show an image of you standing in the elevator and the six of us lying on the floor.
Ling Lan's words were slow, but the staff member's heart became heavier and heavier.
"Of course, if you were to fail, those at the security room would send a group of gunmen to the elevator door. If you were to succeed, those gunmen would become the people who gets rid of our bodies. The Babu scepter would be taken back to your side. Then your people would create the illusion that we had taken the scepter and run off in order to get Balaya's attention…
The expression the staff member had as he looked toward Ling Lan was becoming more instilled with fear. That was because all Ling Lan had said was actually what they were planning to do afterwards.
"You probably also sent a group of people to assassinate the princess. Yes, I'm sure that with the way your organization does things, you will definitely send six people who have similar body types like us and pretend to be us. Then when the princess meets up with those six, they will suddenly attack the princess while the princess does not have her guard up… If they succeed, the blame would be put on our heads. If they don't succeed, they could still cause the princess and the entire country of Balaya to use all their might to find us and kill us because we were greedy for the Babu scepter. Then your organization would no longer be a suspect in this case…"
Ling Lan half-smiled and said, "As expected, what a great plan!"
"You're the devil!" Ling Lan's words caused the staff member to lose all hope. He instantly opened his mouth and bit down hard, preparing to bite his tongue to take his own life. Qi Long, who was staring at the staff member this entire time, held the staff member's jaw. After a hard twist, Qi Long broke the staff member's jaw.
"That's not enough!" Ling Lan focused her eyes and punched the staff member's right cheek with great force. The staff member groaned and spat out a few teeth.
Before Ling Lan gave an order, Lin Zhong-qing went up and carefully examined the teeth. "I found it. One of the teeth is hollow. There's a pill inside it. It's probably poison."
"That's right. In today's world, who dies from just biting off their tongue," Ling Lan replied indifferently.
Li Lanfeng immediately took out a clean handkerchief and handed it to Ling Lan.
Ling Lan looked at him with an odd look, thinking in her mind why this man liked being clean this much and always had a handkerchief with him. In Ling Lan's mind, an image of Li Lanfeng holding his hand out all lady-like and wiping his mouth made her uncontrollably shudder… Yes, she needed to make Li Lanfeng more manly in the future in case he becomes the second Luo Lang.
Ling Lan already felt that an oddball like Luo Lang in her team already made her felt she had sinned greatly. She couldn't let herself create another oddball.
However Ling Lan didn't refuse Li Lanfeng's kindness. She took the handkerchief and wiped the back of her right hand, then tossed it back to Li Lanfeng. She used her actions to tell him that a man should use a handkerchief just like how she did.
Li Lanfeng folded the handkerchief that was crumpled into a ball and then carefully put it back into his own pocket.
Ling Lan saw Li Lanfeng's movements and twitched a little. Could it be that Li Lanfeng had spent too much time with Luo Lang and was affected by that punk? Ling Lan didn't like the idea and was prepared to give Luo Lang a ruthless beating when she returned. Man, it was fine if it was just him who was weird, but to also make his team members weird as well?
Luo Lang, who was so busy in the 23rd Division, suddenly felt chills throughout his entire body. He shuddered a bit and caused the comrades around him to worry for him. Li Shiyu didn't care about Luo Lang's protest and immediately pulled down Luo Lang's pants. He injected a vaccine into his buttocks to make sure he didn't affect his other team members.
They were currently fighting against the commander, having one less capable individual was not allowed! Thus Luo Lang could only endure the pain and suck in his tears while Li Shiyu treated him.
"Ding" The elevator had reached the first floor. Ling Lan looked towards Qi Long. Qi Long instantly held up a staff member in front of him and stood at the door of the elevator.
The elevator door was open. What appeared in front of them was six to seven nozzles. These gunmen didn't even look to see who was inside and emptied their magazines.
Zhao Jun and Li Yingjie, who hid on the roof of the elevator suddenly pounced towards the enemy. The two of them took down two people in an instant. Qi Long, who was standing in the middle, used the staff member as a shield. A slew of bullets all hit the staff member. Qi Long used the chaos to get out of the surrounding. Before the gunmen could react, Qi Long used a whirlwind kick to sent the lot of them to the ground.
Hidden behind the sides of the elevator, Li Lanfeng and Lin Zhong-qing was just a bit slower than the other three, following on their heels and struck down the two people Qi Long had missed.
In an instant, the seven or eight people at the door was taken out by Ling Lan's group.
"It seems that our enemy wasn't thinking of leaving anyone alive, including you." Ling Lan passed by the staff member Qi Long had tossed to the side. The hateful glare he had before dying was full of vengeance. It still had a hint of sorrow from being abandoned.
"That's why, you should not be a piece in someone else's game. Instead, you should be the player." Ling Lan's indifferent words echoed through the staff member's ear. The staff member's eyes showed a hint of regret and stared blankly towards Ling Lan. In the end, his expression was condensed into hate as he drew his last breath.
However, it wasn't sure whether his hate was towards Ling Lan's group or because he was abandoned heartlessly. In the end, he died without purpose. However, this had nothing to do with Ling Lan's group. When the staff member decided to make a move on Ling Lan, he had already signed his death wish. It was just that there was a difference between dying at the hands of Ling Lan's group or his own comrades.
Chapter 642 - Disguise!
After taking down the gunmen, Qi Long asked, "Boss, what do we do now?"
"Find the princess." Ling Lan instantly made the decision.
"Little Four said that everyone from the auction house began to make their move. It seemed that these people didn't want the princess to leave the auction house. It was because these people had found us as their scapegoats and weren't afraid of becoming suspects. These people wanted to kill the princess on their own turf at the right time. This time, they didn't have a choice but to make a move!" Ling Lan thought to herself.
"Alright, I can finally let loose." Hearing Ling Lan's words, Qi Long instantly cracked his knuckles. He was going insane from all the boredom.
"Zhong-qing, the tools." Ling Lan turned around and said to Lin Zhong-qing.
Lin Zhong-qing quickly took out two masks from the backpack and three black stripe like items.
He handed one mask to Ling Lan. Seeing this, Li Lanfeng slightly smiled towards him. Lin Zhong-qing decisively gave the other mask to Li Lanfeng. Lin Zhong-qing knew clearly that although Li Lanfeng seemed to be an easy-going individual, he was actually the most difficult to please. Lin Zhong-qing didn't want to unknowingly get screwed over by Li Lanfeng.
Qi Long held the black stripe like item and asked Lin Zhong-qing, "Zhong-qing, what is this thing?" Why did it seem so familiar?
"It's stocking used by women!" Lin Zhong-qing replied calmly and ignored Qi Long and Zhao Jun's stunned expressions.
"You want us to use a woman's stockings?" Li Yingjie blushed. "Could you not have prepared a few more masks like that one?" He said as he pointed towards Ling Lan's mask. Although the mask was simple and crude, and looked terrible, it was still better than a woman's stockings by a whole lot.
Lin Zhong-qing glanced at Li Yingjie indifferently and replied coldly, "That takes up space." Afterwards, he took out another mask from his backpack.
"Then why do you have a mask and not stockings?" Li Yingjie asked angrily.
"That's because I have the power of distribution." Lin Zhong-qing replied calmly and then began to ignore Li Yingjie as he followed Ling Lan.
Zhao Jun looked at the stocking in his hands with frustration. Then he took a deep breath and put the stocking on his head. And thus, a sleazy bad guy was born.
Qi Long saw that his Boss had already gone far away and knew he couldn't hesitate anymore. He bit his lip, put it on and quickly followed.
"You guys just put it on like that?" Li Yingjie pointed at the two traitors angrily.
Zhao Jun didn't answer him and only pointed towards the front. Li Yingjie looked and saw that Ling Lan was about disappear from his sights and thus he bit his lip and reluctantly put on the stocking.
Since Boss Lan had moved out without giving any orders, it meant that he accepted Lin Zhong-qing's way of distributing the items. If he dawdled for too long and angered Boss Lan, Li Yingjie knew very well what his life in the future would be like. After remembering the training Boss Lan had arranged a while back, Li Yingjie's body trembled uncontrollably…
Ling Lan who was at the front of the group took out a suit as she moved hurriedly. She pulled on the two sleeves and the suit became a jacket. She pulled on it again and the tidy light gray suit immediately turned into a short black windbreaker.
Making a move didn't mean that she had to expose herself. Ling Lan didn't want to expose their identities just yet thus a disguise was necessary.
After putting on the windbreaker, Ling Lan's aura changed from soft and harmless to cold and dangerous. One glance would make a person unable to disregard the chills of Ling Lan's aura.
The team members that followed Ling Lan all changed their presence as well. They, who were originally inconspicuous, instantly became the focus of attention. The killing intent they had hidden silently spewed out. Especially Zhao Jun, who, after training in the division for the past few years and battling in the battlefield, had his killing intent became even thicker. It was just that it wasn't as strong as Ling Lan's killing intent.
Zhao Jun looked in front of him at Ling Lan whose killing intent was through the roof. He thought for a second and was very curious how their Boss could have a killing intent that even veterans, who had fought countless battles in the battlefield, didn't have.
Ling Lan followed the route Little Four had mapped out and didn't take any unnecessary detours. At the same time, she also told Little Four to notify Senior Colonel Mu Youyun of the princess' current movements. After all, Senior Colonel Mu Youyun's Whirlwind Battle Team was acting as the princess' royal guard.
Princess Gulibaduo and her group followed the auction house's staff member to one of the booths. She asked curiously, "Is it here?"
"Yes! Booth #239 has already settled their payment with our staff members. After receiving the Babu scepter, they had requested the auction house to have you come with us to their booth. Since you are our VIP guests, our Boss accepted this request. That's why I have led you here," explained the staff member.
"Your majesty, these people really have no respect. Shouldn't they be the ones who comes to you instead?" Said the princess's confidant angrily.
"You shouldn't say that. They have the Babu scepter now. For the safety of the scepter, they definitely wouldn't make any sudden moves. Having me coming to them was the safest choice." Gulibaduo didn't think that Ling Lan and the others were wrong. If it was her, she would also make this decision.
While the two of them were talking, the staff member had already entered the passcode and the door opened automatically. The staff member politely bowed and said, "Your majesty, this way!"
Princess Gulibaduo took a deep breath. She was going to be able to see the Babu scepter that had been lost for over 400 years, so it was hard for her to not become excited. Right as she wanted to walk in, Qian Jialin, who stood on the side, with a stern expression on his face. He immediately grabbed the princess and pulled her back.
Gulibaduo turned around stunned, "Chamberlain Aodou, what's wrong?"
Qian Jialin said with all seriousness, "Your Majesty, with your status, coming here is already enough. Now, it should be the six of them who should come out and greet you."
He turned and looked towards the staff member, "You go inside and tell them to come and greet our princess."
The eyes of the staff member darted around and hesitantly said, "That…"
Qian Jialin glared at him angrily, "What are you blabbering on about? Why aren't you going in?"
The staff member immediately respectfully said, "Yes!" He walked into the room and shouted, "Respectful guests from booth #239, the guests from #103 would like you to come to the door and greet them personally!"
Gulibaduo heard a muffled reply coming from inside the booth. Then she heard a cluster of footsteps coming closer, Qian Jialin suddenly pushed the princess behind him.
Suddenly, sparks flew out the door and beams of light flew towards Qian Jialin from all directions. Right at that moment, a three meters wide and two meters tall mirror like shield appeared in front of Qian Jialin and blocked off all the shots that were coming towards him.
Qian Jialin immediately ordered, "Run!"
He lead the three members and carefully guarded the princess as they evacuated to the back. They could rejoice that there were walls on both sides of the corridor and they only needed to defend themselves from the gunfire coming from the front.
Chapter 643 - Untitled
Qian Jialin decided to retreat. He didn't know how long this shield could last. If he was alone, he would fight with the opponents but now, he had the princess with him. Her safety was more important than to test his limits.
However, as a soldier of the Federation, they weren't so passive. Qian Jialin retreated because he was waiting for Mu Youyun.
He had been contacting Mu Youyun for quite a while now. He believed that they were not far away from each other.
Mu Youyun felt his communicator vibrating. He looked at it and his expression changed.
At this moment, the staff member who was guiding them started running. Mu Youyun's eyes turned cold. He moved and the staff member got knocked to the ground. He slid for a few meters before stopping.
Mu Youyun quickly walked over to him. He grabbed the person's neck with his hand and raised the person up. "Where is the princess?"
The staff member vomited a mouthful of blood. He sneered at Mu Youyun's question.
Mu Youyun felt his head hurting. Qian Jialin had sent him the room numbers which he had passed by but Mu Youyun was still unable to find him even after going there. Undoubtedly, they had fallen into a trap. Mu Youyun felt that they were in totally different locations.
"Captain, pass him to me." They needed the staff member to guide them through these maze-like tunnels. Luckily, one of their team members was an expert in questioning people.
Mu Youyun immediately handed the staff member over. The team member grabbed the staff member and took out a small box out of his pocket. There were three syringes inside. There was also a thumb-sized medicine tube inside.
The staff member's expression changed when he saw what was inside the box. He struggled. He was already injured heavily by Mu Youyun so struggling worsened his internal injuries. Blood started dripping out of his mouth.
The team member took out the agent and injected it into the arm of the staff member. The staff member's face turned hideous. He seemed to be inside a frightening illusion. He was in a subconscious state and his body was drenched with cold sweat.
Finally, the effects ended. The team member wanted to question the staff member but to his surprise, the staff member bit his tongue… the team member quickly grabbed his jaw but it was too late. Blood started flowing out of his eyes, nose, and mouth. Within a few seconds, he died.
"Damn it. He chose to commit suicide." The team member was upset. He didn't expect an ordinary staff member to commit suicide. This method was used mostly by freelance assassins.
Mu Youyun said seriously, "I think that we have made the wrong prediction."
They thought that their opponents would not act during the auction. After all, the auction was held in Aoqi. Aoqi was a neutral party so to maintain their neutral image, they would never let an assassination to occur on their turf. Yet, contrary to their belief, Aoqi didn't care. Were they going to reveal their true intentions? Or were they confident that no one could escape?
If it was the latter, they were in a dire position. Mu Youyun's heart dropped.
Suddenly, he heard footsteps coming from the two ends of the tunnel. He frowned. He looked at the closed door at his side. Without a second thought, he used his Qi-Jin power to smash the door opened.
"Boom!" The entire tunnel vibrated. There was a fist-shaped dent on the door. The door was made from steel so Mu Youyun was unable to destroy it with a single blow.
Mu Youyun expected this result. He gave the door a forceful kick. The door could no longer handle it anymore as it had already been damaged. It was forced open and a human-sized opening was revealed.
"Enter!" Mu Youyun ordered. His five team members cooperated well and immediately rushed in the opening. Mu Youyun was the last one to enter. When he entered, numerous armed personnel had appeared at the two ends of the tunnel.
The armed personnel rushed over to the room where Mu Youyun entered. Before they got near it, they fired at the door. The half-opened door flew off its hinges.
No one saw the appearance of a shield which appeared behind the door. It blocked the bullets that tried to enter the room.
Mu Youyun looked at the powerful and surreptitious shield on his arm. Before they entered the auction, the timid-looking young man from the Lingtian Battle Team, the one who always hid behind Young Master Zhang, secretly passed this device to Qian Jialin and him. He even gave them a small piece of paper to tell them how to operate this device.
At that time, he and Qian Jialin didn't care much about this little device. They felt that it was not useful but they were grateful for the concern shown from their brother-in-arms. Surprisingly, this 'useless' little device saved his life just now.
He had escaped danger for now. However, it would be difficult to get out of this predicament. The longer they were stuck in this room, the more dangerous their situation would get. The energy of the shield could only last for a limited amount of time. Once the energy of the shield was depleted, they would most likely be dead.
While Mu Youyun and his team were stuck in a room, Qian Jialin tried to retreat into a tunnel with the princess. A group of armed personnel suddenly appeared in the direction where they were retreating. They were getting closer to them. In another few minutes, Qian Jialin might be in the same predicament as Mu Youyun.
The violent vibration caused Ling Lan to stop in her tracks. She frowned. She gave an order instantly, "Zhao Jun, Qi Long. Go to B7 and help Senior Colonel Mu Youyun."
Ling Lan also sent them a sitemap of the auction venue to their communicator. Mu Youyun's current location was pinned with a green dot while their opponents' location was pinned with red dots.
Zhao Jun and Qi Long were stunned for a moment. They quickly regained their senses and replied, "Yes." Then, they disappeared from her sight.
"A powerful master has appeared?" Li Lanfeng asked in a low voice.
"Ten Qi-Jin masters are rushing over to Senior Colonel Mu Youyun's location. Senior Colonel Mu Youyun might be lacking in manpower. With the addition of Zhao Jun and Qi Long, it would make things easier for him." Ling Lan had Little Four supervising her opponents. Hence, even though she was in a rush, she knew what her opponent's plans were and knew where Mu Youyun and Qian Jialin were.
Ling Lan could have sent Li Lanfeng and Li Yingjie over as well to help Mu Youyun. That way, Mu Youyun's side would definitely win. She believed that she was able to save the princess with just her own strength too. However, obstacles allowed people to grow. A little bit of pressure was good for Qi Long and Zhao Jun. This was why she only sent the two of them over.
Qi Long and Zhao Jun were at the peak of Qi-Jin. Qi Long only lacked a single step before advancing to the domain realm. He needed more obstacles and experience to achieve his breakthrough.
"Hurry up. Hasten your pace!" 12 armed men were charging towards Qian Jialin.
They were reaching a three-way fork road. Once they passed this forked road, they would meet their targets. The team leader was elated. If he could kill these people, he would be promoted to a higher position. The team leader could feel his bright future shining down on him.
Just as he was reaching the forked road, three people appeared. Two of them were wearing masks while the other was wearing a black hood that warped his face until it was unidentifiable .
The team leader was stunned. He didn't expect to see people here. "Who are you?"
Did his boss make other arrangements? The team leader thought about this possibility. He didn't have the time to think about anything else, as the three people rushed towards them fiercely.
"Boom!" The team leader got thrown off his feet. He slammed heavily on the ground and vomited out blood. He struggled to get up. From the corner of his eyes, he saw a black figure walking towards the tunnel where the princess was at.
The team leader didn't have the time to think. The hooded man attacked him again. This time, the team leader managed to retaliate.
Two fists collided. After the loud explosion, the team leader flew out again and fell to the ground. He was unable to get up this time. He had a convulsion on the ground. Blood was flowing out profusely from his mouth.
"Why didn't I receive any news of such powerful opponents? What happened to the person supervising everything?" Before the team leader lost consciousness, this was his only thought. Their opponents appeared suddenly. They were caught off guard.
The people in the surveillance room finally realized that something was amiss. They didn't discover Ling Lan and her friends but they did notice that the 12-men team suddenly disappearing from their screens. Even idiots would have realized the situation by now.
When Brother Xu received this news, he almost smashed the screens in the room. He contacted the ace level hacker in the auction and knew that they were attacked by other hackers. Their opponent was at least an ace level hacker too.
Brother Xu suspected the Yun family. Their ace hacker noticed signs of a hacker from the Yun family and started a battle with him. No one knew what happened in the end.
Those people that were fighting didn't know that an unseen battle was happening beside them. The virtual battle was as frightening as the real battle. Losers of the fight had to pay a huge price. The loser's brain would most likely be damaged in the process. A top-tier hacker could instantly become mentally disabled. Some would even be declared brain dead.
Qian Jialin activated his shield and retreated hurriedly with the princess. They had been running for almost five minutes. Luckily, the shield was more powerful than he expected. It showed no signs of energy depletion.
However, Qian Jialin was worried. He thought that Mu Youyun would appear within three minutes but there was still no sign of him. He knew that Mu Youyun must have been led to another place by their opponents. He could only rely on himself.
A figure suddenly flew out from the opposite side. Qian Jialin didn't expect his opponent to resort to close combat after shooting at them for so long.
The opponent's fist punched onto the shield. The huge force caused Qian Jialin to slide a few meters back. The powerful shield dimmed.
"Seems like it is not impregnable." A calm voice sounded in front of Qian Jialin. The bullets had stopped. Their opponents must have decided to rely on close combat after noticing that guns didn't work. Actually, when someone reached the Qi-Jin level, the effects of guns were minimal.
Before Qian Jialin could regain his composure, his opponent attacked him again. This time, he used more power on his fist.
Qian Jialin deactivated his shield and punched his opponent furiously.
"Boom!" The two fist collided. The person flew out. Qian Jialin took three steps back again. Although Qian Jialin retreated, he swiftly activated the beam shield again. The shield covered the princess and the people behind him.
The opponents might use their guns again. Qian Jialin didn't want to take any risk.
The person who attacked him collided into a group of armed men. He bounced up and saw Qian Jialin retreating with his men. He was embarrassed and furious.
"Luo'er, although you are a genius, there are many powerful people in the world." An old man suddenly appeared beside the person and patted his back.
"I know, grandfather. I want to fight with him," The person called Luo'er replied firmly.
"Sure!" The old man waved his hand and the armed men stopped moving. They started to retreat.
Qian Jialin was stunned. However, he continued retreating. He wanted to use this opportunity to widen the distance between them.