Except for the mess before the auction, everything went smoothly just like a normal supposed to be. The guests bid the items they wanted, battle price happened often, and each of the gears sold at a stunning price.
"102,000,000 once… 102,000,000 twice… 102,000,000 thrice…"
"Congratulation to number 57, you won the best gear of this auction," Blacksmith Huang congratulated a middle-aged that looked in his late forties.
"All gears have been sold, now let's proceed to the last item. This item is special and rare. You can only find this item in this place," Blacksmith Huang said as he walked to a blue box in the middle of the stage.
He stopped next to the blue box, but he did not immediately open it as he continued, "This is not a weapon, but the thing every hero and ranker seek. This is…" he paused for a moment, then he lifted the box, showing the thing inside the blue box.
It was a medium-sized jar filled with a green paste. At the same time as Blacksmith Huang opened the jar, the screen at Blacksmith Huang's back flashed with a picture and a small detail about the green paste, Medicine Bath - Grade B.
Just like its name, the green paste was a medicine bath used by Sun Zhou Yi daily. Heero decided to promote his medicine as well in this auction, it was a golden chance to announce this miraculous medicine. At least for the people on Earth, the medicine bath was miraculous as no one could make it, but Heero.
But the medicine bath he auctioned was also not the same as the medicine bath used by Sun Zhou Yi. He reduced the dose, making it not as effective as the medicine bath Sun Zhou Yi usually took after his training.
A murmur could be heard as the guest read the small detail on the screen. When everyone finished reading the use of the medicine bath, they let out an astonishment exclamation.
It said the medicine could elongate someone's life, they focused on this rather than the other effects. They ignored the fact that the medicine bath could expel harmful substances inside the body or strengthen their bodies. They focused on longevity.
As the murmurs died down, people began raising their hands. There were many things they wanted to ask regarding the medicine bath. However, Blacksmith Huang dismissed it with a wave of his hand.
Then, he raised a book with a green cover that was overlooked by the guests. He showed the book to the guests and said with a big smile, "The things you want to look at are in this book, everything written in this book. Get the medicine bath, then you will get the book as well,"
The guests fell silent in an instant. They had not believed yet the medicine bath would be as effective as per the description on the screen. A medicine that could prolong life, they sought that, but without proof, none would believe it.
"If you are afraid of being scammed, you can come back with the receipt to use and get your money back! Xing District is here, we will not go anywhere," Blacksmith Huang skillfully added.
"However, if the medicine takes an effect and you still try to get your money back… I guess you know what would happen, right?"
Even with a guarantee that they could get the money back if the medicine failed to take effect, everyone did not buy it. Most of them only shook their heads and showed a disappointed look.
Blacksmith Huang continued with the auction, he did not care if these people believed him or not. In the end, they would be the ones who regretted not buying the medicine.
"This Medicine Bath does not have a price, you can start your bidding right away…" he announced despite the lack of enthusiasm from the audience.
As everyone thought no one was going to buy the Medicine Bath, Bai Xin Yue raised her board. In a matter of seconds, the screen behind Blacksmith Huang split into two, the picture of the Medicine Bath and a board with a million written on it.
In the next second, the picture changed again. A board with number 23 made a bid, two million. The bid kept raising, based on the board's number, four people were fighting over the Medicine Bath.
Board No.1, Board No.23, Board No.73, and Board No.91 were fighting over the Medicine Bath that looked suspicious. It certainly puzzled many audiences as in a couple of minutes, the bid reached fifty million.
The bid kept raising and eventually surpassed a hundred million. The others gasped in astonishment as they did not expect the four people would fight over the medicine that had not yet been proven.
They recognized the woman who held board No.1 and the man who held board No.23, Bai Xin Yue and Park Hangu. The former was a famous hero while the latter was a famous ranker. However, the other two hid their identity by wearing wooden masks of a different color.
The bidding war continued to two hundred million, reaching this price, the two mysterious people already stopped their bidding, leaving the bidding war to Bai Xin Yue and Park Hangu.
"235,000,000.00 WD." as the screen showed Bai Xin Yue's last bid, Park Hangu shook his head as a helpless smile formed on his face.
It was not that he did not have the money to continue the bid, but he felt the Medicine Bath already exceeded its worth. Moreover, the Medicine Bath had not yet proven its usefulness. So he gave up and let Bai Xin Yue get the Medicine Bath.
After five seconds of silence, Blacksmith Huang directly finalized the bid, "235,000,000 once… 235,000,000 twice… 235,000,000 thrice…"
He did not bother to ask if there was another interest in the Medicine Bath and finalized the final auction, "Congratulations to guest No.1, you won the special item of tonight's auction,"
With that said, Blacksmith Huang closed the auction after short pleasantries before he directed the audience to follow Heero to retrieve the item they bid on earlier. Everything went smoothly, the bidder paid the money, they got the item, and then they peacefully left the auction house.
The auction lasted half an hour, it was quite fast. It was supposed to be even faster if not the fight and the argument, it might be faster.
Bai Xin Yue and Bai Shuang'er were the last ones going to pay. The two sisters entered the room guarded by the wooden mask attendants. Before entering the room, Bai Xin Yue gave a furtive glance to the attendant that defeated Huo Liang Xun. She felt her hand was itchy, she wanted to take the mask off.
As for Bai Shuang'er, she boldly looked at the two mysterious attendants. She also had the same feeling as his sister, her hand was itchy as a strong urge to remove the wooden mask aroused inside her heart. But a scene the attendant thrashed Huo Liang Xun came into her mind and the strong urge to remove the wooden mask instantly vanished.
Bai Xin Yue opened the door and she followed her sister in. They entered a plain-decorated room with only minimal furniture inside. A couple of wooden tables with a couple of chairs at each table, there was nothing else besides this.
Behind the table, Sun Zhou Yi and the other guard they saw earlier sat. Looking at this, Bai Shuang'er muttered in a low voice, "It seems the auction house lack employee…"
Bai Xin Yue did not comment as she walked to Sun Zhou Yi's table while Bai Shuang'er sat next to her sister. Bai Shuang'er bought a spear while Bai Xin Yue got the medicine bath.
Butcher Wang got a 2.5 meters long red case from behind and brought it to the table. After that, he took the jar containing the medicine and a book with a green cover as well.
Bai Shuang'er rose from her seat and opened the red case. Silver with blue threads circled the spear's shaft came into her sight.
The spear was about 2.2 meters with a blue spearhead. It looked fancy for a weapon to fight, but it was the only reason why did Bai Shuang'er spend seventy million to get the weapon.
Bai Shuang'er took the spear out from its case. She touched the shaft first then to the spearhead as she nodded her head. Not only does the spear look fancy, but it was also made of good quality materials.
While Bai Shuang'er admired her newly acquired spear, Bai Xin Yue processed with the payment, three hundred and five million. As the scion of the Bai Family, three hundred million was nothing to her.
After paying up, Bai Xin Yue did not immediately leave as the other customers. She stayed still and looked straight at Sun Zhou Yi.
"Mr.Sun!" After a moment of silence, she called Sun Zhou Yi and he looked up with an inquiry look.
"I have a request…"
Ten minutes later, the two sisters exited the auction house. Bai Xin Yue had a dejected look while Bai Shuang'er looked unhappy.
"Who does he think he is? How dare he refuse to…" before Bai Shuang'er finished her grumble, Bai Xin Yue called her name, "Shuang'er!"
"Alright~ Alright~ Let's go to grandpa, I want to eat the rumored best hotpot in the city," the little sister dashed to Xing Hotpot which was not far from the auction house while bringing the red case on her back. Bai Xin Yue followed her sister and entered the Xing Hotpot.
Inside a private room on the second floor, Bai Xian Ming feasted himself with high-quality meat. He took a slice of marbling meat and dipped it inside a boiling orange stock in the middle of the table. He dipped the meat three seconds and pulled it out and dipped it again in a sauce he made from the provided spice of the restaurant.
As he put the meat inside his mouth, Bai Xian Ming closed his eyes, enjoying the meat that instantly melted in his mouth. After a few seconds, he opened his eyes and let out a satisfaction exhale.
Just as he wanted to take another meat, the door opened along with a cheerful yell, "Grandpa!"
Bai Xian Ming turned his head and tenderly smiled at his two lovely granddaughters, "Oh, the auction is over already? It's fast…"
Bai Shuang'er shot next to her grandpa while Bai Xin Yue took a seat across her grandpa. Noticing the dejected look on Bai Xin Yue's face, Bai Xian Ming released a sigh but smiled again as he already predicted the result.
"Grandpa, what we have here?" Bai Shuang'er scanned the table enthusiastically. She heard a lot about the Xing Hotpot but never got a chance to visit this place.
Bai Xian Ming eagerly replied with a loving smile, "Heh, we have Jagged Goat, Horned Boar, White Bull, Silver Dragoon, and…"
"What? They have Horned Boar, White Bull, and Silver Dragoon as well?" Bai Shuang'er let out a shocking exclamation before even her grandpa finished. Not only Bai Shuang'er but even Bai Xin Yue was also surprised.
White Bull and Silver Dragoon, these two species were hard to find and considered to be the top ten most delicious meat. Even in the core region, these two types of meat were hard to find, but here they ate hotpot with the rarest meat.
"It's a waste, how can they use the finest meat for a hotpot…" Bai Shuang'er grumbled again as an idea struck her mind, "Let's take the meat back home!"
Bai Xian Ming rubbed his granddaughter's hair and said, "You can't, the restaurant won't let you bring the meat back home. Let's order another plate,"
Bai Xian Ming pressed a red button on the wall and in less than a minute the door opened as a male attendant entered the room.
"I want another plate of Mythical Combo..." Bai Xian Ming ordered, but Bai Shuang'er cut him off again, "Two plates!"
The attendant paused and looked at Bai Xian Ming and Bai Xiang Ming nodded. The male attendant wrote the order and he bowed before leaving the private room. Less than five minutes, the male attendant back with two plates.
He placed the plate on the table and he bowed once again before leaving the private room.
"What is this?" Bai Shuang'er spotted strange meat amongst the sliced meat. The meat about her fist or slightly bigger than her fist and there was a bone in the middle.
"Oh, it's Hover Flame's tail, that tail is even tastier than White Bull and Silver Dragoon…" then Bai Xian Ming explained what the attendant told him to her granddaughter. As Bai Shuang'er feasted herself with the hotpot, Bai Xiang Ming looked at his dejected granddaughter.
"How was it?" he asked in a soft tone, he already knew the result though.
"The auction was a mess and Sun Zhou Yi's Master refused to meet us…" Bai Xin Yue dejectedly recounted what happened in the auction.
*** ***
Meanwhile, in another room with dim light, there were two men sitting face-to-face. A man wore casual clothes while the other one wore a black cloak, shadowing his face.
If Heero and Hong Yu were here, they would recognize the man with casual clothes. He was Fang Guo Ming, the ex-principal of Hope Preschool.
"How is it? Do your men find him?" Fang Guo Ming asked in a chilling tone.
The black-cloaked man shook his head in response, then he showed a video to Fang Guo Ming with the smartwatch. On the screen, a masked attendant was fighting against Huo Liang Xun.
"Heh, it seems your favorite Slash betrayed you!" Fang Guo Ming sneered. He recognized the man who fought against Huo Liang Xun. The assassin he sent to kill Heero.
Fang Guo Ming did not watch the video until the end as he slouched back to his seat.
"Send Shadow, I want that man alive!" still with a chilling voice, Fang Guo Ming said in a commanding tone.
"No, we will not make a further move before everything is clear." the black-cloaked man responded with a rough voice.
Slam!
Fang Guo Ming slammed the table and raised his voice, "What do you mean?"
Instead of answering Fang Guo Ming, the black-cloaked showed the video, and said in a stern tone, "Watch yourself!"
Fang Guo Ming watched the video and was shocked by what he saw. In the video, Huo Liang Xun was thrashed with ease by the masked attendant.