Arriving at the entrance of the Empire Building, he presented the invitation.
"You are Mr. Smith's..." The mustached man glanced at the invitation, then at the "lady," clearly written was "Mr." on the paper.
"I'm his daughter, my father is feeling unwell today, so I'm attending on his behalf."
"I apologize for your father's absence, this way please, ma'am!" The mustached man gestured, and very kindly added, "The auction will be held at 8 PM, you can rest at the 100th-floor café."
Just...that's it?
So, this is my arch nemesis?
Ou Doudou, look at you struggling so mightily, utterly pathetic!
First challenge, complete.
"Little White" flashed a confident smile towards the mustached security guard, throwing him a wink.
Despite his serious expression and responsible attitude, the mustached man got excited, this woman is truly beautiful!
Ahead was a security checkpoint, able to inspect items with an X-ray machine, naturally not allowing firearms inside.
The C-9 hidden in the wallet did not attract attention, after all, it was just a small bottle resembling perfume, it's quite normal for a woman to carry perfume.
High attractiveness, high charm, straight away making the game difficulty from hard to easy.
As the character boarded the elevator, Wang Hao suddenly thought, "What if Little Black tried to bring a perfume bottle through the security check, would it cause another incident? Maybe have me open the perfume to smell it..."
In the end, he could only sigh, "Being a man..."
"is not easy."
The auction was located on the 101st floor; theoretically, all he had to do was find item 1372 and burn it with the C-9.
As for how to escape safely after committing the mischief, there seemed to be no strict requirement, so Wang Hao was quite relaxed.
He focused more on the game's title, "Unsolved Mysteries of the World", Chapter 1922 "Strange Auction".
Why destroy item 1372?
And what kind of strange is this Strange Auction?
A truly good game always has its own unique universe.
If it were just a plain hack-and-slash, a simple action game, one would tire after playing through once, maybe at most a second run.
Only a world rich in depth can engage players and even spawn natural fandom communities.
This game's quality is high, its freedom incomparable to typical games, the developers' ambition is clearly substantial.
The title of the game surely hides some aspect of its universe.
While thinking this, level 101 arrived; to the left was the exhibition hall of auction items and to the right the main auction area.
All items could be admired in the exhibition hall, similar to real-world auction settings.
Although items are screened before the auction, it's not guaranteed all are authentic; whether spotting a bargain or oversight, it's up to the buyer to take responsibility. But then again, who can clearly say what is real or fake?
"Little White" proceeded directly into the exhibition.
The first auction item was an oil painting of a person, 1.5 meters in scale, with a starting bid of 1.2 million dollars.
The second item, another painting, was much cheaper, starting at 30,000 dollars.
Not everything was in the tens of millions as he imagined.
Wang Hao, not particularly interested in art, followed the numbers, quickly reaching the end. The final masterpiece was a painting by Picasso, with a starting bid of 120 million.
"If I burned it… oh, never mind."
Oddly, there was no item 1372; the exhibition ended at item 1370.
He approached a staff member, asking directly, "Hey, I'd like to ask about item 1372—where is it?"
The suit-clad exhibition staff member was very polite, becoming even more respectful upon hearing the number 1372, bowing slightly, "Ma'am, the items after 1370 are all in the private auction."
"You exit here, turn left, then right, and you'll reach the private auction."
"But you'll need a special invitation to enter."
"Alright, thank you."
Little White followed the directions and saw a group of men in black guarding the hallway.
Yes, they were not security personnel, but men in black wielding firearms!
As she tried to enter, she was stopped.
"Ma'am, this is a private auction, your invitation…"
She presented her invitation.
The man in black shook his head, his face expressionless behind sunglasses, "Ma'am, you have a regular invitation; please, step back. You need a special invitation to enter."
At that moment, even her proud beauty was of no use.
Yet, Wang Hao's interest was piqued; it would be boring if just relying on "beauty" made everything too easy.
He maneuvered the character to retreat, pondering, "Is this the legendary second challenge?"
"Did I make a mistake from the start by not robbing someone with a special invitation?"
While considering this, Wang Hao noticed an old white man with blond hair in a suit entering the corridor, followed by four men in black.
The old man was holding a dark gold invitation, visibly of a higher tier.
Above the man's head appeared options [① Steal][② Attack][③ Flirt].
Wang Hao saved the game.
Then he started stealing!
The method of stealing was dreadful, just openly reaching out to grab…
And then he was pinned to the ground by the men in black…
Just like that, it was over.
Wang Hao felt offended, immediately reloaded the game, and chose [③ Flirt].
The man, feeling someone calling him, turned around, shocked by "Little White's" appearance.
"NONONO, beautiful lady, you might be curious about what's being auctioned inside."
"But I can't take you in, those are the rules... and besides, the auction is about to start, I'm so sorry." He shook his finger, declined the request, and walked into the corridor.
Watching the man walk away, Wang Hao mused.
"So the owner of this golden invitation, might not be someone we can rob…"
"Was I wrong from the beginning?"
He studied the mission panel's "Well-Trained" physique, at the end of the day it was a female character's, unlikely to overpower four men in black head-on, let alone steal while moving.
He was stuck for a moment again.
Thus, he could only wander around this level of the building, aimlessly looking for more clues.
Until 8:12 PM in-game time, a notification popped up: [Item 1372 has been successfully transferred, mission failed.]
That's it? Failed?
Wang Hao pricked his ears, listening to the helicopter's "rumbling" departure from the sky, growing more curious.
"What in the world were these people auctioning, using a helicopter to leave?"