Emma looked at her wrist band which was a bright yellow color and moved to the side where people with similar bands were standing.
She didn't invite Betty while doing so as she had no reason to do something like this so soon. Her plans for the night had not begun yet.
Betty saw Emma had already gone to blend with their group and didn't dwindle any longer. The ladies who were surrounding her before were all in different groups and they had no reason to be kind to her.
Emma analyzed the expressions of the other three groups and observed countless unkind and vexed gazes that were directed their way.
She came to terms with the idea that they had to face the most hatred and competition from the other groups who felt that they were wronged for not having equal time for bidding.
Because deprivation brought a sense of loss and helplessness, these people felt that they were stripped of their rights to bid alongside them and felt vengeful toward their group.
The patronizing and dirty gazes directed at others by the people with yellow bands further aggravated the tense situation. These people behaved as if they were better than those who were not given a yellow band and this was obvious from the conceited and condescending looks gracing their faces.
At this point, Emma would not be surprised if the remaining groups joined hands to get rid of them.
As soon as this thought flashed across Emma's mind, her eyes shone with an unknown emotion.
'Could it be they divided the attendees into groups because they want them to fight among themselves ruthlessly and annihilate one group at a time? After all, a mob fight is more deadly than a street fight' Emma could not predict the outcome if that was indeed the case.
The consequences would be noxious and deadly if such a massive group fight was to break out. Emma shivered as she remembered the battered body of her Grandfather's secretory.
'Was he also caught in such a group fight?' Emma could not force herself to think further down this lane as it would be difficult to hide her fear at that time.
She glanced around to see that no one was paying any attention to their safety as they tried to mock the other groups by giving them sympathizing and disdainful gazes. Actions speak louder than words and at the moment, all groups were engaging in a silent battle of wits.
Emma held her breath as she saw this. This behavior would warrant the demise of their group as the remaining groups would decide to collab to get rid of them and then decide among themselves to bid for the items.
Emma wanted to escape from this group of hoodlums. She didn't want to die an unjustified death with a bunch of idiotic people.
"Oh my, sure. After all, we are so fortunate to have obtained the bands with the most time allocated to them." Alana replied to Ms. Bunny and giggled as she fanned her face.
"After all, we are not pitiful and poor like some people and are lucky. Even the auction house recognizes our luck and gave us the best bands available. Hoho." Alana continued to speak in a snobbish tone as if she considered the people with different colored wristbands filthy and worthless.
Emma creased her brows at Alana's words. She was here worrying about her safety and this stupid woman failed to realize that they were the unfortunate ones who had to face these people later on.
Although they only got an hour more than the second group it would be overlooked by the fact that they were given the maximum time and the privilege to stay in the Naelon Hall from start to finish and bid on the items.
Emma closed her eyes to calm the annoyance building in her after hearing Alana's words. That woman didn't even care that she was pregnant with a child and spouted such absurd words.
Unknown to the group of people on the ground floor, the upper walls of the hall that they were standing in were actually specially designed glass with reflective transparent mirrors that resembled concrete walls due to the angle of light reflecting from them.
Behind the reflective mirrors, a man was standing observing the people below him as he took a drag of a cigar in his hand.
He was wearing a sleek white body-fitted tailored suit with black leather shoes. His posture was leisurely and careless. His lips turned upward as he saw some of the attendees below engaging in a silent war. This was what he was looking forward to. Stupid humans fighting for measly items.
It was this man who had plotted the scheme behind the silent auction. He was the mastermind who had crafted the scenario of passes to remove as many common participants from the auction as possible.
He only wanted the rich and noble socialites to attend the auction and feel privileged. Later these same cultured people would fight like headless chickens and he would enjoy himself.
However, the reason behind this auction wasn't as simple as many speculated by many which was evasion from paying royalties to the government.
Only this man knew how easy it was for him to get away with all of this without any hindrance. He had enough connections to get away with mass murder. So the government was the least of his concerns when he decided to orchestrate an auction like this.
A sinister smile overtook his lips as he looked under. The auction had yet to start and he was already enjoying every second of it.
He was entertaining himself watching the discord being sown among the groups. It was a small seed at the moment but by the end of the night, it would grow big enough to cause a few deaths.
He grinned from ear to ear and took a long swirl from his drink, discarding the ash accumulated on the cigar with a light tap of his forefinger. The actual fun was about to begin.
Emma got a chill down her spine. She looked around but couldn't find the source of that bone-chilling piercing gaze. She had taken note of the hall when entering but there weren't any type of cameras installed within visible distance.
However, the possibility of a hidden camera being present couldn't be ruled out. Emma slightly moisturized her lips and observed the reactions of the individuals.
All of them appeared to be unconcerned and aloft of the situation but except a few, they all shared the same lost feeling of not knowing anything.
Emma peeked at Betty who was playing with her ring and immediately caught Emma's glance and smiled at her. Startled by this, Emma tried to play it off by pretending to smile.
But her awkward smile was anything but reassuring. She instantly looked away to avoid embarrassing herself further.
"Kindly wait a moment. I need to get something from backstage," Ms. Bunny apologetically said and went backstage hurriedly after hearing something in her in-ear.
Emma was nonplussed by her actions but seeing how no one stood up to ask her, she also settled down. She had an ominous feeling that something was about to go down.
Reaching backstage, Ms. Bunny irritatedly asked why she was called at the last moment. Her previous cheerful persona was nowhere to be found as she frowned deep enough to distort her facial features. She still had to take the first group to the auction hall as their allocated time was about to start.
One of the workers told her that they wanted to speed up and start the auction. As the auction was to continue for three days, they needed to wrap up the auction on time on the first 2 days and they still needed to explain the rules for the third day.
Ms. Bunny consulted with another announcer about the proceedings as she reorganized the pages. They had just received a new copy comprising the items being auctioned off and it included some things that weren't going to be displayed in the Naelon Hall before which lead to this sudden meeting.
Ms. Bunny was frustrated as she was told that there was no misprint and these items had been incorporated by that man as he decided that he wanted to auction more things in the Naelon Hall than what was agreed upon. He changed the rules faster than one blinked one's eye.
She read the new information about the artifacts and felt a headache when she thought about how much these items cost that was being given to these people for free. She wished that she was also an attendee in this auction as she came to know that she could become a millionaire from just a single item.
Her eyebrow twitched as she bit back a frown and read over the new regulations and list of objects. They even threw in a 350-year-old silk painting which could cost anywhere from $50 million to $70 million.