Eddie rushed through the streets of the Royal District with fury in his steps. Any unfortunate passerby was subject to a quick shove whenever they blocked his path. Even if they complained, he couldn't hear it. All of his brain was focused on the Bleeding Diamond and his eventual revenge against Zoran.
He sent trained assassins after him, who were well above Zoran's strength. They were well versed in tracking and retrieving, with a speciality in torturing victims until they lost all their sanity. He spent a lot of money hiring these assassins as guards from the Hidden Moon Dynasty because dealing in shady business inside the Royal District was a world of hurt and danger.
They were all in the 2nd stage, something that a 1st stage Zoran could never handle. He was just a mere zombie from the Garbage District who got lucky and attained the Silver Bleeding Diamond.
But in his anger, Eddie didn't even question the fact that Zoran was a cultivator. Usually, a 'zombie' from the Garbage District had little to no money to even eat continuously for a week, much less have the funds to buy a cultivation core and achieve the 1st stage of Body Strengthening. All he was focused on was the Bleeding Diamond.
Zoran was right; the auction was the best place to sell this Diamond because this was where the prideful whales of the Royal District could compete with each other to see who had the bigger pockets. It would probably even surpass the 50,000 Liong mark well before things get heated.
Eddie knew that, but he wanted to spice things up even further. He wanted to sell a story. What makes things even more expensive than a Diamond was a Diamond that had been lost by a Princess and was missing for a thousand years, until somebody dug it up recently. Suddenly, the piece of stone had history. Suddenly, the gem became one-of-a-kind.
This was what Eddie was planning. He stopped speed-walking and looked up at a luxurious building that stood out even inside the Royal District. It was guarded by suited men who looked and felt intimidating to anyone who saw them. Even the police dared not to loiter around this place.
[Heaven's Auction House]
Eddie didn't go through the front door and walked along the building to the back. It was guarded by two men who didn't let anybody pass. But when they saw Eddie's face, they quickly walked to the side and opened the door for him. These two men bowed as Eddie ignored them and walked past the door. They didn't protest; they wouldn't dare anger a friend of the boss.
He walked through the winding hallways of the room towards the door that led to the back rooms of the very auction itself with boxes and boxes of items stored along the side. These were, of course, not the main items of the auction. Those were stored at a very secure place inside the building.
Eddie walked to the furthest room and knocked. "It's me."
The room was silent for a moment and replied, "Eddie is that you? I hope it's important; I have to prepare for the auction tonight—a very special guest will be coming."
Eddie was impatient and only said, "Silver Bleeding Diamond."
Immediately, the door burst open for a man with a round stature that was extremely overweight to come and welcome Eddie. His eyebrows were focused on Eddie to see if he was truly said what he thought he said.
"The magnum opus of all jewelers is not something to joke about," the fat man said.
Eddie looked at him sternly. "Bettor, when have I ever made jokes like that?"
"Come inside," Bettor said. He then sat on his office chair that specifically made for a man with such a heavy weight. Any chair would have simply burst under the intense force of the fat on Bettor's body. "Talk."
Eddie didn't wait any longer and spilled the events that happened inside his store. He especially embellished how devious and sly Zoran was, even to the point of saying that Zoran almost threatened his life. Of course, he didn't forget to talk about the Bleeding Silver Diamond.
"I almost had it in my hands, Bettor. It was right there. It was so beautiful." Eddie said passionately, as if talking about a love who had died right before his eyes.
Bettor couldn't help but salivate as he heard Eddie's description of the Bleeding Silver Diamond. He had never seen it, but the potential profits it could give him was enough for his saliva to drip from his mouth.
"What do you want me to do?" Bettor asked, wiping his mouth.
"Sell your members a story. Say that a princess of the ancient kingdom Renovia lost this Diamond for a thousand years. Those lustful cheating whales will throw their money at you to try and get this for their wives to quell their anger."
Bettor nodded his head as he made some calculations. It was easy enough to spread this information secretly, especially with the power of the Heaven's Auction House that he managed. The problem would be the credentials, but that would only require some forging that could be done in-house.
"Good. But you're getting ahead of yourself. You don't even have the Silver Bleeding Diamond in your hands, yet you're already planning on selling it," Bettor commented.
"Don't worry about that. I've got some shadows on the work."
"2nd stage?"
"Four of them."
"Good. I'll lend you two of my 3rd stage guards."
Eddie looked surprised, but still accepted the offer. He thought that it would be a waste to deploy two 3rd stage cultivators against one 1st stage, but their salary won't be coming out of his pockets so he didn't care.
"Now let's get on to the real business. We'll split the profits 50-50," Bettor said as a matter-of-fact.
Eddie nodded his head. This was a fair share. He couldn't argue too much even if he wanted to since Bettor was not someone he could go against, especially since the Primordial Sun Dynasty was behind this whole operation despite the laws preventing it. But still, he had to try.
"I'm going to have to ask 55 for myself and 45 for you," Eddie said. "You can have the body after I get the Bleeding Silver Diamond off his hands. I know your client has a knack for cultivators."
Bettor thought about it deeply. Usually, body trafficking was illegal. But his client was someone that controlled even the laws of the town itself.
"Deal. I don't care what happens to him, but the Young Master wants cultivators alive," Bettor said.
An evil smile crept up on Eddie's face. "Don't worry. I'll break his sanity and pride, but I'll bring him to you alive."
The two of them shook hands, as if the deal had been set in stone. But the subject of their deal was walking around the streets with no care, even with shadows secretly following him.
Zoran looked towards the general direction of the Heaven's Auction House and smiled.
Eddie must have met Bettor by now, he thought to himself.