Jing Yang felt particularly hungry. This was the first time that he had woken up hungry. He opened his eyes, and through his blurry sight he could faintly see many beds and many people.
Jing Yang rubbed his slightly puffy eyes, which he guessed had turned swollen from crying. When his line of sight cleared up, he began to look around.
This building looked like a warehouse. It wasn't very large, and there were over twenty single beds arranged in here. Each bed was very narrow, so much so that you would probably fall off if you turned over. But it was pretty clean. Whether it was the room, the beds, or the people sitting on the beds, they were all clean and tidy.
What was this situation? Could he have been reborn into a servant, and had to engage in a struggle between servants? Then wouldn't this world be too simple? He felt that this was unlikely.
Jing Yang activated the system, and without selecting any function, the system automatically started scanning his body. It showed him that his body was poisoned.
Jing Yang sighed in his heart. Sure enough, each life could not be so simple. Even if it were really just a struggle between servants, it seemed to be quite fierce. He used the system to search for the method to remove the toxin. Even though the system said that he was under a very heavy poison, the method of detoxification wasn't very difficult. With the system's help, the poison could be removed in a short period of time.
It's just that he found it strange that even if he was poisoned, he didn't feel any discomfort besides being hungry. Just as he was about to choose to retrieve the memories, the door was suddenly opened.
A burly man stood at the door and shouted, "Come out. Line up behind me, the auction is about to start."
Seeing these pretty young people get down one by one from the beds and line up, Jing Yang had to shut down the system first and also stand in the line. Even though he still didn't know what this so-called auction was, for the time being he could only take it step by step and then respond accordingly.
Two dozen people stood in two rows. They waited behind the big curtain and could hear the bustling sound outside. It seemed like the things being auctioned off were them.
Jing Yang turned to look at the other people. Those pretty young faces seemed to have a slight sense of expectation. Could it be that being auctioned was something to be happy about? Jing Yang felt like this was a little strange.
The burly man came over again. Holding a name list, he checked everyone's appearance and counted the number of people. Then he suddenly walked to Jing Yang's front and looked him up and down twice. Then he said, "You go to the very end, you won't go up until the very end."
Jing Yang could tell that this big man was deliberately singling him out for some reason, and felt like the situation was getting weirder and weirder. But he still went to the very back according to his instruction.
~
Reibar and Downey walked into the auction hall wearing black cloaks and metal masks.
After the two men found a place to sit down, Downey said to Reibar, "Cousin, is this your first time coming to this place? In fact, this place is pretty good. Sometimes you can even find a particularly good looking artificial mermaid."
"Are you lacking mermaids at home? You actually even have to especially come here to buy them." Reibar squinted at him. He felt like he had lost his mind earlier when he actually agreed to come here with him.
Downey wagged his finger at him. "You don't understand this at all. I come here to enjoy the happiness of selection. This is much more interesting than the ones that are sent to my door as presents."
Reibar ignored him. This kind of place was not the kind of place people like them should come to. But now that they were here, he would see what was so fun about it.
Downey swept his gaze over the surroundings. After seeing a figure, he squinted, leaned toward Reibar, and whispered, "I spotted an acquaintance."
"Who?" Reibar asked without interest. The people who could come to this kind of place were either wealthy businessmen or servants of the aristocracy. It was certainly not common for aristocrats like Downey to come here for fun.
Downey just wanted to gossip a bit with Reibar when the first youth to be auctioned came onstage. It was rare for him to be able to come, so Downey decided to focus on the auction. "I'll tell you after."
~
Jing Yang stood there watching the youths in front of him taking turns one by one to go on stage. He really wanted to learn more about this world, but now was not the time. He could only try his best to pay attention to his surroundings while using the system to get a simple understanding.
When he saw the introduction to this body, which had the word mermaid, he was stunned. So in this world, he was not only not some sort of servant, but was also not even a real human being, but a mermaid?
Jing Yang looked down at his long, slender legs and could not imagine what a fish tail would look like there. From the moment he woke up, he didn't even know what this body looked like and had to use the system to take a look.
On the system screen two images showed up. One was labeled the original appearance, and the other was labeled the current appearance. Jing Yang was even more puzzled. How could there be two different appearances of the same body? Could it be that the mermaid state and the human state would have different appearances?
And wasn't the difference between the two appearances too big? It wasn't that the current appearance wasn't good looking. Even though the current appearance was quite handsome, the skin wasn't too great. But the original appearance was too beautiful. Its beauty looked unreal, as if he was an elf who didn't belong to the human world.
Two dozen youths took turns on stage and were auctioned off. But Downey became more and more disinterested because none of the artificial mermaids caught his interest this time.
When they finally came to the last Jing Yang, Downey looked a few times and felt like he wasn't very interested. He turned to Reibar and said, "This trip was pointless again, let's go."
Hearing that Downey was finally willing to leave, the very bored Reibar didn't even think before moving to stand up. But the moment he looked up, he happened to meet the clear blue eyes of the person on stage. He felt a sudden shudder in his heart, and then he couldn't move.
Downey felt like Reibar's eyes were a little strange. He looked at the person on stage doubtfully and then turned to ask, "Cousin, what's wrong?"
"Wait a bit longer. We can leave after it's over." Reibar's sight couldn't leave the eyes of the person on stage. In those eyes, it was like there was something touching his soul.
~
When Jing Yang came on stage, he saw all of the people sitting below the stage. Everyone was wearing black capes and white masks, and it felt like there were a group of ghosts sitting below him. But this auction hall was much more luxurious than backstage. It seemed like the people sitting below the stage were some rich people.
Jing Yang was just thinking about what he should do if he was bought when a sudden strange feeling hit him, making him unable to stop from shaking slightly.
Below the stage, people were already calling out prices. Some people called out once and stopped, and only one person would immediately raise the bid after everyone else's bid. He constantly raised the price with an attitude of being determined to win.
As the number of bidders decreased, Jing Yang would be bought by that person who had constantly been bidding for him. There was already no suspense in everyone else's eyes.
Downey whispered to Reibar, "It seems like that youth is going to be experiencing misfortune. That person who keeps bidding for him is the acquaintance that I mentioned earlier. Guess who he is."
"Who?" Reibar frowned involuntarily under his mask.
"He's the businessman McAnton. He's the rabid dog that our prince has been raising by his side, but right now it's unclear who this dog is loyal to. This man has a special habit. Every year, he tortures several artificial mermaids to death, and then uses money to settle it. If the youth on stage falls into his hands, he definitely won't end well."
Even though he was quite far away, Downey could recognize that man as McAnton at a glance. It was not only because of his fat pig-like figure but also because of the disgusting temperament he exuded. Downey had interacted with this person before for business matters and had a deep dislike of this person.
Reibar looked at the person on the stage. He had already been unable to control the trembling of his heart, and now after hearing Downey's words, even though he knew that nothing had happened, he still already had the impulse to kill McAnton.
"Bid. I want to buy that man on stage." Reibar struggled to control his mood, telling Downey in an unwavering voice.
"Ah?" Downey looked at him in shock. After a while he came back to his senses. "You, you're sure?"
"I'm sure. No matter how much that McAnton guy bids, double the price. If I can't buy the person on the stage, I'll put all of the artificial mermaids in your home up for auction." Reibar threatened.
Downey widened his eyes, then immediately turned and began to bid.
Hearing the ever increasing price below, Jing Yang felt somewhat doubtful. With his current appearance, he shouldn't be worth that much money. And with his current appearance, he was much older than the youths that came earlier. If it were the original appearance, he wouldn't have been surprised at all if the bids shot up to the sky.
McAnton had come with a purpose. Someone had told him that he had to buy the person on stage. He thought that he had offered a high enough price for him and there definitely wouldn't be anyone there to fight him, because the person on the stage didn't seem to be worth the price he bid. But someone had suddenly doubled the bid he called. He didn't know whether the other person really wanted to buy the person on stage or was deliberately going against him, feeling anxious and angry in his heart.
Gradually, every time McAnton called out a bid, he felt like his heart was being stabbed by a knife. When Downey doubled the price again, McAnton clenched his fist. His forehead began to sweat, but he couldn't call out a price. He didn't know when Downey would stop. If there appeared a sky high price that he had to pay, then he had really suffered a loss.
The man managing the artificial mermaids was also surprised by McAnton's failure to close out the deal. He had gotten a couple benefits from McAnton and specifically reserved this person for last. But McAnton not succeeding in his bid wasn't his responsibility. After the auction was over, he took all of the sold artificial mermaids and brought them to the people who bought them to take away.
Once the auction was over, McAnton immediately stood up. He had already remembered which seat that person who had kept doubling the price was sitting in, and he walked over directly. He knew exactly what kind of people came here. Who didn't know that he was the prince's man? Not to mention other businessmen being afraid to offend him, even if it were an ordinary official, he would still have to give him face. Today he would see who dared to mess up his plans.
Downey could see from afar that McAnton was walking over. Seeing his aggressive appearance, he must be coming here to make some trouble. So he and Reibar just sat still, waiting for him to come over.
McAnton took off his mask and put it on their table. He made sure to expose his face to shock them and let them know who he was. "Two gentlemen, you seem to have a lot of money, why are you in this kind of place? Why don't you take off your mask and we can get to know each other? I can bring you to an even better place, and you can give me the mermaid just now, how about that?"
Downey unhurriedly took off his mask and looked at him with a veiled smile. "Didn't we know each other a long time ago? What kind of good place do you know about, why don't you just take me there directly."
"Dow, Count Downey…" McAnton looked at Downey in shock. He didn't expect this famous demon to appear in this kind of place.
Downey stood up and looked at him, asking, "Just now you told me to give you the mermaid that I bought?"
"I, I…" McAnton was speechless for half a day. Speaking generously he was one of the prince's men, but really he was just a dog that the prince kept outside. How could he dare to offend king Reibar's cousin? He could only change the topic. "Misunderstanding, all just a misunderstanding. If I had known earlier that you liked that person, I would have just directly bought him and gifted him to you. Making you spend so much money was all my fault, my fault."
"Since you recognize that it was your fault, you can make up for the money. I'll send someone to go to your house tomorrow." Downey smiled and said. Since he had voluntarily sent himself to his door, it would be dumb for him not to cheat the money out of him. After all, it was all because of him that he had spent such a high price to buy an artificial mermaid. Paying him back for it was also fair.
"This, this…" McAnton was like he had been struck by lightning. He completely could not form complete words and also didn't dare to disagree. He could only stand there, looking at their two backs as they left.
Reibar never took off his mask. If McAnton saw him, he probably would have collapsed from fear.
Translator Notes:
[1] Reibar and Downey – 雷柏尔, 唐纳, 唐纳 actually stands for donald or tanner, but we're going with downey. fits better with reibar
[2] king – 王爵, so this translates to king, but i've also seen a different kind of prince mentioned somewhere. i'm pretty sure reibar's not the type of king where the prince is his son. either way, he's just really high up and powerful
Random Notes:
About an hour: 3:30 pm – 4:30 pm, for 4k characters to 2.5k words.