Seeing the badge on that guy's chest, it turned out he was a special guest at this auction.
"Do you know him?" Sienna's mother asked with a smile.
"He helped me find some information in Europe," Sienna replied indifferently, not wanting to have any entanglements with this self-satisfied guy.
"Hello!" Jenkins greeted Sienna's parents politely.
Since her daughter didn't like him much, Sienna's mother only smiled slightly and said nothing more. Samuel Tang, however, looked at the special guest badge and remarked, "Special guests are quite rare."
"Just lucky," Jenkins didn't feel the need to explain.
Samuel Tang didn't ask further, instead joining some old friends for a chat, leaving Sienna and Leon to face Jenkins alone.
"You mentioned not getting involved with them earlier. Do you know something about them?" Leon asked calmly.
Sienna was puzzled as to why Leon would suddenly ask this. She thought he wouldn't care about that man.
Jenkins glanced at Leon, a trace of sarcasm in his eyes. "I don't think I need to tell you."
Could he be a bloodkind too? Leon shrugged and smiled.
Jenkins found the young man's gaze rather uncomfortable. When they first met, he thought Leon was a bit naive. Now, Leon seemed different, giving him a strange feeling. Jenkins frowned, not wanting to delve deeper into this issue, assuming it was just a student showing off with a beautiful girlfriend, a feeling he had experienced before.
"Can we talk alone?" Jenkins asked Sienna.
"First: I'm not interested in you!" Sienna rejected him mercilessly. "Second: I'm really not interested in you!"
Jenkins smiled, slightly disappointed. "I think your boyfriend doesn't give you much security... A lady as sexy and charming as you is quite dangerous."
Seemingly ignoring Leon, Jenkins continued, "Believe me, you're in a bit of danger now, and only I can protect you!"
Leon raised an eyebrow.
"No offense, but you should know," Jenkins said to Leon, neither warmly nor coldly, "some things can't be solved by a student's passion alone."
"Thanks for the advice," Leon responded indifferently. "I have something to tell you too."
"Oh?" Jenkins looked at Leon.
"Some things aren't determined by one's wishful thinking, no matter how self-deluded that person might be," Leon smiled.
Jenkins was momentarily stunned, then laughed, but his eyes changed slightly.
"Alright, let's wait and see!" Jenkins handed Sienna a business card. "If you encounter any danger, feel free to call me. I'm not interested in being a hero, but I'd love to be a prince..."
Sienna took the card, not even glancing at it, and with a charming smile said, "I'm not interested in boring fairy tales!"
Jenkins smiled and turned to leave.
As soon as he left, Sienna was about to throw the card into the trash, but Leon stopped her and took the card.
"Hey, Leon, you're not seriously thinking of keeping it, are you?"
"Of course not," Leon shook his head, glancing at the card. "Jenkins Desado! Dark Antiquities Manager, phone number xxxxx."
Dark Antiquities Manager?
What a strange profession.
"Sienna, do you know more about this person's background?" Leon asked.
Sienna shook her head. She had met him by chance at a funeral and received his help in finding information later. After that, he pursued her relentlessly, but she wasn't interested. Her biggest impression of Jenkins was that he had a lot of strange information.
"What's the matter?" Sienna sensed that Leon was suspicious of something.
Leon didn't want her to worry too much. "Nothing, just thought his bluster might be harmful to you."
Sienna chuckled softly. How considerate he is...
Not long after, the lights in the hall dimmed completely, leaving only the lights on the stage. An elderly man walked up and began speaking in a resonant voice.
Then, several attendants came and handed each guest a bidding paddle. Leon knew the auction was about to start.
After a while, two staff members carefully carried a brocade box to the stage.
As the lights dimmed, the well-dressed elder acted as the auctioneer. Special guest Jenkins stood nearby, his gaze sweeping over the crowd, but Leon noticed he often looked towards a dark corner.
"It's an honor to welcome you all to another 'Dark Deal'. How long has it been since the dark collecting world has been this lively..." The elder delivered a passionate speech, skillfully seizing the moment to recount the past's most glorious times before lamenting the current era's state. This implicitly added weight to the items being auctioned tonight.
After a few minutes, he got to the point.
He first presented three coins. Their shining luster and engraved patterns immediately elicited gasps from the darkened audience. The coins' radiance outshone even the lights.
Caesar coins.
Sienna was slightly amazed.
"Caesar coins?"
"Caesar was a remarkable emperor of the Roman Empire."
"I know that, but I've never heard of any coins," Leon said, puzzled.
"Caesar's growing power worried the Senate. In the end, conspirators stabbed him 23 times, killing him. The assassins minted these coins as a symbol of their allegiance," Sienna explained, "I thought it was fiction, but it's real!"
The starting price for the three Caesar coins was 1.5 million RMB.
Then came a jaw-dropping bidding frenzy.
Soon, the Caesar coins were bid up to 15 million, far exceeding expectations.
"Someone has bid 15 million! Can anyone go higher? These are unique symbols of Caesar's demise, unparalleled in glory," the auctioneer's old voice was brimming with passion.
"18 million!" a voice suddenly shouted on the third call, drawing everyone's eyes.
18 million meant each coin was worth 6 million.
In the end, the three Caesar coins were bought by a collector for 21 million, making Leon exclaim how extravagant the wealthy could be.
The auction continued with a variety of items, from ancient Red Country's Nine Provinces Cauldron to "white as jade, thin as paper, bright as a mirror, and ringing like a bell" celadon, to ink paintings and priceless foreign jewels like Solomon's treasures.
The prices called out were increasingly astonishing.
The ancient Nine Provinces Cauldron fetched a sky-high price of 300 million. Even Samuel Tang bought an ancient Buddhist artifact for 6 million, making Leon wonder if he had entered another world. Seeing news about paintings selling for over a hundred million at auction, Leon had always thought it was just a money-laundering trick. Now he realized it was truly insane if it wasn't.
Leon, who had no appreciation for art or artifacts, naturally didn't understand these collectors' fervor, just as they probably wouldn't understand gamers spending a fortune in virtual worlds.
Sienna, however, seemed unfazed, likely used to it.
"What kind of auction is this? I've never heard of these items," Leon said.
"That's why it's a secret auction, not public," Sienna smiled. "I'm not clear on the origin of these artifacts."
"Doesn't that mean they're not legal?"
"Not necessarily. There's an unwritten rule: the government doesn't pursue items from dark deals. I've heard these artifacts come from some mysterious people, supposedly called the Royals," Sienna thought for a moment.
The Royals?
That made sense.
"Do you plan to buy anything?" Sienna asked.
"I can't afford such expensive items," Leon laughed.
"Playing the poor student in front of the teacher," Sienna teased. Leon forgot that Sienna knew his background, though she didn't know that the return on his investment with Grace Wang was faster than expected.
Sienna said, "The next items are crafts, not too expensive."
"Let's see. My sister's birthday is coming up, and I'm not sure what to get her," Leon said.
The auction continued, and Leon gradually became numb to these people. He particularly watched Robin's two friends and special guest Jenkins, noticing they had been inactive from the start. Hiding in the darkness, Leon couldn't understand Robin's intentions, but Jenkins, always on stage, remained calm and composed.
Suddenly, Leon saw his watch's red light turn bright red and looked up at the stage.
Jenkins also showed a hint of unusualness.
The elder carefully opened a brocade box on the stage, and the dark auction hall was instantly bathed in a dazzling rainbow light.
Sienna gasped.
The primordial stone!
"This crystal amber needs evaluation from all of you! It was found accidentally by the consignor, with a chip inside that is astonishing. Even the most advanced laser cutter can't split the amber. The consignor is auctioning it to determine its value and origin. The one who correctly identifies it will receive this crystal unconditionally!" the elder announced.
The crowd looked at each other in amazement, the room falling silent.
"How do we determine if it's correct?" Sienna asked.
"Well, first, you need to guess where it was found, then state its age..." the elder replied.
Sienna nodded.
Among the top collectors and appraisers in Xijing, interest was piqued, and they were eager to try.
Leon also noticed Robin and his group getting restless.
"So, who will be the first to evaluate?" the elder asked amiably.
Soon, an appraiser stepped onto the stage.