When Did You Arrive, Major?

A hush fell over the hall. The auction officially began. The very first lot brought out was a pitch-black rod. Its tip tilted upward, wreathed in curling black vapor. In terms of outward appearance alone, it wasn't much more impressive than Bai Zhou's fire poker, though it radiated an extra touch of restless foreboding. "Its name is 'The Contrarian Bar'!" Maintaining its unchanging, fixed expression, the stuffed penguin announced in a cheerful, raspy squawk, "A high-grade enchanted weapon, the masterpiece of a certain runic master from a century ago!" "Starting bid: five hundred grains of dust!" "—Bid increments must not be less than one hundred grains of dust!" "..." Listening to the introduction, Bai Zhou quietly drew in a sharp breath, privately marveling at that runic master's sheer genius for naming things. *Now that is a true role model for our generation of runic masters.* Decades or centuries later, long after the creator had turned to dust, a name conceived on a sudden whim and slapped onto an item would still be passed down. No matter how absurd or perfunctory that name was—even if it had been called "Had Lunch Yet?"—future generations would still have to record and recite it dutifully. Just imagining the bizarre, deeply conflicted expressions on descendants' faces when forced to accept such names... ...it felt as though even a corpse in a grave would feel thoroughly refreshed. The cloaked figures began bidding. Each appeared more composed and elegant than the last, and in the blink of an eye, they drove the price of The Contrarian Bar sky-high. Perhaps this was how big shots behaved. No matter how badly they bled or how much money they lost, they had to maintain an aura of mystery that said *What's money to me? I'm just playing along with you*, leaving everyone perpetually guessing their true depth. Next came item after item, with the prominent figures repeatedly holding up their paddles to call out bids. *Parchment of the Fair Contract:* Those who signed it were bound to obey, or disaster would strike them. The cost, however, was that both parties' fortunes became intertwined from that moment onward, sharing honor and disgrace in the truest sense. *The Popular Distorting Mirror:* Sacrificing all of one's future romantic prospects in exchange for immense popularity, at the cost of being doomed to a lifetime of bachelorhood. *Human-Faced Sunflower:* A peculiar specialty of the Reflected Ruin Realm that smiled one moment and brooded the next. Said to produce indoor sunlight, though one had to beware of having their brain eaten by it. "..." Each time a fierce bidding war ended, the hall offered polite applause to the wealthy sucker who emerged victorious. Auctions were simply like that. Between the auction house's own shills and various psychological factors, finding a steal was practically impossible—in fact, the exact opposite was true. Paying an inflated premium was the norm, sometimes to an absurd degree. The problem, however, was that genuine treasures only appeared at auctions; being able to buy one at all was already fortunate. *Clack! Clack-clack!* The scarlet wooden gavel in the penguin's hand hammered ceaselessly on the auction block. Bai Zhou soon grew bored. The imagined tension where daggers were drawn, sparking fierce brawls over coveted lots, was entirely absent. It was neither thrilling nor terrifying. Everything went along far too smoothly; it was practically a normal auction. —Of course, it probably *was* just a normal auction, and Bai Zhou was merely overthinking things. No buyers unsheathed swords to lop off rivals' heads to secure a lot. Nor did the penguin-man suddenly undergo a monstrous transformation, taking control of the towering ancient tree outside the hall to suck all the guests dry into withered husks, carrying out a sacrificial slaughter while wiping out Tinghai's upper crust in one fell swoop. Initially, Bai Zhou had felt quite keen on buying something, but having actually seen the array of lots, he realized... ...there were no Black Box mysterious items bearing dying wishes like he had imagined. Perhaps there would be a chance to see one during the grand finale? At least for now, the high-grade enchanted gear everyone squabbled over—even the extraordinary weapons that were practically semi-finales—were, to Bai Zhou, mildly interesting at best and completely useless at worst. He was draped in enchanted equipment left behind by Crow. As for extraordinary weapons, he possessed more than one, each boasting an exceptional and extraordinary origin. Without realizing it, he had already acquired many spoils that these "big shots" could only dream of. Though, as the trade-off— —his excessively perilous life on the run was something these comfortable, sheltered figures could never fathom. No wonder even a Rank 4 Extraordinary like Van Gogh couldn't produce a single decent extraordinary weapon. His enchanted walking stick and Van Gogh mask had even been blown to smithereens. Bai Zhou even suspected that if he packaged up all the gear on his person alongside himself—bearing that massive bounty—and put it up for auction, many people present might not even be able to afford the starting bid! This served as a reminder to Bai Zhou: Carrying so many precious treasures, he had to be even more cautious, even more prudent! Just like Cinderella—if she had walked off in her glass slippers on the night of the ball and let everyone know about it... ...the one reuniting with the prince wouldn't be her, but some other girl entirely. "And now, for tonight's first grand finale item—" The penguin-man raised its pitch: "The potion: 'Tears of the Moon Goddess'!" The moment the words fell, an attendant brought up a small chest. The instant the chest was opened, the entire exhibition hall seemed to dim for a beat, as if light itself were being drawn into the vessel. A vial of deep, ethereal blue potion came into everyone's view, a silver-white shimmer swirling and flowing silently within it. "The lifelong masterpiece of a potion master!" "Distilling the boundless essence of moonlight, a pinnacle work exhausting the depths of alchemy, possessing miraculous efficacy in nourishing and restoring the Fate Principle!" The penguin-man bobbed and swayed atop the rostrum with an adorable look, yet its voice carried an agitating, seductive allure. "An item such as this requires no redundant elaboration from me!" "Starting bid: two grains of cinders!" "Bid increments must not be less than five hundred grains of dust!" —*It's finally here!* Bai Zhou instantly perked up. He was even a bit surprised. The very first finale item was the Tears of the Moon Goddess? Then what in the world would the remaining finale items be? "Ten cinders." Abruptly, someone spoke up directly. The ferocious opening bid instantly drew the entire room's attention. Seated in the first row, the cloaked man holding paddle number 3 sat with a ramrod-straight spine, his flat tone carrying the overbearing pressure of someone determined to win. This posture genuinely intimidated quite a few people, who began to weigh whether a super-sized, enhanced version of Moon Water was truly worth that much money. Especially considering that this man's bidding had clearly only just begun... "Twenty cinders." Yet almost instantly, another paddle went up. There was no overwhelming pressure to win at all costs, nor an air of brimming confidence. The casual tone sounded as if he were haggling with an old street vendor over an ice pop. —It was Bai Zhou raising his number 22 bidding paddle. Every pair of eyes in the hall snapped toward Bai Zhou's inconspicuous corner. As their scrutinizing gazes landed on that bizarre "real estate banner cloak" wrapped around him, their expressions turned to sudden, bewildered astonishment. *What kind of expert is this? So eccentric and thoroughly unfathomable.* "..." Bai Zhou tugged at the edge of his cloak, his hidden expression entirely placid. He didn't know what the Tears of the Moon Goddess could be used for besides healing, so he had no idea what that man wanted it for. Nor did he have any real concept of "cinders." What was money? You just spent it. He was so poor that he had nothing left *except* this stuff. "...Very well. Thirty cinders!" The original bidder raised his paddle once more. Naturally commanding, his proud and confident voice remained aloof, yet it sent a chill through those listening. —Anyone could see that he was getting serious. Just like Bai Zhou, he raised the bid by ten cinders in one go. It was a display of grand bravado and absolute confidence; the suffocating presence of an absolute superior radiated from him. To this, Bai Zhou said nothing. He simply raised his paddle again. "Fifty cinders!" "—Fifty cinders! Number twenty-two bids fifty cinders! An increase of twenty cinders in a single bid!" Hearing that, the stuffed penguin immediately cheered from the rostrum, "Number twenty-two displays even greater magnanimity, with unstoppable momentum!" "This is already the highest bid seen tonight!" Rolling its round eyes around the hall, the stuffed penguin's gaze finally settled on the man in the front row. "—Will there be a higher bid?" "...Interesting." The man shook his head and slowly raised his paddle. Facing this blatant challenge, he cast a cold look over his shoulder. Then he held up a single finger and declared, "I voluntarily forfeit the subsequent finale items... but this one is mine!" "Whatever price anyone names, as long as it is a genuine bid, I will top it by ten cinders!" The moment those words dropped, the entire room erupted into an uproar. Lighting the sky lantern! This man was "lighting the sky lantern"! In ancient times, when night fell, auction houses would light a sky lantern as a signal for the auction to begin. Later, raising one's hand to "light the lantern" became a gesture symbolizing an absolute determination to claim a lot, pledging to forever outbid all other contenders! Gazes locked onto the man, minds racing with frantic guesses about his identity. In Tinghai, this person was certainly no nobody. What domineering swagger! Who was he? A few had even pieced together vague notions from his unmasked physical stature... Facing this grand gesture, Bai Zhou's response was— —to keep holding up his paddle. "Forever ten cinders higher than me? Really?" *What a poser.* Bai Zhou shook his head. The real question was, what gave you the right to pose so hard? Did you push a wheelbarrow full of cinders in here or something? Bai Zhou was genuinely a bit baffled. Then he answered, "In that case, I bid two hundred cinders." "...Actually, forget it. Let's make it five hundred cinders." "If that's not enough, I can add more." It was just the difference between a handful of ash and two handfuls. Bai Zhou didn't care in the slightest. Granted, people here counted cinders by individual grains. Back where he dug them, however... they were shoveled out by the pound and the heap. You really shouldn't try to out-flex a nouveau riche peasant whose only possession was dirt and ash to see who had more ash. Otherwise... As Bai Zhou's voice echoed through the hall, every whisper died away. A jump from fifty cinders straight to five hundred cinders? A tenfold leap? And he could *add more*? These were cinders! Not dust! And certainly not that useless paper known as Federal dollars! —Five hundred thousand grains of dust! What did that even mean? The asset verification threshold to enter this auction was merely five hundred grains of dust! Did all the previous lots combined even match this value? Everyone was utterly dumbfounded. Even the stuffed penguin began to stammer. Yet its eyes sparkled with a light so brilliant it was almost blinding. "Number twenty-two bids five hundred cinders!" "—Number three, what say you?" "Are you certain you wish to bid five hundred and ten cinders?" The crushing pressure fell squarely on the head of Number 3 in the front row. Number 3: "..." Bid my foot! On his entire person, he carried less than four hundred cinders in total! His original plan had been to purchase the Tears of the Moon Goddess, then assess the situation to see if he could bid on the remaining finale lots. Even if he couldn't get anything else, it hadn't mattered; he was willing to throw down everything to secure the Tears of the Moon Goddess. He truly had been determined to obtain the potion at all costs. —Because this concerned whether he could achieve a flawless advancement to Rank 5 Extraordinary! Everything had been lined up perfectly. Yet... What in the world was this nouveau riche freak who had popped up out of nowhere? To be this loaded, did he own a mine in the Reflected Ruin Realm or something? Even a person of his stature felt intimidated before such a bid. And yet, the guy's tone had been as flat and casual as drinking a glass of water... completely impossible to read! Money— In the very domain where he normally took the greatest pride, he had been crushed in such a humiliating fashion... Proud as he was, he felt briefly dazed. It was merely the Tears of the Moon Goddess; most people wouldn't even know its true application. How could the premium inflate to such an absurd degree? Did this person hold a grudge against him? Why did it feel like this guy was targeting him specifically...? With that thought, he slipped off the sunglasses beneath his hood and rubbed his throbbing temples. He sank into brooding over his recent string of terrible luck... The business with that Bai Zhou hadn't even been settled yet, and now some new annoyance had cropped up here in the Reflected Ruin Realm. Where had his glorious, triumphant, main-character life gone? All of a sudden, his fortunes had taken a turn for the worse, as if he had been cursed by an evil spirit. Damn it all! Just then, the prickling sensation of countless eyes on his back swept over him. "..." He suddenly realized that everyone in the hall was staring at him, waiting for his answer after his prolonged silence. Remembering his arrogant act of "lighting the sky lantern" moments ago, his face burned with a stinging, inexplicable heat. ...What was he supposed to do? How could he match that? Adjusting his posture, the man raised a hand to pull his cloak tight, concealing the crisp, tailored military uniform beneath it and hiding it deep from sight. ...Yes. This man, currently gnashing his teeth in fury and wondering why that punk was targeting him... ...was none other than the gifted Third Young Master of the Zijing Company. A noble scion of an illustrious clan. The commanding Major of Branch 36 of the Special Control Bureau. —Bai Zhou's number one archenemy.