"Wait a moment!"
The Major sprang to his feet and said coldly, "I suspect he's making a fraudulent bid!"
"Didn't I make it clear just now? The prerequisite for matching a bid is that the other person is bidding in good faith."
"Otherwise, what if he maliciously inflates it to a hundred million, spouting numbers out of thin air? Am I supposed to match that too?"
When he said this, some in the room nodded discreetly.
Yet others who knew how the auction house operated chuckled soundlessly.
Turns out he was a greenhorn.
"..."
Bai Zhou blinked, not taking it to heart at all, his expression entirely unruffled.
Having his credibility questioned was no big deal. Bai Zhou was long past the age of getting angry when doubted.
The world was full of people holding up rulers to measure others. Even if you lived your life aligned perfectly with the markings on their ruler, some old busybody gossiping at the village entrance would still find a way to drag your name through the mud.
Or rather...
Even though bidder Number 3 seemed hostile toward him, Bai Zhou had never truly paid him any mind in the first place.
It was like riding a horse through a forest and accidentally trampling a rabbit—a rabbit wasn't an enemy.
He wasn't an enemy, let alone a rival. Just a passerby.
Only, this passerby happened to be rather unlucky.
He seemed to need this bottle of Tears of the Moon Goddess desperately, but unfortunately for him, he had run into Bai Zhou.
"—I can prove it."
Unwilling to waste breath arguing, Bai Zhou simply spoke in a flat tone.
He reached into his robe, intending to pull out a handful of cinders as proof.
Yet before Bai Zhou could make a move—
The penguin-man stopped him.
It swiveled its massive head toward Number 3's seat, its beady eyes rolling.
"On that matter, sir, I believe you needn't worry."
"Regulars might already know that no one has ever dared to make a fraudulent bid on our premises."
The penguin's cute, flat beak split into a grin, its bulging eyes sending a shiver down everyone's spines.
"Any paying customer is the auction house's dearest friend."
"However, if someone isn't our friend, they will never walk out of this ghost market alive~"
The words were calm, delivered in a tone that even carried a touch of deference, yet the underlying message was one of absolute conviction.
And the moment the words fell—
*Hum—*
The entire auction hall—even the entire skyscraper—seemed to shudder.
Yet the tremor was so faint that one might have brushed it off as an illusion.
It wasn't even quite a tremor. Bai Zhou faintly sensed it as a microscopic... writhing?
Not the building itself writhing, but something within the building's interior writhing.
A fleeting chill was caught by the spirituality of every Extraordinary present, triggering an instinctive alarm.
Just what kind of background... did this auction house have?
Only now did Bai Zhou belatedly begin to ponder this question in earnest.
What kind of faction possessed a secret stronghold like this within the Reflected Ruin Realm?
What kind of power could casually auction off such supreme treasures in a mysterious world ruled by the law of the jungle—where everyone kept their heads down—while compelling all these prominent figures to conceal their identities and sit together with utmost patience?
"..."
Their hearts gripped by a chill, the audience below fell entirely silent.
Dead stillness reigned.
Some were learning this for the first time, quietly observing the reactions of others amidst their shock.
Others possessed inside knowledge; cloaked and composed, they sat there as solid as boulders, not showing the slightest reaction.
"..."
Half a minute later.
The Major quietly sat back down.
His figure, having fallen silent once more, appeared inexplicably flustered.
Yet before sitting back down, he turned his head.
From beneath his hood, his somber, dark eyes silently cast a glance toward Bai Zhou's seat.
"...I pass."
At last, the Major gave his muffled reply.
The Major who had lit the sky lantern ended up stringing himself up from the streetlight for everyone to gawk at.
He would remember this grudge.
Fortunately, no one knew his true identity.
In this place, where Tinghai's upper crust gathered under one roof, the Major himself was ultimately insignificant.
Yet if he disgraced both the Zijing Company and the Special Control Bureau in a setting like this...
...that consequence would be truly unimaginable.
"In that case, five hundred cinders going once!"
The stuffed penguin shouted from the stage, dragging out its words as though still hoping someone else would bid.
No one uttered a sound.
Tears of the Moon Goddess was remarkably effective at nourishing the Fate Principle, making it a supreme healing potion.
Furthermore, its recipe had long been lost, with only a handful of bottles remaining in the world, rendering it exceedingly rare.
But five hundred cinders?
None of them had understood what the two of them were fighting so fiercely over.
With that kind of money, one could easily purchase a decent Extraordinary weapon, and when it came to healing, there were plenty of affordable alternatives.
Who would spend that much on something like this?
Perhaps Tears of the Moon Goddess had some extraordinary effect unknown to others, but nobody was about to waste that kind of money just to experiment.
—These were *cinders*, not dirt!
On the stage, the penguin shook its head in regret.
"Five hundred cinders going twice..."
Its harsh squawk dragged out in a slow drawl:
"Five hundred cinders going thrice!"
The blood-red gavel, as if stained with human blood, slammed down hard onto the table.
"—Sold!"
"Let us congratulate Number 22!"
The crowd offered their applause to the newly minted sucker, the sound surging like ocean waves.
The Major clapped as well.
Yet his face had grown so dark it looked ready to drip ink.
Only he knew what Tears of the Moon Goddess truly represented.
That was something no number of Extraordinary weapons could ever buy back...
A glorified bottle of Moon Water? How could that count as a supreme potion?
Had he not seen the description in an ancient tome, he wouldn't have known either: taken at a specific time and paired with a specific ritual, consuming Tears of the Moon Goddess...
...would bestow the Blessing of the Moonlight!
That was the true origin of the name Tears of the Moon Goddess.
This blessing would accompany the recipient for life, taking effect wherever moonlight shone and granting all manner of wondrous, unbelievable boons.
Throughout history, almost no one who possessed this blessing had failed to achieve great renown.
And yet—
The true method of taking Tears of the Moon Goddess had been lost alongside its recipe.
Over the past century, anyone who consumed Tears of the Moon Goddess merely to heal damage to their Fate Principle or nourish it had committed the most appalling waste of this supreme potion!
Only the Major, through a stroke of fortune, had obtained the method to consume it.
With the aid of this blessing, he would even have a ninety percent chance of achieving a flawless Rank 5 advancement!
...For that, he should have brought more cinders; it would have been well worth it even at a thousand.
Yet he had too many matters on his hands recently, leaving his funds tied up.
First, hiring a titled Painter from the Fine Arts Society to dispose of the Blood Worship Cult elder had cost him a fortune in cinders.
Later, hunting down Bai Zhou... had forced him to pay a massive deposit to the Fine Arts Society as well.
Without those expenditures, the amount of cinders at his immediate disposal would have been an astronomical sum!
Yet there were no "what-ifs."
Just as he never could have imagined that bringing so many cinders wouldn't even be enough to buy a single bottle of Tears of the Moon Goddess.
Frustrations came one after another.
It gave the Major reason to suspect whether someone had interfered with his luck via a ritual, and he would need to get himself checked after returning.
Yet before that—
Gritting his teeth, the Major pondered how to handle the aftermath of this matter.
Giving up was completely out of the question.
With every bottle of Tears of the Moon Goddess used in this world, there was one fewer left.
This was the only time in the past five years that Tears of the Moon Goddess had surfaced in Tinghai.
If he missed this opportunity, putting the blessing aside for a moment, what would become of his flawless advancement?
From childhood to adulthood, the Major had never failed to obtain anything he set his sights on.
Never once.
This time would be no different.
The Major slowly turned his head to look beside him.
The cloaked figure had been sitting there quietly the entire time, keeping a low profile.
Sensing the Major's gaze, the figure turned and gave him a slight nod.
Beneath the hood, a painted mask was faintly discernible.
The mask was not made of a rigid material, but rather a soft, skin-like substance that adhered tightly to the contours of his face.
Its coloration, however, was a sickly blend of ash-white and morbid greenish-yellow. A twisted mouth hung permanently agape, and round, wide eyes remained forever fixed in place, capturing a silent, absolute terror.
As if screaming out in horror.
—The Major hadn't come alone.
A gentleman does not stand beneath a collapsing wall; having received that education since youth, he never traveled alone in unfamiliar, perilous environments.
The person before him was his "attendant" for this outing—
Ranked first among the sixteen Painters of the Fine Arts Society.
Edvard Munch!
Looking at him, the Major didn't say a word, merely shooting him a meaningful glance.
Munch understood what the Major meant. He turned his head and shot a stealthy glance toward Bai Zhou's direction.
A flicker of confusion crossed his eyes, but it quickly turned into thoughtful contemplation.
Then, turning back, he spoke an odd number to the Major in a peculiar voice.
"Ninety-nine percent."
Ninety-nine percent?
The Major froze for an instant before sheer delight washed over him.
This was Edvard Munch's secret technique.
The ability to perceive death.
The moment he laid eyes on someone, by synthesizing their posture—walking, sitting, lying down—and profiling all of their recent behaviors...
...he could simulate and predict the probability of his own death should the two of them engage in a fight to the death.
This ability was not directed at anyone else, but rather at his own "death," making it virtually impossible to shield against by any means.
It was the cornerstone that secured his position as the number-one Painter of the Fine Arts Society, allowing him to navigate Tinghai's underworld without ever failing a mission.
And based on the Major's understanding of Munch...
Whenever he stated a probability of death to others, he never stated his own share.
Ninety-nine percent meant Munch's own probability of dying was 0.01, while that person's probability of dying was 0.99.
How could someone so wealthy... be this weak?
The Major was as thrilled as he was puzzled.
"Very good."
Suppressing the confusion in his chest, the Major gave Munch a discreet nod.
The other party understood immediately.
It was inconvenient to make a move inside the skyscraper, but once they left the auction house...
Failing to buy it didn't mean failing to obtain it!
In Tinghai, nothing he desired had ever slipped through his grasp.
—The Major would always find a way.
...
The rest of the auction proved far more thrilling.
The grand finale items were indeed all Extraordinary equipment.
Even in Bai Zhou's eyes, they possessed remarkable quality and formidable power.
*Kiss of Thorns*
A Western-style rapier, its blade inscribed with runes and its crossguard entwined with metallic brambles.
The thorns could creep and grow, drinking their master's blood during battle to turn crimson. While granting the wielder total synchronization with the blade, it significantly enhanced their physical stamina.
The drawback was that after drinking blood too many times, there was a high probability the wielder would fall under the sword's influence and become its "blood thrall."
*Skyward Rope*
A coarse hemp rope roughly three to four meters long and as thick as a finger.
Though unremarkable in appearance, once infused with spirituality and tossed into the air, the tip of the rope would hang suspended in midair without any support.
The more spirituality infused, the longer the rope became, stretching straight toward the heavens for one to climb.
The drawback was that each use deepened the wielder's acrophobia; they would even suffer recurring nightmares of plummeting from dizzying heights.
Its previous owners had tended to be the most brilliant thieves and travelers, yet every single one of them had ultimately died from falling.
*Vial of Regret*
An antique-looking metal vial painted with a weeping face.
When the owner experienced intensely powerful negative emotions, they could inject their blood into the vial.
The vial could record and magnify that emotion, altering the blood.
Afterward, smearing this blood onto a weapon created a uniquely enchanted blade that influenced and infected an enemy's emotional state upon striking.
—Smearing it on one's palm worked just as well.
The drawback was that the owner would gradually become increasingly melancholic and sentimental.
...And so forth, five pieces of Extraordinary equipment in all.
Every single one boasted an illustrious past, with some former owners having once commanded resounding renown among Tinghai's Extraordinaries.
Unlike with Tears of the Moon Goddess, the guests engaged in fierce, cutthroat bidding.
Having missed out on Tears of the Moon Goddess, the Major raised his paddle once more and ultimately claimed the Vial of Regret with an overwhelming bid of two hundred cinders.
In a sense, he managed to salvage a bit of face.
...It was only now that Bai Zhou clearly grasped what an Extraordinary weapon meant in the mystical realm.
Most Extraordinaries possessed only enchanted weapons, and many Rank 4 Extraordinaries still wielded high-grade enchanted gear.
Only veteran Rank 5 Extraordinaries could hope to acquire a suitable Extraordinary weapon by mobilizing vast networks of resources.
Every appearance of Extraordinary equipment brought forth a bloodbath among high-ranking Extraordinaries.
Only Extraordinaries of that caliber could unlock the myriad wondrous functions of an Extraordinary weapon to their fullest, elevating their combat prowess to an entirely new echelon.
Generally speaking, in a clash between a Rank 5 Extraordinary wielding a compatible Extraordinary weapon and another Rank 5 without one, the outcome was an almost one-sided slaughter.
...However, after pondering it for a long while, Bai Zhou refrained from bidding again.
In terms of sheer lethality, these Extraordinary weapons weren't as sharp as his purple-gold saber, nor as solid as his short staff.
In terms of range, they were neither as insidious nor as convenient as the mechanical spear-gun.
Even the Skyward Rope, which tempted Bai Zhou the most, didn't seem to be a strict necessity.
Once his injuries healed, he could transform into a black cat at any moment and escape through the seams of space.
—Without realizing it, he had already begun piecing together his own combat system, leaving no glaring weaknesses.
Biting off more than he could chew would only slow him down. So long as he fully digested his current abilities and equipment, he still had a vast reservoir of potential to unlock.
He only needed to take Tears of the Moon Goddess, recover from his injuries, and he would be reborn like a phoenix from the ashes.
Thinking through all this left Bai Zhou far more satisfied than if he had bought anything.
Every attendee here boasted an illustrious status and formidable strength; even the faint glimpses of power they inadvertently leaked were enough to make one's heart race.
Even an expert like Expert Li, a specially appointed consultant for the Armory, could only sit in the most inconspicuous corner, contenting himself with a few small items at the auction's start.
Yet the Extraordinary weapons these prominent figures fought over with burning eyes...
...were nothing more than scrap metal Bai Zhou looked down upon.
This faint sense of superiority was hard to describe. It was like tumbling into a mound of mint and gorging on three jin of leaves, feeling crisp and invigorated from his toes all the way to the crown of his skull.
After all, what was he?
When he won the bid for Tears of the Moon Goddess, they had applauded him out of courtesy.
Yet none of them would ever imagine that the person sitting in the corner, calmly accepting their applause...
...was neither a big shot nor a young master from some prestigious clan, but merely a miner who dug for ores in the Deep Ruin Realm—a nobody from Wancheng whom the Major had never bothered to look at, yet was currently wanted and hunted across all of Tinghai.
"Congratulations, sir, on winning your desired item."
Handing the ornate chest containing Tears of the Moon Goddess to Bai Zhou, the giant penguin offered him sincere greetings.
Its colossal frame loomed before Bai Zhou. Looking closely, one could tell it was no costume, but a living creature—so lifelike it seemed as though the penguin suit had devoured the human inside, the two melding together to grow flesh and blood.
It exuded considerable pressure.
Yet it was rubbing its two black flippers together, radiating the warmest goodwill toward Bai Zhou.
"As your spending with our establishment has reached the required threshold, congratulations: you have automatically been upgraded to our Level 10 VIP membership."
"This is a custom-made chest we rushed to produce for you on short notice. We hope you like it."
The heavy chest settled into his hands.
Crafted from pure silver with gold-trimmed edges, its surface was engraved with intricate patterns depicting the Moon Goddess. A single glance was enough to tell it was exorbitantly expensive.
"However..."
Swaying its chubby, massive body, the giant penguin cast a meaningful look at Bai Zhou.
"I must remind you, sir, to mind your safety once you step outside the auction house."
"What do you mean...?"
Bai Zhou felt a chill in his heart as he looked into the penguin's unchanging mascot face.
"Our establishment is forbidden from disclosing any information regarding our guests, so I must beg your forgiveness for not speaking further."
"However, I must remind you that our establishment is only responsible for a guest's safety within the auction house."
"Once you step outside the skyscraper, our establishment assumes no responsibility whatsoever for any actions taken between guests."
The giant penguin swayed its head as it spoke.
Yet its hint was already glaringly obvious.
That bidder Number 3 from earlier...
What kind of grudge was this, to be so relentlessly persistent?
Extraordinaries truly were black-hearted to a fault...
Beneath his cloak, Bai Zhou knitted his brows.
There was still some time before hour thirty-six, when one could leave the Reflected Ruin Realm.
In his current condition, if someone truly targeted him, things would become extremely troublesome.
What was worse,
The Gem Witch was already prowling around the ghost market searching for him...
Wolves in front, tigers behind.
Quite a predicament.
"However, as our establishment's most distinguished Level 10 VIP, I hope from the bottom of my heart to see your patronage again next time."
"—Therefore, please allow me to recommend our establishment's other services."
With that, the penguin flapped its wings.
"...Other services?" Bai Zhou blinked.
"I must say, you arrived just in the nick of time!"
The penguin rubbed its flippers together, raising its voice:
"In order to expand our business and better cater to the needs of our high-ranking members, our establishment is preparing to roll out our 'Whirlwind Escort' service."
"It's still in the closed beta phase. Would you like to give it a try?"
"As the name implies, this service can guarantee your safety until you exit the ghost market... It is remarkably suited to your current situation."
"Of course, different tiers come with different prices..."
The giant penguin rolled its eyes meaningfully at Bai Zhou.
Escorts, hired muscle...
Catching the creature's drift, Bai Zhou blinked twice.
Then he immediately asked:
"—Do you also offer 'escorts' at the Rank 5 Extraordinary level?"
"Yes, absolutely!"
The giant penguin flapped its short flippers, its flat beak clapping open and shut in a cheerful, exuberant tone.
"Here, I recommend a Rank 5 Emperor Penguin equipped with the Extraordinary weapon 'Ice Qilin,' more than capable of handling most crises."
"In fact..."
The giant penguin slowly waddled forward, casting an elongated shadow.
It blinked its eyes at Bai Zhou, swaying its massive head in an adorable, comical manner.
"You can even book me to take the field!"
This enigmatic, colossal anomaly rubbed its short flippers together with bashful modesty,
uttering words that made Bai Zhou's heart skip a beat:
"I would be delighted to serve you."
"Just... that'll cost extra!"
Chapter 71