48 Hours a Day

Chapter 93: Showstopper

Many of the guests already knew what the last item for auction was, but when the auctioneer took it out from the tule box and presented it before the guests, it caused quite the stir.

“Dreamland of Death. Grade: B. Causes the target to enter a lethal dreamland. Its remaining number of uses is a secret. More details will only be revealed after the auction. The starting bid is 60,000 game points, where additional bids will cost 500 points. After three last calls, the hammer will fall, and the sale is concluded. Get ready to place your bids.”

The elderly auctioneer conducted the auction professionally, maintaining a serious expression on his bony face as he made the introduction in a calm and composed manner.

Right after he had spoken, a voice called out, “Let’s not waste time and just start from 70,000.”

The auditorium broke into an uproar. That was merely the first bid, and the price had already been raised by 10,000 points. This opening was borderline farcical.

Considering Ding Si had already completed his work for the day, he turned himself into a spectator for this bid.

“Currently, there are three most powerful guilds with more than 2,000 players between them. After years of massive expansion and having made a large fortune, they are the only ones who can afford to make such an exorbitant bid. They are probably the ones performing at tonight’s final round of auction.”

Ding Si paused for a moment and then continued, “No one would feel safe knowing that this deadly weapon is in someone else’s hand. The three guild leaders of Silver Wing is the prime example of this case, so this is going to be a very fierce bid.”

The way the events unfolded did not surprise Ding Si at all.

The 70,000 point starting price did not seem to scare away the potential competitors. In less than ten seconds, someone swiftly followed up with a bid, and then another one from the other side. Among the many bidders tonight, no more than three were qualified to raise their paddles. Needless to say, these were the representatives of their respective guilds.

On their own, Grade-B game items were already very rare. On top of that, Dreamland of Death’s usage outshone those of the same grade. During such times, the three major guilds would not show courtesy to each other. In a matter of ten minutes, the price had shot up to a whopping 87,500 points.

At this point, all three guilds began to show a little more caution, and the rate of the bidding gradually slowed. When it reached 89,000, one of the guilds backed out notifying that they were unable to compete. The two bidders who were left, apparently rejuvenated by their competitor’s exit, were in full spirits to soldier on.

Very quickly, the price of the Dreamland of Death escalated, breaking through the 90,000 point barrier. The party with the lower bid suddenly grew silent.

There were many ways to kill that cost far less than 90,000 points, and even if taken from a purely defensive perspective, that price was still too expensive.

Just as the winner of this chess game was about to be revealed, someone sitting in a corner at the back of the auditorium suddenly raised their paddle and said, “100,000 points.”

A furor broke out in the hall.

Many were interested in the Dreamland of Death. Still, everybody knew that it would eventually fall into the hands of one of the major guilds because it required not just desire but also bottomless pockets to be able to win the bid.

Despite the odds, right before the high-stakes show came to a close, a fourth person entered the picture out of thin air, raising the bid price by another 10,000 points!

At this point, coughing up 100,000 points for a B-grade game item was pure madness.

All eyes immediately turned to the showstopper. Due to the stipulated rules, no one was able to see the face of the person. One could only make out that it was a tall woman in black sunglasses. After calling out her bid, she kept quiet and went back to chewing her gum.

Hushed waves of whispers began echoing throughout the auditorium. The players were all discussing the girl, wondering who she was, and where she came from. In the end, it was apparent that nobody knew her identity.

None of the three major guilds were prepared for this unprecedented turn of events, leaving their representatives stumped.

Zhang Heng noticed the strange expression on Ding Si’s face and asked, “What is it? Do you know her?”

Ding Si shook his head. “No, I don’t. But forty minutes ago, she came to me and exchanged three C-grade game items for a loan of 4,500 game points. That’s basically all the credits I have.”

Zhang Heng raised his brow. He remembered seeing how Ding Si was in a good mood, saying that he had completed his work in advance.

“Could it be possible that she has also loaned from other chambers of commerce before she could gather a total of 100,000 game points?”

“Theoretically speaking, it’s possible. Quite a few chambers of commerce roam the ship, all ready to do business. They probably carry around quite a few points on them. If she made contact with them, she could have gathered this amount. But in practice, it’s unplausible. There’s no way a person could have so many game items for collateral in the first place.”

Ding Si frowned. “This is going to be a big problem for the three major guilds. They wouldn’t have come for this auction with more than 100,000 points on them. Dreamland of Death may be great and all, but it’s not worth the price. The only problem is that if this thing falls into the hands of someone with ill-intentions, all the effort they went through to get here would have been for nothing.”

As he was speaking, Ding Si’s phone vibrated and he picked it up.

When the call ended, he looked up, astonished. “This is impossible… all the chambers of commerce have run out of game points. Is she really going to win the bid on her own? This woman is incredible!”

On the other side, the three representatives of the guilds were in panic mode. For them, having the Dreamland of Death in their possession was the most secure and ideal situation. Anything less than that, and they would definitely be unable to accept the outcome. Although they were not on good terms with each other, they would still act per the rules.

The worst-case scenario would be for the game item to fall into the hands of some psycho – the tragic incident involving the guild leader of Silver Wing could very well repeat itself.

“The only way to solve this is for one of them to borrow from the other. Then they could defeat that woman. 100,000 points is a steep price. No one wants to be seen as an imprudent idiot,” Ding Si explained. He appeared to be somewhat distracted, stroking the black briefcase on his knees as his eyes stared blankly.

This was the first time Zhang Heng had ever seen him so nervous. The auctioneer had dropped the hammer for the second time and was about to proceed to the countdown.

The three guilds were still negotiating and had not come to an agreement, attempting to request for the auction to be suspended, only to be ignored by the old auctioneer.

The girl in the shades was chewing her gum more rapidly. Three seconds later, the hammer dropped, and the auctioneer announced the results of the auction’s final round.

Shortly, the steward standing at the side carried the tule box to the woman. She had just spent 100,000 points on a game item she did not even bother to inspect. She simply took the thing and tossed it into her little handbag.

After that, she disappeared from her seat into the darkness.

Just as she was about to leave, Ding Si jumped up from his seat and yelled, “Hurry! Hurry! Catch her!!!”