Chapter 96: Stan's Greatest Worry
The next morning, Su Xiao sat up from his bed and glanced at the timer. There were still over 50 minutes until the auction started.
After washing up, Su Xiao left his exclusive room and headed straight for the commercial street. Half an hour later, he arrived in front of a venue in the commercial district.
This auction wasn't large in scale, but it had a threshold. The intentions of the Divine Emperor, Blood Gate, and Black Sail factions were clear: quality over quantity. Selling one legendary item was worth far more than selling multiple blue or purple quality goods.
Just as Su Xiao was about to enter the venue, two contractors blocked his way. Their meaning was straightforward: this place was temporarily not open to the public. He needed to show either an auction invitation of any kind or over 800,000 Paradise Coins.
Clearly, Su Xiao had neither. He certainly wouldn't say something embarrassing like "I'm very familiar with your leader," so he contacted Kuang Hu. Kuang Hu was probably too busy to think straight and didn't respond for a long time, so Su Xiao contacted Divine Emperor instead.
A few minutes later, Divine Emperor walked out from inside the venue, greeted Su Xiao warmly, and the two entered together. That unreliable Kuang Hu had been too busy recently and had forgotten about the invitation requirement.
Su Xiao entered the venue and turned around, only to find Divine Emperor had vanished. He vaguely heard the other say "excuse me" earlier.
Although Su Xiao didn't have an invitation, he knew Kuang Hu had reserved a seat for him. If he remembered correctly, it was seat number 16.
The seat was excellent. Because of their decent personal relationship, Kuang Hu had reserved a seat for Su Xiao in the first row.
"Hey."
A finger poked Su Xiao. He was in the middle of a puzzle game and turned his head to see Gulu sitting in the seat next to him. Nearby, a chubby young man was standing.
This chubby young man was an "old acquaintance" of Su Xiao's. Su Xiao had once chopped at him in the Holy Grail World but failed to kill him—the guy had escaped. The chubby man was from the Blood Gate Adventure Group. Clearly, Gulu had stolen his seat number 17.
"Something wrong?"
Su Xiao looked at Gulu.
"How did you sneak in?"
Gulu had a lollipop in her mouth. After the previous war world, the two were no longer irreconcilable enemies. At most, they found each other annoying but couldn't do anything about it.
"I came in openly and honestly."
"Huh? I thought you also forged a fake invitation."
"..."
Su Xiao couldn't think of how to comment on Gulu for a moment. That was just how Gulu was—she had no scruples and did whatever she wanted.
"So, you forged a fake invitation just to get in here?"
Su Xiao looked at Gulu in surprise.
"That's right."
"Is there something you desperately want to bid on here?"
"I don't know. Anyway, I'm not bidding on anything. Paying a commission to Divine Emperor and Blood Gate would be like funding the enemy. Do you think I'm stupid?"
Gulu tilted her head back, indicating she still had some integrity. Just then, Divine Emperor and Stan walked out from the backstage, followed by a group of people. The two were discussing something.
As soon as Divine Emperor and Stan reached the front row, they saw Su Xiao and Gulu. Enemies met face to face.
Stan and Su Xiao had a grudge spanning many worlds. Divine Emperor, on the other hand, had a grudge against Gulu—she had killed his biological sister. Moreover, Divine Emperor and the Blood Gate Adventure Group had once hunted Gulu in the Naruto World.
"So why are you here..."
Su Xiao glanced at Stan and then ignored him. His reasons for coming were twofold: first, to sell items, and second, because of his friendship with Kuang Hu.
"I've been bored lately. I just came to annoy Divine Emperor and Blood Gate."
Gulu raised her fair little hand and smiled as she greeted Divine Emperor and Stan. Both of their expressions turned sour.
"Idiot."
Su Xiao continued to immerse himself in his game. Hearing Su Xiao call her an idiot, Gulu bared her little fangs. Divine Emperor and Stan, who were passing by, both visibly paused and looked at Su Xiao in surprise.
"You're the idiot! Your whole family are idiots! Aaah, I'm so mad! I'll bite you to death!"
After Gulu's venomous tirade, Su Xiao remained calm, still playing his puzzle game. Gulu realized her venom was ineffective and gritted her teeth in frustration.
Seeing the way Su Xiao and Gulu interacted, Stan suddenly felt something was wrong. The reason was simple: he knew Gulu's strength. When she was still a third-rank contractor, she had evaded the pursuit of two large adventure groups. After Gulu advanced to fourth rank, they wouldn't easily provoke her anymore.
And looking at Gulu's current state—so angry she was grinding her teeth—it was clear she couldn't do anything to Su Xiao and could only attack him verbally.
Stan suddenly realized that the one who had beheaded the night had become a major worry for Blood Gate.
"Hey, hey, you think you can just play your game in peace after provoking me?"
Gulu started harassing Su Xiao. Su Xiao put away his tablet.
"Gulu, I have a good proposal."
Su Xiao's expression turned serious. Gulu, who had been grabbing his collar with her small hand, paused.
"What is it?"
"Next world, let's team up and kill Blood Gate members."
"Oh?"
Gulu released Su Xiao's collar. Clearly, she was interested.
"What kind of... development is this?"
Divine Emperor's gaze swept between Su Xiao, Gulu, and Stan. Clearly, he couldn't keep up with Su Xiao and Gulu's train of thought.
"You... you're not planning to kill me while we're at it, are you? Don't think I don't know you have that thing. I sensed it during the war world."
"Forget it, then."
The negotiation broke down. As for Gulu sensing that Su Xiao had collected the Demon Hunter Set, he wasn't surprised. The Demon Hunter Ring had originally been in Gulu's hands, so she naturally knew about the set.
Stan said nothing. He turned and walked toward his seat. As soon as he turned around, a smile appeared on his face. No one knew why he was smiling.
The auction began. Originally, Divine Emperor and Stan had high expectations for this auction, but Gulu's interference made them feel inexplicably uncomfortable. Gulu, on the other hand, was in a great mood.
Gulu wore a smile throughout the event and occasionally chatted with Su Xiao, or rather, tried to pry information out of him.
The auction started quickly. The first item was a legendary necklace enhanced to +13, provided by a black merchant. According to Divine Emperor and Stan, they could have purchased it internally, but the Black Sail Merchant Guild ultimately refused.
In less than two minutes, a fifth-rank contractor bought the necklace. He didn't pay with Paradise Coins—no one carried that much—but with a large amount of rare resources. With the Black Sail Merchant Guild handling it, these resources could be converted into even more Paradise Coins, netting the three parties a huge profit.
The second item was a bottle of brown liquid, a bloodline item. Su Xiao had no interest in it at all.
As for the third item, it was the Axe Mastery Lv.10 scroll that Su Xiao had put up.
"The attributes of the third item are roughly like this. The seller's requirement is three [Master's Power] fragments, plus Soul Crystals or Paradise Coins."
The host on stage wasn't very professional. She was Matcha, the chief healer of the Divine Emperor Adventure Group. Or rather, for this kind of auction, a professional host wasn't necessary—it would just feel awkward. Everyone present basically knew each other, so there was no need for flashy theatrics.
"Here."
A burly man in the back row raised his hand, indicating he was willing to pay the minimum price, which was three [Master's Power] fragments.
No one else bid. The reason was simple: [Master's Power] fragments were very precious. Unless someone was training an important new member, few people would exchange [Master's Power] fragments for a Master-level scroll.
Things went surprisingly smoothly. After paying a large amount of resources, Su Xiao's Blade Technique was about to advance in rank.
The auction ended quickly. The Axe Mastery Lv.10 scroll was successfully sold, while the Jungle Predator item failed to sell.
After upgrading his Blade Technique, Su Xiao planned to return to the real world, relax for a few days, and then welcome the next derivative world. As for the arena, he had been fighting constantly recently—it was time to unwind.