Thank you @Jill for the Kofi. (1/2)
Lucky Cruise Ship
Chapter 566: They arrived just in time!
After a moment of dead silence, the frenzy of bidding was pushed to an unprecedented peak.
As if bewitched, the already high bids began to skyrocket once again!
“3.1 billion!!”
“3.5 billion!!!”
…
“4 billion!!!”
As the bids climbed higher and higher, the entire auction venue fell into an uncontrollable spiral. The air grew turbid and scorching, filled with a morbid sort of madness.
In the center of the auction stage, the culprit who personally orchestrated all of this stood with a smile. From inside his cage, he watched the scene before him with keen interest—
People were spending fortunes for him, falling into debt for him, and beating their heads bloody for him.
Second floor of the auction venue.
Figaro sat by the window, leaning forward slightly, his eyes fixed intently on the venue. It was as if his mind had been captured by the bedeviled scene. Only after a long while did he withdraw his gaze, lower his eyes to take a sip of red wine, and recover his usual composure.
He looked up at the Gentleman sitting opposite him and narrowed his eyes thoughtfully.
Judging by the Gentleman’s appearance earlier, he seemed determined to win.
Yet, from beginning to end, the other party had not made a single bid.
What is Oracle planning?
Just as Figaro was pondering this, a lazy, smiling female voice suddenly came from one of the private boxes on the second floor:
“10 billion.”
“—!!”
Gasps rang out from all directions. Even though everyone present had nearly lost their minds, they still clearly understood that this was a price they could never afford, coming from an anchor they could never afford to offend.
Beside the heavy, dark red curtains, a woman leaned lazily against the window, lowering a face of unparalleled beauty.
It was Dan Zhu.
Below, a smile appeared on Carl Bell’s face as he repeated the bid:
“10 billion.”
“10 billion, going once—”
“10 billion, going twice—”
Just before he could bring the hammer down, a paddle was slowly extended from a private box that had remained tightly curtained, revealing only a faint, eerie dark red light.
Carl Bell’s eyes lit up, and the smile on his face deepened.
“12 billion.”
Wen Jianyan’s eyes moved. He looked up, his gaze passing through the iron bars of the cage, looking straight in the direction of the so-called “bid.”
He hadn’t heard a voice make the bid.
However, Carl Bell seemed very clear on the price the other party had offered.
On the second floor, Figaro sensed something. He turned his head to look at the private box nearest to him.
The dark red curtains hung densely. A paddle was being slowly withdrawn from the slit at the bottom—
But beneath the paddle, there was only pure darkness.
It was as if a switch had been flipped. What happened next was nothing short of bizarre—from within the tightly concealed private boxes, paddles were raised silently one after another. The entire auction venue was shrouded in a strange and suffocating atmosphere. The only thing that could be heard was Carl Bell’s increasingly high-pitched, almost fervent voice:
“13 billion!”
“15 billion!”
…
“20 billion!!”
“20 billion, going once!”
Carl Bell’s collar seemed a bit loose. His pale face was slightly distorted, carrying a hint of near-grotesque greed and fanaticism. He looked around, repeating in a strange tone:
“20 billion, going twice!”
“20 billion, going three times—!!”
Thud!
The dark gold gavel struck down, making a clear sound that inexplicably made everyone’s body tremble. “SOLD!!!”
And just like that, the ownership of a top-tier anchor was auctioned off at the terrifyingly high price of 20 billion.
As the red velvet curtains were slowly lowered, it symbolized the official end of the auction.
Even so, the eerie atmosphere in the auction venue lingered. The participants remained in their seats, sitting dazed for a long time, unable to recover their senses.
Thinking back on it now, everything that just happened felt like a dream, almost unreal.
The first half was shrouded in desire and madness; everything was grotesque and fanatical to the extreme, making it impossible to maintain rationality. The second half, however, was pure horror—silent, bizarre, making one want only to flee far away.
They didn’t know who was sitting in those private boxes, nor did they know where such massive funds came from. They only knew that from the moment the first paddle was raised, they had lost the right to participate in this bidding war.
Inside a second-floor private box.
“…Truly a very interesting experience.”
Figaro came back to his senses, a habitual smile returning to his face, and looked up at the Gentleman sitting opposite him.
“Don’t you think so?”
“Yes,” the Gentleman nodded, answering impassively.
“However, I didn’t expect that you had absolutely no intention of bidding,” Figaro narrowed his eyes, taking a sip of the red wine in his glass while looking deeply at the other party. “I thought you were determined to get him.”
The Gentleman nodded: “I indeed am.”
“…Oh?”
Figaro raised an eyebrow.
“That is why I am here. Waiting for your help.”
The smile on the Gentleman’s face remained unchanged.
Figaro leaned forward slightly: “I’m all ears.”
“Pinocchio did this for the [Dead Sea Scrolls], correct?” The Gentleman leaned forward, reaching out to pick up the red wine on the table for the first time tonight, a mask-like smile hanging on his face. “And the reason he appeared at the auction is you, right?”
Figaro smiled slyly: “Oh my, truly nothing gets past you.”
“What price did he offer?” the Gentleman asked.
Figaro didn’t hide it: “Five percent of the auction price.”
The Gentleman: “After the auction house’s cut, that would be… five hundred million?”
“About that,” Figaro nodded.
The Gentleman clicked his tongue and shook his head: “Truly a huge profit.”
Figaro appeared quite humble: “Not at all, not at all.”
“I will offer one billion,” the Gentleman leaned forward, smiled slowly, and said.
“That much money?” Figaro remained impassive. “What are you looking to buy?”
“To buy your services, of course!” the Gentleman said meaningfully. “Don’t forget, before the final auction ends tomorrow, the ownership of all precious auction items will not be transferred.”
“I see,” Figaro laughed out loud. “You want to give him a taste of his own medicine!”
Wen Jianyan had exploited this time gap loophole, using the rules to enter the auction’s backstage to steal the [Dead Sea Scrolls]. Now, the Gentleman was obviously preparing to use the exact same principle to seize the opportunity to gain complete control over ownership.
“A good idea.” Figaro shook his head, regrettably saying, “But it’s a pity. I will repeat to you what I said to Pinocchio—robbing the auction warehouse from the outside is almost impossible.”
“You can think it over carefully. If you agree to my deal, you not only get the five hundred million from Pinocchio’s side but also the one billion from here. Furthermore, the assassination commission I entrusted to you earlier can be considered complete.”
Although he was rejected, the Gentleman didn’t seem to take it to heart. He casually swirled the bright red liquid in his glass, smiled, and looked up at Figaro sitting opposite him.
“After all, there are no eternal friends, only eternal interests… isn’t that right?”
“I’ve thought about it again…”
Figaro’s eyes flickered, the smile on his lips deepening. Suddenly, his tone changed, “If we borrow the power of Oracle, then perhaps it is worth a try.”
Figaro, a mercenary through and through, a pure merchant with no stance who only recognized money.
Whoever bid higher, he was their dog.
As long as you were willing to spend money, he would be your friend.
If someone paid more, he wouldn’t mind turning around, packaging you up perfectly, and personally delivering you to his new friend.
As soon as the auction ended, Wen Ya received a message from Chen Cheng.
After seeing the message clearly, her pupils constricted slightly, and a crack appeared in her usually calm and reserved expression.
“How was it?” Ji Guan asked somewhat anxiously.
Wen Ya took a deep breath, closed her eyes briefly, and then slowly said, “Transaction price… 20 billion.”
What?!
Even knowing that with their Guild Master’s ability, he could fetch a sky-high price, everyone’s expressions involuntarily went blank for a moment upon hearing this astronomical figure.
“…How much?”
“20 billion,” Wen Ya repeated.
Her tone sounded calm, but her eyes were still somewhat unfocused as if she hadn’t recovered from this explosive, terrifying price.
The final bid had completely exceeded the imagination of ordinary people… No matter how hard they thought, they couldn’t imagine who could produce such a massive amount just to buy an anchor. Even the top three in Nightmare probably couldn’t do it.
As the number one in Oracle, the Guild Master might have such strength, but he had been missing for so long that he had almost become a legend; even they weren’t sure if he really existed.
It could be said that this was a price war no one could win.
“Who won the bid?” Chen Mo pinched the bridge of his nose, calmed his emotions, and asked.
“I don’t know.”
Wen Ya shook her head.
“All we can do now is trust that the Guild Master has his own plan,” she took a deep breath and said slowly.
The air fell into dead silence, the expression on everyone’s face gloomy and defeated.
Yes, defeated.
Since entering this instance, a fact that already existed had become increasingly prominent, and now it could no longer be ignored.
They were too weak.
It wasn’t that they hadn’t run instances with Wen Jianyan before, but any instance he participated in always had a difficulty level beyond common sense. This degree of high pressure, just experiencing one, left them physically and mentally exhausted with no chance to breathe. It was hard to imagine how much a person had to grow to survive until now, when every instance experienced was of this difficulty.
And Wen Jianyan’s growth speed was equally beyond imagination.
Unknowingly, he had left everyone behind, so far that no one could even see his back.
And in this SS-rank instance [Lucky Cruise Ship], this point became clearer than ever—to protect them, Wen Jianyan had done too many things he shouldn’t have.
The “safety fees” inside the Lucky Cruise Ship were getting higher by the day. In just these short three days, they had seen plenty of desperate gamblers in the casino lose their fortunes, fall into debt, and get dragged away by debt collectors with iron chains. They had also seen plenty of bankrupt anchors who couldn’t afford room fees and could only stay in the lobby, with not even a corpse to be found the next day. When the instance first started, the first-floor lobby was almost overcrowded, but now it was more than half empty. The remaining anchors all had crazy looks in their eyes, bordering on demonic possession.
Whether they won or lost, those who survived were almost mad.
Yet here they stood, limbs intact, minds sane, enjoying the protection Wen Jianyan brought while letting him fall into deep crisis in a place they couldn’t reach.
Could they really be so at ease, without any qualms?
“Su Cheng’s proposal…” Ji Guan raised his eyes, looked at the crowd around him, and said slowly, “What do you guys think?”
The auction ended.
A red velvet cloth covered the cage Wen Jianyan was in, and darkness plunged before his eyes once again.
In the darkness, Wen Jianyan could feel his cage being moved. Unfortunately, due to his limited vision, he couldn’t see the environment around him or his potential destination.
I hope it’s the place where the [Dead Sea Scrolls] are.
Wen Jianyan muttered in his heart.
He sat down, leaning against the cage wall, and closed his eyes in the dark.
Everything that had just happened at the auction replayed quickly before his eyes, not missing a single detail.
Even though he had expectations about the price he might fetch, hearing the high price of “20 billion” still made Wen Jianyan gasp internally.
That was too terrifying.
It was simply an astronomical figure.
Although Wen Jianyan didn’t know who had won the bid for him, he knew that Dan Zhu’s bid was probably the limit that any anchor in Nightmare could reach. This indirectly proved why she could be as relaxed as if she were on vacation even in an SS-rank instance.
And precisely because of this, the current bid definitely did not come from an anchor.
If it wasn’t a human who bought him, then who could it be?
Ghosts?
…The Audience?
And how could they produce such a massive sum of funds, and why were they willing to spend it on him?
Wen Jianyan didn’t know.
There were too many questions in his mind, and none had answers; now they were twisted together like a messy ball of yarn.
Finally, after an unknown amount of time, the bumping stopped.
The cage was placed back on the ground, and footsteps began to depart.
A damp, cold aura seeped in from outside the cage. Wen Jianyan shivered involuntarily, goosebumps rising on large patches of his exposed skin.
After all the footsteps had faded away, to ensure safety, Wen Jianyan waited a bit longer. Only when all sounds had vanished did he finally sit up straight in the cage.
The shackles on his wrists and ankles clanked with his movements.
Wen Jianyan fumbled to the edge of the cage and pulled down the cloth covering it.
It was pitch black all around; nothing could be seen.
In the “Integrity First” live room:
[Is the anchor trying to pick the lock?]
[Come on, even if it’s an ordinary lock, how is he going to pick it when he clearly has no tools hidden on him?]
They watched as the young man thought for a moment, then suddenly raised his hands and smashed the heavy shackles on his wrists downward with force!
Bang!
Bang bang!
Under the repeated heavy smashing of the indestructible shackles, the ordinary lock gradually deformed and finally broke and fell off.
In the “Integrity First” live room:
[…]
[Okay, pretend I didn’t say anything.]
Wen Jianyan shook his hands—the rebounding force made his wrists numb—and then he pushed the cage door with the smashed lock outward. With a creak, the cage door slowly swung open.
He carefully felt his way out of the cage and took cautious steps.
He hadn’t taken two steps before his knee bumped into something.
Wen Jianyan shuddered. He suppressed his body’s reflexive tension, steadied himself, and then carefully reached out to touch it.
A hard wooden structure covered with soft fabric, it seemed to be…
A bed?
Wen Jianyan paused, seeming to suddenly realize something.
He fumbled purposefully in the dark. After a long while, with a soft click, the darkness vanished, and light was restored to his eyes.
What appeared before him was an ordinary room.
It looked like one of the cabins on the ship. The size was moderate, looking very simple, but it had all the necessities. It was much better than the room Wen Jianyan had stayed in before.
Wen Jianyan immediately saw some simple food and water placed on the table by the bed.
“…”
It seemed that whoever put him in this room had long guessed that he wouldn’t obediently stay in that cage.
Wen Jianyan’s heart sank because of this.
This meant the other party knew that even if he left the cage, he couldn’t completely escape their control.
Wen Jianyan looked around the room and his eyes suddenly lit up—
On the floor near the door sat a very familiar jet-black box. It was identical to the boxes holding auction items he had seen in the warehouse where he was now.
Wen Jianyan walked over quickly and opened the box. A small ancient book appeared before his eyes, its edges wrinkled and yellowed.
The Dead Sea Scrolls!!!
Seeing the Dead Sea Scrolls, the stone hanging high in Wen Jianyan’s heart finally landed.
His previous guess was indeed correct. All items not yet delivered to buyers after the auction would be placed in one location. As long as he entered the auction as a bid item, he had a chance to re-access the Dead Sea Scrolls.
He let out a long sigh of relief and put the lid back on.
Good, Task 1 is perfectly complete. Now only Task 2 remains.
And that is to escape this damn place.
Wen Jianyan took a deep breath, picked up the box, and turned toward the door.
The cabin door wasn’t even locked. With a light pull, it opened before him, and immediately, a narrow corridor appeared in front of him.
The walls were a mottled, dim dark red, looking aged. The corridor extended endlessly in both directions. The cabin doors on both sides were tightly closed. The depths were shrouded in darkness, and everywhere was terrifyingly quiet, silent as a grave. Wen Jianyan could almost hear the thump-thump of his heart pumping rapidly.
“…”
Seeing this scene, Wen Jianyan’s temples throbbed involuntarily.
He could be said to be defenseless right now, practically no different from a newborn baby. Once he encountered danger in this situation, he would probably just have to wait for death.
However, staying in the safe zone was tantamount to sitting still and waiting for death.
Once tomorrow night arrived and the three-day auction officially ended, his ownership would officially belong to the so-called buyer. At that time, everything would be over.
Perhaps Wu Zhu in the ring could come in handy.
But with shackles on his hands, Wen Jianyan couldn’t actively use items. Rather than wait aimlessly, Wen Jianyan preferred to take the initiative and treat that troublesome person only as a backup plan.
Wen Jianyan hesitated for a moment, turned back into the room, tore the sheet off the bed, and tied it to the door—a process made particularly difficult due to the shackles on his hands. Ensuring the cabin door couldn’t close and that a large section of the sheet was scattered in the hallway, visible from afar, he then took a step and cautiously walked out of the room into the corridor.
Even though he was careful enough, with every step, the chains on his ankles still clanked, sounding exceptionally piercing in the deathly silent corridor.
Wen Jianyan gritted his back teeth and braced himself to continue forward.
The dark red corridor was so long it seemed endless. Wen Jianyan didn’t know how long he had walked; he only knew his feet were sore, yet he hadn’t reached an exit. The cabin doors on both sides looked like copy-pastes, completely indistinguishable.
Suddenly, a faint white light appeared on the floor in the distance.
“…”
Wen Jianyan’s heart skipped a beat. As if realizing something, he almost immediately quickened his pace.
Accompanied by the clinking of chains, he finally arrived in front of the white light.
A long bed sheet was tied to the half-open cabin door, the lower end of the sheet scattered on the floor. Inside the cabin was the broken cage, and there was food and water on the table—it was the exact room he had left at the start.
In the “Integrity First” live room:
[Good lord, so he’s back to square one?]
[Isn’t this pure ghost hitting the wall? How can he get out?]
Even though he was mentally prepared for this, Wen Jianyan’s heart still sank.
No wonder they didn’t take any security measures; sure enough, they were waiting for him here.
Just as Wen Jianyan was deep in thought, suddenly, a strange sound rang out from a tightly closed cabin nearby.
Thump thump thump!
“?!” Wen Jianyan was startled and jerked his head to look in the direction of the sound.
Thump thump thump!
The knocking became more urgent, as if something was trying to leave the closed cabin.
So, these cabins aren’t empty?
Wen Jianyan stared at the place where the sound originated in shock and uncertainty, hardly daring to believe his ears.
Then… what kind of things are living inside?
Suddenly, as if thinking of something, Wen Jianyan’s whole body shook.
Time-wise, it should be night after the auction ended.
And the night is unsafe.
For the tenants on floors negative ten and eleven, the danger came from the corpses invading layer by layer from the ground. But for him, in this strange area… the danger came from other cabins.
Thump thump thump! Thump thump thump!
In the corridor, more knocking sounds rang out. All the sounds merged into one, making one’s scalp numb and hair stand on end.
Accompanied by the cacophony of knocking, an invisible chill seeped out from under the closed cabins, spreading through the corridor as the temperature began to drop rapidly.
A chill ran down Wen Jianyan’s spine.
He retreated several steps, returned inside the room, and slammed the cabin door shut.
Even though the cabin door was closed, that cold feeling seemed pervasive. It wasn’t a physical cold; even wearing more clothes couldn’t stop the chill from invading.
Especially since Wen Jianyan didn’t have much fabric on him right now…
He only felt his bones freezing into ice. His whole body trembled, and he could almost hear his teeth chattering.
Just like that, Wen Jianyan was forced away from the cabin door, retreating step by step.
Soon, he discovered that the only thing in the entire room unaffected was the cage that had brought him in.
“…”
Wen Jianyan took a deep breath and returned inside the cage.
Sure enough, as soon as he stood in the cage, the shadowy cold feeling that followed him like a shadow disappeared.
Heh, as expected.
In the “Integrity First” live room:
[Ah this, no wonder the auction wasn’t worried about the anchor escaping.]
[It can even force you to go nowhere else but the cage!! So vicious!]
[Hiss, this is somewhat too humiliating. So what if you tried every means to escape the cage? I have plenty of ways to make you go back voluntarily.]
[Tsk tsk tsk, this is indeed a bit disgusting.]
Just then, Wen Jianyan moved.
He reached out, pulled a sheet from the bed in to spread inside the cage, and then found a corner to nestle down in. He looked unrestrained and free of worry.
In the “Integrity First” live room:
[…]
[Big brother, I know your adaptability is amazing, but isn’t this a bit too amazing?]
[So you don’t feel humiliated at all!]
For others, being forced to trap oneself in a cage might be a humiliating thing, but as a pragmatist, Wen Jianyan didn’t have that much useless pride.
Who cares if it’s in a cage? As long as it’s safe, that’s enough.
Wen Jianyan sat cross-legged in the corner, staring tightly at the box containing the Dead Sea Scrolls, seeming to fall into long contemplation.
He wasn’t sure which area of the cruise ship he was in right now, but based on his experience, this “ghost hitting the wall” situation was probably just a method to prevent him from escaping, an illusion used to interfere with him. Based on the various characteristics in the corridor, he believed he was still on a residential deck…
And this was probably the key.
As long as it was a residential deck, it meant there must be an elevator.
If this idea held true, then what he had to do next was clear:
—Find the elevator, and he could escape this floor.
Wen Jianyan’s heart settled a bit.
He leaned down and picked up the box containing the Dead Sea Scrolls from the floor.
If no accidents happened tonight, he would be able to act early tomorrow morning…
However, when it rains, it pours; whatever you don’t want to come, comes.
With two bzzzt… sounds, the overhead light flickered and suddenly went out. The entire room plunged into darkness without warning.
“?!”
W-what’s going on?
Even with a definite goal, Wen Jianyan’s nerves were still highly strung. As soon as the light went out, he reflexively backed away until his back pressed against the iron cage behind him, the hard cold iron making him shiver.
It wasn’t that he was cowardly—although he indeed wasn’t brave—it was mainly that this situation made him feel very insecure.
You have to know, his hands and feet were bound, all items were unusable, and not only could he not run fast, but moving around made him jingle and jangle. It couldn’t be more pathetic—if he encountered any danger at this time, he didn’t even have a means to resist!
Wen Jianyan could only hope that the auction didn’t plan to kill off this precious bid item worth 20 billion.
But theory was one thing; being alone in the dark was another.
Calm down, calm down… He’s worth 20 billion!
The auction wouldn’t smash its own signboard.
Wen Jianyan took deep breaths in the dark, trying hard to mentally prepare himself.
Just then, cold fingers suddenly crept onto his naked, warm neck.
“?!”
The touch came without warning. His senses, already amplified hundreds of times by the darkness, blared alarms wildly. Wen Jianyan shuddered, retreating with a violent reaction.
Clink clank.
It was pitch black before his eyes; he couldn’t see anything clearly. But it felt as if a tangible shadow was pressing down on him, even squeezing between his knees.
Amidst panicked panting, the clashing sound of metal chains, and the fierce heartbeat of pumping blood, a familiar voice rang out.
“You really didn’t come in to find me.”
The voice, carrying dissatisfaction, rang in his ear. Cold breath touched his earlobe, causing a shiver. “You clearly promised.”
The moment he heard that familiar voice, Wen Jianyan stopped struggling, his body, taut as a bowstring, slowly relaxing.
…It’s Wu Zhu.
Great.
Although he usually didn’t find this guy very pleasing to the eye, realizing that he was the source of this darkness that panicked him, Wen Jianyan was almost moved to tears.
Truly just in time!
But before he could let out a long sigh of relief, the other party spoke again.
“Wait.”
In the darkness, a large palm landed on the young man’s rising and falling waist, tracing the skin not covered by clothing.
He didn’t know if it was an illusion, but that voice seemed to sound a bit gloomy.
“Where are your clothes?”
Wen Jianyan: “………………”
Actually, you didn’t have to be that timely.
