Chapter 152: Two Maidens Clash

At two-thirty in the morning, the night-gilded auction hall was already packed with players eager to attend the auction. With a single glance, Ye Chen saw that almost all the factions, large and small, in Lieshan City were present. Quite a few people had sleepy eyes, clearly dragged out of their beds by friends, which was a clear testament to the powerful appeal of Silver-grade equipment.

Swish, swish—two pale-yellow spotlights illuminated the auction stage. Under the light, Ling Tong looked exceptionally charming. Her fiery-red, low-cut evening gown accentuated her dangerously hot figure, and the deep, tender white cleavage on display caused a chorus of wolf-howls to erupt from the male players in the audience whose testosterone was working overtime. Heated gazes were everywhere.

"Everyone is here for the Silver equipment, so Ling Tong won't waste words here today. We will begin the auction directly. However, so that no one makes a wasted trip, aside from the Silver equipment, we will present a few appetizers first," Ling Tong said with a beaming smile as she stood on the auction stage.

"Miss Ling Tong, we came here in the middle of the night for Silver gear. Of course, there are only two pieces of Silver. If your esteemed house can sell us some high-grade Bronze gear, that's fine too. But if it's just Rare-grade equipment, don't waste everyone's time. We still need to go back to sleep after the auction." The speaker was the guild leader of the Fierce Wolf family, and his words immediately drew a wave of agreement from the players in the hall.

"Ling Tong wouldn't dare to embarrass herself by bringing out Rare equipment; I guarantee that everything put up for auction is Bronze grade or higher." Ling Tong smiled as she walked to the display stand. With a gentle sweep of her hand, a pair of bracers emanating a cyan glow appeared on the platform, clearly visible to the players in the hall through the large screen.

"Black Blood Bracers, Level 33 Bronze equipment. Rogue class..." The item Ling Tong was introducing was precisely one of the two pieces dropped by Windless Blood that Ye Chen had provided her.

"Eh? Aren't these parts of Windless Blood's Black Blood Set? Did these drop from a mob or..."

"Do you even need to ask? They definitely dropped from Windless Blood. Didn't you see he lost three levels?"

"Ha, who would have thought? Truly an unexpected surprise. The very first auction item is actually equipment once owned by Windless Blood, the top Rogue expert. It was worth dragging myself out of bed and logging into the game."

"Miss Ling Tong, can you reveal which big shot came to auction this item? We'd love to know which expert in Lieshan City it belongs to."

Listening to the murmurs in the hall below, Ling Tong was slightly taken aback. She cast a surprised sideways glance at Ye Chen, never expecting that this seemingly ordinary piece of Bronze equipment originated from Windless Blood, Lieshan City's number one Rogue. But a moment later, Ling Tong smiled faintly. This was actually a good thing; the more famous the origin, the easier it was to sell—that was the celebrity effect after all. Thus, she spoke with a smile: "We find it inconvenient to reveal the seller's information; that is a matter of trade rules, and Night Gold will never break them. Let's start the auction directly. Everyone knows the stats, and these were even worn by the top Rogue, Windless Blood. Starting bid: 300 gold coins. Please make your bids, everyone."

Level 30 Bronze equipment was naturally more expensive than gear in the twenties, and 300 gold coins was not an unreasonable price. Immediately, people began to shout out bids.

"310 gold."

"320 gold."

"400 gold."

The suddenly soaring price made the players in the hall cast sidelong glances. The bidder was unexpectedly a female player named Spirit Fox Mengling. Seeing everyone looking her way, the Spirit Fox player stood up without a trace of stage fright and said loudly, "Since everyone has guessed that these Black Blood Bracers belong to our Brother Wuxue, please do Spirit Fox a favor and stop competing with us for this equipment."

Upon hearing Spirit Fox Mengling confirm that the equipment belonged to Windless Blood, a gasp of astonishment rippled through the crowd. They began to speculate wildly about who could have killed Windless Blood, and for a moment, no one actually placed a bid.

"Black Blood Bracers, going once... Black Blood Bracers, going twice..." Ling Tong's expression on the auction stage was less than pleasant. Any auctioneer would find this sort of situation annoying, even though Spirit Fox's offered price was not low.

Ye Chen felt slightly annoyed as well. Just as he was hesitating whether to drive up the price himself, a cold laugh suddenly cut through Spirit Fox Mengling's slightly smug smile.

"Spirit Fox? What's so great about Spirit Fox? The gear you dropped isn't allowed to be bought by others? A bunch of stinking bitches!" The one who stood up was a frosty, purple-robed female Rogue whose ID was Frost Butterfly. She pointed five fingers toward Ling Tong on the stage and declared, "600 gold! I bid 600 gold for these Black Blood Bracers."

600 gold!!

The hall instantly boiled over. Even for Level 30 Bronze equipment, given the stats of the Black Blood Bracers, this price was simply too high. The actual market value of the Black Blood Bracers was only between 400 and 450 gold. At 600 gold, it was an overpayment of a full 150 gold.

"Frost Butterfly, one of the formidable Rogues of Lieshan City, on par with Rogues Never Walk Empty. Rumored to be on extremely bad terms with Spirit Fox. A solo player—well, you should say she's an RMB warrior who is both capable and insanely rich," Ling Tong's soft whisper reached Ye Chen's ear, and she added at the end, "You're quite good at driving up prices. Would you like to test her?"

"Forget it. The way she abused Spirit Fox made me feel great, so I'll let her off. Besides, 600 gold coins is already a massive profit," Ye Chen replied with a smile.

On the stage, Ling Tong nodded imperceptibly, then swept her enchanting gaze across the entire hall and softly said, "600 gold coins, going once; 600 gold coins, going twice; 600 gold coins, three times—sold."

As Ling Tong dropped her small mallet, Spirit Fox Mengling's expression turned ugly. She had stayed behind after the previous auction just to watch the excitement and hadn't prepared that much capital, so now she could only watch helplessly as Windless Blood's equipment was bought away by a rival.

"Hehe, so much for Lieshan City's top studio. Turns out they're nothing much—can't even cough up 600 gold and still have the nerve to hang around here?" After acquiring Windless Blood's gear, Frost Butterfly still didn't forget to continue slapping Spirit Fox across the face.

Spirit Fox Mengling gritted her teeth, wishing she could tear Frost Butterfly apart.

Ling Tong smiled faintly. Ignoring their petty strife below, she struck while the iron was hot and produced the second piece of equipment dropped by Windless Blood. Beaming at Spirit Fox Mengling and Frost Butterfly below, she raised her voice: "Black Blood Light Boots, Level 32 Bronze equipment, Rogue class... Starting bid: 300 gold."

A fresh commotion broke out among the players below. Needless to say, Windless Blood had suffered a devastating drop, losing at least two pieces. Everyone immediately looked toward Frost Butterfly and Spirit Fox Mengling, waiting for the two women to clash again.

"Shoddy hand-me-downs worn by a man? This lady doesn't want them anyway. The set bonus is broken now, so whoever wants them can take them." Frost Butterfly's words clearly carried a hidden meaning. Spirit Fox Mengling's face instantly flushed crimson, but she still gritted her teeth and bid, "400 gold."

The entire hall fell silent once more. For a set piece, this price was not low. The remaining pieces were still being worn by Windless Blood, and no one else could complete the set anyway. Moreover, Spirit Fox Mengling surely had very little spare capital left, making further competition hardly worthwhile.

Just when Spirit Fox Mengling thought she could finally secure an item to salvage a bit of her dignity, another female voice suddenly rang out: "How can I let you hog all the credit for slapping Spirit Fox, Frost Butterfly? I want a piece of that face-slapping too. 600 gold—no, I bid 500 gold, hahahaha."

Curious, Ye Chen looked toward the source of the voice. To his surprise, the speaker was a female Knight with a mane of wavy, golden-blonde hair and a reasonably pretty face, save for a slightly towering physique. He couldn't help thinking to himself that Spirit Fox certainly had no shortage of enemies, but why were they all women? Could it be...

"Oh, that female Knight is named Jessica. Just like Frost Butterfly, she's an RMB warrior. I heard her ex-boyfriend was seduced by one of Spirit Fox's little minxes. Well, Frost Butterfly might have had the same thing happen. You know the history of Spirit Fox..." Ling Tong whispered.

Ye Chen nodded in sudden enlightenment. So that was how it was. Well, those women in Spirit Fox certainly earned their keep; they truly played their roles to perfection.

At 600 gold, the Black Blood Light Boots were claimed by Jessica, who announced on the spot that she didn't want the equipment and would destroy it the moment the auction ended...

The male players in the hall unanimously concluded that if one were to find a wife, she should be like this: a beauty who wasn't short on cash. Speaking of which, why on earth did her ex-boyfriend run away? Were the skills of Spirit Fox's women really that profound? For a time, the gazes that players in the hall—those who understood Spirit Fox's background—cast toward Spirit Fox Mengling turned somewhat peculiar.

How could Spirit Fox Mengling not know what these men were thinking? With a flushed face, she hurriedly fled the auction hall. Some things, once done, are truly impossible to turn back from. Perhaps Spirit Fox's biggest mistake was continuing to play those old games after changing their brand; otherwise, what real difference did a name change make?

Two pieces of ordinary Bronze gear had sold for twelve hundred gold. Ye Chen felt immensely pleased and made up his mind to hunt down Spirit Fox's experts a few more times in the future. They were literally walking bags of money! Killing people and looting gear was truly the most delightful thing in the world. As for chasing Windless Blood's Rare equipment, Ling Tong had directly given Ye Chen 120 gold for it; that tier of item was simply not suited for an auction of this scale.

"Alright, everyone, the appetizers are finished. Next up is today's main course. The first grand finale item: Level 35 Rogue-class Silver equipment, Frost Leggings. The stats are as follows... Starting bid: 1000 gold. The bidding begins now!" (To be continued. If you enjoy this work, you are welcome to come to Qidian to vote with recommendation tickets and monthly votes. Your support is my greatest motivation.)

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