novelraw Chapter 154 : Chapter 154
Chapter 154 : Chapter 154
Volume 2
Chapter 78 : Formidable
“The auction will now resume.”
Three minutes later, when the fairy lady restarted the auction right on schedule, and the auction house seemed to have taken no action at all against Number Eighty-Eight, Lorenzo crushed the armrest of the sofa at his side once again.
“What is going on? That bumpkin really has enough money to keep this up?”
He turned to his trusted subordinate.
“Can you find out who he is?”
“That… will probably be difficult.”
His subordinate shook his head with a bitter expression.
“This is a black market auction after all. No one’s identity is checked on the way in. Unless we can drag him straight out of the private booth and see his face, there is basically no way to do it.”
“Useless trash!”
Lorenzo cursed furiously, his face turning livid.
He had thought he had stumbled upon a massive bargain, that he could buy ancient dragon heart’s blood worth tens of millions for only eight or nine million.
But who would have thought that a troublemaking bumpkin would suddenly appear out of nowhere and throw all his plans into chaos?
He had even intended to use the money he expected to save this time to buy a large batch of new equipment and strengthen the Redfire Gang!
“Have the two groups from earlier been properly watched?” Lorenzo suddenly narrowed his eyes.
“They have!”
His subordinate jolted and answered seriously,“We have already sent men after them. Nothing can go wrong!”
“Good.”
The humiliation he suffered here had to be made up for somewhere else.
This was the black market, a place where neither heaven nor earth cared what happened.
Just because you paid for something here did not mean it was truly yours!
“Please calm your anger, Boss. In truth, even at the current price, it is still far below market value. No matter how you calculate it, we are still making a huge profit. A clown like that will not be able to keep jumping around for long!” his subordinate consoled him.”
“I know that perfectly well! I just cannot swallow this insult!”
Lorenzo sat back down again.
The estimated market price of ten drops of ancient dragon heart’s blood was around fifty million, and for something so scarce that it was never truly available on the market, the price usually carried a heavy premium.
To be safe, he had brought a full one hundred million with him this time!
And yet the current bid had only reached twenty million.
No matter how one looked at it, it was still an immense bargain.
“Continue.”
Lorenzo’s cold gaze swept toward Number Eighty-Eight’s private booth, and he let out a disdainful sneer.
I would like to see what gives you the right to compete with the Redfire Gang in terms of resources!
…
“Fifty million!”
“Fifty million… and one thousand.”
“Bastard!”
More than ten minutes later, after enduring dozens more rounds of “intense” bidding, Lorenzo had finally lost the ability to remain seated, no matter how much he looked down on that bumpkin.
Fifty million!
It had already reached fifty million!
And that damned fellow was still following him, adding just one thousand each time!
He had assumed that if he kept raising the price, Number Eighty-Eight would back down in the face of difficulty.
But instead, the man had followed him all the way to a full fifty million!
Now there was no profit left to be made at all, and judging from the ease in Number Eighty-Eight’s tone, he still had plenty left in reserve!
Who knew how high he would keep going?
“Could it be that he really wants the ancient dragon heart’s blood, and is not merely raising the price on purpose?”
Lorenzo’s thoughts raced.
The angrier he became in situations like this, the calmer he forced himself to be.
He had already come this far.
The ancient dragon heart’s blood could not be lost!
He rose to his feet and disabled the voice distortion built into the private booth, speaking in his real voice toward Number Eighty-Eight’s booth in a solemn tone.
“To the gentleman in Booth Number Eighty-Eight, how about making a friend? I am Lorenzo of the Lower City’s Redfire Gang. This ancient dragon heart’s blood is extremely important to me. I hope you can part with it, and there will surely be generous repayment in the future.”
“Redfire Gang?”
“Lorenzo?”
The moment he said this, the audience—who had nearly been lulled half to sleep by the plain and repetitive exchange of bids between the two of them—burst into commotion once more.
“He actually came to this auction in person?”
The Redfire Gang was, after all, a major gang with formidable notoriety throughout Belland’s Lower City.
It controlled more than a dozen piers of various sizes along the Gulaien River, and it also held several smuggling routes in its hands, reaping vast wealth from them.
And as the boss of the Redfire Gang, Lorenzo himself was notorious for being ruthless, vicious, and sinister.
It was said that his influence had already reached the circles of the noble lords.
Not long ago, a baron had merely said something that offended him, and the very next day that baron’s mistress was found stripped naked and hanged beneath a bridge.
It could be said that Lorenzo’s evil reputation had already reached the point where it could stop a child’s midnight crying.
Anyone who made a living in the Lower City had to show him some respect!
So those words of his were not only a gesture of goodwill, but also carried a note of threat.
But that was only for those who lived in the Lower City.
Inside the private booth, Muen was slightly taken aback when he heard the name.
Lorenzo?
Who was that?
The Redfire Gang did sound a little familiar.
It seemed to be the cannon-fodder gang from the original story, the one that was wiped out by the protagonist Ariel after only appearing for two chapters so she could show off.
Was he supposed to be impressive?
“My apologies, but as Duke Raymond’s son, I have no interest in being your friend.”
Muen spoke, and his processed, low voice echoed through the hall, still as calm as ever.
It was as if he truly were the son of a duke.
This time, however, the audience was not shocked. Instead, low snickers spread through the hall.
Lorenzo himself was so furious that he laughed.
Duke Raymond’s son?
You?
If you are Duke Raymond’s son, then I am a prince!
Look where we are, for heaven’s sake!
This was the black market of the Lower City!
A place so filthy that those great noble lords would think it dirty even to set foot here!
Would the son of a duke come to a place like this?
Are you joking?
“So this gentleman insists on opposing me?”
Lorenzo gritted his teeth as he stared at Booth Number Eighty-Eight.
If not for the dark one-way glass blocking his sight, his gaze alone might have killed someone by now.
“Opposing you? Where does that idea come from? I am merely bidding normally. Could it be that bidding in this auction house is somehow restricted?”
As he spoke, Muen looked toward the fairy lady.
“Is it?”
“Certainly not. Everything Mister Number Eighty-Eight has done is fully in accordance with the rules of our auction house.”
The fairy lady smiled seductively.
She did not care in the slightest whether the two of them would end up fighting after this.
No matter what happened, the flames would never reach the auction house.
As a professional auctioneer, the only thing she cared about was the final selling price of this item.
Fifty million! Could it go even higher?
With that thought, the look she gave Booth Number Eighty-Eight grew so soft and alluring that it almost seemed ready to drip with water.
Come on, big brother from Booth Number Eighty-Eight!
“You see? Even the fairy lady says so.”
Muen spoke lightly. “Mister Lorenzo, the only reason you cannot win the item is because you are not capable enough yourself. How can you possibly blame that on me?”
“Not… capable enough?”
As Muen’s seemingly casual words fell—
the entire hall instantly fell silent.
It was as if everyone had sensed that a storm was about to descend.
No one even dared breathe too loudly.
They only looked toward Booth Number Eighty-Eight with reverent eyes.
In the Lower City, no one had ever dared say such a thing to Lorenzo!
“He… said that I… am not capable?”
Sure enough, inside Booth Number One, Lorenzo’s face twisted savagely, and his eyes turned blood-red. He looked exactly like a man whose reason had been swallowed up by rage.
It was as though some deeply sensitive nerve had been struck.
“I hate it most when people say I am not capable!”
“Today, I will personally show you whether I am capable or not!”
He snatched the number plate straight from his subordinate’s hand, and his thick, powerful voice instantly swept through the entire auction hall.
“I bid one hundred million!”