The Miteer Auction House

The wooden door was jammed shut behind him, a heavy table leg sealing it off completely from the outside world.

Su Chen leaned against the cold door and slowly slid to the floor.

He was like a drowning man hauled up from deep water, his chest heaving violently. Every breath dragged against his lungs, burning with pain.

The exhaustion of having escaped death washed over his frayed nerves in cold, relentless waves.

His legs still trembled uncontrollably.

The room was utterly silent.

Yet the two men in black seemed to still be speaking in the silence, their voices cold and clear.

"Hand over all the flames on you, and... the method for obtaining them."

They weren't after those twenty gold coins.

They wanted the secret behind producing the "Rock Fire Seed."

The Jialie Clan.

Su Chen couldn't think of anyone else.

A bone-deep chill rose from his tailbone and swept through every limb in an instant.

This time, he had escaped in a sorry state through a dog hole, relying on his familiarity with the terrain and a little luck.

What about next time?

Since his identity had already been pinned down, the next people to come would likely be more than two low-level Dou Shi. They might be true powerhouses, strong enough to raze this entire slum to the ground.

He had nowhere to run.

The joy and hope he had felt after earning his first pot of gold had been utterly shattered by cold, cruel reality.

He was too weak.

So weak that in this remote border city, he wasn't even entitled to possess a treasure.

Su Chen slowly raised his head and looked around the cramped, dilapidated room.

Moss spread across the damp walls like hideous scars.

The air was thick with the musty stench of poverty and despair.

This wasn't his shelter from the storm.

It was his cage, and his grave.

The path of selling goods on the street had been cut off completely.

Showing up in the marketplace again would be no different from walking straight into a trap.

Was he really going to guard these nine bottles of life-changing flame in this ramshackle room, waiting in constant fear for death to come?

No.

Su Chen clenched his jaw.

His nails dug deep into his palms. The sharp pain pulled his scattered, fear-clouded thoughts back together.

He couldn't just sit and wait to die.

Cowering and holding back meant certain death.

Taking the initiative might leave him a sliver of hope.

The old blacksmith's words flashed through his mind again, like a bolt of lightning in the dark.

"Go to the Alchemist Guild in the city center, or... go to the Miteer Auction House."

"That's where it belongs."

* * *

Su Chen rose to his feet and began pacing back and forth in the cramped room.

The wooden floor creaked under his weight, as if accompanying his agitation.

The Miteer Auction House.

In his predecessor's memories, that name represented immense wealth, ironclad rules, and unfathomable power.

It was a true colossus of Wutan City, an existence even the three great clans had to look up to.

They said the Mittel Family behind it was a major commercial force, renowned throughout the Jia Ma Empire.

He was a penniless nobody with no connections or power, not even a trace of Dou Qi. If he simply showed up with a bottle of flame that had appeared from who knew where, would they even take him seriously?

Would he be thrown out by the guards like a fly before he could even enter those gilded gates?

Or worse...

An even more terrifying thought surfaced in his mind.

Once they saw the value of the "Rock Fire Seed," would they simply kill him and seize the treasure, robbing him blind?

Fear of the unknown monster that was the Miteer Auction House battled fiercely within him against fear of the Jialie Clan, the vicious wolf that had already bared its fangs.

One was a known death, closing in step by step.

The other was an unknown abyss that might lead to new life—or destruction.

Su Chen abruptly stopped pacing.

He walked over to the table with its missing leg and took a small green jade bottle from the wooden box.

He pulled out the stopper.

A cluster of orange-red flames rose gently, dispelling the cold gloom in the room.

The flame was warm and steady, pure as could be, without a single trace of impurity.

It burned quietly like a piece of warm jade brought to life, radiating a comforting heat.

Su Chen stared fixedly at the perfect creation he had "made" with his own hands.

This was his trump card.

And his only bargaining chip.

He reached out and clasped the jade bottle in his palm.

Warmth seeped through his skin, little by little, into his cold blood, driving away the chill that had risen from the depths of his soul.

He remembered something from his previous life.

Risk and reward always went hand in hand.

If he wanted protection, he had to show that he was worth protecting.

If he wanted to speak as an equal to the powerful, he had to bring something they couldn't afford to ignore.

If he kept shrinking back, they would devour him until not even his bones remained.

He would take the gamble!

He would use these ten bottles of "Rock Fire Seed" to bet on a future!

He would bet that the Miteer Auction House, as a commercial giant, valued its reputation and wouldn't carelessly pry the secret from an unknown nobody like him.

He would bet that they had a broader vision, and would choose cooperation over killing the goose that laid the golden eggs!

Once the thought took shape, it spread like a prairie fire, burning away every last trace of hesitation and cowardice within him.

Su Chen's breathing grew steady and strong.

The light in his eyes, dimmed by fear, blazed anew.

It was the fierce, resolute light of someone burning his boats and finding life on the brink of death.

* * *

He no longer hesitated.

He opened all the jade bottles on the table one by one and examined them carefully.

Though every duplicate was exactly alike, he still inspected them with an almost exacting eye and chose the one he considered the most perfect, with the steadiest flame.

Then he dug out a slightly better wooden box from beneath his bed, one he had bought with what little money remained.

The box was made of blackwood, lined with soft red velvet.

He carefully placed the small green jade bottle containing the "Rock Fire Seed" inside, as if laying away a priceless treasure.

He wrapped the remaining nine bottles in rags and hid them beneath a loose paving stone in a corner of the courtyard.

You couldn't put all your eggs in one basket.

When he had finished, he went to the old water vat in the corner.

His reflection on the murky surface showed a young face covered in dust and exhaustion.

He washed his face thoroughly with cold water.

The icy shock cleared his mind completely.

He changed into the only relatively clean set of clothes he owned. They had faded from washing, but at least they weren't torn.

He carefully smoothed his collar and rolled up his sleeves.

In the mirrorlike water, the muddied...