The Mysterious Man in Black!

Early the next morning, Fu Wen didn't go to training. Instead, he went to the auction house with Oscar.

This was what he and Flender had agreed on.

The Flying Sausage had made a name for itself, and more and more people would set their sights on it.

Rather than hide in the background, they might as well step forward.

Let those people see that Shrek Academy wasn't a pushover.

"Brother Wen, do you think anyone will come looking for trouble today?"

As Oscar walked along, he kept glancing back, like a guilty thief.

"I don't know."

Fu Wen's expression remained calm. "Even if someone does, there's nothing to fear."

"Of course you're not afraid."

Oscar muttered, "Your Martial Soul nearly bit Teacher Li badly. Who could beat you?"

"I'm only a one-ring Soul Master. There are plenty of people who could beat me."

Fu Wen said evenly, "But this is Suotuo City, not the Star Dou Great Forest."

"Who would dare make a move here?"

Oscar thought it over and decided that made sense.

Seven-Ring Soul Sage Flender was in charge, and Zhao Wuji was a Seven-Ring Soul Sage too.

With two Soul Saints, they were practically emperors in Suotuo City.

Who would dare touch their people?

The auction house's back room.

Manager Gu was already waiting. When he saw Fu Wen had come along too, he froze for a moment.

"Brother Fu Wen, you're here too? Aren't you training today?"

"I came to take a look."

Fu Wen found a chair and sat down. "Manager Gu, yesterday you said someone had been asking where the Flying Sausage came from. Could you tell me more?"

The smile on Manager Gu's face stiffened.

He looked at Fu Wen, then at Oscar. After hesitating for a moment, he told them.

"He was a middle-aged man, around forty, dressed all in black and wearing a bamboo hat."

"He came in and asked who made the Flying Sausage. I said it was supplied by the academy, but he didn't believe me."

"Then he left, but I had someone follow him. They saw him go to an inn in the south of the city."

"The south of the city?"

Fu Wen raised an eyebrow. "The inns on that street are all for people from out of town."

"People from out of town."

Manager Gu nodded. "His accent didn't sound local. It was more like..."

He lowered his voice. "Like he came from Heaven Dou City."

Heaven Dou City.

Fu Wen narrowed his eyes.

Someone from Heaven Dou City was asking where the Flying Sausage came from.

Was he with Spirit Hall?

Or a spy from some great clan?

Or... just a merchant who wanted to buy sausages?

Any of those were possible.

But whoever he was, they couldn't afford to let their guard down.

"Manager Gu, thank you."

Fu Wen stood up. "Today's auction will go on as usual. We won't stop."

Manager Gu opened his mouth, as if he wanted to say something, but when he saw Fu Wen's calm eyes, he swallowed his words.

That boy was no ordinary one.

Even more people came to the auction today than in the previous few days.

The Flying Sausage had become famous throughout Suotuo City, and people from several nearby cities had come as well.

At fifty Gold Soul Coins each, it was a sky-high price in the eyes of ordinary people.

But to wealthy merchants and nobles, it was the cost of a meal.

Trading the cost of one meal for a life was well worth it.

"Esteemed guests, we'll follow the usual rules today."

Manager Gu stood on the stage, beaming. "Five Flying Sausages, starting at two Gold Soul Coins."

"The first one starts now!"

As soon as he finished speaking, someone in the audience raised a bidding paddle.

"Twenty!"

"Thirty!"

"Forty!"

The price soared, quickly breaking sixty.

In the end, the first Flying Sausage sold for sixty-five Gold Soul Coins.

Five more than yesterday.

Fu Wen stood backstage, watching the bidders below and scanning the crowd.

He was looking for someone.

The middle-aged man in the black bamboo hat.

If he had come today, he would surely be among the bidders.

Sure enough, as the second Flying Sausage went up for auction, Fu Wen spotted a dark figure.

He sat in a corner, his bamboo hat pulled low so his face couldn't be seen.

But he didn't raise his paddle. He simply sat there quietly, as if observing something.

Fu Wen didn't draw attention to him and kept watching.

The second, third, and fourth sausages were auctioned off one after another.

The prices hovered around sixty Gold Soul Coins.

The man in black never raised his paddle.

Not until the fifth and final sausage.

The man in black raised his paddle.

"Seventy."

His voice was low, but it carried clearly through the entire auction house.

The crowd fell silent for a moment.

Seventy Gold Soul Coins was the highest price the Flying Sausage had ever fetched.

No one else bid.

Not because they couldn't afford it, but because there was no point.

Seventy was far too much.

"Seventy Gold Soul Coins! Sold!"

Manager Gu brought down the gavel.

The man in black stood and walked backstage to pay and collect his purchase.

Backstage.

The man in black removed his bamboo hat, revealing a face so ordinary it could not have been more ordinary.

He was around forty, with a square face, thick eyebrows, and dark skin.

He looked like a farmhand.

But his eyes did not.

A farmhand's eyes wouldn't shine with such a sharp gleam.

"Sir, your Flying Sausage."

Oscar handed him a sausage that glowed with a blue light.

The man in black took it but didn't eat it. Instead, he held it beneath his nose and sniffed.

"This is the smell."

He murmured to himself, then looked up at Oscar.

"Young man, did you make this sausage?"

Oscar glanced at Fu Wen.

Fu Wen gave a slight nod.

"Yes."

Oscar said, "My Martial Soul is a sausage. This is my second Soul Skill."

"I see."

The man in black nodded. "Then what's your first Soul Skill?"

"Big Sausage. It restores stamina and Soul Power when eaten."

Oscar answered honestly.

The man in black fell silent for a moment, then pulled a money pouch from his robes and placed it on the table.

"Here are seventy Gold Soul Coins. Count them."

"No need."

Oscar waved a hand. "The auction house's rule is payment and goods exchanged on the spot."

The man in black looked at Oscar, then at Fu Wen, who was standing nearby.

"You two are students from Shrek Academy?"

"Yes."

Fu Wen spoke, his voice calm. "What do you want?"

The man in black froze for a moment, then laughed.

"Nothing. Just asking."

He put on his bamboo hat and turned to leave.

Fu Wen watched his back until he disappeared through the doorway.

"Brother Wen, do you think there's something wrong with that guy?"

Oscar came over and asked in a low voice.

"There's something wrong."

Fu Wen nodded. "But he won't make a move here."

"Why?"

"Because he's already got what he came for."

Fu Wen glanced toward the direction the man in black had disappeared, then said calmly:

"One Flying Sausage."

When they returned to the academy, Fu Wen told Flender what had happened.

"A man in black? From Heaven Dou City? He spent seventy Gold Soul Coins on a sausage?"

Flender frowned and paced back and forth across the room.

"He didn't buy the sausage to eat. He bought it to study it."

Fu Wen said, "He wants to figure out how the Flying Sausage works."

"Study it? How?"

"Have a food-type Soul Master analyze it, or... have an alchemist break it down."

Flender was puzzled.