A Night of Terror

"They finally got here. If he'd taken any longer, I would've drunk myself bloated for nothing," Lin Yu said, pushing the teapot beside him aside and rising to his feet.

Xie Xie glanced worriedly at the clock in the hall. "They're much later than expected."

As he spoke, Xie Xie headed out and said to Lin Yu, "Follow the ship's route over there first. I'll make a soul communicator call and catch up with you."

Lin Yu nodded. He had wanted to wander around on his own anyway. Watching the excitement was one thing, but there was no need to stick to Xie Xie the whole time.

After walking forward for a while with his head down, Lin Yu noticed more and more people accompanying the crowd. Clearly, news of the Sea Dragon Bone had gradually spread as the ship docked.

Lin Yu was not in much of a hurry, though. This thing would not go to whoever arrived first; it would go to whoever bid the highest. As long as he was not especially late, anyone who got it could at least take a look.

The money Lin Yu had was not exactly a small amount, but he probably had no chance of competing for a treasure of this level. Having adjusted his mindset, he was not anxious in the slightest.

Xie Xie caught up to Lin Yu at that moment and patted him on the shoulder. "I just talked to my father. He said they ran into countercurrents. There should be sea soul beasts causing trouble below. After dealing with them, he came back alone in a mecha."

Lin Yu nodded. Xie Xie then pointed ahead. "Take that path. Families of the crew get priority entry from there."

As he spoke, Xie Xie pulled Lin Yu toward a less crowded side path. At the end of the path stood the entrance to the venue.

In front of the entrance was a small booth resembling a karaoke machine. After entering, Xie Xie skillfully tapped out a number on the keypad inside.

Soon, he emerged with two tickets. He handed one to Lin Yu, then pulled him inside.

As soon as they entered the corridor, Xie Xie familiarly took two masks from the self-service mask station hanging on the wall. He handed one to Lin Yu and put the other over his own face.

Half his face was immediately covered. The treatment provided to crew members' families was truly quite good. They were seated in a private room on the second floor, where they could look down through the glass curtain wall and take in most of the auction hall at a glance.

Lin Yu looked around and raised an eyebrow slightly. "This venue is actually pretty dangerous."

Xie Xie was immediately puzzled. He looked at Lin Yu, unsure what he meant. Lin Yu pointed at the layout of the entire hall and said, "There are only two exits in this venue, and the corridors are extremely narrow. The surrounding area is packed with metal chairs. If someone blocked both the front and rear exits, it would be hard to get out of the seating area without making a big fuss."

Xie Xie could not help laughing. "Brother Yu, you're really one of the few who would think about safety issues at an auction house. Didn't you see the people standing in the shadows of the corridors? They're all high-level soul masters. With them guarding the place, the situation you described is very unlikely to happen."

Xie Xie found Lin Yu's concerns somewhat ridiculous. Under normal circumstances, anyone who said such things would practically be seen as an idiot.

But he never could have imagined that although Lin Yu's words usually sounded somewhat exaggerated, today they would prove the saying that a careless remark could become prophecy. Instead, Xie Xie would become the real fool.

Lin Yu frowned slightly at that. "If possible, I still don't want to put my life in someone else's hands. But since we're already here, leaving now would be a waste. Let's sit down first. Even if something is going to happen, we should rest before dealing with it."

Xie Xie instead looked at Lin Yu with concern, afraid that this friend he had only recently met would cause trouble here. He hurriedly said, "Don't do anything reckless. We're both students of Eastsea Academy. This is a society ruled by law now."

Lin Yu smiled but did not answer. Instead, he looked at the drinks brought by a waiter. After examining them, he raised his head and stared into the waiter's eyes. "What kind of drink is this? Why is it this color?"

The waiter smiled. "This is coconut juice brought back with the ship. It's a specialty from the outer islands, and also a gift of thanks for all crew members' families."

Lin Yu nodded. After the waiter left, he stopped Xie Xie, who was about to drink it. Then, under Xie Xie's astonished gaze, he took out a strip of dried meat and soaked it in the drink.

Wisps of white smoke rose. When Lin Yu lifted the dried meat out, it had already dissolved completely in the cup.

Xie Xie could not help drawing in a sharp breath. He was beginning to feel nervous as well. He had not paid much attention to Lin Yu's earlier words, but this obviously problematic drink still made him gasp.

Lin Yu whispered, "Don't make a scene. Follow my lead. Pour some of the drink into the shadows and pretend you drank it. The lighting was dim earlier, so you may not have seen clearly. That waiter had no pupils, only whites in his eyes. Most likely, something has clouded his mind."

Xie Xie swallowed hard and took out his soul communicator. "Should we call my father and have him come save us?"

Lin Yu curled his lips in a dark smile. "They've poisoned you so openly. Do you think they'll let you make a soul communicator call? Use your brain more in the future. If you love taking risks out in the world, you're bound to get stabbed. You need to be even more careful when you're out alone."

Following Lin Yu's actions, Xie Xie splashed out half the poisoned drink. Then he asked, "What do we do next?"

Lin Yu said, "You idiot. Once we've drunk the poison, what comes next? Of course we pretend to pass out."

As he spoke, Lin Yu abruptly circulated his soul power and slammed a palm into Xie Xie's chest without warning. Xie Xie immediately felt tightness in his chest from the blow, and blood trickled from the corner of his mouth.

"Lin Yu, you—" Xie Xie was about to say something when Lin Yu stuffed a pill into his mouth.

The pill almost immediately dissolved into liquid and flowed down Xie Xie's throat. The congested feeling from the blow vanished at once.

At that moment, Xie Xie knew Lin Yu meant him no harm. He watched as Lin Yu wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, smeared some of it on his own lips, then collapsed onto a chair. Lin Yu whispered, "Lie down and play dead. You really are slow."

Xie Xie suddenly understood. Imitating Lin Yu, he lay down in another chair. The two of them tilted their heads and slumped to one side, while normal order still seemed to be maintained below.

The host's voice rang out, introducing the first auction item of the day: the complete Sea Dragon Bone. It would be split into three batches for sale. Anyone wishing to take the entire dragon bone home for their collection would need to outbid everyone else three times in a row. It was truly a method of squeezing every last coin from the bidders.

Xie Xie opened his eyes into a narrow slit and silently mouthed, "Brother Yu, nothing seems wrong. Are you being too sensitive?"

Lin Yu silently mouthed back, "Then why don't you go down and try it yourself?"

Xie Xie stopped talking. The host was saying, "Next, as the curtain rises, please enjoy another look at the complete Sea Dragon Bone. Perhaps after tonight, the complete skeleton of this sea dragon will never again appear in this world."

The instant the sound of the mechanical axle stopped, cries of alarm rose from downstairs.

Unable to restrain himself any longer, Xie Xie opened his eyes and looked down. The display case that had held the Sea Dragon Bone was now empty. A large hole had been smashed through the glass, while seven black figures slaughtered people amid the crowd.

As Xie Xie stood there in a daze, Lin Yu rose to his feet as well. He grabbed Xie Xie by the shoulder, coated his hand with the poison of the Jade-Scaled Seven-Extinction Flower, and swiftly melted a large hole through the wall.

The two climbed up through the hole and crawled into the ventilation ducts. Xie Xie asked in confusion, "This is strange. Since those people had already taken the Sea Dragon Bone before the auction began, why are they still slaughtering people?"

Lin Yu shook his head. "Judging by those seven people, black light is pouring off them like crazy. They're most likely evil soul masters. Who knows what kind of secret techniques evil soul masters use? Maybe they need human lives for them."

Xie Xie shuddered. As the two crawled through the ventilation ducts, Lin Yu asked, "Do you know this venue well? Which way leads outside?"

Xie Xie shook his head. "I've only been here once, so I don't know it very well. If we can't contact my dad, we can only crawl around based on instinct."

Lin Yu took a deep breath. Crawling back in the direction they had entered from was definitely not an option. If they did that, they would surely run into the evil soul masters in the hall. Crawling directly above them and praying they never looked up was far too ridiculous.

Neither of them was a trained specialist capable of climbing silently through these ducts.

Just as Xie Xie and Lin Yu were crawling forward with their heads down, Xie Xie suddenly cried out. He spun around, the Light Dragon Dagger already in hand.

With a flick of his wrist, he knocked away a purple dart, sending it into the metal wall of the ventilation duct.

After the purple dart landed, it emitted faint purple smoke that made the air around it several degrees colder. It was clearly an eerie ghostly object brimming with yin energy.

At the same moment Xie Xie knocked the dart away, a sinister voice sounded.

"Hehehe, you two little cuties are quite tenacious. Big brother likes little boys like you best. Looks like tonight really is my lucky night."

Xie Xie frowned. In his view, the other party held a clear advantage in this cramped duct, and evil soul masters already had no small advantage against ordinary soul masters.