Auction House ┃ Auction House, God-Tier Support Card

Behind the four towers lay a crisscrossing network of commercial streets. Every shop on these streets was leased to players and run independently by them. At a glance, Xie Mingzhe saw wildly different shop names, such as "Loving Couple Repair Shop," "Seven-Star Premium Card Shop," "Doudou's Materials Shop," and "Boss Wants to Hire a Boss's Wife." Many players strolled and shopped here; it was even more bustling and lively than pedestrian streets in the real world.

The three had originally planned to go to the Black Market together, but they discovered that the entrance to the Auction House on the east side of the plaza was packed with people. Sisi curiously stood on tiptoe to look over and asked, "Senior Brother, did something happen over there?"

Senior Brother Qi followed her gaze and said, "The Auction House holds an auction every day at three thirty in the afternoon. Those people are probably going to the auction."

Xie Mingzhe had only seen auctions on television. They seemed very high-end, and he had never attended one in person, so he rather wanted to broaden his horizons. Before he could say anything, Sisi excitedly spoke up first. "Can we go take a look? It seems really interesting!"

Senior Brother Qi nodded. "All right. We'll go to the Black Market after we're done."

The three had just reached the entrance of the Auction House when a commotion suddenly erupted around them. Cries came from the distance: "I heard today's auction has one of Tang God's cards!" "An original card by Tang Muzhou?" "That's insider information. Who knows if it's true? Hurry and go see!" "Quick! The tickets are about to sell out!"

The crowd behind them surged forward like a tide. Startled, Xie Mingzhe hurriedly slipped into the venue.

Auction House ┃ Auction House, God-Tier Support Card

The auction venue had five floors in total. Senior Brother Qi quickly snatched up three tickets and led the other two to find seats.

Xie Mingzhe curiously examined his surroundings. The holographic setting looked especially realistic, and the faces of the people around him were perfectly clear. However, whether those were their real appearances or faces casually customized in the game was impossible to tell.

As more and more players entered, the auction venue actually upgraded automatically, adding another two floors to the original five. Clearly, the Auction House was incredibly popular today. The tickets had sold out, prompting the system to expand the venue automatically.

All seven floors were soon completely filled.

The packed auction venue was even livelier than a movie theater on the first day of the Lunar New Year back in the Earth era.

The clock hands pointed to three thirty in the afternoon. As soon as the time came, all entrances to the auction venue closed.

The lights in the hall suddenly went out, leaving only the central stage illuminated by warm light. A forty-centimeter-wide virtual LCD screen appeared on the back of every audience member's chair. The stage in the center was enlarged and displayed on the screens, so even those sitting in the corners would not have to worry about being unable to see clearly.

A beautiful curly-haired woman with a stunning figure walked to the center of the venue in high heels and said with a smile, "Good afternoon, distinguished guests. Today's auction is about to begin! The list of auction items has been sent to the electronic screens in front of you. If you're interested in any item, you may follow it in advance!"

As soon as she finished speaking, a list of auction items appeared on the electronic screen before them.

Today's auction included four cards and ten shops.

The list did not show the cards' exact stats, only the patterns on their backs, their colors, and their star ratings. There were two four-star cards, one five-star card, and one seemingly precious seven-star black card.

Filled with curiosity, Xie Mingzhe waited for the show to begin.

"First up are the shops. Please look at the overhead map showing their locations on the screen." The auctioneer introduced them with a smile. "All ten shops are located in the southern section of the newly opened commercial street, right next to the Black Market. Each shop covers fifty square meters, enjoys convenient transportation, and has a very stable flow of customers. The starting bid is a monthly rent of ten thousand gold!"

"Now, let us begin the auction for the first shop!"

This game did not divide players into separate servers. Xie Mingzhe guessed that its cloud storage technology might be capable of enormous data processing. More than ten thousand players had crowded into the same venue for today's auction, yet there was not the slightest lag. Even everyone's faces were clearly visible. This server was insanely powerful. If they could move one back to twenty-first-century Earth, it would instantly solve the problem of guild wars in online games lagging terribly because there were too many people.

Since all players were on the same server and the number of shops was limited, newcomers could face the awkward situation of being unable to rent a shop. Therefore, the game operators opened new commercial streets every month and leased the shops to players who wanted to do business.

Some players who lost money in business and did not want to continue operating could also put up the shops they had previously rented for auction. The officials adjusted shop rents according to the market. This approach kept the game's commercial system stable, preventing mass shop closures and an economic collapse.

Xie Mingzhe leaned over and asked Senior Brother Qi, "The shops beside the Black Market should be in pretty good locations, right? How much is the rent usually?"

Senior Brother Qi said, "For a fifty-square-meter small shop, the monthly rent can go up to twenty thousand at most. Any more than that, and you'll lose money. There aren't that many people in the game who know how to do business. Players who open shops without knowing how to run them will lose money, so most people just set up their own stalls at the Black Market."

Xie Mingzhe nodded in understanding. It was like the difference between opening a twenty-four-hour self-service convenience store and setting up a stall at a night market. Each had its own advantages.

People who knew how to do business generally opened their own shops. Xie Mingzhe actually wanted to open one in the game. He was quite good at budgeting, and he had made some money by running shops in online games before. But in the world of Star Card Storm, he was merely a novice holding two low-level cards. Opening a shop was still far too distant a goal for him.

Perhaps after some time, once he had thoroughly familiarized himself with the game and researched the market, he could try doing some business?

Xie Mingzhe quietly began making calculations in his heart.

Senior Brother Qi, who had five years of gaming experience, knew the auction market very well. As he had said, all ten shops released by the officials sold at monthly rents below twenty thousand gold. Once the price exceeded twenty thousand, no fool was willing to bid higher.

The beautiful auctioneer continued, "All the shops have now been sold. Next is the rare card auction. The first card up for auction is a battle card, the four-star [Flower Demon]. This card has excellent attributes. Its base attack power as a four-star card has reached 3,600 points, and the starting bid is 1,000 gold!"