Auction Tycoon┃Auction Bloodbath

"After she finishes her honeymoon, she'll be back," Chen said. "She'll definitely return before you start school."

"Mm." That would work out perfectly. Xie Mingzhe planned to quit after this month and let that girl fill his vacancy.

At that moment, Chi Qing, Pang Yu, and Jin Yue also came downstairs. After everyone finished breakfast together, they logged into the game at exactly eight and were immediately dragged by Chen into a dungeon.

***

Over the next few days, Xie Mingzhe spent his days running dungeons and farming materials with the studio crew. Whenever he had free time, he considered how to make cards.

Instant-Death Judgment was only one type of skill in the skill library. Perhaps he could try making other cards as well.

He slowly began devising plans for other cards too—for example, Three Kingdoms figures such as Sun Quan, Liu Bei, and Cao Cao, or Journey to the West figures such as Sun Wukong, Zhu Bajie, and Tang Sanzang. He put those plans on his schedule first—having a plan would give him more motivation!

Xie Mingzhe thought optimistically.

After all, there were countless character cards he could make. There was no need to rush. For now, he would wait for the Auction House results and see whether his line of thinking was correct.

If the Daiyu Card sold for a high price and made him, an original designer, famous at the auction, then once everyone knew Yueban as an original character card designer, he could open a "Yueban Card Specialty Store." Would he still need to worry about finding customers?

Economic foundations determined the superstructure. Whether he became a freelance designer or competed professionally in the future, without money, it would all be nothing but a pipe dream. For now, he needed to build up capital step by step. Opening a store and becoming his own boss was just around the corner.

Three days passed quickly.

For Xie Mingzhe, they were three peaceful days. Every day, he ran dungeons, made Daiyu Cards, and enjoyed good food Chen treated everyone to. Life was quite comfortable.

But for people like Red Candle and Illusory Moon, they were three agonizing days!

The system search showed that the number of cards made by Yueban increased every day, yet none of his cards could be found on the Black Market anymore. Red Candle worried that he was making a pile of Daiyu Cards to sell to the major clubs, while Illusory Moon worried that he had discovered his own talent for card-making and would refuse to join Judgment.

The emails they sent vanished like stones into the sea, receiving no response at all.

Xie Mingzhe had not yet developed the habit of checking his mail. The game also had too many players. To prevent players from being harassed by all sorts of advertisements, the officials had made it impossible for strangers to directly send voice messages or text chats. They had to use email unless they added each other as friends first.

Every day, as soon as he logged in, he went dungeon-running with Chen and had no time to check his mail. After a full day of dungeons, he was mentally exhausted. Once back in his private apartment, he buried himself in the study to draw cards as quickly as possible, leaving him even less time to deal with emails. He rarely went to the living room. Moreover, because he had found it too noisy before, he had turned off the living room's voice notifications. He had never noticed the flashing new-mail icon either.

And so, Wednesday night arrived.

After dinner, Xie Mingzhe logged in early without stopping to rest. The evening dungeon began at nine, so he had an hour of free time. He went straight to the Auction House, wanting to see with his own eyes whether anyone would buy his Daiyu Card.

In a corner of the auction hall sat a young man whose ID was a string of gibberish, wearing the system's default Number One passerby face.

Naturally, Xie Mingzhe did not notice him.

During the evening's prime hours, the five-story auction hall was packed to the brim.

Xie Mingzhe sat among the crowd, his gaze fixed on the LCD screen before him.

At exactly eight, the doors to the hall closed. The lights went out, and the NPC auctioneer stepped onto the center of the stage, smiling as he said, "Good evening, distinguished guests. Tonight's auction is about to begin. First, let us announce the auction list..."

The screen displayed nothing but cards: one max-level Level 70 Seven-Star Card, two Level 50 Five-Star Cards, and three Level 40 Four-Star Cards.

There was also one initial "Level 1 One-Star Card."

Upon seeing the list, some of the nearby spectators became unsettled. Whispers drifted into his ears. "Why is there a Level 1 card?" "How lazy can this person be? Couldn't he level the card up before selling it?" "Why bring a trash Level 1 card to the Auction House instead of selling it on the Black Market?" "Maybe it has especially good stats? Could it be a top-tier starter card being auctioned directly?" "The chances of getting an exceptional card are pretty low, aren't they?"

The host interrupted their discussion. "Next, we will auction this Level 1 One-Star Card first! Its creator is a newcomer auctioning his work for the first time. His logo is also very special. Please take a look at the back of the card."

The back of the One-Star Card had no decorative patterns at all and looked extremely plain.

As a result, the logo in the lower-right corner stood out with exceptional clarity.

Yue, Ban.

The spectators were utterly baffled. What kind of weird name was that? Put together, didn't it just mean "fat"?

Tang Muzhou, seated in the corner, curled his lips slightly. I've waited for you for days. You've finally appeared, Fat Uncle!

The moment he saw the logo, the card expert Judgment Guild had sent to the Auction House immediately messaged Illusory Moon privately. "Guild Leader, Yueban's card has appeared at the auction!!"

Illusory Moon replied decisively, "No matter the cost, secure that card!"

The Fenghua Guild received the news as well. "Sister Red Candle, Yueban's card has appeared at the auction. What should we do?"

Red Candle hurriedly replied, "Tang God's alt is there. Just watch and don't cause trouble!"

She felt deeply uneasy. That fat guy hadn't put the Daiyu Card up for auction, had he? Sister Xue's jinx couldn't have come true, could it?

Cards that appeared at auctions generally had decent stats. The Auction House charged a management fee of 500 gold coins every day, and the waiting list took at least three days. If a card failed to sell for a good price, not only would its owner fail to make money, he would actually lose money. Any player who brought trash cards to an auction had to be an ignorant newbie.

Therefore, when they saw the utterly unfamiliar newcomer logo, Yueban, most spectators did not think highly of it. They had little interest in the card and only wanted the host to hurry through the process so they could auction the more valuable Seven-Star Card afterward.

Still smiling, the host continued, "Next, please take a look at this card's front-side data!"

The card flipped over simultaneously on everyone's screens—