After they finished talking about the dog and the story had successfully diverted Taneleer Tivan's attention, Su Ming returned to the counter and set aside the untouched tea.
"Collector, I want to make a deal with the Elders through you."
The colored lights on a nearby pillar flickered. In a glass case some distance away, a monkey-like creature spread its ears, as though eavesdropping.
Taneleer Tivan waved for the maidservants to withdraw, then took a deep breath.
"Please, go on."
Deathstroke pulled out a handful of black mud from his waist pouch and slowly placed it on the counter, gesturing for him to inspect it.
"This is the merchandise I can offer. I want to exchange it for some information, and that dog."
Taneleer Tivan smiled, holding both hands before his chest with his fingers delicately raised, signaling for the Sorcerer Supreme to wait.
He rummaged around beneath the counter and took out a technological device that could be clipped over an eye socket. Then he reached out, grabbed the still-wriggling black mud, and began studying it closely.
The Collector did not bother with gloves. Perhaps he was confident in his own abilities, or perhaps his curiosity was simply overflowing at the sight of something he had never seen before. He even leaned in and carefully sniffed the rotten mud.
Su Ming watched his face crumple up. The smell must have been truly overpowering.
This was part of that Black Mud Monster. Deathstroke and the liches had dismembered it, and this was probably about the amount of one forearm.
The Collector's magnifying device was no ordinary tool either. It could automatically adjust its focus and perhaps even function as an electron microscope. In any case, he held the black mud as though appraising a gemstone, scrutinizing it with great care