Before long, the auction began.
The Black Market auction was quite interesting, a little like the drive-in movies from Suren's previous life.
Because the Black Market in Shadow Alley had been built on pipes along a rock wall, with another pitch-black rock wall opposite it.
And somehow, the Black Market organizers had turned that rock wall into something like a projection screen. The auction item information was displayed on the wall in the form of "slides," allowing people on every level of the Black Market and in every shop to see it clearly.
There was no auctioneer. There were only item descriptions and constantly changing prices.
Famous guns, famous swords, Ancient Relics, Cursed Objects, Alchemy Grimoires. Every single item was a treasure.
Suren watched greedily from the shop, yet also felt powerless.
There were too many things he wanted to buy, but with auction items routinely costing hundreds of thousands, even millions, his current wealth would probably be completely drained after buying just one.
It was not only the Inner City that had wealthy people. The top Professionals in the Outer City were equally well-off.
"Forget it. I'll just wait for the blueprints."
Suren consoled himself and resisted bidding on that formidable-looking famous gun.
Just then, an auction item appeared, and its price was instantly driven through the roof.
It was something resembling a note, a thin sheet of paper. The image had been blurred so that no one could make out the writing on it.
Yet the description beside it read, "One authentic page of Sir Isaac's Alchemy Manuscript."
One ordinary Black Iron Implant alone cost around one hundred thousand lisos.
The instant that page appeared, its price soared past two million. Suren's eyelids twitched as he marveled inwardly, There really are plenty of rich people in the Outer City.
In the end, the manuscript was bought by a mysterious buyer for over three million.
That was still a bargain price. At an Inner City auction, this thing would probably have sold for the astronomical price of four or five million.
And when that auction item appeared, the two people in black trench coats whom Suren had encountered earlier were sitting in an inconspicuous shop.
The man in the trench coat stared at the manuscript as though he had recognized something, then gasped softly. "Boss, could that manuscript be the one stolen from the Duncan Family ancestral home safe before?"
The woman in the trench coat looked entirely unsurprised as she said coolly, "Probably."
The man's expression turned somewhat ugly. This was a case that had given the Umbrella Organization a major headache. They still had not caught the suspect. He muttered, "Damn it, that brazen little thief actually brought the stolen goods here."
The woman in the trench coat was utterly unconcerned. Her deep gaze remained fixed on the projection ahead as she said indifferently, "What else? If it weren't stolen goods of unknown origin, what did you think would be sold in the Black Market? Watch quietly. Don't get so worked up. We didn't come here to find some thief. Finding the person who escaped from that laboratory is what matters most."
"Oh."
The young man shrugged listlessly at that.
Looking at the manuscript, he suddenly thought of something and asked, "Boss, I heard that Chuck from the Cross Society found a volume of Isaac's Alchemy Manuscript outside the city last time. Is that true? They say it might even be one of the five books that recorded God-tier Alchemy?"
"Probably true. Otherwise, those people from the Oliver Consortium wouldn't have paid such a huge price to secretly snatch it. Heh, in the end, they didn't get the item and even lost a very powerful Sealed Item themselves."
The young man asked again, "Boss, do you think that manuscript might have ended up back in Chuck's hands?"
The woman shook her head and replied, "Probably not. Since the news leaked, Chuck would know he couldn't keep that notebook. He's a smart man. He would never keep such a huge source of trouble by his side. The information should be accurate. The manuscript really was lost."
"Oh."
"Huh? That's actually the Inner City Defense Force's latest military Mechanical Prosthetic! Damn it, who leaked controlled machinery like this onto the market?"
"Damn, that Cursed Object's effect is actually that strong. It could fetch a better price with any random buyer in the Inner City, right? Oh, it's probably stolen goods again!"
"Oh, heavens, that batch of Special Grade Recovery Potions stolen from the Nathan Merchant Association."
"..."
The young man seemed to be attending a Black Market auction for the first time. He was shocked again and again by those exquisite goods.
Meanwhile, the woman in the trench coat seemed to have long grown accustomed to it all, watching calmly.
At that moment, an "aberrant Mutated Monster Cursed Material" appeared at the auction. The young man seemed to recall something and spoke again.
"Boss, the Outer City Public Security Office recently reported several serious Sewer Monster Incidents. Looking at the corpse specimens, they seem to be mutant varieties that have never appeared before. Could that be a sign that something bad is coming?"
"Sewer mutant monsters? Heh. Eighty percent chance it's just a laboratory leak, with some residue flowing into the sewers. Those people in the Black Tower always love conducting insane experiments. This kind of accident hasn't happened only once or twice. You haven't been in the organization long. Once you stay long enough and have sufficient clearance to access some highly classified files, you won't find it strange anymore."
"Ah, then do you think the person we were ordered by higher-ups to find this time might be connected to some secret experiment in the tower?"
"Have you forgotten the confidentiality agreement?"
"..."
The two mysterious people in trench coats spoke quietly in the shop.
The auction continued as well.
Suren watched the projection before him and let out a long sigh from time to time.
A finished Silver Quality Implant and a blueprint had been auctioned earlier, but both were Melee Type and had very low compatibility with his profession.
Of course, incompatibility was one issue. Price was another.
During the Tube Building Incident, Suren had received over two hundred thousand lisos in compensation. Adding some of his own money, he had nearly four hundred thousand in cash.
He had originally thought that would be enough to buy an Implant Blueprint, but seeing the auction prices climb higher and higher as the event continued, he became less hopeful.
A Silver Blueprint had already appeared, so the later auction items would only be better and more expensive.
Could a legendary Golden Blueprint possibly appear?
Suren had thought he would return empty-handed this time, but unexpectedly, an exceptionally rare blueprint truly appeared.
At that moment, an Implant Blueprint without any detailed description appeared on the projection. Its image showed eight Spider Legs, and its listed name was Eight-Armed Spider God Spear (Golden).
The item had been discovered by a Wilderness Hunter Group in ruins outside the city. It was an Ancient Blueprint and a one-of-a-kind item.
Starting bid: three hundred thousand lisos.
The moment it appeared, a wave of astonished cries swept through the entire Black Market.
"A Golden Blueprint?"
"That's rare. Even at an Inner City auction house, a Golden Blueprint might not appear once a year."
"Heh, unfortunately, although its quality is high, probably no one will bid on it."
"..."
Any blueprint presented by the Black Market had certainly been verified, so no one doubted its authenticity.
But after reading the blueprint's description, almost everyone believed it would not fetch a good price.
At the same time, the two trench-coated Umbrella Organization members in a small shop in the corner also saw the auction item.
The man in the trench coat looked at the projection in surprise. "A Golden Blueprint? You can see something this good in the Outer City?"
Even the aloof woman gave it another glance, but she shook her head and assessed, "This blueprint's grade is high, but it has little practical value. Spider-shaped Alchemical Implants are too complicated to control and require extremely high skill and multitasking ability. It is difficult for the vast majority of Professionals to be compatible with it."
After a pause, she added bluntly, "Moreover, the more complex the Implant, the stricter the material requirements and the higher the requirements for Alchemy. A slight mistake can easily cause defects, leading to a high failure rate. The losses outweigh the gains. Similar items have appeared at Inner City auctions before. They're fine as collectibles, but their practical value is low."
Hearing that, the man in the trench coat found it somewhat regrettable and hesitated. "But... it came from an Ancient Relic. It shouldn't be simple, right?"
"Any Implant capable of reaching Golden grade is naturally not simple. Once it is successfully made, its power will definitely far surpass Implants of the same tier. However..."
The woman in the trench coat acknowledged that point.
Then she changed the subject. "Perhaps certain rare Professionals in ancient times could fully unleash this Implant's potential. But now... there probably isn't even a single Tier 1 Professional in all of Old Lindun capable of multitasking to control eight arms."
The man in the trench coat looked enlightened after hearing that, and his interest faded. "No wonder. With such a useless blueprint, the auctioneer probably knew it wouldn't sell for a good price even in the Inner City, so they brought it to the Black Market auction to try their luck."
Almost no one in the Black Market thought highly of this Golden Blueprint, and few were interested. But someone at Gerson Alchemy Shop could not take his eyes off it.
"High skill, high-difficulty control... High mobility, climbing ability, poison needle mechanisms..."
Suren narrowed his eyes slightly as he stared at the image on the projection, muttering to himself.
He did not know that this Alchemical Blueprint was considered useless by everyone else, but the moment he saw it, he immediately realized it was the Alchemical Implant most compatible with his Abomination Puppeteer profession.
After reading some of the described effects on the blueprint, Suren felt that this had been custom-made for him in his current circumstances.
Controlling eight Spider Arms was indeed difficult for others, but for Suren, whose Abomination Puppeteer ability had awakened Multitasking, it would not be impossible to control eight things at once as long as he practiced diligently!
Suren calculated, "With this eight-armed Implant, that means I'll have ten arms. The number of puppets I can control in the future will no longer be limited to just my two hands."
Looking at the blueprint, he could seemingly already envision himself fighting while controlling ten, or even more, puppets at once.
With this Implant paired with his Abomination Puppeteer profession, he alone would be an army!
Moreover, the blueprint said this Implant possessed extremely high mobility and climbing ability. It could fight and flee, making it the most ideal combination.
Eight-arm climbing was also why it required such high skill.
For Suren, this Implant was simply a perfect fit!
Still, satisfied as he was, Suren's eyelids twitched slightly when he saw the auction price. "The starting bid alone is three hundred thousand..."
He had never seen a Golden Blueprint auction before, but he estimated that its final hammer price would be at least one million.
For the first time since crossing over, Suren felt truly poor.
An ordinary finished Black Iron Alchemical Implant cost only around one hundred thousand. This thing's blueprint alone started at three hundred thousand, not to mention the later material costs. To actually forge a finished Eight-Armed Spider God Spear Implant, the cost would probably be a number that made people recoil.
But blueprints were things one could only stumble upon by chance, especially those suitable for oneself.
If he missed this one, he did not know whether he would ever have another chance to encounter one.
The item remained listed for a long time without anyone bidding.
Suren gathered his wandering thoughts and raised his paddle for the first time. "Three hundred thousand!"
Implant Blueprints were strategic resources and were also what major factions and financial conglomerates loved to stockpile.
Logically, when such a one-of-a-kind blueprint appeared at auction, it should have sparked fierce competition.
Yet this Golden Blueprint was even less popular than the earlier Silver Blueprint.
After thinking it over briefly, Suren understood.
This Implant had excessively high physical attribute requirements. It was unsuitable for the vast majority of professions, and ordinary people had no use for it at all!
It was impractical. Once bought, it would be nothing more than a dust-gathering collectible.
Perhaps someone in the Inner City would spend hundreds of thousands on a collectible ornament, but there were absolutely no people so extravagant in the Outer City.
Seeing that the price was not rising too quickly, Suren breathed a sigh of relief.
But the auction price soon broke through four hundred thousand.
That was all the cash Suren had on him.
Then came four hundred and fifty thousand, five hundred thousand.
Suren stared at the blueprint with his chin propped on his hand, frowning deeply.
Then he turned his gaze toward the bespectacled old man at Rosen Alchemy Shop, who had his head lowered over a book, and asked, "Boss, do you buy Cursed Materials and finished Implants here?"
"Yes."
The old man glanced at Suren and nodded.
Finally, after several rounds of bidding, Suren gritted his teeth and shouted the high price of "eight hundred thousand," ultimately securing the blueprint.
The price was that he sold almost all the spoils from Iron Head Ivan, Silver-Arm Dick, and the others he had killed, as well as nearly all the loot from the Tube Building.
One Alchemical Implant Blueprint had wiped him out.
P.S. Brothers, next week's recommendation is crucial. It will determine whether this book lives or dies. Please don't let chapters pile up unread; cast some votes. If you can, please send a small tip too~ I'm begging you, everyone.
Thanks to "Twilight Melody" for 1,500, "Damn, That's Cool," and "2010725020433089." Thank you to all three for your support and tips!
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