"Number Eighty-Eight!"

As soon as the voice rang out, the entire auction hall fell silent again.

Even though he had only made one purchase—an utterly useless gemstone—his initial entrance had been so flashy and domineering that it had already left a deep impression on many.

So when he placed another bid, the audience couldn’t help but speculate whether he was about to announce another shocking number.

The pixie lady’s eyes sparkled as she thought to herself: Could it be that just handing out flyers really reeled in a big fish?

She, too, began to anticipate...

"Bid from Number Eighty-Eight..."

That voice was unhurried, laced with the relaxed indifference of someone in a position of power. But when his words landed, it was like thunder cracked through the air.

"Ten million... and one thousand."

"Number Eighty-Eight bids ten million and... huh? One thousand?"

Just as the pixie lady was about to fire up the atmosphere again with Number Eighty-Eight’s badass bid, she suddenly froze. She wondered if she'd been hosting auctions for too long and was now hearing things.

That Number Eighty-Eight seemed to have said something impressive... in a tone that was utterly unimpressive?

"One thousand?"

"Sounds like it really was one thousand."

"Did Number Eighty-Eight just raise by one thousand?"

"No way, is today some kind of bargain-bin fire sale?"

The crowd snapped out of it, realizing that the much-hyped Number Eighty-Eight had only timidly added a measly one thousand. Boos erupted from every direction.

Inside Box #1, Lorenzo was laughing so hard he couldn’t straighten his back.

"One thousand? Hahaha! He only added one thousand?"

"Shit, I thought he was some big deal—turns out he’s just another clueless hillbilly?"

"No wonder he dropped a fortune on that worthless stone!"

"Quick, place a bid—raise it by a full million and humiliate him hard!"

"Box #1 bids eleven million!!"

"Whoa!"

As the new bid from Box #1 was announced, the entire auction hall let out a collective gasp.

Now that was badass.

Raising by a million in one go—how could some loser’s one-thousand bump compare?

But before the crowd could fully absorb the shock, Number Eighty-Eight coolly called out a new price:

"Eleven million... and one thousand."

"Again?"

Lorenzo sneered and coldly instructed his subordinate:

"Keep raising—stick with one million per jump. Let’s see how long this bumpkin can endure the shame."

"Twelve million!"

"Twelve million... and one thousand."

"Thirteen million!"

"Thirteen million... and one thousand."

"......"

"Twenty million!"

"Twenty million... and one thousand."

"......"

"Fuck!"

As the bids climbed ever higher, people finally started realizing something was off.

Why was it that with each new bid, Number Eighty-Eight’s voice remained calm as ever, while Box #1 sounded increasingly agitated?

Who exactly was humiliating whom here?

"Number Eighty-Eight is deliberately raising the price!"

Someone finally caught on!

And in the private box, the not-so-dumb Lorenzo also realized what was happening. He slammed the tea table in front of him to pieces and roared at the pixie lady:

"This kind of malicious price-jacking—you’re just going to let it slide?!"

"Please calm down, dear guest. Number Eighty-Eight has not violated any rules."

The pixie lady respectfully explained.

While deliberately raising bids by just one thousand each time was admittedly scummy behavior, no auction house would be dumb enough to ban it outright. She hadn’t set a minimum increment before the auction began, so even if he raised by just one coin, it was still within the rules.

"And what if he actually wins the item but doesn’t have the money?" Lorenzo sneered.

No way a guy with real cash would be playing like this.

Clearly just some broke nouveau riche hillbilly who came here just to spite him!

Spend a million on a worthless rock and think that makes you somebody?

"Well..."

The pixie lady hesitated. Indeed, the thing auction houses fear most is exactly this—malicious bids followed by failure to pay. Regular auctions vet participants, so that issue rarely arises.

But this was the black market...

"Please hold, the auction will pause for three minutes."

After a moment of thought, the pixie lady suspended the auction and signaled discreetly to someone in the crowd.

Before long, Muen’s door was knocked upon.

"Come in."

"Dear guest."

A waiter entered and said respectfully:

"We kindly ask that you provide proof of sufficient assets to continue participating in the auction."

"Oh? Aren’t you a secret auction house? What, now you check your guests’ privacy?"

Muen didn’t even lift his eyes, lazily swirling the wine in his glass.

"We apologize sincerely, but given the size of the bids in this auction, we must conduct due risk control."

The waiter bowed deeply.

"You don’t need to reveal your identity. Just proof that your assets are sufficient will do."

"Assets, huh? I think I only have about a million in cash on me."

"Then I’m afraid we’ll have to ask you to leave for now." A cold gleam flickered in the waiter’s eyes. Only a million and you think you’re some kind of big shot? You think I’m a pushover...

"How about this—will it do?"

Muen flicked over a crystal card with two fingers.

The waiter caught it effortlessly.

But the moment he saw what it was, his hands began to tremble uncontrollably.

It was a black crystal card, engraved with a golden tulip. Understated, yet undeniably luxurious.

As a professionally trained waiter, he recognized it instantly.

This was... a Black Crystal Card issued by the Imperial Bank!

This card was meant for the most elite tier of the entire Empire. It could be used to draw from an anonymous account in the Imperial Bank—almost without limit!

To date, the Imperial Bank had only issued one hundred of these cards.

In other words, anyone holding this card belonged to the absolute pinnacle of society. One footstep from them could shake the entire Empire three times over.

And the card had the strictest security measures—its owner couldn’t be traced. Not by this auction house. Not even by its shady backers.

With this card, forget just buying a few tens of millions' worth of Ancient Dragon Lifeblood—he could buy the entire auction house itself if he wanted to.

At that point, never mind going vegetarian—he could make you eat shit.

"Do I qualify now?" Muen asked lightly, every word hammering into the waiter’s soul.

"Yes, of course!"

The waiter’s back was instantly drenched in cold sweat. His years of training flew out the window as he trembled and carefully held the card back out to Muen with a professional smile.

"Forgive the disturbance, dear guest. As an apology, everything you purchase today will be given at a 20% discount."

A 20% discount at an auction was no small thing. If Muen were to bid 100 million for an item, he would only need to pay 80 million—saving 20 [N O V E L I G H T] million in one go.

This was the most generous deal the waiter had the authority to offer.

"Ho, pretty generous of you."

Muen took the card back. "Though honestly, I don’t care much. I just want the auction to continue already."

"The auction will resume immediately, immediately!" 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

Wiping the sweat from his brow, the waiter hurried to leave.

He had to get the word out ASAP that a top-tier bigshot was seated here—if anyone mistreated this guest, they’d be done for.

"Oh, right."

Just then, Muen turned back.

Raising a single finger to the lips beneath his mask, he offered a gentle smile.

"I’d rather this incident didn’t reach a fourth person."

Muen pointed once to himself, once to the waiter, then finally to the space behind the waiter.

"So let’s keep it secret, yeah?"