Chapter 367: The Second Auction

The crowd, who had been waiting for a surprise, looked around and saw that nothing had happened. One can only imagine their disappointment.

It was like excitedly waiting for your wife to give birth to a big, healthy son, only to learn she wasn’t pregnant at all. Not only was it a false alarm, but she’d just taken a massive dump.

Fortunately, Perry Yates had gotten the specific details from the Heavenly Ascension Ladder; otherwise, the Ladder’s reputation would have been ruined at the last minute.

Perry Yates stepped out of the Space-Time Gate and, giving the crowd no time to be surprised, got straight to the point:

"Let’s skip the pleasantries. I’m here to deliver a message. I was afraid you wouldn’t be able to adapt if you entered the Interstellar era all at once, so we need to do this little by little. We’ll start with the instruction manuals. The manuals for many machines have already changed. When you fully understand a manual, the corresponding item will change along with it.

How about that? Pretty considerate, right? You don’t even need to do any hands-on practice, just understand the manuals."

After Perry Yates finished speaking, she found that the people in front of her had already vanished.

’Seriously? Are all the old men these days in such good shape?’

Perry Yates shrugged. ’Oh well.’ As long as she’d delivered the message, that was all that mattered. The rest was unimportant.

Back at The Card Tavern, just as Perry Yates was about to lie down for a quick rest, she received an urgent summons from the Penglai Immortal Ship.

During this time, the Penglai Immortal Ship had acquired quite a few good things from other worlds and was eager to start another auction.

Perry Yates, who had been about to collapse in bed, suddenly sat bolt upright. "Let me see exactly what you’ve brought back."

’If there’s any really good stuff, I’ll claim it for myself first.’

Perry Yates went directly into the Penglai Immortal Ship’s interior and opened the warehouse. It was already piled high with all sorts of things, but the most eye-catching items among them were the various bodies.

That’s right, bodies. The kind with flesh and blood.

According to the Penglai Immortal Ship’s explanation, it had obtained all these bodies from the same planet.

The people of that planet valued money above all else. As long as you paid them, they would even sell their own bodies—in the most literal sense.

The people of this race were rather special, able to survive as both physical entities and energy beings. So even if they sold their physical bodies, they wouldn’t die.

The ones here were all carefully selected by it.

Moreover, these physical bodies possessed different effects. Some were strong, with the power to uproot mountains; some were bewitching; and some even had animal features.

No matter which type, they all shared common characteristics: they were healthy and long-lived. After fusion, there would be no rejection response.

Furthermore, if the Fuser were to die, the body would return to the Penglai Immortal Ship’s possession to be resold.

Seeing this, Perry Yates couldn’t help but give the Penglai Immortal Ship a thumbs-up.

Besides these physical bodies, the next most eye-catching items were various suits of sleek, metallic armor. They looked very similar to the armor from the live-action hero shows of her childhood, but the quality was far superior.

"These are cards acquired from Armoria in exchange for lubricating oil. They have three different modes: Armor, Civilian Clothes, and Summoning Device."

"With... lubricating oil? Does the armor on Armoria rust?"

"It seems to be for maintenance."

"Then let’s sell these two types first," Perry Yates said.

"Alrighty! Should I invite the same group of customers as before?" the Penglai Immortal Ship asked.

"No, select them from Cerulea this time. As for what they’ll trade with..."

Perry Yates thought for a moment. She wasn’t short on money, and it seemed she wasn’t short on much else either.

"Let them figure it out for themselves. You can be in charge of assessing the value of their offers."

"Understood."

As the words faded, the entire Penglai Immortal Ship began to operate.

[Scanning Cerulea...]

[Locking on to potential clients...]

[Lock-on successful.]

[Invitations have been sent!]

[Number of clients: one thousand. Auction start time: 8:00 PM tonight.]

[Now distributing the auction catalog.]

[Auction catalog distribution successful.]

Meanwhile on Cerulea, many wealthy magnates and nobles received a special auction invitation and an auction catalog.

As a billionaire, even though Raymond Rhodes was now old and decrepit, his eyes were still sharp and bright.

His life should have ended ten years ago, but because he had money, he managed to live for another decade.

A while ago, his body had reached its limit. But at that moment, a card that could extend one’s lifespan appeared at The Card Tavern. He spent a fortune to acquire one, and his body recovered once again.

But even so, he still felt it wasn’t enough.

At this moment, Raymond Rhodes finally understood why the emperors of old were so obsessed with immortality. He, with his billions, couldn’t bear the thought of dying, let alone an emperor who possessed an entire nation.

Especially when he saw the ambitious gazes of his own son and grandson, he felt even more resentful, even jealous.

This decrepit body, even with the help of a card, could never become young again.

Just then, the invitation appeared.

Raymond Rhodes looked at the three words on the invitation—Penglai Immortal Ship—and his entire body began to tremble.

He hadn’t participated in the recent, magnificent auction, but he had heard of it. He’d heard that apart from the people of this planet, most of the attendees were aliens.

Opening the black, gold-stamped auction catalog and looking at the items and their functions inside, Raymond Rhodes’s breathing became rapid.

He caressed the images of the powerful bodies in the catalog, his eyes filled with longing.

Seeing that the auction was set to begin at 8:00 PM, Raymond Rhodes didn’t hesitate for a second. He immediately called for his butler, "Go! Bring out all of my private collectibles. And I mean all of them!"

He knew he wasn’t the only one to receive this invitation. He would be facing countless rivals, but he absolutely could not lose.

Similar scenes were playing out all across Cerulea.

At the same time, it wasn’t just these wealthy magnates and nobles; even some nations began to make their moves in secret.

As for Drakonia... Drakonia had, of course, received an invitation as well. It was just that all their experts were currently engrossed in their instruction manuals, sporting expressions that screamed, "Disturb me and I’ll end you."

With no other option, the matter was delegated to the Director of the Survival Game Administration and to Aidan Sinclair, who had received one of the invitations.

"Aidan Sinclair, this time, the more auction items you bring back, the better, you hear? Don’t be afraid to spend money, understand?"

Aidan Sinclair nodded, indicating that he understood.

They had brought back a lot of good things from the instances recently. Crushing those wealthy magnates and nobles wouldn’t be a problem. Aidan Sinclair had never considered them his rivals; his opponents were the other nations that had also received invitations.

As soon as 8:00 PM arrived, the bodies of those who had received invitations were enveloped in a golden light, and in the next second, they vanished from where they stood.