Chapter 86 - 85: Auction

Chapter 86: Chapter 85: Auction

Full of curiosity, Huai Yu followed Boss Tang and whispered, "This is my first time attending an auction at the police station. It’s so exciting."

Boss Tang coughed twice. "I haven’t been here much either... It’s all because of these mutations. But my friend really didn’t do anything terrible. He just flipped some meat, eggs, and dairy from the Animal Husbandry Institute..."

It was just his bad luck to get caught in the act.

Huai Yu felt like she had heard this before, and a sudden guess formed in her mind.

"Then... does he sell chicks?" she asked cautiously.

"Ah? Chicks?" Boss Tang thought for a moment, then shook his head. "No.

"The thing about chicks is that the ones with high Mutant Value and strong Life have no market here. And the ones with low Mutant Value are far too fragile. Just like normal chicks, they’ll drop dead if you take your eyes off them for a second. Selling livestock is a quick way to lose money."

Huai Yu secretly breathed a sigh of relief. Then, she heard Boss Tang ask curiously, "What? You want to raise chicks? I’ll ask around for you."

She already had four chickens at home. Though she’d love to raise a few more, she only had a thousand points to her name.

"Forget it!" Huai Yu shook her head. "I just renovated my house and only have a thousand points left."

Boss Tang thought this was perfectly normal. "Flower City has finally settled down. Back then, everyone just threw their houses together in a haphazard mess, so it’s high time people start upgrading their defense systems.

"Besides, most people aren’t even living in their original homes. Starting over means making renovations. Haven’t you noticed the spike in building material prices lately?"

Huai Yu thought that she couldn’t care less about building materials. Still, a price hike was a good thing! It meant that Wu Yue would have to pay even more for damages, which delighted her to no end.

While they were talking, the two were led into a small conference room.

The room was packed. Boss Tang had clearly called ahead, as someone in the front row immediately waved him over. Seeing that he brought an unfamiliar girl along, the person shifted over to free up the adjacent seat.

Huai Yu offered him a polite smile and quietly sat down.

Up on the podium stood a middle-aged man in a uniform. With a perfectly stern expression, he spoke in the gravest of tones:

"Recently, citizens have reported rampant scalping and illegal resale activities at the Red Prosperity Trading Market...

"The anti-scalping operation launched early yesterday morning lasted for twelve hours. We arrested three individuals and confiscated twenty-one items, with an estimated market value of over eight thousand points..."

Whispers rippled through the room.

Everyone present had heard the rumors and brought enough funds to score a bargain. Hearing the official report only fueled their impatience. They couldn’t care less about illegal resales—they just wanted to snatch up a good deal and make some points!

Meanwhile, three dejected men stood handcuffed in the corner, their heads hanging in shame.

Huai Yu wondered which one was Boss Tang’s friend. She also wondered if those goose eggs had hatched yet, and if she’d be able to snag them for cheap.

As she curiously observed her surroundings, the concise announcement on stage concluded. The middle-aged man waved his hand.

"Now, Suspect Number One will display the valuable items he illegally resold."

A guard brought something in from the doorway. The man standing at the front of the line dejectedly accepted the tray and stepped up to the podium.

He hesitated for a long while, failing to squeeze out a single word of introduction. Finally, the police officer beside him warned, "It’s been a minute. Three... two..."

"I-I’ll speak!" the man stammered out.

"My name is Kang Hongliang! I illegally resold a new breed of rice seeds from the Agricultural Research Institute, causing newly cultivated, top-grade farmland to be instantly overrun and polluted by mutated rice—"

"Ahem!" the guard interrupted sharply. "Be specific. Overrun by what?"

The criminal, Kang Hongliang, squeezed his eyes shut and shouted, "Overrun by barnyard grass with five-meter-deep roots, causing severe property damage to others..."

Huai Yu was utterly bewildered.

The Agricultural Research Institute’s fancy new mutated rice turned out to be barnyard grass—a notoriously stubborn weed?! Why not just call it leeks while they were at it? What exactly were these people even researching?

"They can’t help it," Boss Tang whispered, seemingly reading her confusion. "It’s the Cataclysm. Tons of plants mutated. Some evolved to become stronger and deadlier, while others suffered atavistic regression. Some even get parasitized and taken over by more dominant species..."

Before he could finish, the man on the podium shut his eyes like a martyr going to the gallows and hollered at the top of his lungs:

"I! Kang Hongliang! Thirty-six years old! Married with children! I am a shameless, good-for-nothing failure! To make a quick buck, I passed off fakes as genuine goods and disrupted the market, nearly causing a catastrophe!

"As stated above, all my illicit gains will be confiscated, the mutated seeds will be auctioned, and I must pay a double fine within one year!

"Furthermore, I am sentenced to clear out the root systems of thirteen acres of mutated barnyard grass..."

*GASP!*

Huai Yu was genuinely shocked. From the sound of it, the penalty for illegal resale was terrifyingly steep!

Boss Tang shook his head with a sigh. "See that, Little Yu? That’s why you can never price things too high!

"When he’s out doing his penal labor, he’ll have a QR code slapped right on his chest. Anyone can scan it with their wristband and see exactly what he did to end up there... Talk about social suicide.

"Can’t do it. Absolutely can’t do it.

"Little Yu, you have to restrain yourself later."

Huai Yu nodded solemnly. "Understood. I definitely will!"

Immediately after, the man’s "mutated rice" was put up for auction.

But as for the price...

"Starting bid is ten points per pound, for a total of fifteen pounds," the official announced.

"Atavistic Mutant Value: 41.

"These are extra-large barnyard grass seeds, visually identical to regular rice!

"To prevent the buyer from using these seeds to scam others and disrupt the market, we will spray them with a unique anti-counterfeit dye..."

Obviously, absolutely no one in the room wanted to bid on this garbage.

What were they supposed to do with it? Grow weeds to feed their cows? Anyone lucky enough to own a precious cow wouldn’t dare feed it atavistic junk with a Mutant Value of 41! Not to mention, barnyard grass tasted so awful that not even dogs would eat it!

The audience was dead silent. Not a single hand went up. On the podium, Kang Hongliang visibly breathed a sigh of relief.

But to everyone’s surprise, Boss Tang raised his hand. "One hundred and fifty points. I’ll take it all."

Huai Yu stared at him with wide eyes. The rest of the room immediately swiveled their heads in his direction, while Kang Hongliang gaped at him in absolute disbelief—

Even though it was merely a hundred and fifty points, any successful bid would be added directly to his total "illicit resale value" penalty!

What kind of sadist would bid on something as useless as barnyard grass weeds?!

Under the collective gaze of the crowd, Boss Tang didn’t even bat an eye. "Destroying perfectly good farmland is a severe offense. As a law-abiding citizen, I must do my part to ensure this criminal truly learns his lesson."

He spoke with sonorous, righteous conviction. Up on the podium, Kang Hongliang glared with enough hatred to burn a hole straight through him!

Huai Yu stared at Boss Tang as well. Thinking back to the grueling backbreaking labor she’d put into clearing her own fields, she mustered her courage and raised her hand.

"One hundred and sixty points! I’ll take it!"

This time, Boss Tang was the one who whipped his head around to stare at her in shock. "What on earth do you want that for?"

Huai Yu hesitated for a moment before whispering, "I’ve never seen anything with a Mutant Value of 41 before. I just want to study it."