Chapter 377: Puzzled

The wide streets were packed with people, and the entire city was incredibly lively.

"So bustling."

Long Ming raised his wristband to check for nearby hotels.

Thousands of options popped up. The price range for these hotels was enormous; the cheap ones cost only a few Star Coins a night, while the expensive ones could go for over ten thousand.

Long Ming spent 500 Star Coins to book a room at the nearby Cloudside Hotel, which was equipped with a nerve-link pod.

He then headed toward the hotel he had booked.

「A short while later.」

Long Ming arrived at the Cloudside Hotel, completed the check-in process, and entered his room.

He glanced at the room's layout. It was over 100 square meters and decently decorated. In the corner sat a nerve-link pod.

Long Ming closed the door and sat down on the sofa.

He raised his wristband, opened the marketplace interface, and began to sell off his loot, listing everything he didn't need at low prices.

BZZT BZZT~

Instantly, Long Ming's wristband began to vibrate nonstop as notifications of successful sales popped up one after another.

A smile appeared on Long Ming's face as he watched the constant stream of notifications.

'I was a little worried it would be hard to sell my things here since it isn't the City of Stars,' he thought. 'Turns out my fears were unfounded!'

Soon, everything he had listed was sold. He earned a total of 14.5 million Star Coins, bringing his account balance back up to 83,201,453 Star Coins.

Of course, the reason he earned so little was that he hadn't sold the Stalker, the mechanical wings, his weapons, or those jars of unidentified liquid.

Long Ming gave a lazy stretch, then closed the marketplace interface and opened the Civilization Forum to figure out how to find Luoxue.

He remembered Xiaoqi saying that Luoxue was serving in the Forty-Second Legion.

Long Ming quickly found that the Star Alliance's Forty-Second Legion was stationed in Blacktan Fortress, located in the Guangxiao Star Sea.

Fortunately, Blacktan Fortress was also open to the public, but it was under extremely strict control.

To enter Blacktan Fortress, one had to submit an application. Even if the application was approved, a special security check was required. Everyone entering the fortress had to unconditionally open their security boxes for inspection.

Furthermore, the Mechanized Mother Spire inside Blacktan Fortress was not open to the public; it was for the exclusive use of special personnel within the legions.

Therefore, once on Blacktan Fortress, it was impossible to log into Starry City, and one's warehouse could not be accessed.

Of course, they did all this purely for security reasons.

Long Ming's expression flickered as he read this, but in the end, he decided to send an application anyway.

BZZZ~

A notification message popped up.

Dear Mr. Long Ming, the Third Legion's Logistics Department has received your application. It will be reviewed within seven business days. Please wait patiently!

Long Ming was a bit surprised after reading the message. The review process was unexpectedly long.

He suddenly found himself with nothing to do.

So, Long Ming opened the marketplace interface again and did a search, wanting to see if there were any good invitation letters for sale.

WHOOSH!

An endless list of invitation letters appeared.

But Long Ming's brow furrowed. Although there were many invitations listed, they were all for low-level civilizations. The highest were for Level 2 civilizations; there wasn't a single one for Level 3.

'Just as I thought, the good stuff isn't publicly traded.'

Long Ming lost interest at once. 'Never mind how many times these low-level civilizations have been farmed. Even if I could find something, it wouldn't be very valuable. I might even end up losing money.'

...

「That night.」

Long Ming left the Cloudside Hotel and took a walk along the bustling streets, feeling utterly bored.

Since he had nothing better to do, he decided to explore the city.

A holographic advertisement was playing on a loop nearby.

"The Golden Pavilion Auction! We have it all! The only limit is your imagination, not our inventory!"

...

Long Ming glanced at it and kept walking.

Just then, a young, energetic woman holding a flyer smiled and said to Long Ming,

"Sir, we're from the Yak Auction House. Would you like to learn more?"

"Thanks."

Long Ming politely took the flyer and continued down the street.

Then he saw an advertising airship slowly approaching from ahead, projecting a massive holographic ad.

"Tiancang Auction House, your trustworthy partner..."

Long Ming stopped and looked around the street. He was surprised to see that billboards of all sizes, and even the signs on some shops, were all displaying ads for different auction houses. A look of complete confusion crossed his face.

'Why are there so many ads for auction houses? Isn't the built-in consignment service in Civilization Paradise good enough?'

'Normally, there shouldn't be this many people starting auction houses. It's a surefire way to lose money.'

Soon, another person, a man in a denim jacket holding a stack of flyers, walked over and handed a poster to Long Ming.

Long Ming took the flyer, glanced at it, and then stopped the man as he was about to leave.

"Wait a second."

"Sir, would you like to sign up for a membership?"

Wu Hao asked with delight.

"No, I just want to ask you something."

Long Ming replied, shaking his head.

"No time. I'm busy."

Wu Hao retorted irritably.

Long Ming then held up one finger to Wu Hao.

"What do you want?"

"One hundred Star Coins."

"For real?"

Wu Hao looked at Long Ming in disbelief.

"Transfer!"

Long Ming raised his wristband and transferred 100 Star Coins to Wu Hao on the spot.

"Ask away, sir! I'll tell you anything I know!"

Wu Hao was grinning from ear to ear as he watched the money enter his account.

"I want to know why there are so many advertisements for auction houses everywhere."

"Heh heh, you must be from a low-level civilization, right? Half a year ago, Civilization Paradise announced it would be shutting down its consignment service. The shutdown is in three days. From then on, everyone will have to trade offline. Auctions are the next big thing, so everyone's promoting their own auction house like crazy, trying to build a name for themselves!"

"I see."

"Let me tell you, don't be fooled by how humbly these auction houses are begging for your business now. That's just because they're competing. Once the marketplace's consignment service shuts down, the tables will turn. You'll be the ones begging them!"

"Is it that serious?"

Long Ming was startled to hear this.

"I'm not kidding. Even the nobles of the Twelve Universes are starting their own auction houses now!"

"I understand."

"Well, sir, if there's nothing else, I'll be going."

With that, Wu Hao left and went back to handing out flyers.

Long Ming, on the other hand, raised his wristband and logged into the Civilization Forum to look up information on the matter.

「A few minutes later.」

Long Ming's expression grew grim.

Wu Hao was telling the truth. The marketplace's online consignment function was really shutting down. It was going to be much harder to sell off loot in the future.

And right now, all the auction houses were advertising like mad to snatch up business.

They were also implementing membership systems to lock in customers.

The problem was, if he didn't get a membership now, it might be difficult to get one later.

Thinking this, Long Ming decided to pick an auction house and get a membership.

He immediately started searching on the Civilization Forum, planning to choose a chain auction house with the best reputation and the most influence.