Chapter 586 - 551: You’re Awesome, I’m Not Buying It Anymore!
As the auctioneer announced the starting bid, the whole place erupted into a clamor!
At the same time, Skyshattering Thunder, who was at the venue, and Eternal Star, who was watching the drama unfold from behind the scenes, were both shocked! As the owner of a weapon shop in the Royal Capital, Skyshattering Thunder certainly knew it wasn’t hard to build a tavern if you had the blueprints. The difficulty lay in securing a business license in a bustling place like the Royal Capital! Otherwise, why not simply build a tavern in the countryside of Newbie Village? The village head would even beg you on his knees to build one. The question was, how would you get any business?
Getting a business license wasn’t as simple as just paying money for it; you had to complete quests and grind for reputation! Skyshattering Thunder still couldn’t forget how over a hundred of his brothers had pulled all-nighters for days on end to grind reputation for him! But all the hard work was worth it, as Skyshattering Thunder, who was already profiting from his weapon shop, knew full well what owning a tavern meant, especially what it meant in the Dwarf Kingdom, a nation obsessed with drinking!
Likewise, as the leader of a professional guild, Eternal Star was certainly aware of the significance of a tavern! And the fact that a tavern could be bought directly with Gold Coins clearly indicated something fishy was going on. Even if one used their backside to think, they would know what was up. That’s exactly why Da Fei was here!
Skyshattering Thunder immediately shouted to Eternal Star through the video link, "Guild Leader! This Red Ruby Restaurant belongs to the Second Prince of the Dwarf Kingdom, and it’s absolutely not normal for it to be sold off so casually. It must be a disguised reward given to Da Fei! The location of this tavern is so much better than my weapon shop. The neighbors are all filthy rich in the Dwarf Kingdom, and a single meal can cost close to ten thousand Gold Coins. In-game, it’s normal to make over a hundred thousand Gold Coins in a day, and during banquets, it’s outrageous! The key point is that running a tavern has low costs, unlike my weapon shop where I have to exhaustingly ask my brothers to work all night to produce and craft. It’s so much easier!"
Eternal Star’s eyebrows twitched continuously, "Are you thinking about getting it?"
Skyshattering Thunder quickly replied, "Guild Leader, it’s us who will get it! I only have 20 million Gold Coins, and it’s all pooled from my brothers to prepare for building a city! But as long as the Guild Leader is willing to help, money is definitely not a problem! Even if I buy it on behalf of the Guild Leader, that would be fine, anyway I just can’t swallow my pride, why should I lose to this trash in everything?"
I can’t swallow my pride either! Eternal Star said with a heavy voice, "Alright, I’ll transfer the money to your account immediately!"
Skyshattering Thunder was overjoyed, "Thank you, Guild Leader! Rest assured, I will not take a share of the profits, I’ll just consider it as buying it for the Guild Leader!"
Eternal Star couldn’t help but smile contentedly, "Let’s still split the profits proportionally. You won’t be at any loss by following us. And, even if we don’t get it, it’s no big deal. Just give him a hard pushback!"
Skyshattering Thunder said excitedly, "Understood, Guild Leader! I’ll push back hard!"
Eternal Star felt even more satisfied. Both were just ordinary players, but why was there such a huge difference in how Da Fei and Skyshattering Thunder conducted themselves? If Da Fei had shown a lower profile and proactively sought to ingratiate himself with Star, I definitely wouldn’t have made things difficult for him.
.......
At this moment, the bidding at the auction had already begun, and a fat dwarf preemptively raised his bid, shouting, "35 million!"
The auctioneer joyfully announced, "35 million! Bid no. 67 offers 35 million!"
"36 million!"
The auctioneer loudly called, "Bid no. 88 offers 36 million!"
"37 million!"
"Bid no. 24 offers 37 million!"
Holy crap! All my competitors are NPCs! But then, the Prince said that as long as I’m in the top ten, he could manipulate the results! Alright, as long as I have his word, am I really afraid that NPCs could beat me?
Now Da Fei didn’t have the luxury of contemplation; if he let those NPCs drive up the price, the cost for him to make it into the top 10 would skyrocket!
Da Fei immediately raised his bid, "38 million!"
The auctioneer excitedly announced, "Mister no. 78 offers 38 million!"
Having made his bid, Da Fei coldly glanced at Skyshattering Thunder. He had the power to manipulate the results under the table, you fool, what can you do to fight me? Skyshattering Thunder just happened to meet Da Fei’s glance, and he too smirked coldly and raised his bid, "40 million!"
The auctioneer yelled fervently, "Guest no. 90 offers 40 million! 40 million!!"
Damn it! This guy actually has 40 million? At this point, Da Fei really had to look at him in a new light! This guy, with his strong operation skills and money, he’s not doing too well, is he? Hmph, fool, no matter how well you do, you’re still going to be flipped by my underhanded tactics!
"41 million!"
"41 million! Bid no. 88 offers 41 million!"
"42 million!"
"Bid no. 67 offers 42 million!"
"43 million!"
"Bid no. 55 offers 43 million!"
Damn it! Even though Da Fei was no longer intimidated by Skyshattering Thunder’s threat, he couldn’t help but feel his heart race as he suddenly saw his rank drop to sixth!
Just then, Skyshattering Thunder raised his bid again, "45 million!"
The auctioneer roared with excitement: "45 million! Bidder number 90 has raised the bid again, 45 million! Is there anyone else following up?"
Da Fei was stunned in an instant; this dude can’t just be a show-off, right? He really wants it, doesn’t he? Holy shit! With that move, I’ve dropped to 7th place!
The chubby dwarf raised his sign again: "50 million!"
The auctioneer screamed: "50 million!!! Bidder number 67 is relentlessly pursuing, bidding 50 million! Will bidder number 90 give up?"
Da Fei felt like his eggs were shattered, damn it, a raise of the hand and it’s up by 5 million, now I’m in 8th place!
Skyshattering Thunder coldly smiled and raised his sign again: "51 million!"
The whole venue exploded! Damn it! Down to 9th place!
The big fat dwarf shouted: "55 million!"
— Ah, spit! 10th place now! Da Fei spewed a mouthful of blood! I mean, Prince, are you making a mistake? You only lent me 30 million Gold Coins, are you sure I can handle this restaurant?
And just then, Skyshattering Thunder unhesitatingly raised his sign again: "60 million!"
The whole venue exploded! Da Fei spurted out another mouthful of blood! I’ve fallen out of the top 10! So, to win, I have to bid higher than 60 million? But the thing is, although I have 100 million in cash, I owe the Prince 30 million, Shenlan 20 million, and Dragon Slayer 10 million; I don’t actually have much money, honestly can’t mess around, I must head to the Eastern World immediately after dealing with Radiant City, I can’t possibly go there naked, right?
As Da Fei spewed blood, an attendant suddenly approached Da Fei with a glass of wine and whispered, "Sir, please continue to enjoy your meal!"
Holy crap! You waiter, don’t block my way, okay? Wait a minute! In an instant, Da Fei noticed what seemed to be a slip of paper in the hand of the attendant delivering the wine!
Holy shit! That’s deep! Without a second thought, Da Fei hurriedly grabbed the glass along with the note to read it, and on it was a line of small text: "Improvise on the fly."
— Ah, spit! Da Fei spewed out a mouthful of old wine again! Battling to the end and you give me "improvise on the fly"? What the heck, you should be giving me money to secure the deal, right? Unexpectedly, oh unexpectedly, you’re such a Prince conducting business so unpredictably!
What to do? What does "improvise on the fly" mean? Does it mean it doesn’t matter if I can’t buy it? That’s right, damn it, the auction has at least doubled in profit, even if you were my real brother, you probably wouldn’t want to engage in shady deals, right?
At this moment, the auctioneer’s voice was filled with excitement and resounded through the venue: "60 million for the first time! 60 million for the second time! 60 million—"
At this, the entire room fell silent, the auctioneer raised the hammer high!
And at this moment, Skyshattering Thunder was staring blankly at the auction stage, not provoking Da Fei with his gaze! He really wants it, doesn’t he? Maybe he’s not provoking me because he’s afraid to anger me?
In this split second, Da Fei gritted his teeth, made up his mind, and thought, you think it’s easy to get a restaurant with a capital operation license? Skyshattering Thunder, you are too naive! Even if I don’t compete with you, wouldn’t NPCs want to?
I was too naive! The so-called top 10 behind-the-scenes manipulation is just a system to fool the players! With so many wealthy NPCs around, is there really a big difference whether I’m in the top 10 or not?
Alright, the Prince wants me to "improvise on the fly" does he? I’ll just show him an improvisation! If it works, I’ll take it as spending a little more to give him a big gift.
If it fails, then I’ll just piss off Skyshattering Thunder and then get out of this mess immediately without any hard feelings. After all, it’s not like I don’t have a restaurant; the one under construction in Radiant City is mine, although it’s just slightly worse in terms of location. And it’s not like I don’t know other Princes; the one from Radiant City, although seems to be a bit of a pain. I’m a busy man; having secured the Female Hero and not caring about the Divine Artifact Titan’s Grip, I don’t need your restaurant, I just won’t hassle myself with the Prince’s crap; that’s what I call stepping back for a broader sky!
Da Fei immediately raised his sign: "70 million!"
million, I’ll just not repay Shenlan and Dragon Slayer for now, I still have 30 million! Let’s see what you’ll do, Skyshattering Thunder.
The venue exploded once again, and the auctioneer screamed again! Da Fei coldly locked eyes with Skyshattering Thunder! Little guy, can you top this? I won’t let you have it so easily.
At this moment, Da Fei’s wealth shocked Eternal Star behind the scenes.
Skyshattering Thunder exclaimed: "Guild leader, what should we do? This price is a bit of a loss! It’ll take quite some time to recoup the costs! It will affect our city building! Where did Da Fei get so much money?"
Eternal Star solemnly paused a moment before chuckling: "Right, where did you get so much money?"
Skyshattering Thunder laughed: "Of course, it’s because I’m loyal, have a good reputation, and have many good brothers who will lend me money to manage the business."
Eternal Star laughed: "That’s it, our Star guild has good credit and reputation. Surely, there must be many ordinary players willing to lend us money to manage our turnover. So, problems that can be solved with money are never a problem!"
"I get it now!" With no more doubts, Skyshattering Thunder raised his sign high: "80 million!"
Silence fell over the whole venue!
Da Fei sighed deeply, and his heart, tangled for so long, let go in a flash! Fine, you Skyshattering Thunder are impressive, you are someone noteworthy! I won’t buy it anymore! I won’t trouble myself with the Prince’s crap and will be out of sight and out of mind.
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