The auction started quickly.
"Gentlemen, ladies, welcome to the Pain Auction. I see you are already eager, ready to expose your most private parts."
"We are also looking forward to this pain tester providing new values! This time, the mysterious Pain Auction has updated with several new items."
"Unfortunately, the initial pain values required are very high."
The auctioneer wore a suit, though he didn’t need to. His current appearance was like Shishio Makoto from Rurouni Kenshin, resembling a mummy more than anything else.
His entire body was wrapped in bandages, due to experiencing extensive burns recently, for which he gained a massive amount of pain points.
"I won’t waste any more words. Everyone, let’s look at the first auction item: a bottle of pain-induced wine produced by the auction."
"This bottle of wine is said to make one recall immense painful memories with each drop, making one live in an intoxicated stupor, yet feeling life isn’t worth living."
A bottle of Japanese sake was placed on the auction platform, eliciting cheers from the whole audience.
"A wine that can induce mental anguish, isn’t this just an energy booster?" a heavily tattooed man exclaimed.
"If I drink this wine, I won’t need to self-mutilate for a while!" said an old man, whose ten fingers were all gone, replaced by steel needles inserted into his palms, as if to substitute for his lost digits.
"Such an explosive item right from the start! This auction might have some incredible treasures!" said a one-eyed teenager.
The bandaged auctioneer was very pleased with the audience’s reaction:
"Though I would love to give this bottle to a brave soul to eliminate the Ren Cave and bring peace to Hujiang, unfortunately, the Pain Auction’s rule is: highest pain points win!"
"The starting bid for this wine is twelve pain points!"
Upon the auctioneer’s announcement, the audience fell into silence.
Twelve pain points...
That’s equivalent to the pain of having a tooth extracted without anesthesia, assuming their bodies weren’t physically trained to handle pain.
"Why is the starting price so high?"
"Who can manage that?"
"Isn’t it too high... my whole body is already as tough as iron, it only leaves that place..."
People began to discuss amongst themselves.
At that moment, a teenager with determined eyes stood firm. He didn’t speak, but Wen Xishu saw the barrage messages.
[My superpower allows me to perceive surrounding creatures. I can overlook the low-dimensional world like a higher-dimensional being... I have a mini-map in my mind, I can clearly perceive everyone’s position, so I don’t need eyes...]
[I bear the hope of my entire village! I cannot fall here!]
Wen Xishu thought, what a long barrage message, these Hujiang people are quite dramatic inside.
[Watch closely everyone! This is a once-in-a-lifetime man’s resolve!]
The teenager suddenly raised his hand:
"This item! It’s mine!"
Once everyone looked at him, he relished in the feeling of being the center of attention:
"I, Tanaka Shouta, will be the hero to eliminate the Ren Cave!"
With that, Tanaka Shouta’s hand stabbed into his own eyes.
His eyeballs burst, flesh and blood splattered everywhere, and the gush of churning flesh made Wen Xishu feel a dual illusion of pain both visually and audibly.
"So ruthless... this pain setting, if made into a movie, would surely satisfy many curiosity seekers. Rokkasho is still too conservative. Hujiang is the ultimate top card."
The once handsome boy, in the next moment, had turned into an ugly person with no eyes, his face appearing as if only two bloody whirlpools remained.
Along with the overwhelming power brought by immense pain, the teenager’s body quickly began to recover...
Soon, the bloody whirlpools started to fill up, and the two bloody holes where flesh was gouged out began to rapidly heal, with the face eventually becoming smooth...
In no time, a face devoid of eyes, leaving only a nose, mouth, and ears, emerged.
[No... impossible, why can’t I see! My higher-dimensional perception was clearly in my mind, why is it suddenly gone!]
The youth was panicking, but without eyes, no one could discern what expression he was making.
At this moment, the auctioneer exclaimed:
"Thirty pain points! Oh my god, thirty pain points! Including thirteen physical pain points, and seventeen mental pain points! Oh, Shouta! You were deeply afraid of losing those eyes!"
Wen Xishu didn’t know whether to sympathize or to mock.
This Tanaka Shouta, the pain of gouging out his eyes, only amounted to thirteen points...
The remaining seventeen points were from realizing he lost his superpower after removing his eyes, a mental anguish.
How ironic.
The creator of these pain rules always seemed like someone filled with malice towards the world.
Wen Xishu glanced around... there wasn’t a single healthy person.
A truly grotesque world.
"Anyone willing to bid higher! Thirty points!"
"Thirty points once!"
"Thirty points twice!"
"Thirty points..."
Just before the hammer was about to fall, a man with only half a head appeared.
"I too wish to give it a try, such fine liquor, how could an old drunkard like me pass it up?"
The burly elderly man had a white beard, but half his head was gone, allegedly lost in a fight with someone who had magma manipulation abilities.
The elderly man punched his own chest with tremendous force, creating a hole through which his beating heart was removed.
"My superpower can cancel certain death links, like not dying from a missing heart or a missing head."