ATDIWR Chapter 37
by VolareTang Tang’s words were even more absurd and laughable than those of the Korean Power Users. After all, Koreans have always been like that, arrogant, ignorant, and unaware of their own ignorance, and they like to steal. No matter what it is from Xia Country, they like to steal it and claim it as their own heritage!
Cong Xun from the North Base spoke with a strong northeastern accent. He casually and familiarly said, “Brother, is your woman mentally challenged?”
This question almost voiced the thoughts of everyone present.
Tang Tang’s face turned red, but she was unconvinced, “Is there anything wrong with what I said? Hospitality is a traditional virtue of our Chinese nation. Since ancient times, shouldn’t we be generous when foreign friends visit, and offer them the best things to entertain them and make them feel at home?”
This caused the gazes focused on the Korean Power Users to shift to Tang Tang. Han Zhiwei from the South Base pointed at Tang Tang and said, “Isn’t she the woman lying next to that idiot Commander-in-Chief in the spatial item?”
The delegation from Luo City Base happened to be there too. Jiang Fuzhong looked carefully and confirmed it was her, “I remember that base seemed to be the Third Base? Are you people from the Third Base?”
Cong Xun crudely said, “Does your Third Base produce mentally challenged people? Or can idiocy be contagious?”
“Pfft…”
Many Power Users around couldn’t hold back and spat out laughing.
The commotion they caused wasn’t small. Furthermore, the guides quietly notified the person in charge of patrolling the supermarket. Coincidentally, it was Zhou Qin, the very person Tang Tang was thinking of trying to hook up with.
Someone had already live-streamed the situation here to Zhou Qin, so he knew everything that was happening.
He walked over with a smile and said to the Korean Power Users, “Our supermarket’s seasoning section is over there, gentlemen. You’ve gone to the wrong section.”
This sentence had immense destructive power, directly breaking the Korean Power Users’ defenses. They cursed and swore, and even tried to make a move!
Zhou Qin still had a smile on his face, but his eyes were icy cold. A green vine instantly condensed in his hand. The vine was as thick as an adult man’s thigh and had lush green leaves growing on it. The thicker the condensed plant and the more luxuriant the leaves, the higher the Power User’s ability level.
The Korean Power Users were intimidated. The people who were just angry and wanted to attack were now staring warily at Zhou Qin, seemingly afraid that he would strike.
The thick vine swayed high behind Zhou Qin, watching the Korean Power Users below as if it were alive. Zhou Qin himself said cheerfully, “Gentlemen, didn’t you want to buy seasonings? Go ahead.”
The Korean Power Users were aggrieved but didn’t dare to speak. They left dejectedly. However, even saying that Xia Country was stingy and barren, they didn’t discard any of the rice, flour, oil, or even the brown rice with bran in their shopping carts.
Their actions were completely contrary to what they were saying.
Zhou Qin withdrew his ability and then turned his head towards Tang Tang. His eyes showed no unfamiliarity when looking at Tang Tang; he clearly remembered her.
Tang Tang was happy. A man had only met a woman once, and even after a long time, he could still recognize her at a glance. What did it indicate? It indicated that she was in his heart, or at least he was attracted by her appearance.
Tang Tang cleared her throat, coughed, and then flicked her hair. Just as she was about to greet Zhou Qin with feigned modesty, as if she didn’t care yet seemed to still have an impression of him, she heard Zhou Qin say to Shen Mo, “From the Third Base? I remember when your base’s people came last time, I said that this woman is mentally ill and contagious. Don’t bring her to our base. I don’t want our base to be infected and become idiots!”
Tang Tang’s face had just revealed what she considered her sweetest smile when she heard Zhou Qin’s words. Instantly, the smile froze on her face, forming a comical and ridiculous expression.
Shen Mo immediately said to Ding Yong, “This woman is mentally ill. Throw her out.”
Ding Yong had no feelings for Tang Tang; it was just a physical transaction. Although Ding Yong liked Tang Tang’s youth, shrewdness, and openness in bed, that bit of liking was insignificant compared to his own future and status.
“Get lost!” Ding Yong’s face changed immediately, and he snatched the shopping cart back from her hand.
“No, I… Brother Ding, don’t be like this.” Tang Tang panicked. It had only been a few days since she had managed to climb out of that dirty place. She didn’t want to go back. “Brother Ding, don’t be angry. It was my fault for saying the wrong thing, I…”
“Gentlemen from the Third Base, I’m sorry, but our Jing Shi Base doesn’t accept trash. If you want to dispose of garbage, please throw it outside the Jing Shi Base. Thank you for your cooperation.” After saying this, Zhou Qin smiled and left.
Tang Tang was anxious and ashamed. At this point, she no longer had any intention of hooking up with Zhou Qin. She focused solely on trying to appease Ding Yong.
Ding Yong glared fiercely at Tang Tang, roughly yanked her, causing her to stumble, and walked outside.
In the blink of an eye, it was the day of the auction. The auction was scheduled to start at ten o’clock in the morning, and delegations from various bases arrived one after another.
Although Ji An was not the main organizer, the two treasures auctioned by the Jing Shi Base were both from his hands. He was considered an important figure, so he naturally had to be present.
Ji An didn’t have many relatives or friends, so when Tang Ning and Zheng Yan learned he had an invitation, they asked if he could bring them to see the world. Ji An readily agreed and also brought Wu Youyang and Rong Fan out to relax.
These two had been working on spatial storage items until they were sick of it.
The three arrived especially early. When they arrived, the entire auction hall, except for the staff, was almost empty.
Today, Gu Jinsheng, Kong Zhongcheng, Wan Xueying, and Zhou Qin were all there, currently doing the final assignments.
“Kong Zhongcheng, you and I will be responsible for the inner area. Zhou Qin will patrol the entire venue, inside and outside. Wan Xueying will be responsible for the outer area,” Gu Jinsheng instructed.
“Okay,” the four responded in unison.
After assigning tasks, Gu Jinsheng turned to greet Ji An, “I’ve reserved a spot for you, a VIP box in the distinguished guest area on the third floor. Don’t worry, you can see outside from inside, but absolutely no one can see inside from outside. If you see something you like, you can participate in the bidding freely.”
Although this auction was hosted by the Jing Shi Base, each participating item came from various bases.
Many bases only had one or two good items. They wanted to sell them, but they weren’t valuable enough to hold an entire auction, so they kept them. This time, they took the opportunity to sell them during the auction hosted by the Jing Shi Base.
It was also because the Jing Shi Base had always had good credibility externally that those bases felt comfortable entrusting their good items to the Jing Shi Base.
In fact, Ji An was quite looking forward to this auction. Almost all major bases had submitted items for auction, so there would definitely be no shortage of good things.
Gu Jinsheng handed a walkie-talkie to Ji An, “Take this. If you see something too valuable, don’t bid on it yourself. Tell me, and I’ll take care of it for you.”
Ji An knew this was Gu Jinsheng’s kindness, afraid that he might cause trouble, so he calmly accepted it.
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
Ji An took Tang Ning and Zheng Yan up to the third-floor box.
As soon as they were seated, fruit platters and drinks were brought in. Ji An pushed the things towards the two ladies, whose eyes were already sparkling.
Tang Ning quickly said, “Boss, you eat too.”
“Okay.” Ji An ate idly, his eyes fixed on the delegations coming and going downstairs.
Suddenly, Ji An saw a familiar figure, it was Cruz, the one who caused trouble with several R Country people at the airport the other day.
At this moment, he wasn’t alone. Beside him were three other M Country people with blond hair and blue eyes, and a group of four Chinese people, three women and one man.
Ji An’s beautiful eyes narrowed slightly. He pressed the walkie-talkie and asked, “Cruz was released?”
“Yes,” Gu Jinsheng seemed to be afraid that Ji An might misunderstand something and quickly explained, “He didn’t have the zombie virus hidden on him, and he pushed everything onto those R Country people, saying he didn’t know about it and was just following them to gain experience. Those R Country people didn’t dare to offend M Country, so they took all the responsibility themselves, clearing him completely. M Country was willing to pay a high price to save Cruz. We had no reason to detain him, so we could only ask for a large amount of supplies and release him.”
From the time he met Ji An until now, the total amount of words Gu Jinsheng had said to Ji An combined might not equal what he said this time.
Ji An could feel Gu Jinsheng’s worry about him misunderstanding.
“I understand, you don’t need to explain. As long as we don’t suffer a loss, it’s fine.”
“We didn’t suffer a loss,” Gu Jinsheng was visibly relieved, “The M Country delegation sent a Tier 5 Mental-type Zombie Crystal Core.”
Mental-type Zombie Crystal Cores were rare to begin with, and high-tier zombie crystal cores were even more difficult to find. Currently, the probability of finding a zombie crystal core with both attributes is less than one in a hundred thousand.
This didn’t even include the grain compensated by M Country. M Country paid a heavy price to redeem Cruz.
For some reason, Ji An always felt something was off. He frowned slightly, “After the auction, can I examine that Zombie Crystal Core?”
“Sorry,” Gu Jinsheng found it a bit difficult to say, “Han Yaokun is stuck at the peak of Tier 4, that Zombie Crystal Core…”
“I don’t want it. It’s just that I feel something is wrong,” Ji An was not afraid that Gu Jinsheng would misunderstand that he was saying this because he coveted the crystal core. He honestly stated his true feelings.
“You think there’s a problem with the crystal core?”
“Yes,” Ji An replied, “How could M Country suddenly be so generous? I feel there might be a problem here.”
“Okay, I will give you the Zombie Crystal Core to check after the auction ends.” Gu Jinsheng completely believed Ji An’s words without any doubt.
Ji An slightly curved his lips and smiled.
“Boss, you’re smiling so happily. Did something good happen?” Tang Ning asked curiously.
“Nothing, a friend…” Ji An didn’t want to say, so he vaguely glossed over it. Suddenly, his gaze fell on the first floor.
Ji An saw a woman who should have been very familiar to him, but was actually quite strange: it was Tang Tang.
Tang Tang had changed a lot since he left the Third Base. She no longer had that reserved and proud demeanor, she had lost her confidence, and the whole person appeared timid and hesitant.
Her appearance had also aged a lot. Looking at her coldly, she seemed like thirty-seven or thirty-eight, completely unlike her age of eighteen this year.
And the dress she was wearing looked very cheap and old. Coming to such an auction, everyone was dressed brightly, so Tang Tang wearing a clearly old-looking dress was very noticeable.
Ji An just casually glanced at her and turned his head away. An ant, that’s all, no need to keep her in mind.
Soon, the auction began. The auctioneer was a very beautiful female host. She stood on the stage and first said a few conventional opening remarks, then directly stated, “I know everyone is mainly here today for the spatial storage item shown in the video the other day. Everyone must be very eager to know whether that item is real or fake. Our Jing Shi Base won’t beat around the bush today; we will directly display it for everyone to see. Those interested can take a look.”
As the host finished speaking, another female Power User wearing a cheongsam came up with a tray. On the tray was a lush green Jade Bangle.
“Box 1 VIP raises the bid.” The host’s sweet voice sounded, and the female Power User in the cheongsam took the tray to the second floor.
Box 1 was a private box, people outside couldn’t see inside, but they could vaguely hear the sounds of Power Users inside cursing and exclaiming. People outside then knew that the spatial storage item was real, otherwise, the reaction inside the box wouldn’t have been like this, and they would have caused a commotion already. Because of this, the people outside were even more eager to see what the spatial treasure looked like.
“It seems the spatial storage item is real, and it might even be far beyond our imagination,” Owen said, sitting in the VIP box, vaguely hearing the hushed exclamations of Power Users in nearby boxes.
Jiang Fuzhong said, “Indeed, times have changed. We have abilities, and now we have space.”
Du Ruanlan’s dark eyes held an unfathomable expression, “Jing Shi Base is full of hidden talents. Is there something even better than this?”
Jiang Fuzhong scratched his head, “Boss, why do you say that?”
Owen lightly reprimanded, “Idiot, if Jing Shi Base only had this one treasure, how could it appear so early? They are the organizers, they need good items for the finale.”
“Ah? Is there anything more amazing than space? I really can’t think of anything.”
“Who knows, we’ll find out by watching.”
The spatial storage item came out of Box 1, and the cheongsam beauty’s smile became even sweeter.
She hadn’t walked many steps before someone else raised their bid.
The cheongsam beauty had visited almost all the boxes and VIP seats before she walked back to the host’s stage on high heels. By this time, an hour had passed since the auction began. Everyone was looking at the spatial storage item, and although not a single item had been auctioned off, everyone’s excitement had reached its peak.
The host was smiling so wide her teeth showed, “Auction Item Number 1, Spatial Storage Bangle, inner diameter 53mm, built-in space of two hundred cubic meters. Starting bid: ten thousand Tier 3 Zombie Crystal Cores, five thousand Tier 4 Zombie Crystal Cores, one thousand Tier 5 Zombie Crystal Cores, fifty tons of refined grain, one hundred types of fruit seeds, one hundred types of vegetable seeds…”
All items in the auction were exchanged through bartering.
However, even so, everyone was bidding frantically. All bases lacked grain, so there was almost no bidding up on the grain; they were all frantically adding bids on the Zombie Crystal Cores.
Some people, whose crystal cores were insufficient, added mutant beast meat.
Jing Shi Base could accept anything. After all, they lacked everything except space. They could pile up as much grain and meat as they received in the spatial storage and eat freely, because time stood still in the space, and food would never spoil.
In the end, the Spatial Storage Bangle was won by the M Country delegation. It wasn’t because they could provide more grain, but because they could offer a Tier 7 Early Stage Mental-type Zombie Crystal Core. This item was too valuable and directly defeated all other bases.
The Spatial Bangle falling into the hands of the M Country delegation disappointed many base representatives. However, what they didn’t expect was that the second auction item was still a spatial storage item. This time it was a Jade Buddha pendant, with a space one hundred cubic meters larger than the previous one.
The bidding reached a new high. The host was smiling so wide her teeth showed, and Ji An also smiled, his eyes narrowed.
Just when everyone thought it was over, the third auction item came up. It was still a spatial storage item, this one one hundred cubic meters larger than the second one.
Everyone continued to bid.
However, after this round of bidding, while everyone was waiting for the fourth spatial storage item, the host suddenly said, “The next item, Auction Item Number 4, comes from T Base. It is a mutated great white shark.
The mutated great white shark is at the peak of Tier 4, has been domesticated, is very friendly, and can be used as a tamed beast.”
This was clearly a tamed beast prepared for beast tamers.
After the Apocalypse, awakened abilities were diverse. The mainstream included Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, Earth, Wind, Fire, Thunder, and Lightning. Rare abilities, Mental-type abilities, Space-type abilities, and Healing-type abilities were the most precious. Niche abilities were even more varied.
Among them were beast taming abilities. People who awakened this kind of ability generally worked in professions related to animal training before the Apocalypse. Of course, some people, although they didn’t work in the animal training industry, naturally had an affinity for animals, and many animals were inexplicably drawn to them.