WTYTIAAN Chapter 168

Chapter 168

Morgan’s Heart?

Yan Yunqing saw the chess piece that faintly radiated an ominous aura. It seemed that no one else noticed the strange black energy surrounding it.

‘Morgan’s Heart.’

Yan Yunqing first heard this term in the Bounty Hunter Association of Buma City, when two hunters were privately discussing it, originating from a suspicious “fishing” bounty.

—[Unlimited Level: Seeking Morgan’s Heart]

—Bounty Details: Find Morgan’s Heart and bring it back intact.

The vaguely worded bounty description, the unlimited level requirement, and the generous reward all suggested that it was a “fishing” bounty.

Judging by the name alone, it was easy to deduce that Morgan’s Heart originated from the false god Morgan of Mandipell.

The bounty was issued a few days after the collapse of Mandipell. The person who posted the bounty seemed to be trying to lure someone out. However, Yan Yunqing didn’t have much information at the time, and it wasn’t directly related to him, so he had to put it aside for the time being.

Then, upon leaving, he encountered a guy with a strange face, going by the name “Demetrius,” and revered as the young master by the Eternal God Cult. Yan Yunqing completely forgot about the Morgan’s Heart incident.

He never expected to see the ‘Morgan’s Heart’ from that bounty here.

Yan Yunqing frowned, it was too much of a coincidence.

On the stage, the auctioneer was still enthusiastically introducing the ‘Morgan’s Heart,’ “More than two thousand years ago, the God of Wealth, ‘Morgan,’ fell…”

Yan Yunqing twitched his lips. Listening to the auctioneer’s introduction of this ‘Morgan’s Heart,’ he couldn’t help but wonder: Were they serious?

About two years ago, there were probably four or five gods related to wealth. Which one was named Morgan? If the true God of Wealth, ‘Gold Vein,’ heard this, he would probably be furious enough to resurrect on the spot, right?

Holding His bones, using His abilities, and renaming Him…

Yan Yunqing listened to the auctioneer’s passionate introduction, letting it go in one ear and out the other. He felt that the introduction was full of loopholes, but others didn’t think so.

Especially since most of the people here were from Romunike, and the merchant’s blood was inherently engraved in the Romunike people’s veins. In a country where even titles could be bought and sold, how could they not be moved by something symbolizing the God of Wealth?

Some well-informed people had even known about the auction of this item before the auction started. Many merchants and nobles had come specifically for this ‘Morgan’s Heart.’

When the auctioneer announced the starting price, the excitement was no less than the previous scramble for dragon scales and dragon blood, and even more intense.

Although Yan Yunqing didn’t know what the black energy surrounding ‘Morgan’s Heart’ was, he knew it wasn’t anything good. It was probably similar to the filth on the bones of gods. If one was affected by it for a long time, their life would be in danger.

The scene was like rushing to buy discounted eggs and meat before the market closed, akin to rushing to be reincarnated.

A complete hell joke.

*

[Broken Bridge Remaining Snow] did a forward roll, using the guard’s blind spot to sneak into the last checkpoint. Only after truly entering the Augreir Auction House did he wipe away a layer of sweat and mutter softly, “Finally got in.”

He looked around, cautiously confirming that there was no one nearby, then clung to the wall, studying the reliefs on the auction house’s walls, while also exclaiming, “This is a bit amazing. Such detailed modeling, even the walls have intricate details.”

[Broken Bridge Remaining Snow] was also a game blogger, but unlike [Big A Brother]’s account, which was purely run on fan support, he focused on content creation. He was an up-loader specializing in game plot analysis.

His videos were mostly about research and uncovering small easter eggs that ordinary players wouldn’t find, attracting fans who enjoyed studying the plot. This time, his obtaining an internal testing spot was purely coincidental.

[Broken Bridge Remaining Snow], who was in a content vacuum after just finishing a timeline analysis of his previous game, saw a post on the forum about the opening of the “Return” internal testing slots. He registered for one on a whim.

Who knew that he would just happen to be the three thousandth registrant, luckily grabbing an internal testing slot. He entered the game with a try-it-out mentality, but he became completely engrossed.

He rejected all the game promotion offers he received and devoted himself to “Return,” spending eight hours online every day, forgetting to eat and sleep as he researched this fully immersive game.

While others were busy leveling up and experiencing the sword and magic that they couldn’t feel in the real world, [Broken Bridge Remaining Snow] was exploring the game’s background and world story.

The more he understood, the more excited [Broken Bridge Remaining Snow] became. This world was so real that even a research enthusiast like him couldn’t help but rub his hands in anticipation.

Compared to “Return,” other games were just too weak.

Peeking out from a corner to make sure there were no patrol teams outside, [Broken Bridge Remaining Snow] tiptoed stealthily toward the inside.

[Broken Bridge Remaining Snow] had stumbled upon this city of Slanleypa.

He was born in Novice Village 02 of Norman, which was located on the edge of the forest, close to the border of Romunike. Because he saw posts on the forum about hidden quests in the Romunike novice village, [Broken Bridge Remaining Snow] planned to take a carriage to investigate as soon as he reached level 15 and could officially leave the novice village.

However, it seemed that the station’s coachman didn’t understand where he wanted to go and left him in the wild. He also swindled the few gold coins he had saved in the novice village, so that [Broken Bridge Remaining Snow] was now unable to move an inch.

But this was not a problem. Brave players would not be restricted by these external conditions. He randomly chose a lucky direction to move forward—of course, it was impossible to walk to Slanleypa, after all, those who understand the concept of the wild know that it was sparsely populated for five hundred miles.

Even more tragically, it never rains but it pours. He encountered a low-level monster on the road.

Yes, a monster, the only officially designated hostile monster unit in “Return.”

They were rarely seen in novice villages, but as soon as he left the novice village, he ran into one. This game didn’t have monster level restrictions, and the level of the monsters encountered wouldn’t change based on the player’s level; it was all random.

As a result, [Broken Bridge Remaining Snow], who was barely level 15, almost got killed by a level 20 monster. Fortunately, a passing caravan saved his life, otherwise he would have experienced his first death in the “Return” game.

The two-day resurrection timer was too long. [Broken Bridge Remaining Snow], who had completely become a “Return” addict, felt that he would definitely not be able to bear not playing “Return” for two days.

In short, after being rescued, he learned that the caravan was going to Slanleypa, so he followed the caravan’s carriages.

To be honest, when [Broken Bridge Remaining Snow] saw the city of Slanleypa, which was completely different from the novice village, he was shocked, followed by excitement. A city built with such detail, a city that had never been mentioned in the early plot, sounded like a hidden quest or a hidden map.

[Broken Bridge Remaining Snow], who had rich experience in games, decisively decided to stay. During his stay in the city, he got the news that there would be an auction tonight. At that time, [Broken Bridge Remaining Snow] felt that this auction was not simple. When he saw the familiar chestnut-haired masked man Joker this morning, all his guesses were confirmed.

This auction was indeed not simple!

That Joker had appeared several times in internal recording videos and could be considered the “Return” game’s official ‘poster girl’!

Since Joker had appeared, perhaps this auction would become one of the game’s main quests?

Having guessed to this extent, [Broken Bridge Remaining Snow] naturally couldn’t be absent from this auction, it was just a pity that he couldn’t get a legitimate invitation and had to sneak in.

He quickly scanned his surroundings, and after confirming that there was no one, he quietly sneaked into the auction venue. As soon as he entered, he heard the auctioneer on the stage introducing the ‘Morgan’s Heart’ with flying spittle, which made him stunned.

If Yan Yunqing were to review [Broken Bridge Remaining Snow]’s sneaking process, he would have to exclaim that this guy had really good luck.

It was clearly a heavily guarded auction house, but he happened to find a short ten-second gap where there was no one, and successfully entered the venue.

However, Yan Yunqing didn’t have time to check his mini-map to observe a player’s route of action. He was waiting for the people around him to bid.

Perhaps because the item was too shocking, no one immediately made a bid.

Yan Yunqing glanced at his skill [Touchstone], which had the same origin as the ‘Morgan’s Heart,’ and hesitated a bit.

Although he didn’t know why ‘Morgan’s Heart’ would appear in this auction, now that Yan Yunqing had seen it, he couldn’t let it fall into the hands of others, especially since there was at least one member of the Eternal God Cult on the scene.

From the Mandipell incident, it could be seen that the Light Church and the Eternal God Cult were not much different in their actions; they were both searching for people with ‘talent.’

Yan Yunqing had previously guessed that the “fishing” bounty was likely posted by the Light Church. Now that he saw the main subject of the bounty, he naturally couldn’t let the other party get it so easily.

It would cost a lot of gold coins tonight. He didn’t want to spend real money to buy something that looked ominous, and benefit the person behind it. So, he could only use [Touchstone].

He hoped that the random probability of reducing will in this skill would be small.

Yan Yunqing raised his paddle and took the lead in calling out a price, which immediately ignited the enthusiasm of the merchants and nobles on the scene.

Bids came from all directions, and [Broken Bridge Remaining Snow] saw a scene that made people couldn’t help but feel excited.

[Broken Bridge Remaining Snow]’s eyes lit up. He raised his head and saw a patrolman walking in his direction. He immediately squatted down and hid himself between the backs of the chairs. Feeling it wasn’t safe enough, he simply lay on the ground and crawled forward.

Huffing and puffing, he crawled forward. Fortunately, the attention of the people nearby was focused on the ‘Morgan’s Heart’ in front, so they didn’t notice [Broken Bridge Remaining Snow] crawling all the way over.

After finding a good corner, [Broken Bridge Remaining Snow] concentrated and began recording this auction.

“3000”

“4000”

“4500”

“…”

In the end, the auction became a game for the rich. The unit was ten thousand, and the currency of transaction was gold coins. Such a huge price made even the nobles who were capable of participating in the auction gasp.

Yan Yunqing looked back and saw that when the bid reached 50 million gold coins, there were only two forces competing: one was the box that had previously bid on the dragon scales and dragon blood, presumably where Fei Qi was located, and the other was a small box in a more remote location on the top floor.

Yan Yunqing didn’t have a list of participants in this auction, but a force with the courage to call out such high gold coins must not be an unknown one.

Those who would appear in the city of Slanleypa… were most likely local forces from Romunike.

Several well-known merchants and nobles in Romunike…

Yan Yunqing calculated in his mind, while raising his paddle, “10000.”

The auctioneer was about to bring down the hammer, “Ten thousand… uh?”

He thought he had seen it wrong, adjusted the glasses on his nose, and looked carefully, confirming that it was the number ten thousand. The auctioneer swallowed, “Ten thousand—is there anyone who will offer a higher price?”

As he spoke, he glanced at the top-floor boxes, but at this moment, the top floor was silent, and the atmosphere seemed to freeze at this moment.

After a few seconds, the box located in the corner turned off the light indicating its continued bidding, equivalent to giving up this auction item.

The most luxurious box hadn’t reacted after hesitating for a few breaths. The auctioneer assumed that he had also given up on this auction item, and was just dragging it out of face.

Although one million… or rather, one hundred million gold coins, could be gathered if all the auction houses’ nearly six months of revenue were taken out, the auction house would inevitably suffer for some time.

Just as the auctioneer was about to knock the remaining two times, the luxurious box added to the price again, “10001.”

The whole place burst into an uproar.

Many people remembered the farce of the dragon scale auction, the noble sitting in the booth raised the price in this way.

They originally thought that the noble in the luxurious box would get his revenge after the end of the auction, but they didn’t expect him to start now!

The price had already reached such an exaggerated number that no one was paying attention to the ‘Morgan’s Heart’ anymore. Everyone’s attention was on Yan Yunqing and the luxurious box.

“They’re going at it,” a small merchant next to [Broken Bridge Remaining Snow] marveled, “It’s obvious that the person in the luxurious box wants to retaliate against him.”

[Broken Bridge Remaining Snow] was interested when he heard this. He didn’t have much of a concept of the current scene, but after hearing this person’s words, he couldn’t help but lean over, “What do you mean? Do they have any grudges between them?”

The small merchant was startled and turned around to see an unfamiliar face in front of him. “Who are you? Why are you next to me?”

[Broken Bridge Remaining Snow] paused, chuckled, and scratched his hair, “Just now, I thought it was too boring to be alone, so I came over to find someone to talk to.”

“You just said that these two people have some conflicts, what’s going on?”

The small merchant looked at him suspiciously, “Didn’t you pay attention to them just now? The person who auctioned off the dragon scales and dragon blood was the person in that luxurious box, but the price was also raised during the process.”

“Look, the one who called out 10000 just now is the one who raised the price.” The small merchant lifted his chin, signaling [Broken Bridge Remaining Snow] to look in Yan Yunqing’s direction. “Now the person in the luxurious box must be retaliating against him, deliberately raising the price.”

[Broken Bridge Remaining Snow] looked at Yan Yunqing thoughtfully. From his direction, he could only see the other person’s profile, and it was from the bottom up, so it was even more blurry. He could only see his rough features.

Well, an unremarkable guy.

But being so rich, he should be a man with a story!

But… did Joker appear at the current auction?

[Broken Bridge Remaining Snow] looked around and didn’t see that chestnut-colored hair, which was a bit of a pity.

Yan Yunqing’s lips raised. He wasn’t worried when he heard the bidding coming from behind. No matter how much money it was, he couldn’t have a problem with the [Touchstone] skill.

Competing with him in financial resources?

He raised the ten thousand paddle again, doubling the total amount directly.

Yan Yunqing turned back and gave the luxurious box a provocative look. Regardless of whether the other party was angry or not, he was enjoying it.

As expected, after Yan Yunqing’s glance, the luxurious box added a fraction of 1 to the price again.

“20001”

Yan Yunqing followed up without hesitation, “30000”

“30001”

Yan Yunqing felt that it wasn’t exciting enough, so he simply raised the price three times in a row, “60000”

Inside the luxurious box.

“Damn it, this guy must be provoking us!” A guard next to Fei Qi cursed, “He’s determined to go against us! Prince… Young Master, do we still want to raise the price?”

Fei Qi lowered his eyelids, concealing the coldness that flashed in his eyes, and finally showed a worried expression, frowning slightly, “No, we don’t have many gold coins to begin with, and we have to ask the steward here to help us pay… forget it, let’s just give it to him.”

“Young Master, really? It’s only sixty thousand, it’s okay to let the auction house help pay for it, this is a divine object left by the God of Wealth. If we take it back, the Queen… your mother will be very happy.”

Another guard advised. As soon as he finished speaking, he was poked in the waist with an elbow by someone else. He looked over inexplicably, signaling with his eyes: What’s wrong?

The person who poked him with his elbow winked and made a mouth shape: Ten thousand!

He was stunned, and when he looked at the auctioneer on the high platform again, cold sweat dripped down his face.

Yes, they had been bidding in numbers of thousands and ten thousands, and they almost forgot that the final digit of this number had to be ended with ten thousand as the unit. The sixty thousand he said was actually six hundred million gold coins…

Not to mention whether they could come up with so much gold, even if they could, they wouldn’t dare to take it out!

Even the entire annual tax revenue of Bato Vita might not be six hundred million gold coins. They took out six hundred million gold coins to bid for a so-called item left by a god. If the news got back, who should they dedicate it to?

Dedicate it to the Queen? Then King Bato would definitely be suspicious.

Dedicate it to King Bato? Then, with the Queen’s ruthless personality, if she knew that they had used so much of the Augreir Family’s liquid funds just to dedicate a treasure to King Bato, and the Queen didn’t even have a share, everyone present would be doomed.

This choice was difficult to make, but Fei Qi smiled, with an aura of weakness and easy to bully, “Let’s give up. Even the entire Augreir Family can’t take out so many gold coins in one go.”

“Then we’re just letting that kid off so easily…?”

“What’s so easy about it, don’t forget that we can’t take it out, do you think that kid can? Looking at the location where he’s sitting, he’s just a small noble, even if he used the power of his entire clan, he wouldn’t be able to gather so many gold coins.”

“That’s right, maybe that kid can’t afford to pay for the auctioned item, this ‘Morgan’s Heart’ will automatically be re-auctioned, and our King… Young Master can directly buy it internally.”

After everyone discussed it, they felt that this idea was feasible and agreed with Fei Qi’s decision.

Fei Qi’s face was calm, but at the moment he lowered his head, a cold expression appeared. While everyone was still eagerly discussing, his gloomy eyes slowly swept over the people present.

Several guards vaguely felt that something was wrong and fell silent, leaving only a few people sent by the Queen to follow Fei Qi and help him come up with ideas who were still arguing endlessly.

Fei Qi accidentally shook his hand, and the water glass fell to the ground, making a piercing shattering sound. Hearing this noise, the people present completely quieted down.

…

Back at the scene, the luxurious box was still the same, and hadn’t made a decision for a long time. The auctioneer was still waiting patiently, waiting for the luxurious box to make a decision.

After all, the other attendants might not know who was in the luxurious box, but the auctioneer present would definitely know.

After waiting and waiting, the luxurious box turned off its lights.

The auctioneer thought that he would usher in the next wave of more intense bidding, but he didn’t expect that after the noble from Romunike in that booth made three amazing consecutive bids, the luxurious box gave up the competition.

Three strikes of the hammer.

Deal.

[Broken Bridge Remaining Snow] was excited. He wished he could turn his eyes into video recorders, so he could record the entire auction scene. That way, he could directly post the video instead of converting it into a written description bit by bit.

*

After the entire auction ended, Yan Yunqing became the biggest winner, and the next step was to settle the bill.

That string of numbers was dazzling just to look at.

However, Yan Yunqing had already prepared the gold coins for himself, all of which were the trash he had eliminated from his backpack, converted into gold coins with [Touchstone], and transported over with a bracelet as a space item.

He didn’t expect that this noble gentleman could really afford such a high fee. Those who had also come to settle the bill showed surprised expressions at Yan Yunqing, and were quietly discussing which mysterious family he came from, that he was so rich?!

Yan Yunqing could feel all kinds of gazes scanning back and forth over him, many of which were malicious. Yan Yunqing even felt a wet and cold gaze, like a poisonous snake crawling in a dark corner.

Yan Yunqing looked around unobtrusively, but didn’t find anything.

After smoothly picking up the purchased Beastmen, Yan Yunqing didn’t have time to settle them down. He gave them an address and told them to wait for him there after they left the auction house.

There was no need to worry that the Beastmen would run away, because after the auction house sold the Beastmen, it would sign a master-servant contract with the other party. Yan Yunqing handed over the contract after he auctioned them off.

But it didn’t matter whether they ran away or not. Yan Yunqing’s initial intention was only to rescue these trapped Beastmen. If they ran away, so be it. Those who didn’t run would be taken back and thrown to Merlin as NPC reserves.

Yan Yunqing glanced sideways. He could feel that ever since he left the door of the auction house, a dozen gazes had been fixed on him.

Yan Yunqing tossed the ‘Morgan’s Heart’ in his hand up and down.

Sure enough, the big fool who spent so much gold to buy an item left behind by a god was a big fat sheep in the eyes of those with ulterior motives.

He just didn’t know whether these people were eyeing the ‘Morgan’s Heart’ or his money bag? Or both?

Yan Yunqing walked out normally, turned into a small alley, and changed his acting state, directly changing into Joker’s identity and running towards the depths of the alley.

“He ran?”

“Quick, chase!”

“There!”

“Damn it, who are you? Why are you running with us?”

“Damn it, I want to ask who you are?”

A chaotic shout. At this time, Joker had silently squatted on the wall, completely submerging his figure in the shadows, and watched with interest as the people who were following him collided with each other, and almost started fighting while arguing.

“Stop fighting, find the person first!”

“Which direction did he run in just now?”

“It seems to be over there!”

Unfortunately, in the end, these people didn’t fight rationally, and Yan Yunqing missed a good show. He regrettably watched those small fries chase away.

There was nothing over there, only the real Mr. Ken, who was gagged and tied up like a dumpling.