After taking a shower, Xia Fei put on his virtual reality glasses and entered the interplanetary internet, ready to participate in Masterpiece Line’s auction.
Today was the first day of the auction. The Windshade Mark IV combat suit was the 97th item on the docket, while he still had to wait for the next day before Silver Nocturna Blossom would be up for the auction. After all, there were simply too many items up for auction. If Masterpiece Line had decided to auction everything all in one go, they would be required to continuously run the auction for several hours without any break. Not even an ironman would be able to withstand it.
According to the general auction rules, the more valuable the item, the later it would appear. Judging from the Windshade Mark IV combat suit’s order, it was considered one of the relatively high priced items out of all other items.
Meanwhile, far away in New York.
Xiao Haili, the leader of the Adjudicator Union’s executive department’s Team 13 and the overall in charge of this Crisis grade assessment, had arrived at the information processing room.
Ten AI computers were neatly placed in the information processing room, as Xiao Haili sat beside one of the AI computers and took a virtual reality helmet to wear.
Just as he was about to log onto the interplanetary internet, the other two members of Team 13, Bosingwa and Queiroz, pushed open the door and entered.
“Why are you here? We have been looking all over the place for you. We finally managed to get a day off, the three of us should get together and share a couple of drinks. I’ve been feeling so suffocated this whole time. Although Earth is so backward, the chicks here aren’t so bad,” The ever philandering Queiroz said.
“That’s right, we’ve all been burnt out preparing for this assessment the entire time, it’s about time we get some rest. What are you logging onto the interplanetary internet for? Come on, let’s go out for some drinks,” Bosingwa also echoed the suggestion.
Xiao Haili took off the virtual reality helmet that he had just put on and spoke to the two, “I’m not going. I plan on joining an auction to buy something.”
“What auction could be more important than drinking?” Queiroz asked, puzzled.
The two sat next to Xiao Haili, and Bosingwa rubbed his chin thoughtfully, “I just recalled that today is the Masterpiece Auction House’s opening day. Their standards are fairly high. They are rather famous too. What are you planning to buy?”
Xiao Haili scratched his head a little awkwardly, “Keke, it’s nothing much. I saw a Windshade Mark IV combat suit listed in their catalog, and it was of good quality too, so…”
“So, you’re thinking of buying it as a gift for Ye Xiaohan, right!” Bosingwa and Queiroz both finished his sentence in unison.
Queiroz nudged Bosingwa with his elbow as he revealed a smirk, “Look at his expression, we must have guessed it correctly. Who else could he be gifting it to aside from the beautiful Miss Ye.”
“That’s not necessarily the case. I’m also a Speed Ability User, so perhaps Xiao Hai might be buying it as a gift for me,” Bosingwa teased jokingly. The three of them were very good friends. Bosingwa was the oldest out of them, which was why he would often refer to Xiao Haili as Xiao Hai while Queiroz would call him big brother Hai since they were as close as real siblings.
Queiroz leaned forward with a smile, patting Bosingwa’s shoulder, “A gift for you? Are you marrying him?”
Xiao Haili was left speechless from all their mocking, lowering his head to get a quick glance of his watch before saying, “Okay, spare me already, the both of you. The auction is about to begin. You two can go first. I’ll join the two of you after buying this Windshade Mark IV combat suit.”
Bosingwa and Queiroz thought about it for a bit, “It’ll be boring with just the two of us. Let’s wait until the auction ends.”
With that, the two each put on a virtual reality helmet and adjusted the system for a parallel connection, allowing the three of them to watch the auction simultaneously.
Xiao Haili arrived on the Masterpiece Auction site the moment after logging onto the interplanetary internet, finding a seat at the back row to sit down.
Since it was the first day of the auction, the crowd was rather huge. The venue had no less than 10,000 people, coughing, discussing, snoring. There were all kinds of people here, which seemed somewhat chaotic.
“Xiao Hai, this Windshade Mark IV is an old model from a long time ago, and the starting bid isn’t low either. How much have you prepared this time?” Bosingwa asked.
“I still have 200 million star coins in my bank account. That should be enough,” Xiao Haili said.
“200 million!” Queiroz exclaimed. “The three of us started work on the same day, yet you’ve managed to save up to 200 million. Why is it that I don’t even have 2 million in my bank account? Argh! Indeed, comparing yourself with others would only cause you to be upset.”
Bosingwa laughed uproariously, “Do you even have to ask that? Do you even realize how much you’ve spent just on all those women every year?”
At that moment, a blonde beauty walked up to the auction platform beaming brightly. With a svelte and rocking figure, Queiroz could not help but softly whistle, “That chick’s not bad.”
“A warm welcome to the distinguished guests of Masterpiece Line. The annual Masterpiece Line’s Auction is about to begin. As usual, we’ve prepared plenty of top-class products for everyone this time, and I invite everyone gathered here to actively bid in a moment’s time!” The blonde beauty winked at the audience after speaking, causing the hearts of many lechers to itch.
The auction proceeded swiftly with this atmosphere of great enthusiasm. Everyone who could participate in the Masterpiece Line’s Auction was wealthy and generous with their spending. A single auction item could often be sold for three to four times the starting bid.
About 2 hours later, they had finally reached the 97th auction item on the docket, which was the Windshade Mark IV combat suit that both Xia Fei and Xiao Haili had their eye on.
A young lad walked up to the front of the platform, holding an exquisite black metal case with many intricate patterns carved on it and workmanship as very exquisite as well.
“Big brother Hai, it’s finally the Windshade Mark IV’s turn. If you send it as a gift to Ye Xiaohan, she might very well just commit herself to you on the spot out of sheer happiness,” Queiroz teased.
A glint of light shone from Xiao Haili’s eyes, “Ye Xiaohan’s grandfather had once left her a set of the Windshade Mark IV combat suit, but she had unfortunately lost it subsequently. She had always felt much regret about that incident, so I have been searching for a Windshade Mark IV combat suit ever since I learned about this. It’s a pity that this model is just too old, and I couldn’t find it no matter how hard I tried. Luckily, Masterpiece Line’s Auction actually listed one on their auction catalog this time, otherwise there’s no telling how much longer I would have to keep searching.”
Bosingwa sighed, “Xiao Hai, you’ve been really earnest and well-intentioned toward Ye Xiaohan. If she were to refuse to marry you, I’d be the first to reject her.”
The female emcee retrieved the Windshade Mark IV combat suit from the case very carefully, presenting it to the audience as she circled the platform once.
Putting the suit back into the case, she took out a metal nameplate from inside and showed it to everyone. A large black spider was carved onto that plate, slowly spinning out silk from its mouth.
“We have just been notified that this Windshade Mark IV combat suit is actually a limited edition set,” the blonde beauty excitedly announced.
“Limited edition!” The crowd below the platform exclaimed.
Some people even expressed their doubts about the claim, “I’ve never heard of the Windshade Mark IV having a limited edition. Are you trying to con us?”
The blonde emcee beamed genially, “This combat suit is indeed a limited edition set. The Windshade company had produced a total of 99 limited edition sets that year. This batch of limited edition suits was not publicly sold in the market, but were instead gifts to some of the company’s major clients, which is why it is completely normal that no one here has heard about it before.”
“It’s a well-known fact that more than 90% of female Blackstar Spiders do not spin silk. Their role is mainly to give birth, not hunt for food. Only about 10% of female Blackstar Spiders can spin webs and hunt prey for some unknown reason, and these female Blackstar Spiders would not mate or give birth. They would live all alone, and were thus called Black Widows.”
Conversations abound with the audience below the platform. A good number of them had been enticed by the mysterious introduction that the blonde beauty had given, generating a high level of interest in its purchase.
“Now, let us begin with bidding! The starting bid is 50 million!”
“Good, this handsome young man bids 50 million!”
“52 million!”
“53 million!”
…
“Phantom, what’s the difference between the limited edition combat suit and the original?” Xia Fei asked.
Phantom answered in a deep voice, “The silk of the Black Widow is extremely rare. If it were to be used to produce the combat suit, its defensive performance would at least see a 30% increase over the original, reaching the standards of an Advanced Legendary rank!”
“Advanced Legendary rank! That would mean it’s an Advanced Legendary combat suit!” Xia Fei exclaimed.
“This combat suit is very good, and its strong defensive power is precisely what you need. Xia Fei, you must get it,” Phantom said.
“Yes,” Xia Fei nodded gravely.
Somewhere not too far away, Xiao Haili’s face was flushed with excitement, “The Black Widow limited edition! Do you guys know? The set that Xiaohan had lost was precisely a Black Widow limited edition combat suit as well. What a coincidence! I must get it!”
