Chapter 17
That very night, Feng Wu disguised himself, put on a face-changing mask, and wore a loose, shapeless robe that completely hid his figure before making a trip to the auction house in C City.
It was the same auction house as before. Perhaps because they had tasted the sweetness of selling the “special medicine” at a sky-high price last time, this time Feng Wu had no trouble at all handing over the three disguised “special medicines” to them.
The people at the venue even took the initiative to handle the promotion themselves, and confidently guaranteed that the publicity results would definitely satisfy them.
After signing the contract, Feng Wu pretended to leave, but after turning a corner, he circled back to the auction house by another route and secretly slipped inside.
The auction house staff urgently convened a meeting and worked through the night to formulate a promotional plan for the “special medicine.”
Their attitude confirmed something for Feng Wu: the auction house and the person behind the scenes were not on the same side. At most, they had only cooperated during the previous “special medicine” auction.
Hidden in the shadows, Feng Wu stilled his breathing and focused, waiting until the staff meeting ended and everyone had dispersed before preparing to leave.
Just then, Feng Wu noticed that one employee’s behavior seemed a little off.
His steps were hurried. Although his expression, like the others, carried a hidden excitement at the thought of “pulling off something big,” there was also a trace of contemplation buried deep in his eyes.
Feng Wu changed direction and silently followed behind him without drawing anyone’s notice.
The young employee returned to his room. Before closing the door, he even cautiously looked around to make sure no one was following him. Only after confirming that did he shut the door and lock it.
What he did not know was that during those two seconds he spent looking around, a one-time virtual bug no bigger than an ant had been attached to his collar by a wisp of mental power as fine and elusive as wind.
Feng Wu hid in the darkness and turned on the tiny earpiece concealed in his ear. The young employee’s voice immediately came through.
“…Three special medicines.”
“Yes, they’re expected to go up for auction in three days.”
“Please make sure to report this matter to His Highness…”
The call ended. The young employee paced back and forth inside the room, his face full of excitement and joy.
This piece of news was undoubtedly extremely important. If it could truly attract His Highness’s attention and even help him greatly, then he would have nothing to worry about in the future!
Yet he did not notice that the tiny thing clipped to his collar had cracked apart, turning into faint little specks of light that quickly blended into the room’s lighting.
Using the cover of night, Feng Wu left the auction house, a trace of gravity hidden in his dark golden eyes.
“—His Highness?”
“His Highness?” Si Youlin could not hide his shock after hearing the information Feng Wu had gathered. “There aren’t many people who would dare use that title.”
Xiong Yingjun clicked his tongue. “In the Empire, the only people who can be called ‘Your Highness’ are the Crown Prince, the Second Prince, the Third Prince, and the Young Prince. That really narrows the range down!”
At hearing that familiar title, the little cub lying at the bedside suddenly stiffened, then quickly returned to normal before anyone noticed.
The Third Prince…
If he was not mistaken, then that Third Prince might, perhaps, probably, maybe… be him.
Feeling a little guilty, the little cub carefully lifted his head and stole a glance at Feng Wu with his beady little eyes. Then he quickly lowered his head again and pretended not to care, playing with his tiny tentacles while secretly eavesdropping—no, openly listening to their conversation.
Si Youlin said, “The Young Prince is too young, so he probably wouldn’t be involved in this kind of matter. As for the Third Prince…” He suddenly frowned. “There hasn’t been any news of the Third Prince for a very long time.”
Lin An’an thought to himself, of course there wouldn’t be any news of the Third Prince. The Third Prince had been tricked into ending up on Sin Star and turned into an adorable little monster cub—with a head, no less!
Xiong Yingjun also said, “Back when the Third Prince came of age, His Majesty didn’t even hold an adulthood banquet for him. I heard the Third Prince was already dea—ow! baby An, what are you hitting me with a tomato for?”
Xiong Yingjun caught the tomato the little cub had thrown right into his face with perfect accuracy, only to see the cub patting his tentacles as though throwing a tiny tantrum.
Lin An’an spat inwardly.
You can’t just talk nonsense like that. He wasn’t dead yet!
Feng Wu picked the little cub up and, from who knew where, produced a candy and stuffed it into the little cub’s mouth.
It was cool and mint-flavored. The little cub instantly relaxed into a little cub pancake, quietly sucking on the candy in comfort.
Feng Wu said, “It could also be someone from the Federation or the star pirates.”
Si Youlin nodded. The clues they had now were still too few. They could only wait until the day of the special medicine auction and see what happened then.
Over the next few days, the news that a special medicine for Alpha would be auctioned at the C City auction house swept across all of Sin Star once again.
The behind-the-scenes person’s efforts to suppress information about the previous special medicine actually helped Feng Wu and the others a great deal.
The fewer people knew the truth about the last special medicine, the more people would be willing to come to this auction for the new one.
The more people attended the auction and the more convincing the setup appeared, the easier it would be to draw out the real mastermind.
Three days was enough time for people from other Sin Star cities to make their way to C City.
On the day of the auction, Feng Wu disguised himself as one of the attendees, while he and Xiong Yingjun sat separately in different parts of the venue.
Lin An’an curled up inside the pocket of Feng Wu’s loose robe, happily being a little cub who did not need to do a thing.
The auction proceeded as usual. Since the main event was at the very end, Lin An’an secretly played a game on his terminal inside the pocket while the earlier items were being auctioned off.
That was, until he suddenly heard the words “medicinal herb.”
Distracted for a moment, the little light screen showed the words game over. The little cub puffed out his cheeks and simply decided to focus on what was happening outside.
The auctioneer was introducing the current lot. It was said to be a plant suspected to be a medicinal herb, found in the wild outskirts of Sin Star. Though its effects were unknown, its greatest advantage was its tenacious vitality—it had been brought back to the auction house and, even after a full week, still showed no signs of withering.
The little cub could not help complaining inwardly: so surviving one week was enough to count as tenacious vitality now…
But among the wealthy attendees at the auction, quite a few of them actually bought into that sort of thing. Before long, the price rose from the starting bid of one thousand to several thousand.
Curious, Lin An’an reached out with a tiny tentacle and lightly poked Feng Wu’s… um, this spot was probably his waist.
Feng Wu quietly lowered the light screen a little so the little cub could clearly see the detailed display of the auction item.
The moment he got a good look at the plant, the little cub’s beady eyes widened, and he poked Feng Wu’s waist with much more force.
Feng Wu understood what he meant and joined the bidding. In the end, Feng Wu won the medicinal herb for nearly five thousand star coins.
—Five thousand star coins.
Lin An’an’s heart twitched. He nearly staged an on-the-spot explosion of tears right there in the pocket. It was freaking expensive!
The auction continued, and very soon they reached the final featured item.
This time, the special medicine was being sold the same way as last time: all three pills together, with the three highest bidders each receiving one.
The atmosphere in the auction hall was instantly set ablaze. With the example of the previous special medicine auction fresh in everyone’s minds, the venue boldly set the opening bid at two hundred million.
The moment that price was announced, the overheated buyers instantly calmed down a little.
Even so, there were still plenty of people participating in the bidding. The price of the special medicine soared from two hundred million to five hundred million, then eight hundred million…
In the end, the three pills were sold for one billion, nine hundred million, and eight hundred fifty million respectively.
The little cub hiding in the pocket had already gone completely dumbstruck. This time, the price had more than tripled compared to before. He had originally thought that the previous three hundred million per pill had already been the absolute ceiling.
Lin An’an stared blankly, then subconsciously glanced at his own savings account.
Compared with these people, he was still just a poor little pauper, qaq.
After the auction ended, Feng Wu, still in disguise, made a trip to the backstage area of the venue and collected three signed agreements from the staff.
The staff member respectfully escorted him out of the venue, chatting with Feng Wu the whole way, congratulating him on the successful auction and expressing hopes that they could work together again next time.
Lin An’an blinked and noticed that there was something odd about the staff member’s accent when speaking to Feng Wu. Even his walking rhythm and stride were not quite the same as usual.
Only after they had gone very far away from the venue did Feng Wu return to his normal way of walking.
The little cub poked his head out of the robe pocket. [That staff member had a problem?]
“Yes.” Feng Wu nodded. “He’s one of that ‘His Highness’s’ people.”
Not long after the man and cub returned home, Xiong Yingjun arrived too and began reporting on the results of the operation.
“Other than the first buyer, the remaining two who bought the special medicine were our people,” Xiong Yingjun said. “When they were signing, our people successfully attached a miniature mecha to that person’s terminal without being noticed.”
Feng Wu nodded. “Very good.”
“We also planted miniature mecha on the other people who participated in the bidding and made relatively high offers, just in case,” Xiong Yingjun added.
Only then did Lin An’an realize that the medicine price had gotten so high this time because their people had been driving the price up from within.
Although it had been a bit risky, doing so really had narrowed the scope down much more precisely. Those who had remained until the very end and still refused to give up, willing to pay such outrageously high prices for the special medicine, were very likely connected to the mastermind behind the scenes.
And besides… with that move, not only had they earned back the money they previously spent on the “special medicine,” they had also recovered Shang Youyuan’s and Wuhula’s money too.
Feng Wu said, “Transfer three hundred million to Old Master Shang.”
Xiong Yingjun nodded, then asked, “What about Wuhula? Should we go find him again?”
Feng Wu glanced at him and said blandly, “Star pirates aren’t short on money.”
Meaning, they were keeping that share for themselves.
Xiong Yingjun immediately beamed with delight, then suddenly remembered something and asked, “I’ve been meaning to ask—what exactly did we make that special medicine out of? I saw you put it together in just a few minutes, Boss. How was it that fast?”
Feng Wu lowered his head to look at Lin An’an. He had not made the medicine, so he did not know either.
The little cub bounced lightly in his palm. [Mud pellets coated in sugar!]
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