Chapter 426: Ice b.u.t.terfly & Black Blood
Of course, there was someone who knew what the mysterious zoophyte was and it was Tang Long.
The real name of the zoophyte that even the black market failed to identify with all their resources was the Ice Fungus b.u.t.terfly.
Its current form was certainly in the infant stage. If one knew how to nurture it to maturity, it would turn into a coc.o.o.n. On the day it hatched out of its coc.o.o.n, the white worm would turn into, as its name suggested, an Ice b.u.t.terfly. It was a very special type of beautiful b.u.t.terfly as its wings and body would turn into a translucent icy blue color.
“The icy blue translucent b.u.t.terfly is the one and only Ice b.u.t.terfly. When it hatches, it must be caught with a special method. Otherwise, it will fly away. Without a special instrument, one’s eyes cannot see the b.u.t.terfly.
“When captured, stimulating it appropriately will make it spit a type of ice crystal that has a unique high proactive energy, and there is only one use for the ice crystal—to nourish the war seed.
“If you are lucky enough, a single Ice b.u.t.terfly can level up the war seed. You must know there are only so many things in the world that can level up the war seed. Even if it cannot level up the war seed, it will cause the war seed to evolve unimaginably. The Ice b.u.t.terfly is indeed a prized treasure.”
Tang Long fixed his gaze on the Ice Fungus b.u.t.terfly on stage. The trivial knowledge that his G.o.dfather had unintentionally told him when he was young was playing in his mind.
Back then, he already knew that the eyes of his fox tattoo were two war seeds. He had longed for an Ice Fungus b.u.t.terfly to level up his war seed and to grow the little fox.
Tang Long had once been naive when he was young. Would this be his childhood dream? Anyway, it left a strong impression on him, and unfortunately, no matter how almighty his G.o.dfather was, he did not get the Ice Fungus b.u.t.terfly because it was too precious, and the only way to procure it was to go beyond Iron-Blooded City.
Tang Long never expected the infant of an Ice Fungus b.u.t.terfly to appear in a small auction like this. When he laid his eyes on the white worm on the plant, his heart was pounding. He was determined to get the Ice b.u.t.terfly Bacillus Gra.s.s.
However, he did not show his excitement on his face because Draconic Twelve was still there. It was not that he did not trust Draconic Twelve, but he just instinctively felt that there was a wall between him and the latter. Therefore, he was unwilling to show his emotions in front of Draconic Twelve despite the Stardust Sixteen existing because of him and him alone. All of them were certainly his allies.
His memories flashed in his mind together with some messy thoughts. When Tang Long regained his senses, the Ice Fungus b.u.t.terfly had reached the price of 5,000 Black Sea coins with the highest bid at the moment coming from the first floor.
Tang Ling was also on the first floor. He was suppressing the excitement of the little seed in his heart.
The little seed remained in slumber, but the excitement he felt was 10 times stronger than when he had seen the strange b.l.o.o.d.y tooth at the trading company. The little seed wanted the Ice Fungus b.u.t.terfly on the stage, but could Tang Ling get it?
The price had crazily surpa.s.sed 10,000 Black Sea coins and showed no signs of stopping.
Tang Ling had a feeling that his funds might not be enough for him to get the Ice Fungus b.u.t.terfly. As expected, after he bid twice, someone on the third floor outbid him brazenly as if the guest hated the first floor for bidding in such small irritating increments.
The offer from the third floor was 10,000 True Capital coins.
The price should have been able to shun everyone from the first floor, but to everyone’s surprise, someone else on the first floor outbid that with a hefty 15,000 True Capital coins.
Tang Ling fell out.
Lack of funds proved to cause solid damage to him, but he did not feel bad at all. The reaction from the little seed might be strong, but it was not as strong as his desire for the Demon Infant’s body.
With a quick comparison, the Demon Infant’s body was obviously better than the Ice Fungus b.u.t.terfly.
Having one in his possession should have dampened his desire for the second one, should it not? It was like when a child was growing, the parents should not feed him with the best nutrition every day because it would either cause indigestion or overnutrition, and in the end, nothing would happen.
So, he moved on to the next question: What was Iron-Blooded City?
It was the second time that Tang Ling heard this city being mentioned in the auction. It felt like everything good came from beyond the city. Was it a safety city? How could it own that many precious resources? Was it stronger than the True Capital?
Tang Ling was thinking about Iron-Blooded City whilst the bidding war continued.
He failed to understand why he was still at the auction. The second last item was already on, so what else he was looking for? The bidding war was fierce, but why would it have anything to do with Tang Ling?
When the price reached 30,000 True Capital coins, the guest on the first floor dropped out.
Conversely, several other guests on the third floor joined the price war and raised the mysterious zoophyte to a sky-high price of 80,000 True Capital coins.
A question started to arise in everyone’s minds. The price for the zoophyte was certainly not something one would pay out of interest. Could the bidders know the true value of the Ice Fungus b.u.t.terfly?
If that many bidders knew its value, why would the black market not?
Things started to seem odd, but the auctioneer and the black market would never explain themselves.
“100,000 True Capital coins.” Draconic Twelve came back from the office. Given Tang Long’s ident.i.ty and reputation, even if he had not handed in the mortgage items, the auction would still have acknowledged his verbal agreement.
Therefore, when Tang Long got a total of 300,000 True Capital coins as fresh funds, he bid on the zoophyte for the first time. Unfortunately, his offer was quickly drowned in the battle between the third-floor guests.
Tang Ling also realized the problem. How could the black market not know what the mysterious zoophyte was? What good would concealing the truth do for the black market?
As far as Tang Ling knew, there was none.
…
“What a lousy trick. Are you even trying to maintain the balance?” said the copper-faced man when he saw the Ice Fungus b.u.t.terfly on the stage.
“My my, you caught me red-handed. Since I’m giving something good to Tang Ling, I must also give something good to Tang Long. Only then can I be truly neutral.” Jian Fei’s extravagant explanation was met by the copper-faced man’s stern and heavy gaze.
“Why so serious? I’m just giving these two likable kids something to play,” Jian Fei grumbled softly out of grievance. He dared not joke in front of the copper-faced man anymore.
The copper-faced man was usually a man of few words but this time, he blurted out a long sentence that sounded like a warning to Jian Fei, “I don’t care how you want to give it to Tang Long. I’ll stay out of it this time but don’t spoil things with undue haste next time As for whether Tang Ling can get that thing or not, it’s up to him. Don’t meddle with this anymore. If it belongs to Tang Ling or what will happen to him if he gets it, that’s not an answer that you or I have.”
“Okay, okay, I get it.” Jian Fei felt discouraged. It seemed like even the owner of the Floating Ice Black Market did not dare to get on the wrong side of the copper-faced man.
However, the copper-faced man did not stop even with Jian Fei’s compliance. He emphasized the matter again, “You really are a troublemaker. You called me over today because you still have a reason to notify me about this, and I’ll tell you this one last time: stop it and keep your hands to yourself. This is my last warning and I mean it.”
…
In the end, Tang Long got the Ice Fungus b.u.t.terfly at a bizarre price of 310,000 True Capital coins, which was a few times higher than the Dragon Tooth Saber.
The whole auction hall was silenced because the auction was conducted in a rather unusual way.
As everyone suspected, the guests on the third floor must have known the value of the Ice Fungus b.u.t.terfly, but a war seed that could be leveled up was so rare to the point that they lost the desire to compete.
Moreover, the zoophyte was still in infancy and must be matured enough for one to know how effective it was towards the war seed. If the maturity stage failed in terms of quality, its effect would be limited to war seeds that could not be leveled up.
Rather than spending a large sum of money to buy the Ice Fungus b.u.t.terfly, it was more cost-efficient to buy some lower grade nourishment for the war seeds. The effect would still be the same or even better.
Tang Long was considered lucky to have gotten it with 310,000 True Capital coins. If the zoophyte was a mature one and had proven quality, it would not appear in a small auction like this. It would only appear in a grand auction in the True Capital, and the price might have multiplied by tenfolds or more. Maybe he would not get it even at ten times the current price.
Regardless, Tang Long got the zoophyte, so there was one last mystery item left in the auction.
Without further ado, the auctioneer told the staff to bring up the final item.
After he lifted the red cloth, a vial of black blood was revealed.
“Likewise, we don’t know what the black blood is. The only thing we can say is that it’s a type of blood that is also astonis.h.i.+ngly active, but less so than the previous item. We even found out that this active component cannot be used by humans and might even cause some side effects to the body. However, active blood is always valuable. It’s not easy for people to extract active blood from a vigorous Level 9 vicious beast.
“Now, let the bidding begin. Similar to the last item, the asking price is 0 and every call cannot be less than 1 Black Sea coin.” The auctioneer then stepped aside and waited for the offers to come in.
Strangely, after a full five seconds, no one bid at all. Everyone knew that active blood was valuable but what was the side effect that it might cause?
Moreover, while extracting active blood might not be easy, with sufficient skills, it was possible to extract active blood from a Level 3 vicious beast or above and falsify it as high-level active blood. It was already a well-known scam, and although the auction offered a little more insurance, it was still not a 100% guarantee.
Tang Ling’s heart was hurting him.
When he saw the vial of black blood, the little seed exploded with not just desire but with other mixed feelings. Were they doubts? Or confusion?
The feelings were unusually strong, and even the little seed woke up for a second.
Maybe due to the excessive excitement, the little seed went out of control and shrunk rapidly in Tang Ling’s heart, causing his chest agony. Then, maybe it realized its reaction was uncalled for, so it woke up for a second to apologize for the reaction before calming itself down and quickly going back to sleep.
It was obedient enough to stop stimulating Tang Ling, but the explosive reaction when the vial of black blood appeared left a strong impression on him.
“It’s even more important than the Demon Infant?” With that thought in mind, Tang Ling released his hand from his chest.
He tried to bid with 10 Black Sea coins.
The funny thing was that after he made the offer, several other guests on the first floor immediately followed. Tang Ling’s luck must have left an impression on them, and thankfully, even if the others followed, the price did not skyrocket all of a sudden. The highest bid was only 80 Black Sea coins.
“Young Master, I want to join this last auction.” At that moment, Draconic Twelve voiced his request to Tang Long.
“Do you know what it is?” Tang Long was surprised, even he did not know what the vial of black blood was.
“I don’t, but I find the vial of black blood attractive.” Draconic Twelve sounded calm.
Tang Long did not want to suspect anything, so he nodded and said, “The Ice Fungus b.u.t.terfly cost me 310K True Capital coins, and the last 10K was converted into Black Sea coins, so I can only support you with 10K Black Sea coins.”
“Thank you for your kindness, Young Master. I have 10K myself, so I think 20K Black Sea coins is enough. If not, I’ll just have to give up,” said Draconic Twelve.
However, when he uttered the word ‘give up’, his fists under his sleeves clenched tightly.
If he could, he would not want to give the black blood up but if he stepped out of character, Tang Long would certainly suspect him. He had his own important mission to carry out.
On top of that, as one of the Stardust Sixteen, activity funds of 10,000 Black Sea coins were reasonable. Any more than that would surely attract unwanted attention and Draconic Twelve was a very cautious person.
Tang Ling continued bidding on the first floor. He raised the offer to 1,000 Black Sea coins. Since the auction was at its end, he did not want to tangle with the others.
No one outbid him this time while the whole auction hall went quiet. It seemed like the wealthy bosses of the third floor were uninterested in this item.
The auctioneer must have expected this outcome, so he started to thump his mallet and invite more offers. On the second call, Draconic Twelve made an offer of 15,000 Black Sea coins.
Tang Ling’s heart stung again.
What is wrong with the guy on the second floor? Why does he keep competing with me?
Tang Ling dared not raise too much this time, so he outbid the offer with 1 Black Sea coin. It made him look sleazy, but it could not be helped. After realizing how wealthy the guests were, he knew his amount of money was absurd, but he did not want to give up.
The other guests did not suspect anything. There were good things in the last session, but not all of them were necessarily so, especially when it came to the easily mistaken last item of the auction. It was a common pattern in an auction.
There was once when the last item of the auction failed to sell as no one wanted to bid on that.
Now, this auction had been through its fair share of rollercoaster rides and it would be considered great for the last item to fetch 10 or 20 thousand.
However, this bidder was as sleazy as it could get. He outbid his opponent every single time with 1 Black Sea coin!