Starting from Zero

Chapter 23

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Book 4, Chapter 23

Auction War

            "Boss! I"m in the teleport station. Whereare you? And what"s going on anyway?" Wayne started to annoy my ears themoment we entered the game.
　　
　　    "Getto the auction site in the city center!" 　　
　　

"Ah okay."Wayne went on his way, a bit unwillingly.
　　
　　 Ilogged off near the center so it will take some time for Wayne to get here. Ibegan to search for Hawk in the crowd while giving him a call.

           "Hawk, I"mhere!"
　　
　　    "Finally!!"
　　
　　    "Sorrysorry. I slept over! Where are you all?"
　　
　　    "We"reinside. Wait we"ll go pick you up. We reserved a box with a nice view!"

            Thisguy sure knows how to enjoy himself.
　　
　　     Icut the chat and saw Big Pot running towards me. "Hey Ziri!"
　　
　　    "h.e.l.loagain." 　　
　　

"Let"sgo my friend!"

           I looked around. Big Pot followed my head and looked aroundtoo. "Looking for something?"
　　
　　    "Ihave a friend on his way here, let"s wait a bit." 　　
　　

Waynecame in several minutes. He must had a rough way from all that panting.

            "Boss...huff...whaton earth happened? Someone asked if my pants is on fire."
　　
　　    "Let"sget in. You"ll see." We then followed Big Pot.
　　
　　    Wetraveled through a stair to the second floor, then a long arch hallway. I can"tsee the end of it, it must lead towards inside the auction hall.

We walked tothe door labeled "2179". All the doors are making me dizzy! Countless ofthem are stacked close to each other along the hallway, I"d say each two doorsare no farther than a meter away. The rooms behind these door must be small ash.e.l.l.
　　
　　 ButI was shocked when I saw the interior. The room is a large, standalone lobby. Ipoked my head in and out of the door to check if I"m seeing things right.

           Hawkcalled out: "Come here. The room is like those private houses, you know, virtuals.p.a.ces."
　　
　　    Bleh.I forgot that. 　　
　　

   Thepeople in the room are all familiar faces. Apart from Hawk and Elfy, Yuri, Razor, GoldenCoin are here, and...Violet! So including me, Wayne and Big Pot, that"s ninepeople in total.
　　
　　    "You"retoo late. It"s starting!"
　　
　　    There"sa balcony-like structure overseeing the hall below us. The hall isn"t reallybig from where we"re looking, but again, it may have been adjusted to improvevisual. The seats are mostly taken. The event hasn"t officially started yet sopeople are chit-chatting among themselves which makes the area really noisy. Butit"s a lot better inside the box.
　　
　　    Thepersonnels are carrying all sorts of stuff onto the stage. Must be the auctionlots.

           "Hey Hawk, do you know how many items they"re selling today?"
　　
　　    "Idon"t. I"d guess a lot, from the looks of it."
　　
　　    "Whenis our target?" 　　
　　

"Will belate." Elfy said while looking at the workers. "They alwaysreveal good stuff at last to keep the audiences. I"m sure a Nation Treasurestays far behind, if not the last one. Look, they"re starting!"
　　
　　 Amiddle-aged gentleman walked to the center of the stage. According to Hawk, he"sa real-life auctioneer who specifically joined the game today to hold the event.

"Thanks for your patience everyone, the auction shall start right now! Pleaselook at our first item today."

He snapped his finger. A pair of prettyguiding girls carried a three-meter-long combat lance to the stage.
　　
　　 "Now pay good attention if you will! Lot one--the [Cloud Piercer]. This is a Knight Lance, Golden rank, Attack203-271, with amplified damage bonus. A rare weapon at the current stage. Westart off at 10 thousand crystals, increment no less than a thousand each time and mustbe the multiples of a thousand. Begin!"

           (Equipment below Golden rankcannot enter auctions)
　　
　　    "11thousand!"
　　    "15thousand!" 　　
　　    "20!"　　
　　    "25thousand!" 　　
　　

Thepeople competed in chaos until the bid reached 80 thousand!

            "It"s just acommon lance! They all lost their mind?"
　　
　　    "Hah.Of course you wouldn"t know. Rare equipment is just like companions eggs. 9 outof 10 level 300 players are still wearing stuff below level 200. Not everyoneis as lucky as you!" Violet answered while calculating something with herhead lowered.
　　
　　    "Okaythen. You guys watch, I need to catch some more sleep. Wake me up when thetreasure comes up."

I called up the in-game sleep a.s.sistant program. Thisis the first time I ever use it.
　　
　　

Whenthey called me it"s already six in the evening.

"It"s here?" I askedBig Pot who just shook me awake.
　　
　　 "Almost.They"re bidding on the second item from last. Clear your head!"

           ThenBig Pot gave me a strange look. "Hawk told me this but I want to ask again..."
　　
　　    "Hm?"
　　
　　    "Areyou sure you"re a guy?" 　　
　　

"Shoryuken!!"I sent him into the ceiling. "That"s my answer."

           I humphed and walkedto the balcony. The hall is quiet, only people from the boxes are bidding now. Lookslike all the rich guys stayed behind.
　　
　　    "500thousand!" The sudden voice from the nearby box made me jump. What the fuc are they trying to buy?
　　
　　    "510!"

s.h.i.t. They"re adding by the tens!
　　
　　 "510thousand crystals. Any more bids?" The auctioneer"s throat must be sorenow.

"510 thousand once! Anyone? 510 thousand twice! 510 thousand last. Deal!"
　　
　　 Finally. That leaves the last item.

He personally took a box from the stand, while aguiding lady took out the robe and displayed it to everyone.

            "This is onepart of the Nation Treasure outfit which will be used to activate the nationdefense system in nation wars, [Robe of the Primordial Lord]. Defense 700, doublesthe power of all Taoist skills, 50% element resistance, +25% MP regeneration. Itcomes with a pa.s.sive, [Heaven Barrier]. It automatically triggers your defenseand reduces incoming damage by 20%. Starting bid is 400 thousand crystals. Biddingrules are the same. Now begin!"
　　
　　    "500thousand!" Hawk shouted first. This is our plan, we raise the pricequickly at first to scare off the weaker compet.i.tors.
　　
　　    "700!"

            A voice from a nearby window made us all jump into the air.
　　
　　    "UhHawk? How much fund do we have?" I started to think about new plans. There"ssomeone even crazier!
　　
　　    "Yourcompanions, and the money we collected, that"s 1.6 million in total. Thisshould be enough, I guess."
　　
　　    Igave them a grave look. "I don"t do much business but I heard a lot aboutthem from my parents. That man is obviously not considering about the price, hemust be the agent those j.a.panese players sent here. Their goal is to break upthe treasure set no matter what the cost is, and they will not care how muchmoney the piece actually worth. They WILL raise the bid like there"s notomorrow! We need to do something!"
　　
　　    "Butwhat can we do??" Everyone panicked.
　　
　　    Anothervoice came from another box across from us. "1.5 million!"
　　
　　    Thud!Violet crashed from her seat.

           "This is madness!!" Shecrawled up and yelled.
　　
　　    "1.5million first call!" The auctioneer is settling up!
　　
　　    Igave Hawk a knock on the back. He"s already petrified!

"Uhhh 1.6 million!"
　　
　　 "1.6 MILLIONSOMEONE CALLED 1.6 MILLION IS THERE ANYONE HIGHER?!"

           Apparently theauctioneer isn"t expecting such high prices either. He"s waving the hammer likea cheerleader.
　　
　　    "2million!" That"s from the room near us.
　　
　　    Crash!Bunk!

Everyonefell or sat on the ground this time, and n.o.body in the whole auction centerbesides these three rooms are responding anymore.

Hawk helped Elfy stand up."I, I need some air! My heart can"t take it! I"m not gonna risk my lifelike those b.a.s.t.a.r.ds! Elfy, let"s go."

Before he exit the door he turnedback to me. "Do we do it?"
　　
　　 Ijust nod.

"Get prepared then!"

Looks like we"ll have to do it thehard way.
　　
　　 "Morebids anyone? 2 million, last call!"

The room across gave a price beforethe auctioneer can drop the hammer.
　　
　　 "2.3million!"

The room shook. People fell again.

I"m sweating hard. Who thefuc are those guys??
　　
　　 "2.5million!" The adjacent room lit it up.

            I see groups of peoplerunning towards the exits while holding their chests. The auction is giving outa lot of heart attacks tonight.
　　
　　    Theopposite room didn"t give up. "2.6 million!"
　　
　　    Theprice race is slowing down, which means the result will come any second now.

            Icontacted Hawk. "Hawk, speak to that Arch Necromancer guy, we need to knowwho bought the piece as fast as we can!"
　　
　　    "Iknow. I"m right beside him. He"s losing it too! The price must hit him too hard.We"ll know the name the moment the auction ends!"
　　
　　    "2.7million!" Came from the room nearby.
　　
　　    A third voice came up. "3 million!"

Someone else showed up! Now thisgonna be fun.

           I talked to Hawk again. "Stay put, we got new situation. Theprice will keep rising. Watch over the guy don"t let him faint!"
　　
　　    "Healready did!" Hawk sounds depressed. "I"ll try to wake him. You watchover the auction!"
　　
　　    "Willdo!"
　　
　　    "3.1million!" The room nearby is raising the bid again.

Where did they comefrom?? 3.1 million crystals. That"s like, 4.5 million solid US dollars!
　　
　　 "4million!" It"s the new voice.

I spit the tea I just drank. Theauctioneer dropped his gla.s.ses and the guiding lady holding the robe almosttripped on her feet.

            Big Pot pinched his own face. "For real? 4 million??They"re just, insane! Did someone from the central bank decide to play the game??"
　　
　　    Allthe partic.i.p.ants in the hall are restless now.
　　
　　    "5million!" The nearby window dropped another bomb. More people are now headingoutside while carrying those who can"t walk anymore.

           "That"s money I say! Realmoney! And this is just a freaking game!!"
　　
　　    "5.5million!" It"s the new voice. This is getting beyond out of hand. No oneexpected this to happen.
　　
　　    "6million!" The voice nearby began to sound uneasy. They won"t last long now.
　　
　　    "6.2million!" The new comer is clenching teeth. Both sides are at their limit.
　　
　　    "6.5million!" The first voice sounds broken.
　　
　　    Thehall stayed silent for a while. The new voice never came again.

The auctioneers.p.a.ced out for a minute before he remembered his job.

"6.5 million, firsttime. Anyone? 6.5 million second time. 6.5 million last call! Alright,de--"
　　
　　 "7million!!" A female voice appeared.

The auctioneer tried to stop hishammer which caused him to stumble off the stage.
　　
　　 But theroom nearby didn"t even hesitate.

           "10 million!!"
　　
　　    "Argh!!"My legs gave out. No one is sitting on their seat anymore. 15 million dollars!!What kind of lunatic--
　　
　　    "Hawk!Get ready it"s almost over! Is he awake?? Someone bid 10 million crystals, Idon"t think anyone will keep up!"
　　
　　    "He"shere! The name is--[Smoker]! Do it!!"
　　
　　    "IGOT THIS!!"

I used my Star Gaze. The target has already moved to anothercity. He must be prepared.

Too bad your enemy is me!

            "I found him. At theFar Land!"
　　
　　    "Whatdo you mean far land?" 　　
　　

           "It"sa city! The city is called the Far Land. He got teleport scrolls. Come now!"
　　
　　    "Wedid!" 　　
　　

"Huh??"　　
　　

"Wewere waiting at the teleport station. Now waiting for you!" 　　
　　

"Understood!"

I told the location to the rest of the people and teleported. I saw Hawk, Elfy,Golden Coin and Razor standing outside the station.
　　
　　 "There!"I pointed to one direction and moved, while keep checking myring.

           After some distance, we saw an a.s.sa.s.sin running ahead, that"s the target!
　　
　　    "What"sthe plan?" Hawk asked with a worried voice. 　　
　　

"Youguys leave the city and find an open s.p.a.ce, tell me the coordinates. I"llteleport that guy over there!" 　　
　　

"Onit!"

Hawk led the others away, while I kept following. He"srunning fast. Someone must be waiting for him to deliver the goods.

So this manmust be the traitor! I was hoping someone else can help preserve the treasure. Butnow it looks like the j.a.panese won the upper hand.

            I know that"s an enemybecause an ordinary Chinese player doesn"t need to run like this while tryingto send the item to someone else.
　　
　　    Hawkpinged me soon. "Ziri! Here! The location!"
　　
　　    "Gotit!"

I lunged at the a.s.sa.s.sin and successfully grabbed his waist. Iactivated my teleport ring and appeared...inside a crowd?

I entered the wrongnumbers in the chaos and teleported to another city!

The a.s.sa.s.sin jumped andtried to get away. I reached for him, planning to teleport again.
　　
　　 Ihave good attributes but the a.s.sa.s.sin is still a bit faster. More importantlyhis level is higher!

"Night Shade!" I know how to catch you!

Now Ithink about it, why am I always rampaging inside cities on a horse these days??

I losttarget after several turns. d.a.m.n it.

I used my Star Gaze again. Wait, ourcoordinates are exactly the same?

I raised my head and saw him hanging on arope above me.
　　
　　 Hequickly dropped down when he realized it.

"You aren"t getting away!" Itook out my lance. "[Heart Piercer]!"

The tip exploded into severalpieces while hurting some of the bystanders. But that"s not my concern now.

Twoof the pieces caught the a.s.sa.s.sin. I pulled on the lance and dragged him downon the ground.
　　
　　 NightShade charged and stomped at him. The attack only broke the stone floor, the a.s.sa.s.sindodged away with a side roll.

"Phantom Knights! Catch him!"
　　
　　 "Chaaaargemy honored steed!!" The knight leader is super excited for some reason.

Thegroup of knights moved in unite but the a.s.sa.s.sin jumped into a hotel nearby. That"snot going to stop these violent mayhem makers though. They crouched on theirhorses and simply rode into the building!

           Sigh. Guess I"ll have to follow.
　　
　　    Hawksent me a message. "What happened?"
　　
　　    "Ireached the wrong place! Still after him!" 　　
　　

"Where?Do you need us?" Elfy sounds worried too.
　　
　　 "Notyet! I got enough helpers! Give me a moment!"
　　
　　 ThePhantom Knights chased the a.s.sa.s.sin to the second floor. Their horses can climbstairs! Again, I should worry about that later.

           We didn"t see anyone on thesecond floor.
　　
　　    "There!"One of the knight pointed to the rooftop across the street.
　　
　　    "Hee-Haw!"The knight leader controlled his horse and leaped over to the roof. And everymember followed his lead!
　　
　　    Ilooked at Night Shade. "Well?"
　　
　　    "Pieceof carrot."

Night Shade hopped across the broad streetlike it"s nothing. The rooftop is not flat but all the war horses gallopedafter the a.s.sa.s.sin without slowing down in one bit.
　　
　　 "Stopright there!!"

I used my crossbow on my right hand. I may not hit him butit will affect his speed.

           We"re getting closer. He realized that the terrain won"tstop us so he just jumped back to the ground again.
　　
　　    Isummoned Rosa and Phantom. "Phantom, control. Rosa, rope him up!"
　　
　　    Phantomfloated ahead but quickly went back to me again. "Master, he has somethingthat would resist me. I can"t get in."
　　
　　    "Huh?Nevermind then. Just merge with me and give me some speed."

The a.s.sa.s.sinis shifting through all kinds of small alleys and dense crowds which makes itreally hard to catch him.

When he turned his head to check on us again, severaltentacles flew towards him. He avoided them with a backflip.

Rosa keptfollowing. A broken trail appeared on the stone floor and began to move, whilecausing the stone blocks to scatter everywhere. A big gap is now left behind whereRosa marched. We followed behind.
　　
　　 "PhantomKnights, lances ready!" The leader finally gave the order.

A series oflances completely blocked the entrance to an alleyway where the a.s.sa.s.sin justplanned to go in. He quickly turned to another direction. I summoned Dart andasked him to block his only exit.

Now I got you!
　　
　　 "GO!!"

Ten knights circled him up.

"Hand over the item and I"ll let you go, son. Whyare you helping the j.a.panese?"
　　
　　 Hedidn"t answer. I can see he"s trying to log off, but I hit him before and hecan"t do it in battle status.

I charged and grabbed him again. This time Isuccessfully teleported us to Hawk"s location.

           Coin is already prepared. Shespammed her [Steal] before the a.s.sa.s.sin can figure out what"s going on. And she"sa pro! I thought we"d have some trouble taking the loot but Coin lifted thetarget within 10 sec.
　　
　　    "Isthis it?" Coin displayed the robe to us on her hand. "Looks nice!"
　　
　　    "That"sit. Yours now." I told her. "It"s from the same series as your boots. Don"tlose it. And don"t you dare sell it! If you can help us with our plans in j.a.pan,I can try to collect the whole set for you."
　　
　　    "Youmeant it? Deal!"

She seems a bit worried though. She saw the auction. Thatthing"s 15 million bucks!

           "I don"t really like them either. And since yougave me this...I"m all in!"
　　
　　    Hawkwent over to us. "Aha! That was too easy."
　　
　　    Coin:"It"s just luck. I can"t choose which item I take you know. Wait, you"renot thinking that I can steal stuff on free will right? If I can I"d definitely"clean up" Ziri first! His armor looks so good! Haha-- Uh, I was joking!"
　　
　　    Whilewe"re celebrating over the treasure, the a.s.sa.s.sin began to cry.

            "Help meplease!!"
　　
　　    "..Whatthe fuc?" I moved back. I don"t want to b.u.mp into another a.s.sa.s.sin who cansteal my equipment.
　　
　　    "Myboss will kill me for this!!"

           Yup, I see tears. He"s crying for real.
　　
　　    "Yourboss? A j.a.panese man I guess?" Elfy is smart as ever.
　　
　　    "I"m[Smoker] but you knew it. The money I used is from the boss, he exchanged thosecrystals with his own real money! And yes he"s j.a.panese. When he saw theChinese-only thing he asked me to buy the item for him. And you took itaway! He will kill me for sure!"
　　
　　    "Heychill. This is China, not Iraq. It"s not like anyone can try to kill you whenthey want. Worst scenario, you get fired. I can give you a better job if that"sthe case."
　　
　　    "That"snot all!!" He cried harder. "They sent my wife and my mother to j.a.panyesterday to prevent me from escaping with the money! The boss only said hewanted to thank me for my work so he can give my family a vacation. Now I knowthey are taking them as hostages!! Help me!! Waaaaah--!"
　　
　　    "b.a.s.t.a.r.ds."Elfy stomped the ground. "Ziri?"
　　
　　    "...Tellme your address and phone, and their names. I"ll help you get them back." 　　
　　

"Really??"His face is totally ruined by all the crying.
　　
　　 "Yeah,I got this."

I told him to log off and keep the situation from his bossfor now.

"Tell him that you"re being tracked by Chinese players so youlogged to avoid them. Just delay. I"ll do the work, and I"ll tell you when Isaved them."
　　
　　 Iquickly logged off and contacted my father. This is human lives we"retalking about, I don"t want to cause real accidents.

Father came up with anidea soon when he heard the story. Dragon Fate doesn"t have much influence inj.a.pan but saving a pair of common civilians should be no problem. He told me toleave the matter to him and concentrate on the infiltration plan.

He also gaveme a mouthful for wasting too much a.s.set on the Iron Unit last time before Ihang up. I just gave him silly laughs. I already brought them, he can"t takethem back now.
　　
　　 Everyonehas left when I logged back again. They really need some sleep, that"s about 30hours without proper rest.

The only people in the online list are...Wayne andCoin. I called Wayne to level together but he said he need to hang out withCoin.

           Heh, traitor.
　　
　　    It"smyself then. I asked around the Far Land city and was told that the city isbuilt between the sea line and a desert. This is the east most part of theChinese game region, and that"s how it"s named.
　　
　　    Thesea huh? I wonder if I can swim in there.

Forget it. I decided to go to thedesert first. Unknown means dangerous. The sea won"t run away. I"ll check itout later.
　　
　　 Theimmediate outside of the city is covered in gra.s.s. I can see the desert fromhere, but there"s still a distance.

When I reached the desert I saw a lot ofcamels, and groups and active players.
　　
　　 Alow leveled Warrior is being chased by a wild camel. I may as well ask him for information.

           I locked the camel up with a fire ring and killed it with several lightningskills. It"s not a strong monster, only level 300 or so.
　　
　　    "Youalright?" I helped the Warrior up from the sand.
　　
　　    "I"mfine-- Woah!" He froze up upon seeing my face. And I know the reason. Sigh.
　　
　　    "Hey,hey! Anyone there?" I waved my hand in front of his eyes to call his soulback.
　　
　　    "Ah!Sorry!"
　　
　　    "Ohit"s fine. I"m male by the way. Keep staring if you want. Can you tell me whatare all these players doing?"
　　
　　    "They"retrying to catch camels." His sight isn"t moving away from my face, which means hedidn"t believe me.
　　
　　    "Whatfor?" 　　
　　

"To ridethem of course." He explained. "They act as mounts. They"re weakerthan horses buy they move faster in the desert. Ordinary horses will sink intothe sands."
　　
　　 "Isee, thanks."

I began to march into the desert. The Warrior yelled frombehind to ask if I want to team up. Well of course not. I kinda know what hewanted.

I pretended that I didn"t hear him, summoned Night Shade and ran asfast as we can.

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