Chapter 247 A Sudden Turn of Events

The funds were collected quickly. Gu Fei and the others each contributed 200 gold as a show of support, and before long, they had raised 34,624 gold. Lan Yi clutched the ledger, sweating profusely as he frantically added, subtracted, multiplied, and divided, making sure the number of people and the amount of money matched up perfectly before finally letting out a sigh of relief.

"No problem, right?" Han Jia Gongzi asked, seeing his relieved expression.

Lan Yi nodded. Han Jia Gongzi glanced at the time and stood up. "It's about time."

"You're going to complete the transaction?" Lan Yi asked, puzzled. Han Jia Gongzi's profession was a good match, but weren't they trying to avoid letting anyone familiar to Jian Nan You appear?

"No, there's someone else." Han Jia Gongzi looked towards the vast Mang Mang, who nodded slightly in agreement.

The others were confused. It seemed like Han Jia Gongzi and Mang Mang had been plotting something.

"Then let's set off!" Gu Fei said, rubbing his hands together in anticipation.

"How should we arrange people at the resurrection points? Do we leave a team at each of the six profession resurrection points?" Lan Yi maintained the ruthless style of Yueye City. Killing them once wasn't enough; they had to block the resurrection points for ten days or half a month to really show them who was boss.

"Whatever," Han Jia Gongzi said, his indifferent attitude making it seem like the whole thing was pointless, which left Lan Yi even more confused.

"It's like this," Mang Mang patiently explained to everyone. "The auction has to be completed right now, but the item can be picked up a week later. So I plan to store the staff there as well."

Lan Yi was taken aback for a moment, then said, "Jian Nan You and the others will definitely want to know where the staff is, so they'll have to stake out the place 24/7 for a week?"

Mang Mang nodded.

"Too ruthless..." Lan Yi exclaimed in admiration. No wonder he, as the vice-guild leader, never had as much influence in the guild as Mang Mang. He couldn't just attribute it to her being the guild leader's wife; this plan alone, making people waste a week there, was far more insidious and cruel than blocking the resurrection points.

"So we don't have to fight today?" Everyone had been eager for a fight all night yesterday, but they hadn't expected this situation today.

"No," Mang Mang said.

"Aren't we trying to lure Jian Nan You out?" Bai Shi Jinglun didn't know the whole story, so he didn't quite understand what was going on, but he at least gathered that there wouldn't be a fight today.

"I never said that," Han Jia Gongzi replied.

Bai Shi Jinglun looked at Gu Fei, who had a serious expression. "The plan has changed."

"Then..." Han Jia Gongzi was about to say something when someone suddenly burst through the door, shouting, "Something bad happened!!!"

Lan Yi turned around and saw it was one of their own guys, and immediately got angry. "Why are you only here now? It's not like we weren't going to pay you back, did you have to hide!"

"No, something happened!" the person shouted.

"What is it?" everyone asked.

"There are so many people at the auction house!!" the person said.

Everyone waited quietly, waiting for him to continue, but the person stopped after saying that. Lan Yi was about to curse when Han Jia Gongzi's expression suddenly changed. "Crap!"

"What's wrong?" the others asked, turning to him.

"If there are too many people, we might not be able to get an auction platform if we go now!!" Han Jia Gongzi said.

"Ah!!!" Everyone realized that they had overlooked such a crucial and realistic problem.

"Let's go!" Lan Yi shouted, and a large group of people rushed out of the tavern. Mang Mang was even more anxious; clearly, if they couldn't get an auction platform, no amount of money would help, and the staff would really change hands.

The group rushed to the auction house, and after just one look, they knew their chances were slim.

Every auction platform in the auction house was like a bus during rush hour, packed to the point of bursting. Although there seemed to be gaps between people, that was just the system's safety zone barrier, limiting player contact.

Moreover, the auction house and the exchange, while lacking an offline save function, were even safer than offline zones. In these two areas, players couldn't even use skills, and even wanted missions, which were unrestricted in offline zones, were sealed here. In such a crowded place, there was no way to get in.

This very real-world problem had suddenly appeared in the game, and even Han Jia Gongzi had overlooked it for a moment. After all, traditional games would never have such a problem. No matter how many people there were, a hotkey could block everything, there was no such thing as being too crowded to enter a room. Looking at the scene, everyone stared at each other, at a loss for what to do.

The auction house was a cacophony of noise. Because they couldn't fight, everyone was using their mouths to the fullest, and curses filled the air. Gu Fei and the others walked around twice and found that there were many people like them who couldn't reach the auction platforms because of the crowd. All they could do was frown and curse, because in this super safe zone, even someone as strong as Gu Fei was no different from a level zero newbie.

"What do we do?" everyone was asking. Mang Mang looked at the time; there were only twenty minutes left until the auction ended.

"Looking at this situation, we probably won't get the staff back, but it'll definitely sell for a super high price," Ying Zong Yuezi said, already trying to comfort her.

"Yeah... we'll use the money to buy everyone drinks," Mang Mang said, smiling, but everyone could see the forced nature of her smile. This girl was undoubtedly sentimental, about both people and things. A staff that she had been using for so long was about to change hands, and no amount of money could make up for the reluctance in her heart. As for the value of the equipment itself, it only amplified this reluctance.

Lan Yi couldn't bear to watch, so he took a large bag of gold coins and went to negotiate with people, trying to buy a way through. But the people on the outer edge were also annoyed because they couldn't get in to buy the staff! They just said one word to Lan Yi's offer: "Scram!"

Who among those who dared to try to buy this staff was short on money? Lan Yi's method had already been tried by someone else, who had smashed a bloody path with money, only to have the players in the innermost circle, who were touching the auction console, refuse to let him in. In the end, he had spent a lot of money just to buy a good front-row seat to watch others bid, and his frustration was indescribable.

Lan Yi overheard this story after searching around a few times, and didn't dare to use the same method again. He returned dejectedly and shook his head at Mang Mang.

Mang Mang didn't say anything, just sighed softly and turned to Gu Fei and the other experts. "Go check the pick-up area to see if Jian Nan You and his people are there!"

Clearly, the situation was out of control, and now they had to play along and try to lure Jian Nan You and his group into a trap.

"Wow, are you kidding me? Such a top-grade magic sword, I'll offer three thousand gold!!!" A shout suddenly came from the crowd. Everyone turned to look and saw Huo Qiu shouting loudly in front of a platform where Gu Fei had set up a stall and calmly displayed his Dark Night Flowing Light Sword.

Huo Qiu's shouting also attracted the attention of a few onlookers. After a disdainful glance, they couldn't help but take a look at the Dark Night Flowing Light Sword on the stall. The attributes of items displayed on stalls were automatically made public, and these people's eyes were immediately glued to it. In addition, Huo Qiu continued to shout, "Sell it to me, sell it to me!" and more people were drawn over.

Most of those who came to the auction house to buy their ideal staff were priests, but there were also other professions. The magic damage of the Dark Night Flowing Light Sword was astonishing, and its physical damage also far exceeded the current level 40 equipment. It was extremely tempting for many professions, including the few dark night priests among the priest profession. As soon as they saw it, several mages and warrior players immediately surrounded it, shouting, "How much?" Perhaps they were entrusted by friends to help buy their ideal staff, but now that they suddenly had the chance to bid, and an equipment far better than their ideal staff and suitable for their own profession had appeared, how could they not flock to it?

Gu Fei immediately perked up and shouted, "Can't squeeze into the auction platform, so I'm auctioning it here! Whoever wants it, shout it out, louder!"

"Three thousand, three thousand!" Huo Qiu, who was closest to the platform, continued to shout.

"Three thousand my ass," someone scorned Huo Qiu. Offering three thousand for such a top-grade weapon was an insult. "I'll offer three thousand and one!" this person shouted.

"Tch!" Everyone thought he was something special, but he had only raised the price by a hundred gold.

"Three thousand three, three thousand four, three thousand five, four thousand..."

The price kept rising, and Gu Fei didn't care if there were people like Huo Qiu who were just shouting nonsense. He would immediately repeat the higher price loudly.

Before long, the bidding had exceeded the ideal staff that had attracted the attention of priests worldwide. Those players who were originally focused on the auction of the ideal staff only thought that the noise around them was just a joke, but when they heard that the bidding had surpassed their top-grade item, they couldn't help but turn around to look.

The Dark Night Flowing Light Sword was, after all, a combat weapon, so priest players could remain calm, but other players couldn't sit still after taking one look. Especially those non-priest players who were in the innermost circle and were fiercely bidding for the ideal staff, most of them were entrusted by friends, or had come together with several people to increase the chances of them buying it. Now, with their wallets full, an equipment far better than their ideal staff and suitable for their profession had appeared behind them, like a hundred claws scratching their hearts, making them itch uncontrollably.

The price continued to rise, even more fiercely than the system auction on the auction platform, and the speed of raising the price was even faster. It seemed like someone was already using RMB to bid, inviting the seller to trade at the exchange.

Time was of the essence!!! Many people had this thought in mind, and finally gritted their teeth, abandoned their bidding for the ideal staff, and turned to rush towards the swarming crowd, waving their hands hard in the hope that the seller would see them, and shouting high prices. Some even felt that it was too noisy and far away for the other party to hear, so they took out paper and wrote large numbers on it, raising it high above the weapon.

"Alright! That brother over there has offered 9700! Is there anyone with a higher offer?" Gu Fei shouted, while also noticing that the priest who was responsible for bidding for the ideal staff had seized the opportunity and, with the help of others, had secured a spot at an auction platform. He was giving him a thumbs up.

＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝

I'm updating earlier today ~ there will be another update later in the evening, but it will be later!