global pollution

They come to a downtown location.

Compared with other places, this place is obviously more luxurious. Just because of the street lights, it is far beyond the comparison of other areas.

The architectural style of the street has also undergone great changes. Most of the buildings here are two or three-story buildings made of bricks, and occasionally there are taller circular tower-like buildings.

Rows of thick metal pipes can be seen everywhere hanging on the wall corners, as if the sewer pipes were placed directly on the ground. These metal pipes are about the thickness of an adult's waist, and the surface is already rusty. Leaked, steam with the smell of burning coal came out, and the wall next to it had been fumigated by steam for many years, and half a layer of red brick had fallen off.

The street was foggy, and several huge chimneys could be seen faintly in the distance, spewing thick smoke continuously.

It is thought that the fog that lingers all year round comes from there.

Xia Ren asked: "What are those chimneys? What's their use? Is there still a factory here?"

Niu Changshou asked back: "Otherwise, where do you think the electricity here comes from?"

"alright."

Xia Ren really doesn't know anything about wizards.

They came to the entrance of the meeting place. This is a three-storey building. The outer wall is made of gray bricks. It is rough, but clean, and quite old-fashioned.

There are no signboards on the wall. From the outside, it looks like an ordinary residential house. If it weren't for Niu Changshou leading the way, Xia Ren felt that even if he passed by, he wouldn't be able to tell that it was an auction house. venue.

And similar buildings are everywhere in Arkham City. Most of the shops here have no signs, and it is difficult for people who are not familiar with this city to move.

Half an hour before the auction started, there were already people in black robes coming from the nearby streets one after another. Xia Ren and the others mixed in, not attracting attention at all.

The first floor is a hall, one side has a semi-enclosed counter, which is sealed with a fence, and the specific situation cannot be seen clearly. Niu Changshou went to the other side to find the service staff, exchanged a few admission tickets, and then several people went to the second floor together .

Each entry ticket represents a deposit of 100 million or other mortgages of equal value. After the auction is over, the deposit and mortgage can be returned with the voucher.

Of course, the value of most of the auction items here cannot be directly measured by money, and 100 million is actually a symbolic fee, which is not worth mentioning to the participants of the auction and the venue itself.

The second floor has a large space, and the overall layout is similar to that of a theater. Hundreds of chairs are arranged in order from high to low. At the front is a high platform, where the auction items are displayed and the host stands.

And behind the chairs, there is actually a row of small rooms, which are sufficiently concealed. Anyone can sit in the room safely and look down at the entire venue with only 1000 million yuan.

Although Xia Ren is very rich, it is not so wasteful.

At this time, there were not many people in the venue, and they came earlier, so they chose a less conspicuous position.

Not long after a few people sat down, more people gradually poured into the venue. Most of them were wearing black robes, and some didn't bother to cover up, but they all had one thing in common, that is, they seldom made a sound.

Soon there were hundreds of seats in the venue, almost full of people, but there was a strange silence.

Niu Changshou frowned, and elbowed Xia Ren next to him.

"It's not quite right today."

Chapter 5 The Auction of Twenty Chapters Begins【Ask for tickets and subscriptions! 】

As far as he knows, the auction here is basically held once a week, and there are only a few dozen people who come each time, and it is rare for more than a hundred people, let alone it is almost full like it is now.

Moreover, the auction will start in 10 minutes, and there are still new people walking into the venue one after another.

They are all wizards, members of different races, or members of different factions, and their composition is extremely complicated.

Once such people gather more, it is very easy to cause accidents. They probably got the news in advance and were attracted by a certain auction item that will be exhibited next.

The organizers must have expected this to happen, but still acquiesced.

Niu Changshou's keen sense of smell told him that this was very abnormal.

He suddenly thought of a possibility.

"Brother, the informant who provided information to your foundation may have been bought."

Xia Ren's eyes froze, he looked at Qin Yun next to her, and Lily who was sleeping soundly in her arms, and Lu Yi who was also aware of the crisis, hesitating.

If I leave now, I don’t know if I will have a chance to meet that painting again next time.

Niu Changshou was also thinking about all kinds of possibilities, and said: "But don't worry too much for now, your identity has not been exposed, such a big battle, it is impossible to arrange it specifically for you, and in Arkham, we are absolutely safe."

He didn't know where the confidence came from to say this, Xia Ren hesitated for a while, then nodded, ready to wait and see what happened.

That painting was related to Zhao Mingyue and Gu Meng, so he couldn't give up easily no matter what.

While waiting in silence, the display stand at the front of the venue lit up,

The host is a haggard, somewhat bald old man. Looking at the layers of wrinkles on his face, he is more than 70 years old at least.

"Cough cough~"

The host cleared his throat: "Thank you for participating in this auction, everyone's time is precious, so I will stop talking nonsense."

He beckoned, and a bloated child came out from the curtain on the side of the exhibition stand. The child's face was purple and his eyes protruded. He was only wearing a pair of clean shorts. His skin was almost transparent, and he could see The throbbing blood vessels looked terrifying.

The child held a box in his hand, put it on the display stand, and then sat down beside him, his big bloodshot eyes staring at everyone motionlessly.

Regardless of whether this product is bought later or fails to be auctioned, he is responsible for carrying it back to the backstage.

The host did not use any words to arouse everyone's expectations, and directly opened the box. Inside was a straight glass bottle. The liquid in the bottle exuded an attractive golden light, which immediately attracted everyone's attention.

"The first item to be auctioned is golden mead, brewed by the magician Dres, with a capacity of 500 milliliters. It is said that after drinking, it can stagnate the spirit and body. The starting price is [-] million alliance coins, or an item equivalent to it , each price increase shall not be less than [-] alliance coins."

As soon as the words fell, someone immediately raised a placard, and the price quickly increased, breaking through 1000 million.

Xia Ren observed that there were always only a small number of people raising placards, and more people were not interested in this auction item, so even though it seemed that the price increase was fast and the competition was fierce, in reality the auction The product is not very attractive.

Niu Changshou whispered: "Gold mead is actually a frequent visitor to the auction, basically every few weeks, it will appear once, although the host has intentionally or unintentionally mentioned the function of gold mead, it seems really tempting, But he didn’t say the whole thing, in fact, only when traveling in space, the golden mead will be effective, but few people can reach this height, and the consequences of using this wine on the ground are extremely serious.”

As for the consequences, he did not elaborate.

Xia Ren asked in puzzlement, "If that's the case, why do those people still compete?"

The bidding was still going on, and Niu Changshou glanced at them and said, "These people are all deformities driven by the rich. They mainly look for ways to live longer for the rich, but they don't know much about these taboos, so they don't know much about them. Knowing the true role of golden mead, that's why I was confused by the host's introduction."

"I see."

Xia Ren suddenly realized.

Some people have strong resistance to pollution, and they will retain their sanity when they are polluted in time. Such people have almost no foothold in society, and once they are discovered by the Foundation, they will be hunted down, so they must not easily reveal their identities.

In order to survive, they either choose to come to Arkham, or they are recruited by those top rich people who know some truths about the world to do things for them.

But because pollution will distort the characteristics of reason, they will never be able to gain the trust of their masters. They can only be a dog at the mercy of others. Although they lack dignity, they can eat and drink well.

It sounds pitiful, but if you choose to be a lone wolf, you will have dignity, but all kinds of pressure will follow, and you may be discovered and executed by the Foundation at any time, even if you are lucky enough to wander to Acre Mu, it is difficult to escape the fate of becoming a homeless person.