The gunshot fell, and Ye Feng collapsed to the ground.
"Big Brother!"
Xiao Xiao cried out, rushing to Ye Feng's side to check on him with concern.
"Xiao Xiao, I'm fine!"
Ye Feng shook his head slightly. The fist he held at his chest slowly opened, revealing a deformed, even shattered bullet.
"Is this what it feels like to catch a bullet with your bare hand?"
Feeling the pain from his palm, Ye Feng couldn't help but mutter.
He had just used arcane energy to catch the bullet aimed at his chest. The bullet had pierced the arcane energy and hit his palm, causing him some pain, but nothing more...
"Roar~! Roar~! Roar!"
"Hoo~ Hoo~ Hooo! Hooo!"
At this moment, the roar of the engine grew louder, and a pickup truck sped towards Ye Feng's location.
Many people stood and sat in the back of the pickup truck, holding various firearms and cheering madly.
"Hey, little chick, you didn't miss, did you? I saw that kid move after he fell!"
In the back of the pickup truck, a burly cowboy-clad man with thick glasses shouted at a young man half-lying on the roof, his face covered by a cap to block the sun.
"What are you talking about? I saw the bullet hit the backpack kid's chest with my own eyes!"
The young man in the cap replied coldly.
"Little chick, you can see for yourself."
"Hey, chick brother, that backpack kid seems to be alive!"
"He seems to be!"
...
"You guys are talking nonsense, and there's a limit! I just hit that backpack kid in the chest with an AWM sniper rifle. He wouldn't have survived even with a bulletproof vest..."
Hearing the words around him, the young man in the cap pulled off his cap and grumbled in dissatisfaction.
But he stopped mid-sentence because he saw Ye Feng sit up and look at them.
"Little chick, you blind sniper is truly blind this time!"
The burly cowboy-clad man taunted, then jumped off the still-moving pickup truck. Many people in the back of the truck followed suit.
"Hey, kid, hand over the Mithril treasure chest and everything you have!"
The burly cowboy-clad man roared at Ye Feng. The people behind him all pointed their guns at Ye Feng, looking smug.
Ye Feng didn't reply. A glow flashed in his hand, and the Arcane Energy Cannon instantly appeared.
"Clang!"
With a crisp click of the trigger, a fiery red arcane energy bullet the size of a cannonball shot out, striking the burly cowboy-clad man, the group beside him, and the pickup truck in a flash.
"Bang! Boom!~"
The pickup truck instantly exploded into the air, its steel melting. The burly cowboy-clad man and his group turned to dust...
"Gulp!~"
The young man in the purple cloak not far from Ye Feng swallowed hard, his expression terrified. If Ye Feng had fired that at him just now...
He now understood why the square-faced middle-aged man had slapped him...
"Young man, you're also going to Brad Base, right?"
"Meeting is fate. How about we travel together? We happen to have two extra Windproof Stones!"
At this moment, the old man in the purple cloak spoke to Ye Feng.
"Oh, no thank you!"
Ye Feng shook his head slightly, got into the Humvee with Xiao Xiao, and left. He had no interest in traveling with a group of unknown people who had almost gotten into a conflict.
The old man in the purple cloak frowned but said nothing.
...
More than twenty minutes later,
Ye Feng and Xiao Xiao arrived near the conspicuous camp in front of the Super Sandstorm Zone. He planned to observe what others would do first.
"Young man, you're here for the Brad Base auction, aren't you?"
A greasy middle-aged man walked out of a tent in the camp and greeted Ye Feng with a smile.
At this moment, a shifty man with dreadlocks ran up to the greasy middle-aged man and whispered in his ear, looking at Ye Feng as he spoke.
After hearing what the shifty man with dreadlocks said, the greasy middle-aged man's eyes flashed with joy. He then took out a grayish-white stone from his pocket and shouted, "Windproof Stone, Windproof Stone! The last one! Miss it and you'll have to wait three days! Only 2000 Arcane Yuan coins!"
"Holy cow, Fatty Han, didn't you just promise to sell me 30 pieces for 500 Arcane Yuan coins? It's only been an hour, and now it's 2000?"
"And for one piece?"
As soon as the greasy middle-aged man finished speaking, a dissatisfied voice rang out from not far away.
"Damn it, what 500 Arcane Yuan coins? Fatty Han, you profiteer, you secretly raised the price?"
"Even if you raised the price, this is too outrageous!"
"Exactly. This time, Brad Base provided a large number of cheap Windproof Stones to hold the auction, with a starting price of only 30 Arcane Yuan coins!"
"You've increased the price by 70 times?"
...
The adventure teams who had just arrived near the camp grumbled in dissatisfaction upon hearing Fatty Han's words.
"Hey, Fatty Han, are you deliberately trying to sabotage this auction at Brad Base by raising the price so much?"
"Do you know what Blood Steward of Brad Base will do to you when he finds out!"
At this moment, a burly middle-aged man with a white beard, carrying a rocket launcher and covered in scars, looking like a tough character, spoke coldly.
"I... I..."
The weighty accusation from the burly middle-aged man with white beard made Fatty Han break out in a cold sweat. He moved his lips, about to relent, but when he saw Ye Feng, he gritted his teeth and stood firm.
"Cough! Cough!"
Fatty Han cleared his throat and said, "I... I... this Windproof Stone is the last one in this batch. The new ones won't be available for another three days... So... so it's a matter of scarcity... 2000 Arcane Yuan coins isn't expensive..."
"If you don't have enough Arcane Yuan coins, you can exchange them for other items... like Arcane Energy firearms, ammunition, and so on..."
Towards the end, Fatty Han subtly glanced at Ye Feng.
"This guy... did he see my Arcane Energy Cannon just now... and that's why he jacked up the price of the Windproof Stone so ridiculously?"
Hearing Fatty Han's words and looking at the shifty man with dreadlocks beside him, Ye Feng began to understand.
Previously, Yue Miao had told him that Brad Base, in order to allow more people to participate in this auction, was selling the usually expensive Windproof Stones at a bargain price... even giving them away for free... and even people driving cars were throwing them around randomly...
This was also why he hadn't asked Yue Miao for a few Windproof Stones... because it was completely unnecessary...
"Young man, without Windproof Stones, it's impossible to cross the Super Sandstorm and reach Brad Base!"
Fatty Han couldn't help but remind him, his tone somewhat anxious, as Ye Feng turned to leave.
"That's right! If you don't have Arcane Yuan coins, you can exchange them for other things! Like Arcane Energy firearms..."
The shifty man with dreadlocks beside Fatty Han chimed in.
"Oh?!"
Ye Feng narrowed his eyes. "Is the Windproof Stone in your hand really the last one? And three days later... isn't the auction starting in two days..."
After speaking, Ye Feng strode towards the Super Sandstorm Zone with Xiao Xiao.
...