As Ye Feng and the others watched, a middle-aged man in a suit walked onto the auction stage.
"Ahem!"
The middle-aged man cleared his throat twice, scanned his surroundings, bowed slightly in four directions, and then began, "Thank you for your patronage, esteemed guests. I hereby announce that this evening's auction officially begins!"
"First, the first item for auction is 5 capsules of Amoxicillin, an anti-inflammatory drug. In this apocalyptic world, the preciousness of medicine is something everyone understands..."
As the middle-aged man in the suit's resonant voice filled the air, a staff member brought a box to the auction stage.
However, Ye Feng was not particularly interested in the auction items on stage. Firstly, he had anti-inflammatories, and secondly, the auction price for such a precious medicine would undoubtedly be high, making it not very cost-effective for him.
"500 Arcane Yuan Coins, going once, 500 Arcane Yuan Coins, going twice... Sold!"
With the sound of a gavel striking, the 5 capsules of Amoxicillin were sold.
"The second item for auction is table salt..."
...
"Bang~ Clatter!"
"The third item for auction is a strengthening serum, depicted with a snake..."
...
Time ticked by, and the sound of the gavel on the auction stage continued to ring out, as one rare commodity after another was purchased by various buyers.
"Hey, hey, I say, aren't you going to try and fob us off with this junk?"
"That mecha you displayed earlier looked impressive, but it's actually second-rate, not even qualifying for the lowest Yellow Tier!" Read books.
"We didn't travel all this way to be fooled by you. We want real killing machines!"
Suddenly, a deep, slightly hoarse middle-aged male voice interrupted the suit-clad man on stage.
The suit-clad man's face was a little awkward, as he was in the midst of introducing a mecha...
Ye Feng looked in the direction of the voice and saw that the speaker was a middle-aged man of medium build, wearing a blood-red coat and a tall, straight red braid tied to his head.
"He's from Brad Base!"
At this moment, Shen Yun Yao leaned slightly towards Ye Feng and whispered, "His name is Sphinx. He's a genius mecha pilot. No matter what kind of mecha it is, he can control it at will, as if it were his own limbs!"
"Even a mecha he's seeing for the first time is no exception!"
"What's even more outrageous is that he's not from Mecha City, nor has he ever studied there!"
Shen Yun Yao clearly was not unfamiliar with the middle-aged man and quickly explained.
"Or perhaps... your Mecha City is indeed as the outside world says, unable to produce mechas of Yellow Tier and above, and can't even repair the ignition cores anymore!"
At this point, Sphinx spoke again.
As soon as these words were uttered, the atmosphere in the venue immediately became subtle.
Everyone knew that the foundation of Mecha City's survival was its powerful mechas. If what Sphinx said was true, then Mecha City's situation would be...
"Who is that guy? He's openly questioning Mecha City, one of the Seven Great Powers?"
"Exactly, is he tired of living?"
"Brad Base is also one of the Seven Great Powers!"
"Holy cow, could the ignition core really be in trouble? I saved for a long time before deciding to buy a mecha for exploration!"
"I seem to have heard something similar. In the past six months, Mecha City's mechas have been malfunctioning frequently, and it seems to be related to the ignition core!"
"I'm in maintenance, and the frequency of mecha repairs has indeed increased recently!"
"I heard that after a powerful faction's ignition core was repaired, it malfunctioned again within a week, before it even returned to their base!"
"That outrageous?"
...
After Sphinx's words, the crowd in the venue fell silent for a moment, and then began to whisper amongst themselves.
Hearing the constant questioning of Mecha City from the surroundings, Shen Yun Yao's expression became quite unpleasant.
Because what Sphinx said was true. Mecha City's mechas had indeed been malfunctioning frequently recently, and it was precisely the ignition cores that were having problems.
What bothered Shen Yun Yao was that Sphinx had said it publicly, rather than privately negotiating with Mecha City. This didn't seem like a way to resolve issues, but rather like making a public accusation...
One must know that Mecha City's relationship with these major powers was built on its powerful mechas. If it couldn't provide high-quality mechas, it would be more than just the loss of trade partners...
Even Mecha City's own safety would be in grave danger, as its greatest combat power was its mechas...
If this situation couldn't be handled properly, the consequences would be unthinkable...
"Hey, Sailor, are you guys from the Sea Restaurant going to grudgingly accept this?"
Amidst the murmuring of the crowd, Sphinx spoke again in his deep, hoarse voice, "You came all this way to repair an ignition core, and it's broken before you even get back!"
Ye Feng followed Sphinx's gaze and saw that the "Sailor" the man was referring to was a burly man wearing a sailor uniform, a chef's hat, and holding a pipe in his mouth.
Beside the burly man were several similarly dressed strong men, and their expressions were also quite grim at this moment.
"His name is Ajin, nicknamed Sailor. He's from the Sea Restaurant, one of the Seven Great Powers!" wap.kanshuwu.net
"This person is extraordinarily strong. He once punched and killed a killer whale!"
At this moment, Shen Yun Yao's voice rang out perfectly timed.
"Sphinx, what you do is your business, don't try to use me!"
Ajin took a languid puff from his pipe, glanced indifferently at Sphinx, and then turned to Shen Qing and the others by the auction stage. "However, your Mecha City needs to give me an explanation. Although the Sea Restaurant is a bit far from Mecha City, we're not fools to be taken advantage of!"
"Heh heh! Mr. Ajin, you jest!"
At this moment, Shen Qing stood up and smiled slightly at Ajin.
Then, he took a step forward and instantly appeared in the center of the auction stage.
"Mr. Ajin, there was indeed a problem with the ignition core you entrusted to Mecha City for repair. As a token of apology, we have decided to gift this ignition core to your esteemed faction free of charge!"
As Shen Qing finished speaking, his hand flashed with light, and a dark, lumpy object instantly appeared on the ground.
"Holy cow..."
Seeing what Shen Qing had produced, Ye Feng couldn't help but be taken aback.
Because that lumpy object was precisely the Yellow Tier Grade Two ignition core whose main damaged runes he had repaired at the final selection venue for the Armor Forgers yesterday evening.
"This Shen Bai said he had something temporary to do today. Could it be that he went to repair the remaining damaged runes on that Yellow Tier Grade Two ignition core?"
Ye Feng looked at Shen Bai, who was half-lying on a chair, snoring loudly, and mused in his heart.
Meanwhile, Ajin had already walked onto the auction stage and was carefully examining the Yellow Tier Grade Two ignition core.
After a while, a joyful smile appeared on his face. "A practically new Yellow Tier Grade Two ignition core in exchange for a repeatedly repaired Yellow Tier Grade One ignition core. It's worth it!"
"Thanks!"
With that, Ajin's hand flashed with light, and he stored the Yellow Tier Grade Two ignition core into his spatial rift fragment ring, drawing envious glances from many people.
"Everyone, after the little interlude just now, I suspect everyone's interest in the other auctions has waned!"
As he spoke, Shen Qing deliberately glanced in Sphinx's direction, and then continued, "Never mind. Next up is a special segment of this auction, 'Gambling for Ignition Cores'!"
...