Chapter 221: Today's Belly Cover Color Is

As the host's voice fell, someone in the seats immediately began calling out bids.

"2g of Black Ember."

"3g of Black Ember."

"5g of Black Ember."

The price was indeed climbing steadily, but Fang Yue's expression turned strange.

Mortal Grade Lower?! This thing is actually Mortal Grade Lower? Wouldn't that put it on par with a super skill like Analysis Pupil?

Fang Yue felt it was unbelievable.

What he found most unbelievable was that a Mortal Grade Lower item was being bid on so cheaply!

The bidding creeping up by 1g, 2g of Black Ember simply failed to stir any desire.

Could it be that none of these people knew what a Mortal Grade Lower item signified?

Fang Yue's heart surged with excitement. Just as he was about to raise a high bid for the Fluorescent Bead, he raised his hand—only to have it grabbed by a stunned Fire Captain.

"What are you doing?"

"Buying it! It's a Mortal Grade Lower item! Even though I don't know what use the Fluorescent Bead has besides lighting, that thing is Mortal Grade Lower, and it's so cheap!"

If this thing were expensive, then forget it. The problem is it's cheap—unbelievably cheap. Even taking a gamble would be worth it.

What if it really is something good!

Hearing Fang Yue's words, Fire Captain was stunned once again.

"Is your brain broken? Take a good look at the expressions of those people bidding."

The expressions of the bidders?

Fang Yue doubtfully swept his gaze over the people around him, and immediately froze.

Because he discovered that those bidders were all calling out prices lazily, not looking determined to win at all, as if buying something they could take or leave.

"This... aren't they blind as bats? Mortal Grade Lower—don't they know it's Mortal Grade, Good Grade, and only then does it correspond to a Mortal Grade item? This is a chance to pick up a treasure."

"I think you're the treasure!"

Seeing Fang Yue getting a bit hot-headed, Fire Captain couldn't help but press a hand to his forehead, then patiently explained.

"This is sales talk. The Black Crow Merchant Group aren't good people. For the things they sell—apart from truly valuable items, which they'll introduce clearly and sincerely so the value is plain—everything else gets packaged however they can manage, swindling however many they can swindle.

Add to that their mobility, and this kind of trick works like a charm on someone like you who doesn't understand the Black Crow Merchant Group."

Sales... talk?

Packaging?

Could it be that these bastards are selling fakes, pulling a newbie first-impression scam to rip people off?!

Fang Yue was a bit dumbfounded. Seeing he still didn't get it, Fire Captain had no choice but to keep explaining.

"It's not entirely fraud. The host saying the Fluorescent Bead is Mortal Grade Lower isn't wrong."

"A genuine Fluorescent Bead really is a Mortal Grade Lower treasure. The problem is... what they're auctioning right now is a fake."

"Just listening to the host's pitch, you can tell—this is a toy, no real practicality. On that point, they don't dare talk nonsense; they can only spin things and lead you on in areas that are ambiguous."

"If you can't tell, that's your own lack of skill, no eye for goods—nothing to do with the merchant group. They insist they bought it at a high price as the genuine article and are auctioning it off here. At most, their appraiser was incompetent; a return is absolutely out of the question."

"If you want to make a fuss, take it up with the original seller. As for where that seller is—well, god only knows."

A fake?!

Fang Yue looked at the Fluorescent Bead Yaya Gu Niang was holding high, glowing with light. Whether from its radiance or that crystalline, translucent texture, it gave off a sense of quality—and it was actually a fake?

"It's a counterfeit, a knockoff. The Black Crow Merchant Group has one rule: once an item is sold, they're not responsible. Unless you have the ability to challenge the power behind the Black Crow Merchant Group, here their rules are exactly that. And any clueless hothead who doesn't know better ends up the same way—without exception, a miserable conclusion."

"So if you want to find something good at the Black Crow Auction, you need not only wealth and status, but also a pair of eyes that can spot the real deal, and good judgment."

Dammit! Buying something has this many tricks. This lousy merchant group is way too shady!

Perhaps because he'd been staring at the Fluorescent Bead too long, a system prompt suddenly popped up, and Analysis Pupil activated on its own.

"Name: Fluorescent Bead."

"Grade: Mortal Grade Lower."

"Effect: Glows at night."

"Description: Shoddy counterfeit, limited brightness."

"Note: Trash that even takes up too much space to use as a light bulb."

Uh...

It really is Mortal Grade Lower—what a scam!

Still, Analysis Pupil can actually tell whether the things the auction sells are genuine or fake—that's fantastic news!

The only catch is you have to stare for a long time before the info pops up, so it's easy to miss the best moment to bid.

Seeing Fang Yue spacing out, Fire Captain tried to console him.

"Don't get hung up on it. Merchant groups are a gray-area, high-profit business to begin with. Otherwise, why do you think this line of work is so dangerous, yet so many people still rush in one after another to form merchant groups?"

After confirming the Fluorescent Bead was junk, Fang Yue no longer had the mind to care about the auction above, and went along with Fire Captain's line, asking.

"Can't we just boycott them, or have the Captain of the village step in and crack down, make the merchant groups behave?"

"Crack down?"

Fire Captain looked at Fang Yue oddly.

"Is your brain running a fever? You want our Captain to play righteous hero? Turn our village into a model village? Spout positivity every day?"

"Give it a rest. Do you have any idea how closed off the village is?"

"Villages barely interact with each other; normally they're basically self-sufficient. In a whole year, maybe a few merchant groups pass through, selling some rare curios, and it's like a holiday."

"Other villages would love it if merchant groups came 300-plus days a year, every single day."

"But you—wanting to strictly investigate merchant groups, not letting them sell anything that isn't genuine, as if you're not afraid of thoroughly offending every merchant group out there, so that never again will they come to your village, and they'll even smear your village's name among their peers, leaving you with no way to defend yourselves, and from then on no merchant group willing to pass through your village ever again—your economy would plummet, and a lot of good things would lose their channel to reach you at all."

"Is this the result you wanted? The justice you wanted? How cheap of you."

"Big brother, it's time to eat!"

After being bombarded by Captain Fire, Fang Yue's ears turned slightly red.

"The words… are not wrong."

But Captain Fire's tone was strange—like she was chatting with a player, spouting out odd phrases one after another.

"Captain Fire, what's this 'positive energy' you keep mentioning?"

"It's the light of the righteous path. Isn't that popular among you refugees? I recently met a sister named Wei Liang—she's right up my alley—and she taught me all these phrases. I was supposed to attend today's auction with her, but she said yesterday's auction drained her entire fortune, so she can't afford anything for now. That's why I suddenly decided to come with you."

So she's been led astray by players… No wonder such a serious NPC is spouting positive energy.

Fang Yue thought of Lin Ling—back then, he'd picked up a few yin-yang phrases from Chen Xiaomiao, leaving Fang Yue utterly baffled.

"Fifteen gold! Fifteen gold for Black Ember! Any higher bids?"

By the time the two finished talking, the Fluorescent Bead on the main stage had gone unbid on for half a minute.

The host kept trying, wheedling and cajoling, but everyone present—except Fang Yue, this clueless newbie—was too sharp to bid again.

After another dozen seconds of effort, the host brought down the hammer.

"Congratulations to Guest in Row 3, Seat 6! You've won the Fluorescent Bead for fifteen gold of Black Ember!"

Yaya handed the Fluorescent Bead to a member of the caravan group, and several of them proceeded to settle accounts with the buyer.

Meanwhile, the host immediately began auctioning the next item.

It was a pair of shoes.

"Soul Suppressing Shoe, Human Grade Superior! This shoe…"

Just a few words left Fang Yue stunned again.

Human Grade Superior!

Fang Yue's eyes lit up—until Captain Fire shot him a glare.

"You've forgotten already?"

Mistake! Misunderstanding! I was just eager to activate the Analysis Pupil, so I stared at the Soul Suppressing Shoe so desperately…

But Captain Fire ignored Fang Yue's desperate expression and said outright:

"Take the Fluorescent Bead as an example. Even the counterfeit Fluorescent Beads have descriptions that are already watered down by the caravan group."

"I… have a friend who once bought a counterfeit Fluorescent Bead. The craftsmanship was incredibly lifelike; at night, it glowed so beautifully."

"But that was only because the counterfeit's entire energy reserve was exploded in the first two or three days."

"After those two or three days, the Fluorescent Bead would instantly dim to a level offering almost no light at all—and then, with that faint glow barely worth mentioning, it could indeed last one or two years. If you tried to complain to the caravan group, their description still technically matched. It could drive you insane."

Ah… this…

Fang Yue immediately grasped the key point.

"Captain Fire, this friend you mentioned… isn't it you?"

Shhh—

A killing glare shot straight at him.

That friendly smile sent a chill down Fang Yue's spine.

He let out two nervous laughs and quickly pointed at the stage.

"Then… then what's the deal with this Human Grade Superior Soul Suppressing Shoe?"

Captain Fire finally lowered her terrifying gaze and snorted.

"The Soul Suppressing Shoe, Human Grade Superior, repels and wards off spirits. To be honest, the shoes I'm wearing right now are Soul Suppressing Shoes."

"What?!"

Fang Yue froze, looked down—and his expression turned strange.

"Captain Fire, aren't those just embroidered slippers?"

"What's wrong with embroidered slippers being Soul Suppressing Shoes?"

Fang Yue looked closely.

Holy shit!

Damn, there really was a tiny character on the slippers: "Soul Suppressing Shoe"!

"But… but the auction item was described as cloth shoes?"

"You don't understand. Soul Suppressing Shoes can be embroidered slippers, cloth shoes, or even not shoes at all!"

Fang Yue suddenly understood.

"Ah! Master Fire, I get it! Everyone wears Soul Suppressing Shoes—and yet, no one wears Soul Suppressing Shoes!"

Captain Fire gave a slight nod, stroked her nonexistent beard, and said coolly: "A promising student."

Promising my ass!

So her point was: "Soul Suppressing Shoe" is just a brand name—anyone can call it that, and the term's been overused to the point of meaninglessness.

Yet the host on stage kept stressing "authentic," "one-of-a-kind," and how the seller had endured countless hardships to obtain this item, which finally reached their caravan group.

The core message was simple: their shoes were the real deal!

Whether because of the host's enthusiastic promotion or not, the bidders below did grow slightly more enthusiastic.

The price quickly rose to thirty gold and was sold.

"Captain Fire, there's something I don't understand."

Captain Fire gave Fang Yue a cool glance.

Though Fang Yue sometimes annoyed her, she actually loved having someone to shop with during auctions.

She'd only come to auctions regularly before because Wei Liang accompanied her; otherwise, just watching them held little interest for her.

Although Fang Yue wasn't as talkative as Wei Liang, his various antics were quite amusing, which still left Captain Huo very satisfied.

Especially since Fang Yue would frequently ask common-sense questions.

Don't be fooled by Captain Huo's disdainful, haughty demeanor when explaining things — in her heart, she was actually thrilled.

Who doesn't have the habit of enjoying playing the teacher?

The other two captains from the same village — one had a 【bad temper】 + 【martial arts fanatic】 combo, utterly boring; the other was the much older Chief Captain Lang, with whom there was really nothing to talk about, they just couldn't click.

Apart from business matters, she generally didn't meet up with those two.

As for the other people of Mo Cun, their status was inherently a notch below hers, mostly sycophants, whose attitude she couldn't be bothered to look at.

But the refugees who had popped up recently were all quite interesting, and now there was this Captain Ye from the neighboring village…

These thoughts flashed through Captain Huo's mind in an instant, and she glanced at Fang Yue with great interest.

Then she put on airs and slowly said: "If there's anything you don't understand, go ahead and ask. I'm in a good mood today — as long as the question isn't too outrageous, I'll answer it for you. By the way, I'm wearing a white dudou today."

Fang Yue: …

Thirty-year-old women are terrifying!!

"Cough! Cough… Um, what I wanted to ask is, about these buyers around us — they should all know the Black Crow Merchant Group sells fakes, right? They're not refugees; the Black Crow Merchant Group's reputation is so bad, don't they have any guard up at all? Why do they keep playing the sucker and spending money for nothing?"

Ignored, huh?

What a fun reaction!

Captain Huo's lips curled slightly as she said: "Well, that's because they've tasted the sweetness."

"Sweetness?" Fang Yue was stunned for a moment, then his pupils shrank.

"Could it be… someone actually bought a real one!?"

Captain Huo nodded slowly.

"That's right, someone did buy a real one."

"A plant hired by the Black Crow Merchant Group, right?"

Fang Yue had seen plenty of this kind of trick in real life — don't tell me this little stunt is enough to awe these unsophisticated local rich folk?

Then Niu Niu's merchant road in Mo Cun is probably going to take off smoothly.

"Many people, just like you, have suspected they were actors hired by the merchant group."

"But whether it's a plant set up by the Black Crow Merchant Group, or just genuinely good luck, stumbling onto a real find—"

"As long as the item is real, the fact is real, and the reputation spreads—"

"Then there will be a steady stream of buyers for the Black Crow Merchant Group's counterfeits."

"Not to mention, people actually buying real goods keeps happening continuously — it's just not limited to the Black Crow Merchant Group, but the entire merchant caravan. There are always times when someone misjudges, times when someone picks up a bargain."

"I don't know about other villages, but in Mo Cun, every time a merchant caravan approaches, there are always people itching to gamble big, hoping to land something good and turn their lives around."

"Though the odds are very slim — about the same as hitting the jackpot."

(End of chapter)