Chapter 37 Auction (Part 1)

**Chapter 37: The Auction (Part 1)**

Tang Tang’s words were even more absurd and laughable than those of the Korean espers. After all, Koreans had always been like that—arrogant, foolishly unaware of their own ignorance, and fond of stealing. No matter what it was from China, they’d steal it and pass it off as their own heritage!

Cong Xun from the Northern Base spoke with a thick regional accent, brash and buddy-buddy as he said, “Bro, your woman got a screw loose?”

That one question practically voiced the thoughts of everyone present.

Tang Tang’s face flushed red, but she refused to back down. “What’d I say that was wrong? Hospitality is a traditional virtue of our Chinese nation. Since ancient times, when foreign friends visit, shouldn’t we be generous and offer them the best to make them feel at home?”

At this, the gazes that had been directed at the Korean espers now turned to Tang Tang. Han Zhiwei from the Southern Base pointed at her and said, “Isn’t she the woman lying next to that idiot Commander-in-Chief in the spatial projection?”

The delegation from Luoshi Base happened to be there as well. Jiang Fuzhong took a closer look and confirmed it. “I remember that base was the Third Base, right? Are you people from the Third Base?”

Cong Xun blurted out crudely, “Does your Third Base specialize in churning out idiots? Or is stupidity contagious?”

“Pfft—”

Many of the espers around them couldn’t hold back and snorted.

The commotion they caused wasn’t small, and the tour guides quietly notified the patrolling supervisor of the supermarket. Coincidentally, it was Zhou Qin—the very man Tang Tang had been fantasizing about seducing.

Someone had already been giving Zhou Qin a live update of the situation, so he was fully aware of everything that had happened.

He walked over cheerfully and said to the Korean espers, “Our supermarket’s seasoning aisle is over there. You’ve wandered into the wrong section.”

That remark was devastatingly effective, instantly making the Koreans lose face. They started cursing and even looked ready to throw down!

Zhou Qin’s smile remained, but his eyes were icy. In his hand, a thick green vine materialized—as thick as a man’s thigh, covered in lush leaves. The thicker the plant and the denser the foliage, the higher the superpower level.

The Koreans were instantly intimidated. The same men who had been furious and ready to fight now glared warily at Zhou Qin, as if afraid he’d strike at any moment.

The thick vine swayed menacingly behind Zhou Qin, its gaze locked onto the Koreans below like a living thing. Zhou Qin himself grinned and said, “Weren’t you all looking for condiments? Go on, then.”

The Korean espers were humiliated but didn’t dare retort, slinking off like whipped dogs. Yet despite their complaints about China being stingy and impoverished, not a single item in their shopping carts—rice, flour, oil, or even the unprocessed bran rice—was left behind.

Their actions completely contradicted their words.

Zhou Qin recalled his vines before turning his attention to Tang Tang. His gaze held no unfamiliarity—he clearly remembered her.

Tang Tang’s heart leaped with joy. If a man could recognize a woman at a glance after only meeting her once, long ago, what did that mean? It meant he’d been thinking about her—at the very least, he was drawn to her looks.

She cleared her throat, coughed lightly, and flipped her hair, about to greet Zhou Qin while putting on airs—as if she barely remembered him—when Zhou Qin said to Shen Mo, “Third Base, right? I remember telling your people last time they came—this woman is batshit crazy, and it’s contagious. Don’t bring her to our base. I don’t want our entire base infected with stupidity!”

The sweetest smile Tang Tang could muster froze on her face, twisting into something ridiculous.

Shen Mo said bluntly to Ding Yong, “This woman’s head ain’t right. Drop her.”

Ding Yong had no emotional attachment to Tang Tang—it was just a fuck buddy deal. Though he enjoyed her youth, charm, and openness in bed, that meager fondness was nothing compared to his own future and status.

“You heard me—drop her like trash!” Ding Yong immediately turned on her, snatching the shopping cart from her hands.

“No, I—Don’t do me like this, Brother Ding,” Tang Tang panicked. She had only just dug herself out of that filthy place days ago. She couldn’t go back. “Brother Ding, don’t be angry. I misspoke, I—”

“Gentlemen of the Third Base, I apologize, but our Beijing Base ain’t a dumpster. If you wanna toss garbage, take it outside the base. Thanks for cooperating.” With that, Zhou Qin left, all smiles.

Tang Tang was red-faced and scrambling. Any thoughts of seducing Zhou Qin were gone—now, her only goal was to appease Ding Yong.

Ding Yong glared at her viciously, roughly hauling her by the arm and jerking her off-balance as he marched her out.

Before they knew it, the day of the auction had arrived. Scheduled to begin at ten in the morning, delegations from various bases gradually arrived at the venue.

Ji An might not have been the organizer, but since the two treasures being auctioned by the Capital City Base were both his own contributions, he was naturally considered a key figure and expected to attend.

Ji An didn’t have many relatives or close friends, so when Tang Ning and Zheng Yan learned he had an invitation, they asked if he could bring them along to see how things worked. Ji An readily agreed, and even brought Wu Youyang and Rong Fan out for some relaxation—they’d been working themselves to exhaustion on Spatial Storage Devices.

The three arrived earlier than most. When they entered, the entire auction hall was nearly empty aside from staff.

Today, Gu Jinsheng, Kong Zhongcheng, Wan Xueying, and Zhou Qin were all present, making last-minute preparations.

“Kong Zhongcheng, you and I will cover the interior. Zhou Qin will handle security patrols for both inner and outer areas, and Wan Xueying will cover the exterior,” Gu Jinsheng instructed.

“Understood,” the four replied in unison.

After assigning tasks, Gu Jinsheng turned to Ji An and said, “We’ve reserved a spot for you—a VIP booth on the third floor. Rest assured, you’ll be able to see outside, but no one outside can see in. If anything catches your eye, feel free to bid.”

Although the auction was hosted by the Capital City Base, every participating base had contributed auction items. Many bases only had one or two high-value items they wanted to sell but weren’t worth organizing their own auction over—this event gave them the perfect opportunity. The Capital City Base also had a strong reputation for fairness, which reassured other bases enough to entrust their valuables.

Truthfully, Ji An was genuinely looking forward to the auction. Nearly every major base had submitted items, so there were sure to be plenty of high-value lots.

Gu Jinsheng handed Ji An a walkie-talkie. “Take this. If something you want is too valuable, don’t bid openly—just let me know, and I’ll handle it for you.”

Ji An understood that this was Gu Jinsheng’s way of keeping him out of trouble, so he accepted it calmly.

“Thanks.”

“You’re welcome.”

Ji An led Tang Tang and Zheng Yan up to the third-floor booth.

They’d barely settled in when a fruit platter and drinks were brought in. Ji An slid the snacks over to the two women, whose eyes lit up with excitement.

Tang Ning promptly prompted, “Boss, you should eat too.”

“Alright.” Ji An nibbled absentmindedly while keeping his sharp eyes fixed on the delegations moving below.

Suddenly, he spotted a familiar face—Cruise, the man who had caused trouble with the R-nationals at the airport a few days ago.

This time, he wasn’t alone. He came accompanied by three blond, blue-eyed Americans and a group of three women and one man of Chinese descent.

Ji An’s eyes narrowed slightly as he pressed the walkie-talkie button. “Cruise was released?”

“Yeah.” Gu Jinsheng seemed worried Ji An might misunderstand and quickly explained, “He wasn’t carrying any zombie virus, and he blamed everything on those R-nationals, claiming he was just along for the ride. The R-group, unwilling to provoke America, took full responsibility and cleared him completely. The U.S. was willing to make substantial concessions to secure his release. Since we had no grounds to hold him, we demanded significant resources before letting him go.”

From the moment they’d met until now, Gu Jinsheng had likely never spoken this much to Ji An in one go.

Ji An could sense Gu Jinsheng’s concern about being misunderstood.

“I get it. No need to explain—as long as we didn’t lose out.”

“We didn’t,” Gu Jinsheng visibly relaxed. “The American delegation sent over a Level-5 Psychic-type Zombie Core.”

Psychic-type Zombie Cores were already rare, and high-level ones were even more elusive. At present, the chance of finding one that possessed both qualities was less than one in a hundred thousand.

This doesn't even include the food compensation from Country M—they spared no expense to get Cruise back.

For some reason, Ji An felt something was off. He slightly furrowed his brows. “After the auction, can I take a look at that Zombie Core?”

“Sorry,” Gu Jinsheng hesitated before speaking. “Han Yaokun is stuck at the late-stage Level 4 bottleneck, and that Zombie Core…”

“I don’t want it—I just think something’s wrong.” Ji An wasn’t afraid of Gu Jinsheng misunderstanding him as coveting the core. He calmly voiced his genuine concern.

“You think there’s something wrong with the core?”

“Yes,” Ji An replied. “How could Country M suddenly be so generous? I think there’s a catch.”

“Alright, after the auction, I’ll hand the Zombie Core over to you for inspection.” Gu Jinsheng fully trusted Ji An’s judgment without any doubt.

Ji An faintly curved his lips into a smile.

“Boss, you’re grinning like a fool. Did something good happen?” Tang Ning asked curiously.

“Nothing much—just a friend,” Ji An said vaguely, not wanting to elaborate. Suddenly, his gaze landed on the first floor.

He spotted a woman who should have been very familiar to him but now felt strangely distant—Tang Tang.

Tang Tang had changed a lot since he left the Third Base. Her former pride and confidence had vanished. She seemed to shrink into herself, lacking all self-assurance, and looked far older than she was.

At a glance, she could pass for late thirties, with none of the youthful vibrancy one would expect from an eighteen-year-old.

Her dress was visibly cheap and threadbare. At such an auction where everyone dressed glamorously, Tang Tang’s outdated outfit stood out starkly.

Ji An merely glanced at her before turning away—she was beneath his notice.

Soon, the auction began. The host, a beautiful woman, stepped onto the stage and gave a brief spiel before cutting the fluff: “I know everyone’s here today mainly for the spatial storage bracelet from that leaked video. You must be wondering whether it’s real or fake. Our Jing City Base won’t keep you guessing—we’ll show it to you directly. Anyone interested can take a look.”

As the host finished speaking, a superpowered woman in a qipao stepped forward, carrying a tray with an exquisite emerald-green bracelet resting atop it.

“VIP Box No. 1 has raised their bid,” the host announced sweetly. The qipao-clad woman carried the tray up to the second floor.

The first box was private, so outsiders couldn’t see inside. However, audible gasps and muffled curses from within confirmed the spatial storage bracelet’s authenticity—otherwise, there would’ve been an uproar. This only fueled the crowd’s curiosity about what this spatial showstopper actually looked like.

“It seems the spatial storage bracelet is real—perhaps even beyond our expectations,” Owen remarked from his VIP box, catching snippets of hushed excitement from nearby boxes.

“The world’s gone mad,” Jiang Fuzhong muttered. “Superpowers exist, and now spatial storage too.”

Du Ruanlan’s dark eyes gleamed with intrigue. “Jing City Base is a den of dragons and tigers. Could they have something even better?”

Jiang Fuzhong scratched his head. “Boss, why do you say that?”

“Dumbass,” Owen chided lightly, “if they only had this one treasure, why reveal it so soon? They’re the hosts—they’d save the best for last.”

“Ah? What could be more amazing than spatial storage? I can’t even imagine.”

“Who knows? We’ll find out soon enough.”

By the time the spatial storage bracelet did the rounds and the qipao woman returned to the stage, an hour had passed. Though no items had been auctioned yet, the crowd was frothing at the mouth with excitement.

The host beamed ear to ear. “Lot No. 1: a spatial storage bracelet, 53mm in diameter, offering 200 cubic meters of storage. Opening bid: 10k Lv. 3 Zombie Cores, 5k Lv. 4, 1k Lv. 5, 50 tons of premium grain, 100 varieties of fruit seeds, and 100 varieties of vegetable seeds…”

All items at the auction were exchanged through barter only.

Even so, everyone frantically waved their bid cards. Food was in short supply across all bases, so almost no one raised their offers in terms of food—instead, they aggressively increased their bids using zombie cores.

Some participants, lacking enough cores, added mutant beast meat to their offers.

Jing City Base accepted everything, since their base lacked practically everything else except for space. No matter how much food or meat they received, they could simply pile it into their spatial storage where time stood still, ensuring that the supplies would never spoil.

In the end, the spatial storage device bracelet was won by the U.S. delegation—not because they offered more food, but because they had an early-stage tier-7 psychic zombie core to offer. The immense value of this item immediately outbid all other bases.

The handover of the spatial bracelet to the U.S. delegation left many base representatives disappointed. However, to their surprise, the second auction item was yet another spatial storage device—a jade Buddha pendant with a capacity 100 cubic meters larger than the previous one.

Bidding soared again, and the auctioneer beamed widely, as did Ji An.

Just when everyone thought the auction was nearly over, the third item appeared—still another spatial storage device, this one 100 cubic meters larger than the second.

The crowd continued bidding furiously.

But after this round, as everyone waited for the fourth spatial storage item, the host suddenly announced, “The fourth auction item comes from Base T—a mutated great white shark.

This mutated great white shark is at peak fourth-tier mutation level, already tamed and highly docile, suitable as a bonded creature.”

Clearly, this was a creature prepared specifically for beast tamers.

After the apocalypse, abilities manifested in countless forms. The mainstream ones involved metal, wood, water, fire, earth, wind, lightning, and thunder elements, while rare abilities such as psychic, spatial, and healing powers were considered the most valuable. Niche abilities were even more diverse.

Among them was the beast taming ability. Those who awakened it usually had pre-apocalypse careers related to animal training. Of course, some individuals had no prior experience but possessed a natural affinity for animals, naturally attracting them.