Chapter 76: The Art of Bickering 2.0

How could he endure Lan Xi’s teasing?

Fike staggered back, almost falling.

He sighed and thought to himself helplessly.

‘Look at your pitiful appearance, sigh!’

Fike quickly picked himself back up before handing the Demon Prince-tier Exotic Beast tusk to Lan Xi.

The moment she laid eyes on the rare material, Lan Xi immediately lost interest in messing around with Fike.

“This quality… this quality… is the best! Where did you get such an incredible item?”

Lan Xi abruptly exclaimed.

“Lan Xi, have you forgotten the rules here?”

Tegpus cut through her excitement.

She smiled embarrassedly after hearing his words.

“I’m sorry, I’m too excited. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen an item of this quality!”

Tegpus went straight to the point.

“These are the fangs of a Demon Prince-tier beast! What would you think is a suitable price?”

Lan Xi suddenly raised her left hand, gesturing for them to wait, before taking out a piece of paper and a pen and started to quickly make some calculations.

After a few seconds, she spoke.

“After my calculations, how about…”

Fike held his breath as he waited for her figure.

“How about two billion?”

Hearing this, Fike was so shocked that his jaw almost fell off.

Two billion! What kind of unfathomable concept was that?

At the time, Tegpus objected.

“Miss Lan Xi, your price isn’t very generous! I’ll give you another chance, think about it.”

Lan Xi did not hesitate as she picked up the pen and paper again and started to calculate.

After a while, she spoke again.

“2.8 billion. That’s the total worth of Romon Auction’s assets for now.”

Fike’s heart trembled once again as he heard the new figure of 2.8 billion.

However, Tegpus was still unsatisfied.

“Your price is still too low. For something of this quality, 3 billion should be non-negotiable!”

Lan Xi smiled awkwardly.

“Business has been bad recently. How about this? That fang of yours will be the final item for tonight’s auction. Do you mind?”

Tegpus thought for a moment before nodding at Fike.

Seeing his approval, Fike gave his answer.

“Deal!”

Lan Xi continued.

“However, once it’s sold, the Romon Auction will take ten percent!”

“Ten percent? How much would that be?”

Fike was surprised.

“10%?” Tegpus said to Fike, “Fike, trust me. If it’s 10%, you’ll barely lose anything!”

Hearing the master’s firm reassurance, Fike could only agree.

Tegpus then turned his attention to Lan Xi.

“I can give you the 10%, but on one condition.”

Lan Xi’s eyes turned inquisitive.

“Oh? Please, go ahead.”

“That is to open the warehouse of your unsold items, and allow us to take an item of our choice.”

“That won’t do, Lord Tegpus. You know that this is just a small business… We can’t afford to lose that amount of money.”

Hearing her words, Tegpus smiled as he continued.

“How about this, we’ll take a step back. You’ll still open up your warehouse of unsold goods, but we’ll take any item you choose instead, with a 100 million advance purchase quota. Would that work?”

Lan Xi picked up the pen and paper again and began to calculate.

Finally, she spoke.

“Deal. Then it’s settled! I’ll bring you to the VIP room of the auction house now. The main event is about to begin!”

Fike and Tegpus followed Lan Xi up to the third floor, arriving at a luxurious private room with a wide view.

As the two of them sat down, Lan Xi didn’t forget to tease Fike once more before she left.

She whispered coyly into Fike’s ear, “Little brother, if you ever want to come and play with me in the future, you’re welcome anytime. I promise I’ll show you a fun time, the kind of fun that’ll make you want to die!”

After saying that, she left Fike with a kiss on the cheek.

Fike felt his entire body tremble, as if his soul was leaving his body.

…

Finally, the auction of the night officially began.

A male host wearing strange, exotic clothes strutted over to the center of the stage.

“Welcome, distinguished guests, to our Romon Auction. Now, the auction begins. Are you ready?”

A violent commotion of cheers and applause broke out below the stage!

Looking at the frenzied crowd below, Fike began to feel a little uncomfortable.

“Alright, then let’s get on with the first item for the night!”

On the stage, two beautiful girls once again dressed in bunny costumes pushed a small cart covered with a red cloth slowly toward the center.

The host lifted the red cloth with flair.

“The first item for auction tonight is a diamond-tier breastplate! This breastplate can be used by all classes! Given that it’s diamond quality, I’m sure that everyone already has a rough estimate of its price.

“The starting bid is 10 million. Let’s begin!”

With the help of the hidden information, Fike quickly found a fatal flaw in the armor.

He muttered under his breath, “This host is really something. He’s specifically raised the advantages of this breastplate but mentioned nothing about its flaws. I’m afraid someone will definitely fall for this!”

A look of slight astonishment rested on Tegpus’ face as he watched Fike.

“Fike, what? You see the flaw in the breastplate? Tell me, let me verify if what you see is right.”

Fike answered.

“It has something to do with the material of it, right?”

Tegpus gave him a look of approval.

Fike continued.

“The materials used in the breastplate consist of rare metals with extremely high hardness. Although this grants it extremely high defensive ability, which could even be compared to that of a grandmaster-tier breastplate, its flaw is precisely because of the hardness of the material; this breastplate can only be worn by people of a very specific figure!

“Moreover, in my opinion, judging from its size, it can only be worn by children who have yet to fully develop. An adult would not be able to wear it at all!”

Tegpus nodded.

“As expected of the person that Bert took a liking to. No wonder that even that man, with such a weird character, would take a fancy to you!”

Hearing Tegpus’ words, Fike quietly thought to himself.

In the aspect of weirdness, this Tegpus was far from being able to complain about Bert.

He continued to watch the proceedings of the auction.

In the end, the diamond-tier breastplate was bought by a middle-aged merchant man for a price of 148 million.

“Next comes our second item. This item will be gracing the stage of the Romon Auction for the last time. The Exotic Meteorite!

“This Extoic Meteorite is huge! Regardless of how its color, texture, or hardness may appear, it is certainly a great choice for forging high-tier equipment!

“The starting bid is 800,000!

“Let’s kick off the bidding now!”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep