The Otherworldly Adventures of a Super Naive Girl

Chapter 343, 344, 345, 346

343: Fighting for the Ancient Rui Beast

Her team members knew what kind of person she was so they didn’t hold it against her for not completing the task with them. On the contrary, they even tried to comfort her with words of encouragement.

They heard about the sea emperor’s tomb opening later on. Naturally, Zi Cheng and her friends wanted to go and see it. The senior who led the group had not wanted to go initially, but he changed his mind after Zi Cheng expressed her desire to go. He had a good impression of her, so he agreed to take the group to see the tomb.

Zi Cheng didn’t think her luck would be so good. She met Caesar right after getting off the boat. Her favorability rating with him had reached eighty percent. Wouldn't she be able to get it to one hundred with just a bit more effort?

Yifu and Jasmine were sitting next to her.**Yifu is the braindead one who unconditionally follows Zi Cheng around and Jasmine is Feng Wu’s roommate. She hates Feng Wu.** It was only natural for Zi Cheng to bring her friends with her. Jasmine’s favorability rating had been stuck at ninety percent for a while. Zi Cheng thought it was strange that she couldn’t nudge it any higher. Jasmine’s favorability was just too hard to increase.

Zi Cheng had invited her to be on the same team for the team mission in the hopes of getting it to one hundred percent. She never expected to be swept overboard and get separated from the team.

Caesar looked at the woman next to him. Zi Cheng was kind and gentle, and yet so strong. She wasn’t dependent on a man, but instead worked hard to win respect using her own abilities. He admired such qualities in a woman.

“Zi Cheng, if you see something you like, just get it. Consider it a present from me.” Caesar wasn’t in love with Zi Cheng, but he did like her a lot. He didn’t think there was anything wrong with gifting a present to a girl he liked.

However Yifu and Jasmine turned and looked at them with calculating eyes. A strong and wealthy man like Caesar was irresistible!

They had heard of him before. He was known to be a genius magician and a member of the Blackstrom family. It was a given he would be the next family head.

If Zi Cheng could marry Caesar, she would gain a lot! Of course they would be happy to see something like that happen.

Minor aristocrats like Yifu and Jasmine recognized the difference between ordinary nobles and established powerful families.

“No, I can’t accept something like that. You’ll have to forgive me for rejecting your kindness.” Zi Cheng said softly after biting her lip.

“This is our first meeting in real life. You helped me when we first met. Think of it as a gift from me to you.” Caesar refused to be rejected.

“Yes, but that was just something I wanted to do. I didn’t do it because I wanted a gift from you.” Zi Cheng looked at Caesar earnestly. She was speaking the truth.

Though Caesar was disappointed, he didn’t want to press the issue, however his opinion of her rise.

Zi Cheng checked her favorability rating with him and saw that it had increased by five points. She kept her face neutral despite being happy over the news.

A soft cry came from below their box, “Why is that thing up again? How many times has it been already?” It was obvious the person was a regular to the auction house.

“Yeah, how many times have you guys pulled it out for auction? Why is it out again?”

“You won’t be able to sell it OK?” someone shouted from the audience.

Some shouted back, “Why not take a look?”

LeXue didn’t reply to the comments. She just went ahead with the auction. “The lot in my hand is Lot #70. It is an unknown ore that no one has seen before. It is incredibly hard, so hard that our refinery could not melt it. That is how hard it is folks...”

LeXue did her best to describe the lot in a complimentary way. Despite this, no one was interested in bidding. Even those who had initially been interested lost interest when they learned how many times it had been rejected.

“The reserve price for unknown ore Lot #70 starts at one hundred gold. The auction starts now!”

There were two first time attendees who were interested in finding out what it was so they casually bid on it.

Suddenly someone shouted out, “One hundred gold!”

LeXue shouted from the stage, “Is there anyone interested in bidding over one hundred gold? Going once!”

“Three hundred two!”

“Four hundred!”

The last shout came from Zi Cheng. She hadn’t wanted to bid earlier, but something about the stone tugged at her. It felt like the stone belonged to her. While she was dazed, someone else had nearly taken the stone from her.

“Four hundred gold! Box Number Two bid four hundred gold! Anyone else?!”

“Five hundred!”

Zi Cheng clenched her teeth. “Six hundred!”

Ai Lin sneered. She shouted out, “A thousand gold!” She remembered how in the book it had said Zi Cheng spent three hundred gold for the ancient rui egg. It had given her countless opportunities. Now Zi Cheng wanted to get it again for three hundred gold? Dream on!

“One thousand two hundred!” Zi Cheng frowned. Why was that voice so familiar?

“One thousand five hundred!” Ai Lin continued to hike up the price.

“One thousand eight hundred!”

The two went back and forth until the price rose to ten thousand. It made everyone else wonder about the stone. Was it actually something precious? If it was, then they couldn’t allow it to fall into someone else’s hands!

“Twelve thousand gold!” The bid came from someone in box Five.

Not to be outdone, box Four shouted out, “Twenty thousand gold!”

This confused Ai Lin and Zi Cheng. Were these guys just bidding for fun?

“One hundred thousand gold.” An elegant and refined voice spoke up.

“Third brother!” Caesar was taken aback at the sound of the familiar voice. His third brother didn’t like to go out so Caesar was surprised to find him at Bilou, especially considering how chaotic and dangerous the island would be with the impending opening of the god’s tomb.

Caesar was worried about his brother being there.

Before Caesar was completely drunk on Zi Cheng, he was a very good brother and genuinely cared about Zo’s well-being.

Indeed the shout did come from Zo. He hadn’t expected so many people to bid on the stone. He clearly remembered being told that Zi Cheng got the egg without any competition!

344: Box Zero

Zo was confused. Had the person who told him about it remembered wrong, or had the past changed because of his presence? Regardless, he would not let Zi Cheng get the egg.

“One hundred twenty thousand!” Ai Lin kept increasing the price. Why did things get so difficult just as she planned to rob the heroine of an advantage? When the heroine wanted to bid, no one opposed her, but as soon as the female villain joined in, all of a sudden there was an outpouring of competition. Was this the treatment difference between the heroine and the female villain?

Ai Lin shook her head. It didn’t matter, she had to get the egg. It was one of the heroine’s strongest advantages.

“One hundred ten thousand gold!”

“One hundred twenty!”

“One hundred fifty thousand gold!”

Once Zo joined in, other boxes also bid. It forced Zi Cheng to make the one hundred fifty thousand gold bid.

The other guests who were curious before thought about it for a few seconds before deciding to not join the fray. They were rich, but that didn’t mean money was free.

It would be foolish to spend so much on an unknown ore. They could investigate it later. Guests in box Number Four and Five bowed out, so only Zi Cheng, Zo and Ai Lin were left.

“Senior Ming Xi, do you think there’s something special about that stone? The other boxes are even bidding.” Ink was curious. What was that egg-shaped stone?

A lot of other people were also wondering the same thing. It had to be something good right?

Ming Xi carefully looked at the stone on stage, but he couldn’t tell anything. He shook his head. “I don’t know.”

Feng Wu heard a faint voice.

...Help... Help me... Help... what is this place? Why are there so many around me?

The stone! Feng Wu’s eyes got big. It was the first time she could hear from a stone! What a strange feeling!

She turned and tugged at the corner of Ming Xi’s coat.

At the tug, Ming Xi turned to Feng Wu and asked, “What’s the matter?”

“That, I want it.”

Ming Xi was surprised, but then he smiled and nodded. “OK.”

It was just a stone. If Feng Wu wanted it, he would be happy to get it for her. As the prince of the Ancient Silver Moon kingdom and the next king in line, Ming Xi was never short on funds. He had a whole kingdom behind him. Enough said.

“You like it, I’ll get it for you.” He patted her head. Indeed, patting her head felt great.

“Hm!” Feng Wu smiled brightly.

“Five hundred thousand!” was Ming Xi’s bid.

The other three competitors looked toward the sound of the shout. The sign under it said “ZERO”, but it was written in a different font and style than all the other boxes. It was an indication that whoever was in that box was higher in status than anyone in any of the other boxes.

Box ZERO was occupied?! Zo knew about the existence of the box. It was a reserved box that the boss refused to open no matter the emergency. Whoever was in the box had to be someone the Ancient Moon Auction house acknowledged, otherwise the person would not have been able to get into the box no matter how much wealth the person had.

Who was it? Had this happened in the past?

Zo racked his brain but couldn’t figure it out. He was too much of a recluse in his previous life. He knew he was unwanted, so he always stayed home. His knowledge of the world was limited because of this.

He only knew what he knew now because his father and Zi Cheng’s former friends and suitors took great pains to share what they remembered. Had they not done so, he would have been powerless to stop Zi Cheng from getting the elemental hearts. On his own, he didn’t know anything!

So the identity of box ZERO, he had no idea. He was just too much of a homebody to know.

He wasn’t sure if box ZERO had been involved before, or if things changed because he present, but in either case, he couldn’t risk letting the egg fall into Zi Cheng’s possession.

Zo wasn’t the only one who couldn’t figure it out, Ai Lin was also stumped. She was certain no one had occupied box ZERO in the original novel. So who was in it now?

Grr! Couldn’t her counter attacks be easier please?!

Zi Cheng didn’t know what would happen in the future; she had never read the novel, so she had no idea she was the heroine. She was only mildly curious about box ZERO. Her bigger priority was the egg. She wanted it badly.

After using her system to scan it, she learned it was a rare ancient beast egg, called a rui. Ruis were wise and lived longer than most other beasts. Being darlings of heaven and earth, they had a special ability that, when combined with their wisdom, allowed them to live better than all other beasts. So even though they couldn’t fight well, they were precious treasures.

It nearly made Zi Cheng cry when she saw what the exchange price for one was in her system.

In fact, although ruis were grouped with other divine beasts in the past, they were unusual even for divine beasts. They were a mystery even for divine beasts.

She refused to give it up now that she knew what it was. It didn’t matter how much it cost; she had to get it. She had a gut feeling the egg belonged to her.

345: The Lot Gets Taken Down

The fact that someone was in box ZERO and bidding from there alarmed many of the bigger families in attendance.

Those in other boxes were undoubtedly from big families but none of them were eligible to enter box ZERO, even the lord of the island, Wuji, wasn’t qualified. So it begged the question, who was in the box and were they visiting for the because of the tomb?

Speculations flew left and right, and for a while, none of the big shots paid attention to the stage. They were busy trying figure out who was in box ZERO. Only someone incredibly important would have made Branch Boss Claude open the box.

“Come here, go and find out who is in box ZERO,” was a repeated refrain from the other boxes.

Those in the boxes made their move by sending out their servants to investigate. They had no information whatsoever on the identity of the person in the box. They didn’t have a name, appearance description, family lineage – really anything at all.

It didn’t matter what these nobles thought; the auction continued.

The stone reached eight hundred thousand gold and showed no signs of stopping.

“Eight hundred fifty thousand!”

“Nine hundred thousand!”

“One million!”

“One point one million gold!”

No one was willing to give up.

“Wow! What is going on today? No one wanted that stone after dozens of auction attempts. All of a sudden it’s going for over a million?!”

“Am I dreaming?”

“I feel like I’m dreaming.”

“Those people are too rich for their own good. Spending so much on such a useless thing.”

“Rich people, they make no sense.”

“How tyrannical! Throwing around millions for a useless stone!”

Those on the floor looked up at the box seats with some amount of jealousy in their eyes. Most of them were adventurers or children of lesser houses so they could only sit and watch.

Floor attendees couldn’t help but holler out at the wasted expenditure. Millions of gold for a broken piece of stone?

“That’s too expensive! Over a million for a bit of stone?” Margaret tried to wrap her mind around the price tag. Yes the ore was incredibly hard, but what use was it if it couldn’t be melted down? Maybe if they could find a heaven and earth fire... But using a divine fire for an ore? Unless it was some kind of life-saving stone, what fool would waste a divine fire on it?

“It’s reached one and a half million; those other three are really stubborn. Senior Ming Xi has been increasing by two hundred thousand increments too.” Ink touched his chin. He didn’t understand rich people.

Ming Xi increased the price to two million. Two million was by no means a small sum, but still it wasn’t a big deal for those in box seats.

Both Zi Cheng and Ai Lin were wealthy people. Zi Cheng, because she used modern world knowledge, had opened a lot of shops and created many specialty dishes. She had branches all over the continent, so of course she wouldn’t be short on funds.

Ai Lin was trying to keep a low profile, so she didn’t use any other world knowledge to open businesses like Zi Cheng, but she did have lots of rare magical items in her space storage, such as elixirs. Besides that, she was a high-level pharmacist, and pharmacists were the best at making money fast.

Zo was a young master of the Blackstrom family, so even though he was useless, he had his father’s blessing and protection. Therefore, he was never short on money either.

Ming Xi was the prince of the Ancient Silver Moon kingdom. How could he lose to them in regards to wealth?

As a result, the price of the stone kept going up. No one was willing to give up.

Claude, seated in another room, was frowning. He waved the steward over and whispered a few words to the man. The steward immediately left to do as ordered.

Before long, a maid rushed on stage toward LeXue. Whatever was whispered to her made her smile stiffen. It looked like something unexpected had happened.

After the maid left, LeXue awkwardly coughed into her hand and with an apologetic smile said, “My apologies. The owner of the item has requested the that the lot be removed. Because of this, the auction for it will not be counted. I, LeXue, would like to give my deepest apologies to our distinguished guests.”

Her words lit a fire in the audience and grumblings immediately erupted from the floor attendees.

“What the hell?! Things being actively auctioned can’t be pulled like that!”

“When did Ancient Moon house have this kind of allowance?!"

“Isn’t the broken bit of stone owned by the house?”

Those in box seats were no less riled.

The owner of the item wanted to pull it? They all knew what the house rules were. Once an item was on the list, it couldn’t be withdrawn, never mind items already actively being auctioned on stage.

The house gave such a flimsy excuse; did they think the people were fools?! The attendees were outraged, but mingled with that outrage was also amazement. Box Zero was really something else. Otherwise, how could Claude, a guy known to eat people up and not even spit out their bones, would risk making such a controversial move?

They suspected the stone was pulled because box Zero had it be pulled.

In truth, Ming Xi and his group were being unjustly accused. They didn’t know they could do something like that. Had they known, they wouldn’t have bothered wasting their breath bidding!

Jier smiled knowingly. “Don’t worry. Someone will bring it over to us soon.”

Ming Xi knew this as well. He frowned a little but didn’t say anything.

346: Everyone’s Reactions

A faint light flashed in Matheson’s eyes. He understood now. Ink and Leo stared at the door as they waited for the delivery. Sure enough, within minutes a beautiful maid was at the entrance holding a box.

“This is a gift from the boss to Master Ming Xi. Boss says Master Ming Xi must accept it.” She respectfully placed it on the table, and upon not seeing a rejection from Ming Xi, breathed a sigh of relief before leaving.

Ink rushed to the table the moment the maid left. “Let’s see if it’s the stone!” He opened the beautiful packed wooden box and revealed the stone inside.

People in the other three boxes were flustered. They'd been sporting dumbfounded expressions since the announcement the stone was being pulled from auction came out. Zo was the most disbelieving.

He could swear nothing like this happened in his previous life! Zi Cheng definitely got the egg without any trouble. But this life was so different. He had been ready to fight with Zi Cheng for the egg to the bitter end, but somehow, though he knew how things would start, the ending completely eluded him.

Zi Cheng and Ai Lin’s mood were complicated as well. Zi Cheng really felt the egg belonged to her. That she couldn’t get it distressed her a lot, so much so, her face paled.

Caesar thought she was unwell, so he poured a cup of tea for her, which Yifu then served her.

Zi Cheng pulled a smile to her face and barely sipped from the cup. “I’m fine. I just felt dizzy for a moment.”

“In that case, let’s go back and rest. I’ll go look for a doctor for you.” Jasmine volunteered out of concern.

“No, no need for a doctor. I’m fine. I just need to rest here for a bit.” Zi Cheng shook her head, not wanting to leave.

Her gut was never wrong. The egg definitely belonged to her, so how did it end up with someone else? Who was it that stole it from her?

It felt like a piece of her heart had been dug out. The pain was terrible for a moment.

“Are you still thinking about that bit of stone? If you want, I can find out who the owner is and offer to buy it from them if they are willing to sell it.” josei

Caesar wasn’t familiar with the island and had only visited because of the tomb. If he knew the history of box Zero he would have understood the motivation behind Boss Claude’s move to withdraw the item.

Zi Cheng had to appear reserved so she couldn’t agree right away.

“No, I wanted to gift you something. Since you like that ore stone so much, I’ll help you get it."

Caesar’s serious face and domineering attitude reassured Zi Cheng that it wasn’t hopeless. As long as she could find the seller, she would be able to get the egg.

“A pity it was pulled.” Eliza could see how much Ai Lin wanted the stone. But the competition had been fierce and, in the end, it was even pulled from the auction mysteriously.

Ai Lin took a deep breath. The only thing she could be happy about was Zi Cheng’s failure to get the egg. With its predictive abilities, her own identity as a transmigrator could have been revealed.

“Eliza, can you find out who the stone went to?” She couldn’t give up just yet.

Eliza tilted her head cutely then she blinked her big innocent eyes at Ai Lin. “Asking around won’t work, but if I’m not mistaken, that stone should be on a table in box ZERO as we speak.”

“Box ZERO?!” Ai Lin was surprised the lot was withdrawn for personal reasons. Sure enough, there were privileged classes everywhere. She hated the privileged class!

“Eliza, can you guess the identity of the person in the box?” Whoever in the box was trying to conceal their identity. The person had to have disguised their voice during the bidding earlier.

“I can’t, but it should not be anyone from the islands. None of the families around here have enough reputation to be invited, so it’s likely someone from the main continent here for the tomb’s opening.”

Though Ai Lin was disappointed in the answer, she refused to give up. She was the only one who knew how to incubate the egg.

The egg was a hard stone that would be useless to anyone else. If she could find whoever owned it, she would definitely be able to buy it from them.

As long as it wasn’t in Zi Cheng’s possession, she wasn’t afraid.

Meanwhile, the auction continued at a quick clip below them. Lots of items had been brought out and each had sold at a good price.

Those in private boxes had not made a move on the any of the items. What they wanted hadn’t come out yet.

“Is this really a stone? Doesn’t it feel more like an egg?” Margaret tapped the shell.

“Yeah, I agree. But it shouldn’t be a beast egg. How can it be so small?” Jier picked the egg up and used his spiritual energy to check it.

There was no reaction, that is to say, would you think the auction house couldn’t tell the difference between a rock and an egg?

“Little fish lipped human, you think you can detect this young master with that skill level? Dream on!”

Feng Wu blinked at the voice. Doubtful for a moment. The cute child-like voice was so endearing.

“This stone ore, I’ve never seen anything like it written in any book before.” Leo thought about all the books on minerals he had read, but he couldn’t recall any mentioning a stone like the one in front of them.

“Why does Xiao Wu like this kind of stone? It’s not interesting at all.” Margaret didn’t see the appeal. She turned her attention back to the auction.