Chapter 17

There she stood at the center of the stage enrapturing the attention of the audience in her stunningly beautiful red dress. 

"Welcome ladies, gentlemen, mercenaries, criminals and bounty hunters alike to the Cromwell's family auction!!!"

There was a round of applause as the audience applauded.

"Though some of you might already know, for the sake of newcomers I'll explain how this auction works. There are two stages to this auction. The first is the open auction, where anyone that bought a ticket can fairly participate without any form of prejudice. The second, takes place immediately after the first ends. It's only available to those that choose to upgrade to a VIP ticket and get moved to a VIP booth. Okay, now that we have that out of the way let's bring in our first item!" 

The lights in the venue suddenly dimmed and a spot light was set on an item, center of the stage in a show glass.

It was a handgun outdated to the current era, black all through and with a red worn out leather on the handle. The red was so clammy it is questionable whether the leather was originally red in colour or was it just dried up blood from when it was last used? Just staring at it for too long gave one chills as if they were in the presence of something sinister that wanted to devour them whole.

The handgun looked very unappealing when viewed as a weapon that had once been used during the ancient era; it was visible to the naked eye that it was seriously damaged. It was questionable if it could actually still function.

"The first item for the open auction is the Desert Eagle 50 AE from the ancient era. Not only does this historical relic transcend the test of time and still remains functional, it still has one bullet in the chamber and two existing cartridges. Although obsolete to modern combat firearms, if you consider yourself a collector this is a great find to add to your collection. The starting bid is 1000 credits!!!"

"2000 CREDITS!!!" An attendant assigned to one of the VIP booths spoke into the microphone and directly doubled the starting bid. Everyone was shocked and surprisingly no one bid after that.

It's not that no one could match the price, but no one wanted that item 

----

Inside a certain booth that had just doubled the starting bid.

"Hahahahahaha!!! Did you see the look on the faces of all those poor peasants when I directly doubled the starting bid? I bet everyone's thinking twice before going against me now, huh!" A fat bald man exclaimed as he burst into raucous laughter.

He is called Bill Rosen. He is a well known antique collector across the world. As a descendant from the Rosen family, one of the top five richest families on planet Aquamarine after the apocalypse, he hasn't lacked anything while growing up. Most especially money.

"Y-yes master." A black suited assistant by his side stammered as he glanced through the Intel of the primitive firearm from the Rosen family private network. His body shook as he read the Intel over and over again while thinking how to break the news to the third master. The Intel went thus;

Item: Desert eagle 50 AE

Type: Firearm (obsolete)

Status: Cursed

Remark: Has several reasons, along with various instances to believe that the item is cursed and should be treated with caution. Avoid on sight and don't come in contact with it.

The assistant opened links to additional information and found headlines of the families massacred. All stories and headlines have one thing in common, only a firearm was found in all these murder scenes. And that very firearm looked exactly identical to the one being auctioned to the master.

One has to admit that Zi El was actually skilled at her job as she cleverly targeted the eccentric rich collectors that may be in the audience. But unfortunately she didn't take into account everything as there were certain variables one can't just plan for beforehand without knowledge of them prior to their manifestation. 

She could only watch as no one else bid for the handgun again after VIP booth 12 flaunted their wealth by doubling the starting bid and intimidating other potential buyers. Before the auction started every auctioneer would be given the list of VIP guests and which booth they reside in. That's why even though each booth had a tinted glass, the auctioneers know exactly who's auctioning for any products.

(If I'm not mistaking, booth 12 was rented by the young master of Rosen family)(Zi El)

At today's auction, only three out of the twelve booths were rented out by VIPs. Booth 8 is rented by someone who wished to remain anonymous. He's most probably someone influential from outside mirage city traveling incognito. Booth 10 is rented by Mirage city's very own half-breed, Miho, who although has undergone a drastic change of her physical appearance is still looked down upon by everyone due to her animal implants that is said to have tainted her human blood. Lastly, Booth 12 which is where the young master of the Rosen family, her current source of distress currently is.

(Maybe I should just be happy I get to sell the unsellable item and be getting a promotion)(Zi El)

After sighing once and seeing the reluctance of the other bidders, she decided to call a close to this item's auction.

"2000 going once, going twice…" Zi El raised her hammer and was about to proclaim it sold when a voice from one of the other booths surprised her.

"...4000 credits!"

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