Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations

The Babu scepter was first used by the founder of Balaya Kingdom, King Babu. It represented the highest authority of the Balaya Kingdom. However, 400 years ago, this scepter was stolen and disappeared without a trace. The Balaya Kingdom had been searching for it for 400 years and finally found that it was at the auction.

However, they received the news too late. It was impossible for them to rush to Aoqi on time. Luckily, Gulibaduo was in Aoqi at that specific moment. The King of Balaya felt that it was a blessing given to them by King Babu. He immediately contacted Gulibaduo and transferred a huge amount of credits to her. He told Gulibaduo that she must buy the Babu scepter back no matter what.

When Ling Lan heard this news, she knew that their opponents had acted. There would definitely be a trap waiting for them at this underground auction. Ling Lan also knew that Gulibaduo would definitely show up at this auction. If she managed to get back the Babu scepter, her right to inherit the throne would be confirmed. Hence, no matter how dangerous this trip would be, she would still go.

Gulibaduo invited Ling Lan and her friends to come to this underground auction. Ling Lan and her friends thought about it but rejected the offer. There was a limited number of people who could attend an underground auction. If they went, Gulibaduo would not be able to bring in her bodyguards.

Gulibaduo solved their worries. In order to ensure that they could get the Babu scepter back, Balaya Kingdom prepared three invitation cards for Gulibaduo. Each invitation card allowed five people to enter the auction. Gulibaduo gave Ling Lan and her friends one invitation card. She hoped that Ling Lan and her friends would bid for the Babu scepter if by any chance she was prevented from bidding.

The Balaya Kingdom would pay the guarantee and be their insurer. Hence, they did not have to worry that they wouldn’t be able to pay the credits. action

Ling Lan and her friends were moved. They hesitated for a moment before accepting the invitation.

Gulibaduo gave another invitation card to her bodyguards, Senior Colonel Mu Youyun and the Whirlwind Battle Team. She brought Lieutenant Colonel Qian Jialin and three of his strongest team members with her. She also brought along her trusted personal servant.

Of course, even if they had the invitation card, they would not be able to find and enter the auction without a point of contact. Since she managed to get the invitation cards, Gulibaduo knew where to find the person who would be their point of contact. Very soon, they were taken into an extravagant eight-star hotel by the person of contact.

Because they had stayed in a nine-star hotel, Ling Lan and her friends were a lot calmer when they entered the eight-star hotel. The hotel was located in a prime district. When Ling Lan entered the hotel, she quickly scanned the surroundings. She discovered the Ministry of State Security was diagonally opposite of the hotel.

Ling Lan lowered her eyes. She smiled. Things are indeed very interesting!

The person of contact didn’t walk to the main lift in the lobby. Instead, he led them to a secluded passage and walked for quite a distance. The passage was connected to many other passages intertwined together so only someone familiar with the path would be able to find the way in.

After walking for around five minutes, they finally arrived in front of a lift. The person of contact pressed a button and the lift door opened. It was a huge lift. Its size was about 30 square meters. When 19 of them entered the lift, it was not cramped at all. There were still some room between them.

The person of contact didn’t press the buttons in the lift. Instead, he took out a metal card and scanned it at the area where the buttons were at.

“Clang!” The lift started operating automatically. It went down. The screen showed that they were at B4. Suddenly, red lights started flickering and the word ‘malfunction’ appeared on the screen. A loud siren rang in the lift.

The princess’ expression changed. However, she controlled herself and looked at the person of contact as he continued his act.

The person of contact pressed the emergency button. A gentle voice rose, “Hello, did the lift malfunction?”

The person of contact replied calmly, “Yes. It can’t go down to B47.”

“B47? Mister, did you say it wrongly? We only have 39 floors here,” The gentle voice reminded him.

“39 floors? Did I remember the wrong floor? Ah, I’m sorry, I want to go to B7.”

“I’m sorry. We only have B4.”

“B4? Am I wrong again?” The person of contact took out his card and looked at it carefully. He saw the number on the card and said, “I was mistaken about B7. I should be going to B9.”

“I’m sorry, we only have B4,” The gentle voice reminded him again calmly.

“I don’t care. You must send me to a floor with the number 9 on it.” The attitude of the person of contact turned bad. “Do you want us to stay in this old lift?”

The other party seemed shocked by the sudden change in attitude. She remained silent for three seconds before replying, “I understand. I will send you to the 9th floor.” The lift started operating again. The screen showed that they have reached the 9th floor.

“Boss, the lift is going downwards.” Little Four suddenly told Ling Lan. The lifts in this era were very stable. Normal people would not be able to distinguish whether they were going up or down.

“Also, that was not B9. We were at B17.” Little Four reported his findings to Ling Lan. The numbers that were shown on the screen were fake. Ever since the person of contact scanned his metal card, all the information shown was fake.

“Ding.” The lift door slowly opened.

An entrance laid with gold carpets appeared before them. Two guards in uniform were standing in front of the entrance. They saw the people in the lift and bowed to them. They said politely, “There is a banquet happening in this place. Do you have an invitation card?”

The person of contact smiled and tilted his body. His mission was completed. It was time for him to leave.

The princess took out her invitation card without any hesitation. The guard scanned the card with a device. “Beep.” The information stored in the card appeared on his device.

“Honoured guest from the Balaya Kingdom, please enter with your men.” The guard smiled and pointed at the passage on his right.

The princess nodded at Ling Lan and Mu Youyun. She entered the place with her personal servant, Qian Jialin, and his men.

Mu Youyun didn’t look at Ling Lan and her friends. He seemed as though he didn’t recognize them at all. He handed his invitation card over to the bodyguard and left quickly.

Li Yingjie passed the invitation card over. After the inspection, the six of them waited at the side for the staff member to bring them in.

They didn’t meet any people along the way. There were no signs of Gulibaduo or Mu Youyun. Ling Lan knew that they were taken to different locations. Although this looked like a normal hallway, it could actually move. When they were waiting at the entrance, the people in front had already been shifted to another area.

Seems like this underground auction put a lot of effort to ensure the safety and security of their location. Little Four told Ling Lan all the secrets of this hallway. He also told her that a similar banquet was being held on the 9th floor of the hotel. Those people that attempted to sneak in were brought there.

Although she was separated from the princess and didn’t know where the princess was at, Ling Lan was not agitated as Little Four had located the princess. They were not in the same hallway but they were heading towards the same direction. This meant they that they would meet each other in the end.

Around 10 minutes later, Li Yingjie started to look impatient. The staff member finally led them into a booth.

The decorations in the booth was luxurious. There were all kinds of fruits, drinks, and rare wines prepared for them. Besides Li Yingjie who managed to control his emotions, the rest of them turned into country bumpkins. They kept gasping in surprise. Qi Long and Zhao Jun even laid on the expensive sofa and touched all the things in the booth. Then, they started jumping on the sofa.

The staff member seemed to be well-trained and experienced. He maintained the smile on his face calmly. There was no change in his expression at all. In the end, Li Yingjie couldn’t stand it anymore and shouted at them to stop. The staff member smiled and started explaining to them the rules of the auction and how it would be operated.

After confirming that the six of them understood the rules, he bowed and left the booth.

He turned a few corners and walked quickly for around three minutes. He entered a corridor. He pressed against the wall of the corridor and knocked three times. Then he knocked another five times followed by another four times. A hole appeared in the wall and the staff member quickly entered it. The wall resumed its original appearance almost immediately after the staff member had entered.

There was a small room in the wall. It was filled with screens. There were humans in certain screens while others were empty. The booth that Ling Lan was in was on the screen too. Without someone scrutinizing them, Zhao Jun and Qi Long took off their shoes and started stepping on the sofa. Li Yingjie and Lin Zhong-qing tried to persuade them to get off the sofa. Lin Zhong-qing was talking softly while Li Yingjie just directly shouted at them.

Li Lanfeng and Ling Lan were looking at the various wines at the corner of the booth. They had an excited look on their faces. They glanced around them and then opened a wine that cost a few thousand credits. They had a taste of it secretly. From the looks of it, they were trying to get the most out of their visit here.

“27, what do you think of these six people?” A 30 years old man in a suit was sitting on the sofa in the middle of the room. He looked a little sinister.

“Brother Xu, it is the same as what was described. A slightly wealthy young master bringing five commoners to see the world.” The smile on 27’s face had disappeared.

“Why did the princess chose six normal people and even gave them a precious invitation card?” The sinister looking man was puzzled. This was why he asked his subordinate to disguise as a staff member and check on them.

27 thought about the question carefully before replying, “Is the princess trying stay away from the young master from the Yun family? She might be going around with them so that she wouldn’t have to walk around with the young master.”

“That is possible. We plan to let all of the princess’ men to enter this place but now, five are left outside...” Brother Xu frowned. The appearance of Ling Lan and her friends spoilt their plans and he was unhappy about it. He was worried that the five people left outside would cause them to fail their plan.

27 glanced at Brother Xu. Brother Xu noticed it and said, “27, if you have anything to say, just say it.”

“Actually, it is not important if the princess’ men are captured. The most important person is the princess,” 27 said his real thoughts.

Brother Xu hesitated for a moment. He nodded. “Go and make the necessary arrangements.” He agreed with what 27 said. As long as they managed to kill the princess, the five people outside would not be a problem.

27 left with the order. Brother Xu raised his hand. His hand moved and six photos appeared in his hand. They were photos of Ling Lan and her friends. They were taken when they were shopping.

Brother Xu glanced at them for a few seconds. He suddenly throw his hand forward. The six photos shot out. A silver light appeared in his hand and in the next moment, one of the photos got stuck on the wall with a knife. It was a photo of a side profile of Ling Lan but her face couldn’t be seen because she lowered her head.

“Everyone had a few photos of their face. You are the only one that didn’t have a front shot. Is it because my men are not skilled enough or are you not as simple as you look?” Brother Xu smiled coldly. He was unable to clear his suspicion because of this.

“The show is about to start. I will know whether you are as simple as you look soon. Don’t disappoint me!” Brother Xu flipped his hand and shot out a knife. It flew straight into Ling Lan’s heart.

On the screen, Ling Lan was lowering her head and seemed to be immersed in tasting the wine. A cold gaze appeared in her eyes.

“Little Four, you said that I am being suspected?”

“Yes, boss!”

“Did I go too far?”

Ling Lan realized her mistake. Being too careful was her weakness. She didn’t expect herself to be the one who made the first mistake.