TYMIMA Chapter 99

After a brief commotion in the bidding hall, it finally returned to quiet.

 

Lily submitted her quotation form with a serious price written on it. Adrian also gave Fulunla a look, having Fulunla submit Ghost Eye’s quotation form.

 

The three top guilds behind them, along with over twenty small guilds, also came forward one after another to submit their forms.

 

However, some people would quickly glance at Adrian when submitting their forms. When they saw Adrian’s serious, calm expression, they would sigh and turn away.

 

Others would glare at Dream Witch and grind their teeth all the way until just before submitting their forms, when they would angrily flick their sleeves and timidly, guiltily “hmph” once.

 

Dream Witch just crossed her long legs and smiled slightly.

 

Li Bang gradually frowned. This atmosphere was very wrong.

 

Seeing all the quotation forms collected, the guard quietly reminded Li Bang: “Captain, we should look at the sample quality now.”

 

Li Bang lifted his chin: “We’ll review the quotation forms here. You all take out your samples for us to see!”

 

He spoke crudely, wouldn’t use flowery language, and had no hosting demeanor whatsoever, making representatives from various guilds frown repeatedly.

 

Compared to Chen Mingbi, Li Bang was obviously far inferior, which inevitably reminded people of those unsubstantiated rumors.

 

Perhaps the king’s disappearance for a year had truly changed his temperament, making him unable to distinguish right from wrong.

 

It seemed that Tasman, which countless Federation residents yearned for, had finally embarked on the path of decline.

 

The boxes containing samples were taken out one by one. Li Bang walked around with his hands behind his back, accompanied by guards, examining each one.

 

Dead Sea Guild’s box opened to reveal an earthy yellow stone with tiny dark red glimmers in the middle—indeed the glow of red parrot crystal ore.

 

However, the sample had too many impurities and the red parrot crystal ore was very fragmented, clearly not from a high-quality B-level underground city.

 

Before Li Bang could say anything, both guards instinctively shook their heads.

 

Using such material to build a palace for the king—wouldn’t that be embarrassing for Tasman?

 

Li Bang rolled his eyes in disgust and looked at the two guilds beside them.

 

These two guilds’ red parrot stones were slightly better quality, but contained many small bubbles that couldn’t withstand craftsman polishing.

 

Li Bang continued looking with growing disappointment. Who would have thought there were even more outrageous ones—Archer Guild and Dragon Guild simply said with stiff necks that their samples couldn’t be found.

 

Li Bang: “……” Are you two seriously here to bid?

 

After going around the circle, it wasn’t until High Tower Guild opened their box that the crowd couldn’t help but gasp in admiration.

 

As light entered, the high-purity red parrot stone reflected even brighter, richer light. The glow seemed to form a pale red barrier around the area—just approaching it made one feel their glandular power was more abundant.

 

Through that crystal-clear cut surface, one could directly see the bottom of the box. This palm-sized raw stone contained not a trace of impurities.

 

Without appraisal, everyone knew this was the highest quality red parrot stone present, most worthy of the king’s glory.

 

Li Bang stood before High Tower Guild’s raw stone for a long time, his gaze gradually becoming greedy.

 

The king really knew how to enjoy life. Living in a palace filled with such red parrot stones, wouldn’t advancing abilities be faster than ordinary people?

 

But he still remembered Selarl’s instructions. After the wedding, when Selarl rightfully took over Tasman, all wealth would be theirs. So what mattered now was the marriage, not satisfying the king’s demanding and extravagant requirements.

 

Li Bang sneered inwardly. If the king truly loved Prince Selarl, he certainly wouldn’t make such demands.

 

So the king was just assessing the situation, knowing that refusing to marry Selarl would lose popular support, deliberately creating obstacles by demanding a palace filled with red parrot stones.

 

This strategy was good—after all, in Tasman people’s eyes, it was reasonable for the king to have requirements for his first marriage.

 

But no matter how good the strategy, the king was now fighting alone. This delaying tactic would ultimately still require marrying Selarl and surrendering power.

 

Just as Li Bang was considering abandoning High Tower Guild and choosing a barely acceptable small guild, a staff member approached him with a panicked expression, whispering: “Captain, there’s a problem.”

 

Li Bang immediately frowned, staring at the staff member responsible for reviewing quotation forms.

 

The staff member presented the statistical results, but with Li Bang’s education level, he was too lazy to read these messy data. He said bluntly: “Tell me what it says.”

 

The staff member could only force a smile, using his eyes to signal Li Bang to step outside.

 

Li Bang followed him out skeptically.

 

Seeing no one around, the staff member said with a grave expression: “Captain, it seems everyone submitted quotation forms, but actually, besides High Tower Guild, we have no choice.”

 

“What do you mean?” Li Bang’s eyebrows shot up, making the scar on his face even uglier.

 

“Of twenty-eight guilds, ten stated insufficient production capacity on their quotation forms and withdrew from bidding. Sixteen quoted extremely outrageous high prices—given their raw stone quality, they’re not worth even ten percent of that. The only competitive one is Ghost Eye Guild, but their price for one-time delivery is also very expensive. Overall, High Tower Guild is the only choice.”

 

Li Bang couldn’t believe it: “You’re saying in the end we still have to choose the top guild with the best quality?”

 

Staff member: “Captain, from my professional perspective, High Tower Guild’s quote is actually very reasonable. Even if His Highness doesn’t want to cooperate with top guilds, we Tasmans can’t be taken for fools.”

 

Li Bang’s eyes darkened, flashing with malice: “There’s definitely something fishy here. Since those small guilds came, how could they voluntarily withdraw?”

 

Staff member: “But this is internal competition among Federation guilds. We Tasmans don’t need to get involved. With the engagement imminent, since His Highness promised to present a betrothal gift to the king, he can’t go back on his word.”

 

Li Bang clenched his fists tightly. He was very dissatisfied with being played by Federation’s top guilds, but as the staff member said, smoothly proceeding with the engagement was the top priority. High Tower Guild probably grasped this psychology and took the risk to collude with other guilds in fraud.

 

Before long, Li Bang returned with a dark expression, his venomous gaze fixed firmly on Lan Qi.

 

Lance sat in the crowd, wrapped in the coat his little fool had insisted on giving him, with a low presence.

 

He glanced at Li Bang’s expression and knew everything was proceeding according to plan.

 

So Lance tilted his head slightly, leaning toward Adrian, whispering: “Director, after we get through this hurdle, we should discuss the next step of our plan.”

 

Adrian nodded lightly.

 

Lance continued: “This Li Bang’s ability is indeed somewhat troublesome, but all seemingly powerful abilities have fatal weaknesses. What do you think?”

 

Adrian: “Indeed.”

 

Even his heaven-defying fourth-tier ability 【Gate of Rebirth】 had the fatal flaw of only being usable in desperate situations.

 

Lance: “According to Chen Shun’an, Li Bang repeatedly eavesdropped on the rational faction’s plans, helping Selarl greatly to reach his current position. So why didn’t he simply kill the main figures of the rational faction?”

 

Adrian realized: “You mean he has no attack capability while invisible.”

 

Lance’s eyes contained a smile: “When we killed Gudeshao, we didn’t know about Selarl’s conspiracy or the king’s plea for help—quite regrettable. Fortunately, this Li Bang they sent is also Selarl’s confidant. He must know many of Selarl’s secrets. This period when he’s isolated and vulnerable before returning to the sea is our best opportunity.”

 

Actually, Abaddon could use Gudeshao’s belongings to summon his spirit, but this ability naturally had flaws too—if Gudeshao firmly refused to tell them secrets, Abaddon couldn’t force him.

 

Adrian nodded: “Chen Shun’an said Selarl is very good at stirring emotions and bewitching people’s hearts. If his actions were exposed, he would quickly lose Tasman people’s support.”

 

Lance: “We have no advantage in underwater combat. Even S-levels can’t breathe freely in the deep sea. So exposing his conspiracy and stopping the wedding is what we can do for the king.”

 

Adrian: “I wonder if Lan Qi’s 【Bewitch】 could work on Li Bang.”

 

Lance thought: Of course not. Bewitch makes the target fall in love and become infatuated, then impulsively do things to please Lan Qi.

 

But Li Bang was an alpha—how could he be bewitched by Lan Qi?

 

But Lance pretended to think deeply: “If possible, then we probably don’t need to discuss bidding strategy. Just having Miss Lan Qi bewitch Li Bang to choose High Tower would be enough.”

 

Adrian: “You make a good point. And since he’s S-level after all, we’re not sure if our abilities can suppress him.”

 

Lance: “Mm……”

 

That was true.

 

Lance’s original intention was to have Mad Clown teleport Li Bang back to High Tower, then have Oliver use 【Heart Questioning】 to extract secrets about Selarl, then have his sister cut Li Bang’s memories.

 

But Lan Qi and Oliver were animal-type and plant-type respectively, similar attributes to Li Bang, so they might not necessarily be able to suppress Li Bang.

 

Moreover, he had originally suspected that Ghost Eye Guild was related to Yan Qili’s disappearance. Oliver’s ability shouldn’t be revealed to them.

 

Not far away, Lan Qi completely ignored Li Bang’s venomous stare and instead casually played with her nails.

 

While playing with them, she whispered softly: “This ugly thing has shown his face, making things much easier for us. Later, let that stuffy gourd from the opposing family find a chance to tie him up and bring him back. We’ll torture him for information, then cut his memories.”

 

Zhan Pingchuan tactfully reminded: “Sister Qi, looking at our ruthless plan, the most crucial step is being able to cut his memories, but he seems to be S-level.”

 

“Oh.” Dream Witch slapped her forehead. “I might not be able to cut them, right? Still need to test it.”

 

Zhan Pingchuan asked curiously: “How do you plan to—”

 

Before he could finish, a clear gong sounded from the front, and staff announced they would publicly open the bids.

 

So Zhan Pingchuan swallowed his words.

 

Li Bang took an envelope, pressed down his round hat, and looked up with extreme displeasure, saying coldly: “Combining the prices you all submitted, after our careful consideration, we’ve decided the winning guild is High Tower Guild. Does anyone have objections?”

 

No one answered. The Archer Guild representative closed his eyes and began a second round of napping.

 

“Since no one objects, congratulations to High Tower Guild. Let’s start signing the contract.” Li Bang took the contract from the envelope, quickly signed his name, then tossed it onto the long table.

 

Lan Qi stood up with her pen, walked to the front, first efficiently signed her name on the contract, then properly put away her copy.

 

Li Bang looked at her arrogantly, just waiting for her to say “pleasant cooperation,” then take a perfunctory photo together to announce the successful completion of the bidding.

 

Lan Qi swept up her hair, looked at him charmingly, and silently mouthed—ugly bastard.

 

Li Bang’s eyes immediately widened. He was most sensitive about the scar on his face. Usually no one dared mention the word “ugly” in front of him. Lan Qi’s words were like a heart-piercing sword, stabbing him seven times in and seven times out.

 

Li Bang was so angry smoke came from his seven orifices, pointing at Lan Qi’s nose: “You fucking—”

 

Lan Qi’s eyes turned fierce, instantly activating her ability. A lustrous white light pierced into Li Bang’s brain.

 

Li Bang’s pupils rapidly dilated. He seemed to realize something, but the next second, the blood mist extracted from his brain was crushed by Lan Qi’s clenched fist.

 

Everything happened in an instant. Li Bang was confused for a moment, then his eyes regained their luster. He looked at Lan Qi in front of him and said impatiently: “Are you done signing? What are you looking at me for?”

 

The guards following Li Bang couldn’t see Lan Qi’s ability. In their eyes, they just felt Li Bang was hot-tempered and almost lost his temper with the cooperation partner, but fortunately still had some rationality and suppressed it.

 

Lan Qi turned back and shrugged at her teammates.

 

Zhan Pingchuan: “Nice.”

 

Adrian: “……”

 

Although Lance couldn’t see, he guessed what happened, but still asked knowingly: “What happened?”

 

Adrian: “Lan Qi used her ability on him. It should have worked.”

 

Lance: “If Miss Lan Qi can do it, you probably can too.”

 

Adrian habitually said rigorously: “Not necessarily.”

 

Lance suggested bluntly: “……You don’t need to be modest at times like this.”

 

Adrian lowered his eyelids. This almost eighteen-hairpin-turn style of praise also made him feel embarrassed.

 

Growing up beside Howard, no matter how excellent he was, he would be criticized and blamed. Such a childhood had a huge impact on him. He was used to being neither arrogant nor impatient, strict with himself.

 

“Alright.” Adrian admitted with difficulty.

 

“Then without delay—”

 

“Oh!” Dream Witch seemed to remember something, suddenly stood up, and smiled: “Although High Tower Guild won this bid under everyone’s envy and blessings, given our limited mining speed, to avoid affecting the king’s wedding, we’ve decided to purchase two hundred tons of high-quality red parrot crystal ore from Ghost Eye Guild at market price.”

 

Adrian said flatly: “Acceptable.”

 

Dream Witch cleanly pulled a contract from her bag and pressed it in front of Adrian: “Then sign the contract.”

 

“Mm.” Given High Tower Guild’s many precedents, Adrian still carefully read through the contract, confirmed there were no tricks, then signed his name.

 

Everything happened so suddenly that even Li Bang was stunned.

 

Adrian stood up and said to Li Bang: “Although Ghost Eye Guild didn’t win the bid, please assure the king that we’ll definitely select the best crystal ore to send over, since this counts as indirect cooperation.”

 

Li Bang laughed exaggeratedly, his expression gradually twisting: “You top guilds are really… really something!”

 

Who said High Tower and Ghost Eye were mortal enemies? This looked like their bond was stronger than gold!

 

When the meeting ended, Lan Qi raised her chin toward Adrian, hinting at Li Bang behind them, secretly made a scissors gesture, then confidently curved her lips.

 

“……”

 

Adrian quietly asked the people beside him: “What do you think Lan Qi means?”

 

Wu Peng scratched his head: “I guess she first showed off that they won the bid, then called Li Bang an idiot, and finally told us that after this ends, we’ll cut ties cleanly and laugh it off.”

 

Fulunla propped her chin: “Hiss, I think she’s warning the director that after killing Li Bang, don’t get entangled with them, just smile at the past.”

 

Mudeli was shocked: “……Our two families couldn’t possibly get entangled!”

 

Lance sighed: “She’s saying to have the director possess Li Bang’s body, actively come to our room, and after we interrogate him, cut his memories and send him back.”

 

Adrian realized: “So that’s it.”

 

Wu Peng secretly nudged Fulunla, pointed at Lance, and silently said: “Young master-in-law, truly worthy of being a top student. He can interpret such a ruthless plan.”

 

Fulunla deeply agreed, replying: “Top students are comprehensive.”

 

Receiving Lan Qi’s meaning, Adrian began to act.

 

They couldn’t let Li Bang disappear from their sight. Once this person became invisible, catching him would be difficult.

 

So Adrian decisively activated his ability, occupying Li Bang’s body.

 

He first calmly left surrounded by people, then dismissed the fawning guards on the pretext of wanting to rest.

 

Then he went straight to High Tower Guild’s room.

 

When Li Bang woke up again, he found himself tightly bound by silver threads, and standing in the room before him were all the people from High Tower Guild and Ghost Eye Guild.

 

Lan Qi lit a lady’s cigarette, crossed her long legs in a boss-like manner. Behind her stood an honest-looking big guy and a blue-haired little girl.

 

Adrian sat upright on the other side, straight as a pen, well-mannered, with three Ghost Eye team members standing behind him with their hands clasped.

 

Between the two top guild representatives was that couple who had been shameless in the Spirit Realm system.

 

The red-haired omega squinted his fox eyes, wrapped in the handsome alpha’s clothes, coughing weakly.

 

Both legendary incompatible top guilds pretended to be blind to this.

 

Zhan Pingchuan lovingly held Lance in his arms, asking with concern: “Baby, you’re not really catching a cold, are you?”

 

Lance: “I’m okay, maybe the bidding hall was too smoky and miasmic.”

 

Actually, it was to cover for his earlier acting, otherwise cutting off Lily’s words would seem too deliberate.

 

Zhan Pingchuan turned his head: “Sister Qi, my baby is delicate and pitiful. Let’s not smoke, okay?”

 

“……”

 

Dream Witch’s lips twitched as she stubbed out the cigarette.

 

Just then, the hunched old man by the balcony thoughtfully closed the sliding door.

 

Li Bang glanced over and saw Chen Shun’an’s calm, aged face.

 

Li Bang immediately fell into ecstasy, bouncing up from the carpet like a cooked shrimp: “Chen Shun’an! Haha, finally caught you red-handed! So you’ve been in cahoots all along—High Tower and Ghost Eye are together, no, and the king too!”

 

Everyone in the room stared at him expressionlessly. Li Bang’s smile gradually froze, then slowly disappeared. He stood rigidly in place, realizing the severity of his current situation.

 

It seemed h

e had been kidnapped by these people.

 

“What… what do you want?” Li Bang’s scalp tingled, feeling his neck grow cold.

 

Chen Shun’an gripped the door handle tightly, his knuckles rough and white. He suppressed his anger and questioned: “My son Chen Mingbi—did you kill him?”

 

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 (advanced chapters available on kofi)