"Welcome to the Invisible Hand Auction House, sir, everything has a price."
The voice of the male wind-up doll is passionate and high-pitched, projected through the phonograph on the chest, with a unique sense of distortion:
"Do you have a ticket?"
"What does this do?"
"Here? This is the exclusive trading center for Dream Peepers!" the doll said in an exciting and dynamic voice, much like a salesman in the real world.
"Here you can find all kinds of mysterious items, weapons, armor, and even living people! Fair trade, the highest bidder gets it, and the only principle is that it is forbidden to attack each other. If you want, you can even play in the casino we have set up Let’s have some fun!”
Oh, a living person...what do I need a living person for?
Ed wasn't interested in this at all. If he had agreed to Freud's conditions and obtained a manor in the New World in the East, he might have been able to buy some slaves to run the plantation.
"Oh I see……"
Thinking of this, Ed wriggled his fictional fat lips and smiled self-deprecatingly:
"Then what currency do you use for transactions here, the Lyrian pound? The crown of flowers? Or the northern dinar?"
"Of course it's a faceless iron coin! The safest cryptocurrency, convenient, lossless, and will never be tracked by anyone!" the puppet continued to emphasize in that excited and strong male voice.
He was a little fed up with the puppet's hyperthyroid tone, but he still rolled his eyes and asked:
"What if I don't have a ticket?"
Click. The air suddenly became colder.
The original smiling face of the doll disappeared in an instant, and the orange wooden eyeballs glowed with a sinister red light. The jaw opened ferociously, revealing the barrel of the gun in his mouth, like a skeleton's face.
The automatic piano that was originally playing elegant music made a heart-stopping noise and stopped playing. Dozens of hidden gun barrels poked out from the floor on both sides of the door, pointing directly at Ed's head:
"Then please leave immediately." The doll's voice was low and cold, without any emotion.
Ed was startled at first, but he immediately reacted, raised his hands, and slowly took out the ticket from his pocket:
"Uh...just asking, actually I have."
Click. In an instant, everything returned to normal: the turret retracted underground, the automatic piano started playing again, and the puppet closed its jaw and resumed its excited and strong accent:
"Ah~, please forget the little misunderstanding just now. This auction house sincerely serves every customer, as long as you hold the ticket. Now, please allow me to check the ticket for you?"
After saying that, the doll took out the clipping folder with cartoon-like exaggerated movements.
Do you want to go in now?
I only have one admission ticket in my hand, no faceless iron coins, and nothing to sell... Wait, it seems like there really is——
That dark book, Kuntu's family secret book, records the way to master the secret text of "The Curtain".
The secret text of the "Veil" is a black magic that is expressly prohibited from being studied by the church. Any extraordinary person who pursues this path will be excommunicated. Although the pope's prestige is now much lower than before, no one still dares to risk the disapproval of the world and openly challenge the social order.
But if you can sell it here in exchange for some faceless iron coins...
"certainly."
Thinking of this, Ed smiled and handed the ticket to the puppet. A corner of the doll was cut off, and a retro theatrical mask was presented:
"To protect your privacy, please wear a mask."
Ed took the mask and put it on his face.
For a moment, the mask seemed to be sewn onto the face and integrated with it. Then a light mist enveloped him, blurring the specially created fat figure.
Seeing that Ed had put on his mask, the puppet took off his hat, bowed deeply, and opened the door.
It suddenly dawned on me: a mechanical canary was circling and flying along the top of the corridor, a puppet fiddler stood in front of colorful small paintings and bas-relief decorations and played passionately, and the golden-red carpet was extremely luxurious.
The welcome doll slowly followed him, his tone still full of enthusiasm:
"There are many auctions going on here at the same time. Which one do you want to attend?"
"Do you have any weapons with extraordinary characteristics that are suitable for level 1-2 extraordinary people and are being auctioned here?"
Arthur's "Puppet" secret text and Catalina's "Lake" secret text have provided him with reliable detection and defense capabilities. What he lacks most at the moment is effective offensive means.
"With all due respect, sir. Our mailing service is relatively expensive. Unless there are special circumstances, it is recommended that you purchase low-sequence enchanted weapons from the local Beyonder circle."
So it seems that this "auction house" is dealing with a higher-level group of dream peepers, so it's no wonder they enter with tickets...
"Where does your mailing service include?" Ed's expression did not change, but his words seemed to be somewhat critical.
"All over the world. Even if you are on an uninhabited desert island at the edge of the ocean, the Invisible Hand Auction House can deliver your goods on time."
How can it be? Just an exaggerated advertising campaign, Ed thought to himself.
"In that case, please show me the weapons suitable for level 3 extraordinary people first."
The welcome doll took him to a room the size of a private library, where everyone was a blur wearing the same mask as him.
The item on sale is a heavy metal hammer. The coils and electro-shock gem array are almost immediately identifiable as being made by the Royal Society, and may even use the same technology as the collar around Miss Quinn's neck.
However, the origin of this sledge hammer may be difficult to know...
Since he was penniless, Ed just had a wait-and-see mentality to see how much the weapons of third-level extraordinary people were worth on the black market. After a bidding war, the giant metal hammer was finally sold for three faceless iron coins.
After walking out of the room, he said to the welcoming doll standing at the door:
“If I want to auction an item, who should I contact?”
"That depends on the situation. What kind of thing?"
"A book...the text on it." Ed took out the dark book that Sylvie copied from his arms.
"Please allow me to send it to the appraiser for appraisal first, and then I will reply to you."
He nodded in approval, and the puppet turned and left. Just when Ed stood there waiting for some doubts, the welcome doll returned to Ed's side:
"Since this book only has text content left, the appraisal team finally valued it at 5 faceless iron coins. However, a member of our club has become interested in your lot and hopes to have further conversations with you before bidding. What do you think?"
"It doesn't matter."
So, the welcome doll led him to a separate small room. There was only a table and two chairs inside. The person sitting opposite was wearing a black robe and still had a theatrical mask on his face.
Ed sat down face to face with him, pretending to concentrate on finding a comfortable place to sit in the chair, and waited calmly for the other person to speak first.
The specially constructed fat body twisted on the seat, compressing the space even more narrowly.
In this deliberately embarrassing atmosphere, the other party finally couldn't help but speak, his voice warm and neutral, yet still resolute and majestic:
"That's right, I'm very interested in the dark book in your hand. As far as I know, the Kuntu family used to be a prominent family in Silvermist City..."
Does the other party want to dig out his true identity? Ed suddenly got goosebumps. He suddenly realized that he had made a huge mistake:
Although he can hide his true identity in the dream, if the other party's connections and intelligence network are large enough, he can find out Mr. Kuntu's current situation through real channels.
Only a few people have been in contact with him recently: Quinn, Buck, Dylan, and myself.
The other party seemed to be extremely observant and noticed Ed's uneasy micro-movements and chuckled kindly:
"Please don't get me wrong. I don't want to find out your true identity, but I just happen to have a treasure map in my hand. The location is in Silvermist City. I think if you are in the Kingdom of Lyrea, you might be interested in it. "
"Is there a treasure map about what?"
After discovering that the opponent's psychological level was higher than his own, Ed immediately adjusted his demeanor and regained his defense.
"The secret of the Silver Knight. "
