Chapter 81: Action

Xie Sen frowned. When he encountered the contract beast dealers before, he was angry when he found out about the illegal contract beast trading, and now he was even more angry to know that contract beasts were captured and ready to be auctioned any time.

“Not feeling well?” Maine asked with concern, as he held him around the waist.

Long Teng and Bai Jiao stiffened, and looked at Xie Sen. He shook his head and whispered, “There are contract beasts here, which should also be up for auction.”

Maine’s eyebrows immediately wrinkled, and anger rose in his eyes.

Long Teng said angrily, “Contract beasts are our companions! How can this be?”

Bai Jiao scowled. “With the reduction in senior contract beasts, the price of senior contract beasts on the black market has increased time and again. Even if it is dangerous, there are people who only see the profit. Contract beasts are strong in combat, but against humans, it is impossible for them to defend themselves.”

Long Teng clenched his fist, his tone firm, “They want to auction them off, so I won’t let them go!”

Bai Jiao said, “Ninety percent of the auction price will go to the contract beast dealers. They make a huge profit, and will be more aggressive.”

Long Teng said, “Then what should we do? Direct robbery?”

Xie Sen looked at the auction room. The area had very few people, but a lot of guards. If they tried a robbery at the auction, it would be almost impossible. There was also a transparent wall, of unknown material, between the auction stage and the audience.

As he looked around, his eyes swept over the auction table. Seeing the things being displayed, the corners of his mouth twitched. “This…This thing starts at 10 million?” Isn’t it just a cucumber?

Maine swept a glance, “New species. If it can be successfully cultivated, the profit is huge.”

Bai Jiao sighed, “Not everyone is like the researchers at Plant Research Institute, who give all their discoveries to the home planet and contribute to its development. Many people discover new species and choose to trade them for huge profits.” He looked at Xie Sen with admiration and appreciation in his eyes.

Xie Sen froze then turned it into a smile. He hadn’t any noble ideas at all when he offered the plant, he just wanted to change his life status. He felt something in his heart, and thought of many people in the Institute, including the parents of his body’’s original owner. He quickly refocused his mind. “This transparent wall, it shouldn’t be easy to break, right?”

Maine said. “It’s hard. That material is extremely tough, and also has a strong defense.”

Xie Sen pondered for a moment. “Why don’t we find a way to start from the 82nd floor? Little Silver and the contract beasts are on that floor, so it’s much easier to save them together there than during the auction.”

Maine nodded in favor. “There are no contract beasts in today’s auction presentation, so we still have time to prepare and take advantage of this time to figure out the floor structure.”

Xie Sen’s eyes lit up as he watched the auction price for the cucumbers rise. “I have a good idea.”

The four of them, in order to avoid being noticed, patiently waited until the end of the auction and went straight into Long Teng’s room. Originally, they were going to go to Xie Sen and Maine’s room, but Xie Sen flatly refused when he thought of the condition of the room.

Xie Sen told them about his solution. The four of them discussed it, decided to act the next day and went back to their rooms. As soon as Xie Sen returned to his room, he heard a crisp bird call. Tuan Tuan waved his wings and scurried to Xie Sen. It spun around in place and looked at him with round eyes.

Xie Sen knew that Tuan Tuan’s intelligence was high, and knew that its movements had a meaning. “Have you put on weight, no, grown up a little?”

“Chirp!” Tuan Tuan was flying up and down excitedly. It looked particularly happy.

Tuan Tuan hadn’t followed him much of the time on this trip, and was always moving on its own.  Only on the spaceship did it stick to him all the time, especially when he was cooking, as it kept a close watch on the kitchen to keep Long Teng from stealing food.

When Xie Sen saw that it knew to come back every night, he left it alone. He always let it go, but hadn’t expected it to start growing up so soon. He reached out. When Tuan Tuan landed on  his wrist, he felt that it seemed a little heavier. He lifted his hand upwards, Tuan Tuan’s wings flapped and he flew away again.

Xie Sen’s eyelashes twitched, and when his eyes opened, his eyelashes brushed against Maine’s palm. Maine’s kiss immediately fell on his face. “I’m sorry, I forgot to close the curtains yesterday.”

Thinking about last night, Xie Sen blushed. He had done it before the auction, but when he got back to his room, Maine was pestering him, and they made a lot of trouble, so he didn’t remember to close the curtains. He twisted his head and bit Maine on the chin, his voice a little hoarse, “Bastard.”

Maine’s low laugh came in Xie Sen’s ear as he held him in a solid hug. “I’m glad.”

Xie Sen grunted softly. “Tell me honestly, how many condoms do you have in your backpack?” He had used several yesterday, all different kinds, and he definitely felt the difference.

Maine rubbed the side of his neck. “Many. Which one do you like?”

Xie Sen sensed his reaction, and immediately realized that this was not the right topic to talk about as he just woke up in the morning. He elbowed him and said, “Get up. Don’t keep them waiting.”

Maine kissed him on the back of his neck for a while, then released him and got out of bed to wash up.

At 7:30, the four of them went to the restaurant to eat together, Xie Sen and Maine walked in front. Long Teng and Bai Jiao walked side by side to the back, Long Teng suddenly grabbed Xie Sen’s shoulder and pointed to the back of his neck. “A’Sen, is there a bug in your room? It’s all red.”

Xie Sen immediately understood what was going on, and was slightly embarrassed, “No bugs.”

Maine took Long Teng’s hand away. “Don’t touch him.”

Long Teng blinked, finally understood, and then exclaimed in discontent, “Wow! That’s outrageous, you didn’t tell me you were getting married!” Wasn’t this red mark, this display of possession, exactly how his father and dad got along?

Xie Sen looked at him with a complicated expression, and wondered how he had come to a thought. “We didn’t get married.”

Long Teng said, “Liar. Dad said when partners are together, that’s why they have red marks!” He thought his dad had been bitten by a bug when he was a kid, and asked about it.

Xie Sen was amused, and thought that he really was a pure hot-blooded male lead. His emotional quotient was negative. “Your dad didn’t tell you that couples will also have this?”

Long Teng blinked, “No.” He poked his head over, curious. “Why are there red marks? I asked Dad, but he blew me away and forbade me to ask!”

Xie Sen’s head was spinning. He wasn’t good at giving physiology lessons, and wasn’t interested in it either.

Maine gave him a look. “Why don’t you just try it yourself?”

Long Teng sounded puzzled, “How do I try?”

Maine ignored him, and led Xie Sen into the restaurant.

Bai Jiao laughed lightly, and patted the curious baby’s shoulder. “The restaurant is here.” 

Long Teng’s thoughts immediately turned to the food, and he quickly scurried to the counter. “What’s for breakfast?”

After breakfast, the four of them went directly to the 5th floor lobby. Xie Sen found the communicator reserved for the 81st floor on the introduction page. Bai Jiao dialed the communicator and turned on the external broadcast.The communication was answered quickly, “Hello, this reception for the precious goods auction, how can I help you?”

Bai Jiao, “I would like to ask you to auction a fruit.”

“Fruit?” Customer service asked, “What kind of fruit, and where does it come from?”

Bai Jiao, “Watermelon. Not currently available on the market. New variety.”

The customer service asked a bunch more questions about the characteristics of the watermelon, seemed to be sure it existed, and then said, “Sir, we need you to provide a diagram of the item. Make sure it’s correct, and someone will contact you.”

Xie Sen passed the watermelon photo to Bai Jiao, who passed it to the other party, and before long, the call went to another person, who had a calm voice and sounded like a middle-aged man.

He spoke cleanly, and briefed Bai Jiao on the fees and the auction process. Then he said, “If you are sure you can accept these terms, we will meet and sign the contract.”

That’s what Bai Jiao was waiting for. “I agree to all the terms.”

It didn’t take long for a reminder to come from his bracelet that he had access to the 81st floor. The four of them went upstairs, and followed the receptionist towards an office, and saw not a single person along the way, Xie Sen watched as he walked, and noted the location of the surveillance.

Soon after they arrived at the office, Bai Jiao was welcomed in, which left Xie Sen and the others waiting outside. The person who discussed the business with Bai Jiao was a middle-aged man with a serious face; the manager of the auction department. When he saw the watermelon, his eyes lit up slightly.

The receptionist said to the three at the door, “Please don’t move around, and wait for a moment.”

“Wait, where is the bathroom? Sorry, I seem to have a seafood allergy.” Xie Sen said.

The receptionist’s face remained unchanged, as he pointed to the left end. “Over there,” he said, and went into the next office.

Maine whispered, “There’s a surveillance camera on each corner of the corridor. The cameras here are all embedded in the corners, so there are no dead ends.”

Xie Sen nodded, and said in his head to Little Silver, “Okay.”

At once, a loud alarm sounded on the 82nd floor of the Phantom of the Sea went off, and the security captain in the surveillance room hurriedly checked the source of the alarm, and cut to the main video of the treasures.

The giant crocodile beast and the giant bear beast, both of whom had been dizzy with hunger, and had stayed quietly in their cages, were roaring like mad, claws, tails and teeth in use, as they rattled the iron cages. The sound immediately exceeded the safety line.

“What’s going on? Why did they suddenly go crazy?” The captain’s face was hard to read. “Let the doctor go over and take a look.”

Meanwhile, Xie Sen heard Little Silver say, “There’s a lot of noise around, and people are running around in a panic.”

Xie Sen said, “Great. Let them play nice.” 

He said to Long Teng, “Be careful.” Long Teng nodded with bright eyes, as Xie Sen covered his stomach and let Maine lead him into the bathroom.

There was no surveillance in the bathroom, so Maine did a quick check. “No one’s here.”

Xie Sen said, “Bai Jiao will stall for as long as possible, but we need to hurry.”

He summoned the black fungus and ordered, “Split two flaps and attach each to the top of the lens!” The black fungus was extremely fast. Two flaps of fungus separated, flew out abruptly, and scurried to both sides of the corridor, as they lay close to the camera.

He squeezed Maine’s hand. Maine immediately led from the bathroom, and hurried out. The two walked around to try and find the intersection that connected the 82nd floor. Every place they went they covered the cameras in advance, and then withdrew the black fungus just after they left.

They were extremely fast, and if someone wasn’t staring at the surveillance camera, it would have been hard to notice that the surveillance feed was briefly going black.

Especially when almost everyone’s attention was on the 82nd floor. With this point of anomaly, it was even less likely to be noticed.