Chapter 426 (1/2)
Of course, there was someone who knew what the mysterious zoophyte was and it was Tang Long.
The real name of the zoophyte that even the black market failed to identify with all their resources was the Ice Fungus Butterfly.
Its current form was certainly in the infant stage. If one knew how to nurture it to maturity, it would turn into a cocoon. On the day it hatched out of its cocoon, the white worm would turn into, as its name suggested, an Ice Butterfly. It was a very special type of beautiful butterfly as its wings and body would turn into a translucent icy blue color.
“The icy blue translucent butterfly is the one and only Ice Butterfly. When it hatches, it must be caught with a special method. Otherwise, it will fly away. Without a special instrument, one’s eyes cannot see the butterfly.
“When captured, stimulating it appropriately will make it spit a type of ice crystal that has a unique high proactive energy, and there is only one use for the ice crystal—to nourish the war seed.
“If you are lucky enough, a single Ice Butterfly can level up the war seed. You must know there are only so many things in the world that can level up the war seed. Even if it cannot level up the war seed, it will cause the war seed to evolve unimaginably. The Ice Butterfly is indeed a prized treasure.”
Tang Long fixed his gaze on the Ice Fungus Butterfly on stage. The trivial knowledge that his godfather had unintentionally told him when he was young was playing in his mind.
Back then, he already knew that the eyes of his fox tattoo were two war seeds. He had longed for an Ice Fungus Butterfly to level up his war seed and to grow the little fox.
Tang Long had once been naive when he was young. Would this be his childhood dream? Anyway, it left a strong impression on him, and unfortunately, no matter how almighty his godfather was, he did not get the Ice Fungus Butterfly because it was too precious, and the only way to procure it was to go beyond Iron-Blooded City.
Tang Long never expected the infant of an Ice Fungus Butterfly to appear in a small auction like this. When he laid his eyes on the white worm on the plant, his heart was pounding. He was determined to get the Ice Butterfly Bacillus Grass.
However, he did not show his excitement on his face because Draconic Twelve was still there. It was not that he did not trust Draconic Twelve, but he just instinctively felt that there was a wall between him and the latter. Therefore, he was unwilling to show his emotions in front of Draconic Twelve despite the Stardust Sixteen existing because of him and him alone. All of them were certainly his allies.
His memories flashed in his mind together with some messy thoughts. When Tang Long regained his senses, the Ice Fungus Butterfly had reached the price of 5,000 Black Sea coins with the highest bid at the moment coming from the first floor.
Tang Ling was also on the first floor. He was suppressing the excitement of the little seed in his heart.
The little seed remained in slumber, but the excitement he felt was 10 times stronger than when he had seen the strange bloody tooth at the trading company. The little seed wanted the Ice Fungus Butterfly on the stage, but could Tang Ling get it?
The price had crazily surpassed 10,000 Black Sea coins and showed no signs of stopping.
Tang Ling had a feeling that his funds might not be enough for him to get the Ice Fungus Butterfly. As expected, after he bid twice, someone on the third floor outbid him brazenly as if the guest hated the first floor for bidding in such small irritating increments.
The offer from the third floor was 10,000 True Capital coins.
The price should have been able to shun everyone from the first floor, but to everyone’s surprise, someone else on the first floor outbid that with a hefty 15,000 True Capital coins.
Tang Ling fell out.
Lack of funds proved to cause solid damage to him, but he did not feel bad at all. The reaction from the little seed might be strong, but it was not as strong as his desire for the Demon Infant’s body.
With a quick comparison, the Demon Infant’s body was obviously better than the Ice Fungus Butterfly.
Having one in his possession should have dampened his desire for the second one, should it not? It was like when a child was growing, the parents should not feed him with the best nutrition every day because it would either cause indigestion or overnutrition, and in the end, nothing would happen.
So, he moved on to the next question: What was Iron-Blooded City?
It was the second time that Tang Ling heard this city being mentioned in the auction. It felt like everything good came from beyond the city. Was it a safety city? How could it own that many precious resources? Was it stronger than the True Capital?
Tang Ling was thinking about Iron-Blooded City whilst the bidding war continued.
He failed to understand why he was still at the auction. The second last item was already on, so what else he was looking for? The bidding war was fierce, but why would it have anything to do with Tang Ling?
When the price reached 30,000 True Capital coins, the guest on the first floor dropped out.
Conversely, several other guests on the third floor joined the price war and raised the mysterious zoophyte to a sky-high price of 80,000 True Capital coins.
A question started to arise in everyone’s minds. The price for the zoophyte was certainly not something one would pay out of interest. Could the bidders know the true value of the Ice Fungus Butterfly?
If that many bidders knew its value, why would the black market not?
Things started to seem odd, but the auctioneer and the black market would never explain themselves.
“100,000 True Capital coins.” Draconic Twelve came back from the office. Given Tang Long’s identity and reputation, even if he had not handed in the mortgage items, the auction would still have acknowledged his verbal agreement.
Therefore, when Tang Long got a total of 300,000 True Capital coins as fresh funds, he bid on the zoophyte for the first time. Unfortunately, his offer was quickly drowned in the battle between the third-floor guests.
Tang Ling also realized the problem. How could the black market not know what the mysterious zoophyte was? What good would concealing the truth do for the black market?
As far as Tang Ling knew, there was none.
…
“What a lousy trick. Are you even trying to maintain the balance?” said the copper-faced man when he saw the Ice Fungus Butterfly on the stage.
“My my, you caught me red-handed. Since I’m giving something good to Tang Ling, I must also give something good to Tang Long. Only then can I be truly neutral.” Jian Fei’s extravagant explanation was met by the copper-faced man’s stern and heavy gaze.
“Why so serious? I’m just giving these two likable kids something to play,” Jian Fei grumbled softly out of grievance. He dared not joke in front of the copper-faced man anymore.
The copper-faced man was usually a man of few words but this time, he blurted out a long sentence that sounded like a warning to Jian Fei, “I don’t care how you want to give it to Tang Long. I’ll stay out of it this time but don’t spoil things with undue haste next time As for whether Tang Ling can get that thing or not, it’s up to him. Don’t meddle with this anymore. If it belongs to Tang Ling or what will happen to him if he gets it, that’s not an answer that you or I have.”
“Okay, okay, I get it.” Jian Fei felt discouraged. It seemed like even the owner of the Floating Ice Black Market did not dare to get on the wrong side of the copper-faced man.