Meteor Fall Master in the 'Starry Abyss'
Chapter 647 - 260. You’ve been tricked

Chapter 647: 260. You’ve been tricked

After the five-year cooling period ended, Li Aozi began constantly researching the secrets of this Arcane Energy.

Even now, Li Aozi still couldn’t fully control the Calamity; he could only roughly guide disasters to occur in a relatively specific domain, and Calamity was a typical ’using a sledgehammer to crack a nut’ type of Arcane Energy—the higher the precision needed, the more outrageous the mana consumption.

If it involved causing wildfires or floods, the Calamity basically didn’t consume much energy, but if you required specific directions for wildfires or scales for floods, then the mana cost could become absurdly high.

However, in Li Aozi’s hands, apart from the Echo effect of Gravity, Calamity remained the only ability that could exert long-term cross-spacetime influence on others. As a Fate-type Arcane Energy, its special effect was unmatched.

"Perhaps only by obtaining the truly ’Fate’ Arcane Energy, will I be able to understand the mechanisms behind ’Calamity’."

As Li Aozi pondered, he continued to control the Arcane Energy, interfering with the auction.

Out of 360 buyers, more than 170 had already been affected by Calamity, a considerable number.

Some might have been disrupted in their strategic thinking by an upsetting news article they saw while scrolling through their phones, impacting their actions during the auction.

Others might have been unlucky, first bothered by a child’s unreasonable tantrums and then ensnared by a lover’s playful whining, their vision clouded by romantic pursuits, showing off in front of beauties, thus blowing money without care.

These people were actually quite innocent, collateral damage, and it’s likely they weren’t even familiar with Li Aozi himself.

But Li Aozi didn’t intend to let Crystal Tower off the hook this time around, nor did he care about innocence.

When you can’t distinguish hostages from terrorists, the best option is to take down all non-cooperative targets.

As for buyers No. 016, 190, and 122, they received Li Aozi’s special attention.

Because Li Aozi not only cursed them but also remotely cursed the planets they’d won at the auction.

At first it was only natural wildfires and lightning storms, but soon it escalated to earthquakes and tsunamis, with the accompanying drastic changes to the land. The civilizations of the species living there were impacted, followed by various man-made disasters.

If these three buyers weren’t shills, then they were almost certainly Scholarly Faction workshops involved in some unsavory dealings in private.

Bringing calamity upon such people posed no psychological burden for Li Aozi.

"No matter what said... it’s almost time for the climax, and we should also start preparing our means," he thought.

Nikita was completely lost the whole time; in fact, his original plan was to help Li Aozi shout up the price of a few deceivingly strong planets, making those groups regret taking the bait upon inspection.

But Li Aozi went a step further; his actions made all the buyers at the auction feel like they were at a loss.

Including Li Aozi himself.

Impacted by Calamity, even Li Aozi’s Implant Gear malfunctioned seven or eight times, the worst case being a myocardial infarction. If it weren’t for his cybernetic body, by now the folks from Baizhu Star would have likely come for the funeral.

"Most people probably don’t have much money left, and given that Baizhu Star is actually not of much significance anymore, they probably won’t engage in bidding for it."

Li Aozi slowly withdrew the effects of Calamity. Unfortunately, he wasn’t a ’Gambler’ Ascender from the Raiding series and couldn’t see his own Luck Value, but judging by how he had choked on pizza twice already, his Luck Value must be a bit low at the moment.

"But we still need to be cautious, after all, there are two groups who haven’t made a move up to now."

Nikita pulled up the data, pointing at the screen:

"No. 99 and No. 210."

"Indeed."

Li Aozi stroked his chin:

"These two have not made a single bid since the auction started."

Having not purchased any items, Li Aozi couldn’t track them properly to make them lose a small amount with "Calamity."

"Of course, it’s also possible that they simply don’t care about the stars being offered this time and just came to join in the excitement—but after all, Baizhu Star is coming up as the final key item, they might be prepared to pay any price for it."

Nikita cautioned:

"You better watch out."

"Indeed," agreed Li Aozi with a nod. "I’ve been pushing up the prices. I might have attracted a lot of hatred. Baizhu Star is the grand finale, and during the final auction, my true intentions will definitely be exposed."

"At that point, people are going to come after you," Nikita warned.

"Don’t worry, I know what I’m doing," Li Aozi replied. "I’ll be more careful from now on."

As a star began its auction, Li Aozi immediately bid:

"56.2 million!"

"Wait, didn’t you say you were going to be cautious? Why are you bidding again?"

Nikita was taken aback.

"Just spreading some smoke and mirrors."

Li Aozi had already prepared to mortgage his assets; he had to acquire Baizhu Star:

"Right now, I have 120 million in cash and 37 million in assets, a reserve of 157 million in Ammonium Gold, nearly twice the starting bid of Baizhu Star. Honestly speaking, it’s still a bit risky."

"I haven’t registered these assets for notarization yet, so the officials from Crystal Tower are unaware, let alone the rest of the auction participants."

"But the others have been tricked by me out of any extra cash."

Li Aozi crossed his legs, his lips curling up at the corners.

"Since the spotlight has already fallen on us..."

Upon hearing this, Nikita’s eyes lit up:

"I see, so you want to find a planet in advance, attract concentrated firepower, drive up the price, and then forcefully take it over, thus alleviating the final siege on Baizhu Star!"

"Buddy Nikita," Li Aozi said, "finding such a suitable ’smoke grenade’ shouldn’t be too hard for you, right?"

"Hmph, do you think I’ve fought in this cosmos for so many years just to go on a government-funded vacation?"

Nikita flipped through the catalog and quickly found a suitable target:

"This is the one!"

...............

"Still can’t figure out what bidder No. 077 is up to?"

Nariya asked coldly.

No. 077 had already driven up the price 26 times, yet its financial resources really seemed able to cope, and the auction house turned a blind eye.

After all, the Planetary Resources Bureau had come with a political mission this time, and the more ammonium gold scraped up, the better for the situation of the Crystal Tower Civilization.

Though Nariya was indifferent to such a sum of money, her fiancé’s weak demeanor and ineffective performance filled her with disappointment.

Even though it was perfectly normal for a Dragonborn to change hundreds of partners in a lifetime, they still had high standards when it came to quality.

Nariya crossed her legs, one foot resting on the head of her fiancé, Andifa Morodia, her slender heel gently piercing his scalp, with fresh blood trickling down his hair and dyeing Andifa’s purplish cheeks red.

"I’m, I’m looking. It’s very likely that he is not a mere buyer, but an official plant..."

Andifa lay on the ground, struggling to manage the auction, trying to use data analysis to find the real key information.

But no matter how he searched, he just couldn’t see through the other party’s purpose.

"Could it be... an AI account planted by the officials?"

"Then you would be the first workshop heir in history to be cheated out of 2.362 billion by an AI, my dear Mr. Morodia," Nariya said without any hint of politeness, her golden dragon eyes showing no intention to help.

"It’s impossible for the other party to be a robot account. Look carefully, or else you’ll have to figure out how to cover these 2.362 billion ammonium gold yourself."

As a legitimate member of the Narrative-Level Civilization, Nariya lacked nothing in terms of material needs. She was continuously striving, carrying out the will of the narrative to make her contribution to the grand narrative.

This included influencing the concepts of other civilizations, making them identify with the narrative of the Union Group and willing to work with them in painting this segment of the narrative.

The Union Group could tolerate ugliness, stupidity, numbness, criminals, and madmen, but could not stand those Ordinary Ones who caused losses and were incapable of profiting.

What Nariya was doing was helping the other party to carry out the narrative. Only by transforming Andifa Morodia into a profit-savvy capitalist could she fulfill her life pursuit and her duty as a Narrative Citizen.

Even Wendy Destis, an onlooker nearby, was shocked by the brutal scene that unfolded before her.

"Ah, Mr. Andifa,"

Concerned for her own mental health, Wendy couldn’t help but remind him:

"The other party has been constantly throwing smoke grenades. I suspect that they are demonstrating their true purpose. Perhaps soon, their real bidding target will be exposed."

"—Yes! That’s exactly right!"

Andy, muddled by the sudden calamity, suddenly came to his senses. He calmed his emotions and focused on the bids from No. 077:

"The official information given to me shows that the other party has at most 1.2 billion in assets, which means their target won’t exceed this level. Moreover, since they have been raising the price randomly, they will definitely be outbid by others when the time comes."

"If that’s the case... it will be exposed soon. There are still 12 auction items left; their target must certainly be around 1.2 billion."

"Only three meet the target: Pelis Star, Rainbow Shadow Star, and Baizhu Star."

Their prices were respectively 99 million, 1.1 billion, and 80 million. With bids over 1 billion ammonium gold, it was likely that no one else would raise the price so viciously. Thus, considering the lowest price, Baizhu Star might be the target of the other party.

No!

Andifa suddenly remembered.

Although he had not experienced it himself, Baizhu Star had been ravaged by Canyue and had suffered a bloodbath at the hands of the Mechanical World Society. According to his internal message, Baizhu Star had been carrying out educational resource migration work for the past few years, hence not of much value.

At most, it would be worth 30 million.

No. 077 kept driving up prices, definitely not for this planet.

"It’s Pelis Star!"

Andifa exclaimed excitedly:

"Pelis Star has 30 million high-quality soldiers suitable for training into Zeta Rank. The Crystal Tower Civilization will definitely need to recruit in the future. Give it five years, and they’ll mostly be trained into qualified mercenaries. At that time, not only will the cost be recouped from the Crystal Tower, but a substantial amount of goodwill will also be earned."

"No doubt about it, No. 077’s target is Pelis Star!"