Spy-x-War Showdown
Chapter 1274 - 1279: What’s Inside?

Chapter 1274: Chapter 1279: What’s Inside?

For some unknown reason, a warning was issued to the Frenchman and the auction continued, but only Victor kept pondering why Yang Yi had issued the warning.

Why did Yang Yi speak? Because he had to speak.

With faces covered, and considering that someone like Tartar could change his gait and physical characteristics at any time, Yang Yi had no way of identifying if Tartar was among these people.

So by saying something, Tartar should be able to recognize him, right?

Yang Yi had no interest in this blood-stained gold because he didn’t like it, and he was extremely wealthy, with no need or desire for anything here.

As for those artifacts, Yang Yi had even less interest.

It’s not that Yang Yi wasn’t interested in historical relics, but he didn’t like plundering others’ history for his own collection, especially not fragments remaining after ISIS destroyed the treasures of human civilization.

The auction proceeded rather quickly, as there weren’t many items to sell in bulk, but Yang Yi observed secretly, these items did sell for some money, about five million US dollars in total.

A mere five million US dollars, behind which are untold souls and the utterly destroyed Mosul Museum.

Everything was sold in piles, with prices low enough for these far-flung merchants to profit, but not so high as to make several or dozens of times as much; basically, being able to double the purchase price from the auction was about right.

Yang Yi didn’t make a move, which puzzled Azar. He finally couldn’t help but whisper, "Are you completely uninterested in the items here?"

Yang Yi shrugged and said, "Well, to be honest, not particularly interested."

Azar whispered, "Then shall we leave?"

Yang Yi shook his head and whispered, "No, let’s wait a bit. I’m more interested in personal trade items."

Just then, when the last box was about to be auctioned, a slightly chubby person finally made a bid, and when this person participated, Yang Yi knew he was Tartar.

Just as Yang Yi spoke to reveal his identity, Tartar spoke only to let Yang Yi know he was here.

Tartar made two bids but didn’t win the last box, but now both he and Yang Yi knew of each other’s presence.

The auction was over, and the host said loudly, "Everyone is welcome to stay, our soldiers will maintain order. As long as you don’t leave you’ll be safe, and our warriors will come to sell spoils. This phase may last a while, I just want to remind everyone of one thing, which is to ensure fair transactions and don’t forget the deserved rewards for our soldiers when you make profits. Alright, I’m done."

It was quite a short speech and seemed rather generous, but naturally, these looters wouldn’t care too much about raided goods.

Soldiers began coming in, and quite a few at that. The auction participants turned into buyers, dispersing to talk individually with the soldiers and attempt to purchase their goods.

The auction became a large marketplace, allowing followers to cash in on stolen goods was one of the benefits ISIS provided for soldiers.

Yang Yi and Azar began wandering aimlessly through the crowd, as trade began in the most primitive manner. When someone took out an item to sell, someone else would bid. If both parties were satisfied, the deal was closed quickly.

Yang Yi was covertly watching Tartar, and Tartar was covertly watching him.

Azar’s desire to buy wasn’t very high either, and Yang Yi didn’t think Azar could find anything he wanted here, but Yang Yi was looking for an opportunity to talk to Tartar. Having Azar nearby was less convenient.

But inconvenient or not, Yang Yi saw no reason to ditch Azar. So he wouldn’t try to lose Azar to contact Tartar, knowing he could communicate with Tartar right under Azar’s nose.

The crowd grew, and Yang Yi seemed to wander aimlessly through the abandoned mall, occasionally approaching an ISIS soldier to look at their items.

Everything was going smoothly until two items in one soldier’s hand caught Yang Yi’s attention.

A soldier held an old Omega watch, not very valuable, but another item that looked like gold caught Yang Yi’s eye.

A gold item, cross-shaped, looking like a crucifix, but not the common Latin cross shape—rather, the Greek cross, a perfect cross.

Though shiny like gold, it appeared to be just a box, as the cross-shaped metal object was slightly larger than a palm; if solid, the box would be too heavy.

Yang Yi’s heart skipped a beat, not just because the box looked golden, but because its shape resembled what Aaron had instructed him to find.

Both had a perfect cross shape, and the size was about right.

"How much?"

Yang Yi directly asked for the price, and the person holding the box immediately said, "One hundred thousand US dollars."

Yang Yi extended his hand, saying, "Can I take a look?"

The cross was handed to Yang Yi, and it was indeed light, but had some weight. There were some simple patterns on the box, and as Yang Yi took it in his hands, Brian whispered beside him, "A Greek cross, a symbol early Christians used during persecution, but the patterns on this box, uh, are more in line with a medieval style, especially this mark, yes, this is from the time of the Crusades..."

Yang Yi took a breath. The box was relatively light, probably empty. He examined it and found a gap in the middle, not very tightly closed.

The box opened, and it was empty inside.

Although seemingly unlikely, Yang Yi still smiled at the ISIS soldier in front of him, then he smiled and said, "What’s supposed to be inside?"

The soldier rubbed his mouth, then nodded and said, "The contents inside aren’t valuable; I took them out."

Yang Yi said without hesitation, "I’ll give you one hundred thousand US dollars, but I want what’s inside."

"I need to find it."

"What did the contents look like? Why did you take them out?"

Before the soldier could speak, someone nearby loudly said, "What’s inside?"

Yang Yi turned his head slightly to see the Frenchman also arrived beside him, reaching to take the box from his hand, appearing urgent. He asked again, "What’s inside?"