The Master’s Mask Unveiled Again
Chapter 867 - 866: Unspoken Understanding

Chapter 867: Chapter 866: Unspoken Understanding

The guests in the public area were abuzz with chatter, as if a bomb had gone off.

Guests in the mid-tier membership area, as well as several in the higher-tier membership areas, all walked over to the lofty corridors, peering down at the gleaming bottle of "special medicine" on display below.

However, Lu Mian had already made up her mind.

Xiao Qimo tilted his head slightly, glancing at her, and instantly understood her intentions. He adjusted his gold-rimmed glasses, the cold glint in his lenses flashing briefly.

He took out his phone and, with an easy, unhurried motion, crossed one leg over the other and sent a message to Simber at the 726 Medical Research Base.

As he carried out this series of actions, Lu Mian, seated beside him, mirrored him almost perfectly, also pulling out her phone and shifting her sitting position.

Unspoken synergy.

The crowd: Even though these two weren’t deliberately showing affection, we still feel strangely full from secondhand sweetness.

Ye Jinwen and Ya Ling were clueless about the existence of the Nourishing Elixir. After observing the item in the auctioneer’s hands for a while, Ya Ling asked curiously, "Mian, what exactly is the Nourishing Elixir?"

Lu Mian, texting with one hand, raised her brows slightly and replied in a detached tone, "It’s a peripheral product of the special medicine. Suitable for daily health maintenance and has some restorative effects, but it’s nothing too extraordinary."

The auctioneer was still enthusiastically praising the miraculous properties of the "special medicine."

"Ladies and gentlemen, please take note: this is currently the only bottle of special medicine available on the market. If you miss out today, who knows when it will be restocked..."

Ya Ling glanced at the auction stage through the one-way glass of the private booth and clicked her tongue.

"This is just fooling people!"

She could understand why the crowd below was going wild, because there wasn’t a single medication in the world that could rival the miraculous effects of the RE Factor.

With Fu Yu and Shen Yixin as living proof, even those who hadn’t witnessed it firsthand would still be driven mad.

She had long said that once the RE Factor was released, it would stir up a storm in the medical world.

This auction was just a microcosm of that storm.

"Mian, the bidding is about to begin. Are we really just going to sit and watch?" Ya Ling sounded a bit anxious.

Yun Sang casually placed a black card on the table, exuding a devil-may-care aura, and said flatly, "I’ll buy it for you."

Lu Mian had already finished sending her messages to the elders.

Each response came back swiftly, conveying a clear and unified message: they hadn’t given away their Nourishing Elixir.

The unexpected texts from Lu Mian caused Elder Su, Han Jin, Guo Shuitian, Ding Cai, Wan Lin, and Principal Zhang to break into a cold sweat. They immediately rushed to check on their respective Nourishing Elixirs, which brought them a sense of relief once located.

Who would dare re-gift something given by Lu Mian? Each elixir was dutifully kept at home.

Even if they weren’t using it, they certainly wouldn’t give it away to someone else.

Lu Mian put away her phone.

Xiao Qimo followed suit.

"Everything checks out with the elders," Lu Mian said.

"Simber reported that the Nourishing Elixir was only sent to you and hasn’t yet been released to the public." As he finished, Xiao Qimo seemed to pinpoint the issue. Without any prompting from Lu Mian, he asked Simber to immediately investigate the matter.

And while the two of them were talking, the auction had already moved into the bidding phase.

Inside a private booth in the high-tier membership area.

Xiaoyang was responsible for raising the paddle, while Lu Yutian watched on silently.

From the starting bid, Xiaoyang kept raising the paddle. After several rounds, the price of the "special medicine" had climbed to five million.

"Sister, are we definitely bidding for it?" Yun Sang’s black card seemed eager to be used.

Xiao Qimo wasn’t about to let Yun Sang have the satisfaction. Rising leisurely, he smoothed out nonexistent wrinkles on his suit. "I’m stepping out for a moment."

He was, of course, giving Lu Mian his itinerary.

"?" Lu Mian looked up.

Xiao Qimo slipped his hands elegantly into his pants pockets. "Why spend money on something that shouldn’t even exist?"

Lu Mian gave an approving thumbs-up, clearly in agreement.

Yun Sang: ... Well, I saved money, but I’m not happy about it...

After Xiao Qimo and Mo Si left, the bidding on-site continued.

The higher the price went, the fewer bidders remained.

The item was indeed extraordinary, but not everyone could afford it!

By this point, the only bidders still standing were the VIPs in the high-tier membership area.

Aside from Lu Mian, these were the wealthiest people at the auction.

Xiaoyang diligently held up the paddle while chatting with Lu Yutian. "Miss Yutian, I heard someone entered the Diamond Membership Area today. I wonder who’s that influential..."

"Is that so?" Lu Yutian, accustomed to grand spectacles and wealthy individuals, didn’t find it particularly surprising.

The people qualified to sit in the Diamond Membership Area were familiar to her—the Watson Consortium being one prominent example.

It wasn’t anything extraordinary.

Xiaoyang looked puzzled. "But isn’t it odd? No one from the Diamond Membership Area has placed a bid so far... Well, thank goodness they’re not involved; the old master is counting on this medicine!"

Lu Yutian’s lips curved into a confident, determined smile.

The bidding continued as high-tier membership guests competed heatedly, driving the price to ten million.

The auctioneer could barely contain their excitement, grinning so much their eyes practically disappeared. This was exactly the type of customer they loved!

That this bottle of medicine had reached ten million had already far surpassed expectations.

The price climbed further to sixteen million, leaving only two bidders in contention.

Lu Yutian had successfully outlasted the others. She smiled. "Xiaoyang, hang on a little longer; we’re almost there."

But just as she believed victory was in sight, a staff member rushed onto the stage, their expression grave as they whispered something to the auctioneer.

The auctioneer’s face shifted dramatically, fear and frustration etched into their features.

——

Xiao Qimo returned to the booth, and though nobody knew what he had done while he was away, they were immediately struck by the timing—he had just returned when the auctioneer announced the suspension of the auction.

The auctioneer stammered through an elaborate explanation.

The gist of it was that, due to some special circumstances, the bottle of special medicine could no longer be auctioned off.

Throughout this explanation, the auctioneer cast a deep, fearful glance in the direction of the Diamond Membership Area, their eyes brimming with shock and trepidation.

The auction descended into chaos once again.

Under mounting pressure, the auctioneer handed the bottle of special medicine over to the staff.

Soon after, a staff member knocked on Xiao Qimo’s booth door and presented the 726 Nourishing Elixir—completely intact—with both hands, before leaving in humility.

Ye Jinwen hugged himself. "Brother Seven, what did you do to them?"

Xiao Qimo said nothing.

Mo Si, however, wore a strange expression and offered an explanation. "Master Mo simply revealed his identity a little."

"Oh, no wonder! The auction house wouldn’t dare offend the Xiao Family!" Ye Jinwen exclaimed in realization.

Mo Si glanced at his master, his expression even stranger now.

This time, Master Mo hadn’t revealed his identity as a member of the Xiao Family...

——

With the auction called off, the person most affected was Lu Yutian.

After taking some time to process and reluctantly accept the situation, Lu Yutian finally stepped out of her booth.

The moment she appeared, her youth and beauty caused quite a stir.

"So it was a young woman sitting in the high-tier membership area!"

"Which family’s daughter is she? I haven’t seen her before."

"To afford a spot in the high-tier membership area, she must belong to one of the three powerhouse families. Only they would have that kind of capability."

"..."