Chapter 155: Any Event Becomes Very Adult-Oriented Once It Goes to the Night Session
The Yorknew City Dream Auction ran from September 1st through September 10th, divided into two distinct parts.
The first part, September 1st through the 5th, was the underground auction organized by the Ten Dons. It ran in the evenings and dealt primarily in rare items, collectibles, and illegal goods. In theory, only criminal organization members and individuals carrying a special criminal introduction letter could attend.
The invitation Ross had received as acting head of the Todo Group was for this portion.
The Hunter world had amplified the survival-of-the-fittest dynamic considerably, enough that criminal organizations could form international alliances and openly run events at this scale. But on the surface level, some degree of concealment was still maintained.
Items like the scarlet eyes, clearly involving organ trafficking, appeared only in the underground auction.
In the underground auction you would also find large numbers of executive-level crime organization members, and occasionally the bosses themselves attending in person.
In theory, a crime boss was the last person who should come somewhere like this. The attendees included crime organizations that had blood feuds with each other, in numbers too many to count. But appearing in person, bidding on items, and displaying financial power was sometimes a necessary step for a boss seeking to move up the hierarchy or demonstrate loyalty to the Ten Dons.
Security was also theoretically guaranteed. In principle, no outsiders were permitted within a five-hundred-meter radius of the venue.
Without that rule, the perimeter would be lined with armed members from every competing organization, and one small spark would be enough to blow the false peace apart.
Of course, that security was only meaningful against ordinary people. Against sufficiently capable Nen ability users, it was paper.
The second part, September 6th through the 10th, was the surface auction held at the Southernpiece Auction House, the genuine Dream Auction in the meaningful sense, backed by the V5, attended by a steady roster of wealthy regulars, and the one the Phantom Troupe would never dare touch.
It ran during the day. All items came through legitimate channels. Getting into the Southernpiece Auction required a different kind of entry.
Open to the public, but requiring the purchase of a catalog: a hardcover auction catalog as thick as an Oxford dictionary, priced at twelve million jenny, which came with one admission ticket valid for the full duration of the 6th through the 10th. Up to five guests could accompany the main purchaser. No need to buy again for re-entry. But all bidding had to be conducted in the name of the primary purchaser alone.
The ancient three-eyed humanoid statue Ross had spotted the previous day was an item from unofficial channels, the kind that could only appear in the underground auction. That said, a one-point-five-billion jenny opening bid was still more than a little difficult for Ross.
As acting head of the Todo Group, Ross arrived at the underground auction venue early and brought his people in. The moment they arrived, he got to work.
First: Ross found a concealed corner of the venue, set up his Little Tyrant console there in advance, and covered it with a cardboard box.
Meanwhile, Kurama, also dressed in a suit and looking entirely unremarkable, casually dropped a few plant seeds into the soil of the venue's indoor ornamental planters, and quietly injected a small amount of aura into them in advance.
Then Ross, Kurama, Kazemaru, and Hanzou converged at the hidden console location, and under Ross's ability activation, all four transferred together into the Nekketsu New Record Secret Realm.
As a side note: completing this prerequisite had required Ross to run a fairly brutal crash course on both bald men, making them practice repeatedly through the night until they finally achieved an S-rank Entertainment Mode clear in Nekketsu New Record. At the time, the two bodyguards had been thoroughly baffled by an employer who was making them play video games with such deranged intensity. The first time they were pulled into the Nekketsu New Record Secret Realm, at which point their astonishment exceeded anything they could put into words.
Especially Kazemaru. He finally understood what that keyboard that could hover in midair and project its display onto a wall was actually for, which resolved a question that had been sitting in the back of his mind for quite a long time.
Back to the main scene.
Under Ross's lead, all four turned and walked toward the exit of the Todo General Sports Arena. A teleportation effect like rippling water, and all four arrived back in the real world.
The arrival point: the rooftop of a building right at the five-hundred-meter boundary mark from the underground auction venue, measured in a straight line.
Ross had set up the Nekketsu New Record Secret Realm entrance and exit here in advance.
With Creator Authority, he had one opportunity per natural day to set and cancel a Secret Realm entrance. The same as the daily reset function.
"Hey, you're here."
Yusuke greeted them with a casual wave. Kuwabara didn't turn around, just raised one hand in acknowledgment, maintaining his grip on the binoculars he had trained on the auction venue.
Ross didn't dismiss the Little Tyrant console. If necessary, all they had to do was step back into the Nekketsu New Record Secret Realm, and under his lead they could teleport directly back into the auction venue at any moment.
At a straight-line distance of under a kilometer, Kurama's aura could also reach the seeds he had planted in the venue earlier.
Kurama caught Ross's eye. Ross gave a small nod.
In the next instant, the seeds began germinating without a sound.
From the outside, they looked like somewhat undersized sunflowers. But where the seed-heads should have been, something resembling an eyeball had grown in their place.
These were the modified True-Sight Sentinels, developed by Kurama from the Angel Island sunflower seeds obtained in the Sonic 3 Secret Realm. They could form a temporary visual link with their caster, transmitting a live feed of whatever surrounded them.
It bore repeating: a wise person doesn't stand under an unstable wall. Knowing in advance that this venue was almost certain to be hit by the Troupe, Ross had no intention of getting into a direct confrontation with them, even though he was confident he could handle any individual Troupe member besides the leader in a one-on-one.
And so time passed in their remote surveillance, until.
"Female. Glasses. Vacuum-shaped Conjuration ability. That's a Troupe member."
Kurama, who had closed both eyes to avoid the double-vision that came from simultaneously processing two visual feeds, spoke suddenly.
In his field of view, the venue's entrance doors had already been closed after the guests finished seating themselves in preparation for the auction's start. And standing in front of those closed doors, looking thoroughly out of place with her surroundings in a way that shouldn't have been possible, was a girl in glasses with an oddly endearing quality about her.
Her appearance and her ability matched precisely the profile Ross had given them two days ago.
Phantom Troupe member No. 8. Shizuku Murasaki.
At the same moment, the closed venue doors were forced open from inside. A heavyset man in a suit came bursting out and ran directly into the vacuum cleaner Shizuku swung to meet him. Its sharp intake nozzle connected at full force.
Blood and brain matter erupted outward in an instant.