Do you dare?
To gamble with your own life.
After much thought, Catwoman ultimately gave up. She turned away with a flourish and left, saying, "It seems I'm not qualified to be queen."
Catwoman failed but did not immediately leave the stage, returning to the seventeenth level to observe.
"I'll go!" Yellow Hair immediately stepped before the crown with ambition. A surprising thing happened: as Yellow Hair was still half a step away from the crown, a fire wall appeared before him, startling Yellow Hair into leaping back.
"Hahahaha..." Catwoman laughed without reservation.
Others also sneered.
Yellow Hair was publicly humiliated, and severely so. He wanted to angrily attack the crown that was shaming him, but he was afraid of the fire wall's threat. He eventually retreated in a sorry state.
"A grade trash dares to have such wild ambitions."
"Who says not? It's an SS grade treasure. If chosen, one's strength would greatly increase, and their value would skyrocket."
"Who's next?"
The superhumans on the seventeenth level were at least A-grade in strength and had guild backing, otherwise, they wouldn't dare to be so arrogant and boastful.
Yellow Hair was backed by a B-grade guild, which had some power in i City.
"It's quite picky." Lu Zhi picked up an apple and took a bite, his dark, bright eyes never leaving the scene. He was enjoying the spectacle immensely, only wishing someone was there to gossip with him. "What's the origin of this crown?"
He asked casually, not expecting Shen Qi to actually know.
"The Crown of the Departed. The name fits," Shen Qi's eyes flickered slightly. "A rat wearing a crown, creating a false symbol of authority for itself. Ambitious yet disgusted by greedy power, it yearns for the purifying fire of peace."
Lu Zhi's chewing motion stopped. "A rat wearing a crown? Purifying fire? Rat means mouse, right? Does purifying fire mean it burns someone if they are judged to have done evil?"
Did the bald man get burned because he had done evil?
"Wait a minute..." Lu Zhi's eyes slowly widened. "This, this SS-grade treasure, the crown, could it be..."
"Shh," Shen Qi gently placed his index finger on his lips. "Someone might hear."
Lu Zhi immediately shut his mouth and quickly looked around. Indeed, he noticed one or two peeping gazes, but after Shen Qi spoke, they quickly vanished.
"No wonder this crown is so overbearing..." Lu Zhi sighed in amazement upon learning the truth.
It was the crown worn by the Rat of the Twelve Zodiacs. No wonder it was an SS-grade treasure. It was likely that no one present could gain its recognition. It was a divine crown.
The onlookers began to discuss animatedly.
"Failure, failure, another failure."
"Is this crown dissatisfied with everyone?"
"Hiss... is this the first SS treasure to appear in the world? If a B-grade ability user were to obtain the crown's recognition, they could contend with S-grade powerhouses, right?"
"Who says not? But they still need the crown's recognition."
"Could it be that among so many people, no one will succeed?"
As more and more doubts arose, the majority of the superhumans on the seventeenth level failed. Everyone's gaze gradually shifted to those who had not yet challenged.
For example, Lu Zhi and Shen Qi.
Lophis Loding also looked over and said, "Don't the three of you want to challenge? Perhaps one of you will stand out."
The three of them, apart from Lu Zhi and Shen Qi, were another person sitting in a corner, inconspicuous and unnoticed, completely wrapped up, wearing a mask that only revealed a pair of eyes.
"I'll pass," Lu Zhi refused outright. "I have some self-awareness."
According to the ranking of superhuman strength, he was currently at best barely B-grade. Knowing that this crown was a divine treasure, he didn't even need to think about it.
Other superhumans cast inscrutable glances. Lu Zhi vaguely sensed two malicious gazes and, remembering what Shen Qi had said, involuntarily pushed his Divine Marrow towards Shen Qi, saying, "Keep it safe for me."
Put it into Shen Qi's space; let's see who can snatch it.
Shen Qi curled his lips, took the Divine Marrow, and his silver-gray eyes suddenly looked at one of the people on the seventeenth level.
*Bang—*
Without warning, that person was violently slammed against the wall, embedding deeply into it. Their limbs were broken, and their eyeballs popped out, falling to the ground. They were crushed into pulp by an invisible force, splattering all over the place. The screams of terror and pain stunned everyone present into a state of shock.
"What's going on!"
"Who used their ability to kill someone?"
Some ordinary people who came to their senses began to move towards the exit. Many who were afraid of being caught in the crossfire also followed suit and left. They had to be alive to enjoy the show.
In the blink of an eye, only the superhumans on the seventeenth level remained at the auction.
They all became vigilant, unanimously looking at Shen Qi, their eyes filled with unease and fear.
The more powerful a person, the clearer they could discern the strength of their opponents.
From the beginning, they hadn't taken Shen Qi and Lu Zhi seriously. For a B-grade superhuman like Lu Zhi to enter the seventeenth level, there were two basic conditions: first, to possess A+ level strength or above; second, to appear as a seller. They leaned towards the latter.
Shen Qi's aura was restrained, making it impossible for them to discern his strength. They had always remained vigilant and speculative about Shen Qi, but they never expected that with just a glance, an A+ level powerhouse would be so vulnerable before him.
*Clap clap clap...*
Lophis Loding's sudden applause eased the tense atmosphere. He said slowly, "A friendly reminder not to act rashly."
Saying this, he looked at Shen Qi and said, "Subsequent cleanup is very troublesome. The wall needs to be redecorated, and the bloodstains on the floor are difficult to clean."
Seeing the situation, Lu Zhi realized that Shen Qi had made the move and exclaimed in surprise, "Why did you suddenly attack?"
Shen Qi played with the box of the Divine Marrow in his hand, smiling as if bathed in spring breeze. "Ah~ I just don't like people staring at my person. Leaving him alive is my mercy."
Casually said, arrogant and overbearing, yet it made the S-grade superhumans present, who considered themselves the strongest, tremble inwardly, fear shadowing them.
Another superhuman who had been looking at Lu Zhi with ill intentions was sweating profusely, his knees trembling uncontrollably.
"The farce is over, let's continue, shall we?" Shen Qi lightly tossed the Divine Marrow in his hand, and it fell into a black spatial rift. The partial ability displayed was enough to shock these people.
Spatial ability. Currently, there was only one person in China with it.
The captain of Group A of the National Special Team, the number one ranked person in China's strength list, with unknown level, one of his known abilities: Spatial Conversion.
Lophis Loding uttered the name on everyone's mind: "Shen Qi."