Chapter 15 Hoax

As the host's voice faded, people immediately started bidding from their seats.

"2g Black Ember."

"3g Black Ember."

"5g Black Ember."

The price was rising steadily, but Fang Yue's expression became strange.

Human-rank low-grade?! This thing is actually human-rank low-grade? Isn't that on par with super skills like Eye of Dissection?

Fang Yue found it unbelievable.

What he found most unbelievable was that human-rank low-grade items were going for so little!

The increase of 1g, 2g Black Ember, simply didn't inspire any desire.

Didn't these people know what human-rank low-grade items meant?

Fang Yue was excited and was about to offer a high price to take down the Fluorescent Pearl, but as he raised his hand, Captain Huo suddenly grabbed his hand.

"What are you doing?"

"Buying it! It's a human-rank low-grade item! Although I don't know what the Fluorescent Pearl is used for besides lighting, it's human-rank low-grade, and it's so cheap!"

If this thing was expensive, that would be one thing, but the problem was that it was cheap, unbelievably cheap. Even taking a gamble was worth it.

What if it was a good thing!

Hearing Fang Yue's words, Captain Huo was stunned again.

"Are you out of your mind? Take a closer look at the expressions of the people who are bidding."

The expressions of the bidders?

Fang Yue glanced around at the people in doubt, and he was immediately stunned.

Because he discovered that those who were bidding were all calling out prices lazily, not with the appearance of being determined to win, as if buying something dispensable.

"This... aren't they blind? Human-rank low-grade, don't they know that there's Mortal-rank, Good-rank, and then Human-rank items? This is a chance to strike gold."

"I think you're the treasure!"

Seeing that Fang Yue was getting a little carried away, Captain Huo couldn't help but gently rub her forehead, and then patiently explained.

"This is a sales tactic. The Black Crow Merchant Troupe isn't a good group. The things they sell, except for truly valuable items, they will clearly and sincerely explain the value of the items. Everything else, they will package as much as they can, and scam as many as they can.

"Plus, with their mobility, this kind of trick is foolproof for people like you who don't understand the Black Crow Merchant Troupe."

Sales... tactic?

Packaging?

Could it be that these bastards were selling fake goods, playing the newbie slaughter to rip people off?!

Fang Yue was a little dazed. Seeing that Fang Yue still didn't understand, Captain Huo had no choice but to continue explaining.

"It's not entirely a scam. The host said that the Fluorescent Pearl is a human-rank low-grade, and he's not wrong."

"The real Fluorescent Pearl is indeed a human-rank low-grade treasure, but the problem is... what they're auctioning now is a fake."

"Just listening to the host's explanation, you can tell that this is a toy with no practical use. In this regard, they don't dare to talk nonsense. They can only speak and mislead in some ambiguous areas."

"If you can't tell, then it's because you're not capable enough and don't have the ability to recognize goods. It has nothing to do with the merchant troupe. They insist that it's the original product bought at a high price and auctioned off here. At most, their appraiser is not good enough. Returning goods is completely impossible."

"If you want to make trouble, go make trouble with the previous seller. As for where the seller is, who knows."

Fake goods?!

Fang Yue looked at the glowing Fluorescent Pearl held high by the Ya Ya girl. Whether it was from the light or the crystal clear texture, it had a high-end feel. Was it actually a fake?

"It's a counterfeit, a replica. The Black Crow Merchant Troupe has a rule that once a product is sold, they are not responsible. Unless you have the ability to challenge the existence behind the Black Crow Merchant Troupe, otherwise their rules are like this here. And the clueless fools will all end up in a miserable state."

"So, if you want to find good things at the Black Crow Auction, you not only need financial resources and status, but also a discerning eye and judgment."

Damn it! Buying something has so many requirements. This broken merchant troupe is too black-hearted!

Perhaps because he had been looking at the Fluorescent Pearl for too long, a system notification suddenly popped up, and the Eye of Dissection suddenly activated.

"Name: Fluorescent Pearl."

"Rank: Mortal-rank low-grade."

"Effect: Glows at night."

"Description: Inferior counterfeit, limited brightness."

"Note: Trash that's too bulky to be used as a light bulb."

Ah, this...

It really was Mortal-rank low-grade, what a坑爹[kengdie - pit-dad, slang for 'scam']!

However, the Eye of Dissection could actually see the authenticity of the things sold at the auction house, which was great news!

It just took a long time to get the information to pop up, and it was easy to miss the best auction time.

Seeing Fang Yue in a daze, Captain Huo comforted him.

"You don't need to worry about it. Merchant troupes are already a high-profit industry that walks in the gray area. Otherwise, why do you think this profession is so dangerous, yet so many people rush to form merchant troupes one after another?"

After confirming that the Fluorescent Pearl was trash, Fang Yue was no longer in the mood to care about the auction above, and followed Captain Huo's words, asking.

"Can't we resist, or have the village chief come forward to rectify the situation and make the merchant troupes more honest?"

"Rectify?"

Captain Huo looked at Fang Yue strangely.

"Are you out of your mind? Do you want our chief to be a hero of justice? Turn our village into a model village? Positive energy every day?"

"You're welcome to it. Do you know how serious the village's isolation is?"

"There is little communication between villages, and they are basically self-sufficient. Only a few merchant troupes pass by in a year, selling some rare items, which is like celebrating the New Year."

"Other villages can't wait for merchant troupes to come every day for more than 300 days a year."

"You're good, you want to strictly investigate the merchant troupes, and not allow them to sell anything that's not genuine, for fear of not offending the merchant troupes thoroughly, so they will never come to your village, and even spread rumors about your village among their peers, making it impossible to defend yourself. From then on, no merchant troupes will be willing to pass through your village, the economy will plummet, and many good things will no longer have access to acquisition."

"Is this the result you want, the justice you want? Aren't you cheap?"

"Big brother, we have to eat!"

Fang Yue's ears turned red after being bombarded by Captain Huo.

The words, the words were correct.

But Captain Huo's tone was strange, as if she was communicating with a player, with one strange word after another popping out.

"Captain Huo, what is positive energy?"

"It's the light of righteousness. Isn't it popular among you vagrants? I recently met a sister named Wei Liang, who is very much to my liking, and she taught me these words. I was originally going to attend the auction with her today, but she said that yesterday's auction had exhausted her family's wealth, and she couldn't afford it for the time being, so I temporarily decided to ask you to accompany me."

So, she was led astray by a player... No wonder such a serious NPC was full of positive energy.

Fang Yue thought of Lin Ling, who was also influenced by Chen Xiaomiao at that time and said a few sarcastic words, which made Fang Yue stunned.

"15g! 15g Black Ember! Is there anyone who will bid higher?"

While the two were talking about this, no one had offered a higher price for the Fluorescent Pearl on the main stage for half a minute.

The host was still working hard, eloquent, but the people present, except for naive idiots like Fang Yue, were all very shrewd and unwilling to bid again.

After continuing to work hard for more than ten seconds, the host made a final decision.

"Congratulations to the guest in seat 6 in row 3 for winning the [Fluorescent Pearl] at a high price of 15g Black Ember!"

Ya Ya handed the [Fluorescent Pearl] to the members of the merchant troupe next to her, and several people took the [Fluorescent Pearl] and settled accounts with the guest.

The host immediately began auctioning the next item.

It was a pair of shoes.

"Soul-Suppressing Shoes, human-rank high-grade! These shoes..."

Just a few words shocked Fang Yue again.

Human-rank high-grade!

Fang Yue's eyes lit up, but Captain Huo glared at him.

"Have you forgotten so quickly?"

Mis, misunderstanding! I just wanted the Eye of Dissection to activate sooner, so I stared at the Soul-Suppressing Shoes anxiously...

Captain Huo ignored Fang Yue's expression of wanting to explain and said directly.

"Let's take the previous [Fluorescent Pearl] as an example. Even the description of the counterfeit [Fluorescent Pearl] has already been watered down by the merchant troupe."

"I... a friend of mine, used to buy a counterfeit [Fluorescent Pearl]. The craftsmanship was very realistic, and it was beautiful when it glowed at night."

"But that was the result of releasing all the energy of the counterfeit [Fluorescent Pearl] in the first two or three days."

"After those two or three days, the [Fluorescent Pearl] will instantly dim to a degree that it can hardly provide any light, and then with that dim, negligible light, it can indeed continue to shine for a year or two. If you really want to find trouble with the merchant troupe, the product description happens to match, which can really make people angry."

Ah, this...

Fang Yue immediately grasped the key point.

"Captain Huo, is this friend you're talking about... you?"

Swish—

A murderous gaze immediately glared over.

The kind smile made Fang Yue's back feel cold.

With a dry laugh, Fang Yue quickly pointed to the stage.

"Then, then what's the story with these human-rank high-grade Soul-Suppressing Shoes?"

Captain Huo then retracted her terrifying gaze and snorted.

"Soul-Suppressing Shoes, human-rank high-grade, have the effect of warding off ghosts. I don't mind telling you, I'm wearing Soul-Suppressing Shoes on my feet."

"What?!"

Fang Yue was stunned, lowered his gaze, and his expression suddenly became strange.

"Captain Huo, aren't you wearing embroidered shoes?"

"What's wrong? Can't embroidered shoes be Soul-Suppressing Shoes?"

Fang Yue took a closer look.

Holy crap!

Good heavens, the embroidered shoes really had the small words "Soul-Suppressing Shoes" embroidered on them!

"But, but the auction above is for cloth shoes?"

"You don't understand this, Soul-Suppressing Shoes can be embroidered shoes, cloth shoes, or even not shoes at all!"

Fang Yue suddenly understood.

"Ah! Master Huo, I understand! It turns out that everyone is wearing Soul-Suppressing Shoes, or maybe no one is wearing Soul-Suppressing Shoes!"

Captain Huo nodded slightly, touched her non-existent beard, and said lightly, "Teachable."

Teachable my ass!

Captain Huo meant that Soul-Suppressing Shoes was just a brand, anyone could call it that name, and the name had already become common.

However, the host above kept emphasizing orthodoxy, what one shoe only, and how much effort the seller had gone through to obtain this item, and then it was transferred to their merchant troupe.

In short, the core meaning was that their shoes were genuine!

Perhaps because of the host's hard selling, the bidders below were indeed more enthusiastic.

The price quickly rose to a high price of 30g and was bought.

"Captain Huo, there's one thing I don't understand."

Captain Huo glanced at Fang Yue lightly.

Don't think that Fang Yue made her a little anxious, but she actually liked having someone accompany her when she bought things the most.

She used to attend auctions because Wei Liang accompanied her, so she was willing to come every day, otherwise she wouldn't have much interest in just watching the auctions.

Although Fang Yue was not as talkative as Wei Liang, his various performances were quite interesting, which made Captain Huo very satisfied.

In particular, Fang Yue would frequently ask some common-sense questions.

Don't look at Captain Huo's disdainful and arrogant attitude when explaining, she was actually very happy in her heart.

Who doesn't have the habit of being a good teacher?

The other two captains in the same village, one with a [bad temper] + [martial arts fanatic] attribute, had no fun at all. The other was the much older Captain Lang, who really didn't have much to talk about and couldn't get along with.

She generally didn't meet with those two except for serious matters.

As for the others in Mo Village, their status was inherently lower than hers, and most of them were flattering people, whose attitudes made her look down on them.

But the vagrants who had recently emerged were very interesting, as well as this Captain Ye from the neighboring village...

These thoughts flashed through Captain Huo's mind in an instant, and she looked at Fang Yue with interest.

Then she put on a show and slowly said, "You can ask anything you don't understand. I'm in a good mood today, and I'll answer any questions that aren't too outrageous. By the way, I'm wearing a white dudou [traditional Chinese undergarment] today."

Fang Yue: ...

Thirty-year-old women are terrible!!

"Ahem! Ahem... Well, what I want to ask is, do the buyers around here all know that the Black Crow Merchant Troupe sells fake goods? They are not vagrants, and the Black Crow Merchant Troupe has such a bad reputation, don't they have any vigilance? Why do they keep being taken advantage of and spending money?"

Was he ignored?

What an interesting reaction!

Captain Huo's lips curled up slightly, and she said, "Of course, it's because they have tasted the sweetness."

"Sweetness?" Fang Yue was stunned, and then his pupils shrank.

"Could it be... someone bought genuine goods!?"

Captain Huo nodded slowly.

"That's right, someone bought genuine goods."

"The Black Crow Merchant Troupe is looking for shills, right?"

Fang Yue had seen a lot of this trick in reality. Don't tell me that this trick has shocked these unworldly nouveau riche?

Then Niu Niu's path as a merchant in Mo Village is likely to take off smoothly.

"Many people, like you, have suspected that the merchant troupe is looking for actors."

"But whether this is a trick played by the Black Crow Merchant Troupe, or if they were really just lucky and found a bargain."

"As long as the thing is genuine, the matter is true, and the reputation spreads."

"Then the Black Crow Merchant Troupe's counterfeits will have a steady stream of buyers."

"Not to mention, the matter of buying genuine goods actually continues to occur, but it's not limited to the Black Crow Merchant Troupe, but the entire merchant troupe. There are always times when they misjudge and people find bargains."

"I don't know about other villages, but in Mo Village, whenever a merchant troupe approaches Mo Village, people are eager to gamble in the hope of getting a good thing and turning over a new leaf."

"But the probability is very small, almost like winning the lottery."