Chapter 2
After leaving the stall, Hua Lian toured around the streets, shopping from one store to another, but not delaying for a few minutes at one spot.
She bumped into pedestrians, messing with her clothes and pulling her hood. She almost got stepped on at some point. Still, she continued to scurry around like a busy bee and familiarized herself with the whole area.
Eggy said that dilly-dallying at one place will make her targeted by kidnappers. In terms of money, they're not rich enough to give a ransom, so she should know how to run.
Hua Lian touched the mutant creeping vine hiding in her arm. It constricted like a snake and swayed its leaves, almost as if it were purring, conveying its happiness from receiving her attention.
Feeling the response, Hua Lian was equally happy. Unable to control her newly awakening spiritual power, her ears turned long and pointed, and a tiny leaf grew out of her hair.
Shocked, Hua Lian pulled her hood in a hurry. She didn't notice how the fragrance of the spiritual aura she emitted became thicker and gave away her exact location to a battered butterfly.
As a SSS rank mimic experiencing an outburst, the butterfly cannot filter the senses he perceives, which makes him highly irritable.
In confusion, he followed the fragrance that called for him. Although it was light, it carried an immeasurable temptation.
He destroyed all that hindered his path, flew out in a wable, and searched for the unknown with his consciousness flickering, until finally, a tattered butterfly landed in the hair of a tiny little girl. The butterfly lay there, like a broken hairpin.
As a current legally disabled citizen, Hua Lian was unaware that a fist-sized monster was sleeping on her head.
All she cared about at the moment was her brain ringing in repeat, 'oh no, oh no, Eggy will bury me! '
The mutant creeping vine felt her panic and automatically released its innate ability. It masked her aura and presence, making Hua Lian unnoticeable among the crowd. Even if a high-ranking mimic perceives her, they'll eventually forget, treating her as a passerby.
Hua Lian's mutant creeping vine was a specific species that lives symbiotically among other ferocious mutant plants. It shares the same soil as bigger mutant plants, crawls into their bodies, and uses them as a shield from the harsh direct sunlight and the extreme environment.
In turn, it hides them from predators and helps them ambush prey. In a mutant forest, a mutant creeping vine can distort others perceptions and senses. Of course, the blood of the prey must also be shared with it.
"So good! "Hua Lian praised the mutant creeping vine for the quick response. As expected of her little darling!
Hua Lian no longer wanted to stroll. She should finish the task she assigned herself and go back to her own habitat. Only the place she has chosen is safe.
In order not to be tracked, she went in circles before knocking on the backdoor of a temple.
She handed a bronze coin given by the stall owner, saying, "I hope to pray for a piece of the motherland."
The staff that opened the door took the coin. On one side of the coin is engraved with a tiny planet, representing the ancient blue planet. On the other side is a flourishing tree with multiple branches, the so-called tree of life.
This bronze coin, with the same shade as the fertile soil of the ancient blue planet, was the token of the ancient temple that only permanent staff had.
After checking the authenticity, the staff took an overall look at Hua Lian; his earpiece blinked twice, and the system scanned no trace of a weapon, robot, or any technology beyond the rules.
But since he can't tell her rank, classification, and type, she's probably wearing a highly sophisticated concealment device.
"Follow me closely."
Hua Lian followed with her head down and was led to an underground area.
This place is this planet's sole illegal auction, a place where anyone and anything has a monetary price.
Although there are temples and churches in the interstellar era, the inhabitants are not religious, nor do they believe in gods.
It was said in the stellar network that these are built in recognition of the highest evolution known, the mythical class.
The most popular one was the ancient temple, in which the World Tree was enthroned.
Eggy sarcastically commented that if the gods did exist and they're worshipped in here, then it would be blasphemy.
Look, isn't the core of the black market, the illegal auction, here?
How blasphemous one can be!
In fact, Hua Lian couldn't understand. She only knows that not all temples and churches have an underground auction, but all underground auctions are built in the basements of temples and churches.
Simple and easy! Hua Lian praised herself for the knowledge she compiled.
For an underground facility, the auction house was brightly decorated, like the fancy high ceiling halls of noble houses in her memory.
Numerous automatic robots mingle among the participants. They're wearing waiter suites, carrying trays, and offering drinks.
Hua Lian took a number and asked them to scan it. She filled up the digital form before sitting in a corner.
"Item no. 56, a D-rank teenage female! With the mimetic form of a three-tailed white fox, under the unique class! Starting bid at 5 million! "
The auction started earlier, and low-tier items have been sold. Currently, mid tiers are being presented, which garnered a more heated response from the participants.
While teasing the mutant vine in secret, Hua Lian thought that even a person under the unique class was merely a low-mid-tier item.
"I'm disabled, but I can be considered the last of my kind. How valuable do you think my worth is? "
Hua Lian chattered all by herself, entertaining one person and one mutant plant while waiting for time to pass.
The semiconscious butterfly was pulled out of the whispering noises in his sea of consciousness. The sweet, chattering voice of the little girl replaced all the loud, disturbing sounds.
He eavesdropped on her one-person conversation and eventually plunged into deep slumber.
In his last moment of clarity, he decided to take responsibility for protecting this tragic disabled child. From now on, she will be his person, protected under his wings.