95 Chapter 90 part 2 – Off to the Auction

Jack walks out of the room closely followed by Fia and into the base of operations. This is the main hub that the advanced bunny scouts have prepared. Albert has also been here for some time so things are quite well prepared as Jack looks over some items he has prepared and is surprised at how little he knows.

There's not much else to do for today so Jack opts to explore by himself, Amber protested, but he overruled her and left without her knowing.

He feels free and calm without the disguise on; he doesn't mind the ill effects of people finding trouble for him. It saves the trouble of rustling out all the idiots. He walks down the second main street towards the food alley; the crowds are thick as people from everywhere crowd in trying to get food for dinner.

Jack squeezes through the crowd too and reaches a food stall. Tonight is a night to relax and see what happens. Call it a business trip.

"Purple Jumping Root and Ginseng pancake?" Jack stops at a food stall.

He looks at the self flipping pancake; he feels weird about this but he hands over the money and tries the pancake.

Jack eats it and finds that it's delicious while giving him more energy. He gobbles it up as the stall-keeper smiles.

"Good, huh?"

Jack nods his head as the seller loads up another pancake laughing, Jack consumes it all quickly and hands over 2 gold which the stall-keeper gladly takes. Jack talks to the stall-keeper afterward about the ingredients, but he won't budge on divulging how to make it. A few more customers show up, forcing Jack to leave after promising to be back.

He walks around the food area stopping by some fried noodles that look delicious; he sits down and orders a bowl of them looking around at the crowds. There's people everywhere getting food at this late house which gives the city a lively feeling but as he looks up at the sky it seems strange and much closer than normal.

"Here you go, Grove Salmon Stewed Soup."

The stall-keeper passes a bowl of noodles with meat and vegetables in it, it looks quite different to how he saw it and it looks rather disgusting. Jack thanks the stall-keeper before he dissects the food that looks like a group of tentacles and tiny fish bones, as he digs down he can find a whole fish head along with the spine.

"Ah... that's the heart" he mutters as he pulls it out of the soup. He wonders just what he ordered as he eats the noodles and avoids all the other parts. The flavour is incredible, he puts mouthful after mouthful into his mouth eating it as the fiery feeling comes from his belly. Jack watches the stall-keeper for the best time to leave unseen.

He turns around when he bumps into some people standing directly behind him, intentionally blocking him.

"Uh, can I help you?" Jack asks the crowd of people wearing similar leather armour.

"Are you a player?" a short man asks in a thick accent, Jack can't place it.

"Yes, why?"

"My name is Tobias Tschulka, can we talk to you for a moment?"

"Uh my name is Jack Hunt..ington." Jack is cursing himself for almost directly blurting out his name, Tobias's expression doesn't shift as he speaks a single step away from Jack's leftover food.

"Mr. Huntington, we would like to invite you to a presentation about joining our group, we have already acquired a gold level city and can offer you an elder position." Tobias speaks in an accent.

Jack looks at him with a confused expression, "Do I look like I want to join a group? Why are you doing this here, why single me out when there's probably hundreds of other players in the region?"

"We represent interests in this region that are significant, we are just extending an opportunity because you look like the type of person who we would like to recruit."

"What type of person is that? All I was doing was eating food. Are you recruiting all players that eat food?"

"It is not like that, you just have certain qualities that we prefer for our group. If you don't wish to join, then we won't stop you."

"Well, now I'm interested, what qualities do I have?"

Tobias stumbles over his words as he looks around the area, "Well... that's not... We can tell you after you join our group."

"Ah let me guess, you're after mostly young men? Younger than 35? About my complexion?"

Tobias is nodding until his face sinks at the last comment, "Thinking about it, you may not be suited to our group. Thank you for your time, Jack Huntington."

Tobias and the two followers leave the area as the surroundings return to normal. They drew the attention of everyone with their performance. Jack turns around and looks at the stall-keeper.

"Sorry about that, hope it didn't disturb you. The meal was delicious."

"No problem, you new people always have the funniest reactions."

The stall-keeper cleans up as Jack walks away. He finds somewhere to drink a few cups of alcohol to calm his nerves from that interaction. It takes a couple of hours before he strolls out of a bar calmed down. The alcohol takes quite some time to hit him with this increased constitution.

His footsteps are slightly staggered as he walks down the main road towards the hotel, the people don't pay attention to him as it's less crowded at night. The stores are mostly closed with a few street food vendors around, patrols pass by every couple of minutes showing they're taking the auction seriously.

"Ah shit, I forgot the hotel is on the other street."

Jack turns down one of the many alleyways that travel between the two streets, he walks through the quiet and almost empty streets as carts are pushed up and down. The occasional horse and cart takes up most of the alleyway as Jack bumps into someone.

"Sorry about that" Jack apology.

"No problem" the man's eyes dart around as he checks his coat continuing his walk.

Jack raises his eyebrow at this and walks a few steps away before stopping. The man has turned down a small side street where someone else was standing. He sends his divine sense in that direction and barely reaches it, allowing him to listen to their conversation.

"Are you sure it's safe to speak here?" the man Jack bumped into speaks.

"Relax, nothing can penetrate the formation and even if they did we would know, so spill it. What did you do? There's increased patrols everywhere." Jack can't see this person's details, but his voice is an old man.

"I... I did what they said I had to do."

"Do you know who you angered? That item was due to be auctioned tomorrow. Now the auction house will lose face and do you know how terrifying they are?"

"Sorry Sir, I didn't think I just got so angry when they said that stuff."

The man pleads for old man to help him several times before he relents, Jack is about to move on when he hears something.

"So what did you acquire?"

"I could only get half of it, it's sealed in this box."

"Ah... that's the treasure of the Ning family. What was it doing over there?"

"I don't know Sir, I only know the Ning and Gu family guards were at the house I took the item from."

"Where is the other half?"

"Yi Kang took it, he took it to the safe house."

"Idiot. You place that one in the storehouse by the old well and we must retrieve the other piece."

The two of them finish up speaking and leave the scene, Jack looks at their faces.

He can remember the man he bumped into but the older man looks like a wise old man with a long white bearded and cane, he frowns in the direction that Jack is peeping from.

Jack walks out of the area while still staggering, the old man turns around ignoring Jack as he stumbles about the street like a drunk person. The groups part ways without incident, Jack leaves the alleyway and quickly hides using Bunny Dash and his new skill Moon Shadow Steps to blend into the surroundings.

The old man appears from the alleyway looking around where Jack disappeared, he looks around with a puzzled expression as Jack feels some sweat develop.

"Guess it was just a drunk." the old man walks away.

Jack doesn't move and stays stationary for 10 minutes, the old man reappears from the other direction with a disappointed expression picking something up off the ground. He walks away.

Jack waits another 10 minutes, but the man doesn't reappear, he feels tired from standing still in this alcove for so long that he uses Bunny Dash to go down another alleyway and rush to the hotel. Jack reaches the door without incident, finally feeling safe as he enters the ground floor of the hotel.

He climbs the steps to floor where they are located, he opens the door where Albert greets him.

"Where have you been Lord, I had suppliers waiting to meet my mysterious leader and you weren't anywhere to be seen at the dinner I organised?"

"Sorry but we'll deal with all that tomorrow, I need to rest."

Jack walks away from Albert who stands there for a moment before leaving, it's well past midnight so everyone else is asleep or has other duties. He enters his room before washing up a bit, Fia has reappeared bringing some calm to his nervous heart.

"I'm sure he wouldn't recognise me" Jack mutters to the bird before he sits down to cultivate.

The night passes along as he purges the lightning's effects from his body just in time for a knock on his door.

"Lord, Breakfast time. We need to leave soon" Albert speaks politely through the door.