“Here we are.” Charles Reed jumped out of the car. The man in black guarding the stone house entrance stepped forward and greeted him with a salute.

“Is everyone here?”

“All here, they’ve already started showing the first item for sale.”

Charles Reed nodded and urged them on.

“Let’s hurry down, it’s already started.”

He pulled Henry Walker into the stone house. In the middle of the stone house floor, there was a wooden door, leading to a staircase going underground.

Henry Walker followed Charles Reed and two guards down the stairs, arriving at a fairly large karst cave below.

The cave was set up quite impressively.

In the center was a large hall, with a ring of private rooms built into the stone walls all around, like little boxes hanging on the wall.

A few people were sparsely seated in the hall, and there were no candles lit in the surrounding boxes, clearly indicating they weren’t in use.

“This place is pretty grand.” Henry Walker sighed.

“Heh, we found this place by accident too.” The fat man laughed, leading Henry Walker in from the back of the hall, heading toward the front row of seats.

There were only about a dozen people attending this underworld auction, all scattered in the front seats of the hall.

On the stage stood a tall, thin man with his face covered, loudly introducing the item for sale.

Next to him stood two dwarves, both dressed in brightly colored clothes, holding up a bronze tray with a rusty short sword on it.

“An ancient short sword passed down from the Ju Rong Kingdom, very likely a sharp blade forged by the ancient Duan Fengzi. It’s inscribed with ancient Ju Rong script. Even if—hey! Guest number four bids one thousand taels! Any higher offers? Any higher offers!!?”

The man on stage shouted energetically, full of passion.

Henry Walker and Charles Reed sat on the left side.

The seats here were arranged in rows, seemingly made of white stone, cold and lifeless to sit on.

The fat man sat beside him, leaned over, and whispered.

“The item you want is the fifth one, second to last.”

Henry Walker nodded without speaking.

That short sword on stage clearly looked like it had just been dug out of the ground, probably obtained from grave robbing.

There were still quite a few people bidding below, and in just a short while, the price of the short sword had risen to eighteen hundred taels.

Hearing this, Henry Walker's heart skipped a beat—this was already nearly twice his monthly allowance.

He stopped watching the bidding on stage and instead focused his attention on the guests bidding around him.

Most of the guests at the underworld auction were armed, with both short and long weapons.

Most wore black, but there were exceptions.

Among the dozen or so guests, three made no attempt to disguise themselves.

One was a red-haired burly man carrying a broadsword and wearing tight yellow leather armor.

Another was a scrawny young man with a sharp face and monkey-like features, very short, with two bulging black pouches tied at his waist—no telling what was inside.

The third was the most eye-catching of all.

Or rather, it was a pair—a man and a woman.

The man seemed to be a bodyguard, dressed in a silver tunic and fitted clothes, with a long sword at his waist. His face was expressionless, only showing a hint of gentleness when he looked at the woman.

The woman wore a black dress, different from the usual long dresses of ancient women.

She wore a tight-fitting dress, similar to a bodycon skirt on Earth.

Her entire body was clad in a single close-fitting dress, with the hem barely covering her hips.

With even a slightly larger movement or a raised leg, the area between her thighs would be clearly visible.

This woman dressed provocatively, yet had long legs, a slender waist, and a pair of fair, voluptuous assets that stretched the dress to its limits, as if the fabric over her chest might burst at any moment.

Henry Walker couldn’t help but look at the woman’s face again.

She had a high nose bridge, soft and charming eyes that seemed to glisten with a watery light, always giving the impression of a smile.

Her long hair draped over her shoulders, smooth, black, and so shiny it almost reflected light.

“This is way better than any Photoshop or makeup technique.”

Henry Walker secretly praised in his heart.

It was obvious at a glance that this woman was someone important. So beautiful, yet daring to show her face openly at an underworld auction—only someone extremely confident in her own strength would dare do that.

“That’s Alice Grant.” The fat man noticed Henry Walker paying attention to the woman and quickly leaned in to whisper an introduction.

“But I wouldn’t recommend you set your sights on her. That woman is fierce!”

“Fierce? How so?”

Henry Walker asked with a hint of curiosity. He wasn’t actually interested, but the woman was just too eye-catching, so he couldn’t help but look a few more times.

The fat man smiled, glancing at the second auction item already being presented on stage.

“Alice Grant arrived in Jiulian City two months ago, reportedly with a merchant caravan. Just the two of them, master and servant, joining the caravan alone and traveling such a long way. That’s already quite something.”

“Indeed, not simple.” Henry Walker nodded.

“And, because this woman is so beautiful, as soon as she arrived in Jiulian City, she started flirting around. Quite a few handsome young men have been seduced by her. But guess what happened?” The fat man shook his head and sighed.

“What happened?”

Henry Walker was now curious too and asked along.