The virtual empire starts from the game

Chapter 655 Sky-High Auction Price! Xu Meng's Protection
The buyers in the hall suddenly realized what was going on and understood Ibrahimovic's team's strategy.

My mind was instantly at ease.

At that very moment, a thread of telekinetic energy, as thin as a hair, suddenly flew out from the seat on the right side of the audience and shot straight toward the memory card!
The movement was so subtle and stealthy that most people in the hall didn't even notice it, let alone react!
But just before the thread touched the memory card, a wrinkled old man with a white beard suddenly appeared next to the auctioneer.

No one saw clearly how he appeared.

But the moment he appeared, he had already raised his right hand, his index and middle fingers together, holding the invisible psychic thread between his fingertips.

In the auction hall, the wealthy people who were merely using sleep to extend their lifespans were completely bewildered when the old man suddenly appeared, not knowing what had happened.

But the real players immediately got excited!

"I'll cook it! President!"

"Are auction houses that powerful? They can even hire the chairman to be their bodyguard?"

"Goodness, this time it's really secure!"

"Trying to use Nen abilities in front of the Hunter Association's president? What a joke, trying to show off your skills in front of an expert!"

……

The Hunter Exams in the Sprawling City are held every so often.

However, the person who designed the assessment content has now changed from Xu Meng to the operations department of Mansheng Metropolis.

Each person who passes the assessment will be awarded a license by this old man, the chairman, and given the ability to activate their Nen to begin a mission.

After this happened a few times, players soon started to get curious:
Why is the president this old geezer?
Is he strong?

Daring and driven by curiosity, players soon couldn't resist challenging him.

The result...

Everyone who challenged him felt they were just a hair's breadth away from winning.

Anyone with slightly better physical attributes, quicker reflexes, or even a bit more luck could win!
At least that's what they all thought at first.

But when they improved and went to challenge them again, they found that they were still just a little bit short.

It wasn't until they saw Long Chengfei challenge the old man and almost win that they finally realized what was going on—

This is nowhere near "just a little bit"...

This old geezer is clearly just playing a prank on everyone!
His combat prowess is among the very top tier in the entire Mansheng City.

It might even be the strongest!
Now that he has personally appeared at the auction, players who want to rob during the auction will probably have to reconsider whether they are strong enough!
Everyone has tried their best to keep their volume down.

However, the sounds coming from various corners at the same time still made the hall a bit noisy.

However, everyone quickly quieted down again.

Because everyone discovered something even more fun—

The unlucky guy who tried to use his Nen ability to steal a chicken but was caught red-handed by the chairman is still sitting there motionless, his face ashen, still in the motion of flicking out the threads.

Several players who had already gotten off their seats and were about to rush towards the memory card were also frozen in place.

The old man casually snapped the silk thread, flicked his index finger, and a magic bullet instantly hit the player who was trying to steal the chicken.

The man was sent flying by this silent attack, soaring over the audience seats before crashing into the wall with a loud bang.

After finishing these tasks, the old man flicked the sleeves of his oversized training clothes and slowly stepped off the stage without saying a word.

The auctioneer paused for a moment, but quickly got back into character:

"In order to maintain order at this auction, we have invited Mr. Netero, the highly respected president of the Hunter Association, to personally oversee the proceedings."

"So please feel free to participate in the auction, the items will definitely be delivered to you smoothly."

Zhang Siming and the other buyers in the audience immediately grasped the key point of these words:

Once you win the bid, the auction house guarantees you'll get your hands on the logbook.

However, whether or not they can keep the items once they've acquired them is no longer the auction house's concern.

Ultimately, it all comes down to individual ability.

"The starting bid is 10 yuan, and each bid must be at least 1 yuan higher."

"let's start!"

The auctioneer had barely finished speaking when someone in the audience immediately raised their paddle and started bidding—

"20 million!"

"50 million!"

"10 euros!"

"15 dollars!"

"2400 yen!"

"2 million!"

……

Currencies from all over the world can participate in the bidding, but the auctioneer will convert them into Xia Yuan for the statistics.

This auction did not use credit points and there was no "verification of funds" process.

Instead, players participating in the auction need to register on [Treasure Island] when registering their buyer identity.

The memory card will only be handed over after Ibrahimovic and his team receive the money.

If anyone disrupts the process, that record will be permanently archived—you can change your ID or your profile, but your disruptive and dishonest project record will not disappear.

Under this guarantee, although it is impossible to completely prevent people from coming to experience life and shouting nonsense, it can generally ensure that the auction process is controllable.

Separated by a wall.

Outside the auction house, the players were still engaged in a fierce battle.

Inside, however, a heated bidding war had already begun.

One of Ibrahimovic's team members was backstage at the auction, listening to the increasingly astonishing prices, so shocked he couldn't control his expression—

In less than a minute, the initial claim of "worth a million" had already been surpassed.

It surpassed 2 million views in 200 minutes.

It reached 500 million in 3 minutes.

After reaching this point, he was even a little hesitant to continue relaying the prices to the team channel.

—They've never seen so much money in their lives!

I never imagined that I could earn so much money one day.

These numbers, which exceed the limits of imagination, make everything seem unreal.

He was afraid that if he spoke out, all of this would turn into a dream.

Only when an American shouted out a price of $100 million did he respond in a trembling voice to his anxious teammates urging him on:

"One million! Not one million Xia Yuan, but one million Mi Yuan!"

The channel immediately fell silent.

These children, who grew up in impoverished slums, only began to understand at this moment—

Just how rich are the rich?
What they see as a large sum of money that could change the fate of everyone in the village for generations is, in the eyes of truly wealthy people, just a small amount of spare cash that they can easily take out.

In the lobby, most casual players stopped bidding when the price exceeded 200 million.

When the number exceeded 500 million, without exception, all bidders stopped raising their hands.

Some of them are not short of money, but they have been in the virtual world for a long time and have their own standards for measuring the value of items in the game.

It's impossible to blindly throw money into it.

Those who remained calm and spent lavishly were mostly people who didn't play games much and were simply treating this auction as a charity auction.

For them, this money was not spent on the Bajau people, but rather as a gesture of goodwill towards Xu Meng.

—Who knows, one day Xu Meng might suddenly pull out the complete set of consciousness upload technology.

Many people believe that Xu Meng already possesses such technical skills, or at least is very close.

Any attempt to get closer to Xu Meng is invaluable!
Ultimately, the highest bid for this memory card came in at an astonishing 5700 million yuan!

An American tycoon, having regained his youth through a "rejuvenation" effect, calmly pulled out over $800 million and won the auction. Outside the auction house, Ibrahimovic was ultimately defeated after his defenses were breached.

But upon hearing that number while standing at the respawn point, tears of excitement welled up in my eyes.

Then he suddenly turned around and looked in the direction of the auction house.

He had never seen such a large transfer before and was very worried about whether he would be able to receive it smoothly.

—He was the only one in the team to successfully obtain citizenship, and the cryptocurrency account used for receiving payments was naturally registered in his name.

Fortunately, the money arrived at an astonishing speed!

The big shot who took the picture of the log completed the transaction with ease, as easily as buying a can of Coke.

After the money arrived, the first thing Ibrahimovic did was not to exchange it for cash and pay taxes, but to immediately contact Dream Building customer service!

When the customer service representative who answered the phone heard Ibrahimovic's request, she politely indicated that it wasn't necessary.

But Ibrahimovic persisted.

The customer service representative then said that they could not make a decision and needed to report it to their team leader.

Then the team leader reports to the supervisor, the supervisor reports to the manager, the manager reports to the director...

The call was then transferred to Lu Jiahe.

Lu Jiahe was also dumbfounded when he answered the phone.

“We just completed an auction at Mansheng Metropolis, with a total auction amount of 5700 million Xia Yuan. According to the consignment rules of Youkexin Auction House, we should pay a 10% commission, which is 570 million Xia Yuan.”

"Please tell me your bank account number."

Looking at the translation displayed synchronously by his virtual partner, Lu Jia felt a long-lost sense of doubt:
Is there a bug in the smart assistant?

Or there might be a problem with the Malay translation dictionary.

Or perhaps the Eevee on the other side has a heavy accent, causing his AI partner to misunderstand him.

There must be something wrong somewhere!
Who would be so eager to pay money?!
Youkexin Auction House charges a 10% commission on consigned items after a successful sale, which is good, but this is mainly to recoup the credit points held by players.

Nobody ever thought they would make money off players using this rule.

What was even more unexpected was that Ibrahimovic, a young man who had been poor for most of his life, would proactively seek out Zhumeng after receiving the money, wanting to pay the 10% auction handling fee...

Even when customer service tactfully suggested that he could save the money and that Zhumeng wouldn't cause him any trouble, he still insisted on paying.

The customer service lady had never seen such an honest person before, and she was quite speechless.

Lu Jiahe was speechless.

He didn't want to accept the money either.

But Ibrahimovic insisted, so he had no choice but to ask Xu Meng.

In his view, Xu Meng would never accept it.

—Are you kidding me? The boss doesn't need to squeeze any money out of you guys!?
But soon, Lu Jiahe was dumbfounded.

Because Xu Meng replied with two words:

[Give it to him.]
The Lu family looked completely bewildered.

I really don't understand why this boss, who is only keen on giving money away, would suddenly want to collect money.

But what could he do if the boss said he had to give it to him?
Give it to me.

Ibrahimovic didn't hold back; after getting the card number, he immediately started exchanging money and transferring funds.

Without a second's delay, the transfer record was simultaneously posted on [Treasure Island] and social networks.

Seeing this, the players were completely baffled:
"Dude, do you have too much money to burn?"

"Damn, 570 million, you just handed it over like that? Don't you still have to pay taxes? Do you have to be so honest?"

"If you have too much money, give it to me! Zhu Meng isn't short of money, I'm the one who's really short of money!"

"Rich guy, 50 RMB for me!"

……

It's not just the players.

Even his childhood friends and buddies in Ibrahimovic's team couldn't understand his actions.

This was the first time they had ever seen so much money, and before they even received it, they had to hand over a tenth of it—money they didn't have to pay in the first place.

This caused them great heartache and made them extremely reluctant to part with their child.

But Ibrahimovic remained adamant: "All of our lives combined aren't worth that much money."

"But now the whole world knows we have this much money!"

"Without help, let alone changing the lives of everyone in the village, it's questionable whether we can even survive tonight!"

Ibrahimovic was the first person to leave the village and the first to successfully earn money in the virtual world, leading them to change their destiny.

He enjoys extremely high prestige within the team.

Even his reluctant teammates stopped opposing his actions and instead followed Ibrahimovic's instructions to quickly log off and buy appliances, supplies, medicine, and workers...

Basically, it's about spending money as quickly as possible!

Ibrahimovic felt a strong sense of urgency—

Too much money!

It was far more than they could possibly save.

They must buy as many supplies as possible immediately, distribute them to the villagers, and then set sail!
Let's hide for a while and see how things go before deciding what to do next.

He has even prepared for the worst-case scenario.

In an interview with Fire Knife, he said, "We'd die for that money in real life."

Those weren't just empty words.

They really think that way, and they're willing to take the risk!
But before he could even return to the village, the "wind direction" he was waiting for arrived—

The official account of Mansheng Metropolis posted an update introducing Ibrahimovic's story of earning money in the virtual world to change his hometown.

Xu Meng also reposted this post and added a comment:

[This is a great story. I look forward to seeing how this village changes. If any local friends are available, could you please keep an eye on it? Thank you.]
Netizens who previously didn't understand Ibrahimovic's actions were shocked when they saw Xu Meng asking for help.

Then I quickly understood what Ibrahimovic was doing!
That's not a handling fee, is it?

It's clearly protection money they're paying!

Is it worth 570 million to protect Xu Meng?
It's such a great deal!
Given Xu Meng's global influence, since he has publicly stated his intention to protect Ibrahimovic, any person or organization with sufficient power would absolutely not dare to act rashly.

Those small gangs and organizations that don't understand how powerful Xu Meng is will be actively confronted by larger, more powerful organizations that claim to be "Xu Meng's friends."

—After Xu Meng posted her update, the speaker of the state assembly closest to the Bajau people's floating village called the lower-level agency.

Large multinational corporations with branches in Malaysia have also sent messages to their local branches, instructing them to keep an eye on the matter and not hesitate to offer assistance if the opportunity arises.

……

Before Ibrahimovic and his crew could even escape by sea, Xu Meng eliminated their biggest threat with a single social media post.

Their plan to change their hometown was thus officially launched.
-
While the money caused a stir in the real world, the turmoil in the virtual world was not over either.

Once the memory card was handed over to the buyer, a second round of bidding quickly ensued—

After receiving the memory card, the buyer had no intention of leaving the auction hall.

He immediately pulled out the prepared reading device, intending to export the data on the spot and then destroy the card!

Under Niteró's protection, this is indeed the best option.

He was just a hair's breadth away from succeeding.

If it was just last night, some players went so far as to plant hundreds of bombs in the auction house.

There was no warning.

Hundreds of large bombs exploded simultaneously!

The entire auction house erupted in chaos in an instant, almost creating a small mushroom cloud!

(End of this chapter)