How much time had passed, she did not know.
Su Zhao finally gradually recovered from the excruciating torment.
The lust curse cast upon her by the succubus possessed immense power. When it flared up for the first time, caught completely off guard, it had practically driven Su Zhao insane.
Fortunately, that restless and unbearable sensation came rushing like surging waves, crashing over her one after another, yet it was not lasting and remained barely tolerable.
Had it lasted any longer, Su Zhao probably would have decisively admitted defeat, slunk away offline, and figured out a way to deal with the effects herself.
As the feeling of restlessness slowly faded, Su Zhao breathed a sigh of relief. The moment her willpower relaxed, a wave of exhaustion and sleepiness instantly swept over her entire body.
Dozing off in a hazy dream, she was sleeping soundly.
She was suddenly awakened by a strange fluctuation.
“All the auction items you have successfully bid on have been sorted out on our end. Please wait a moment, and we will have them delivered to you immediately.”
“Her Royal Highness Princess Dorothy is also…”
Su Zhao heard someone calling her name again.
Having waited for the signal she had previously agreed upon with someone, she knew she would be able to go home soon. Being in a very good mood, she did not pay it too much mind.
With sleepy eyes, she tossed and turned, lazily stretching out.
The moment she opened her eyes, she locked gazes with the person who had just been speaking.
The two stared at each other in blank dismay. Taken completely off guard, the young auctioneer wore a completely blank expression.
She had originally been lowering her head, tinkering with the magic array on the cage, seemingly intending to activate the teleportation array to send Su Zhao to an unknown destination.
Not expecting Su Zhao to wake up so quickly, she froze in place, the hand holding her magic wand coming to a halt and slowly stiffening.
Su Zhao was quite friendly toward her.
She even smiled at her.
“Good day, Miss Auctioneer.”
Although it was all just work and she was merely fulfilling her duties, actually coming face-to-face with the victim still left the auctioneer feeling thoroughly ill at ease.
Staring firmly at the tips of her own shoes without daring to raise her head at all, she responded with a bitter expression and muttered softly:
“Good day, Your Highness Dorothy.”
She was still too young and unable to hide her thoughts.
At a single glance, Su Zhao knew what she was thinking. Even when faced with such a gentle attitude from Su Zhao, the auctioneer still couldn’t quite handle it, panicking completely, her eyes darting around at a loss for what to do.
As expected, one shouldn’t do bad things.
Once a person commits too many evil deeds, they always become paranoid, constantly feeling as though they are about to run into ghosts.
She looked remarkably easy to bully.
Su Zhao slowly stood up from inside the cage.
Cautiously withdrawing her magic wand, the auctioneer felt a strange sense of dread toward her. Dragging her feet along the ground, she slowly backed away.
Regardless of anything else, the other person clearly had no intention of opening the cage for her.
Those scoundrels had probably been playing the villain for so long that they lived in constant terror of overturning their carts one day and suddenly meeting with retribution. In their approach to handling matters, they shared a uniform vein of caution.
“Where is Todd?”
Looking all around, Su Zhao failed to catch sight of that familiar figure.
The auction had already concluded. For reasons unknown, the previously arrogant and condescending distinguished guests were now scurrying away like mice seeing a cat, dejected, with tails tucked between their legs, and fleeing at top speed as if running for their lives.
They slunk away completely stripped of their previous arrogance. Judging by their panicked appearance, it looked as though some terrifying monster of flood and chaos was frantically chasing right behind them.
“Why are they running so fast?”
Taking a keen interest in everything unfolding before her, Su Zhao did not forget to tease the over-anxious young woman.
“Are you going to eat them?”
The one who actually wanted to eat people was someone else entirely.
Lowering her head with her chin nearly pressed against her chest, the auctioneer didn’t dare to utter a single extra word.
The crowd in front of her was bustling like ants on a hot pan, shoving past one another into a chaotic mess.
After staring for quite a while, feeling as though her eyes were about to blur from exhaustion, Su Zhao still failed to spot Todd among the chaotic crowd.
Having just woken up, her throat was so dry it felt ready to smoke, and every single swallow brought a sharp, uncomfortable ache.
Subconsciously licking her dry, chapped lips, and remembering that Todd still owed her a cup of water, she quite naturally ordered her subordinate.
“Go pour me a cup of water.”
The auctioneer raised her head in shock.
The auctioneer wanted to speak but stopped. The auctioneer harbored anger but dared not voice it.
The auctioneer moved her feet in silence.
The auctioneer bent her waist and raised her arm.
The water was respectfully handed over.
Su Zhao drank three cups of water in a row before her throat finally began to feel a bit more comfortable.
Putting down the cup, it belatedly occurred to her to ask a question, “Has the auction already ended?”
“It has ended.”
Shuddering all over, the auctioneer scurried forward with eager efficiency, carefully taking the cup from her hand.
Su Zhao narrowed her eyes slightly, observing the auctioneer’s expression up and down. She always felt that the other person’s posture was a bit guilty and excessively ingratiating.
“Did the auction go smoothly?”
Su Zhao was particularly curious, wondering whether, in the end, it was that perverted spider woman who claimed the crown of victory, or the deep-pocketed Number 12 who successfully laughed last.
Had her body not been feeling unwell and caused her to pass out earlier, she definitely would have waved flags and shouted slogans for the two of them, yelling at the top of her lungs:
Fight! Fight!
This was, after all, finding a master for her.
Su Zhao could feel her heartbeat accelerating considerably. Unable to help slowly letting out a breath, she tried hard to calm her emotions, experiencing a rare trace of nervousness. Anxiety mixed with anticipation ultimately brewed into a hint of undisguised excitement.
Compared to advancing the main game storyline step by step, this kind of unconventional side plot, just thinking about it, made one feel a different kind of thrill.
What appeared to be a crisis at first glance felt more like a rare, once-in-a-lifetime adventure when viewed from another angle.
The unknown represented surprise, and the sense of excitement and tension brought by breaking conventions and exploring the unknown was far more intense and captivating than conventional storylines.
It was definitely not because she wanted to play a roleplay scenario.
She swore.
The auctioneer wanted to speak but stopped.
“It went smoothly, too smoothly, in fact.”
Unable to wait, Su Zhao pursued the question, “So, what was the result?”
Staring intently at the auctioneer with glowing eyes, she couldn’t help letting out a small laugh as she spoke, drawing out her tone with a face full of anticipation, “Let me guess, who on earth is my dearest master?”
The auctioneer couldn’t help lifting her eyelids, casting a quiet glance in the direction of the private box. It remained completely quiet up there, without the slightest stir.
That formidable distinguished guest was actually being extremely patient right now, letting the little princess ramble on here without urging them to hurry along at all.
Just as the auctioneer was about to reply, a sudden flurry of chaotic shouts outside interrupted their conversation.
Su Zhao’s spirits perked up. Unable to control the upward curve of her lips, she couldn’t be bothered to wait for the auctioneer’s answer anymore, stretching her neck to observe the situation through the gaps in the cage.
She even remembered to rap against the cage, dispatching the auctioneer to investigate, “Go ask what’s happening, why is it so noisy?”
The auctioneer: Fine, whatever.
When it came to ordering people around, Her esteemed Royal Highness the Princess did it as casually as commanding a dog, wielding her as a servant with practiced ease.
However, having witnessed firsthand how much attention distinguished guest Number 12 paid to the little princess, she didn’t dare to defy her will in the slightest, lest His or Her Excellency happened to blow a pillow-talk breeze one day, plunging her unfortunate self into absolute disaster.
Enduring humiliation, the auctioneer squeezed out a high-pitched voice and responded gently that she would go.
Having walked just a few steps outward, she saw that many of the guests who had already left earlier were now looking flustered and utterly lost for some unknown reason.
Like a swarm of headless flies, they crowded together and hurried back in a rush.
Utter chaos and commotion filled the air.
Even Su Zhao inside the cage heard them clearly as they cried out in panic and alarm, “It’s the Holy See’s Holy Knights!”
“The Holy See is attacking Lanster City, they’ve already broken in!”
A single stone stirs a thousand ripples.
The already chaotic auction venue instantly exploded into a boiling pot.
“How is that possible!”
Unable to hold back a sharp intake of breath, the auctioneer abruptly raised her head, hurried toward them, and questioned in disbelief, “Did you guys see wrong? How could they possibly appear here?”
“I’m not blind! How could I possibly fail to recognize Holy See knights!”
One of them wore a face full of fury, arms flailing wildly in the air as if swatting away flies, their tone dripping with intense revulsion.
“Besides, that reeking stench of holy light elements on them, they were rushing so fiercely that it made me want to vomit from miles away. Such a disgusting smell is something I will never forget in my life, there is absolutely no way I could mistake it!”
The auctioneer furrowed her brows tightly, “With the Demon’s Gift in place, those light-attribute mages have no way of surviving here at all!”
“The entire Lanster City lacks the elements they rely on for survival. Once they enter this place, they struggle even to breathe the most basic air, let alone attacking the city, whether they can even stay alive is questionable, you must have gotten it wrong!”
She refused to believe it, or rather, she was forcing and numbing herself into refusing to face reality.
Yet the surrounding guests who had just entered and witnessed the truth firsthand had no leisure to convince her, anxiously exchanging intelligence with one another.
“There’s no way to teleport inside the city, and the defensive magic arrays on the city walls weren’t triggered either. With so many members of the Holy Knights, exactly how did they get in?”
“They’re human beings after all; they surely can’t transform into bats with wings and fly in like vampires, can they?”
“My Lord of the Abyss, Saintess Evelyn is actually here too!”
Someone’s legs went weak, causing them to collapse straight to the ground with a complexion as pale as paper and hands hanging limply at their sides as they groaned in despair, “If the Demon’s Gift disappears, Evelyn’s grand Purification Spell could send us down to the abyss in a split second, leaving our shattered souls to kneel and pay respects to my Lord!”
Lanster City had been at peace for far too long.
So long that people had almost forgotten the cruelty of war.
At this moment, facing this long-absent fear, everyone clearly realized that a catastrophic disaster was imminent.
According to custom, regardless of which side won or lost this struggle, what would inevitably follow was a round of bloody cleansing.
As dependents attached to Lanster City, they were willing to bow and pay tribute to the city lord in exchange for the city lord’s protection and a foothold for themselves.
Both sides were merely engaging in a mutual exchange of convenience; there was hardly any genuine loyalty to speak of. Such meager benefits could never buy their willingness to fight to the death and sacrifice themselves in coexistence with Lanster City.
“We better leave quickly!”
“Where can we even escape to?”
The news of the Holy See’s arrival, once spread, instantly plunged everyone into panic and anxiety.
Those guests who had previously acted arrogant and overbearing were now like rabbits chased by ferocious hounds, struck with extreme terror. Panicked, they looked all around, attempting to find an escape route.
The auction was already in complete chaos. The frenzied crowd rushed about like an out-of-control tide, while the emotion of fear continuously fermented and spread wantlessly through the air.
Standing on the high platform, the auctioneer shouted at the top of her lungs, desperately trying to pacify them, “Everyone, please calm down first! Listen to me! Now is not the time to panic, we must unite! Present a united front against the outside!”
Her voice wavered precariously in the noisy environment, quickly swallowed up by the wall of sound without a single person paying her any mind.
Realizing her own insignificance and powerlessness, and with no supreme boss presiding over the scene in person, her weak strength was utterly incapable of forcibly suppressing this out-of-control situation.
Amidst her panic, she subconsciously glanced toward private box Number 12.
However, through the open window, what met her eyes was a completely empty sight.
She discovered in despair that at some unknown point, the people inside the box had already vanished without a trace.
That mysterious big shot came and went like a phantom, acting just as elusive as her own boss.
The auction stage where Su Zhao sat was the highest location in the entire venue. Surveying the chaos of the entire hall from her vantage point, she took it all in.
Having finally watched enough of a good show, Su Zhao felt in high spirits. Lazily raising a hand, she crooked a finger at the auctioneer.
“Come here.”
Subconsciously, the auctioneer walked toward her.
The next second, she heard her instructions given.
“Open the cage.”
Her steps froze.
In a flash of lightning and flint, the auctioneer finally came to her senses, realizing that the person before her was the very culprit who had brought chaos and disaster to Lanster City.
With a face full of sorrow, she stood like a frozen statue, her gaze pinned and locked dead onto Su Zhao. Her lips trembled slightly, and her throat bobbed up and down.
It was as though a thousand words wanted to spill forth, yet they were firmly blocked by an invisible force. Struggling and huffing for a long half-moment, she failed to squeeze out a single syllable.
Su Zhao smiled, looking at her with an expression that was thoroughly peaceful, yet carried a certain profound and irresistible pressure.
Amidst this tense atmosphere, her calmness appeared entirely out of place, inexplicably causing the auctioneer to feel an even deeper layer of terror.
Everyone knew that having lost its most crucial barrier, Lanster City was like a warrior publicly stripped down to their underwear, bare and utterly defenseless.
Exposing its pure white vitals, it was as fragile as glass and vulnerable to a single blow.
Past advantages had vanished into thin air, and the situation had undergone an unimaginable, earth-shattering reversal in the blink of an eye.
Where was the Demon Lord?
Where was the City Lord?
The auctioneer couldn’t understand why they weren’t coming out to stabilize the situation. Even Lord Todd had vanished; had they small fries already been abandoned by the higher-ups?
The lofty Lanster City could now only crawl on the ground and tremble under the might of the Holy See knights, reduced to lambs awaiting slaughter.
And the person before her was the dictator holding the whip.
With a face full of terror, the auctioneer’s body trembled uncontrollably.
It was foreseeable that this precious little princess, having just suffered such an insult at the hands of Lanster City, would definitely not swallow this bitter resentment. Now that the reinforcements had arrived, the little princess would have no more reservations.
Next, she would unfold a crazy retaliation.
Carrying out a bloody reckoning.
Su Zhao slightly raised her chin.
Impatiently and unequivocally, she repeated:
“Open the cage.”
Hurry up.
What are you staring blankly for?
She was pressed for time!
She was in a rush to cuddle up with her pretty big sister!