Chapter 203: Chasing a ghost.

Chapter 203: Chasing a ghost.The auction turned out to be rather entertaining endeavor. In quick succession tens of artifacts were auctioned one after another. Weapons, spatial items, and some amazing creations like gravity steps were sold as if they were common household objects.

Practically all guests placed a bid now and then, but it was mostly for fun. The majority of the artifacts were purchased by a handful of people despite each costing a fortune.

The atmosphere was joyful with everyone drinking and feasting on delicacies. Lee was caught by surprise, realizing that the hegemons of the world could be so laid-back and casually joke with one other. Even Sect Master Mo stood up to raise his glass on several occasions when someone famous outbid him, and his reaction was met with laughter and applause every time.

The event ended well past midnight. Lee patiently stood among the regular people in the back, waiting to guide the three families to their residences while pondering where he was supposed to spend the night.

First to leave was the sect master. His son, with the bride in tow, followed, and everyone’s eyes were glued at the couple who was the actual reason for everyone being here.

Lee also stared his eyes out at bride, but for different reasons. The lighting in the auction hall was not the brightest, but it was good enough to discern her pale skin and even the red eyes. Everything was the same – the hair, the eyes and the skin, but the person next to the junior sect master wasn’t older than sixteen! This wasn’t Victoria!

Probably the guy had some kind of fetish regarding his preferences, but it that was not the point. The junior sect master managed to find himself a similar albino, except a much younger version. And, if Lee had to judge honestly, one who actually was kind of pretty. But it didn’t matter! Turns out he has been chasing a ghost!

Before he started to question his life choices once again, Lee took few deep breaths to calm down.

If the junior sect master had discarded Victoria, it was great. If he had killed her – even better. But since she kind of was an official elder of the Celestial Abyss sect, it’s likely she didn’t disappear without a trace.



Leaving things as they were seemed counterintuitive and Lee decided to try to investigate the situation. His current cover was probably good enough for it.

***

Most of the guests had long left the auction, but Lee still stood there, deep in thoughts. He long forgot about the families he came with, and was weighing his options, trying to figure out the chances to succeed.

He refused to think he failed, in fact, thanks to his pursuit he witnessed or even took part in more and more interesting events. Somehow he even landed in the most influential sect in this world, and there were people who thought he actually worked there.

He did get a bit of scare when a squad of enforcers arrived, but turns out they were here to make sure the auctioned artifacts were delivered to their new owners. Obviously the procession was only for show – everything was put in spatial items anyway and could be delivered by one inconspicuous person.

Finally, after making up his mind, Lee returned to the Sect Affairs hall. It was late at night, but he made sure he accidentally stumbled across elder Silas, the one he was bringing messages to and from during the day.

"A problem?" She was constantly in a bad mood and didn’t expect anything good now, seeing someone who according to her knowledge belonged to the Trade hall.

"No, mam!" Lee said with a polite bow, "I decided to accept your proposal, but it would be wrong to start working for the Sect Affairs hall by lazing around. Surely there’s a lot you need help with!"

Elder Silas furrowed her brows in confusion. She did remember suggesting the kid would transfer halls, but she wasn’t really serious at the time. But since he was here, she had no problems to enslave him for months, if not years. Clearly this was someone with subpar cultivation talent and was trying hard to impress her.

"Follow me!" She said, and led Lee to the third floor, to a room stacked with heaps of papers. Next to the entrance there was a table where someone has began sorting documents, putting them in neat piles, and there was a simple chair next to it.

"Sort these." She said, and immediately closed the door behind her, as if afraid Lee would run off otherwise.

Lee stood there, in the darkness, slightly confused, but at the same time relieved. He didn’t need to spend the night on the street.

***

During the next couple of days Lee actually worked. There was a small canteen on the first floor where he ate a couple of times a day, but the rest he spent diligently organizing the documents.

He had landed in some kind of an archive, with most papers being something akin to personal files. The problem was – the place was a mess. Obviously it was the reason Elder Silas pushed it onto him like a hot potato, but Lee didn’t mind.

He created a new organizational scheme and started to got through documents, but for selfish reasons, of course. All he needed was to find out what was Victoria’s current status and where she was. Unfortunately, no matter how he looked for any information regarding her, he was left empty handed.

Lee didn’t give up, though. Using a sample of handwriting that most documents were written with, he forged a few mentioning elder Victoria and two other female elders whose names he made up. Then he took those, once again fake-accidentally met elder Silas in one of the hallways, and asked for her guidance.

He said, "Elder, I’m making a good progress, but I came across a couple of irregularities. These documents are supposed to be background check orders, but they’re unsigned. In fact, I’ve never heard of the elders referred to."

The trick was to mention both elders and their background checks, otherwise elder Silas would’ve ignored anything he said. Now, though, she grabbed the documents from Lee’s hand, quickly inspected, and immediately tore apart.



"In the future put anything like this aside." She said.

"May I ask what are they related to?" Lee said, and quickly added, trying to look particularly serious, "I’m not being nosy, I only want to do a good job."

"These shouldn’t exist." Elder Silas said, "But you have a good eye. The elders mentioned ... it’s an error and those aren’t elders. Junior sect master sometimes appoints people as elders of the sect, but their status is more like an honorary elder, and a temporary one."

"Oh, so they left the sect after completing a mission for Junior Sect Master Mo." Lee nodded with an innocent expression, but Elder Silas barely held back a curse.

She said, "Sure ... a mission. They didn’t leave, but they aren’t our problem. But we will have a problem if this information is leaked. The hall master is not very forgiving person."

"Elder, don’t worry, no one besides me or you will ever hear about these documents!" Lee said, "From now on anything suspicious will be delivered directly to you."

"Good!" Elder Silas said, and left thanking Heavens for the existence of talentless individuals who were bending over backwards to impress their superiors.

This turned out to be a simple trick. Lee’s guess was that he forged either Elder Silas’s handwriting or someone’s close to her, and recognizing it, she immediately covered for the junior sect master.

It was only one of the scenarios Lee considered, but it turned out to be the correct one. Mo Qingsha had discarded Victoria after fooling around with her, or maybe he still was doing her, but she wasn’t going to become his wife for sure.

These were great news. And Lee already knew the place where to look for her.