173: Chapter 173 The Money-Giving Boy Who Traveled Across the Ocean

"Lin Ye. Something major has happened."

On the other end of the phone, Deputy Director Gao Guoliang's voice was so heavy it sounded as if he had just swallowed two catties of dry cement without adding water.

On the second-floor corridor, Lin Ye held a goblet, his fingertips gently rubbing against the wall of the glass.

He lowered his head to glance at Helena holding the auction gavel in the lobby downstairs, a lazy, roguish smile curling the corner of his mouth.

"Old Gao, in the middle of the night, a man's kidneys are very precious."

"Can't this wait until tomorrow? Or is it that you guys at The Ninth Bureau saw my business was too good tonight and plan to come over overnight to collect the industrial and commercial management fees?"

Lin Ye's tone was as relaxed as if he were chatting idly with the uncle next door.

"You still have the mood to joke?!"

On the other end of the phone, Deputy Director Gao Guoliang almost flipped the table, his voice unconsciously raising by an octave: "Did you have Bai Yu stream the auction live simultaneously on the dark web?!"

"That's right. To expand the audience and maximize profits, you see."

Lin Ye arched his eyebrows matter-of-factly.

"What, does The Ninth Bureau even want to manage me streaming live? I'm real-name verified, and I haven't engaged in any borderline vulgar content."

"Still not borderline vulgar?! You stuffed the Western Inquisition's chief nun into that kind of... that kind of qipao with slits reaching almost up to her waist, and let her live-stream the auction of the Western supreme holy artifact across the entire internet!"

Deputy Director Gao Guoliang's voice was trembling, clearly having watched the stream and being quite angered by it.

"Lin Ye, do you know what the reaction in the Western Continent is right now?"

"What reaction? Complaining that I'm selling too expensively and planning to file a complaint against me with the Consumers Association?" Lin Ye swirled the red wine in his glass, nonchalant.

"Complain my ass! The old monsters over in the Vatican have completely gone crazy!"

Deputy Director Gao Guoliang took a deep breath, lowered his voice, and spoke at an extremely fast pace.

"This is intelligence transmitted back at the cost of the lives of The Ninth Bureau's planted spies in the West. The high-level figures of the Truth Freemasonry and the Inquisition saw the broadcast and consider this the greatest humiliation suffered by the Western supernatural community in nearly two hundred years!"

"Not only did they see the holy artifacts you tossed out and dumped like spoils of war, but they also saw Helena!"

"Three Cardinals, plus two Legion Commanders of the Holy Knights. A total of five peak-tier powerhouses standing at the apex of the Western pyramid are planning to forcefully activate the [Grand Cross Cross-Realm Teleportation Array]!"

"They are going to bypass Great Xia's border defense and descend directly upon Jiangzhou! This is war! Lin Ye, this is an undisguised war between Eastern and Western supernatural forces!"

"You better hurry and take your people to evacuate Taiping Old Street; The Ninth Bureau will send people to meet you. That place is about to turn into a meat grinder!"

By the end, Deputy Director Gao Guoliang was practically roaring.

Although he was wary of Lin Ye's strength, the Western Continent had truly lost its temper this time, and the lineup they dispatched was enough to raze the entire Jiangzhou to the ground.

If a fight really broke out, it would plunge the living into misery.

However, Lin Ye on this end of the phone, after listening to this long-winded speech...

Not only was he not flustered in the slightest, but his eyes instantly lit up, as if he had seen a flock of plump little sheep willingly jumping into a frying pan.

"Wait, Old Gao. Did you just say... three Cardinals? Two Legion Commanders?"

Lin Ye licked his lips, his tone leaking excitement.

"A Cardinal—the ceremonial robe they wear must be embedded with diamonds, right? A Holy Legion Commander—the holy sword in their hands must be an antique passed down for hundreds of years! These old fellows must be filthy rich!"

Deputy Director Gao Guoliang on the other end of the phone: "???"

No, Big Brother, isn't your focus drifting ridiculously off-course?

They came here to cross-nationally hunt you down! They're bringing forbidden spells capable of destroying heaven and earth to flatten you! You fucking-well are actually scheming about how much their equipment can sell for?!

"Lin Ye! Clear your head! This isn't some stinky fish and rotten shrimp like the Yellow Springs Market!"

"If those five people join forces, even if Mount Longhu's old Heavenly Master comes out of seclusion, he'd have to temporarily avoid their sharp edge!" Deputy Director Gao Guoliang was exasperated.

"Alright, alright, Old Gao, put away your set of persecutory delusions."

Lin Ye stretched, his tone casual, yet it exuded an arrogant and overbearing aura that looked down upon the entire world.

"My Lins Funeral Shop opens its doors for business, and there has never been a reason to push away guests who come knocking."

"Since they traveled all the way across the ocean to send me warmth, if I don't accept it, wouldn't it make it seem like my Great Xia lacks manners?"

"You guys at The Ninth Bureau should stay out of this matter. If a single brick falls in Jiangzhou tonight, I, Lin Ye, will compensate for it at cost. Hang up."

Without waiting for Deputy Director Gao Guoliang to speak again, Lin Ye directly hung up the phone.

"Beep beep beep..."

Listening to the busy tone in his phone, Deputy Director Gao Guoliang, sitting in The Ninth Bureau's command center, slammed a palm onto the table, making the teacup jump around.

"A lunatic! Simply a complete and utter lunatic!"

Deputy Director Gao Guoliang cursed, turning his head to look at Deputy Captain Chu Hongyan standing to the side.

"Pass down the order, all special service officers of the Jiangzhou Branch are to retreat three kilometers outside Taiping Old Street and set up the highest-level psionic warning net. Without my command, no one is allowed to approach Lins Funeral Shop by half a step!"

Deputy Captain Chu Hongyan looked at the smiling young boss in the live stream on the screen and sighed helplessly.

For some reason, she had a premonition that after tonight, the Western supernatural community was likely to experience an unprecedented bankruptcy crisis.

...

At the same time, Lins Funeral Shop.

The auction in the first-floor lobby had already ushered in its most frenzied climax.

"Sixty million! My Lu family bids sixty million! No one compete with me for this Holy Grail fragment, I'm taking it back for my great-grandfather to use as a mouthwash cup!"

Young Master Lu Changfeng stood on a chair, shouting at the top of his lungs with a red face.

"Lu family brat, hold your arrogance! How could a holy artifact like this be something you can desecrate? This old man bids seventy million! Taking it back to Mount Longhu to modify it into a teapot for brewing tea, wouldn't that be wonderful?"

Taoist Master Qingfeng stroked his beard, maintaining an otherworldly appearance, but the price he shouted was completely unambiguous.

On stage.

Helena held the wooden gavel, looking at this group of Great Xia cultivators below who were frantically throwing money around just to buy back Western holy artifacts to "trash" them, her heart long since numb.

Even, after the initial humiliation and unwillingness faded away, she actually faintly felt... a bit thrilling?

Once upon a time, she was a high-and-mighty nun, praying devoutly to these holy artifacts every day, and even touching them required bathing and changing clothes beforehand.

But now, she was wearing a sexy qipao with slits reaching up to the root of her thighs, hawking these holy artifacts on stage like Chinese cabbages.

That sense of moral transgression, breaking all the sacred shackles on her body and completely falling into the secular mortal world, made her body, which had been developed by the Pure Yang True Qi, involuntarily heat up slightly.

"Seventy-five million!"

"Eighty million! Third time! Sold!"

"Bang!"

As Helena forcefully struck down the wooden gavel, the final Holy Grail fragment was successfully won by Jiangzhou's richest man at an astronomical price of eighty million.

Thunderous applause and cheers erupted in the lobby.

The bigshots who bought the holy artifacts were deeply satisfied, and those who didn't buy them also watched a grand show.

Most importantly, the confidence displayed by Lins Funeral Shop tonight made everyone understand one principle: in this Jiangzhou territory, following Boss Lin meant not only having meat to eat, but also being able to completely flex in front of Westerners!

Two in the morning.

The guests dispersed.

Fatty Wang and Bai Yu grinned from ear to ear with joy, hugging several large boxes of cash cashier's checks and transfer vouchers as they went down to the underground vault to reconcile accounts.

Second-floor corridor.

Helena stepped in high heels, walking up along the wooden stairs.

A thin layer of delicate sweat oozed across her smooth forehead.

The high-intensity auction coupled with tense nerves gave her plump, delicate body an indolent and alluring charm reminiscent of after a workout.

She came before Lin Ye, kneeling on one knee, her posture humble yet carrying a trace of expectation.

"Master... Boss. The auction has ended. All holy artifacts have been sold, with a total revenue of... 2.6 billion Great Xia currency."

When Helena reported this number, even she found it unbelievable.

Lin Ye sat on the rattan chair, holding a freshly poured glass of iced fruit wine in his hand.

His gaze swept from top to bottom over Helena's hot curves made even more prominent by her kneeling posture, especially that breathtaking patch of snow-white at her neckline.

A smile curved the corner of Lin Ye's mouth.

"Good job."

Lin Ye reached out, using his index finger to hook Helena's sharp, fair chin, forcing her to lift her head.

Helena was forced to meet Lin Ye's pitch-black, bright eyes, her breathing instantly turning hurried.

Ripples surged in her ice-blue eyes, and the memories of the Pure Yang True Qi rampaging through her body last night awakened once more, causing her slender legs to instinctively squeeze tightly together.

"Stepping out into the public eye for the first time, you helped me earn 2.6 billion. It seems not only are your legs long, but your brain works pretty well too."

Lin Ye chuckled lightly, handing the iced fruit wine in his hand to her lips.

"Open your mouth."

Helena shuddered all over, not daring to disobey, and obediently parted her rosy lips slightly.

The ice-cold, sweet-and-sour fruit wine flowed into her mouth as Lin Ye poured it.

A few drops of crystalline liquor slid down the corner of her mouth, tracing across her slender swan-like neck, and finally vanishing deep into the collar of her qipao, the scene exceptionally erotic.

"Thank you... Boss, for the reward."

Helena swallowed the fruit wine, her voice so soft and sweet it seemed water could be pinched out of it, her eyes filled with the delight of being favored.

"A barbarian woman, you certainly learned fast. Not only are you not stage-frightened when showing your face in public, but your methods of seducing men have also become self-taught."

A cold voice carrying a hint of mockery drifted over from the other end of the corridor.

Leng Yue had changed into a moon-white silk pajamas set, draped with a thin gauze on the outside.

She walked over slowly, her dark golden eyes glancing indifferently at Helena:

"Just having her act as a hawking maid, and her tail is already raised up to the heavens?"