Chapter 149: Heavy Gunner Chi Lai

The magic light beams swept in a circle until finally concentrating on Chi Lai.

He was a middle aged man with black hair and a square face. His face was expressionless, but his ramrod straight body and unswerving eyes of determination divulged many traits of a soldier. 

“Finally, he’s here.” The dragonman youngster’s mind perked up.

He had been interested in Chi Lai ever since he saw him on the item list. 

Zong Ge was more intrigued, and immediately stated his opinion, “We should recruit him, our mercenary corps lacks a true gunner.”

“He is from the imperial navy; we don’t need to train him, and his military strength is worth the money.”

“As for why he was expelled from the navy and been reduced to a slave, I understand that this was due to a miscarriage of justice. This imperial soldier from a poor background was harmed by a higherup framing him.

Zong Ge had a good opinion of Chi Lai’s soldier background

Zong Ge’s analysis made sense, and the dragonman youngster agreed, “He and I are the same, believers in the Justice God. Based on this, we can trust him even more.”

On the stage, the auction master continued the introduction, “Many people have heard his tale.”

“A young person from the slums was very gifted. His gunnery skills were noticed by the navy, and he was recruited by them.”

“He believes in the Justice God and held fast to the light in his heart, as a result, he violated navy disciple and offended an imperial bigwig.”

“Now he has become a slave and is under a slave contract.”

“However, it will only cause him pain, the contract won’t impair his wisdom at all. Therefore, I ask all respected friends to take not of this bit.”

The buyers discussed this in whispers.

As the only silver slave, he had already been discussed a lot already.

“Chi Lai was once a navy elite, but even more so, he is a Justice God believer. Although hie is a slave, the contract is quite relaxed, and he can disobey orders he thinks are unreasonable.”

“Therefore, he’ll be hard for pirates to make use of. Besides mercenary corps, the ones truly able to recruit him are the great merchant alliance fleets, oh I almost forgot, Hun Tong too.”

“Hehe, I think that it’s unlikely Hun Tong will recruit him. Two Eyes Island is the holy land for pirates disposing of their booty, and when Chi Lai finds out, he won’t comply with Hun Tong’s orders. If Hun Tong could recruit him, why would he have put Chi Lai up for auction?”

“Hm, that’s reasonable! In fact, Chi Lai has been resold many times, many slave owners that bought him couldn’t stand his disposition. Some owners were so distraught by his good deeds that they even wanted to kill him, but in the end, they decided against doing that.”

Chi Lai had offended an imperial bigwig with a powerful backer.

The reason why he had been placed under such a spacious slave contract was that he wanted to torment Chi Lai and humiliate him as much as he liked!

Therefore, Chi Lai was comparatively special.

If his master wanted to kill him, they had to consider the opinions of that imperial bigwig. If he was killed, that would violate the original intention that that imperial bigwig wanted him tormented. Although that lord perhaps already tossed Chi Lai to the back of his mind, what reason was there to risk their wrath? It wasn’t worth it.

Therefore, Chi Lai had been resold many times, and now, he was stranded at Two Eyes Island’s auction.

The magic images were constantly broadcasting many scenes of Chi Lai fighting.

Especially how svelte he controlled cannons, that left a deep impression on people.

He really was an outstanding gunner.

Only a small section of the presentation at the beginning showed him serving and training in the navy, the rest was when he had been sold as a slave where he had followed his owner’s commands and participated in battles big and small.

There were plenty of scenes of single combat, a few team battles, and many naval battles.

Upon seeing these images, everyone’s heartrate, including pirate bosses, increased.

Chi Lai’s battle strength was outstanding; he was neither weak at close range nor at long range. However, if he was allowed to operate cannons, his threat level would sharply rise!

“A true regret, why is he a Justice God believer?”

“If he could join us, I could make him my number two! What a pity that he will never become a pirate.”

Chi Lai had already been a slave for many years, and during those years, his belief in the Justice God never wavered, in fact it grew even deeper.

These magic images also illustrated a problem.

Some astute merchants made out that many images were purposely staged.

They easily could think why: they were obviously crafted by Chi La’s masters. Their purpose was to magnify Chi Lai’s strength so he could be sold at a good price and mend the blood they spent on him.

“Chi Lai, the earnest, man, the outstanding heavy gunner absolutely deserves more trust and expectations! The starting price is 5,000 gold, and every price raise must be no less than 200 gold.” The auction master declared the start of the auction.

But awkwardly, both the audience and the second floor were silent.

Silver level slaves were rarely seen on the market.

5,000 gold was not a high price.

Chi Lai was very strong, and should have been a widely regarded product, but information and stories on him had been widely circulated for many years, causing few people to be interested in purchasing him.

“Don’t tell me this will fail to sell?” The auction master’s heart sank, feeling things weren’t looking good.

Chi Lai had failed to be sold at many auctions.

Therefore, Hun Tong had arranged him to be put in third. This sort of arrangement meant he didn’t have good prospects for his market price, but since the latter was still a silver level, he was placed in this position.

After a small stillness, Commander Beng Dai bid, “5,200 gold.”

It was the lowest price increase, but that alone allowed the auction master to let out a breath, “At least he won’t fail to sell.”

Failing to sell things at auctions would influence his performance.

Furthermore, this auction was estimated to be the pinnacle of his life, and if a failed auction blemished it, it would cause unavoidable regret.

5,200 gold to the Bandage Mercenary Corps was a huge sum, and it would be a huge loss for them.

Commander Beng Dai did not fight by himself.

Before Chi Lai ascended the auction stage, he had contacted a few merchant alliance branch managers and agreed to bid for Chi Lai together.

Each would share a part of the price and observe Chi Lai on his duties to watch how he really was.

If he was suitable, each of them would bid for him. The final winner would pay the missing gold coins to compensate the others and be the ultimate owner of Chi Lai.

This was inspired by when they had joined hands with the Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps to face off against room 21.

Commander Beng Dai was merely the public face of it, that’s all.

In fact, the Iron Club Mercenary Corps was among them too. 

The two mercenary corps were according to standard, and based on common sense, they could have Chi Lai serve them.

After the bid of 5,200 gold, there was no respond from any other party.

This was estimated to be the most desolate auction ever here.

Then as the auction master began to count down, the dragonman youngster in room 14 transmitted, “5,400 gold.”

Commander Beng Dai sightly stared, he didn’t expect competition.

But when he thought of the Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps, Commander Beng Dai didn’t feel surprised, in fact it was quite reasonable.

Commander Beng Dai continued to raise the price, “5,600 gold.”

If he was competing with his mercenary corps alone, he would be greatly pressured. But now that he had other merchant alliances working with him, he had ample confidence.

In comparison, the Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps couldn’t collaborate with other merchant alliances.

Because the Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps was going to leave Two Eyes Island, unlike the Bandage Mercenary Corps who was a permanent resident of Two Eyes Island and had become one of the native powers here.

It was because of this that the Bandage Mercenary Corps and other merchant alliances had a foundation for collaboration.

“5,800 gold.” Said the dragonman youngster.

“6,000 gold.” Commander Beng Dai continued to follow up.

There were only two sides to this content.

When the price rose to 6,600 gold, the dragonman youngster sank into silence.

After a moment, he followed Fei She’s suggestion and suddenly raised the price increase, “7,800 gold!”

In addition, the dragonman youngster specially added, “This is my final offer.”

Commander Beng Dai suddenly stared blankly, how could he say that in an auction?

But he quickly understood that this was the dragonman youngster’s auction stratagem.

“I didn’t expect you to play this thick browed and big eyed trick?” When this thought appeared in Commander Beng Dai’s mind, he felt somewhat embarrassed.

If he wanted to press down on the dragonman youngster, he’d need to bid at least 8,000 gold. The allocated expenses of thousands of gold coins across his Bandage Mercenary Corps was already something he couldn’t bear.

But that’s not how the merchant alliance representatives felt.

While Commander Beng Dai was hesitating, the merchant alliance branch managers dispatched subordinates to urgently contact him and request that he continue to increase the price.

Commander Beng Dai sighed; he sensed the systemic problem with collaborative auctions. But it was too late to withdraw, and he was also worried about damaging his relationship with the other merchant alliances, thus he had no choice but to bid, “8,000 gold!”

As expected, the dragonman youngster didn’t bid again.

Commander Beig Dai suddenly felt somewhat remorseful, “It seems Commander Long Fu spoke sincerely, I misunderstood him. That really was his bottom line. Damm it, I’m actually spending so much money to purchase Chi Lai. Even if Chi Lai serves me in the future, will I have enough money to pay the other merchant alliances? Can he stay in a mercenary corps?”

The auction master began to count down, and as everyone thought that the Bandage Mercenary Corps was to be the final victor, Zi Di’s voice transmitted from room 21 once again, “8,200 gold.”

Everyone looked at each other in dismay.

They didn’t expect that a ferocious beast would be provoked at the end of the auction. 

It was unquestionable that room 2 1 was the richest buyer at this auction!

Compete against them?

Commander Beng Dai’s fighting spirit suddenly slumped, and the other merchant alliance representatives were also clearly affected. Some expressed that they wanted to follow up, there was still a small bit before they hit their bottom line. Some stated that they didn’t need to waste energy, others still stated that this could deplete the other party’s money, but there were more that were worried about what they would do if they bought Chi Lai at this high price and fell into room 21’s stratagem?

After all, Zi Di only raised the price by 200 gold.

Her fuzzy attitude made these people hesitate.

Another systemic problem of collaborative auctions appeared, when ideas varied, it was difficult to adapt to the rapid tempo of an auction.

Just as the auction master’s count down reached its end, Commander Beng Dai and the others were still arguing and weren’t able to agree on anything.

“8,400 gold!” Just as everyone thought the winner was decided, the dragonman youngster spoke again.

“7,800 gold really was my bottom line, but against room 21, this bottom line has no weight!” The dragonman youngster added on.

In a split second, everyone’s goodwill of the Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps shot up!