Treasure-hunting: Into the Unknown

"One hundred thousand!"

The bid was taking off quickly. Polly was interested in the Antique Crystal Skull too, but she had little cash left. As such, she settled down and watched the ongoing bid.

Zachary was sitting silently beside her. They watched the ruckus made by the high stakes bidding but made no move to join.

"Two hundred thousand!" "Wow, I didn't expect the bid to get this high," Polly commented as she raised an eyebrow at the excited bidders.

"Good wine needs no bush," Zachary replied calmly. Like Polly, he seemed to have settled for the ride and was casually watching the cacophony made by the enthusiastic bidders.

"Three hundred thousand." Silence reigned in the hall for a moment. All heads swiveled to Anthony, who had raised his hand and bid an amazingly high price.

It was a tremendous amount of money! However, if the refiner made the most of the Antique Crystal Skull, the finished weapon would be much more valuable.

"Who wants to compete with me? I will get this baby today!" Anthony stated confidently.

Most of the people present only shook their heads in resignation or looked down so they wouldn't meet Anthony's eyes. They had no confidence or desire to go against Anthony, especially those who knew him.

"Four hundred thousand!" A powerful voice reverberated in the hall. The people looked around in search of the bidder who dared to challenge Anthony.

They started whispering to each other about what kind of person this bidder could be. After all, an ordinary person would not bet that amount of money for the fun of it.

Polly was also taken by surprise. She looked at Zachary with her eyes almost comically wide.

"Are you crazy? How can you have so much money?" Polly stared at Zachary in utter disbelief. He was making a fool of himself, and by extension, her as well! She knew that most of his money had been spent on the treasures he bought for her. Even if he still had some money left over, she was sure that it was nowhere near four hundred thousand.

"Don't worry about it. I can handle it." Zachary gave her a reassuring smile. She wasn't reassured, of course. Not when she could see Anthony's seething face contorted in anger. Anthony was not going to let Zachary just have his way without any retaliation. This was going to be a long and tiring day.

Meanwhile, Anthony glared at the back of Zachary's head with all the hatred he could muster. What he just did was a serious insult to his pride. He would have considered what happened earlier and just let him go, but there was no way he would give up the

Blazing Roc Feathers Zachary had produced earlier were nothing compared to this.

"Humph, what nonsense fluid? It must be fake. Don't be fooled by him," Anthony said with certainty, convinced that Zachary was playing a trick.

"I can guarantee that the Hatching Fluid is legitimate. I can vouch for its efficiency. Besides, after the auction, the buyer can verify it before the payment," Zachary announced in response.

"Even so, I have never seen this kind of thing before. Something like this doesn't necessarily end up with a very high price. You'd better have something to prove its efficiency." Frankly, Riley believed in Zachary. However, as the owner of the Phoenix House, she was well aware that such unknown treasures that seemed too good to be true were usually undervalued at auctions.

Zachary shook his head with a smile. Polly, Anthony, and the others gaped at him as he took out seven Blazing Roc Feathers.

Riley froze. She hadn't expected Zachary to have seven more Blazing Roc Feathers.

"If the Hatching Fluid is a fake, the highest bidder could take the seven Blazing Roc Feathers as a compensation," Zachary announced once again. He looked around the room as he presented the seven Blazing Roc feathers.

A murmur went through the hall. With the seven Blazing Roc Feathers as collateral, the legitimacy of the Hatching Fluid was assured. The bottle in Zachary's hand suddenly seemed more tempting.

"Is that okay? What do you say?" Zachary looked at Riley again.

"No problem. I'd like to join the bidding on behalf of the Phoenix House. I bid three hundred thousand for the fluid," Riley answered after a moment of hesitation. Everyone could tell that she truly believed Zachary.