Scourge Messenger

Chapter 120 Unequal sharing of spoils
"The second item is an Enlightenment Pill. Thieves, please make your bids."

The pharmacist immediately said, "I'll bet 25 points."

Yan Qing and Shang Xinlei's expressions immediately turned ugly, because they couldn't tell whether Yao Shiyuan really wanted to bid or simply wanted to use up their points.

The Pharmacist currently has 80 points. If she wins the bid with 25 points, she will have 55 points remaining and will gain priority in bidding for the next item. Because the bid must be increased by 5 points each round, even Yan Qing, who has 59 thief points, cannot compete with her. In this way, the Pharmacist can win two rewards.

However, if they raise the bid to 30 points for the Enlightenment Pill, Yaoshiyuan will likely choose not to participate. The person who wins the bid for the Enlightenment Pill will also be ineligible to participate in the subsequent competition, and Yaoshiyuan will still have a high chance of winning both rewards.

"25 once, 25 twice, 25 three times."

"Black Wolf has obtained the Enlightenment Pill."

Even after the Thieves' House made three bids, Yan Qing and Shang Xinlei didn't raise their prices, watching as the Pharmacist Yuan acquired the seven Enlightenment Pills at an incredibly low price. Facing the gazes of the crowd, the Pharmacist Yuan said leisurely, "My ability to advance three times so quickly is largely thanks to the Enlightenment Pills I won last time. Thank you all for your leniency this time."

Although that's what she said, no one completely believed her. Just from the bidding just now, it was clear that Yaoshi Yuan was not just a hot-tempered and easily angered brute. She also had a shrewd and calculating side. Her unstable emotions were not an obstacle for her. On the contrary, she could express her anger when she needed to and calm down immediately when she needed to. She didn't suffer from mental exhaustion at all. Perhaps she was the most mentally healthy of the four.

However, acquiring seven Enlightenment Pills for 25 Thief Points is definitely a great deal. It's just that they need to be used in high-intensity battles to maximize their value, which is why Yan Qing and Shang Xinlei gave them up so easily. The former has never even entered the Secret Realm, and the latter has no plans to go there for training. Bidding for Enlightenment Pills would be of little benefit to them in the short term, and it would be a waste to use them.

The pharmacist was very satisfied. She hadn't lied; it was precisely because of the Enlightenment Pill that she was able to comprehend and master a new secret technique at an incredible speed, completing her third transformation before the second mission. However, on the eighth day after taking the Enlightenment Pill, she woke up feeling like she was ill. The whole world seemed incredibly unfamiliar, and everything had an inexplicable strangeness about it. She also found it difficult to concentrate and became dull-witted.

It took the pharmacist several hours to accept the cruel truth: she wasn't sick, she had simply reverted to her old self.

She was determined to photograph every bottle of Enlightenment Pill in the future, and never let them discover how enjoyable it was to be a smart person.

"The third item is the Red Furnace Essence. Thieves, please make your bids."

"I'll bid 50 points!" The Pharmacist bid again, fully utilizing her right to bid first, offering a price that made even the Snake Dog extremely uncomfortable. Both of them were eligible to bid, and a bid would secure the win, but the cost would be that their Thief Points were nearly depleted.

It's obvious she's not interested in bidding; she's just trying to use up their thief points!

Yan Qing and Shang Xinlei couldn't help but look at Yao Shiyuan. Yao Shiyuan didn't avoid their gazes at all, meeting their eyes directly. When cooperating, they could be united, but when it came to dividing the spoils, they had to fight for every inch. Yao Shiyuan had no moral baggage and wouldn't show any mercy. She had been taught this since she was a child.

The Zhou state was founded on a group of military meritors, which was essentially a pack of wolves following their king to eat meat. Retreating and yielding would not earn them goodwill; instead, it would make them feel like they were meat.

Moreover, among the three, the Thieves' Family also acknowledges that the Pharmacist is willing to contribute the most, so she should rightfully win this auction. A true leader is one who shoulders the greatest responsibility and reaps the most benefits; only then can one be a ruler followed by all!
After a moment's thought, and just as the Thieves' House had finalized the deal three times, Yan Qing finally spoke: "I—"

But as soon as he made a move, Shang Xinlei preemptively offered: "I'll bid 55 points."

"55 once, 55 twice, 55 three times."

"The Red Serpent obtained the Essence of the Red Furnace Fire."

Yan Qing was somewhat disappointed at not getting the Crimson Furnace Fire Essence, but he became more determined. Now, the next random secret technique book was his must-have. The only question was: would the apothecary want the random secret technique book or the life-saving pill?
If Yaoshiyuan also wants the random secret technique book, Yan Qing would have to spend at least 51 points to stop her from bidding. However, this would allow Yaoshiyuan to acquire the life-saving pill at an extremely low price and still have over forty thief points left over.

Damn it, they bought two rewards and saved up so many points, locking in the legendary item for the next mission in advance. Yan Qing felt like they were working for the Pharmacist's Wish—the Thieves' House wouldn't allow such awesome people to exist!
If she does the first thing, Yan Qing should do the fifteenth. We can't let her take so many advantages; we should at least make her bleed.

"The fourth item is a random arcane book. Thieves, please make your bids."

As soon as Thieves' House finished speaking, Yan Qing immediately bid: "I bid 29 points!" Pharmacist Yuan frowned slightly.

The offer was ambiguous, seemingly both a genuine desire and an attempt to entice her to raise the price. She deduced that Yan Qing hadn't even reached the third rank (in fact, not even the second), and the random secret technique book should be a must-have for him.

However, the final life-saving pill is no less valuable than a random secret technique book, and may even be more valuable. After all, secret technique books can be obtained through other channels, but the life-saving pill is something that even the pharmacist has never heard of. It is probably only possible to find it in a secret realm of level four or higher.

For the pharmacist, the life-saving pill was undoubtedly more important; she had no need to risk her life to cut off Yan Qing's flesh.

"29 once, 29 twice, 29 three times."

"The Yellow Dog has obtained a random arcane book."

Yan Qing breathed a sigh of relief upon receiving the random secret technique book. The advanced technique manual was already on its way. He just needed to find a way to obtain an advanced dual-wielding technique manual, and then use the random secret technique book and the Left-Bend-Right-Return technique book to complete the third job advancement at the fastest speed.

Before laying the foundation, the road ahead is smooth.

"The fifth item is a life-saving pill. Thieves, please make your bids."

Yan Qing immediately bet all his points: "I'll bet 30 points."

Clearly, this was his way of retaliating against Yaoshiyuan's previous malicious price gouging. Yaoshiyuan wasn't angry and calmly said, "I'll offer 35 points."

Seeing the life-saving pill fall into the hands of the pharmacist, not to mention others, even Yan Qing harbored some covetousness. To be able to survive a certain death attack is no exaggeration; after all, everyone is in real-time mode, and if you die, you really die.

If it were the life-saving pill that was auctioned first, the pharmacist would never have paid such a low price to win it.

Even though Yan Qing cut her in the end, Yaoshiyuan still won a great victory. She bought two bottles of pills and still had 20 thief points left, ranking second overall.

Yan Qing has 30 points left, making her the leader in the entire event.

Yingru has 1 point left, and Shangxinlei has 0 points, so they basically have to start from zero.

“Have you noticed?” Ying Rushi suddenly said after the loot was divided, “the starting bid this time wasn’t 5 points, but 10 thief points.”

"Is it because the rewards are more generous that the starting price has to be higher?" Shang Xinlei speculated.

“If the starting price keeps increasing, there might be situations where there are bonuses, but we don’t have the points to win the bid,” the pharmacist said.

Yan Qing thought to himself that it wasn't that complicated; it was simply about squeezing every last bit of thief points out of you.

From the very beginning of the design of Thieves' Home, Yan Qing realized a problem: the players randomly assigned to Thieves' Home might become friends.

It can't be called a problem. As an MMORPG, social interaction is of paramount importance in "The Messenger". The ultimate goal of the official operation is to make players become friends through dungeons and to make players willing to continue playing for the sake of their friends.

However, if players in the Thieves' Den become friends, they can easily distribute the rewards internally, bidding only the lowest price and refusing to bid higher, rendering Thief Points completely meaningless. Raising the minimum starting bid aims to encourage players to actively participate in theft; otherwise, the Thief Points earned from a single mission might not even cover the minimum starting bid.

(End of this chapter)