Douluo Continent: Steadily Growing Stronger in Shrek Academy

Chapter 280, First Auction Item

Zhou Lin, who possessed a black card, was naturally assigned to a private room.

The three of them pushed open the door to the private room and entered.

The private room was extremely luxurious, with sofas and tables made of precious Phoebe zhennan wood, and a variety of fruits and snacks laid out on the table.

In addition, the soul tool technology in this private room was the most advanced in the Heavenly Soul Empire. There were several soul tool buttons on the table; if you liked an item, you could press the corresponding button, enter your bid, and everyone present would instantly see your offer. Even eating fruit didn't require bending over; just pressing some control buttons would bring the fruit to your mouth with metal tentacles, and you could simply open your mouth to eat it. This gave Lin Chen a faint sense of being in the Mingdu of the Sun Moon Empire.

Although these things are not very useful to powerful Soul Masters and are more of a symbol of status, the Heavenly Soul Empire is corrupt, and there are no capable people in the royal family who can shoulder great responsibilities. The highest level of cultivation is only Soul King. Moreover, most people are fond of pleasure and indulge in revelry day and night. These functions seem to be tailor-made for them.

Inside the private rooms, there are even special service buttons. If you want and have the money, you can find many female slaves belonging to the auction house to serve you.

During the auction process here, bidders are allowed to leave the venue during the bidding. After all, there are no powerful beings among those participating in the auction, not even Soul Masters. Naturally, they cannot regulate their body's endocrine system.

However, if you've already started bidding and leave the auction midway, but someone else bids higher, then sorry, the auction house won't argue with you after the auction. The item will naturally belong to the other person. Why did you have to go at the last minute to participate in the bidding?

However, these were not problems for Lin Chen and Zhang Lexuan, as they were both powerful figures above the Title Douluo level.

"Young friend Lin, Miss Zhang, this auction may be different. It is probably being held to strengthen the nation, and the prices may be ridiculously high."

Lin Chen asked, "Clan Chief Zhou, what is the meaning of this?"

Zhou Lin sighed and said, "According to the information I have, the Heavenly Soul Empire is holding this auction in order to recruit more Soul Masters and young men into the army in order to fight against the Sun Moon Empire."

Lin Chen nodded; Zhou Lin had already explained these things before.

"However, the entire Heavenly Soul Empire is currently in a state of panic, and very few people dare to enlist in the army to fight against the Sun Moon Empire. Therefore, the royal family came up with this method to strengthen the national power of the Heavenly Soul Empire."

"Isn't this human trafficking?" Lin Chen blurted out, his common sense from Earth immediately revealing the true nature of the auction.

"Alas, what you say is true, young friend Lin. In fact, I had already prepared a way out for the Zhou family, but such a change happened in the middle. If it weren't for young friend Lin and Miss Zhang, I'm afraid our entire Zhou family would have been forced to join the army." Zhou Lin sighed and said with some emotion, his tone revealing helplessness and relief at surviving a disaster.

Lin Chen didn't speak, but frowned.

Seeing this, Zhang Lexuan didn't say anything.

He hadn't expected that the Heavenly Soul Empire could achieve such a level. How was this any different from the Black Trade of the past?

Just then, the lights on the auction stage below suddenly turned on.

"Hello everyone, I am Qing Ning, today's auctioneer. First of all, on behalf of the Heavenly Soul Empire Auction House, I would like to extend a warm welcome to all the distinguished guests present!"

After he finished speaking, the soul guides on site erupted in thunderous applause.

Then, Qingning launched into a long, rambling speech, which was nothing more than saying some nice things.

This made Lin Chen quite sleepy; the auction in Shrek City wasn't like this back then.

"That's how auctions are held in Tiandou City, please don't be offended," Zhou Lin said.

Lin Chen and Zhang Lexuan nodded. Since they had chosen to try their luck here, they could only do as the locals do.

After exchanging pleasantries, they finally got down to business.

"Next, please look at our first item!" Lime announced loudly.

After he finished speaking, several auction house staff pushed a cart up, which was covered with a large red cloth.

Before the auctioneer could say anything, some people in the audience had already started whispering among themselves.

As regulars at auctions, they naturally knew what it was.

Zhang Lexuan clenched her fists instantly, radiating a chilling aura.

With her abilities, how could she not sense that there was a living person inside the cart?

Lin Chen also disliked this approach, but he didn't show it.

"These are common items; usually, items of this level are used to warm up the atmosphere," Zhou Lin explained.

Neither Lin Chen nor Zhang Lexuan said anything, but they were filled with disgust and loathing for this kind of human trafficking, or even female slavery.

Qing Ning directly lifted the red cloth covering the cart, revealing ten naked women right in front of her.

"This lot consists of ten female slaves."

"Don't underestimate these ten female slaves. They were specially trained by our auction house. They have no other advantages than being beautiful and obedient to their masters!"

After saying that, he rang the bell he had just picked up.

Upon hearing this, all ten female slaves crawled towards Qing Ning on all fours.

One bidder said somewhat irritably, "It's always like this. How much are you trying to sell it for this time?"

Clearly, this wasn't the first time this person had witnessed such a scene.

As a professional auctioneer, Qing Ning wasn't annoyed. Instead, she turned and smiled at the person who had stood up to speak, saying, "Distinguished guest, please be patient. I haven't finished introducing them yet. The female slaves we're offering this time have one more advantage than those in previous auctions: they are all virgins! Pure and innocent, undefiled!"

Everyone present stared wide-eyed. There had never been a virgin female slave auctioned before. Usually, the female slaves auctioned before were unwanted by others, or were kept in captivity to help their families pay off debts. But in either case, they could not be virgins.

Compared to the female slaves auctioned previously, these virgin female slaves were clearly more popular.

"Starting bid: 500,000 Gold Soul Coins! Each bid must be at least 100,000 Gold Soul Coins!" Qing Ning announced loudly.

"Five hundred thousand? That's so expensive?"

"Are you treating us like韭菜 (a metaphor for being exploited)?"

"I'm not playing along anymore, you guys buy it!"

Immediately, many voices of dissatisfaction arose in the arena.

Qing Ning's face showed no sign of annoyance; that was precisely her intention—to incite discontent among the entire audience.

"Alternatively, we can provide thirty able-bodied men to offset the auction cost, with each bid increment requiring at least two able-bodied men!"