allonlinenovel Chapter 389 Auction
Chapter 389 Auction
When Zhe arrived at the meeting place, he learned that the job Hugo needed his help with was to follow someone, and that person was Hartman Ravenlock, a member of the Ravenlock family—the same family that Zhe and Hugo had worked together to resolve a conflict at Guangying Square a couple of days ago.
However, the person Hugo was tracking had a higher status in the Ravenlock family; he was the current leader of the Ravenlock family, far superior to the person he had met a couple of days ago.
Anyway, Zhe doesn't need to fight; he just needs to follow behind, take pictures, and write down what he overhears [accidentally]. Besides, Zhe has friends in the police department, so even if he gets discovered, he can get out quickly given the current chaotic situation there.
Although Zhe was reluctant to help, he eventually agreed after being persuaded by Hugo and tempted by the invitation.
After Hugo left, Lan, the owner of the Morning Dew Flower Shop, curiously stepped forward to inquire about the situation.
She had noticed it earlier; the video store manager she knew seemed to be quite familiar with this customer who frequently bought flowers from the flower shop. Seeing that the other person had finally left, Lan could no longer suppress her curiosity and came over to ask about their relationship.
After learning that the two were just friends, he stopped asking questions. However, Lan's reaction made Zhe somewhat concerned.
After asking Lan if she knew Hugo, she learned that Hugo had always been a major customer here. He would buy flowers every time he came, but the flowers he bought were all for memorial purposes, saying they were for his deceased relatives. He seemed to be a person with a story to tell.
After that, Zhe began to secretly follow Hartman all the way, and what he heard was mainly about Hartman's business, which seemed to be not good. This also led to the Ravenlock family's influence within TOPS decreasing.
What he's doing now is trying to regain the lost voice, but the organ trade he mentioned reminded Zhe of the Silver Army's resurgence that he, Ambiya, and Trigger had dealt with a few days ago.
The incident began when Tetsuya and Suzu's friend Trigger from the Defense Force asked them to go to the Hollow to support their teammate, Number 11.
They were then drawn into the conspiracy of the Silver Army's resurgence, and it was at this time that Tetsu and the others learned about Ambhi's background and the truth about the Silver Army, which had only existed in rumors in the past.
In short, the Silver Army is a secret army composed of a group of clones who have been trained and modified, and Ambi was Zero, the first clone created. However, until the project was frozen, only Ambi met the researchers' standards, so the researchers gave the Silver Army a mission.
A mission that only Anbi could survive and return to, but one of the members escaped because he did not participate in the mission due to a health problem. In order to protect the last team members and his family, Anbi committed suicide in front of the researchers.
The survivor was none other than Number 11, a member of Trigger and a friend of Tetsuya and Rin. As for Ambi, after committing suicide, she was abandoned in the cave by the researchers and was eventually found and survived by Nico.
When Trigger and Tetsu arrived, they only saw the other party knock No. 11 unconscious and take her away. Tetsu and Trigger were held back and could only watch helplessly as the other party took No. 11 away.
Then came the investigation and Ambly's joining. It was only after Ambly joined that the three of them learned that the Silver Army did indeed exist and the truth.
Afterwards, Ambiya also investigated the research institute in charge of the Silver Army. Due to the cancellation of the project and the freezing of funds, all the researchers had been withdrawn. Research data that could be deleted was deleted, and data that could not be deleted was sealed by the Defense Force along with the Silver Army.
But the recent rumors about the Silver Army bothered her greatly, which is why she decided to investigate Xia Lin, also known as Number 11, with Trigger and the others. Within the Silver Army, because Ambi and the others all look alike, the researchers only refer to them by the numbers they were created with. Therefore, someone within the Silver Army suggested that they each choose their own names, so that they would not only feel more like family but also be able to distinguish one another slightly. Xia Lin was the name given to Number 11, the youngest sister.
The investigation revealed that the source of everything was a laboratory that had once been in charge of the Silver Army, so Trigger and Ambly set out to investigate. Before officially setting off, Ambly put on her Silver Army uniform, which represented her past.
To everyone's surprise, the mastermind behind it all turned out to be a member of the Silver Army. Tracy, who lacked the fighting abilities of her sisters but possessed extremely high intelligence, served as the strategist in the Silver Army.
She participated in the mission that could be described as wiping out the Silver Army, but unexpectedly, she survived.
However, she has had a difficult time these past few years. First, she was rescued and sold to the black market. Then, she was bought by a ruthless doctor who knew about the Silver Army. However, due to excessive blood loss, Twiggy's limbs had become necrotic and had to be amputated.
However, after her limbs were amputated, Twiggy lost a great deal of value, and the doctor then used her for organ trafficking, after which Twiggy was sold again.
After several twists and turns, Twiggy, now fitted with a prosthetic leg, escaped from the person who bought her and returned here. Using the remaining experimental data, she successfully recreated the technology she obtained from the Silver Bureau back then.
However, she used her own genes, and the clones she created were far inferior to the original Silver Rank clones in terms of both intelligence and physical abilities. So she thought of the still-living Number 11 and wanted to use her genes to try to create better clones. With the money obtained from selling organs, Twigie hired the rebels, and then the previous situation occurred.
Then Twiggy appeared and confronted Ambi and Trigger. Twiggy knew, of course, that she was no match for Ambi and Trigger, not to mention the clones behind her who were even worse than her and whose organs had been trafficked. So she took out a potion.
That potion could turn a person into a corpse. Since she couldn't persuade Ambly to help her restore the glory of the Silver Army, she might as well end her own life.
Out of guilt, Ambly would never kill her, so Twiggy could only think of this method to make Ambly end her life.
But at that critical moment, a black and white spear grazed Twigie's neck, shattering the potion along with her hand and pinning them to the ground.
At the same time, Twiggy's will was shattered. She knelt there, breaking down and crying. In the end, it was the replicant she created who came forward to comfort her.
Watching the speechless clone awkwardly comfort her, the culprit, Twiggy was at a loss for what to do. Finally, Ambly suggested that Twiggy and her army of clones return to live with her, thus adding many more mouths to feed without Nicole's knowledge.
Fortunately, these people weren't completely useless. After Nicole vented her anger by yelling at Amby, she still took them in.
Number 11 was rescued before the final confrontation and placed in a video store for care. Unexpectedly, Number 11 woke up with amnesia. Ambly explained that this was because the Silver Army members possessed extremely powerful self-healing abilities. Even if they suffered fatal injuries, they would likely survive if they received immediate treatment. The price was that they would be in a state of amnesia for a period of time after waking up until their injuries were fully healed.
It was at this moment that everyone learned the name of number 11 from Anbi—Xia Lin.
Just as 11 was about to regain her memories after the incident, Ambi found her and sincerely apologized, because Ambi had already heard from Trigger that 11 hated traitors.
The memories regained during the period of severe injury and amnesia will be reset when the memories are restored. Therefore, Anbi was able to muster up the courage to apologize to Number 11. Anbi looked at Number 11's angry expression at the end and had a complicated expression. Even Twiggy, who was standing next to her, couldn't stand Anbi's behavior and thought that if she wanted to apologize, she should do so after Xia Lin's memories were restored.
But Ambion dared not, fearing that her and Twig's existence would alert those who knew the Silver Army to the fact that there were survivors besides Number 11, thus bringing unnecessary death upon Number 11.
But no one expected that a few days later, Number 11 stormed into the Rabbit House's stronghold with an angry look on her face, grabbed Amby by the collar and questioned her, while behind her was Trigger with a helpless expression.
It's obvious that Number 11 didn't lose the memory that should have been reset. Nobody knows why, but it's clear that she took the time these past few days to investigate Ambition and Twiggy's location before coming here to demand an explanation from them in person.
Thus, the survivors of the Silver Army met a not-so-bad end, with only Zhe concerned about the last spear.
Since only Zhe had seen the spear at the time, he did not say it directly to avoid worrying the others.
Kiana had used that spear when he was working with the Anti-Air Section 6. In the aftermath of the Epsilon Hollow, Nico and the others had only seen Kiana's later form and didn't have a strong impression of the black and white spear.
Without a doubt, it was Kiana who ultimately intervened to stop the tragedy. After so many days apart, she seems to have successfully mastered the abilities she used when she was under control.
Why doesn't she come forward?
In particular, Tetsuya had Fairy calculate the launch point of the spear and the shortest route to it. In order to get the answer as quickly as possible, Tetsuya even had Ai-chan do the calculations as well.
Finally, at the cost of skyrocketing electricity bills, Zhe got the answer he wanted in the next second. But when he let Trigger take him there, the place was already deserted.
Trigger vaguely guessed what was going on, but she didn't say it outright because she knew that it was better for everyone not to know too much about certain things.
Zhe, bringing his thoughts back to the present, handed the evidence he had collected to Hugo. After reading it, Hugo showed a playful expression and then told Zhe to come and wait for him the next day.
The following day, Hugo delivered the invitation to Tetsuya as agreed. When Tetsuya returned to the video store with the invitation, he was surprised to find Lycaon there as well.
Lycaen came to apologize to Zhe and the others. The invitation issue would take a little longer, but he assured them that he would try his best to resolve it before the auction began.
Zhe then produced the invitation, indicating that he had it all sorted out. Lykan looked at Zhe in surprise. He hadn't expected Zhe to have connections to obtain an invitation, thus removing the only obstacle. Lykan was somewhat curious about the origin of the invitation, but Hugo had made Zhe promise not to reveal its origin to anyone before handing it over.
Seeing that Zhe looked hesitant and stammered, Leikan didn't press him further. He simply told Zhe to remember the start time of the auction, and that he would meet him at the auction.
Meanwhile, Hugo secretly met with Hartmann, bringing with him the evidence collected by Zeff; no one knows exactly what they discussed.
All that is known is that Hugo and Hartmann reached a cooperation agreement, with Hartmann recommending Hugo to TOPS in the name of the Ravenlock family after the deal was done, in exchange for Hugo doing something for him.
So the day of the auction arrived. Although Tetsuya and Rin managed to gain entry into the auction, which was only open to the elite, thanks to the invitation and Lycahn's endorsement, Tetsuya and Rinya were able to do so as upper-class individuals.
However, Zhe and his group weren't truly upper-class individuals, so Lykan advised Zhe to avoid excessive interaction with others. After all, the more they said, the more mistakes they made. Although it wouldn't affect their future actions, it wouldn't be good to leave a bad impression on those in power.
Then, Lekahn had to leave, as the auction organizers had also commissioned Victoria Housekeeping to provide services. Therefore, Lekahn needed to hand over his duties to others and assure them he would return before the auction began. He advised Zhe to stay in the reception room until Lekahn's return, and Zhe agreed.
Zhe then discovered a woman who had sneaked in and was begging around. It seemed that her husband had passed away, and she was forced by circumstances to come and auction off the precious necklace that her husband had given her.
But she regretted it and went to the auction house to ask if she could get her necklace back. The answer she received was that once an item was consigned for auction and the auction house explicitly accepted it, it could not be returned. Besides, it was even less likely that the auction would start soon; if she wanted her necklace back, she would have to find a way to buy it back.
But what money could a woman possibly have? So she had no choice but to sneak into the reception room and search for someone who could help her.
Zhe and Ling originally intended to go and watch the excitement, but a purple-haired girl in a white dress sitting to the side with a parasol spoke up.
"Lies, deception, betrayal, I see a fog surrounding me, and the truth hidden in an unfathomable illusion. I have found you, my destined one."
The girl stood up and walked towards Zhe and Ling, closed her parasol, and opened her blood-red eyes to look at Zhe, who was protecting Ling behind him.