74: Chapter 74 Auction

That wasn't a reflection; rather, something lurking in the water had been startled awake.

The icy current churned their nest and brought with it the long-absent scent of food.

The surviving Cave Demon Spiders—predators that had hidden deep within the rock crevices during the first wave of suppression—were now following the struggles of the survivors.

"Hiss—ah!"

A shrill, wretched scream cut through the cacophony of rushing water and human voices.

An isolated noble guard was suddenly dragged underwater by something; he only had time to let out a short cry for help before a burst of eye-catching blood bloomed on the surface, only to be quickly diluted and swallowed by the murky, muddy water.

This scream was like lighting the fuse of a powder keg, instantly detonating the fear in everyone's hearts.

"Help! There's something in the water!"

"Climb up! Hurry, climb up!"

"Get lost! Don't block my way!"

The instinct for survival overwhelmed all reason.

Inside the cramped grotto, dozens of survivors were like a panicked ant colony, frantically fighting for any piece of rock higher than the water level.

The noble private soldiers, who had been somewhat decent moments ago, now swung their swords at their former companions without hesitation just to secure a foothold.

The pushing, cursing, and the dull sound of blades entering flesh intertwined with the silent hunting of the spiders in the water, creating a hellish scene.

Echo felt as if his lungs were filled with ice water.

It wasn't that he was afraid of water, but rather that he loathed this feeling of losing control.

Chaos would only accelerate everyone's death.

Exerting force with his feet, his body became like a weightless fallen leaf. Using a bobbing head as a stepping stone, he silently leaped onto a protruding rock that was the highest above the water and in the most precarious position.

The space here was narrow, only enough for one person to stand.

"Get up! Let me up!" A burly guard had also set his sights on this spot. He scrambled up the rock with hands and feet, his distorted face full of greedy survival instinct as he reached out to grab Echo's ankle.

Echo didn't even look down. Using his heel as an axis, he pivoted his body sharply, and his other foot lashed out like a steel whip, accurately striking the guard's temple.

*Crack.*

The crisp sound of a bone fracturing was barely audible amidst the chaos.

The guard's expression froze, and his body went limp, falling back into the rising muddy water like a sack of rags. The splash he made didn't even reach Echo's boots.

This bloody and efficient strike instantly deterred several other survivors who were also about to make a move.

Echo's cold gaze, like a tangible blade, slowly swept over the people closest to him.

Everyone he looked at felt a chill in their hearts; they subconsciously averted their eyes and stopped fighting.

"Shut up, all of you!" Echo's voice wasn't loud, but it carried a metallic quality that clearly pierced through all the noise. "If you want to live, huddle together! Conserve your strength, put your backs against the rock walls, and point your weapons at the water!"

The threat of death was more effective than any lecture.

Echo used the most direct violence to forcibly establish a fragile order.

Though the survivors were still trembling, they finally stopped their pointless internal strife and began to spontaneously move toward several larger rocks, forming small defensive circles and tensely watching the rising, surging muddy water beneath them.

In this brief, suffocating calm, Levi's outrageously gentle voice echoed through the grotto once more via the Transmission Array, like a devil's whisper.

"Everyone, a temporary notice. Considering your need for refuge, I have decided to open the Grade A Shelter located at the highest point of the mine. Now, we will hold a small, time-limited auction for the sole right of entry to this shelter."

This voice seemed to possess a certain magic, making everyone subconsciously look up.

Following the direction of the voice from the array, they saw a dry platform at the top of the grotto, at least a dozen meters above the water. A heavy iron gate, which had originally blended into the rock wall, was slowly rising with a creak, revealing a safe space behind it large enough to hold over a dozen people.

There was a faint light there, and they could even see what appeared to be shadows of food and clean water.

That was a way out.

Everyone's breathing became heavy in an instant.

"The auction rules are simple," Levi's voice said unhurriedly, as if introducing an entertainment program at a dinner party. "Highest bidder wins. Of course, I know you might not have that much cash on you right now. It doesn't matter; we can sign an 'Emergency Refuge Service Debt Agreement.' Whoever is willing to sign for the highest amount of debt, along with their team, will gain the qualification to enter the shelter. Now, the starting price is ten thousand gold coins. Each bid increment must be no less than one thousand gold coins. Everyone, please begin your offers."

At the mouth of the valley, a cool morning breeze blew.

Princess Ella Radiance's face was as pale as paper. She clenched her fists so tightly that her nails almost dug into the flesh of her palms.

She finally could no longer remain silent and walked quickly to Levi, her azure eyes burning with the flames of anger.

"Levi Byron! What are you doing?!" Her voice trembled slightly with emotion. "You are conducting a filthy transaction using lives! What is the difference between this and a devil from the Abyss?!"

Levi turned his head and looked at her quietly.

His expression was calm—no anger, no irritation at being offended. He just looked at her calmly, as if looking at an unsophisticated child.

He didn't speak to refute her, but simply gave a look to Evelyn beside him.

Evelyn understood and pulled a thin piece of parchment from a waterproof document bag, holding it out to Princess Ella.

"Your Highness, this is a piece of intelligence we intercepted last night."

Ella's gaze fell upon the parchment.

It was an assassination order phrased cryptically, but the content was crystal clear.

The target was the Lord of Blackstone Territory, Levi Byron.

The reward was thirty thousand gold coins.

And at the very bottom, in the signature box for the client's deposit, a familiar ornate signature was like a poisonous thorn, stabbing fiercely into her eyes.

It was the signature of Marquis Ballet—a famous wealthy merchant noble in the southern part of the Empire, and also one of the people currently trapped in the mine who had been shouting the loudest insults at Levi through the array just now.

Ella's lips moved a few times, but she couldn't say a single word.

She felt her cheeks burning, as if she had been slapped hard.

She wanted to defend those trapped, but this ironclad evidence blocked all her words.

As it turned out, this wasn't a simple disaster, but a long-premeditated murder and counter-assassination.

Levi looked at her face, which had turned pale in an instant, and then finally spoke, his voice still gentle: "Your Highness, I am simply doing business with them using a language they can understand."

As soon as he finished speaking, a roar distorted by excitement and fear erupted from the Transmission Array in the mine.

"I bid twenty thousand! Twenty thousand gold coins! I am Marquis Ballet! Let me in!"

Levi's auction proposal was like a huge rock thrown into stagnant water, instantly shattering the fragile order Echo had managed to maintain through violence.

"Everyone listen!" Marquis Ballet's obese body was squeezed into the center of a small defensive circle. He waved his arms and promised loudly to the people around him, "As long as you protect me and support me! When we get out, everyone will be rewarded with a hundred gold coins! Be my guards, and I guarantee you wealth and honor!"

The desire to survive, coupled with greed for wealth, instantly overwhelmed the fear of Echo.

People's factions quickly split, and the originally unified defensive line collapsed.

Several trusted aides of the nobles immediately surrounded their masters, looking warily at others, while those mercenaries and guards without a leader began to shift their gazes between several loudly bidding nobles, weighing which side to join.

"Thirty thousand! I bid thirty thousand gold coins! Ballet, you want it all for yourself? In your dreams!" A shrill voice rang out from another direction.

"Thirty-five thousand!"

The bidding rose one after another. People's eyes turned red, as if that wasn't a cold shelter, but the only ladder to heaven.

Echo still stood on that highest rock, turning a deaf ear to the frantic bidding around him.

His body was motionless, like a statue merged with the rock.

The murky water had already reached his shins, but he didn't care.

He listened calmly to those bids, not to calculate the amount, but to use the voices to precisely pinpoint the specific location of every bidder.

An auction? That was a game for fools.

He didn't need to buy a way out.

He only needed to kill the person who bought the way out at the moment the final result came, and then take their place.

"Target them," he issued a short, cold command to the only three trusted assassins remaining in the shadows beside him.

Three almost imperceptible killing intents passed through the chaotic crowd, like the tongues of venomous snakes, respectively entangling the nobles who were bidding the most fiercely.

The auction continued, and the price had been raised to a staggering figure.

The madness of survival caused these usually high-and-mighty nobles to completely tear off their hypocritical masks, revealing their most primitive, hideous nature.