The God Virus

"Eight hundred!"

The auction continued for around a few minutes until the price went as far as a thousand Qi Ingots.

"Thousand and ten!"

"Thousand and twenty!"

Now, all the bidders believed the price has surpassed the technique's cap worth. Thus, only those that truly desired the technique increased their bids. Nonetheless, even those competing people added ten Qi Ingots alone in each bid.

Finally, after the value hit a thousand and fifty Qi Ingots, all the biddings stopped as the auctioneer announced the winner and moved on to the main surprise merchandise.

Soon, the auctioneer pushed a cart with a spear on top of the platform and started elaborating excitedly, "Behold today's main item called Spear Holder, a weapon of Third-Tempering!"

In the meantime, the crowds' cheers and murmurs also wildly surged. It was clear most of the cultivators present today were anticipating this weapon very much.

Listening up to that point, woefully, Virus was no longer interested as he rose to his feet immediately and urged everyone, "Let's go, we're done here." 

He could pinpointedly determine that his own sword, Steel of Darkness, was much more superior compared to this low-quality Third-Tempering Item. In case his sword was a high-quality Third-Tempering Item, then that spear put on exhibition was certainly a low-quality one.

Afterward, followed by the other four, the party strolled to the previous room of the branch chief before knocking.

"Come in!" As the muffled sound transmitted over, the five barged inside.

"Ah, you guys are here… I've prepared your Qi Ingots already, please sit." Maintaining her professional act, Ports notified.

Afterward, she explained how the auction house's commission was around five percent, and therefore, the final price that will be given to them was around thousand Qi Ingots of the first grade.

She also didn't forget to add with a helpless and somewhat frustrated sigh, "See, it wasn't any different than the price I offered you guys initially. The only difference is, if you had sold it to me, you could've saved some time and I would've kept it for the next auction event and would've advertised it till then, then according to my predictions, the price would have been elevated to a thousand and five hundred Qi Ingots at the bare minimum. What a pity." Regretful and filled with remorse at the loss of such a great opportunity to earn some easy profit, Ports could not raise her head as she kept it tilted down.

"Hmm, I admit, you are really good at your job," Since Virus truly was not aware of the pricing data of the market for analysis, he was not sure if a thousand Qi Ingots was a loss or not, thus, he wanted to see for himself and be the judge of that. However, at the very end, that wasn't the whole picture as well. "however, I do not regret my decision. In fact, I still believe I made the right call due to some factors I can't talk about.

"Alright, we'll take our leave now." Rising to his feet, Virus signaled Archibald to get the pouch of money as he walked to the door. However, right before he was about to vanish for her sight, Ports' voice traveled through, "If you ever have anything else you wish to sell or buy, you are always welcome to our Esteemed Luxury Auction House."

…

Exiting the auction house, now that he had some capital at hand, Virus notified those behind him, "Let's go see the shops that are up for lease with a monthly rent of a hundred and the deposit of around one thousand Qi Ingots."

"Ah, boss, I don't think we'll make a profit out of this if you do that…" Confident about his own belief, Archibald advised Virus against leasing such a cheap place. The last thing he wanted to see was his boss going bankrupt due to an unwise business plan.

"Just take me there." His hands clasped behind his back, Virus wasn't in any mood to justify his actions to his servants.

Seeing Virus' persistence, there wasn't really anything else the old Archibald could do except adhering to the order and do as he was told.

Subsequently, it took them around half an hour before they finally arrived at an extremely remote area in the Deity-Half of Outer Ricando where there wasn't a single fly to be found anywhere.

Of course, there were several open stores with a variety of merchandise in them, however, not a single one of them had a visitor or a customer except the owners themselves.

"Boss, this district here is the cheapest location in the city." Gazing into the eyes of the various owners as he bypassed their shops, Virus couldn't discover an ounce of motivation or hope within the eyes of any of them. It was clear this region was the trashiest location in the entire Ricando. "The region is notoriously recognized as the 'dead pool district' amongst the businessmen due the guaranteed financial death and bankruptcy of any businessman who is foolish enough to pick this location."

"Hmm, I see, which shops are up for rent anyway?" Turning toward Archibald, Virus inquired. It was as if everything Archibald had said was entering from one ear before exiting from the other one, he simply ignored all warnings.

Forlorn, while pointing at the several unoccupied stores in their surroundings, Archibald stated. "Ah, there are a lot actually, the owners of all these empty and closed shops you see wish to either sell or rent their shop, you just need to pick whichever one you desire and we're good to go."

"Is that so?" By now, an odd gleam of anticipation was brightening Virus' pupils which annoyed Archibald so much that he began pondering in utter disbelief. 'I say he's going to die and he's happy about it? Did I perhaps take a madman as my boss?'

Inspecting the surroundings, Virus got to work as he meticulously considered the location of each shop.

In order to make a rational pick, Virus needed to take into account, calculate, and analyze several factors. For instance, the position of the shop, quick accessibility of the shop to the incoming customers, etc.

Fortunately, it took Virus a few seconds alone before he was finished with the process of contemplation as he easily ranked the potential of all stores from the best to the worst one.

Obviously, the best ones were closer to the very entrance of the district which was easily accessible while the longer the distance got, the worse the position became.

Subsequently, wanting the four to also grasp a rudimentary understanding of the potential of the shops, he logically elaborated which ones were the best options while also emphasizing the ones that were of poorer quality. 

Virus' purpose in doing so was because he wished for them to quickly get the hang of how the business functioned since he had every intention of leaving the management chores to them.

Albeit, needing to explain even the most basic details made Virus miss the four uglies and appreciate them more than ever. If they were around, they could've swiftly connected to the world database or he could've transmitted the overall data in less than a blink of an eye.. They were greatly missed indeed.