Hearing the host say this, the hall erupted with enthusiastic cheers and applause, and some people whistled at the girls in the iron cage. However, the girls appeared dazed and did not respond.
Herbert straightened up in his seat, “Long-distance communication?”
Although the Cape technology had existed for a long time, it had always been controlled by the military, and ordinary nobles couldn’t get it at all. Yet An Zhu directly brought this technology out for sale?
It seems An Zhu is even poorer than he imagined. After all, there’s a significant gap in productivity between An Zhu and Cape. To raise enough money amidst the internal conflicts, some special measures must be taken.
The host on stage continued with his introduction, picking up a stick and poking the nearest girl in the cage while saying, “These girls are absolutely loyal and will only serve you in this life. However, loyalty comes with a price; they may not be that smart, and the long-distance communication function needs to be paired with your exceptional magic.”
Then, the host leaned in close to the girl in the cage and asked, “Hey, can you hear me, Lord Cassius?”
After saying this, the host pulled out a dagger and cut off the girl’s ear, then inserted a metal sign into her ear and stirred it, raising the bloody sign high to show the audience that this girl could no longer hear.
The girl seemed to feel no pain, simply allowing blood to flow as she stared blankly at the audience. The audience erupted with enthusiastic cheers.
Even Herbert felt a bit dazed. Although this scene was somewhat grotesque, the audience’s reactions were even more bizarre and unsettling.
He had thought that as an Old Noble, he should be used to scenes like this, but now Herbert suddenly felt a bit disgusted by the sight before him.
He suddenly understood why the Lord Governor hated those Old Nobles so much. From the perspective of “ordinary people,” was the behavior of these Old Nobles really so disgusting?
At this moment, the lights flickered, gathering Cassius from another tower. Beside Cassius, there was also a girl who was mimicking the host’s words, saying, “Hey, can you hear me, Lord Cassius?”
Cassius responded to the girl beside him, saying, “Of course! Having a girl in a cage means having a future life!”
The lights returned to the host and the still bleeding girl in the cage, who used amplification magic to listen as the girl repeated Cassius’s words, saying, “Of course! Having a girl in a cage means having a future life!”
The living girl was like a cold machine, completely ignoring the pain in her body, but she mimicked the tone flawlessly.
“Ahhhh!”
“Long live An Zhu!”
The nobles at the scene erupted with enthusiastic applause.
Although this performance had many flaws, it didn’t matter to these nobles at all. Even if nothing happened, these nobles would still believe that the communication function of the girls in the cage was real.
After all, this auction was guaranteed in the name of the King.
The girl whose ear had been completely destroyed exited the stage, while the host pushed more girls in cages to the forefront.
“Two thousand gold shield coins!”
“No, five thousand gold shield coins!”
“Eight thousand!”
The auction for the first girl in the cage had already driven the nobles into a frenzy.
Herbert fumbled with the ring in his hand and called out his bid.
After the auction ended, Herbert took his “trophy” onto the horse-drawn carriage.
Apart from the activity expenses approved by Lord Governor, Herbert also had family support funds, or else he really wouldn’t have gotten this girl who was being fervently bid on by the nobles.
Each of these girls in cages had their own unique pressure methods. If someone wanted to contact you, they only needed to apply their unique pressure method on their own girl in the cage to achieve communication — it was essentially a human telephone.
The girl beside him was still dressed in revealing and seductive clothing, but her eyes were vacant, resembling a dazed puppet.
“Can you hear me talking?”
Herbert tried to ask the girl beside him, and after a long time, she silently nodded.
“What is your name?”
After waiting for a long time, the girl in front of him slowly said, “Caged Girl, model two.”
Herbert continued to ask several more questions but found he could not get much information out of her. No wonder they would sell this kind of technology; they seemed unconcerned about the girls in cages leaking secrets.
This girl in the cage could engage in simple Q&A and communication, but she was very dazed, with her intelligence on some questions even at a child’s level, only able to follow simple instructions and daily activities.
Later, taking his girl in the cage to various gatherings, or strolling with his girl in the cage on the streets became a trend among the nobles of An Zhu.
Herbert had been trying to find opportunities to leave An Zhu, but recently, he seemed to have drawn a lot of attention for buying a girl in a cage. So, Herbert decided to continue lurking in An Zhu for a while longer.
“Indeed, Lord Herbert, you’re quite generous; I also want to buy one to play with, but unfortunately, my wife won’t allow it.”
A noble who introduced Herbert to the factory followed him into the factory area, continuously circling around Herbert to buy that girl.
“I heard these girls are more enjoyable than ordinary people; is that true?”
Seeing the lecherous smile on the noble’s face, Herbert could only respond politely with a smile, showing a “you know” expression.
But just then, a worker who had been watching from a distance suddenly rushed in front of Herbert, closely staring at the beautifully dressed girl in the cage beside him.
“Sara! Is that you, Sara?”
The guards around immediately stopped the two workers who were covered in dirt and grime, but the worker kept shouting, “Sara, do you remember me? I’m your dad!”
The worker’s face showed excitement as he shouted to Herbert:
“Sir, this noble sir, this is my daughter!”
The noble next to Herbert immediately instructed the guards, “Throw this thing out; don’t spoil Lord Herbert’s mood!”
Herbert remained expressionless, estimating that the source of these girls in cages was not clean. However, upon hearing the name of the girl in the cage, there seemed to be some fluctuation in his gaze. For this kind of scene, Herbert felt he had seen enough already; would there be some cliché recognition plot next?
But at that moment, the worker said, “Sir, this noble sir, those people clearly promised us two silver leaf coins, but in the end, they only gave us a few coppers. Please, good sir, on Sara’s behalf, give us a little more money!”
“……”
“Wine, wine is fine too! Sir, on behalf of Sara serving you, please give me some wine!”
The girl in the cage still looked as lifeless as dead water, but there seemed to be some moisture in her eyes.
“Give them two silver leaf coins.”
For some reason, Herbert suddenly hoped that something cliché and dramatic would unfold.
“Thank you, sir, thank you, sir!”
The worker gleefully left after receiving the money, but the direction he left in was not toward the factory but toward a tavern, or perhaps not just the tavern, but maybe also the casino next to the tavern?
