Chapter 2262 Void Pulling
“Hiss, is this the highly rumored gift from the Deep Sea, the one that’s priceless?” The Yellow King believer immediately started acting, showing a very excited expression.
“That’s right, I only got it through certain channels. I tried a bit, and it was incredibly exhilarating. I’ll give you a bit of a discount, big brother, twenty Gold coins.” The masked man said, raising the box.
“Twenty Gold coins?!” The Yellow King believer feigned extreme shock. Most sailors were very poor and couldn’t afford twenty Gold coins. He pretended to say, “You might as well rob me!”
“It’s not expensive, not expensive at all, big brother. Think about it, once you take this gift, you’ll never fear sea disasters again. Even if your ship sinks, you can swim back to shore. These countless life-saving opportunities, aren’t they worth twenty Gold coins?” the masked man tempted.
The Yellow King believer put on a very conflicted expression, as if he desperately wanted it but couldn’t afford it. “That’s too expensive. Even if I sold all my worldly possessions, I couldn’t earn twenty Gold coins.”
“Alright then, I see my big brother truly wants it but is short on cash. How much can you offer?” The masked man’s tone shifted, seeming open to negotiation.
At this moment, all the Yellow King believers were secretly observing the masked man from different locations, listening to their conversation, guessing his origin and purpose, and heatedly discussing it on the mental network.
Most of them guessed that the masked man’s true purpose was not to sell the item, but to give away the contents of the box. How much money he made was not important at all.
However, they had set a high price and acted mysteriously. This was actually a form of promotion. If they were to give away a suspicious item for free, people would only suspect it had problems and wouldn’t dare to accept it, or they would simply discard it.
But by setting a high price and then fabricating a legend and purported effects for this so-called “gift,” hyping it up as some kind of miracle drug, people would naturally seek it out and spread rumors about it.
The fact that it was priceless and lacked regular sales channels was actually a form of scarcity marketing. The more difficult it was to obtain, the more people would actively pursue it, and the more people would want it. As the saying goes, rarity breeds value.
Another point was that the more expensive and harder something was to obtain, the more value people would place on it, believing it to be very important. After all the effort and cost invested, one would feel compelled to use it and wouldn’t doubt it further.
But fundamentally, the masked man’s goal was to give away the gift, not to make money. After the Yellow King believer haggled with him, the masked man indeed relented.
“Um, can you do five Gold coins?” The Yellow King believer hesitated for a moment, spread his five fingers, and named a price that everyone considered sufficiently low, with a strategic reason behind it.
His acting was also just right, perfectly portraying someone who desperately wanted it but didn’t want to spend too much. Five Gold coins was a considerable sum for an ordinary sailor, painful but not irreparably damaging.
“Five Gold coins?! Brother, this is something I painstakingly acquired. If I sell it for five Gold coins, I won’t even cover my costs,” the masked man said, shaking his head in disbelief, looking completely unwilling to accept.
He actually wasn’t unable to accept five Gold coins, but if the gift were to be advertised for such a low price, its value would plummet. Furthermore, it would make him appear desperate to get rid of it, seeming overly eager and having ulterior motives.
“Then how much do you want to sell it for?” the Yellow King believer immediately retorted. He was now certain that the other party wanted to give him the gift, and the haggling process wasn’t that important.
The masked man looked at the Yellow King believer’s attire and the expression on his face when he mentioned five Gold coins. He judged that five Gold coins was not his limit, so he said, “Ten Gold coins, at least ten Gold coins, and I can sell it to you. This is something I risked my life to get.”
In reality, the masked man’s goal was to give away the gift, and the Yellow King believer was determined to obtain it. Their objectives were completely aligned, yet they were performatively haggling to avoid drawing too much attention. This was what was called “void pulling.”
Upon hearing the masked man say this, the Yellow King believer almost couldn’t contain his eyes from lighting up. He feigned a look of struggle, accurately portraying someone who could afford ten Gold coins but would be emptying almost all his savings.
“Tell me where you got it. I want to see if it’s really that difficult and worth ten Gold coins. If it’s true, ten Gold coins isn’t impossible,” the Yellow King believer acted as if he were already tempted.
The masked man’s heart leaped with joy, seeing success within reach. He relaxed his guard and said, “This is contraband brought in by those emissaries from the ocean. It’s not easy to meet them; they call themselves messengers of the Great Sea and only appear on the beach of the South Bank during low tide.”
“You mean that beach with the spreading seaweed, the area where many monsters appear?” the Yellow King believer immediately asked, following his lead.
“Yes, it’s very dangerous there, but it’s the only place where you can trade for some forbidden items that aren’t usually available,” the masked man said proudly.
“Alright, ten Gold coins, I’ll take it.” The Yellow King believer gritted his teeth, pretending to have emptied all his savings, and handed over the Gold coins.
“Very good, you won’t regret it. Just take it orally,” the masked man took the Gold coins without even looking and handed over the box.
After completing the transaction, the masked man turned and left, disappearing quickly into the crowd. Even the Yellow King believer, who wanted to ask him something, couldn’t find him when he looked up.
A forbidden transaction was completed within the casino. Looking around, there were indeed many such unscrupulous vendors recommending various dangerous items to guests: poisons, inferior potions, contraband, and some who were simply swindlers selling fakes.
However, their businesses seemed to be doing well. Most of the guests here were sailors, basically all gamblers who would splurge when they had money, not caring about tomorrow. They were also extremely superstitious and easily tempted.
After mingling in the casino for some time, they confirmed there was no more intelligence to be gathered, so they left the casino one after another. Flower Street didn’t seem to have much else worth seeing, and staying there carried a high risk of being discovered, so they left Flower Street directly.
They went into the forest outside, eager to see what this so-called gift was. When they opened the lid, they saw a piece of semi-transparent, deep blue skin that seemed to be wriggling slightly.
“Tsk! I knew it, it’s another one of those filthy things! Let me destroy it!” the Silver-haired Older Sister said, drawing a long sword from her waist and thrusting it forward.
