Dimensional Codex System: I'm really not a cultist!

Chapter 1548: Chapter 1546: Money to Burn (Hot Kuri Beats Mooncakes)

”Weber, what exactly do you want to do?”

Back in the room, the white-haired young man grabbed hold of Lord El-Melloi II and loudly inquired.

”Right now, it’s impossible for El-Melloi to prepare so much money! Or do you want to provoke the World Tree of a Thousand Realms?”

”I don’t have that much money indeed.”

Lord El-Melloi II nodded.

”But we must proceed, once the auction is over, then everything is over.”

”Have you ever thought about what if that young lady suddenly changes her mind and decides not to buy? Wouldn’t the House of El-Melloi be done for? This train isn’t a place where you can run up a tab!”

The white-haired young man sighed helplessly.

”In fact, most of us have basically given up, haven’t we? What’s the point of raising the bid like this? As long as that young lady raises her hand, the victory is ultimately hers.”

”Does Miss Red Ponytail have that much money?”

Upon hearing this, Gray couldn’t help but ask in surprise. Frankly, once the bidding amount surpassed a billion, she was close to fainting, and at this point, this poor country girl couldn’t even imagine it.

”Of course, perhaps you’re not aware that the World Tree of a Thousand Realms has recently gained fame in the Outer World, it controls the production and sales of semiconductor raw materials and the pharmaceutical industry...”

Saying this, Lord El-Melloi II nodded helplessly. This sort of thing is rarely known by anyone. Indeed, the World Tree of a Thousand Realms has money, but people generally can’t imagine it. It’s typical, for example, people know AMD and Intel as chip manufacturers, but they know very little about raw material suppliers like Umei Science and Nichia Chemical.

In fact, the products provided by these companies are not secret weapons, one might say they are household products, like battery compounds, optoelectronic materials, LED optical components, battery raw materials, and such. However, to the general public, these companies’ names are not as famous as Toshiba, Intel, and Samsung.

But, the products they provide are indispensable.

In simple terms, Intel could go bankrupt, Samsung could go into liquidation, but companies like Umei Science almost never need to worry about their development prospects and raw material sales issues. Unless some new material completely subverts current global technology products, rendering the old things obsolete, otherwise they have nothing to worry about.

And at present, the World Tree of a Thousand Realms is also such a raw material supplier, mainly responsible for providing high-quality and affordable semiconductor materials and raw materials for LED displays. Amidst the rapidly developing technology, with the financial power of the World Tree of a Thousand Realms and Fang Zheng’s visionary insight, in just a few years, the World Tree has become one of the largest raw material suppliers globally.

It’s just that most magicians don’t care about technology, they have quite a few mining operations, but that’s simply supply of raw materials, compared to high-tech raw material supply, it’s entirely different. By seizing opportunities and capturing markets, the current World Tree of a Thousand Realms... is almost as good as the Twelve Lords of the Clock Tower.

Not to mention Fang Zheng can get money from the CIA and FBI anytime.

”However... isn’t this bad...”

Despite this, Gray still felt it wasn’t good. After all, even if the World Tree of a Thousand Realms has money, it’s not going to be fooled like an idiot. Now her master was obviously bidding to stall for time. If it was merely stalling for time, that would be one thing, but each bid means an increase in the amount, implying Miss Red Ponytail needs to spend more money to buy the Magic Eye.

If Miss Red Ponytail were an enemy, that would be one thing, but she had just helped heal Lord El-Melloi II’s injuries... To Gray, her master fell into the category of biting the hands that fed him.

”At that time, I will personally apologize to her.”

At present, that’s all Lord El-Melloi II could say.

Soon, everyone returned to the Library of Ten Thousand Demon Eyes, and the auction, previously paused, recommenced. In fact, it seemed like others too took this opportunity to gather funds, preparing for their final attempt.

Thus, the auction prices began to soar once more, quickly rising from 240 million to 260 million, and at this moment, the pink-haired young girl rejoined the contest, directly raising the price to 300 million.

Next, the auction price continued climbing, pausing at 370 million, then the white-haired young man raised it to 400 million.

This time, Kayano Riri was the first to withdraw from the contest, leaving only the white-haired young man and the pink-haired girl to face off against each other.

Finally...

”500 million.”

The pink-haired girl cheerfully raised her sign again, while the white-haired young man chose to withdraw in silence.

However, at this moment, Lord El-Melloi II raised his hand again.

”Please wait a moment.”

Seeing Lord El-Melloi II’s raised hand, the auctioneer shook his head.

”This auction does not accept a second intermission.”

”This is not a halftime break, I just want to propose something to the Magic Eye Collecting Train.”

Lord El-Melloi II began speaking, but at this moment.

”In that case, why not propose it after the auction?”

Fang Zheng stood up.

”A billion, if no one fights for it, I’ll take it.”

”.........”

This time, no one spoke.

Although this had been anticipated, Gray couldn’t help but cover her mouth, even Seo Shizune and Asakami Fujino beside Fang Zheng gasped. Ten billion US dollars is not a negligible amount. Despite Miss Red Ponytail consistently acquiring Magic Eye at twice the highest price successfully, this time everyone thought she might not do it again. After all, no matter what, rising to five hundred million was already outrageous; they thought Miss Red Ponytail might raise it by fifty million to end the auction.

Unexpectedly, she still gave an unimaginable amount.

”One billion once, one billion twice, one billion three times... sold.”

The auctioneer knocked the gavel in his hand.

”Congratulations, Miss Red Ponytail.”

”No worries, now just wait for this show to finish.”

Upon saying this, Fang Zheng glanced at Lord El-Melloi II.

”I’ll settle accounts with you later.”

Finishing these words, she sat back down, reopening her PSP. Upon hearing this, Lord El-Melloi II showed a wry smile. He then coughed and beckoned to his side.

”Coles, come over.”

”Yes.”

Hearing the call from Lord El-Melloi II, Coles walked to the center, then opened the briefcase in his hand.

”......!”

”What is that?”

Seeing the contents of the briefcase, there was a commotion among all the magicians present, even Ryougi Shiki opened her eyes wide in curiosity, looking downward. Among the contents of the briefcase, the head of a woman was revealed.

To be precise, the first victim of the current ”Magic Eye Train Murder Case,” Trisha’s head.

”To all who know nothing about the incident, allow me to take up a little of your time. As the modern Magecraft Department Lord, I beseech you.”

With these words, Lord El-Melloi II solemnly bowed, and the magicians no longer had much to say. Now the auction was settled, the World Tree of a Thousand Realms had bought all the Magic Eye; they could not get any others. So better to hear what Lord El-Melloi II had to say as a way to pass the time.

”Firstly, starting from this case, the victim Trisha was beheaded, just as Miss Kayano said, the perpetrator was Calib, and the technique involved the power of the Foam Magic Eye he possessed. But in fact, seven years ago in London, there was also a series of similar murders. The victims were also decapitated, and their heads were missing. So, what do you think upon hearing this?”

Speaking, Lord El-Melloi II spread his hands.

”They all died.”

”.........???”

Upon hearing this, everyone present was silent, and Ryougi was also taken aback.

”Isn’t that normal? Losing a head, a person naturally dies?”

”It’s different, ma’am.”

Lord El-Melloi II shook his head.

”Now we have proved that Trisha hid her own head, so what about the others? What if we assume the victims from seven years ago were all holders of Magic Eye?”

”So you mean the killer used Magic Eye to kill those people?”

At this point, Olga Marie also joined the conversation.

”But removing and transplanting Magic Eye into someone else can’t be done anywhere but on this train, right? You say you want to use Magic Eye, does that mean there’s in collusion here?”

”Of course not.”

Lord El-Melloi II shook his head.

”That’s why the murderer didn’t take out the Magic Eye, but chose to take the head along.”

”??? ”

Hearing this, Ryougi Shiki, Seo Shizune, and Asakami Fujino exchanged confused glances, while the other magicians seemed to have thought of something, and Olga Marie also turned pale.

”So, what you mean is those heads...”

”That’s right.”

Lord El-Melloi II nodded.

”The heads taken from the victims are still alive.”

”Huh?!!”

Upon hearing this, the three girls exclaimed in shock, while Fang Zheng simply snorted.

”What’s so surprising about it? There have been similar experiments in modern medicine already. By using devices to simulate organs and input blood flow, the head of a gorilla can survive for several minutes. If modern medicine can achieve this, then magecraft certainly isn’t a problem.”

”Uhh...”

Facing Fang Zheng’s explanation, the three girls looked a bit unsettled, with Asakami Fujino even instinctively reaching out to touch her neck—if she were left with only a head, living would be worse than death!

It would be better to be dead!

”But you’ve said so much, and haven’t mentioned who the real culprit is.”

”True.”

Just as Lord El-Melloi II’s words fell, suddenly, a white light flashed, turning into chains that tightly bound the boy holding the head.

”Teacher?”

Seeing this, Coles showed an expression of surprise, while Lord El-Melloi II shook his head, looking at Coles.

”The true culprit of manipulating Calib Frampton and murdering Trisha Filoz is you.”

”Huh?!”

Upon hearing this, everyone was stunned.

”Wait, isn’t that person supposed to be Lord El-Melloi II’s student?”

”Oh, he’s an impostor.”

Fang Zheng responded casually to Shizune’s inquiry while also controlling the plumber to clear another level.

”By the way, the servant that attacked you earlier was also summoned by him.”

”Huh?”

Upon hearing this, not only Shizune, but even Ryougi Shiki and Fujino were dumbfounded.

”For real, Little Hong?”

”Definitely, when you guys went to deal with the child of Fuhai Forest, this guy pranced into my room, saying a bunch of useless stuff and wanting to cooperate with the World Tree of a Thousand Realms, but got rejected by me, so he manipulated the servant to attack you... probably wanted to use you as hostages, but it turned out you did a pretty good job, so the guy awkwardly ran away.”

”It’s him?”

Upon hearing Fang Zheng’s answer, Ryougi Shiki immediately narrowed her eyes dangerously and stood up, luckily Fujino, who was beside her, quickly grabbed her.

”Wait, classmate Shiki, don’t be impulsive...”

Meanwhile, Coles, who was restrained, also showed a troubled expression.

”Teacher, are you serious? But just based on these, claiming I’m the murderer...”

”Indeed, I don’t have evidence in my hand.”

Saying this, Lord El-Melloi II turned his head.

”So, I’ve been waiting for him.”

Simultaneously, the others followed Lord El-Melloi II’s gaze, revealing expressions of astonishment.

”Good thing you made it.”

”Really exhausting, teacher, but at least I made it.”

The bespectacled boy sighed, smiling with a hint of fatigue as he looked down. His appearance, look, even his attire was identical to the Coles below.

Obviously, this was Coles himself.

”You’ve really surprised me.”

Seeing this, Coles—or rather, the impostor masquerading as Coles—grinned.

”I’d like to ask, how did the real Coles get here? Honestly, I wondered if you revealed it via phone or magecraft, I might have tried to bluff my way through.”

”Of course, it’s thanks to the efforts of this young lady.”

At this moment, a second figure came in, looking roughly the same age as Olga Marie, with golden hair and eyes that burned like radiant flames.

”With consideration for her elder brother, the sister traveled far and wide, employing flying magecraft to reach here.”

”I was sleeping fine at home, then suddenly found myself in an abandoned building when I opened my eyes, thought someone cast an illusion technique on me, and even a few days had passed after I woke up!”

This time, Coles was also grimacing, glaring at the impostor.

”Now, you should reveal your true identity.”

”Sure.”

Responding to Lord El-Melloi II’s question, the opponent blinked, and after a moment, the boy who was bound disappeared, replaced by a tall, slender man with fiery hair and pale skin. His clothing transformed into a sea-blue suit.

”You are the former head of the Modern Magecraft Department.”

”That’s correct.”

The man nodded.

”This title is accurate, as I’ve never been a LORD, unlike you. As for my name... old acquaintances call me DR. Hartress, I’d be delighted if you could call me that too.”

”Didn’t expect to meet you here.”

”That’s normal, because when you took over as department head, there was no face-to-face handover, I’d already given up on the Clock Tower then.”

Hartress’s expression remained unchanged, still wearing a calm smile.

”Speaking of, do you have a conclusion about my motives?”

”Certainly.”

Lord El-Melloi II took out a cigar—however, after glancing at Miss Red Ponytail playing PSP, he had to put it away.

”Your goal is to summon a Heroic Spirit.”

”Correct.”

Hartress gleefully snapped his fingers.

”Seems you’re quite clever.”

”Not only that, you were also the one who arranged for the child of Fuhai Forest to appear here, right? The Magic Eye Collecting Train runs on the Spirit Vein, but the staff should’ve confirmed beforehand. Yet, the child of Fuhai Forest still appeared, which can only be considered a deliberate act, setting the child of Fuhai Forest and the Magic Eye Collecting Train on the same Spirit Vein, inevitably causing a distortion, which you exploited to attempt summoning a Heroic Spirit. Correct?”

Saying this, Lord El-Melloi II clenched his fists.

”So, once you summoned the servant, you had achieved your goal.”

”Precisely.”

Hartress nodded, then lowered the head, next he raised his hand.

”Then you should know, as a MASTER, there’s an absolute command privilege three times.”

Saying this, Hartress slightly smiled.

”For instance... by the name of the Command Seal... come forth!”

With Hartress’s words finished, in the next moment, a dazzling white light suddenly emerged, completely erasing the barrier binding Hartress.