For Eric, this was a greatly beneficial trade, but he had no intention of telling the truth to Secretary Zhang. After all, human nature, and especially the greed trait was extremely difficult to defeat.
While this guy was serving Eric like he was his Ancestor due to his own interests, there was no knowing what he would do once he learned of the true value of the simple-looking rug.
The truth was that this piece of rug that the Auction House was using just to complete the interior design of the warehouse, was actually part of the hide of a Fire Qilin.
Since this rug was quite old, and had been stepped over, and used terribly for a long time, it had lost quite a bit of its special aura and energy.
Even then this was a great material for Eric who wanted to use this part of the Fire Qilin's hide in order to make a soft body armor for himself.
After all, the defensive ability of a mature Fire Qilin was beyond the imagination of normal people.
The Fire Qilin was a semi-divine beast, so not even a Rank 9 evolver wouldn't even imagine of piercing its hide.
For that reason, if Eric managed to make that soft body armor for himself, it would be an extra lifesaving card.
That soft body armor would help him save his life even upon receiving the attack of a Rank 9 evolver, that he had yet to encounter on Earth.
If he told these words to Secretary Zhang he was assured that even if the guy didn't try to kill or trap him immediately, he would certainly do so as long as he felt a little bit safe.
Without tarrying with the explanation, Eric turned to face the guy, as he said,
"In truth, this isn't much of a thing on its own, as it's only a Beasts Hide which has a bit more sturdiness and defensive abilities than the common bulletproof vest.
But as long as I give this to a friend of mine who is an artifact refiner, he could easily turn this into a good quality soft body armor, that would add up to my defenses!"
Even though Eric's face was hidden behind the mask and his clone disguise, his eyes didn't show any signs of him lying. And he wasn't actually lying either, he was just vaguely not telling the whole truth.
Since Secretary Zhang was willing to make such a bet, then for sure he had some sort of ability or magical device that would help him understand whether Eric was telling the truth or not.
And since there was no change in his face or his disposition Eric could have been said to have actually fooled the guy.
Unfortunately, nothing could be said to be certain with people like Secretary Zhang as they were wild foxes that would never reveal their true faces and intentions.
Right now their interests coincided so they were working together, but should their interests collide, then they would become enemies in the blink of an eye.
Instead of cooperation, this was a use of one another as long their purposes were complementary. Eric needed the two statues and the rug, while Secretary Zhang needed the backing to become the new director.
It was clear that to him the position of the Director of the Auction House was way more important than anything.
In fact, Eric made a misstep this time, because his answer seemed just too clean to be counted as the truth, making the sly Secretary Zhang feel that Eric had lied to him without him understanding it.
While this made him a bit apprehensive about Eric's real strength, identity, and means, at the same time it made him curious and interested in the truth behind Eric, and this rug.
Still, it was impossible for him to keep the rug or keep pestering Eric with questions any longer because it might displease Eric, and force him to pull back.
With those thoughts in mind, he had no choice but to let go of the rug for the moment and try to inspire some rumors after Eric left the place.
"Thank you very much for your explanation Esteemed Master, I will certainly keep my word. This rug belongs to you!"
"Then I am not going to be polite Secretary Zhang! Here, as long as you have an exact plan on how to take over the Auction House call that number through a burning phone.
Be careful though this is a one-time use, and if you use it for any untoward intention you will lose the opportunity to contact me at all!"
Secretary Zhang felt a bit discontent with this because he would only have one chance to contact with this Master, and even worse he couldn't even test it whether it worked.
There was a great possibility of Eric completely forgetting, or neglecting his promise to him later because it was nothing but an oral promise.
Noticing that, Eric made an unhappy disgruntle as he said in a displeased tone,
"Secretary Zhang you know that in order for people like me to proceed in our path we need to have a clear and steady mind!
We can't allow heart demons to take over us, and we always need to stay true to our intentions!"
These words were more than enough to answer the doubts and suspicions in Secretary Zhang's heart, as he immediately tried to butter things up,
"Of course, of course, Esteemed Master! Please forgive me for my rudeness and stupidity, it won't happen again I promise!"
"It better not! Now I don't have much time to idle around and need to leave this place! Until we see each other again!"
With that said, Eric actually disappeared from the eyes of Master Zhang like he was some kind of ghost together with the statues and the rug.
This was an extremely important part of Eric's acting part, because only like this could he actually make this guy a bit more frightened, and work in more prudence.
After all, Eric would need this guy's help in the near future and couldn't allow him to break decorum easily.
This was an issue of great importance for Eric, as he needed a lot of antiques, historical articles, and the rest of those statues to gather some necessary SP points.
Right now he was extremely happy though, as tonight he had truly made a great wealth, beyond his expectations for the night.
Not only had he found those statuses that carried quite a bit of SP points for him, but he had also found the Fire Qilin's hide.
…
In the meantime, Secretary Zhang quickly made his way upstairs, as he had been missing for quite some time and didn't want to raise doubts, only to be shocked once he did so.
Surprisingly the whole venue was empty, there was no trace of people left at the Auction House, while the staff were whispering with one another.
What shocked him the most was the outcome of the night and the fact that all the big families were searching for that Esteemed Master.
It was his great luck and insight to actually create a sort of relationship with Eric earlier, even at the expense of the life of that idiot fake cousin of his.
But now he was faced with another dilemma, whether he should place his eggs in Eric's basket and keep their relationship a secret, or hug the thigh of a powerful big family, and try to set him up.
If Eric didn't have much strength and was some sort of a loner, then he would most certainly decide to hug the thigh of a big family, but unfortunately, he had no idea of Eric's strength.
What's more, he had no idea of the relationship between Cui Xie and Eric. While he felt that there was something between the two, the way they acted made them look like total strangers.
Fortunately for him, he had one more card to play, while having the luxury to wait and play it safe, as he called his two subordinates and guided them with a few lines.
The next day, the fact that Eric despite being a great Alchemist was in possession of a treasure that would make everyone's defenses impenetrable would spread through the country like wildfire in summer.
That should be enough to give Eric a headache and put him against a few idiots who would wish to test his abilities.
Of course, that was under the case that they were actually able to recognize Eric, and the treasure he possessed, which was practically impossible.
…
As for Cui Xie and the rest of the big families, they had arrived at the port not long ago and participated in a crazy shooting exchange, leaving more than 8 people dead, 13 with grave injuries, and 29 with light injuries.
The good news was that the terrorists group had been fully exterminated, even though they had been unable to get any new information from their mouths.
The truth was that Cui Xie had managed to subdue one of them, with the thought of torturing him later to find out what he wanted to know, but that guy was killed by a blind bullet.
The only thing they could rely now upon was whatever piece of information the terrorists had yet to burn and destroy before dying.
One thing was sure though, this attack made all the participants fearful and comprehensive of the terrorist attacks from the outside, as the terrorists had brought more than 200 kg of RDX…
Check out my newest book! Return of Lust!