As said earlier, Gaia Star was a famous trade planet, and on a trading planet, the most important part was of course the various auction houses.
When inquiring about it, Xie Tao made sure to not ask too many questions and played it out as an normal conversation in order to avoid showing his abnormally lacking common sense.
During their conversation, Xie Tao got to know that there was a "Star Network" in this world, which was equivalent Internet on Earth, however it was more powerful.
There was an old connector in the office where Xie Tao had applied for the job. Hearing that, he came up with an excuse to borrow it and he then used the old connector, that was the size of an ostrich egg, to get a lot of the information he needed.
Just browsing quickly, it didn't take long before his eyes stopped on a line-
[Qi Zhen Plant Auction][1]
There were seven trade planets known in the interstellar, each with its own characteristics. The most well-known point of Gaia Star was the special auctions that the planet often held.
These special auctions, such as the "Qi Zhen Plant Auction" that Xie Tao found, were not widely available, and since there were various connoisseurs in StarCraft, the special auctions focused on Starcrafts held on Gaia Star were tantamount to a carnival. Although the other auctions didn't have as large impact, the connoisseurs in that area certainly had the same enthusiasm.
Therefore it could be said that as long as it was a connoisseur who appreciated rare plants, or even just rare objects, they would never miss an plant auction held on Gaia Star.
There were countless differences between the planets, including biological species. Knowing this, Xie Tao couldn't help but want to see the auction.
If he brought with him some plants from earth to this world, maybe they could be considered rare and valuable?
Xie Tao's fingers once again tapped wildly on the screen as he looked up the most common plants in this world, he then formed a general idea.
The potted plants in his backyard were all broken and even if some plants were able to survive, it would take a lot of time to clean up. It was also troublesome to go out and buy a new plant. Xie Tao therefore put his eyes on the bonanzas, that unlike most of his plants, had survived and still stood firmly on the window sill of his house.
Holding a mentality of trying not to lose, Xie Tao returned to the earth and picked his most beautiful bonanza which had a blooming flower that resembled a pink lotus. He then returned to the other world.
There was only one week until the auction and Xie Tao did not know what auctions rules were in this world. So he could only ask Xia Qi for an hour off and go to see for himself.
Xia Qi did not ask what Xie Tao was going to do and hearing his request, she directly nodded, granting him permission.
Holding the pot that he brought from earth, Xie Tao followed the route he had found on the Star Network and successfully reached the auction house he was looking for.
Before the auction was officially held, the auction house called Soma was willing to accept commissions. Of course, in order to guarantee the quality of the auction, Soma auction house invited a professional connoisseur to set the threshold for the appraisers.
The threshold was very high, and the condition of "the quantity is scarce" was not enough. The rare plants that could be in the exhibition stand were basically variants, plants specially cultivated that had a very low probability to be live.
It was now Xie Tao's turn and he gave the plant to an employee that carefully received it.
The entrusted object was then sent inside to identify it and judge whether it was qualified. When the employee came out again, she went up to another staff member and said a few words in the ear of the another. Xie Tao noticed that the polite smile on the staff member who received him seemed to become a bit wider.
Looking at this expression, he should have qualified.. right?
However, Xie Tao did not let himself be too excited. The demand was probably not high and even if he had managed to bring a plant worth five-digits, even if he had met the expectations, this was a small auction house, it probably couldn't get up to five-digits...
At this time, Xie Tao still had low expectations in his heart, and he did not know whether his plant was a rare specie in this world. But since the auction house was willing to accept it, it should at least not be a common plant.
"Our auction house is willing to accept this commission. Regarding the commission rate and other matters charged for the auction proceeds, please look at the contract. If you feel that there is no problem, you can sign it." The staff spoke while secretly observing the human youth in front of him.
He was just sent a message, saying that he must take this commission, and he could even make appropriate concessions on the commission ratio...
What does this mean? Of course this shows that their boss thinks this will be a big business! Although he did not hear how the appraisers evaluated this plant, he was sure that it must have been extremely high, a good quality and rare item.
You see, their boss was a goblin and the goblin race was famous in the interstellar for their greed. He therefore knew that he would never concede and let their commission ratio be lowered, unless this concession could make him gain even more benefits.
Xie Tao looked at the 15% commission rate charged by the auction house and calculated the normal ratio on earth. Confirming that there was no problem, he signed it.
"Mr. Xie, about the reserve price for this item, what do you think..?" Seeing Xie Tao sign the contract, the staff carefully asked for his opinion.
Since he did not know the market, Xie Tao replied: "It is up to you."
After quickly finishing up the matter, Xie Tao rushed back to the club and managed to not exceed his time for leave. After that, two days passed calmly, however on the third day, Xie Tao encountered something surprising.
Ever since he came to the Cub Raising Association and started working as a caretaker, the golden ball had been quietly floating around him. It had not wandered nor disappeared. But now it suddenly moved.
Xie Tao realized that it must be the last guidance that Xia Zuo had mentioned.
Although he was caught off guard, Xie Tao quickly followed behind the light ball. This time it did not take him to another place, it only took him to the house where he usually took care of the cubs.
As he walked into the house, he saw that the door in the upper right corner of the house, that was normally closed, was now slightly open.
That was.. the hatching chamber?
On the first day of his job, Xie Tao had already memorized all rooms in the house and their purpose. However, although he knew what it was, he had never visited it since the work assigned to him these days did not require him to go in there.
The golden light ball floated directly to the entrance of the room, and then stopped before squeezing itself through the narrow opening. It was very clear where he needed to go, so Xie Tao hurried to follow.
However just as he was about to open the door he heard voices from within.
"How many times do I have to tell you, don't deliberately skip this egg! Was it because I didn't observe today, that you wanted to throw this egg aside?" Xia Qi's voice held barley suppressed boiling anger. "To apply nutrient solution to this egg, is it so difficult? The other two eggs were taken care of, why can't you do the same for this egg too?"
"How can I treat them the same? Xia Qi, you know the situation clearly, don't make things difficult for me... Besides, this nutrient solution is not indispensable." Zhao Chuan eyed the black egg, the thought of raising and touching it made him feel repulsed. He opened his mouth and with a disgusted tone said, "Unlucky..."
"You saw it yourself, the other clubs were escaping from this young egg, doing all to not be the one to care for it. Which caretaker team would be willing to put up with such a difficult thing! You and the president have a bad habit of taking these kind of things, but you will see, you will regret your decision eventually. Or have you forgotten, which race it was that brought upon us the Back Horror?" Many people have died because of that illness and Zhao Chuan did not feel that he had made any mistake. He had only said the truth and done what any other in their sane mind would do.
The Black Horror, which appeared more than 30 years ago, was still an incurable disease. People who suffer from it would gradually lose control over their body. At first, it may only be parts of their limbs, but as the illness progressed, the numbness would spread and a black totem-like pattern would gradually appear on the skin of the sick person. When the black totem was full, the sick person would have completely lost control of their body
The scary thing was that even though the body was completely incapable of moving, their consciousness was still very clear, aware of it all.
This kind of curse-like illness only came to be because of the arrogance of a race called "Knox".
The Knox had stood at the top of the universe, whether it was technology or abilities, they were superior. However, in order to satisfy their own desires, they carried out crazy experiments and it became their downfall.
They had created the Black Horror, if it was intentionally or not, no one knows. But something must have gone wrong. Because not only did they destroyed their own race, they also almost dragged the other races down with them and even after they were no longer, they still left big problem that could not be eliminated - The Black Horror.
When it struck the entire interstellar, the original highly prosperous planet of the Knox race became a ruin overnight.
No survivors, at least everyone originally thought so, until the Star Alliance's investigative forces found an egg in the ruins of the Knox race capital, that was protected by dozens of defense devices.
Although all races held grievances and hate about this disaster, they still had their ethics. Therefore, after the investigative forces found the egg, the Star Alliance decided to sent the egg to whichever nursing club willing to adopt it.
This young egg had been transferred to many different clubs, but it was not long before it was once again sent away. Finally, it was sent to Gaia Star and this time got permanently adopted into this simple and old nursing club.
Hence the last of the Knox kind was now here.
Xie Tao had momentarily stopped when he heard the disputed inside but he now opened the door. His eyes searched the room and he discovered that the golden ball had stopped by a black egg.
The other two eggs sitting beside each other in the incubator had already been smeared with nutrient solution and was now waiting for it to be absorbed. But the black egg was shunned to the side and its surface was still dry.
The golden light ball that had entered the hatching room hovered around the black egg and after circling it for the third time, the golden ball gradually started to fade and disappeared.
It had given its final guidance.
The key to everything was this egg? Xie Tao felt some doubt but he knew that Xia Zuo wouldn't get it wrong, the world's faith depended on it.
Xie Tao gazed at the egg and then made a decision. Raising his head, he looked them in their eyes and took the initiative to break the silence in the room: "This egg, I will take care of it from now on."
He had heard the disputed just now and even if the golden ball hadn't told him to, he would still had done the same thing.
As soon as he heard Xie Tao's words, Zhao Chuan immediately nodded and said: "Yes, this is for the best, Xia Qi, you don't have to persuade me in the future. He will be responsible for this."
Xia Qi had successfully suppressed her anger after Xie Tao came into the room, and although Zhao Chuan's repeated laziness and neglect irritated her, she still carefully consider it and then reluctant gave a sound of approval for the eggs sake.
It was actually quite easy to take care of the eggs. You just had to apply the nutrient solution every few days, nothing else.
There was too many people by the incubator so Xie Tao took the nutrient solution from the shelf and picked up the black egg. The egg was quite big and Xie Tao had to use both of his arms to cradle it as he walked.
Will this be the key to saving the world or the root cause of the destruction of the world? Reaching out and touching the eggshell of this black egg in his arms, Xie Tao could not help but wonder.
Xie Tao did not know what the golden ball's finally guidance meant, just that it had something to do with this egg. He thought about how he should treat this young cub when it hatches, what he should teach it. From the dispute he just heard, its race had probably done some very bad things.
But no matter what the race did before, you shouldn't blame a cub that hadn't yet broken the shell. It was too unreasonable...
This cub was still not born, it hadn't done anything bad, it was just an innocent child.
Xie Tao sat down in the corner of the room and squeezed the nutrient solution into the palm of his hand. He then closed his hand, warming it until it had reached room temperature before carefully applying it.
During the process, Xia Qi told him that applying the nutrient solution three times will achieve the best results. Xie Tao nodded and did not think that it was annoying. Seeing him starting to gently apply the second layer without complaining, Xia Qi felt satisfied and left the room together with Zhao Chuan.
After finishing it, Xie Tao got up and carefully placed the black egg back on the cushion in the incubator.
"Hurry up and get born, ok?" Xia Tao reached out and touched the egg as he said this in soft voice.
To others it might seem that saying this held no special meaning, after all he had just met the egg. But Xie Tao felt that the birth of every cub should be something to look forward to. Therefore, if no one else was willing to be excited for the birth of this young cub, then he will be the one to look forward to it.
After saying this, Xie Tao confirmed that he had not missed anything and then left the hatching room, carefully closing the door behind him.
What Xie Tao didn't notice was that just as he had turned around, the black egg lying quietly on the soft mat had suddenly moved. Then at the same time as the click of the door sounded, a small cracking sound could be heard and if you looked very closely you would see that a faint zigzag line had appeared on the smooth eggshell that had just been smeared with nutrient solution.
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[1] - Qi Zhen means: A rare treasure, something priceless and unique.
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Translator's note:
I have read your comments and decided to go with Xie Lanlan as most of you prefer it. On another note, it seems that we can look forward to a new cub in the next chapter! ( ^ω^ )