Chapter 4128 — Goods from the Mortal Realm

Yet at that very moment, as he looked upon the next lot to be presented, Wei Zhao's gaze abruptly froze.

"The next lot is supplied by the Central Nexus Chamber of Commerce—a high-tech product from the mortal realm that has lately become all the rage here on Cloud Stair Island: a digital single-lens reflex camera, together with a matching solar power bank. Starting bid: twenty thousand spirit jade!" the female auctioneer introduced it in a voice steeped in honeyed allure.

Looking at the digital SLR camera upon the silver tray, the eyes of everyone in the hall plainly took on a measure of fervor.

And Wei Zhao, at the very first glance, felt as though he had been struck by lightning. He sat frozen in his seat for a long while, unable to collect himself, one question repeating endlessly in his mind: how had such a thing been brought up here?

Normally, for anyone seeking to set foot on Cloud Stair Island through the teleportation array, every last piece of high-tech precision equipment would be destroyed by its formidable natural pressure. This was a hurdle no one could evade.

The only reason Wei Zhao had been able to bring his phone up was thanks to the jade pendant's space. No one else had a cheat of such heaven-defying power—surely there could not be some other jade pendant space in this world as well?

The others present, however, were not nearly so shocked as Wei Zhao. Lately a fever for technology had swept across Central Island; high-tech goods from the mortal realm had taken the entire island by storm. Each piece sold for a sky-high price, yet was still eagerly sought after, supply falling far short of demand.

"The Central Nexus Chamber of Commerce?" A jolt ran through Wei Zhao's heart. Why this chamber of commerce again? That Si Haitao fellow had undergone a sudden transformation and turned into the Central Nexus Chamber of Commerce's North Island manager, and now this same chamber had somehow produced high-tech goods from the mortal realm. Something about it felt a little sinister and strange.

"Has Young Hero Lin not heard of it? It is a chamber of commerce that has risen only recently. No one can uncover who stands behind it, yet overnight it sprouted up everywhere like bamboo shoots after rain. By our calculations, its scale should by now be pressing hard upon our own Five Elements Chamber of Commerce," Cai Zhongxuan explained upon seeing his reaction.

"As exaggerated as that? That is a little frightening, is it not?" Wei Zhao was startled to hear it.

The Five Elements Chamber of Commerce had the Pill Hall as its powerful backing and had for all these years been the undisputed first chamber of commerce. Had it been some other top-tier chamber with deep foundations—the Hong family's, say—closing the gap, that would have been easier to understand. But this Central Nexus Chamber of Commerce was a newly risen chamber that had appeared out of nowhere.

"It is not only you, Young Hero Lin—we in the trade are shocked no less than you, and perhaps more. Yet however hard it is to believe, they have done it. It may not be long before this Central Nexus Chamber of Commerce seizes the leading position outright and becomes a legend of the business world," Cai Zhongxuan sighed with no small emotion.

Even as the two of them spoke, bids were rising all around them, one after another. In mere moments the price had already reached fifty thousand spirit jade, and from the look of things, the crowd had no intention of giving up yet.

"This is simply absurd!" Wei Zhao could not help clicking his tongue in speechless amazement. "In the mortal realm this thing is everywhere on the streets—nothing rare at all, and worth hardly anything. That it can fetch such a sky-high price here—a whole day's sales at my Heaven Pill Pavilion would not match one of these digital cameras! What kind of world is this…"

"Rare things are precious—that is an eternal truth. This thing may be a dime a dozen in the mortal realm, but here on Cloud Stair Island it is a treasure rarely seen, perhaps even the one and only of its kind. There is nothing strange at all about it fetching a sky-high price," Cai Zhongxuan said with feeling.

"Be that as it may, to the eyes of someone like me, who came up from the mortal realm, the whole affair is still too absurd. Back in the mortal realm, even the lowest-grade, most worthless pill was worth at least a thousand or ten thousand times this paltry SLR camera. Now it is the other way round entirely—truly baffling," Wei Zhao said with a bitter smile, still nursing a sense of unreality.

"Baffling is right. The very appearance of this Central Nexus Chamber of Commerce is a baffling affair. It has almost single-handedly whipped up a fever for technology across all of Central Island, and there are signs it is spreading to the other four islands as well. Every item is a windfall profit; each one sold makes its snowball roll faster and grow bigger, and there is simply no stopping it," Cai Zhongxuan said with a helpless shake of his head.

This suddenly risen Central Nexus Chamber of Commerce was so mysterious and so powerful that it had already become a target every faction in the trade had to treat with the gravest seriousness. A single careless moment, and being swallowed up by it in days to come was not out of the question.

"Since this Central Nexus Chamber of Commerce can sell high-tech goods from the mortal realm, does that not mean it has some means of traveling between the mortal realm and Cloud Stair Island?" Wei Zhao said, his eyes suddenly lighting up.

If the Central Nexus Chamber of Commerce had sold only one or two such items, then perhaps it might merely be that the power behind it had, by some special means, carried them up in a single trip—nothing more.

But its main stock in trade was now technological goods. Supplying them on such a large scale could never have come from a one-time carry. It must have its own unique method of supply, and given conditions on Cloud Stair Island, local production here was utterly impractical—the goods could only come from the mortal realm.

In other words, the people of the Central Nexus Chamber of Commerce must be able to travel freely between the mortal realm and Cloud Stair Island, or at the very least have some means of mutual passage; otherwise none of this could be explained.

This conjecture was entirely reasonable. Moreover, Wei Zhao had long since privately wondered how his so-called master, Zhang Lifeng—whom he had yet to meet—had returned to the mortal realm in the first place. That wretch Gui Dongxi had come back from a single trip in such a sorry state, yet his cheap master had gone back and returned again without anything amiss!

Now, set against his questions about the Central Nexus Chamber of Commerce, this was proof enough that returning from Cloud Stair Island to the mortal realm was not entirely impossible—no, it was very possible indeed!

At the thought, Wei Zhao's heart could not help burning. He had been on Cloud Stair Island so long; to claim he did not miss those fair companions and younger brothers of his in the mortal realm at all would be to deceive himself. If there were a way to go back and see them, it would truly fulfill one of his dearest wishes.

Of course, conjecture was conjecture. Wei Zhao knew well that with his present standing, going to the Central Nexus Chamber of Commerce to ask about such a thing was simply out of the question.

In fact, it was not just him—even if the top figures of such giants as the Five Elements Chamber of Commerce and the Hong family's chamber were to come forward, they would not be given the time of day.

"That should be so, but as to the particulars, no one knows. We do not even know who stands behind the Central Nexus Chamber of Commerce. Matters touching on core secrets are all the less likely to be pried out," Cai Zhongxuan said with a smile. (To be continued…) R752