Chapter 1214 - Sonia

"Mr. Trini has brought all his savings. But you're still at great risk." Mendoza spoke quickly. "Captain Lin, who captured you, is very greedy—he wants fifteen hundred circulation notes for you."

"What are circulation notes?"

"It's the currency we use here." Mendoza continued hurriedly. "Mr. Trini has agreed to use all his savings here to help you, but his savings fall far short of that amount..."

Marina was so nervous she nearly fainted, but fortunately Miss Mendoza's next words brought relief: "...The Jesuit fathers are also sympathetic to your plight. They've contributed several hundred notes, so now Mr. Trini can bid up to two thousand circulation notes—I don't think anyone in this venue will pay such a high price."

Marina expressed her heartfelt gratitude in a nearly trembling voice. She watched through tear-filled eyes as Mendoza quietly slipped out of sight.

In the darkness, Lin Hanlong sat at a small square table to the left of the runway. Drinks and cigars had been set out on the table. To facilitate reception, admission tickets had to be registered and collected in advance. He smoked his cigar while waiting for the auction to begin. At his table sat old colleagues from the Machinery Factory. They had eaten dinner after work and come early together. On the way, everyone claimed they were just coming to see the spectacle—absolutely no intention of buying a foreign mare. But once they arrived, they had all chosen seats very near the front—only one table away from the runway. The closest table had already been reserved on the BBS by several lust-crazed fellows.

Lin Hanlong surveyed the room. About seventy or eighty transmigrators had come—not quite a "streets emptied out" situation. Apparently most people didn't want to expose their eager appetites.

"Old Lin! Old Lin!" Lin Hanlong felt someone patting his shoulder. He turned to see Dongmen Chuiyu. Dongmen held an unlit cigar and asked: "Lend me your cigar cutter!"

Lin Hanlong agreed and picked up the cigar cutter from the table to hand to him. He had made this cutter himself in his spare time—lightweight, attractive, and convenient to use.

"Old Lin! Which of these foreign mares have you got your eye on?"

Lin Hanlong waved his hand: "None, none—I'm just here to watch. For fun." In truth, Lin Hanlong was just as disingenuous as every other transmigrator who claimed to be "just looking." While browsing the foreign mare introductions and photos on the BBS, he had already taken a fancy to a golden-haired, blue-eyed girl. Not just because of her figure and looks, but because she seemed to have a keen interest in natural science. Lin Hanlong wasn't particularly interested in pure physical exchange, but if he could have intellectual exchange with a girl, that would be entirely different.

Dongmen Chuiyu chuckled a few times; he had already cut his cigar. He returned the cutter to Lin Hanlong, saying: "Actually, I'm just here to watch too."

Lin Hanlong casually picked up the lighter from the table and lit Dongmen's cigar for him. He watched Dongmen Chuiyu stroll back to the front row table with his lit cigar, swaying slightly. Just watching? Yeah right, he thought with secret amusement.

Before the auction proper, the foreign mare girls were led up onto the stage one by one by female naturalized workers holding their hands. Just like models of a later generation, they walked slowly to the front of the stage, stood still under the direct gaze of countless greedy, curious, or lewd eyes, turned around a few times, and walked back behind the curtain beside the runway to await auction. Of course, they were quite different from models. They all wore uniform white dresses with their hair pinned up. When they walked, they had none of a model's catwalk style—most either cowered and didn't dare move forward, or stared blankly while being led along. Lin Hanlong had heard that at Middle Eastern slave trader markets they were displayed completely naked and manipulated at will. He certainly didn't want that repeated here—that would be pure flesh-peddling, utterly vulgar.

Finally he saw the golden-haired girl he had his eye on. The moment she appeared, her lively eyes were looking all around, as if she didn't care at all about her situation and was just curious to see the world. Lin Hanlong's heart stirred—this girl is no ordinary one!

Someone at the front table seemed to stand up, moving right up to the golden-haired girl's feet. Dongmen Chuiyu! That bastard had also taken a fancy to this girl! Lin Hanlong's heart sank. Tonight there would be a fierce battle.

A bell rang. A bald, burly man in a neat suit and tie strode beaming to the runway and ascended the stage from steps on the right.

This was He Fanghui. After being transferred back to Lingao from Sanya, he had been working in finance because his specialty in the old timeline had been auctions—he was familiar with auction procedures and the processes for banks, courts, and customs to dispose of bad assets. After the security campaigns, the island-wide land survey, and agricultural tax reform, there was a great deal of confiscated property disposal work, so he had quickly returned to his old profession.

This auction was his specialty, and it was "service to the transmigrators"—naturally he couldn't refuse. To show formality, he even wore the old suit he had worn at his auction house.

He Fanghui swept the hall with a professional eye to confirm all observers were in position—they were all maids, primarily ensuring that every bid signal was quickly and completely transmitted to the auction stage.

He Fanghui sneered at the old-timeline practice of raising numbered paddles, considering it a sign of unsophisticated auction technique—utterly lacking in entertainment value. For this auction, each seat was assigned a fixed number, and bids were made entirely through hand signals—no paddles needed.

Besides the transmigrators interested in bidding, there were also several native Europeans present. He Fanghui recognized some of them but didn't know why they had been allowed to attend. Apparently it was at the Intelligence Bureau's request—perhaps to demonstrate the Senate's power?

Since the Executive Committee had approved "foreigners" attending, there must be a reason. He had no time to ponder further. He raised his small wooden gavel and struck three times. The hall fell silent.

"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Tonight we're offering seventeen S-grade white slave women. The details have been posted on the internal network. Let's start with the first one."

The first slave woman was led up to the display stage by a maid. Two other maids pulled back the curtain on a large display board showing her name, ethnicity, height, hair and eye color, measurements, and various other detailed data.

"I'll start the bidding at two hundred yuan," he announced.

Bids came from all directions below the stage, rising and falling. Observers watched every tiny movement from the seats: a touch to a collar, a raised finger, a lifted pen.

"Two hundred fifty... two seventy-five... will anyone offer three hundred?" He Fanghui called out with passion. "Someone on the right offers three hundred! Three hundred! Any takers..."

Marina watched the auction tensely. The first sale ended quickly: a seventeen-year-old Persian girl sold for four hundred seventy-five yuan.

"It seems Zahra is very popular here."

"You know her?"

"I met her at the Basra slave market—we were auctioned by the same slave trader together. You could say we're friends." The golden-haired girl said.

"You made friends with an infidel?" Marina was puzzled.

"We're slaves first." The golden-haired girl sighed, then pointed at two Europeans drinking in the distance and whispered: "That's the Englishman who bought us in Basra. He's a big slave trader—bought two hundred slave women from Basra at once! So this place has such wealthy customers!"

"You must have suffered greatly."

"The Englishman treated us quite well—it was absolute hell in the hands of the Barbary pirates..." The golden-haired girl shuddered, apparently unwilling to remember. "Fortunately they wanted to sell me for a high price, so they didn't abuse me—God bless! Every slave trader who handled me thought I could fetch a high price."

Marina could hardly imagine what terrible experiences this golden-haired girl might have had. She shivered, praying she could be rescued smoothly.

The foreign mares were brought out one by one for auction. Lin Hanlong kept his attention on the golden-haired girl and paid little attention to the other slave women's auctions. But he could sense that slave women with more Caucasian features were clearly in much fiercer competition. Golden-haired, blue-eyed girls had multiple bidders fighting over them. That golden-haired girl was one of the later ones to appear—clearly the Government Office understood how popular certain slave women were. The later ones were obviously the star attractions, and their prices wouldn't be low.

He worried, while hoping that by then everyone would have bought their big white foreign mares and wouldn't compete with him. But Dongmen Chuiyu obviously also had his heart set on that girl—he hadn't bid yet. As far as Lin Hanlong knew, Dongmen Chuiyu normally spent little and hadn't spent much on maids either—he had basically just used his maid allowance. He probably had substantial savings, just like Lin Hanlong himself.

However, in terms of money, Lin Hanlong had a distinct advantage. He enjoyed many allowances: "Technician Grade Allowance," "Harsh Environment Allowance," "Heavy Labor Supplement"... all these added up to a considerable sum.

The auction proceeded quickly. Marina noticed that lighter-haired slave women seemed more popular, with sale prices all above eight hundred yuan; young ones with good measurements exceeded a thousand. One Polish blonde, despite being a bit older, still fetched eight hundred fifty yuan. But Persian slave women with brown hair and large almond eyes also sold well—bidding climbed steadily, with every sale price at least six hundred.

In no time, the tenth slave woman had been auctioned. The eleventh was the golden-haired girl. When maids came to take her to the stage, she smiled at Marina: "Don't always look so worried."

"What's your name?" Marina suddenly realized she didn't know the girl's name.

"I'm Sonia Lily Shapur—a naturalist from Lisbon. May God bless you!" With that, she was led up to the stage.

(End of Chapter)