Universal Shelter: I have a gold entry at each level!

Chapter 033: The Ranking’s Bare Bones! Fierce Bidding!

“Hmph!”

Lin Xuan scoffed coldly, offering only a dismissive snort instead of words. In his eyes, even Liu Ziming—who flaunted his high-profile status—was unworthy of even carrying his shoes.

Nearby, Liu Ziming, misinterpreting Lin Xuan’s silence as fear of Wu Qihao’s Fire Seed credentials, beckoned his butler and instructed,

“Uncle Meng, notify all our distributors immediately: we urgently need to clear out a batch of food. You have a strict two-hour window—sell as much as you can; after that, the sale is off. And remember, this batch is payable only in wood.”

Unhesitatingly, the butler nodded and dashed out.

Watching Liu Ziming’s maneuver, Lin Xuan chuckled and remarked,

“So, you want that blueprint too?”

Liu Ziming didn’t bother to hide his intent. He nodded,

“Of course. To be blunt, your shelter blueprint is practically a ticket into the top hundred elite.”

“Whoever secures it will be the next top hundred contender.”

Lin Xuan raised an eyebrow.

“Top hundred?”

Liu Ziming looked at him in surprise,

“Surely you’ve seen the ranking board? Right now, only ninety-five players in Longguo have a Level2 shelter.”

He continued,

“If someone gets hold of this blueprint, they’ll become the 96th on Longguo’s ranking. The other materials are not hard to come by—you just spend some time trading—but a shelter blueprint? That’s all a matter of luck. If fortune smiles, a single treasure chest might yield one; if not, even a hundred chests might produce nothing! That’s exactly why Wu Qihao is so shameless.”

Taking Liu Ziming’s explanation in, Lin Xuan discreetly scanned the ranking board. Sure enough, as Liu Ziming had said, positions one through ninety-five were occupied by players with only Level1 shelters. He also noticed that nearly the first ten thousand entries were dominated by top-tier safe houses. This meant that tens of thousands were stuck with safe houses simply because they lacked the blueprint to upgrade to a shelter.

“Among billions of souls, only a few ever upgrade to a shelter, let alone a refuge or castle. Outsiders only see the success of the strong, but they never witness the struggle beneath them…”

Lin Xuan gazed at the ranking list, his thoughts drifting to his past life—back then, he too could only look up at these fortunate few. Shaking off his nostalgia, he checked his own ranking:

Your current base ranking:

Longguo Rank: 111

World Rank: 1,537

“Rankings have dropped a lot,” he muttered, though he wasn’t really interested in the rankings themselves. He believed they were all superficial—no matter how high you rank, there’s no real reward. Besides, the Fire Seed Project hadn’t even kicked in yet; at the very least, the authorities would periodically distribute aid based on one’s Fire Seed level.

In truth, the ranking board served a greater purpose: it allowed those who lost their lordship in the game to selectively join a shelter. Thinking further, Lin Xuan noted that the number of players logged into the game had reached 7.5 billion. Shockingly, 2.5 billion of them had already perished, leaving only 5 billion active players—and within Longguo alone, there were over 700 million players.

“I bet that in five days, even more will perish!”

He recalled that in his previous life, five days after the current moment, the Fog Catastrophe would vanish, only for the second calamity to descend. Then, countless players would die—until, eventually, only about 100,000 remained. Faced with such grim prospects, Lin Xuan could do nothing but strive to upgrade his base and hope to shelter as many people as possible.

————

Two hours later, Liu Ziming announced the resumption of the auction,

“Ladies and gentlemen, please quiet down! We now begin the auction for the shelter blueprint. The starting bid is 5,000 units of wood—wood only!”

At that moment, Wu Qihao immediately raised his hand and declared,

“5,500!”

His bid made the potential bidders hesitate—not because they were unsure about participating, but because none wanted to be the first to bid and draw Wu Qihao’s attention.

Seeing the hesitation, Liu Ziming took a deep breath and broke the deadlock,

“5,800!”

Then Wu Qihao retorted fiercely, eyes narrowing,

“6,000! Liu Ziming, you’d better think it through—if you insist on this, once darkness descends, I won’t protect your entire family!”

Wu Qihao continued raising the bid, his tone venomous. But Liu Ziming was no pushover. Calmly, he declared,

“6,300! If Brother Wu can’t compete fairly, then after this auction, you can take your business elsewhere. My Liu family temple is small—I can’t support someone of your stature!”

At those words, Wu Qihao’s face darkened. He hadn’t expected the once-deferential Liu Ziming to speak so boldly. Undeterred, Wu Qihao raised his bid again with a sinister laugh,

“7,000!”

“Ha ha ha! Fine, fine—I’m eager to see! With just your ‘white talent,’ let’s see how you protect your family when the time comes!”

This fierce exchange dissolved the onlookers’ reservations; no one wanted to miss the chance to secure the shelter blueprint. Soon, the bidding escalated rapidly:

“7,100!”

“7,300!”

“7,500!”

“…”

The price soared like a rocket. Before long, it surpassed 10,000 units. Yet even at that lofty price, over twenty people stubbornly persisted. Lin Xuan noticed that among these bidders, seven or eight were simultaneously consulting someone on their phones.

Taking advantage of the lull, Liu Ziming explained briefly,

“Don’t worry—I’ve already confirmed that if these bidders win the auction, you’ll receive the wood within at most thirty minutes.”

Lin Xuan nodded silently.

Then the bids resumed:

“11,000!”

“12,500!”

“13,500!”

“…”

When the price reached 13,000, only ten bidders remained. As it climbed to 15,000, only six persisted. At 18,000, only Liu Ziming, Wu Qihao, and two women clutching their phones remained. After Liu Ziming pushed the price to 19,000, the two women dropped out, leaving only Liu Ziming and Wu Qihao.

“19,500!”

Wu Qihao challenged,

“Liu Ziming, if you quit now, I might consider letting your entire family join my shelter!”

Clearly, Liu Ziming was nearing his limit. With a defiant snort, he gritted his teeth, raised his bid, and countered,

“20,000! With this shelter blueprint, I can protect my family just as well!”

This time, Liu Ziming was well-prepared. He didn’t believe that Wu Qihao’s wealth could outmatch his own. All he felt now was regret—if only he had known it would come to this, he would never have supplied so many materials to Wu Qihao. To him, it was as if a traitor had appeared when strength finally matters.

From then on, the two men exchanged bids in silence. Soon, the hall echoed only with their voices:

“21,000!”

“21,500!”

“22,000!”

Wu Qihao pushed the price up to 22,000. At that, Liu Ziming trembled visibly. After several moments of agonizing hesitation, he bid his maximum tolerable price,

“22,500!”

“23,000!”

No sooner had he spoken than Wu Qihao raised it to 23,000. Liu Ziming’s forehead beaded with sweat; his mouth opened several times, but no further words came. Finally, with a heavy sigh, he relented,

“I give up…”

Upon hearing this, Wu Qihao burst into hearty laughter and strode over to Lin Xuan, exclaiming excitedly,

“I win! Hand over the blueprint!”