CHAPTER 823: CHAPTER 558: THE FOOL’S TWIN BROTHER?

"Forget it, forget it. Trading two excellent items for one superior one is already a great deal."

Liu Zheng swiftly regained his calm.

Moreover, he didn’t smoke, so swapping two mediocre items for a weapon, even if it had significant side effects, wasn’t a loss.

Thinking it over carefully, since the resentful spirits would chase opponents, the opponents would surely retaliate against the spirits.

A confrontation between experts often lasts only moments. After three minutes, if both the opponent and the spirit aren’t dead, they’d be half-beaten anyway.

Facing two half-beaten opponents, in some ways, is even easier than facing one in perfect form.

Having comforted himself, Liu Zheng put the trash bin back into the system space.

"Now we’re proceeding to the third round of auctions. Wow, the auction items this round are quite interesting."

A lottery box appeared before the Penguin Captain.

"The Paradox Lottery Box, where you pay your luck to draw a prize—the more luck you pay, the better the prize you can get. But the more luck you pay, the lower your chance of drawing a good prize, hence it’s called a paradox lottery box."

"The last time this collection appeared was thirty years ago, when a rather gambling-prone collector paid almost all his luck and drew a used condom. He died on the spot and turned into an evil spirit, which eventually alarmed the Security Department to handle it."

"In some sense, this can also be considered a cursed object."

The Captain said.

"Cursed Object" is a specialized term in the collecting community, specifically refers to those items that bring misfortune to collectors, yet for various reasons continue circulating among them.

"The value of this auction item is hard to determine, but as a collection, it is surely interesting. It depends on whether you have the courage to acquire it and the resolve to resist its temptation."

"Alright, the auction begins."

The Captain struck the auction hammer.

"This thing..."

Liu Zheng pondered.

If he first consumed the Resentment Relics from the Black Carp Dragon, achieving luck at its maximum, and then paid it all to the lottery box.

Then consumed the Third Grade Fortune Golden Lotus Seed, achieving near-maximum luck, and drew again, wouldn’t he surely draw something good?

"No."

Liu Zheng quickly realized.

He couldn’t see the items description for the Paradox Lottery Box right now; if the highest prize it could offer was only perfect quality, his plan would be ruined.

After all, the Resentment Relics, with a 99% chance to achieve luck at maximum, are the strongest in the perfect quality batch. Only the pieces of the Legendary Deliveryman Set could reliably exceed it.

But it’s already confirmed that the cap from the Legendary Deliveryman is held by the Wolf Knight, so the lottery box couldn’t just create one out of thin air for him.

"Let’s just bid casually. If I don’t win, so be it."

Liu Zheng thought it over, and took out the cursed horseshoe given to him by Niu Ma.

The item’s effect was +100 Strength Attribute, but a player’s Strength Attribute couldn’t exceed 100 points, and this equipment couldn’t be removed normally.

If he had just entered the instance, he would equip it without hesitation, but now this item was quite redundant, usable only for exchange.

As he submitted his bid, a few more collectors also joined the auction.

Just like the Penguin Captain said, the practical value of the Paradox Lottery Box as an extraordinary item was negligible, but as a collection, it was indeed intriguing.

Moreover, Metropolis is never short on gamblers.

And this round soon entered the final stage; unsurprisingly, Liu Zheng failed to win the bid.

He felt a little regret, but not much, as the purposes of the Resentment Relics and Fortune Lotus Seed had long been decided.

The collections were exchanged, and the fourth auction round commenced.

"This is a poetry manuscript? I don’t sense anything extraordinary, meaning this is just an ordinary manuscript?"

"Let me see who the author is. Bai Langzi, never heard of him. Has anyone here heard of this poet?"

The Penguin Captain asked.

Some collectors shook their heads, while others directly did not respond.

"Well, if this isn’t a case of the seller’s vanity, then perhaps these poems are genuinely well-written. Unfortunately, I lack an artistic soul, so I’ll leave some time for you all to peruse."

The Penguin Captain struck the auction hammer against the projection, and the manuscript projection instantly enlarged by over ten times, with each page displayed separately.

"Kawas, what do you think?"

The Captain asked his advisor.

"Boss, you know me; although I am fairly adept in both literature and art, my approach to them is like dealing with my toolbox."

Kawas shrugged and said.

"Are you saying you can’t gauge the quality of this manuscript?"

"Yes, Boss. Judging by rhythm, imagery, logic, and so on, these poems are mediocre. But my intuition suggests they aren’t that simple."

Kawas stated.

Poetry is the art of words, and judging whether a game is a good game, like whether a poem is a good poem, is the result of a combination of subjective and objective evaluations.

Sometimes, subjective assessments are more important than the objective ones.

Just like many 3A games with outstanding art, music, story, optimization, interaction, yet in the eyes of players are still not regarded as good games.

If asked what is missing, neither the creators nor the players themselves could clearly explain.

It seems like there’s a little missing everywhere, yet none of it seems to be the focus.

Sometimes games in the same genre also have these shortcomings but are considered rare masterpieces.