Unfortunately, there still was not a second bidder. The auctioneer smiled awkwardly and then said in a slightly frustrated tone, "Eighty million dollars for the second time!"

The auction hall remained silent.

Sean Richard stared at the auctioneer, waiting for her to announce the end of the ridiculous bidding so that he could go through the formalities as quickly as possible and rush back to Edward Pike to report the incident.

The place was packed, but all the attendees were tacitly silent.

Some even wondered why someone would spend 80 million US dollars on such an unlucky estate.

Looking at the audience, the auctioneer said with a smile on her face, "Is there anyone who would like to offer a higher price? The manor is one of the oldest buildings in Viaduct City, and everything in the manor is still maintained in its original form and extremely valuable."

And yet, people remained silent.

Given no other option, the auctioneer had to say, "80 million dollars for the third time."

Then she raised the gavel in her right hand, ready to strike down.

"One-hundred million!" a voice suddenly rang out to break the silence in the room.

The crowd looked in surprise in the direction of the voice.

They saw a man in a stiff black suit, wearing a black hat that covered his face, but he was very fair-skinned.

The auctioneer looked at the gentleman in surprise, and though the man did not hold up the sign in his hand, she saw the number belonging to the man. "The No. 72 bidder has offered one hundred million dollars. Any higher bidding prices?"

At this point, the attendees either whispered or looked at Sean.

Sean did not know what to do. Edward originally was not interested in the auction, so he did not explicitly state his bottom price, but he suddenly changed his mind and asked Sean to buy the estate, so Sean had offered the starting price.

He had not expected anyone to suddenly compete against him and was not sure if he should raise his price or by how much.

Sean took out his cell phone and lowered his head to dial the number of his boss.

But Edward did not answer the call.

Sean was even more unsure of what to do.

"A hundred million dollars for the first time." The auctioneer cast her beautiful eyes on Sean, expecting him to raise his bidding price.

Sean's scalp went numb. He was just attending the auction on behalf of his boss and could not decide if he should raise the price.

He tilted his head to look at the mysterious man in the black hat, wondering who he was and who his boss was. A hundred million dollars was certainly not a small amount of money, and the person standing behind that man should be about as powerful as Edward.

Sean withdrew his thoughts and redialed Edward's number, but his boss still did not answer.

"Is he in some kind of important meeting?" Sean thought to himself.

"Should I raise the price, or not?" Sean was confused.

"One hundred million dollars for the second time." The auctioneer said in a clear voice, continuing to stare at Sean and asking with her eyes if he wanted to raise the price.

Sean dialed Edward's number for the third time.

"One hundred million dollars for the third time." Seeing that Sean had been on the phone, the auctioneer assumed that he was calling his boss, but time was running out.

The rest of the people on the spot were either looking at Sean or at the mysterious man, whose head was lowered and whose face was covered by his black hat.

"So ..."

"One hundred and thirty million." Just as the auctioneer was about to speak, a mellow voice interrupted her.

Suddenly, everyone looked at the source of the voice.

Upon hearing the familiar voice, Sean stood up in surprise and slowly put his phone away, looking at the tall and strong man, his boss.

Suddenly, countless pairs of eyes and numerous camera lenses were focused on Edward.

Even the mysterious man in the chair was a little startled, but he immediately lowered the brim of his hat, took his cell phone out of his pocket, and called his boss.

The auctioneer was stunned for a second at the sudden intrusion of the tall, handsome Edward, and then quickly came back to her senses. "Sir, may I have your auction number, please?" At the same time, she was amazed at how good-looking and wealthy the man was.

Edward looked at Sean, who had walked over to him. Sean said respectfully, "This way, please." And then he turned to look at the auctioneer, "No.58, thanks."

The auctioneer smiled at Sean, who behaved politely, and replied, "I see. Thank you, sir."

Edward's face remained unchanged as he sat in the seat Sean had arranged for him and looked up at the huge screen with his dark eyes.

In the displayed pictures, the manor was full of roses, and its walls and gate were covered with creepers. The old castle, the reddish-brown floors and the gray sky all appeared before his eyes, and he could even see a crow hidden in a branch of a tree somewhere in the forest, whose eyes were bloodshot while gnawing at something.

Those pictures were giving off a mysterious, bloody and suffocating vibe.

Usually, a person would feel depressed and uncomfortable at the sight of such images, but instead, Edward was excited by them, his pulses pounding violently.

"She is going to love it."

The corners of Edward's mouth slowly turned upward. The people around him noticed the change in his expression and could not help but feel a little scared.

He was the man known as Pike the Dark Heart!

People on the scene then turned their attention to the mysterious man who had just offered a price of 100 million dollars.

They wondered if the man would continue to raise the price.

The man who covered his face with his hat put down his phone adjusted his coat and got up. "Story!" He said as he went around to the back door, deliberately avoiding Edward and Sean, and left the scene, ignoring the confused eyes of the people present.

Seeing this, Edward looked at Sean, and then Sean immediately got up and left through the back door to chase after the mysterious man.

The people around could not help but whisper, "What the hell is going on? Who the heck is that guy?"

The auctioneer looked around, figuring the man probably would not come back, and then looked again at Edward, "The No. 58 bidder has offered a price of 130 million dollars. Is there anyone else willing to bid a higher price?"

"One hundred and thirty million dollars for the first time."

"One hundred and thirty million dollars for the second time."

"One hundred and thirty million dollars for the third time. And that's the deal. Congratulations to the No.58 bidder as the new owner of Ashfran Manor!" After the auctioneer made the announcement, thunderous applause burst out.

Edward lifted his wrist to check the time and then glanced up to see Sean hurrying back.

Sean looked at Edward with a heavy expression, then shook his head in shame and quietly reported that the unidentified man had left without a trace when he chased out and all of this incident should have been planned.

Without blaming Sean, Edward got up, looked at the picture of Ashfran Manor's castle on the screen, and said, "Let Jane Sidney move into that place in three days."

....

At the same time, Jane sneezed, rubbed her nose, looked at her brother, who was fixing his car, and asked, "Are you done repairing the car, Stephen?"