They all call me an Outer God.

"My ability allows me to force exchanges and extract faith from transactions, which can be considered a form of meme contamination. However, I have no idea what kind of meme contamination other black market traders use."

"As the master of trade, I am truly incompetent."

Lia couldn't help but laugh at himself, but somehow those people made him drowsy, and that familiar feeling of exhaustion washed over him again.

Before losing consciousness, Ria heard conversations around her, as if other people had come to the scene.

"Boss."

"..."

"Boss, we followed the Plague Doctor, but we unexpectedly gained something. This person can heal himself after being injured, so he must be an extraordinary being. So now we need to..."

"..."

"Good! Good! You are truly wise!"

The conversation abruptly stopped.

When Ria regained consciousness, she heard a cacophony of crying all around her.

He opened his eyes, his mouth dry, and shouted, "What are you yelling about! Your dad is dying of thirst. Instead of yelling, you should hurry up and give your dad some water."

After the child shouted those words, he clearly felt that the surroundings became much quieter. A man wearing a half-mask, revealing only the lower half of his face, as if attending some dark banquet, held a wine glass filled with crimson liquid, which swayed and rippled in the firelight, the bubbles in the wine being crushed by the shaking.

He brought the wine glass close to the goods bound in the cage, examined them carefully, then smiled and brought the wine glass close to the child.

"I have no water here, only wine."

"Want to drink?"

The man asked, but the next second, he suddenly replied, "It's illegal to give alcohol to underage children without their consent."

"So you can keep thirsting for it. Rather than you having the energy to shout, my esteemed customers would rather see the products struggling and yearning for their salvation. Believe me, your struggles will drive the buyers crazy."

Then, the crystal-clear red wine poured down, landing on the man's head and then spreading all over his skin.

Drinks dripped from Ria's wet hair, but Ria didn't react much, only flinching slightly.

He now appears to have regained some autonomy.

So Ria lowered her head and said, "I know, I'll be good."

I will be good—

Do you believe?

……

After Ria was captured, those people, with the intention of maximizing the utilization of superhumans, turned around and sold him to the underground black market as a commodity.

The method of selling these items is through auction.

The underground auction attracted people from all walks of life. Famous nobles who usually showed their faces in public, members of parliament who could dominate the council with their words, and wealthy merchants all flocked here after hearing that the auction was for extraordinary individuals.

They use masks to conceal their identities and to separate the world above ground from the world below.

Extraordinary individuals, especially young ones, are absolutely priceless treasures; anyone with a discerning eye would understand their value.

On the surface, people fear their abilities, belittle those patients, and regard them as a scourge. But if you really want to admit it, who doesn't envy the extraordinary?

They possess supernatural abilities that can turn the mundane into the miraculous, and can do almost anything at will. Ordinary people are like tiny ants in front of them.

Thus, a rumor arose.

The extraordinary are the spreaders of the plague. If one can find a way to obtain the plague, one can become extraordinary and join the extraordinary ranks.

This propaganda is enough to entice those with exceptional skills and daring to take risks and search extensively for and capture or hunt down superhumans.

Although more often than not they are the ones being hunted, things are different now. The auction is for a young superhuman, who is young and not yet very powerful, but can be nurtured over time.

Besides, I've heard she's quite good-looking.

Based on the above conditions, the auction was packed with guests, and the level of excitement even surpassed that of some of the most anticipated mystery items in previous years.

The price of extraordinary individuals is higher than that of gold; they can be described as priceless.

When Ria appeared before them, soaking wet and imprisoned in a cage, he heard the crowd reveling. Then, a tall, beautiful woman approached the cage and used her short whip to lift his chin, forcing him to look directly at the crowd.

Lia was no stranger to this scene; he had been a businessman and, naturally, a commodity.

The faces of the crowd below the stage were hidden in darkness, only their eyes revealed a greedy gleam, no different from thousands of jackals lurking in the shadows. Their eerie gazes and the sounds of wild beasts swallowing complemented each other perfectly.

"Ladies and gentlemen, distinguished guests, this child is the final item in this auction. Wild superhumans are not protected by plague doctors, so you can bid with confidence."

The woman smiled gently, her red lips shining brighter than candlelight.

"Perhaps this doesn't fully convey the direct value of extraordinary individuals, so let's have some light entertainment—"

As she spoke, she pulled a short knife from the belt on her thigh and slashed it mercilessly across the neck of the auction item.

"Thorn."

The sight of blood gushing out startled the buyers in the audience, but many more became increasingly embarrassed and stood up on the spot.

They witnessed a miracle.

The gushing blood quickly stopped, and the gruesome wound on the neck healed at a visible speed before everyone's eyes.

"Hehehe, are you satisfied, everyone?" The girl's gentle yet seductive voice rang out softly, and the people below the stage went wild.

"Give me a quote quickly!"

"Make an offer now! I'm taking this guy!"

"Okay." The girl held her bright red index fingernail to her lips.

"Starting price: 7.5 million gold coins. Each bid must be at least 500,000 gold coins higher."

"Boom!!!" The crowd erupted in chaos, with shouts, threats, and calls for higher prices filling the air.

The auctioneer's grin widened.

Lia found a slightly more comfortable position and calmly watched the crowd's revelry, as if he wasn't the one being auctioned off, as if the auction had nothing to do with him.

It was as if he were the one who should sit high above, witnessing and controlling all of this trade.

Three hundred million gold coins!

Three hundred and five hundred million gold coins!

Four hundred million gold coins!

"Five billion!"

"I'll pay 800 million!"

"Eight hundred and five hundred thousand!"

"Are you trying to mess with me? Fifteen billion! Fifteen billion, I want this person—"

A booming voice, louder than anything else, drowned out everything else, and as the price was announced, everyone else fell silent.

(End of this chapter)