Chapter 788: Like in the beginning
Ye Qing Huan looked at Lin Fan with narrowed eyes when she heard this.
It didn't seem like she was offended, but Lin Fan wasn't able to tell what she was thinking just based on this expression on her face.
It really didn't seem like she was thinking anything with the way that she was looking at him…
But he knew that this wouldn't be the case.
After a long period of silence, she suddenly revealed a faint smile as she said, "Do you not like spending time with me that much?"
Lin Fan was completely taken aback by the way that she acted. His chin even dropped as he looked at her.
Ye Qing Huan didn't say anything as she kept looking at him with the same smile on her face.
In the end, Lin Fan could only shake his head and say, "That's not the case. It's just that…"
His voice drifted off as if he wasn't certain what to say.
Ye Qing Huan looked like she had already expected this, so she suddenly said, "It's just that you have no idea what we're doing here, right?"
Lin Fan was surprised to hear this, but he slowly gave a nod of agreement.
Ye Qing Huan didn't answer this question that she herself asked and looked up at the sky to see what the time was. That was a strange thing since they were underground, but it turned out that the ceiling above them was designed in a way that mimicked the cycle of the sun above the ground.
That meant that it was fine to use it to tell the time.
After looking at the sky for a bit, she just said, "How about we get some lunch first? After that, we'll go to the place that we came here for."
Lin Fan was a bit surprised by this proposal, but he could see that Ye Qing Huan had her own plan.
In that case, it was fine to go along with her and see what she was up to.
Though he couldn't help being filled with doubt since she insisted on keeping everything secret.
Lunch was at a place that was far more luxurious than any other places that they've eaten at since coming to this town. It was a place that specialized in serving meals for cultivators, which meant that the meals were on a different level.
They used spirit beast meat and special herbs that could be used for cultivation.
So just by eating these meals, some lower rank cultivators might even break through.
Though it didn't do anything for Lin Fan, much less Ye Qing Huan.
There was no doubt that such a meal was quite expensive, but they didn't need to pay in the end.
When the meal was over, Ye Qing Huan simply stood up and walked out as if she was dining and dashing.
However, there wasn't a single person who stopped her.
Even the waiter who was right beside the table even bowed to her and said, "Thank you for dining with us."
There was no mention of money at all.
When Lin Fan looked around closely, he found that the people dining here were all people with gold trimmed black masks.
It also didn't seem like any of them had any intention of paying as they just ate and drank whatever they wanted.
"This is a privilege of having this mask." Ye Qing Huan said in a simple words.
Lin Fan had already guessed that this was the case, but it was made clear when Ye Qing Huan confirmed it.
It turned out that the reason that she didn't pay, the reason that no one paid was that this was one of the privileges that came from having the gold rimmed black mask.
This restaurant was one of the special privileges that the black market offered to those that had this special status.
As long as they had this gold rimmed black mask, they were entitled to eat here for free.
For the black market to give this kind of privilege, one could be certain that it must cost quite a bit to even get this gold rimmed black mask in the first place.
Lin Fan was almost afraid to ask just how much it cost for Ye Qing Huan to get them these masks…
No, it shouldn't be a problem for Ye Qing Huan to get these masks since she was from the Heavenly Demon Sect. The Heavenly Demon Sect was a completely different beast, it was on a completely different level from everyone else.
It should have only taken a few words for her to get these things.
Since they had finished eating, Lin Fan asked once more, "Where are we going now?"
She had said that she would tell him after lunch, but she still hadn't said a thing.
Instead, she just hooked her arms around his arm and dragged him around just like before. The way that she walked forward was as if she didn't know where she was going at all.
So it really didn't seem like Ye Qing Huan had a plan.
As expected, her answer was, "Just wait, you'll see soon."
Lin Fan revealed a bitter smile, but he didn't say anything in response.
But after a few minutes, he could tell that there were more people around them.
It was as if everyone was gathering in a certain place for something.
If Lin Fan had to guess, he would say that this was related to the thing that Ye Qing Huan wanted to tell him.
It turned out that there was an event that was happening in this black market, that was the reason why Ye Qing Huan came here in the first place.
It was only that he didn't know what this event was.
"Did you hear? There are some special items in the auction this time?"
"Who doesn't know that already?"
"Right, that's the reason why there's so many people here in the first place."
It wasn't hard to figure out since there were so many people and they all seemed to be talking about it. This event wasn't a private affair since it seemed to be one that everyone in the black market knew about.
That was why they were all heading to the tower that was in the center of the black market.
That was where the auction was being held.
"So it turns out that there's an auction being held here and there are some special items. That certainly is a special event that we shouldn't miss, but…don't you think that we're standing out a bit too much?" Lin Fan asked Ye Qing Huan.
Even though there was a crowd around them, they weren't really squeezed in by the crowd. It was as if the crowd went out of their way to give them their space as they made sure that they didn't come too close to the two of them.
It was all because of the gold rimmed black masks.
Ye Qing Huan just calmly said, "It's fine since these masks also guarantee that they will never reveal our identities. This will make it easier for us to bid on things that we need."
Lin Fan immediately understood what she meant by this.
His first thought had been that she just wanted to keep an eye on what was happening here, but now he realized that there were things that she wanted to get as well.
The things that the people around them mentioned, those special items in the auction.
It was very likely that Ye Qing Huan needed them for when they went for the Divine Blood Fruit.
Realizing this, Lin Fan suddenly felt that he had completely misunderstood Ye Qing Huan.
While it seemed like the things that she did didn't make any sense, it turned out that she had a bigger plan the entire time. It seemed that everything that happened was in the palm of her hands and she was in full control.
Shaking his head and giving a sigh, Lin Fan said, "It seems like I was wrong about you. I'm sorry."
Ye Qing Huan had a surprised look at first since she didn't expect an apology all of a sudden, but then she said with a smile, "This isn't just for me alone, it's for the both of us. You don't have to worry about anything, I'll take care of it all."
Lin Fan couldn't help feeling a bit disheartened because of this, but he still gave a nod in the end.
Ye Qing Huan came even closer when she saw that nod before saying in a softer voice that Lin Fan almost missed, but he still heard it clearly for some reason. It was as if she was using something to make sure that he would be able to hear her.
"This is just like in the beginning. This is just like when we first met, though the situation is a bit different now."
Lin Fan was confused when he heard this since he didn't know what she was referring to.
After all, it didn't seem anything like the first time that they met.
But when he thought about it, he realized what she was referring to.
The auction where he had met Ye Tian Xie, that was the first time that they met.
He thought it was strange after remembering the auction since he never met Ye Qing Huan at that time and had only met Ye Tian Xie, but he also remembered getting a notification at that time.
That showed that she had indeed been at the auction as well.
So in a sense, it was like how they first met.
Though now the relationship was much closer than at that time.