Chapter 784: Choosing Raw Stones

Hayley’s POV:

“That makes four!”

“Preston has this locked down! With those earlier finds, he’s already pulled four top-grade raw stones. There aren’t many left, so unless something crazy happens, he’s the winner for sure!”

“Where’s that foolish and arrogant Omega? I haven’t seen her at all. Did she chicken out?”

I glanced over indifferently. Over by the stone-cutting area, Preston was soaking up the crowd’s praise, and a woman was quietly standing next to him.

I knew her. It was Becky. We’d just met the day before.

I steered clear of the crowd, making it look like I was leading Humbert around the inner room. I acted like I was seriously checking out the stones before strolling back outside.

“Ms. Carson, Preston has already found a bunch of top-grade emeralds these past two days. There’s probably nothing good left,” Humbert said as he followed closely behind.

“Mhm,” I responded calmly.

Then, I stepped out of the inner room and into the outer hall, where the lower-grade stones were kept.

Humbert rushed ahead, clearly stressed. “Ms. Carson, you probably missed it, but the Hanovers always get their best picks from the inner area.

“Anything from the outer hall is trash. Let’s go back before it’s too late!”

“Mhm.” I wasn’t in the mood to explain, so I just nodded and kept walking along the outer hall, checking out the display tables. I didn’t stop until I got to the person handling registrations and read off some numbers. “10896…11023 …”

Five stones total, all with IDs in the ten-thousands.

Humbert looked completely let down. He didn’t say another word and just trailed behind me quietly, no longer pushing me to pick from the inner room.

It got a lot quieter after that.

At this event, the raw stones were numbered based on the organizers’ first evaluation. Smaller numbers meant a better shot at finding emeralds. Higher numbers meant worse quality.

The top 6,000 raw stones were in the inner room. All the ones I picked came from the outer area.

From the way Humbert stared at me, it was obvious he thought I had no clue how rock betting worked.

He gave it one more shot. “Ms. Carson, we still have time. Maybe we can still grab something decent.

“Even if we can’t win, at least we can try not to lose too badly by choosing something from the inner area. Maybe a miracle will happen like with the Winterbite Pack.”

I smiled and patted his shoulder. “Miracles are always around you. You’re just too nervous. Chill.”

Even after I said that, he was still on edge.

“Come on, Boss. There might be leftovers worth grabbing. That’s better than picking through junk just to fill a quota.”

“Alright. Go pick what you want. I’ll pay,” I replied patiently.

He looked like he wanted to argue further, but I cut him off with a hand gesture. “Mr. Byrd, I respect your choices, so please respect mine. Picking up a few extra stones won’t do any harm. Why are you so stuck on changing my mind?

“Seriously, if you keep pushing, you’ll just waste the time you’ve got left to choose your stuff. So focus on your picks and leave mine alone.”

I’d had enough of his nagging, so I let a bit of my Alpha aura leak out. Humbert immediately went quiet and gave me a nervous glance before nodding.

He didn’t bring up the inner room again. Instead, he just turned to the staff and said, “Please register these for my boss.”

“Alright, just making sure. You’ve only picked one other raw stone before this. Are you sure you want to pick raw stones from the outer hall on the final day? And that many?”

The staff member gave us a puzzled look.

She spoke loudly on purpose, and people nearby started paying attention right away.

As soon as they spotted me, their faces lit up with interest.

“Hey, check it out! That bold Omega finally picked something!”

“You’ve gotta be kidding. She’s been using outer hall stones this whole time?”

“She probably knows she’s already lost and just wants to make a scene. Maybe she’s here as part of some publicity stunt.”

“Choosing outer hall stones? That’s the same as throwing in the towel.”

They didn’t hold back their ridicule at all.

Nobody in that crowd believed in the stones I had chosen.