Chapter 134: Give It To You
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Li Du also perked up; this was the unit that he had wanted to get his hands on most at this storage auction.
It had nothing to do with the price. He had wanted to check out the issue with the material of the stone sculptures, and use it to research the little bug, as well as to find a way to help the little bug evolve.
On seeing the stone sculptures, Hans was both agitated and hesitant: "d.a.m.n, all sculptures. Not sure whose works they are, can the traces of the ident.i.ty of the sculptors be found?"
With stone or wooden sculptures, if the material was not valuable, then the price largely depended on the sculptor’s ident.i.ty. The works of regular sculptors were worthless; only those from famous sculptors were valuable.
Like the time when they got hold of the toy ceramic dinosaur sculptures; if not for them finally ascertaining that it was the great ceramicist Brett Kern’s work, they would not have fetched much.
Li Du also did not know the creator’s ident.i.ty, but he knew it probably would not be anyone famous.
Yesterday, during the time reversal, he had seen the creator’s face. None of the famous sculptors he saw on the Internet resembled him at all.
Other than sculptures, there were also tools left behind. Hans estimated the tools to fetch about 800 to 1,000 dollars, which meant that to turn a profit, they would still need to depend on the sculptures.
He looked at Li Du, who nodded his head. "Get it."
"Price?"
After some thought, Li Du said, "No limit at the moment."
On hearing this, Hans was instantly delighted. "This is a valuable storage unit, right?"
Li Du was unable to explain, he shrugged and said, "I will make the offer myself."
Hans was even happier; he misunderstood what Li Du had meant.
Everyone had finished queuing up to view the unit. The auctioneer raised his hand to name the price. "Everyone, now the bidding starts. The price will start at 500 dollars. Any takers?"
Given the lesson from the last storage unit, Li Du quickly raised his hand. Seeing this, Freddy’s voice was heard: "Don’t raise your hand and then put it down like earlier!"
Ignoring his sarcastic comments, Li Du said, "Five hundred dollars, me."
The auctioneer pointed at him. "Very good, five hundred dollars. Five hundred dollars, now six hundred dollars. Six hundred dollars, six hundred dollars..."
Freddy nodded and said, "I accept."
"Six hundred dollars accepted! Why don’t we pick up the pace? One thousand dollars. One thousand dollars, one thousand dollars, how about it?"
"One thousand dollars, okay," a middle-aged treasure hunter nodded.
The price started to shoot up. Li Du put his finger up, "Look at me, here, 2,000 dollars!"
"Two thousand one hundred dollars!"
"Here, two thousand two hundred dollars!"
"Me, two thousand four hundred dollars!"
Li Du raised his finger again, "Three thousand dollars!"
On hearing his offer, and looking at his expression, the treasure hunters became more agitated. Those who were initially not interested also started to throw in their bids.
"Three thousand two hundred dollars!"
"D*mmit, everyone has thick wallets, huh? Then I"ll offer 3,500 dollars!"
Hans pulled Li Du aside and whispered, "Bids are not won this way, buddy. Everyone knew that we had made money from previously getting the storage with the ceramic sculptures. The way you are bidding, who wouldn’t know this storage unit is valuable?"
In the business of storage auctions, news traveled fast. If anyone had gotten anything valuable, the news would travel quickly around the circuit.
Hans was right. Previously when the two of them got the storage with the ceramic toy sculptures, they tried to explain that it was based on coincidence and luck. The treasure hunters did not believe them, and thought that they had deep knowledge in the business of sculptures.
As Li Du was bidding in such a determined manner, it was unavoidable for the treasure hunters to develop certain thoughts about it.
The pricing battle was heating up, rising quickly from 3,000 dollars to 4,000 dollars, and then to 5,000 dollars.
Li Du was very interested in this storage unit, although the items in it may not be able to earn him money. However, if he could find out more about the little bug, that would be priceless.
Hence, he gritted his teeth and raised his hand, saying, "10,000 dollars!"
Once this bid was made, surprised reactions came from the crowd.
The treasure hunters started to whisper and discuss among themselves:
"G.o.d, what exactly is in this storage unit? Li has never done anything so drastic, right?
"Or maybe he was trying to trap that mad dog Freddy? I don’t think the storage unit is worth more than 10,000."
"Can’t be. Freddy stopped bidding a while ago, so he must want to get it for himself!"
The auctioneer beamed and shouted at Li Du, "Ten thousand dollars. Ten thousand dollars, ten thousand dollars. Raise your number tag and let me see. Good, number forty-nine, I remember you. Anyone want to increase the bid?"
"Yes, 10,100 dollars!" a loud voice was heard. The treasure hunters all turned to look at the owner of the voice.
Li Du also looked over in surprise, and then saw a familiar face: a Hispanic man with a long face, whom he had previously seen next to Lucas. This man’s name was Anthony.
"Good, ten thousand one hundred dollars. Ten thousand one hundred dollars, ten thousand one hundred dollars. Anyone want to bid a higher price?" the auctioneer asked happily.
Li Du smiled, and said, "Twenty thousand dollars!"
The treasure hunters were either whistling at him or clapping.
"Loaded, my brother!"
Anthony looked at him with disdain, and said, "Twenty thousand one hundred dollars!"
Li Du frowned. The sculptures in the storage unit were not worth this sum of money. If the material of the sculptures were not appealing, they might not even fetch a thousand dollars.
What he was paying for was research material for the little bug, but he could not be sure that even if he had gotten the storage, he would be able to find anything out. Hence, it did not seem wise to keep increasing the bid.
However, he still wanted to take the risk, since he had already acc.u.mulated more than 400,000 dollars. The money was made all thanks to the little bug. If he had managed to find anything out, it would be even easier to make money in future.
Hence, he raised his finger and shouted, "Fifty thousand dollars!"
The treasure hunters were stunned. Someone could not hold back and shouted, "F*ck, what is inside this d*mn storage? Is there a sculpture by Michelangelo? Fifty thousand dollars!"
Anthony was also surprised to hear this bid. The auctioneer shouted, "Fifty thousand dollars. Fifty thousand dollars, fifty thousand dollars, a top bidder has emerged today. Anybody else willing to offer a higher price?"
Hans was rubbing his hands in agitation; this was the highest price they have ever offered for a storage unit. He was estimating its value, which gave Li Du an excuse offer bids in this manner.
The man next to Anthony quickly made a call and then nodded at him.
On seeing that, Anthony’s long face showed his extreme arrogance as he yelled out, "Fifty thousand one hundred dollars!"
"Formidable!" the treasure hunters said enviously.
Li Du understood. Anthony was evidently going to shadow him, he did not know the value of the storage unit. He only felt that as Li Du was insistent on buying it, then it would surely be of great value.
In this case, there was no need for him to continue bidding. The other party kept raising the price, and he did not know his threshold. This will result in the price to pay for getting the storage unit to be too high.
At this thought, he shook his head at the auctioneer, and said, "Alright, give this storage unit to that guy!"
Someone near Anthony made boo sounds at him but Freddy’s boos were exceptionally loud, "This is the new treasure hunter of Flagstaff? A treasure hunter without even a storage unit? Haha, this is so funny!"
Li Du glanced at him and could not help saying, "Is there something wrong with your brain? Are you a r.e.t.a.r.d?"
Freddy showed him his middle finger, along with a look of contempt.