Chapter 344: Eat, Sleep, Play

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

Li Du didn’t attend the rest of the auction. There was nothing valuable left behind in the units being auctioned off. If he attended, it would just be a waste of his time.

The other treasure hunters, however, didn’t know this. They were in a dilemma. A part of them wanted to watch as they cleared up the unit, while the other wanted to return to attend the auction.

Li Du couldn’t understand their thinking, and said, "What’s the point of standing around here for? Why not go back to the auction and make some money?"

"They need motivation," Hans said, his eyebrow twitching. "Motivation for continuing in this business."

"What do you mean?" Li Du asked, clueless.

Hans explained, "They know that even if they attend the auction, they probably wouldn’t make much money out of it. Might as well stay and see how we’re about to make tons of money—use us as a motivator to keep going. Or, they could imagine being us."

Li Du understood—to some extent—why they were here: to satisfy themselves. "But I still don’t get it. What’s the use in staying here to watch?"

Hans shut the door of the truck and said, "You don’t understand, buddy. You’re a natural in this business. It’s almost as if you have G.o.d’s blessing. We’re not. Most of us aren’t.

"You’ve never experienced it before," he said, shaking his head. "The feeling of attending five or six consecutive auctions, and only breaking even, or even going into the red. It’s miserable.

"That feeling makes you want to leave this business, but you know you can’t because you want to persevere down this road. So what do you do?

"You watch others strike rich to motivate yourself. As long as you persevere, eventually, you’ll be like them and strike rich."

"You have a deep understanding of this," Li Du said.

Hans shrugged. "If I tell you more about the past screw-ups I had, you’ll discover that I have an even deeper level of understanding than you realize. Let’s go!"

They found a new motel to stay in. Beside it was an exciting-looking restaurant, as well as Griffith Park.

Griffith Park was one of America’s largest city parks. It was five times larger than New York’s famous Central Park. There were outdoor theaters, a zoo, an observatory, a museum, and a children’s playground.

"What are we here for?" Li Du laughed. "We’re not on vacation."

Hans asked him to wait for a bit. He went to the ticketing booth and came back with a postcard. He displayed it to Li Du. "Ta-da, a mysterious card, right in front of your eyes."

The postcard, which was a 3D pop-out card, was extremely beautiful. When it opened, a wonderful park emerged.

"It really is pretty," Li Du exclaimed.

"Of course," Hans said. "A souvenir from Griffith Park. You can’t get it from anywhere else. It’s a perfect gift."

"Thanks, brother." Li Du went up to give him a bear hug.

"Let’s hope Sophie will be as touched when she receives it," Hans laughed. "Remember, if she jumps into your arms, then quickly confess."

"Sure, I will," Li Du said.

Since they were already here, they naturally wouldn’t miss out on the chance to tour.

The park was huge. There was no way they could tour the whole thing in one go. Hans led them to a strolling path.

"This path is very rugged, isn’t it amazing? If any of you liked the original Spiderman movies, then you can follow it. It will eventually lead to one of the caves where they shot one of the scenes."

Hans was introducing to them to the park like a tour guide.

After going around the outer areas, the sun started setting, the sky turning dark.

The four walked to the restaurant while they chatted. Business was booming in the restaurant, but Hans had already made a reservation. They went in right on time and were able to get their seats almost immediately.

After sitting down, Hans said, "The dishes here are very famous too. They have all sorts of fruit salads, fresh vegetable salads, tofu rolls, vegetarian curry, and homemade red tea. Everything is worth a try."

For their main course, they ordered flame-grilled lamb, chicken shawarma, cold eggplant with dipping sauce, homemade pitas, and all sorts of fresh seafood.

"Here in LA," Hans continued, "we definitely must try the seafood. You can’t get this kind of seafood in Flagstaff. It’s not as fresh."

Li Du was quite interested in the seafood, so he ordered a grilled Alaskan king crab. Once it was served, the king crab was shockingly huge, almost the size of a human baby.

The beverages they ordered were the draft beer and local whiskey. Li Du chose to drink plain water. He didn’t want to make it a habit of getting intoxicated every day.

They had their fill, but the activities for the day were not over yet. Hans now brought them to the nearby Griffith Observatory.

The observatory was built in 1935, and there were three prominent viewing spots. There was also a high-tech planetarium inside, and the Leonard Nimoy Event Horizon presentation theater.

As long as the skies were clear, they could observe the stars.

"Don’t you like astronomy Li? Big Quinn, you too—didn’t you study astronomy? Alright, today, you guys can let loose."

"Look for aliens," G.o.dzilla joked.

This topic had sparked Hans’s interest. He said, "When I was young, I would always wonder about this. What about you guys? Are there aliens out there?"

Pondering this, Big Quinn mumbled, "Well, purely guessing, I would go with yes. They might even have a whole civilization, since the universe is so wide!"

"There is no doubt about this," Li Du said. "They’re there. Us to them, would be like how ants are to us. All sorts of lifeforms exist on Earth, right? So why not throughout the universe?"

"I agree with boss."

Hans was trying to annoy them. "But you guys don’t have any evidence. No one has discovered life outside of Earth."

Li Du let out the bug. He gazed at this strange bug as he mumbled, "No, there is. I’ve seen it. It’s just that you guys can’t see it."

Hans laughed, "Alright, you have a pair of mystical eyes. We’re relying on those eyes of yours to make money. Let’s go in and watch the stars."

"What are you going in for? You’re not interested in this."

"I’m going in to pick up chicks," Hans said. "Also, I’m actually quite interested in stargazing as well. I studied astrology in university, and even interned with a fortune teller."

"Interning on the bed, right?" Li Du mocked.

Hans gave him a cheeky smile. "No, but we did end up on the bed."

There was a fee for renting telescopes. Li Du didn’t care about these small fees and rented an observatory platform with Big Quinn. Through the powerful telescopes, they watched the stars.

Hans had been off with his guess: Li Du didn’t like astronomy. He just liked watching the starry sky.

He preferred watching the starry sky directly with his own eyes, to feel the magnificence of the entire celestial night sky.

However, he hadn’t wanted to reject Hans’s good intentions. Also, he didn’t have the experience of watching the night sky through a telescope, so this was still something new to him at least.

They left only when the observatory was about to close. After a good night’s rest, they prepared to return to Flagstaff the next day.

However, right when they were about to depart from the motel, Hans’s phone rang.