Li Du bid again, and the last collector who had bid $1,042 breathed a sigh of relief. In fact, most of the people who had initially been interested in the storage unit lost interest after they looked at it. Even if some of them were still interested, they didn"t want to pay more than $1,000 for it.
Conrad"s offer of $1,000 had discouraged the other treasure hunters from bidding, and after a small price increase, it was left to him and Li Du.
After Li Du offered $1,100, Conrad immediately raised his price by a large margin. "Two thousand dollars." His bid made the treasure hunters curious, with some crowding to the door and looking in, wondering, "What"s in it that"s worth so much money?"
Li Du knew that the stuff in this storage unit was not valuable, and Conrad did not really want it. He just saw Li Du"s offer, guessed that he was interested in the storage unit, and deliberately did this to disgust him.
This was a bit of a problem. After seeing the information about Luo Qun"s parents" tragedy, he was so shocked that he subconsciously ignored the surrounding environment and let Conrad see his intentions. With his enmity with Conrad, the other side certainly wouldn"t let him get this storage unit easily. However, he was sure he had more money than Conrad, and the things in this storage unit mattered to him, so he had take it.
After Conrad"s offer, the auctioneer gleefully pointed at him and said, "Two thousand, 2,000. This young man is determined. Two thousand, who wants to bid more?"
"Ten thousand," Li Du said with a snap of his fingers. To him, $10,000 was nothing. His aim was to find out about Conrad"s determination and finances, and he was confident he would not bid for the storage unit at that price.
When Li Du made the bid, there was an uproar.
The previous storage unit did not have such a high price. The highest so far had only been $3,600, and that price had been reached after a series of bidding. Also, the price had been raised only two or three times. A storage unit that went from the base price of $500 to $10,000 shocked the treasure hunters.
The hunters in Arizona, who knew how powerful Li Du was, wondered what treasure was in the storage unit as he bid for it. More people crowded to the door, but no matter how they looked, they could not see any trace of value in the storage unit. Because of this, the treasure hunters did not dare to take part in the bidding. If Li Du was wrong to make such an offer, or if this was a trap he had set, it would be a disaster.
Conrad was confident, although he couldn"t see the value of the storage unit, either. He could see that Li Du was really interested in the unit, and that was why he was bidding.
The price of the storage unit went up to $10,000. The auctioneer was so happy, he pointed at Li Du and shouted, "Ten thousand dollars, $10,000. It seems that someone has found its value."
"Twenty thousand," Conrad said slowly.
The crowd of scavengers was about to explode. What"s in this storage unit? How could two famous hunters bid like this? Twenty thousand dollars... The other nine storage units together did not cost that much.
Li Du didn"t want to fight Conrad, but if he wanted to threaten Li Du with the price, it wasn"t going to happen. As he was about to resume his bidding, Bell squeezed over and whispered, "This storage unit is absolutely not worth $20,000, not unless I"m blind!"
"That"s true, man, but there"s something important to me in it, and I"ve got to get it."
"So that Anthony guy is bidding you up? Are you two bidding against each other now?"
Bell asked quickly.
Li Du said helplessly, "If he is willing to do so, I have to as well."
Bell shook his head and said to Conrad, "Hey, Anthony, believe me, this storage unit is not worth any money. There"s no need to make a hostile bid. Just let Li get it."
His words displeased Conrad. Clearly, Bell was biased in favor of Li Du. However, he didn"t want to offend Bell. His father had told him to be polite when he saw him. Ninety-nine percent of the scavengers didn"t want to offend Bell. The reason had to do with Bell"s nickname, "the son of G.o.d," which sounded very religious. However, Bell got the name not because of his faith, but because of who he was.
The treasure hunters were mostly rough men, but Bell was the exception. This could be seen from the way he dressed, always so meticulous, always serious. And unlike most treasure hunters, Bell was also kind, warm, and generous. Bell was probably the least wealthy of the $10,000,000 club members, with much of his money going to charities and foundations. He even set up his own charitable foundation.
He had also helped a lot of the scavengers. When things got tough and Bell could help, he would not stand idly by. It could be said that Chris Bell was a representative figure in the circle of treasure hunters. Too many people had been helped by him, and too many people owed him favors.
In this way, offending Bell was tantamount to offending many people. If such a good person like Bell was offended, it could reflect badly on the person who had offended him.
Bell"s character was also revealed in this incident. Bell had nothing to do with the bidding, but when he realized Conrad was making a hostile bid, he came out to help resolve the conflict.
In a sense, Bell"s actions were full of sacrifice and compa.s.sion for the world, like Jesus Christ, which was how he got his nickname, "the son of G.o.d."
"I"m not bidding against you, Mr. Bell. I"m really interested in the storage unit," Conrad mumbled.
Bell smiled. "I know, but I warn you, you"ll lose money if you buy it. You know your dad is working hard in New York, and you know what he expects of you!"
At this, Conrad"s brow furrowed. He rubbed his hands, looked at Li Du unwillingly, and finally said, "Twenty-five thousand!"
Li Du understood his meaning and bid. "Twenty five thousand one hundred dollars!"
After the offer, Conrad went back to the crowd, knowing what was going on. The auctioneer pointed directly at Li Du and said, "Let"s congratulate Mr. Li for winning the storage unit."
"Thank you, Chris. If it weren"t for you, I"d be bleeding today," Li Du told Bell.
Bell smiled. "I don"t think I helped much, and you"re already bleeding. I"m not sure I"ve helped you. George"s son has such a bad temper."