Chapter 223: Direct Confrontation
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
With a 100,000-dollar offer being called, the auctioneer unconsciously dug a finger into his ear to clean it out, hoping he had heard things right. Even with his long experience in this business, he was shocked by the bid.
For these kinds of large-scale auctions, as long as there was no special item that dictated the value of the units, the longer the auction proceeded, the lower the final offers would be. This was due to treasure hunters getting tired and less excited, and thus their interest in the units would dwindle.
Take this auction for example: yesterday, there were more than 1,000 people who attended. Today, there were only 500 people, with some just here to watch for fun.
So 100,000 dollars offered for a unit was shocking, and was the highest bid yet! What was even more astounding to the auctioneer was that the offer was made by an unknown Chinese fella.
Perhaps Li Du had some fame in the world of storage auctions in Flagstaff, but once he went to LA, or anywhere else on the west coast of the US, that fame was gone.
Even if Li Du didn’t end up making much money from this auction, he had still earned something. The confrontation between Frank and him had boosted his reputation across all of LA’s storage auction industry.
Hearing the 100,000-dollar offer, Frank was hesitant. York held him back and shook his head, saying, "Forget it, there will be more opportunities later."
Hearing that, for some reason, Frank turned mad again, and shouted with all the strength from his throat, "Screw him! I’ll go 110,000!"
Li Du evaluated the overall value in his mind: the only thing valuable in the unit were those props from the movie, "Troy." Besides those, he didn’t see anything else of worth.
Also, those props were ultimately just props, and not the real, antique weapons from the Battle of Troy. The most they could sell for was 100,000 dollars or so—any more, and the unit would not be worth the raise in price.
The reason he had offered 100,000 dollars wasn’t that he was trying to spite Frank, but because he had evaluated this unit to be able to sell for more than 100,000 dollars.
If he could buy this unit without making a loss, he would do it, since it would spite Frank. But now, the bid had gone too high. He shook his head and backed out.
The auctioneer saw him shake his head, and was too lazy to continue asking for any other takers. Immediately, he pointed to Frank. "Alright, buddy, this unit belongs to you—110,000 is the highest amount today, what a good fella…"
Frank made a cut-throat action to Li Du; his glare was snarky, and his attitude arrogant. Moving on to the next storage unit, York walked past Li Du and the others, and suddenly stopped beside him. "We’ve underestimated you," he said.
Li Du looked at him without expression and without a word.
York smiled. "That unit just now, you went hard on it, but we got it."
"One hundred ten thousand for a unit? Is there gold inside?" Hans mocked.
York shrugged. "There was once an occasion where we got a unit with gold. There was someone who said those words then as well, but soon after, he was crying tears of regret."
Li Du finally opened his mouth to speak. "If that unit has gold, I’ll present my head to you!"
"But that unit is definitely worth 110,000," York smiled. "You think I’m here to threaten you? No, I’m here to brag. A pity you don’t know what’s inside. You’ll regret it."
Li Du rubbed his chin—he was starting to figure out a few things now, judging from what York had said.
The other party might have known the details of the unit, that there were movie props from Troy. It appeared that the main reason for their offers was not just to spite Li Du.
Unit 29 had some musical instruments. Warner Bros. had filmed several movies with musical themes.
Li Du was interested. If these musical instruments were authentic, they could be worth quite a bit.
They didn’t make any bids, but instead, informed Turís and the others to let them bid for it. He had to let his followers make some money as well.
The price rose to 5,000 dollars before stopping. Seeing that Turís was about to get it, Frank raised the price again, shouting, "10,000!"
Li Du looked at him with suspicion. He couldn’t tell if he was just making an offer because of his attitude, or if he had discovered those musical instruments at the back. Turís challenged the offer, and with Frank firmly latching on, the price quickly shot up to 20,000 dollars.
With that, Li Du shook his head, hinting to Turís to back out. Anymore than 20,000, and they might make a loss with that unit.
During the auctions for the next five units, as long as anyone from Li Du’s side made an offer, Frank and his followers would compete, and very aggressively.
The treasure hunters noticed it, and soon, someone said, "Li, you guys are gonna end up with nothing soon."
"Frank and the others are all rich fellas, guys—you can’t win against them."
"It wasn’t a good idea to offend Frank. You guys are in trouble!"
Li Du looked sullen; it seemed that he was helpless against the situation.
Turís and the others seemed unconcerned. Reeves even patted his shoulder and said, "It’s fine, Li. At least we’ve gained some experience. That’s also a good result."
"Yeah, Li. Don’t take it to heart," Olly consoled him. "It’s not like there will be results every auction."
Li Du slowly nodded. "I have my plans, guys. Frank wants to have a fight? Then fine, we’ll have a fight! I’ll confront him directly!"
Hans knew him too well. Once he heard that, he immediately understood what he meant, and said quietly. "Hey, brother, it’s not so simple to go against him! That guy is more experienced than all of us, and more cunning as well. He knows every kind of trick!"
Turís also knew what he was planning, and said, "If you guys want to exaggerate the bids to set him up, then we might very possibly shoot our own foots here!"
Li Du said, "I have my ways, fellas."
Unit 34 was opened; he personally took charge and made the bids, from 1,000 dollars, he raised it to 5,000 dollars
From the outside, it looked as if there wasn’t anything valuable, just a bunch of junk. It seemed that even paying 1,000 dollars would result in a loss.
But Li Du knew that there were some exquisite chandeliers kept in the boxes. Those could sell for some money.
Frank followed, offering 6,000 dollars.
Li Du raised the price to 10,000 dollars, and then glanced toward Frank out of the corner of his eye.
Frank walked away without making any more bids. Instead, he shook his head and scoffed, "Idiot, 10,000 dollars for a pile of junk! You think you can trick me by exaggerating the price? Dumb*ss!"
Li Du was clear on what to do next.
Unit 35 was opened, and he began executing his plans.
There were two motorcycles in this unit, painted black and white with a "POLICE" decal on the sides. They seemed to have been used by the police.
For fans who were familiar with movies from Warner Bros., these two bikes would not be foreign to them. They were 1000cc Kawasaki bikes for police use. They were well-known and had appeared in "The Terminator" movie.
In "The Terminator," there was one scene where the T-1000 robot that came from the future had masqueraded as a cop to chase Sarah Conner and the T-800.
The motorcycle ridden by the T-1000 was this model.
However, Li Du had used his bug’s ability to see the pasts of the items. These two motorcycles were not the original vehicles, but were imitations made for movie advertising.