Chapter 233: Small Water Town
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
With money came willfulness—this was indeed true.
Frances was not some multi-millionaire in Hollywood, given that her market appeal was not comparable to that of popular actresses like Scarlett Johansson.
But she was indeed wealthy, with income from movies, advertisement endorsements, and as well as various savvy financial investments, her assets should be in the millions.
Afterall, she was an acclaimed actress in Hollywood, with many international film awards under her belt. She lived in a different world from those standing around her in the storage unit.
Where Frances lived was an environment known as "high society," where people lived to enjoy life.
Money to them was just a number, and using numbers to buy a gift they liked was a fair deal, right?
As for treasure hunters, many of them worked to live. They might have had 300,000 dollars in savings, but they would not use that amount of money to buy a motorcycle.
Three hundred thousand US dollars could afford a house in Los Angeles. In Flagstaff, it could pay for a small villa plus a Ferrari!
Frances had bought this motorcycle without even checking whether it could be ridden on.
In her own words, she said, "I bought it to look at it, and not to ride it. What difference does it make whether it can move?"
Li Du could not understand the way these people spent money—if it was just to take a look, why spend 300,000 dollars to buy a replica from the movie? Why not spend 30,000 dollars to make one that is the same exact size?
Happily, Frances moved the motorcycle away while the 300,000 dollars entered Hans’s account. Many treasure hunters were immensely envious at the completion of this deal.
Li Du brought Turis along to make the delivery; the motorcycle could surely not be sent using the Mercedes-Benz.
As the car passed a video shop, he let Turis stop the car to run in to buy some items.
The actress did not live in Beverly Hills; she had a country villa which was not far from the location of the storage facility. It was no wonder she could dash over so quickly.
As Li Du was unloading the motorcycle, he asked, "May I ask a personal question?"
With her permission, he continued, "Why don’t you live in Beverly Hills?"
Frances smiled. "First of all, housing costs too much—I don’t wish to spend so much on housing. Secondly, there's too much paparazzi and too many tourists—I don’t like not having privacy."
After driving the truck back, Li Du distributed personally autographed photos of the actress; everyone got one.
Turis was especially delighted; his autographed photo was one of him standing with the actress.
After clearing the two storage units, the four trucks were filled to the brim, as storage unit 11 was huge.
In the evening, once they were completely finished packing everything, Hans waved and shouted, "Bros, let’s go drink to our hearts’ content tonight! Tomorrow we shall meet at the Golden Coast!"
"Yeah!" Turis, Olly and the rest cheered.
Needless to say, dinner and the next day’s activities would be paid for by the two of them. Since they had just made 300,000 dollars, it was only right for them to give everyone a treat.
Hans even wanted to throw a party because he was sure this time they would be able to join The Hundred Thousand Club!
They experienced a huge success at this auction in Los Angeles; it had more than exceeded their expectations. Their monetary gains were in fact secondary to their reward in terms of the fame they have gotten.
The treasure hunters at this auction had come from various areas on the West Coast. As these treasure hunters continued to travel to various auctions in different places, both their names would spread along with them.
Furthermore, they were now considered high-level treasure hunters from Flagstaff—something like a sage or a swordmaster from those online games. In this circle, they were considered leading figures.
Frank and York were the biggest losers of this auction, and had inevitably become Hans’s and Li Du’s stepping stones to fame. The past few times both sides had clashed, the two of them had gained nothing, and lost everything!
As they stared at the Iron Knight as it left the storage facility, Frank’s face darkened as he cursed, "I hope they die in a car crash on the road—I don’t want to see them ever again!" This auction had indeed been a huge blow!
But he must have felt embarrassed for saying that, and then added, "If we see them again, we must crush their arrogance—I don’t believe that they will be so lucky every time!"
York added, "Right—we were unlucky this time."
Frank glared at him offensively. "Was it just a matter of luck? Bro, we gotta talk about the issue of storage unit 3—this is a problem."
York was annoyed. "Frank, what do you mean? Are we not partners?"
"Because we’re partners, we’ve gotta split the difference," Frank said icily. "The 100,000 dollars for storage unit 3 should come from you."
"F*ck!" York cursed in anger.
The storage company’s location was in the southeastern part of LA, near Long Beach. This could be because Long Beach had a wharf and a port, which facilitated transportation.
Li Du and the rest did not return to where they came from, but instead went to a town nearby—Venice.
Venice was a seaside town next to LA. Like the Venice in Italy, it offered sunshine, the beach, and waves, and was a beautiful recreational destination.
However, it did not have the quaint charm of Italy’s Venice. Instead, there were many young skateboarders, superb basketballers, and surfing experts in this Venice.
The existence of these athletes filled the town with life and energy. In addition, there were many artists, poets, and painters who gave the town an artistic atmosphere.
Venice was full of color and had only been established about a hundred years ago. Before, it had been a deserted swampland.
In 1904, American tobacco merchant Abbott Kinney had bought the land with plans to develop it into a world-class travel destination.
Later on, to increase its appeal, he had named this piece of land "Venice."
Of course, the entire town was modeled after Venice, the floating city—the charming buildings, the wharf by the beach, the gondolas in the canals—everything was just like the floating city.
Having found a motel frequented by treasure hunters, Hans, Li Du, and everyone else went in.
There were privileges for the treasure hunters who stayed at this motel, named "Bearded Uncle"—it came with breakfast and complimentary parking. This helped Li Du and Hans save a little bit of cash.
After parking the car, Li Du brought Ah Meow and Crispy Noodles out. It was his first time in this town and he wanted to walk around.
The location of their motel was pretty good. Once they stepped out, they were already at the famous Venice Beach Boardwalk.
This boardwalk was a performance venue for oddities, like a human zoo, or what was known as a "freakshow."
Li Du had long heard of this place. It was an avant-garde cultural melting pot, where many people liked to stand out in their appearances.
For example, he bumped into a young group of people once they got out of the truck. With braids on their head, they were wearing cheap sunglasses, had colorful Jamaican berets on their heads, and laughed wildly like lunatics as they passed him.