Chapter 546: A Righteous Man
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
The storage unit contained a lot of sports equipment, and it had been stored well. Regardless of whether they were tourists or treasure hunters, everyone was full of interest for this unit.
The tourists found it weird that Hans shook his head and discouraged them to go after the unit. They asked, "The great Treasure Tycoon, what is not good about the unit? Why do you not recommend us to participate?"
"That's because I know the reason why all of you are participating in this auction. All of you are doing this out of interest and want to experience what it's like to be a treasure hunter. Of course, if you can earn some cash out of it, that's even better, right?"
The tourists nodded to agree with Hans. In fact, when they realized that the business could make money, they actually wanted to make more money. They couldn't bring themselves to say this, however—it would be shameful to say so.
"There is no doubt that this unit is worth more than the previous ones," continued Hans. "But what does this mean? This means that there are more competitors bidding for the unit—it will require more cash to win the bid!
"Even if you won the unit and there's still a profit margin, do you have the time to deal with it? As you can see, there is too much sports equipment inside. If you want to earn more money, you'll need to sell it in batches to the sports store, and this requires a lot of time and energy . . . "
Listening to Hans's explanation, the tourists felt that it made a lot of sense and many of them decided not to bid for the unit.
The auctioneer raised his hand for attention. "Everyone has seen what's inside this unit—even I can tell that it's worth bidding on. So I think the starting bid of 500 dollars is reasonable . . ."
Just when the auctioneer mentioned the starting bid, Li Du immediately chimed in, "1,000 dollars!"
This was the largest increase of the entire bid. The auctioneer was elated. He pointed at Li and shouted, "Okay, 1,000 dollars, 1000 dollars, 1,000 dollars, this friend here bid 1,000 dollars, how 'bout 1,100 dollars?"
"Me." One treasure hunter raised his hand.
Another treasure hunter placed his bid. "One thousand two hundred dollars."
A tourist finally made up his mind to bid. "One thousand three hundred dollars."
Although Hans had discouraged them from bidding on the unit, some wanted to try their luck at getting the unit at a low price. After all, the profit margin seemed good enough.
"Two thousand dollars!" Li Du made his bid in an imposing voice, loud and clear without hesitation. He also directly faced the tourists. It looked like he wanted to fulfill what he had said earlier.
The main goal of the tourists was to sightsee and enjoy themselves. They had come to the United States for leisure. It was not in their agenda to create trouble or provoke anyone. Seeing Li Du's aggressive bid was kind of daunting.
Nevertheless, there was still one tourist who really liked the unit; he gritted his teeth and said, "2,100 dollars."
Li Du arrogantly made another bid, yelling, "5,000 dollars! Who else wants it?!"
The tourists gasped, taking in a mouthful of hot air. This price was too high. Even when the final bid price for the previous eight units was totaled up, it did not equal 5,000 dollars.
Actually, the bid of 5,000 dollars was not aimed at the tourists, but intended for the treasure hunters instead. He didn't want them bidding either.
Hans was not trying to mislead the tourists about the unit. What he had said was the truth. It would be troublesome to handle the items if the tourists won the unit.
But the treasure hunters would have no problem handling the unit. They had the resources, the time, and the energy required to clear and sell the items.
Therefore, they were definitely interested in winning the unit. Li Du was not interested in fighting a tug of war with the treasure hunters. He had to win by acting as though he was interested in the unit, but instead wanted to keep it from falling into the hands of the tourists.
If the treasure hunters realized his real motive, then the price could get out of control.
A storage unit containing sports equipment was not worth 5,000 dollars in the eyes of the treasure hunters. No matter how they looked at the unit, they felt that the amount was too high; it was not cost-effective.
And as they backed off from bidding, the auctioneer proceeded to wave and began his auction chant; "5,000 dollars, 5,000 dollars, 5,000 dollars, anyone want to make a bid? Okay then, 5,000 dollars once . . . twice . . . deal!"
Li Du nodded. Finally, he got hold of the unit. Everything had gone well.
The tenth unit was opened for viewing, and soon another round of bidding started.
He didn't participate in the subsequent units as there wasn't much value in them.
Hans and Lu Guan carried on using their gift of gab to make the tourists bid for the units. The tourists won a beautiful battle against the treasure hunters by taking the majority of the units.
The treasure hunters were exasperated by the tourists, as well as Hans. Someone reprimanded, "Big Fox, you d*md traitor, how could you help these foreigners bully your own people!?"
These words made the Korean tourists respect Hans more, and they started to believe every single word he said.
When the auction ended, the tourists cheered in joy. They clapped and high-fived each other and went to pay for the units as well as clear them out.
Li Du paid for his unit. Godzilla and Big Quinn opened the unit to start their work. The resentful treasure hunters started to leave.
When Li saw that, he waved to them. "Hey, why's everyone leaving now?"
A local treasure hunter gave him a wry smile. "We don't have any storage units. Why would we want to stay? Is there a show or something?"
Li Du broke into laughter. "Who says you don't have a unit? Don't all these units belong to all of you?"
The treasure hunters were confused. "What do you mean? They belong to those greenhorns."
"These greenhorns bid out of fun," said Li Du. "Do you really think they can handle all the items in there? Are they really aware of the value of the unit?"
The treasure hunters began to understand what he meant; they no longer looked as glum.
The tourists had thought too lightly of the storage auction industry. They thought they could get valuable items by winning the storage units.
The reality was that they would need to ascertain the value of the items and look for proper channels to sell them. Plus, they needed to spend a lot of time clearing the units within 24 hours; there were a lot of things to consider.
Li Du believed that the tourists would not have the time and patience to do all this.
Besides, those units didn't have much value. They had bid for them because of the misinformation provided by Hans and Lu Guan.
Having accomplished their mission, Hans and Lu Guan walked back to Li Du. The tourists were puzzled by their behavior. A young lady ran after Hans and asked, "Oppa, where are you going?"
"Back to my boss," Hans said with a shrug.
The young lady was astonished. "Huh? What happened?"
Hans pointed to Li Du and replied, "That's my boss. He's the real Treasure Tycoon."
Li Du beckoned to the two. "Come back to work now, both of you."
The two of them ran back. "What did you get this time?" Hans asked. "What's inside the unit?"
"You'll know after seeing them," Li Du said. "I think it's a bunch of treasure. Anyway, why are you back? I thought you wanted to stay with the tourists. I thought a few girls seemed to like you?"
Hans shrugged and picked up a basketball. "Of course, I have great charm, alright—F*ck, Shaquille O'Neal?! Kobe Bryant?!"
"So why?" Li Du asked. "From what I know, you usually won't let pitiful girls like this go?"
Hans put down the basketball and picked up another. "I'm not a bad*ss jerk. I just wanted them to bid for the units, not deceive them to hop into bed with me. That's too wicked!"
Sophie gave him a thumbs-up. "Big Fox, you did the right thing. I was worried earlier that you'd do something bad again."
Li Du said, "Big Fox is a righteous man!"
"I'm in no mood to do bad things," Hans said. "Goodness, if I had known this unit contained these items, I would have come back the second the auction ended!"