Chapter 715: The Auctioneer With The Iron Hand
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Li Du waved and released the little bug. The villa was not sitting on a large land area—at most 650-square-feet. There was a total of three levels above ground and a basement level. He estimated it to have about a dozen rooms—it would not be that tedious to check through.
After the little bug had gone in, he realized it was not that clear-cut.
There was supposed to be about a dozen rooms in the house, but it had been configured. Just like those subletted houses that he'd heard about in university where one house could be converted into five smaller ones.
In this way, a large villa had become a huge hive, packed with many smaller houses. Each house was full of stuff, more chock-a-bloc full than a grocery store.
Now, he understood why the community organization had chosen to auction the villa off like how they would carry out auctions for old houses. There were 50-60 small rooms, which could be sold to many people.
From the basement to the balcony, the entire villa had been completely transformed.
Except for a single toilet, kitchen, and bedroom, the other rooms in the house had turned into storerooms and were filled with stuff like storage units.
However, he noticed that the stuff in these rooms had been arranged both neatly and messily, which was very contradictory.
The pictures, posters, and images hung up on the wall were all neatly displayed. Some of the boxes placed on the table were also very orderly. It was the big items like old furniture and old appliances that had been placed in there haphazardly.
As he looked out at the grass patches and gardens outside the villa, he got a better idea of what was going on.
The plants on the grass patches and in the gardens were in a bad state; the grass grew wildly, and in some spots the ground was completely bare with no plants growing at all.
There were traces of heavy items having been on the ground, but nothing was there now.
Obviously, this was a case of "no longer"—they had all been dragged into the house.
Li Du used the little bug's time reversal ability, and then he understood what had gone on.
Old man Viktor had kept the larger items he'd collected around the house until the people from the community organization took over. In order to attract the treasure hunters, they stuffed it all into the villa.
They had created the illusion that every single room was filled up, so as to arouse the treasure hunters' interest.
The little bug flew about in the villa, starting from the basement, and buzzed through the rooms until it finally found something it was interested in.
According to Li Du's observation, the little bug not only absorbed time capability, but also capability based on human effort.
The older the objects, and the more carefully preserved and regularly maintained, the more attractive the objects would be to it.
So it did not only absorb capability from antiques and artifacts, but also from common things that might have been loved by someone for years, such as ordinary watches and ordinary cutlery.
Many things in this villa attracted the little bug. When it flew into the first room in the basement, it went straight to a small box.
The small box, which had been placed in the cabinet, had been carved from a piece of yellowish-brown wood. It had an intricate flower pattern on it, as well as a mosaic made up of beautiful gems. It looked extremely valuable.
If the box was already so precious-looking, Li Du subconsciously guessed that there must be something treasured inside it, but it turned out to be a card-sized, leather identity document.
Several stamp marks could be seen on the document along with a motley picture. It looked like a black scallop and was discolored.
Seeing this, he understood—the gleaming box was what the little bug had been interested in.
He got the little bug to leave the box and continue with the search.
There were some other things in this house that the little bug was interested in such crutches, lighters and belt buckles. They were all small objects with little time capability.
Li Du took note of the room: skinny mosquitoes' legs were still meat, after all, as long as they could be used to replenish the little bug's time capability.
The little bug searched through the entire house and in the last room of the basement, he found the gold and silver coins that Magic Hand had mentioned.
And so the information from Magic Hand was accurate. This was a very valuable piece of information. About 20 gold and silver coins had been hidden within a picture frame. From the front, it looked like a substandard oil painting—one with some gold and silver coins pasted on its back.
The images on these gold and silver coins were not identical. Li Du could not tell what they were. He was sure they were not currencies as there were nothing to identify them as such.
The coins were in a set and had a phrase printed on the reverse side: "Royal Australian Mint."
Li Du searched the Internet and quickly found the introduction of these gold and silver coins.
The gold and silver coins, which had been issued in 2005, were to commemorate the 90th anniversary of ANZAC. The image on the coins stemmed from a major military moment in Australia's history.
There was a total of 24 coins in the entire series of the ANZAC Day commemorative coins. There were 20 coins here, worth more than 100,000 dollars.
Li Du noted down these useful room numbers and kept looking.
At half past eight, the auctioneer arrived. He was a solemn-looking, white, middle-aged man with an aloof demeanor. As he made contact with the staff from the community organization, his icy glare landed on Li Du periodically.
Hans noticed that and went to look for Magic Hand. He whispered, "The auctioneer seems a little hostile toward us. What's the matter?"
Magic Hand chuckled, "Weren't you in LA previously? You don't know this guy?"
Hans shrugged. "I only know the VIPs, such as Magic Hand Johnson."
Magic Hand guffawed loudly, and then he whispered, "This guy's York's cousin and famous for being an auctioneer with an iron hand. He's quite influential in the LA circuit—you guys better be careful."
If this auctioneer could cause a member of the Million Dollar Club to speak in hushed tones, it meant that this auctioneer should not be provoked.
Hans conveyed the information to Li Du, and he nodded to indicate that he understood.
At 9:00 am, the auction began as scheduled. The auctioneer looked at the crowd with a razor-sharp glare, and rattled, "All of you queue up and listen here. If you break the rules, don't blame me for being mean. Alright, I'm gonna open the door and you can start viewing. The rules are the same as the usual rules for storage units: no going in or touching anything . . . "
Li Du predicted that he would be targeted by the auctioneer. After some thought, he signaled Lu Guan with his eyes and called him over to one side to make arrangements.
The dumpster master's collection had attracted many people. There were almost 100 treasure hunters there, including big shots like Magic Hand from the Million Dollar Club and many members from the Hundred Thousand Club. Too many to be listed.
Li Du and Hans lined up with the crowd. Magic Hand took the last position as he was well-regarded in California.
There were too many people, and each person had only about 20 seconds for the viewing.
In any case, the room was very small, and at most less than 70-square-feet. Twenty seconds was more than enough time for viewing.
When it came to Li Du and Hans, he thought that the auctioneer would give him trouble, but nothing happened—everything was as per usual.