Chapter 91: Let’s Spoil The Game
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
The moment the bid of 10,000 was heard, the atmosphere cooled down a notch; some treasure hunters were shaking their heads in defeat.
Hans felt a stir of excitement. Formula One Racing was also known as "Golden Car Grand Prix"; this was not an exaggeration, as the components of a race car were as costly as gold. It was as if those parts were made of gold.
The supposedly valuable parts the duo heard rumors of were the driver’s seat and the steering wheel; as long as these two components were not damaged, they could easily be sold together for a price of 70,000 to 80,000 dollars.
If they could win the unit with just 10,000 dollars, it would be like they had hit the jackpot.
However, the atmosphere only cooled for a short while before it heated up again:
"Twelve thousand dollars—here! Here!"
"Thirteen thousand dollars. D*mn, it’s too crazy."
"Fourteen thousand dollars. I’m over here!"
Hans shrugged his shoulders, and laughed mockingly at himself, "I knew it wouldn’t be easy to win this unit. Let’s take it up to fifteen thousand dollars!"
Another bid was called. Hans wanted to continue bidding but Li Du stopped him, shaking his head. "Let’s wait for a while—that shrewd fellow over there hasn’t made a move."
The guy Li Du mentioned was Rambis’s mustached brother-in-law. He stared at the bidders coldly with a disdainful smile.
"I so feel like hammering that dude’s face to see if he can still smile after having his nose broken!" Hans said, gritting his teeth.
"Well, we might have a chance to smile later," said Li Du.
The bidding price kept going up and the atmosphere at the auction was heating up; the treasure hunters were conversing with each other because some of them were not sure about the worth of the storage unit.
"Hey, Baldwell, you seem like you need to win this badly—what’s in it?"
"Rando, what’s going on? What is inside the warehouse?"
"Sh*t, the price went up to fifteen thousand. Is there a gold mine hidden in there?"
"Bro, what exactly does this warehouse contain?" the big-headed, large-eared Rambis asked his brother-in-law. "The price is too high now."
"Keep it hush! Some highly valuable Ferrari parts are inside," the mustached guy answered softly.
"What? How did you know?" Rambis exclaimed.
"I know this because I have a wide network of connections!" said the mustached guy proudly.
Actually, he had spent money to get the insider news, which was a common way to get ahold of insider information. What he had told Rambis was just to make himself look good.
The bid went up further, from 15,000 to 20,000; this price was a turning point in the auction, for the atmosphere suddenly cooled down a lot.
At this point, the mustached guy decided it was time to bid; he held up his hand and said, "30,000!"
The crowd gasped at his bid, and immediately started to voice out their thoughts:
"Carl, you are a beast!"
"Thirty thousand dollars? That’s playing with fire, dude!"
"F*ck, Baldwell, let’s team up—you don’t have much money left, do you?"
The sharp 10,000-dollar increase in the bidding price made some of those who also had the insider information drop out of the bidding race.
The auctioneer pointed at the mustached guy, Carl, and said, "Now the price is 30,000, 30,000—anyone want to bid 31,000, 31,000, anyone?"
There were about three to four treasure hunters whose facial expression still conveyed the urge to outbid the price, but their eyes were also peering at the fourth to-be-auctioned storage unit. They looked hesitant and torn.
Upon seeing this, Li Du realized that these treasure hunters had more detailed information than Hans; not only did they know there were some Ferrari parts, they also knew that the valuable parts were hidden within these two storage units.
And amongst them, Carl seemed to have the most detailed information. His behavior revealed his confidence that the Ferrari parts were inside this particular storage unit.
Li Du was sure of this as well; he also knew about the condition of both the steering wheel and the driver’s seat.
When he was inspecting the storage units earlier, the bug helped him gain new information about the steering wheel.
The F1 racing cars had steering wheels which were unlike the usual round ones that ordinary cars use. Instead, they were shaped like a pair of butterfly wings, and on them were many electronic buttons, controllers and various indicators; it was a real expensive piece of equipment.
However, the electrical points behind the buttons of this steering wheel were not electronically connected, but glued on instead. Just from the appearance one would soon notice there wasn’t any electrical cable to be seen.
Li Du looked on the internet and found out that such steering wheels could be problematic, and as a result, its worth would have to be cut in half.
He wondered if Carl and those few treasure hunters knew about the flaw of the steering wheel, and he was uncertain if he should continue bidding as well. But when he heard the auctioneer shout "30,000 going once," he nodded his head.
"Here, 31,000!"
"Very good, now the bid is 31,000. How about 32,000, 32,000, 32,000!" shouted the elated auctioneer.
Carl seemed irritated; he shot Li Du a glare before gritting his teeth, saying, "32,000, okay!"
Hans spoke in a low voice, "Continue bidding—anything within 50,000 dollars is worth it."
Li Du thought for a moment and replied, "No, it’s going to be a risk if the bid hits 50,000—but then again, we shouldn’t let this fellow take it either. Let’s spoil his game!"
He knew very well that winning this unit at a price of 50,000 dollars would mean a loss of money.
Li Du did not know Carl well, so he was wary and careful not to bid unnecessarily, as he didn’t want the same thing happening again—he had ended up winning the first storage unit, which Carl stopped bidding on unexpectedly.
The root of the problem was that Li Du was unsure of how much Carl knew about the Ferrari parts, so it was hard to say who had the upper hand.
Both Carl and Hans were taking turns bidding; the price quickly went up to 35,000 dollars.
"Here, 36,000, me!" said the glum-looking Carl.
By then Li Du finally made up his mind and decided not to take the risk. He shook his head and said, "We give up. We give up bidding for the Ferrari racecar steering wheel and the driver’s seat. We don’t have enough money to continue bidding."
Li Du spoke loud and clear. All the treasure hunters had heard him.
Once again, a commotion started amongst them:
"Sh*t, what did he say? Did I hear correctly, F1 Ferrari racing car?"
"This unit definitely belonged to a racing car enthusiast, but F1 racing car parts—are they really in there?"
"God bless, this Chinese man had insider information—should we trust him?"
Carl’s expression became even gloomier.
"And because we do not have enough money, we want to let everyone know that these two storage units are full of racing car parts and repair equipment," Li Du continued, with one hand patting a few times on the fourth storage unit door.
Looking at the agitated crowd, Li Du pointed to the current storage unit. "However, the Ferrari parts are inside this storage unit. I swear on my reputation that they are— if not, all of you can call me ‘The Foolish Yellow Monkey!’"
After hearing what Li Du said, those treasure hunters who had hesitated earlier on decided to place their bid as well.
"Me, 37,000, me!"
"I bid 38,000!"
"Okay!, 40,000!"
Watching how Li Du turned the tables against him made Carl glare at Li Du with malice. "F*ck! D*mn yellow monkey!"
Li Du raised his middle finger at him and said, "He who laughs last, laughs the longest."