The price of one hundred thousand was very low, and many treasure hunters raised
their hands at the same time as they shouted, “Me!”
Li Du laughed. “Nobody is being a gentleman this time?”
Soon, he could no longer laugh. These men did not just stop being gentlemen, they had
suddenly turned into bastards.
When the price hit one hundred and twenty thousand dollars, he joined the bidding and
shouted, “One hundred and twenty one thousand dollars!”
“One hundred and twenty two thousand dollars. Chinaman, don’t you think of taking this
storage away!” Conrad shouted, challenging him.
Li Du pointed at him and said furiously, “Hey, auctioneer, what he said was racist.”
The white-gloved man pretended not to hear anything. One of the treasure hunters
beside him said coldly, “What a chicken heart you have! You can’t even stand these
words? Then just don’t be a treasure hunter, go and be a grave keeper, and there won’t
be anyone saying anything to agitate you.”
“He’s right. You don’t have to bid. We won’t let you take this storage down.”
“You’ve come to the wrong place if you think you can make some money. The wealth of
Indiana belongs to us. You guys just go somewhere else in America to make your
money.”
The words were getting crueler, and Li Du’s mood was getting worse.
Hans shook his head at him, signaling him to remain calm.
Li Du was serene. He knew how to outbid his opponents: take down this storage!
Without any hesitation, he continued bidding: “One hundred and thirty thousand!”
“One hundred and thirty one thousand,” Conrad bid.
Li Du looked him in the eye and said, “One hundred and forty thousand!”
“One hundred and forty one thousand dollars,” another treasure hunter bid. Obviously,
he did not intend to let Li Du win the storage.
Li Du continued bidding: “One hundred and fifty thousand!”
“One hundred and fifty one thousand dollars.” This time it was a different person who
bid. Conrad and the other guys looked at Li Du with a smirk and said, “You’re being
ambushed now. Everyone here sees you as an enemy.”
“Very well, then,” Li Du said with a cold smile. “I won’t be polite anymore!”
“Oh, don’t be, just give us your best. Let’s see what your Arizona tricks are like,” a white
man with a big beard shouted.
“Two hundred thousand,” Li Du said.
Big Beard’s mouth twitched, and he said, “Two hundred and one thousand dollars!”
“Three hundred thousand!” Li Du said.
“Ssssst.” He could hear people sucking in cold air. He raised the bid by a lot twice in a
row, and it shocked some of the treasure hunters.
Indianapolis was not New York, Los Angeles, or Chicago. The treasure hunters here
had never participated in any big parties. There were no members of Ten Million Dollar
Club there, and even the members of Million Dollar Club were few. Bids of a few
hundred thousand dollars were enough to shock them.
Conrad, who must have thought that the storage was worth the price, said, “Three
hundred and one thousand!”
“Four hundred thousand!” Li Du said with a cool smile.
The treasure hunters who acted as though they were ganging up against him earlier
had all quieted down. Most of the people left the bidding crowd in silence. They were
not qualified to play this game as it reached this price.
Conrad and the others brought a huge amount of money with them, but four hundred
thousand was considered an exorbitant sum.
Just like Li Du had thought, they did not know the exact value of the storage.
They did know, however, that the sneakers were kept in two different storages. This
was just the first storage. Therefore, they did not dare to evaluate how much the
sneakers in there were actually worth.
Most of the sneakers in America were comparatively cheap. For example, sneakers of
brands like Adidas and Nike often cost less than one hundred dollars. Moreover, some
sneakers could cost just a little more than ten dollars.
That was why, even though there were many shoeboxes in this storage, a treasure
hunter facing a bid of four hundred thousand dollars would hesitate.
It was actually four hundred thousand!
Li Du didn’t care. It was only four hundred thousand. He could get more than that when
he dug out two pieces of black opal. Not to mention that there was still some profit for
the sneakers at this price. Even at no profit, however, he would still bid… even if he
were losing money.
It was not for other reasons. When a man was doing business, he had to give his all. He
wanted to let the local treasure hunters know that he was not someone they could fight.
The bid of four hundred thousand made the scene fall silent for a moment. Without
giving anyone a chance to hit back, Li Du shouted out, “Four hundred thousand will not
do, make it five hundred thousand!”
The treasure hunters rolled their eyes, and someone openly scolded, “F*CK, we have a
goddamn madman! This guy is crazy! He’s nuts! Does he even have five hundred
thousand?!”
Conrad really wanted to fight Li Du and regain his dignity, but he tried hard to be
reasonable. The bid was actually five hundred thousand dollars!
They had inquired about these sneakers beforehand. Their estimated worth was one to
one and a half million dollars.
He knew that all the shoes were kept in two separate storages, so each storage was
supposed to be worth between five hundred thousand to seventy five hundred thousand
dollars.
This estimate, however, was not a figure they could count on. If they wanted to make a
profit, it was best to take the storage down below five hundred thousand dollars.
Anything higher than that, and they would be taking a risk.
These sneakers would be hard to get rid of. Even if Li Du knew that they were worth two
million dollars, he would not bid more than a million without being provoked by the local
treasure hunters.
The sneakers were difficult to handle, and except for the signed ones, the others were
all second hand. There were too many of them, and they would have to sell them off
through small retail stores. If they sold via malls, the malls would need to keep some
profit margin, and the price would be very low.
Hence, paying five hundred thousand for a storage was stunning already.
The young man who had been punched by Ali could not suppress his anger. He chewed
on his lip and said, “Damn you, f*cking bitch, five hundred and ten thousand!”
Li Du gave him a squint and said, “Six hundred thousand!”
Once he made the bid, he saw some of the treasure hunters had a change in their
expressions. He understood what they were planning to do, and added, “This is my last
price. Anyone willing to bid higher than that will take it. I will definitely not add any more
money for it!”
He knew what these treasure hunters were plotting. They all thought that he would take
down this storage no matter what, so they wanted to increase his bids with malicious
intentions, to make him pay more.
Predictably, after hearing what he said, the treasure hunters who were ready to take
action could not move at all. The eager looks on their faces had faded.
Li Du shot a challenging look at Conrad and his friends, and said, “Come on, buddies, I
thought you didn’t want to let me take down the storage? Show me what you can do.”
Conrad tried not to look at him. He bit his lip and said furiously, “This goddamn f*cking
madman! You were right, Jayka, he is crazy, a stupid sh*t nutter!”
Someone beside him said, “I can see that he was unusually determined to win this
storage. Maybe he is just pretending. Should we keep trying to outbid him? Make him
pay more money!”
“Go on, then, outbid him,” Conrad said impatiently.
They did not dare to take further risks. In case Li Du really stopped bidding, they would
have to take over.
Storage number 220 had fallen into Li Du’s hands. Once storage number 221 opened
up, another pile of shoeboxes appeared on the outside.
The auctioneer gave a starting bid of one hundred thousand, smiling gently. Without
waiting for anyone to say anything, Li Du increased the bid straightaway: “Five hundred
thousand! I’ll give five hundred thousand!”
The treasure hunters were all mad, and broke out in a hubbub of furious voices, “Are
you f*cking out of your mind?””Son of a bitch, where did you get so much money from?”
“Damn you, I’m leaving, I won’t take this anymore!”
