Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Li Du continued to view the warehouses in the afternoon.
There were countless warehouses, thousands of them. Even if they spent only one minute on each, they would not be able to view more than six hundred warehouses in their allotted time.
Without a doubt, men were not machines. They would not be able to do that. Even if they were able to form the right impression in just one minute, they would have to spend some time walking to the next warehouses. Hence, they would not be able to view all of them.
In the afternoon, Li Du worked even more efficiently. He would only glance at a warehouse, and if he felt that there would be good things in it, he would stay for a while and search more carefully. If he did not see anything good at first glance, he would walk off.
Under such circumstances, he managed to view close to four hundred warehouses in a day. It was an impressive feat.
Someone noticed his outstanding performance. Bill Shoreton, who had met him previously at the folk art auction, came forward. He smiled and said, “Hi, Boss Li, you must have spent a lot of energy today.”
Li Du said, “This kind of event only comes around once every few years. Once there’s an opportunity, we have to grab hold of it. Good luck to you, my friend. I have got to continue working. I’ll contact you after this auction.”
A polite-looking man walked over and said, “Bill, you seem to hold this Chinese man in high regard. Is he so very capable?”
Bill Shoreton said, “Hey, buddy, this man is the most talented treasure hunter I’ve met in my life! That’s right, he’s super capable!”
“Aren’t you exaggerating a bit?”
Bill Shoreton shook his head and said, “Not at all. In fact, this description does not even do him justice. Big Li is the sort of treasure hunter we’ve never met before. He never loses. Since he started, he’s always been able to walk off with the best warehouses. Besides, he always manages to get them at a low price and make a huge profit every time!”
After listening to Bill, the polite man nodded and smiled before walking away. When he felt that no one was looking at him, he made a phone call. “That Chinese dude is very good. We have underestimated his capability and status in the warehouse auction trade. Definitely no problem with our plan!”
In the evening, the warehouse auction zone was about to be closed. That day’s auction had ended.
Li Du rounded up the Flagstaff treasure hunters and brought out a notebook to pass to them. “Take pictures, then discuss the pricing yourselves.”
That was the fruit of his hard work that day. The notebook was a record of the warehouses that were worth getting, and the threshold price he gave them. Taking down the warehouse below that price would guarantee a profit. However, the treasure hunters would have to decide how much exactly they would be willing to fork out.
Turis looked at Li Du and said, “Big Li, we’re really grateful.”
Li Du waved and interrupted him. “No need to stand on ceremony. Based on our relationship, do we have to talk about that? Same line, follow me and you’ll have good wins. Hurry up, save some time.”
Hans instructed, “Let me just tell you something. You guys must not share the pictures you take. Remember that!”
Olly nodded.” That’s obvious. Whoever shares it, I will kill him!”
Li Du picked a few warehouses and went to the box with the slit to submit his bids.
When the day was done, the auction zone had started to ask people to leave. Hence, the bunch of them prepared to leave and return to the car to rest.
They would not be able to leave in a short time. There were too many cars outside and the roads were jammed up. They would need at least a few hours before they would actually be able to leave the premises.
Most of them would not be leaving at all. They would stay there that night and try to replenish their energy quickly. Then, they would have to continue the next day.
For example, Dickens and the rest would not be leaving that night at all. Li Du, however, did. Although the journey was quite far, and it would be midnight by the time they reached home, he still wanted to sleep in his bed. That was because Sophie was waiting for him.
The next day, he returned to the auction zone and brought a hearty breakfast for his men.
Someone asked as they ate, “Big Li, how will we go about today?”
Li Du said, “Yesterday, we had gone to look at the warehouses that most people were not interested in. Today, we will check out those that we missed yesterday. You guys go queue and ring me when it’s your turn.”
There were many random items in the warehouses. Some of them looked to be trash and others appeared to be valuable.
Of course, nobody would have stopped at those warehouses that looked as if they contained mostly trash. The seemingly valuable ones, however, attracted the attention of many people who wanted to view them.
The treasure hunters each found a warehouse queue. Hence, when it was their turn, they would ring Li Du, who would cut the queue and view the warehouse himself.
That day was slower than the previous one. Li Du had the time to chitchat a little, while the day before, he could barely catch his breath.
He bumped into Bell, Black Mustang and a bunch of other capable treasure hunters. Those men were forming their teams similarly. The day before, they had all been very busy and parted with a curt nod. However, today they had the time to chat.
These people had been a great help to Li Du previously when dealing with the Dripping Blood Gang. Li Du had yet to thank them properly and hence, he spent more time chatting with them when they met.
Bell told him a piece of news. “Li, you remember that property auction you attended recently? The people you met there are not happy with you. They have let the word out that they are planning to deal with you.”
Black Mustang crossed his arms and laughed coldly. “Those sissies said that? They don’t know what Li’s capable of. Ha, they should watch their step!”
Li Du casually said, “I’ll just do my own thing. Let them bark.”
“Why is there no more news on those b*stards from the Dripping Blood Gang? You have not really killed them, right?” A Million Dollar Club member from the local Los Angeles treasure hunters asked.
Li Du smiled. “Who, me? I was just scaring them. They were unable to take it, and the last thing I heard, they ran off to Africa. In any case, the important thing is that they are no longer in Santa Monica. I don’t care about the rest.”
His phone rang again and Li Du excused himself as he picked up the call and continued to view the warehouses.
That afternoon was the final battle of the auction. Many people pondered for a day and a half and finally made their decisions in that last window of time.
Li Du had submitted bids for the rest of the higher-quality warehouse in advance. Then he went back to work again, even busier than in the morning.
That was because many people had made the decision to leave the warehouse zone at that time. The number of people viewing the warehouses had declined. Hence, Li Du decided to check out the better warehouses for a second time.
Previously, he had only scanned the entire place. Now, he was re-visiting the key areas of the warehouses. His intention was to review the warehouses that he had bid for previously and revise the bids.
Li Du brought with him the treasure hunters and got to work. They changed the bids several times and raised the bids on some of the warehouses.
That caused the treasure hunters to become a little hesitant, “There are so many warehouses that we have raised the bid for. Is there really a need for that?”
Li Du nodded. “Before, I was quite cautious. In the afternoon, I checked out the number of people who made their bids. There are tons of them. Hence, I felt that we just have to raise our bids in order to make some money. Something is better than nothing.”
Hans nodded too. “That’s very true. In the first place, we can only make money if we land the warehouse. Otherwise, there’s no point in bidding!”
With that, it was another round of hard work. The bunch of them continued working until the warehouse auction zone was about to close.
They then left the warehouse zone. The enormous warehouse auction that took place once in a few years ended just like that.
