Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
By the time they finished looking at the three warehouse companies, it was very late.
This was a difficulty in the joint warehouse auctions. Warehouse companies tended to come from far away, so it was difficult to gather during the auction.
Until the warehouse auction was successful, not even the warehouse company had the right to enter, let alone move the contents together for further auctioning.
Multiple warehouses would be auctioned to the public, and there would be a lot of hunters. If there was a transfer between warehouse companies, it would take more time.
In this case, the joint warehouse auction would be conducted through bidding.
Treasure hunters lined up to visit the warehouse, but then would not offer a quote on the spot. Interested people would write down the bid on a piece of paper and put it into the box. The warehouse company would check the price and the highest bidder would win.
Back in the car, Li Du drummed across the board on the driver’s seat with his knuckles, thinking about how to attack the auction.
He could use the auction to his advantage, but it wasn’t enough to make money off the Tiger l.
He had to figure out a way to get people to lose interest in the warehouse where the Tiger l was, or at least to make it uncertain where it was.
After thinking about it, he gradually came up with an idea, but this idea was not too open and aboveboard. However, business was business, and when it came to money and politics, one only cared about winning!
Li Du drove to the grocery store to buy some folding boxes and some big balloons. He then went to several military stores and bought some weapons and tools that looked as if they were from World War II. Of course, they were just fake models.
Once he returned with these things to the combat squadron company warehouse, Li Du has some arrangements for Brother Wolf and the others, so he called them.
The company had gone bankrupt and had cut its staff down to save money, leaving the warehouse company with only a handful of elderly, low-paid security guards.
Late that night, the security guards did not come out to patrol. They believed there was nothing of value in this shabby warehouse, and even if the door was open no one would want to steal anything.
As for the legendary Tiger l tank, it might be in one of the warehouses, but who would have the means to get it out? It was long dead!
The storekeepers didn’t really believe the tank was there, either.
First, if there was such a valuable antique tank in there, the warehouse company wouldn’t auction it but would keep it for themselves. Second, they had never seen such a large object!
To those who did not know the industry, the news was far from reliable. The Tiger l tank was worth millions of dollars, and all the warehouses combined would not be able to sell for a tenth of its price.
So, if there were a tank in the warehouse, wouldn’t the warehouse company just keep it?
It was not allowed by law, however. The warehouse company was just a carrier whose function was to lease out and store things for people. However, even if the warehouse lease contract expired and the owner did not renew it, the things inside would not belong to the warehouse company.
The lease contract of the warehouse company stated that after the lease expired, the first means of disposal of the contents was an auction, and the second means of disposal belonged to the company.
In the heat of early July, the joint warehouse auction began.
Following the order, the first place to start was the warehouse of the combat squadron company.
The auction was supposed to take place in numerical order, with each warehouse auctioned off in turn according to its number.
There were about a dozen times as many treasure hunters as the number of warehouses, and they all came to check out the combat squadron company. Most of them were treasure hunters from Arizona, and even if they did not know each other personally, they could easily get familiar with each other.
In this case, after gathering, the crowd began to make connections. Li Du saw several acquaintances, such as Black Mustang from his Million Dollar club, Playboy from the Hundred Thousand Club and so on.
Tucson’s native treasure hunters had a cool demeanor, conniving in small circles, with a few loners here and there.
Princeps arrived with his men, whom he went out of his way to meet, and said in a cold voice, “This is what you want to see, isn’t it?”
The Tucson gang had split into several groups, and the boss of one of them did not have much respect for Princeps. He answered rudely, “What did we want to see? What are you doing here?”
Princeps was so angry that he gnashed his teeth. He said, “If the gang hadn’t split up, we could still control the city of Tucson. How about now? Now Tucson’s like a goddamn brothel, and anyone can come!”
The bosses could not control the situation, but they refused to give in.
“Is it us who divided the gang? Didn’t you do it yourself?”
“It’s no use talking about it. How can we keep a roof over our heads, even with the Tucson gang? Even the mafia needs to be sidelined in an auction!”
“If you were willing to give up the boss’s position at that time, the gang wouldn’t have disbanded either. It was you who wouldn’t budge from this position!”
“What are they talking about? It looks like fun,” Playboy folded his arms and smiled.
Li Du glanced at Princeps and the others and said, “Who knows? I guess it’s not about how to treat us to dinner.”
“The auction environment in Tucson is much better now. It used to be like some places in Texas, where you couldn’t even look people in the eye,” said Playboy.
“Is there a rule like this?”
“Arcadio is not exaggerating,” said Black Mustang, touching his chin. “Tucson is a grumpy place. Auctions need competition. The weather here is hot, and the people here are bad-tempered. It is easy to get into conflicts.”
“A little over a decade ago, there was an armed fight at an auction in Tucson that involved more than 40 treasure hunters and resulted in the deaths of two people.”
Li Du shook his head and said, “It seems that I was lucky. With such an atmosphere, a foreigner like me would probably be in double danger.”
“Come on! If you can travel all over the world, from Antarctica to the Arctic, the Tucson thugs are small potatoes for you,” Black Mustang laughed.
The Tucson gang was a thing of the past. They were not in their peak, and they were divided. They even fought each other when they meet.
The auction was about to begin, and the warehouse manager was about to open a smaller warehouse. Suddenly someone shouted, “Let’s start from the larger warehouse! Forget the small warehouses!”
“Open the large warehouse, let’s see the tank first!”
“Don’t let us waste our precious energy on rubbish. Open the big warehouses first!”
At first, only four or five people shouted. The other treasure hunters thought it was reasonable and followed along.
Li Du smiled, walked up to the auctioneer and said, “Let’s start with the large warehouse. Our money is not limitless. If we waste our money on these random warehouses, it would affect our bidding price on a more valuable warehouse.”
The storekeeper shrugged and said, “Well, that’s OK.”
