Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
“What’s the meaning of this?” A house picker asked anxiously.
Logan smiled calmly. “Is there any point in saying it now? Those are just empty words. Would we believe you? We managed to take away the warehouses that you guys spent so much effort to pick out!”
Li Du smiled too. In fact, he was smiling more happily than Logan was. “The warehouses that I picked with a lot of effort? Are you sure? Bill bought the warehouses that I picked out.”
Bill shrugged his shoulders. “The competition was not tough. It was no hassle getting those warehouses.”
Li Du stretched out his arms and drew a circle across Logan and his men. He said, “Do you guys think I’m stupid or something? There have been three rounds of property auctions before. You guys managed to take away the houses at a price lower than my estimate every time. You had taken at least twenty houses that way. Was I supposed to think it was a coincidence?”
Saying that, he smirked. “I knew that there was a traitor amongst us, playing a game of catfishing. You guys really think that my buddy has been moved by your words?”
“I purposely let you have those warehouses. Don’t you feel that they were slightly expensive? Fifty-four warehouses, which altogether had cost nearly four million. Did you guys feel smug paying that?”
The more Li Du spoke, the brighter he smiled.
On the other hand, the house pickers started to get nervous. Logan tried his best to stay calm and smiled coldly. “You can say what you want. You think we’d believe your words? You said that just to get us to tell you the name of my spy. No, I won’t do that!”
Li Du said in a relaxed manner, “Think whatever the hell you want. You guys go ahead and check out the warehouses. I swear, if the value of those warehouses comes up to a million bucks, I will leave Los Angeles immediately. On top of that, I will never go into the warehouse auction trade again. Everyone here can bear witness!”
Many treasure hunters had stopped queueing up to pay. They were now surrounding Li Du and his people, watching the conflict unfold.
Initially, they had thought that Li Du had fallen into Logan’s trap and were waiting to watch the drama. Later, they realized that it was Logan who had been duped. Everything that happened seemed to be something right out of a movie. They were all enjoying the show.
Hearing Li Du’s oath, many treasure hunters started to laugh:
“Hey, buddy, you’re doomed. Li is the treasure-hunting king of Arizona. If he swore that, he must be extremely confident!”
“Where did this idiot come from? He wanted to trick Boss Li. That man has never fallen into anyone’s trap since he joined the trade. In fact, he has never left an auction empty-handed, either!”
“This is getting interesting. Haha, four million for fifty-odd warehouses? These people are real amateurs!”
The house pickers were all terribly nervous by now. Li Du was right. They had found a traitor amongst the treasure hunter team. Their initial motive had been simply to get their valuation of the houses.
Then they had found out about the custom warehouse auction. After gathering some information, the bunch of them were all shocked by the possible value of that auction.
When they learned that Li Du was very capable in the warehouse auction trade, they had a new idea. They meant to get the traitor to provide information on the warehouses to them. Then, they would bid higher and snatch the warehouses away.
On the surface, everything proceeded smoothly. They had received the bid records of the warehouses. Then they went to confirm the value of the warehouses and in the end, they topped up slightly above Li Du’s estimation and won with higher bids.
There were a few reasons why they dared to bid higher. One, Logan believed in the authenticity of the information that the traitor provided. Two, he got someone to check Li Du’s background. The information that they received about Li Du raised their confidence.
The results seemed pretty decent. As expected, they managed to take down practically all the warehouses that had been shortlisted by Li Du. Although the price was higher, according to the information the traitor shared with them, there was still quite a large profit margin to be made.
They had paid up for their warehouse earlier and were just waiting for Li Du’s arrival to mock him. They had not expected that their gloating would soon come to a bitter end.
Li Du looked at Logan coldly and said, “You guys are idiots. In the warehouse auction trade, you are newbies and it would be understandable if you make a mistake. However, making such mistakes in the property auction trade is really dumb.”
“In the previous auction, you guys managed to steal six houses from me. However, didn’t you realize that the baseline price I set for two of those houses was strange? I was testing you. That helped me confirm that you wholeheartedly believe in the words of my man, and also believe that he has really betrayed my team.”
“In fact, everything was done in preparation for this customs warehouse auction. I wanted to teach you guys a lesson. You had to learn how to respect others and not make trouble out of nothing!”
Hearing Li Du’s words, Logan said with a fixed smile, “You think that I will believe you? You are just trying to bluff. You have no idea…”
“Is that so?” Li Du pulled out an old Nokia phone. “The information has been sent through this phone. The duration of the call was used as a proxy for the price of the property. Each second of the call represents ten thousand dollars.”
Seeing that phone, Logan looked at a person amongst them and said angrily, “F*ck! You dare to lie to me?!”
Everyone followed Logan’s eyes. Olly shouted angrily, “Turis, was it you?!”
Turis’s expression immediately went blank. He then forced a smile and said, “I didn’t really betray our team. I was just acting undercover. I did that to fool this bunch of cocky Los Angeles b*stards.”
Olly squinted at him and said, “Boss Li, is he telling the truth?”
Li Du did not answer. He fixed Turis with a penetrating stare and said, “You go. As we didn’t make any losses this auction, we will just pretend we have never known you.”
Hearing that, Turis’s face fell.
Logan’s expression changed too. He said angrily, “F*ck, China dude, you dare to play with me?”
Li Du grinned and said, “Nope, I don’t work that way. Go look at your warehouses. Hope that you find the trash inside to your liking.”
Olly rushed up and grabbed onto Turis’s collar. He shouted, “What happened? What d*mned thing have you done? Have you gone mad?!”
Turis shouted desperately, “I’m sorry! I don’t know what came over me. I don’t know why I did this! I’m sorry!”
Bill shook his head and said, “You’ve really gone out of your mind. Think about how many people would have loved to be in your place, working with Boss Li, and you didn’t cherish the trust he had put in you. You actually threw it away with your own hands!”
Li Du threw the phone at Turis and said, “What I find really surprising is that you’ve been with me for so long and you still don’t know my tricks. I have so many bodyguards and they had all been intelligence scouts. They are experts in tailing and investigations and you did not take that into account. That’s really insulting!”
Turis’s legs gave way and he fell down upon his knees.
Covering his face with his trembling hands, he said dejectedly, “I was really out of my mind then. Their promises fooled me. I didn’t know what was going on in my head. Boss Li, please forgive me!”
