Chapter 225: Business Iceberg
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Forty-five storage units; two days; 26 hours. Finally, all the units had been sold.
The two consecutive auctions had gone until 10 p.m. each night. This was the toughest auction that Li Du had participated in; he was almost left with no strength!
Of course, it was not that he was physically weak and lacking in fitness. The main cause was due to using the bug for extended periods of time, coupled with the unfamiliar humid weather and the battle of wits against Frank’s team. All of that combined led to his mental exhaustion.
The good thing was that the auction had ended, and there were plenty of treasure hunters who looked like they were in the same state, so the others didn’t notice his exhaustion.
Seeing the treasure hunters sighing as they left, Hans boasted, “Everyone’s stamina is much weaker nowadays. When I first entered the business, in Alaska, I participated in a storage auction for military products. Now that would really take the life out of you!”
“Speaking of that,” Olly said, “it seems that we’re preparing to move our troops out of Iraq? During Obama’s elections, he had promised that one of his first priorities would be to do that.”
During the presidential elections, Obama made use of the promise to end the war as part of his campaign.
Exhausted, Turis said, “Hurry up and pull out the troops, d*mn it. My brother is in Iraq; every day we’ve been praying for his well-being!”
“Really, why did George Bus—that idiot—start the Iraq war? He wasted two trillion dollars, and for what?”
“And he’s left a dark mark on history. If the criteria were by which leader loved to fight the most, he would surely have his face on Mount Rushmore.”
“Yeah, there’s also that d*mn Afghanistan war—when will we be able to pull out from Afghanistan?”
Li Du kept silent. Two years ago, China had organized their first Olympics; his country was in a peaceful, joyful era.
Coming to America, and gaining more experience, he could begin to understand the wisdom in the decisions made by his home country.
Expending one’s military forces in external countries would quickly drain a nation’s own funds. In comparison, quietly developing one’s economy and national power was a wiser choice.
Hans said, “We’ll have to wait. In a short time frame, pulling back isn’t possible. Even if they pulled back and organized an auction for the military products, it would be done in Iraq instead. Without enough connections, we wouldn’t be able to get in.”
Interested, Li Du asked, “They would organize an auction? Making money with the risk of leaking confidential information—is it worth it?”
“They wouldn’t lose any confidential information,” Hans said. “They will check multiple times to ensure that the stuff is irrelevant before auctioning them out.
“Also, also, military storage auctions aren’t the kind you can just fool around in. Many of them, you would have to spend several hundred thousand—even up to millions—to get in!
“Think about it, buddy. It’s not chump change. A few hundred storage units would be auctioned out during military storage auctions. You could potentially earn up to billions of dollars!”
Li Du was taken aback. “Storage auctions are actually such a big business?’”
“What you’ve seen is just the tip of the iceberg.” Hans patted his shoulder. “If you go underwater, you’ll say, ‘Sh*t! The iceberg is huge, it’s terrifying!’”
As they chatted, they went back to the truck, and then swiftly returned home to rest and replenish their strength for tomorrow.
According to the storage auction rules, at the end of an auction, the treasure hunters would only have 24 hours to clear out the units.
A Hollywood movie company storage facility was unlike regular storage companies. A regular storage company would be generous enough to extend the time-limit that the treasures hunters had access to the unit for. Storage units for Hollywood movies would be reused immediately, and thus the time left to the treasure hunters was short.
The sky had its first, faint glow of the day. Li Du, Hans, and Godzilla groggily woke up to rush toward the storage facility grounds to begin working.
They had purchased only two units, but due to their larger sizes, with just Godzilla helping them, it would be difficult to finish clearing everything out in one day.
Turís, Olly, Reeves, and the bearded Carl came together to help. Strength was in numbers.
Compared to the past two days, the storage facility felt calmer. However, there were still many people around, as the treasure hunters came to clear up their own units. There were also some that came just to look around at the results.
The Iron Knight led the trucks of Olly and the others to the facility’s entrance, and prepared to slow down to enter.
At this moment, a Hummer jeep suddenly accelerated and cut in front of them!
The Hummer was known for its mobility and explosiveness, with the nickname “Off Road King.” They were normally meant for the military.
Compared to the Hummer, trucks were as slow and clumsy as the Goliath that David had once fought. Li Du watched as the Hummer overtook them to be in front.
“Sh*t!” Hans, in the passenger seat, jumped in surprise. “Is that a retard driving? What the hell, he’s really not afraid of death—”
Before he could finish, the Hummer didn’t enter the facility, but instead slowed down, and then slowly reversed.
Hans was enraged by its actions and started shooting his mouth off. “What’s that for? What the hell is this car doing? Is he in the wrong gear?”
The Hummer reversed, and Godzilla also had to reverse; he couldn’t just let the Hummer collide into them.
However, because they were driving a truck, they might not have been able to outpace the Hummer.
Also, the Iron Knight was still a new vehicle. If it had a bad scratch, Li Du would feel the pain of that scratch, and it would be even worse if it had a dent.
From behind, Turís and the others couldn’t understand the situation. They poked their heads out and shouted:
“Li, what’s going on?”
“Why are you guys reversing?”
“Hey man, I almost hit you guys!”
Li Du shouted with a bitter laugh, “There’s a Hummer reversing in front of us—we’ll just let them go first.”
The Hummer backed up for some distance, and a few trucks with Rottweiler decals on their carriages drove over. Then, they arrogantly cut in and drove in.
Waiting for these trucks to finish entering, the Hummer reignited its engine, lowered its window, and a middle finger stretched out, waving at them.
Hans from the passenger seat began shouting in rage, “F*ck, it’s Frank and those sons of b*tches!”
Li Du was also pissed off. “It’s him? That b*stard has gone too far!”
It was clear enough that all those trucks belonged to Frank. He made use of the mobility of the Hummer to cut in, forcing Li Du’s convoy to reverse, so that he could enter the facility first.
Realizing that, Li Du said angrily, “I should have just driven straight at that *sshole!”
Li Du shook his head. Before, if he had made the move to hit them, it could have been explained as being unable to brake in time. Now, it would obviously be intentional.
According to California law, an intentional collision with a small car or passenger could be charged as intentional murder.
The two convoys stopped. Frank and Yoke appeared outside their cars, the two showing nasty smiles to Li Du. “Chinese man, how does it feel to eat my sh*t from behind?”
Li Du scoffed and said, “Keep laughing, I hope you guys can still laugh later!”
Frank said haughtily, “I won’t stop laughing, because I have ten storage units! And all ten of them will make a good profit, with at least three of them having the chance of making big money!”
