Chapter 348: Flying Snow
In the face of these three top quality Purple Hearts of Spirit, the appraiser Xu appeared very worked up. In truth, Xia Fei had randomly picked these three out of the 473 tons of ore he obtained from the ancient ruins and they were far from being true best-quality goods. However, given that the Alliance was always short of such ore, these goods were sufficiently shocking.
“Mister Xia, forgive me for speaking bluntly, but the largest Purple Heart of Spirit should be featured on the last day of the auction. It is worthy to be ranked with the other top-cla.s.s items in this trade fair,” the old man excitedly said.
Xia Fei nodded. “There’s no problem with that, but these two smaller ones and that ancient integrated communications system should be auctioned ahead of time. There are some items I want to get, so I want these auctioned off earlier for me to have some capital to work with.”
The old man shook his head. “While this video system from the ancient civilization is rare, it’s still not enough to place it with the higher-grade items in the trade fair, so there’s no problem with auctioning it off earlier, but these three Purple Hearts of Spirit should only be auctioned off on the last three days.”
After some thought, Xia Fei understood the reason and smiled. “I get it. It will be much better to sell one piece a day rather than selling all three together. This way, you can excite the auction partic.i.p.ants. The first day, you’ll auction the smallest to cause a stir in the market, then the next day, you’ll sell an even larger piece, drawing in even more eyes, and on the last day, you’ll unleash the true trump card.”
The old man nodded. “Mister Xia truly has a penetrating insight. That’s exactly what I meant.”
Xia Fei was somewhat hesitant. Although Quantum Holdings had already gotten the first payment of two hundred billion star coins, the money was needed for the company’s everyday operations. Moreover, if he really encountered some incredible piece of equipment, two hundred billion star coins might not even be enough. After all, such peerless top-cla.s.s equipment could not be obtained with just money. One would have to pay an enormous price if one wanted to defeat countless opponents in one fell swoop.
Most of the capital Xia Fei could mobilize rested in the credit from the banks, guaranteed by Quantum Holdings’ future performance. With the prestige of being an A-list military supplier, Xia Fei naturally could take large loans from the banks, but this was money that had to be returned. To Xia Fei, several Purple Hearts of Spirit were not anything, and the earlier he could auction them off, the earlier he would be able to put that money to work.
The appraiser Xu added, “There’s no need to be concerned about capital. I can open a line of credit for you, and once these items are all auctioned off, we can settle accounts.”
Xia Fei found this proposal very reasonable, so he agreed.
“How much credit are you willing to offer?” Xia Fei asked.
“One hundred billion.”
“One hundred billion star coins!” Xia Fei exclaimed in shock. Quantum Holdings only made four duns in revenue each year, and these three Purple Hearts of Spirit alone could be sold for one percent of a dun. If Xia Fei sold off his entire reserves, he could not even calculate how much he would make.
Of course, if Xia Fei sold off so many Purple Hearts of Spirit at once, it would definitely devalue the ore. Xia Fei was not that much of a fool. He planned to sell off his stock slowly.
“Recently, several organizations have been buying high-grade Purple Hearts of Spirit at a high price. While these three pieces of ore may not fetch one hundred billion, I’m confident that since this sir is someone who can casually take out three Purple Hearts of Spirit of such high quality, you have some strength.”
The disdain he had shown for Xia Fei was long gone, replaced by a kind of respect. Xia Fei’s extravagance already told him that this was no ordinary client.
“Deal,” Xia Fei smiled and said.
…
With a credit line of one hundred billion star coins and his company’s free capital of around one hundred and sixty billion star coins, Xia Fei felt that he had enough capital to fight a little on the auction floor. If it really was not enough, he could take a loan from the banks. With Quantum Holdings’ enormous capacity to generate profits and an enormous stockpile of Purple Hearts of Spirit, Xia Fei was not worried about repaying the loans.
Xia Fei had already looked at today’s auction catalog, and there had not been anything he considered worth his time. Thus, he left the auction center and went to the high-cla.s.s trade area.
As the trade carnival approached its climax, more and more decent items would emerge onto the stage. After all, auctions were settled with cash, and to many of these rich and overbearing people, money had never been a problem, so they were more willing to trade their possessions for more useful things. Thus, the high-cla.s.s trade center was opened to great fanfare.
At the stalls lining the road to the center, one could still find quite a few people without much play money trading somewhat cheaper items for the items that they needed. Xia Fei had no interest in such things. Only Eternal rank or Immortal rank weapons had any hope of moving him.
The high-cla.s.s trade center was a large and resplendent building, completely in line with the wealth and status that the Adjudicator Union was revered. From a distance, it appeared like a pearl that had been magnified by a hundred thousand times, splendidly glowing in the sunlight.
“Xia Fei!”
Hearing the delighted voice of a woman, Xia Fei turned and saw Nicole of Gaia Industries standing nearby and looking at him with a pleased expression.
She was wearing a snow-white suit. Unlike the pink-loving Avril, Nicole preferred neutral colors, her clothes of a much colder hue.
“Miss Nicole, why are you here?” Xia Fei smiled as he called to her.
“What? Are business people like me not allowed to The Brotherhood’s carnival?”
Xia Fei hastily said, “I didn’t mean that. Miss Nicole, please don’t misunderstand.”
Xia Fei’s polite greeting was very normal. Of course, he knew to maintain some distance with a woman he was not that familiar with. However, Nicole was somewhat unhappy to be addressed as ‘miss’.
In truth, Xia Fei liked women, but he was not a person to get antsy as soon as he saw a woman. No woman liked being lunged at by men just because she looked beautiful. Actually, Xia Fei’s intentional distancing earned him more attention from women.
Nicole took out a gold admission pa.s.s from her white purse. “Even if you’re not a member of The Brotherhood, you can still use money to buy a special guest pa.s.scard, though it’s just not as high-level as the cards internally issued, so taking them out will just earn you scorn. After all, the one actually running the trade carnival this time is the Adjudicator Union, and I naturally can’t let an opportunity to make money pa.s.s by.”
Xia Fei laughed and nodded. “That’s very in line with the union’s style. If the Monastic Order had been in charge, things would have been much quieter.”
“I know, right? I have to say that your Adjudicator Union is the fighter organization that loves crooked paths the most, willing to do anything to make money.”
As Nicole spoke, Xia Fei sensed several unfriendly gazes. The Adjudicator Union was of such large scale that their spies could be anywhere.
Xia Fei grabbed Nicole’s hand and instantly took her several hundred meters away. Once he saw that there was no one around, he said, “Since you’re at an event organized by the Adjudicator Union, you probably shouldn’t badmouth them. The walls have ears.”
Sometimes, people would hear more than what had actually been applied; Nicole felt that Xia Fei was looking out for her, and given that he had even grabbed her hand, her face was a bit flushed.
In all honesty, Xia Fei had not meant anything by that action, but the thoughts of someone like Nicole were not something a crude man like Xia Fei could understand.
“Let’s get back on topic. I was actually planning to look for you,” Xia Fei said.
“You’re looking for me?” Nicole’s heart wildly thumped. “Did you need something from me?”
“Something very important. I’ve recently been thinking of establis.h.i.+ng a high-quality fleet, and I need to buy some s.h.i.+ps from your company.”
“Anything else?” Nicole probed, somewhat disappointed.
Xia Fei awkwardly smiled. “I’d also like to make a presumptuous request of you.”
Nicole lowered her head, her heart madly thumping with excitement as she wondered what Xia Fei would say next.
“I hope that you can give me a discount,” Xia Fei cautiously said.
“This is your presumptuous request?” Nicole trembled. She had never imagined that Xia Fei would ask her for a discount.
“You should’ve received the video I sent you, right? The Impaler was single-handedly able to take on an Armageddon-cla.s.s battles.h.i.+p. This means that as long as it’s outfitted correctly, a Deimos-cla.s.s heavy-a.s.sault cruiser isn’t bad at all. We still have many fields in which we need to cooperate with each other, so since we’re partners, asking for a discount isn’t too much, is it?”
Nicole’s face paled as she turned around and went off in a huff. She loudly spat, “You want a discount? h.e.l.l, no!”
Xia Fei had no idea how he had offended the woman. Frowning, he wondered to himself, “Is there any need to be so fierce about rejecting a discount?”
…
Before entering the high-cla.s.s trade area, one needed to prove that they had sufficient trading capital. If anyone was let in, that would make the high-cla.s.s items being traded seem of too little value. Moreover, this one building could not fit everyone inside it.
Xia Fei magically took out two more Purple Hearts of Spirit from his spatial ring, and the inspector at the door very quickly let him in. After all, even an idiot knew the value of these things.
The building was divided into three floors. The first floor was where prices were clearly marked, and the displays had various top-cla.s.s equipment within them. However, the owners were not present, and there were thin slips of paper indicating the items desired to be traded for.
The people taking part in this trade fair mostly had special requirements. They wanted only what they needed and could not be bothered to negotiate a price. Thus, they had entrusted the trading entirely to the host of the trade fair.
The advantage of this trade was it was a simple exchange of goods, but the flaw was a complete lack of s.p.a.ce to negotiate. Unless one could provide the item required for the trade, it did not matter the value of the item one was trying to trade with.
Xia Fei saw several equipment that he found tempting; alas, he was unable to meet the demands asked by the other party so he could only give up.
After all, what Xia Fei had available for trading were the things produced by the ancient civilization and Purple Hearts of Spirit, but he was not discouraged. He noted down all the items being asked for. If he ran into something that he could use Purple Hearts of Spirit to trade for, he would come back later to finish the trade.
While this was rather complicated, it could be considered a roundabout way of reaching his goal. After all, what can he do but comply if these people only wanted to trade what they had for strange and bizarre items?
Suddenly, a snow-white dagger appeared in his vision. The thin blade was so transparent that it seemed to have truly been forged from ice, and it exuded a cold energy that could be felt even through the display window.
“Eternal Rank dagger, Flying Snow!” Xia Fei read out.