Chapter 220: The Conflict Caused by The Drone
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
There was a large number of books in the second storage unit. Some of the tool books inside looked like they were very old; if they had appeared in a library or museum auction, it would have triggered bloodshed.
Even here, there were many people willing to bid very high prices.
These tool books were probably not antiques, but if they had been featured in some excellent movies, then they would be valuable. There would be many people willing to collect them.
Li Du did not notice any famous tool books among them. He did not partic.i.p.ate in the auction of this unit; his estimation of the value of the storage within was 10,000 dollars.
In the end, it only took a short span of forty seconds for the bid price to exceed 10,000 dollars. It eventually stopped at 22,000.
Frank and York still did not make any bids, and sneered at the crowd.
As they walk toward the third storage unit, Frank deliberately knocked into Li Du, then asked provocatively, "Oh, oh—did I b.u.mp into you? Oh, are you expecting me to apologize?"
Li Du patted his clothes and said, "You needn’t apologize—what’s the use of getting an apology from a mentally-ill person?"
Frank flared up immediately. "Son of a b*tch, who are you calling mentally-ill? You d.a.m.n Chinaman, I’m gonna break your neck!"
York stopped his partner, and said impatiently, "Get lost, Chinaman. Don’t f*cking provoke us!"
Li Du was extremely angry but laughed instead. These chaps are sure tyrannical— whose provoking who now?
He pointed to Frank and said, "You’d better go to the mental hospital for a check-up. Something’s wrong with your brain, with your mental health. Trust me, you’ll die early if you continue living this way!"
"F*ck you!" Frank hollered at him.
Hans whispered, "His bipolar is even more serious than what was rumored. You’re right, he’ll die of mental illness sooner or later."
Li Du said, "No, he’ll die of provoking those whom he shouldn’t have provoked. Based on his current situation, his death won’t be far off."
Compared to the first storage unit, the third was smaller. There were shelves inside: wooden shelving and metal shelving. The shelves were pushed close together, without much s.p.a.ce in between.
When it was the turn of the treasure hunter with the drone to view the storage, an interesting thing occurred. The drone flew in, got stuck on a metal shelf, and could not fly out.
The treasure hunter who owned it got anxious. Holding an iPad, he began to cry out in anger. "D*mn, d*mn, d*mn! Don’t get stuck inside. G.o.d help me, oh G.o.d! Come out, come out, quick, come out…"
Seeing this, Li Du laughed. Someone next to him gloated and said, "That chap is down on his luck."
"What will happen?" he asked.
Hans explained, "According to the storage auction regulations, after the bidding is completed, all items in the storage unit will belong to the treasure hunter who has successfully bid for it."
Li Du suddenly understood. "Oh—so if that drone can’t fly out, it will belong to the treasure hunter who buys the storage?"
"Yes."
With the drone stuck inside, the treasure hunter walked away from the entrance despondently, his despair apparent on his face.
Li Du had a good look at the drone when he viewed the storage. It was a new model with two camera heads, and looked expensive.
Using his mobile phone, Hans took a look on Amazon, smiled and said, "2,000 dollars. It’s worth 2,000 dollars, and it’s the latest drone, imported from your very own China. It can apparently fly up to 1,500-meters high."
Li Du went up to him to take a look, and said, "This doesn’t include the cameras, so it should really be worth at least 2,500 to 3,000 dollars."
Storage unit 3 contained many porcelain items, puppets, and dolls, which were already valuable in their own right. Coupled with that drone, it was even more valuable.
The owner of the drone said to the auctioneer earnestly, "Can you let me enter and take it out? I promise not to touch anything."
The auctioneer shook his head decisively. "No—that’s against the regulations."
"Right, we must respect the regulations," someone chuckled. "If not, why have them in the first place?" The treasure hunter had deliberately used the words of the owner of the drone to oppose him.
York suddenly walked over, patted the shoulder of the treasure hunter warmly, and said, "Bro, don’t worry. I’ll bid for this storage unit and return the drone to you."
The treasure hunter was overwhelmed with relief. "Thank you; thank you so much Mr. York."
York shrugged. "Thank Frank, you’ve helped him before. He’s returning the favor this time around."
The treasure hunter was surprised, and stared at York with a blank look. "Really?"
York whispered something in his ear, and the treasure hunter had a look of sudden realization on his face. "I see. Frank still remembers? He’s a nice guy."
With the viewing completed, the auction began.
The auctioneer had also noticed the treasure hunter was unhappy. When he reported the prices, he shouted, "The starting price for this storage is 3,000 dollars, 3,000 dollars, 3,000 dollars—everyone has seen there is a drone inside, which is worth more than 2,500 dollars…"
"Three thousand dollars!" the owner of the drone shouted with a woeful face. He was still trying to retrieve it himself.
"Four thousand dollars!"
"Five thousand dollars!"
"I will bid 10,000 dollars!" Frank waved his hand, with aggression written all over his face.
Considering the first storage unit, which went for more than 60,000 dollars, the price of 10,000 dollars for this unit was not considered high.
However, the first unit was huge, and there were many items inside of it. This storage unit had some puppets, dolls, and porcelain, to try to sell all of it for 10,000 dollars would not be an easy feat.
Frank pointed at the owner of the drone and said, "We are men of our word. When we said we would get this storage unit, we—"
"Twenty thousand dollars!" Li Du did not wait for him to finish speaking.
Frank’s and York’s faces were grim; the former could not help but curse, "D*mn."
York shrugged his shoulders at the owner of the drone. "I can’t help—it seems that someone doesn’t wish for us to do so."
The owner of the drone was extremely furious, and hauled verbal abuse at Li Du: "Chinese son of a b*tch, you are horrible. Why don’t you return to that disgustingly poor Asian slum?"
A young black teenager with a head full of braids said, "21,000 dollars!"
York and Frank glanced at each other and shook their heads, and moved on to the next storage unit together.
The owner of the drone stopped them and said, "Help me to bid for this storage unit—I can’t lose my drone."
York said, "We’ll buy you a new one. A 20,000 dollar bid for this rotten storage? Ha! Not unless we have screws loose in our heads."
Li Du only wanted to disturb the two of them. On seeing that they had given up bidding, he also withdrew. This storage unit went to the black man for 21,000 dollars.
At this, the owner of the drone was very angry. He chased after him and screamed, "You’re really a gutless sissy. You’ll get your retribution, you narrow-minded b*tch!"
Hans glared at him and was planning to scream back, but Li Du shook his head. "Ignore him, get ready for the next storage unit."
The storage auction proceeded swiftly. At first there had been too many people: it had taken one and a half hours to complete the viewing for one storage unit. Based on this calculation, it would be evening time after the bidding for only six or seven storage units was completed.
But now the situation was becoming optimistic. By the time the auction for the third storage unit had started, the number of treasure hunters had decreased.
Many people came and went; they obviously did not bring much money and knew there would not be anything for them to gain here.
Toward the end, as the number of treasure hunters decreased, the speed of the storage auction increased.
Finally, by afternoon, when the auctioning of the first ten storage units was completed, the eleventh storage unit was opened up.