CH 30

Chapter 30: Auction – Part 1

The auction at Yin’s Auction House started at 7 o’clock in the evening of the second day. Lin Luo hadn’t participated in an auction before and was very curious, so Xing Mo brought him early.

However, despite the fact that they came early others came earlier still. The door of Yin’s Auction House was already crowded. The two of them were blocked 50 meters away and couldn’t get in.

“Why are there so many people? Yin’s Auction House won’t shut down the online auction, right? I don’t know what’s going on!” Someone couldn’t help but complain.

“Hey, brother, don’t you know?” As soon as his voice fell, someone next to him answered.

“Know what?”

“Today’s auction, the final lot was replaced.”

“Replaced? I came for those two pieces of green ice jade! Why did they change it?!” The man’s voice suddenly rose, and his tone was a little angry, as if he had been deceived.

“Hey, brother, don’t get excited, don’t you know what the finale lot was replaced with?”

“What’s the replacement? Out with it!” The man was obviously impatient, and asked impatiently, “Could it be possible to replace it with a better jade?”

“Isn’t it! The final lot of the auction today was replaced by a glass-type imperial yellow jade! That is the rarest jade you’ll see in a century!”

“real or fake?!”

“Of course it’s real! There was a huge banner announcement on the official website of Yin’s Auction House last night, as well as a push notification from StarNet. Didn’t you see it?”

“No, I had something wrong yesterday and wasn’t able to get on StarNet.” The man shook his head and said, “Then why are so many people here? Obviously, you can directly participate in online auctions through StarNet?”

“Hey, that’s an imperial yellow. Who doesn’t want to see it in person? Even if you can’t afford it, you can at least just take a look!”

“True, true.” More and more people around participated in their discussion, and the surrounding topics were almost all about that piece of imperial yellow.

Lin Luo was happy when he heard it. After all, that was the jade he had bet on!

Xing Mo was also very happy in his heart. Everyone paid a lot of attention to the jade, and the final bid price would definitely be high. The balance in his account could finally go up.

It’s not that Xing Mo cares too much about money, it’s that he is too short of money recently.

The meteorite rain attack on the Kulta Star mining area especially caused Xing Mo a lot of trouble. No matter whether it was the reconstruction of the mining area or the resettlement of the displaced miners, there was no part of it that didn’t cost money.

His savings were spent like running water, and before the mining area was able to resume production he wouldn’t have any funds going into the account, but at the same time he still needed to continuously pay the mining area.

On top of that, Lin Luo was later taken to the best private clinic in Capital Star for treatment. The series of treatments cost more than 1 million, plus the 5 million credit points for purchasing high-grade gene enhancement liquid were yet more big expenses.

Not to mention the subsequent purchase of the multi-purpose energy detector and the various jadeite. All together Xing Mo had almost spent all his savings from over the years.

But at this time he is not worried at all, because he knows that the money will be earned back sooner or later.

Since he discovered that Lin Luo likes to eat meals made of natural ingredients, Xing Mo has asked the housework robot to prepare natural ingredients meals for every meal. The price of natural ingredients is much higher than nutrient solution that costs only 100 credits. A meal often costs them tens of thousands of credits.

Eating so well may be a bit extravagant for ordinary people, but Lin Luo is different. Xing Mo feels that Lin Luo deserves the best.

Just waiting around outside the whole time is not what Xing Mo planed on doing. Xing Mo silently thought about it before he finally sent a message to Yin Ye who sent someone to pick them up.

The one who came to pick them up was a baby-faced young man. He walked directly in front of the two with a smile and said, “Mr. Xing Mo and Mr. Lin Luo, I am President Yin’s assistant, An ZiHao. Please come with me.”

“Ok, we’ll be troubling you.”

An ZiHao took Xing Mo and Lin Luo through the side door of the auction house.

After the two entered the auction house, they found that the interior of the auction house had been specially arranged for the auction tonight. The floor of the lobby on the first floor is covered with a soft red carpet, extending into the auction hall.

“Assistant An, can we go in ahead of time and take a look?” Lin Luo looked at the closed door of the auction hall, curious about what it would look like, and asked An ZiHao.

“Of course you can, but Mr. Yin has already prepared a room in the VIP room on the second floor for you both. From there, the view will be better.”

“Thank you so much!” The two followed An ZiHao to the second floor.

The auction hall has 1,000 bidding seats and a 4 to 5 meter high auction table. The bidding seats are fan-shaped and face the large central auction table. There is a huge high-definition projection screen directly behind the auction table, allowing the people farther in the back to clearly see what the auction item looks like.

There are 10 VIP boxes on the second floor, which are located on both sides of the auction platform, just as high as the auction table itself. Not only can you clearly see everything on the auction platform, but you can also have a fantastic panoramic view of the entire auction hall.

The room Yin Ye arranged for them was room 6, which was indeed VIP treatment. This room was very spacious and had a soft and wide sofa. It did not matter whether the guests in the room wanted to sit or lie down.

Some drinks and snacks were also prepared in the room, all of which were made of natural materials and very tasty.

The front of the room was a huge window, facing the direction of the auction table. Through this one-way window, guests in the room can clearly see everything on the auction stage. Because it is a one-way window, only people in the room can see the outside, and people outside can never see the inside, thus ensuring the privacy of VIP-level guests.

Soon, it was half past six, and those guests who were waiting outside could finally enter the venue. In a short while, the huge auction hall was already full of people, and there were many people who had to stand because they had no seats, which made the auction hall even more crowded.

Xing Mo saw a few staff members hurriedly walking outside, and figured that they should be going to inform the people outside to stop letting people in.

The lure of the imperial yellow glass jade cannot be underestimated.

At seven o’clock, the auction officially began.

A beautiful and capable female auctioneer walked onto the auction stage and greeted the guests with a smile, “I know everyone has been waiting a long time. I am Liu Yan, your auctioneer for this evening. Thank you for coming to Yin’s Auction House. I hope everyone can buy the lot you like today. Now, I announce the official start of the auction.”

On the big screen behind the auction table, the first lot of tonight appeared immediately, and then a robot came to the auction table holding a wooden tray covered with a red cloth.

“Today’s first lot is a piece of light green bean jade. Although the texture and color are only mid-range, it is not small in size. The net weight has reached 12 kilograms [1]. The energy liquid and element liquid that can be extracted are absolutely worth bidding on. The starting price is 100,000 credits, and each increase must not be less than 10,000 credits.” Liu Yan uncovered the red cloth, slowly introducing the jade, while turning the tray to let everyone participate. All bidding guests can see the full picture of this jade on the big screen behind the table.

“Now, the bidding begins! Customers who are interested in this piece of jade can pick up the bidder on the right side of the seat to bid.”

On the big screen, under this piece of jade, the bidder’s number and quotation began to scroll. The scrolling of the screen did not begin to slow until the price reached 400,000 credits. Only No. 007 and No. 1041 were still participating in the bidding.

No. 007 would make them a guest in VIP box No. 7. Their identity is obviously unusual. No. 1041 should be a guest who entered the venue late. To enter the venue to bid when the venue is already full of 1,000 people means that their identity should not be so ordinary either.

“For the last offer, guest 1041 bid 470,000, are there any other bidders?”

“470,000 once. 470,000 twice. 470,000 three times!”

“Okay, let us congratulate this guest. Please complete the payment online directly through the bidder. After the auction is over, you will be able to receive your lot.”

Finally, it was No. 1041, who bought the light green bean jade for 470,000 credits.

===========Translator’s Corner===========

[1] 12 kilos = 26.5 lbs = 20.0 catties