Chapter 437: Bizarre Deity StatueTranslator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
“We can do business immediately. You give me the painting, then I will immediately transfer you the money,” Andrea said, while laughing. He seemed to have noticed Mo Wen’s suspicion.
The faces of both Jiang Siyin and Yang Ting instantly became uglier than bitter gourds. They secretly cursed Mo Wen for being so lucky.
“As you seem like a righteous person, I’ll trust you.” Mo Wen nodded his head. After all, this white man had spoken up for them. Moreover, Mo Wen found him pleasing to the eye, so he tossed the white man the painting.
Andrea hurriedly caught the original Da Vinci, giving Mo Wen an incredulous look.
He couldn’t believe that Mo Wen had actually treated an original of the Master Da Vinci so casually! In the eyes of Italians, Da Vinci’s paintings were national treasures!
“Mr. Mo Wen, please give me your account number. I will immediately make the transfer.” Andrea took out his laptop and swiftly logged into his personal bank account. If Andrea’s identity was true, with his status, immediately transferring 60 million USD would not pose a problem.
“Save yourself the trouble. You can just donate the money straight to the charitable organization of our Hua Xia Country. Of course, I will ask you donate it in the name of my wife, Shen Jing,” Mo Wen said.
After all, he planned to donate the money anyway. Andrea would be doing him a favor and saving him the time.
“Why are you placing so much trust in me?” Andrea stared at Mo Wen, surprised.
“Oh, I just know that you wouldn’t dare to pocket this money,” Mo Wen said, smiling.
“Mr. Mo Wen is indeed someone with vision and courage. You are a true philanthropist.” Andrea nodded slightly.
What Mo Wen said was true. He wouldn’t dare pocket this money. Unless his identity was fake, doing so would harm his reputation. Moreover, 60 million USD was too little an amount for him to bother with have any funny thoughts.
The auction continued. One by one, the items were placed on the stage to be auctioned off. Most of them were ancient artifacts with historical value.
In some countries, it was considered illegal to auction these kinds of artifacts. However, now that they were on the open sea, no one really cared or was there to regulate them.
Mo Wen noticed that many of the auction items came from Hua Xia. In fact, at least one-third of the auction items were ancient artifacts from Hua Xia.
Many people were passionate about them especially. Every time one of these items appeared, many people would bid for it.
Shen Jing watched as piece after piece of the Hua Xia artifacts were auctioned off, soon to be moved overseas by the new owners. She gave a slight sigh.
For many years, the tomb raiders in the country had always run rampant. As such, many national artifacts were moved overseas every year.
In most cases, one artifact would be sold at a low price by an artifact merchant. Then, it would appear in international auctions, where some rich patriots would buy them at astronomical prices. In this way, large amounts of wealth ended up in the hands of foreigners.
Mo Wen did not give such things much thought. After all, what he considered to be valuable was different than most normal people. As his concept of value was fundamentally different, he was not as emotional as Shen Jing regarding the objects at the auction.
“The next item that will be auctioned is an ancient artifact from Hua Xia. This item has at least three thousand years of history and is an ancient relic. Although there are no specific records for it, such an ancient artifact is rare indeed,” the auctioneer announced.
A bizarre bronze statue was immediately placed on the auction block. It had a human’s body and a serpent’s tail. On its back were seven hands, while another pair of hands was on the front of its chest. It was also holding a Flying Serpent.
The design of the bronze statue was bizarre, causing it to look like a demon from the legends. It had a thick aura of history to it, and everyone could sense its old age.
The bronze statue’s starting bid was two million USD, which was far below Da Vinci’s painting. However, this was normal, as although this item was ancient, the collective value of an ancient artifact did not depend solely upon whether it was ancient or not. Hence, some things may be ancient, but may still not be worth much.
In fact, the value of ancient artifacts usually was determined by the roles they played in history. For example, a bowl that was used by an emperor would have a value far beyond that of a normal bowl. Hence, as Da Vinci’s work was related to the Western Renaissance era and he himself was a world-renowned scholar, every single one of his works was worth a fortune.
Although a two million USD starting bid was far less than the starting bid for the Da Vinci painting, among artifacts, the price was actually quite high. One other reason that it had such a high starting bid, aside from its being ancient, was also due to its very possibly being related to ancient religions and legends. If its actual origins could be investigated, then its value would surely multiply.
“Are you interested in that bronze statue?” Shen Jing asked Mo Wen, while staring at him curiously. Mo Wen’s gaze seemed to be transfixed on it.
“That is a deity statue. In the ancient times, everyone worshipped it,” Mo Wen said plainly.
Mo Wen could sense some peculiar aura coming from the bronze statue. As for what it was exactly, he couldn’t quite tell. But, he had definitely encountered a similar phenomenon before. In his previous life, the deity statue of the Divine Pill Sect’s Patriarch had a similar aura.
The deity statue of the Patriarch was worshipped day and night. Then, after many long years, it was no longer a normal statue.
However, Mo Wen didn’t know exactly what had changed. After all, his status in the Divine Pill Sect was pretty low, so the things that he knew were limited.
“A deity statue? It does not seem like a deity, but more like a demon!” Shen Jing looked at the bronze statue. Its appearance was extremely bizarre.
“Then, in your opinion, what should a deity look like?” Mo Wen asked with a smile, while holding Shen Jing’s hand.
Shen Jing this pondered for a while, then realized that she couldn’t answer this question, as she had never seen a deity before! Hence, she couldn’t possibly know what a deity looked like!
“If you really do not have a point of reference, you can use me as your reference,” Mo Wen said, laughing wryly.
“You are so smug! Only crazy people would play along with you and boost your ego!” Shen Jing rolled her eyes at Mo Wen.
At the moment, the bidding for the strange bronze statue had begun. The competition was not intense, but rather mild. The bidding only increased by ten thousand dollar increments most of the time.
After all, the starting price of two million was already quite high, and not many people were willing to take a risk on something that they didn’t understand. Only a small fraction of people loved to collect peculiar things. However, even these people had a limit to how much they were willing to pay.
“Three million!” Mo Wen shouted.
His action was surprising, as he rarely participated in auctions. Plus, he did not know much about the bronze statue!
But, his instincts told him that this thing was not simple and may have some unexpected value. Besides, even if it did not have any value, that would also be fine with him, as it was just money.
As Yang Ting saw Mo Wen bidding, she thought of interfering with him. But, she changed her mind and gave up again.
This was because she already realized that, in regards to their financial wealths, she was most likely inferior to Mo Wen. Thus, if she were to try to outbid him, she would most likely fail.
Also, she was unsure of Mo Wen’s attitude towards the item, so she did not dare to bid recklessly. In the event that Mo Wen suddenly did not want it, then she would be stuck with it and left in despair!
As someone in the inner business circle, she needed to be rational at all times, especially in managing her finances. When she could afford something, she would take the risk, but when she couldn’t afford something, she wouldn’t dare to act recklessly.
As the bidding for the bronze statue increased, the amount of people bidding for it decreased. In the end, only two people were left vying for it. When Mo Wen increased his bid to 40 million, the other person gave up competing entirely.
“Weren’t you interested in the bronze statue? Why did you give up?” At a corner of the great hall, two youths sitting beside one another.
Both of their temperaments were cold. In fact, they were so cold, nobody else was willing to go near them!
“The bronze statue is abnormal. I am sure that you sensed it too,” one of the youths said plainly, while glancing at his companion.
“But, I am not interested in it,” the other youth said, while shaking his head.
“So, I gave up. As you probably know, the background of this kind of item is most likely impressive. But, it doesn’t necessarily have any practical function. Plus, it might even bring us unexpected troubles,” the first youth said coldly.
“Then, aren’t you worried it is really extraordinary? Won’t it be regrettable if you miss out on a true treasure?” the other youth, who was named Henry, asked.
“Henry, I think that, rather than fighting for an unknown item that might potentially bring us harm, it would be far more meaningful to kill you, drink your blood, and steal your treasures!” A glint of killing intent flashed in the eyes of the first youth, whose name was Royce.
“Royce, you are disgusting and crazy! In fact, everyone in your entire Bruch Family is a psychopath.” Henry cast a disgusted glance at Royce, then purposely moved his body away from him.
“Henry, if you provoke me again, there will be dire consequences. Please do not forget our true purpose for this trip. Aside from that, everything else is insignificant. I do not wish to provoke that terrifying youth. If you deliberately create problems and stir up trouble, don’t blame me for being ruthless,” Royce said coldly. He was very clear on what sort of schemes his companion had.
The language that they spoke could not be understood by the people around them. Not only was it not English, it wasn’t even a language that any race on earth could translate!
“Royce, I always thought that you were an idiot. Who would have thought that you would have such good eyes?” Henry was laughing loudly now.