Chapter 1353: The Price
The female employee in the Qipao stood outside the men’s toilet, listening to the sound of Flushing and the running water from the faucet.
After waiting for about half a minute, Zhang Heng walked out of the toilet after washing his hands. The female employee in the Qipao continued to lead the way and walked past the first large conference room.
Zhang Heng’s expression did not change, as if he had no idea where he would be taken.
“This is the place.”The female employee in the Qipao took a few more steps and finally stopped in front of the room that was originally the exhibition hall. At the same time, she gestured for him to come in, “The auction will begin in about 20 minutes. You can wait here for a while. If there’s anything you need, just tell the staff inside. Fu Lou wishes you a pleasant night.”
“Thank you.”Zhang Heng didn’t sense any hostility from the other party, but he didn’t let his guard down. He tidied up his suit and walked into the room.
Zhang Heng wasn’t the first to arrive. Five buyers had already arrived before him. Three of the five people actually knew each other. They sat together and whispered something, while the other two sat further away from them.
They did not communicate much with each other. One of them was resting with his eyes closed, while the other was playing with his phone. Like Zhang Heng, everyone in the room was wearing masks. This way.., zhang Heng could no longer observe their expressions, so he could not judge their attitude toward him.
In fact, when he entered the room, only two of the five people turned to look at him, but they quickly averted their gazes.
Zhang Heng, on the other hand, chose a seat on the right-hand side of the third row and sat down. Just as he sat down, another person entered the room. It was the person Zhang Heng had bumped into in the bathroom earlier. He had come out before Zhang Heng, however, he was not in a hurry to enter the auction room. Instead, he smoked a cigarette in the corridor at the side.
Judging from the other party’s habit of deliberately avoiding others, it was likely that he had been married for a long time. He might even have had a child.
After entering the room, he didn’t talk to anyone else. Instead, he sat in a row behind Zhang Heng, about two seats away from him. As time passed, more and more guests entered the room.
Ding Si was right. There were indeed quite a number of interested buyers for the [ immune crystal ] this time. Just the final list of buyers from Fortune Building alone had eight people. Other than that, there were several other chambers of commerce, although the number of people was not as large as fortune building’s, it was enough to add up to nearly twenty people.
Furthermore, due to the special trading method this time around, the seller had also arrived. However, he did not go to the auction room. Instead, he sat in the VIP lounge next door.
Zhang Heng looked at the time on his hand. There were less than three minutes left until the start of the auction. Most of the people who were supposed to come tonight had already arrived, then, an auctioneer in his fifties with half a head of white hair walked up to the auction stage.
After a brief welcome speech, the auctioneer quickly got down to business. He introduced the only item that was up for auction tonight. Zhang Heng had seen the [ immune crystal ] in the videos and photos before, now, he saw the real thing.
It was placed in the display cabinet. It was about the size of two thumbs and emitted a light purple luster. The biggest difference between it and an ordinary crystal was the strange pattern on the inside. Upon closer inspection, it was actually still slowly flowing.
After the auctioneer introduced the basic information of the item, he allowed the group of buyers to walk up to the front to take a closer look. However, not many people stood up. Fulou was a veteran chamber of commerce among the players, and it had a good reputation. With their endorsement.., it was just a D-rank item. Even if it was a rare soul-type item, it was almost impossible for a fake to appear.
Therefore, most of the people sat in their seats, waiting for the bidding to begin. Zhang Heng did not move. The seat beside him was already occupied. On his left was a man who kept looking at his watch. He looked like he still had a venue to attend to, and on his right was a girl wearing a sailor’s uniform who was chewing bubble gum, from the looks of it, the auction had just started and she was already getting impatient.
When the last buyer returned to his seat, the auctioneer spoke again, “Due to some well-known reasons, the auction no longer accepts game points as the main payment method, so the usual auction mode is no longer applicable.”
He paused for a moment. Seeing that no one had any objections, he continued, “The seller has already given his psychological price in advance. Since everyone is willing to participate in this auction, it is obvious that they have also accepted this base price. When you entered the auction, you have already handed over the props used for the exchange to our staff. This will also be considered as your first round of bidding. Now, please take out the ipad under your seats and fill in the name, quality, and function of the props truthfully.
“Please take note. Please do not provide any false information. If the bids are accepted in the future, we will proceed to the closing stage. If the bids are false, the bids will be cancelled. The next stage of the auction is as follows.”
Seeing that the people in the auction room had already started to input information on the tablet, the auctioneer continued, “Your first round of bids will be submitted to the seller. The seller will select the ten most tempting bids, and these ten buyers will enter the next round. However, those who are eliminated do not need to be too depressed. You can continue to raise your bids based on the first bid.
“The new bid will also enter the second round of competition. After the second round, there will only be five bids left on the list. After the third round, there will be three bids. In the fourth round, there will be one final bid. If there are no bids that can surpass this bid in the next round, then congratulations to this buyer for successfully bidding for the [ immune crystal ] . Does anyone have any questions?”
The auctioneer waited for half a minute, but no one spoke. He had wanted to wait a little longer, but the girl in the sailor suit to Zhang Heng’s right had run out of patience, “Alright, cut the crap. Let’s get started! If you have any questions, ask them after the first round.”
Hearing this, the auctioneer didn’t wait any longer. He looked at the screen in front of him, “I have received all 27 bids and have already forwarded them to the seller. Please wait for a moment. In 30 minutes, the results of the first round of bids will be announced. During this period of time, everyone can take a break. There are snacks and fruits on your left and drinks and drinks on your right. “You can take whatever you want. You can also use your tablet to watch movie variety shows or log on to the players’forums. I wish everyone a pleasant night.”
With that, he walked off the stage and went to the staff lounge to rest.