His figure stood upright against the backdrop of smoke and light and the look in his eyes was unclear but they were cold as the deepest glacier. The two things that tipped him off to this invisible connection were the waiter's strange behavior and the beautiful escorts beside James.
Both interactions looked normal from an outside perspective, but he had experienced enough difficulties in his last life to develop an extremely paranoid and vigilant mind and could keenly pick up even the slightest clue.
The waiters here were trained to respect and show courtesy to everyone here, and they were all cautious in fear of offending any of these powerhouses and being scrapped. When they passed each guest, they would nod as a sign of respect. But when the male waiter passed Austin a moment ago, Selwynn quickly captured the fleeting emotion in his eyes.
It was the same respect and cautiousness due but there was a layer of familiarity. That emotion could only mean that this waiter had seen or even served Austin before and may even have been instructed by his superiors to take extra care of his affairs.
Glancing out of the corner of his eyes, he saw Austin had naturally walked over to the corner and signaled the previous waiter as if to order another glass of champagne, the waiter blocked most of his line of sight in the dim lighting but since he was paying attention he was able to see clearly when Austin placed the empty glass on the tray and underneath it there seemed to be a flash of white, Austin patted the waiter's back and walked away casually.
The male waiter lingered for a few moments then naturally walked away and disappeared into the back and another waiter quickly came to replace him.
In fact, this way of passing notes and instructions was not uncommon but all the people were bosses in their own respective fields and they all brought subordinates with them.
Many of them were enemies or had bad blood and it was relatively unsafe to pass instructions through outside parties here, what if it was intercepted by others or sent to another person by the waiter?
The mere fact that Austin had the confidence to do this, meant he had connections here and his interests were tied and he was not afraid of something happening.
James, as well. The two escorts had obviously come in with James and had come straight from his residence, but the discrepancy was that many of the people here were usually very busy dealing with business and ruling their own companies. Just like Selwynn, many had come straight here from the Airport and there wouldn't be much of a time difference between each arrival.
However judging from the somewhat haggard look and dark circles under his eyes, it was evident that James had spent more than one night in this country.
Not to mention anything else, James was the head of Bellevue corp and many things needed his presence, even a day's difference could change the course of many things. His base of operations was not in China and if something urgent happened and he was delayed here, the consequences would be unimaginable.
Since he was able to do this so confidently, he had interests here and it was enough for him to be willing to take the risks.
Selwynn only needed a little clue and he was able to decipher many things at once, many things that he was unaware of in his last life he would slowly discover until he dragged out the big conspiracy that fate had planned for him.
At this point, there was no more need to observe James and Austin, Cate had already handed in the bidding documents and was waiting for orders.
Cate hesitated and opened his mouth slowly, " Our bottom line was leaked before this, even if it was increased later on, I'm not sure how many people in this venue know, it can't be ruled out that some people take the chance to fish in troubled waters and even if they can't afford the land they will raise the price unreasonably."
Selwynn was calm and there was neither surprise nor anger in his eyes when he spoke there was a layer of mockery in his voice. "It's not a probability, more than likely this is what we will face in the coming moments. "
The scrutinizing and probing eyes whether intentionally or unintentionally kept falling on the place where they were standing. Evidently, everyone had their own individual thoughts and plans.
"Then do we still purchase Norwegia's land at all costs? If we pull the funds from a few small industries we may face a bit of capital shortage but it's manageable in the short term."
Selwynn narrowed his eyes at the front and did not answer his question but walked to an unoccupied sofa in the corner and sat down, poured a glass of red wine, and let the mellow taste swish around in his mouth. Cate was knowledgeable and stopped asking, following him to sit as the guard stood beside them protectively.
The moment the two announcers were, the lights in the villa shut off, and only the light on stage was conveniently left on. The male and female announcers also recognized the urgency of the powerful guests and directly skipped the nonsense. This was a semi-private auction and only a few well-recognized powerhouses could appear here, all with black underground dealings and they all understood the importance of tonight.
Black leather chairs, sofas, and tables were set up one level lower in this building, so the people around could clearly see the stage.
At the moment the darkness fell, the eyes of all of them fell on the front, bursting out with a strong light.
Selwynn knew what kind of light it was.
It is the light of all desires.
Everyone has many desires, and different people have different desires, so it is difficult to describe.
Wealth, power, longevity.
Greed, tyranny, lust.
Money can drive even a ghost to work, not to mention these were all people who licked the blood on the edge of the knife, they were cruel, and unforgiving hiding everything behind a hypocritical smiling face. The Norwegia land and anyone who could swallow it would inevitably have their authority boosted to a level.
Selwynn's blond locks fell across his face and hid the shadow in his eyes, he looked around at the faces in the hall and wondered for a moment, how many of these people participated in his downfall, how many stepped on his corpse to rise, tearing into his company like hyena's who smelled blood and how many became the final beneficiary's of his death.
The group in charge of the land was a local Chinese group called Xingnue, they had obviously come prepared and a three-dimensional model was carried on stage so the people below could have a better estimate of the bid
Xingnue Group started its publicity half a year in advance and the people below had also collected enough information at this time.
The parts to be sold were divided into five pieces and could be bought and developed by separate groups.
However, having different groups control different sections was unfavorable and was a hidden danger to all parties. Those determined to bid, all had the intention of purchasing the entire land.
The group also hopes to sell the land and plan it in a unified way and favorable policies would be offered by both sides of the government in Norwegia and China would be given to the successful bidder. If this land is managed well, it will be the first shot for their reconstruction model and help with land integration.
The people who did the construction would also have full rights in development.
This was the most important point.
"The first round of bidding starts now. The starting price of the first land is 7 million, and every time the placard is raised, an additional 100,000 will be added."
The first placard raised was by the general manager of an investment company, "7.1 million."
Then the second, "8 million."
"10 million."
"..."
.Selwynn leaned lazily against the sofa, the leather backdrop made his pale skin even lighter and he held a glass of wine in his slender fingers. He had no intentions of bidding.
In fact, many groups were like this, including Austin and James who continued to tease the girls hooked to his side.
It was not time for the powerful to get on stage, those who bid first were all relatively smaller groups, they knew that bidding was futile but what they were waiting for was not here.