What do people use these machines for?
Of course, it's for gold panning.
Since it's for gold panning, when the machine finishes working, all the gold panned will certainly be cleaned out.
Could it possibly be left in the machine to be shipped overseas to you?
Daniel could not keep up with Allen's line of thought.
However, he had underestimated the thought processes of these gamblers.
Soon, Robert shouted through the microphone, "Time's up!"
"As you all have seen, these machines, all of them are washing machines retired from the Stetbon gold mine!"
"The value of this container doesn't need much explanation!"
"I declare, the second round of auction begins now!"
"The starting bid is 20,000 StellaCoin, with a minimum bid increment of 1,000 StellaCoin!"
This time, the bidding rules were also included.
It seemed Robert was very confident about this lot.
Daniel chuckled to himself.
As soon as Robert finished speaking, a treasure hunter immediately made a bid.
"20,000 StellaCoin!"
Everyone glanced at him, he was a newbie.
The starting bid was 20,000, so bidding 20,000 was pointless.
Sure enough, someone quickly made another bid.
Wilson raised his hand, "30,000 StellaCoin!"
This price made everyone turn their heads.
It had just started, and the single bid increment was over 10,000 dollars.
It seemed a bit hasty.
Another newbie treasure hunter kept up, "35,000 StellaCoin!"
Emilia raised her hand calmly, "50,000 StellaCoin!"
The woman directly increased the bid by 15,000 StellaCoin, instantly intimidating the other treasure hunters.
Seeing everyone aggressively bidding, Allen looked anxiously at Daniel.
"Dan, should we bid?"
Abel also silently waited for Daniel's response.
After all, those are machines for gold washing, even though the chances of finding residual gold inside them are slim.
But what if?
Seeing that both were becoming restless, Daniel nodded, "We can bid, but the price can't exceed 100,000 StellaCoin for now."
This was his system's estimated valuation.
He only checked the machines displayed on the outside, and the market value given by the system for all of them was around 10,000 StellaCoin.
"Okay!"
Upon getting Daniel's approval, Allen immediately excitedly raised his hand to bid, "100,000 StellaCoin!"
Damn it!
Daniel was stunned.
He had just said not to exceed 100,000 StellaCoin, and this idiot immediately placed a bid of exactly 100,000 StellaCoin.
Abel, standing nearby, couldn't stand it anymore, and gave Allen a smack, growling, "Is that how you bid?"
Allen touched the spot on his head where he was hit, his eyes full of innocence, and mumbled, "I reckon I didn't exceed 100,000 StellaCoin, did I..."
Abel turned around, glaring, "What did you say?"
Knowing he messed up, Allen quickly smiled, "No... nothing."
Geez!
It really wasn't easy for this guy to grow up.
Daniel couldn't help but chuckle, his gaze turning towards the crowd.
The price of 100,000 StellaCoin had truly stunned everyone.
They had seen bidding before, but never such bidding.
Doubling the bid just like that!
Looking at Daniel next to Allen, everyone sighed inwardly.
It's good to be rich, to be able to squander money at will.
Daniel: Don't look at me, it wasn't my directive.
On stage, Robert was overjoyed.
It hadn't been long since the auction started, and the price had already skyrocketed to 100,000.
Let's stoke the fire a bit more, let the price blaze even more fiercely!
"Oh-ho~!"
"The Abel-Allen brothers, under Daniel's guidance, jumped over the price of 50,000 StellaCoin, and directly went up to 100,000 StellaCoin!"
"It seems Mr. Dan is very confident in the value of this container!"
"The highest bid now is 100,000 StellaCoin, do we have any higher bids?"
Frowning, Daniel was a bit displeased.
This sly fox, always pushing him to the forefront.
Robert didn't care about his attitude, scanning the crowd.
Soon, a treasure hunter was swayed by Robert's words.
"110,000 StellaCoin!"
The one bidding was Wilson.
He had let opportunities slip into Daniel's hands several times already.
This time, he had to seize it no matter what.
Emilia followed suit, shouting, "115,000 StellaCoin!"
Wilson didn't even look at Emilia, immediately keeping up, "120,000 StellaCoin!"
Emilia: "125,000!"
Wilson: "130,000!"
The two chased each other, increasing the bid by 5,000 each time.
The price quickly rose to 180,000 StellaCoin.
At this price, Wilson was already feeling the pressure.
He gritted his teeth and called out the final price, "185,000!"
However, before Emilia could react, another bald man raised his hand to bid, "200,000!"
In an instant.
He had everyone's attention.
Daniel understood why the man was bidding like this.
He had been observing at the container door all along, only starting to bid now.
Seems like he found something.
Daniel also tried to look into the container, but due to the distance, he couldn't see anything.
All he could do was focus on the container itself.
[Condition]: Slightly worn
[Details]: Contains gold prospecting equipment from the nation of Stetbon
[Appraisal]: Average value, not worth collecting.
[Market Price]: 130,000
[Buyback Price]: 100,000
Damn!
Daniel was dumbfounded.
The bidding price had soared to 200,000, yet the system's appraisal price was just 130,000.
He glanced at the bald man, really not understanding what this guy saw that he dared to bid 200,000.
"It's at 200,000!"
Allen turned around, asking Daniel, "Dan, shouldn't we be bidding?"
Daniel shook his head, "We're not going for this container."
Allen's eyes widened, incredulous, "Why?"
"There might be gold in there. Everyone's scrambling for it. How can we not bid?"
Daniel replied irritably, "Bid if you want to, but don't say I didn't warn you."
Hearing this, Allen was dumbfounded.
He naturally wouldn't dare to make a decision on his own, so he cast a look at his elder brother.
Abel signaled Allen to quiet down, then asked Daniel himself, "Dan, did you notice something?"
Otherwise, he definitely wouldn't be behaving this way.
Daniel raised an eyebrow, sighing, "From my perspective, the value of this container doesn't exceed 140,000."
"Like I said before, even if these machines are for gold prospecting, why would their users leave gold behind? There's absolutely no gold in this container."
"That's my personal opinion. If you two brothers still aren't convinced, you can try your luck. But don't exceed 250,000."
If someone's bound to be a fool, all you can do is try to minimize their losses.
Surprisingly, Abel wasn't as rash as Allen.
After some thought, Abel said, "Allen, let's pass on this container."
Once the older brother had spoken, Allen had no choice but to nod.
At the auction, the prices continued to skyrocket.
The bald man bid 220,000 StellaCoin, with Wilson close behind at 230,000 StellaCoin.
This upset the bald man, who promptly raised his bid by 20,000 StellaCoin.
Then, he gritted his teeth at Wilson, spitefully saying, "Wilson, 250,000 is my bottom line. If your price is higher than 250,000, the container is yours!"
Wilson began to hesitate.
He noticed that it had been a while since Daniel's group had bid.
Although he didn't want to admit it, he already believed Daniel had some appraisal skills.
If Daniel wasn't bidding, he also couldn't bid.
Seeing this, Allen was surprised, "Wilson was acting all tough earlier, how come he's chickened out now?"
Abel noticed Wilson's glance at Daniel and couldn't help but smile, "He hasn't chickened out, he's just gotten wiser."
After he said this, he pointed at Daniel.
Allen suddenly understood, "I see, that sneaky fox, he's really gotten smarter."
With no new bids for a long while, Robert knew it was his turn to step in.
"250,000 StellaCoins, is there anyone willing to bid higher?"
"Then I declare, this container goes to our new friend!"
The bald man was immediately thrilled, excitedly punching the air, "Yes! Yes!"
He happily went forward, instructing the workers to move out the machines, "Be careful, lads, don't drop my gold!"
Hearing this, everyone turned to look.
Could it be, there was really gold in there?
Nine machines and a bunch of related tools were cleared out.
Everyone was closely watching the bald man's moves, curious if there was gold in these machines.
Soon, everyone noticed.
The bald man's face, had turned dark.