Daniel watched as the crowd scattered, even the staff kept their distance.
He looked at the container, now like a portable swimming pool filled with feces, and was puzzled.
How was he supposed to deal with this?
If he had to reach in, would he want his hand afterward?
At that moment, Abel and Allen came over with poles borrowed from the movers, and baffled Durant, covering his nose, followed them.
Daniel instinctively reached for the pole in Abel's hand, but Abel stepped back, "Daniel, let us handle this. You just tell us what to do."
Abel believed that Daniel had a reason for wanting this pool of feces.
Daniel shook his head.
To be honest, even he didn't know what to do.
But the appraisal result given by the system couldn't be false.
Looking at the nearly tangible stench hanging in the air, he didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
But for a billion, let's do it!
Daniel took the long pole, stood at the entrance of the container, and reached into the feces pool.
The once dried-up waste was easily stirred by the pole.
Damn it, this smell is absolutely outrageous!
Daniel squinted his eyes, leaving only a thin sliver to see through.
The gases produced by the fermentation of feces in the container were simply too eye-watering.
Allen, who stood the furthest back, ended up retching up his breakfast.
He hid behind Abel, desperately holding himself together, "Bro, what on earth is Daniel looking for?"
Abel, with a furrowed brow, shook his head.
He was just as curious, which was why he was still there.
Otherwise, he would've fled like everyone else.
Viewers in the live stream got a firsthand experience of the scene through the camera on Daniel's chest.
"Holy shit, did the streamer fall into a septic tank?"
"Not quite, he just bought a container filled with a septic tank."
"What??? Why buy this? Is he out of his mind?"
"Seems like the streamer thinks there's something valuable hidden in there."
"Who'd put valuable stuff in there? I can't handle it, gonna puke."
At that moment, Daniel had no time to check out the viewers' reactions.
He had been searching in the septic pool for quite some time, with the eye-burning stench radiating hundreds of meters around.
Yet he had found nothing.
If it weren't for the system's unchanged appraisal result in his mind, he would've dropped the pole and left.
Could the system's appraisal be wrong?
He wondered.
But he quickly dismissed the idea.
The probability of the system making a mistake is probably even lower than that of the universe being destroyed.
He gritted his teeth and continued to search for the hidden item with the pole.
After watching for a while, Durant even wondered if Daniel had lost his mind.
He held his nose and reluctantly moved forward, "Daniel, what on earth are you looking for?"
"Is there really something hidden in these feces?"
Daniel turned his head, taking deep breaths of fresh air.
The air outside was obviously much better than inside the container.
Damn, it smells good!
He looked at the strange gazes from Durant, Abel, and Allen, and smiled, "I'm not sure. I just think it's strange for anyone to ship this kind of stuff all the way from country B. The shipping fee alone would cost thirty to forty thousand StellarCoins. It doesn't make sense."
Durant got his point, "So you believe there's something hidden in there?"
Daniel nodded, "Not just something, but something that can't see the light of day."
At these words, Durant, Abel, and Allen all widened their eyes.
Just as Daniel said, the item that was transported from country B in such a complicated manner couldn't be just a pool of feces.
It was very likely that something valuable and secretive was hidden in there!
Suddenly Allen thought of something.
He looked around, saw no one, and turned his head to whisper, "Do you think there might be drugs or something similar hidden in there?"
Abel and Durant were taken aback.
They'd heard of drug dealers using unthinkable methods to transport drugs, such as having people swallow well-packaged drugs or hide them in women's vaginas.
Hiding them in feces wouldn't be impossible.
If that's the case, they shouldn't touch this container at all.
Drug dealers can be ruthless and messing with them wouldn't be a wise move.
All eyes turned to Daniel.
Daniel rubbed his nose, he had also considered this possibility.
A hundred million worth of drugs hidden in a septic pool seems plausible.
But if it were such a large amount of drugs, they should have been able to find it easily.
However, considering he had found nothing after searching for so long, the item worth a hundred million surely isn't something big.
At least, it wouldn't be drugs.
"Anyway, let's find it first. Even if it's drugs, we could secretly contact the police before anyone notices. They could handle it quietly, at least that would prove I didn't buy the wrong container," Daniel suggested.
At this, the three felt relieved.
At least this approach seemed safe.
Thinking that something valuable might be inside, Durant, Abel, and Allen all disregarded the unbearable smell, found a few more poles, opened the side of the container, and started to help search.
In the live stream, the viewers were dumbfounded seeing the four enthusiastically searching through the fecal matter.
"No way, they actually believe the streamer's bullshit?"
"I'm laughing my ass off, I'm gonna clip this live stream and post it on the video website, it'll go viral for sure."
"I actually think the streamer's analysis makes sense."
"The streamer can always analyze the maximum value of the container under any circumstances, no wonder the people from Libertopia hail him as an appraisal master."
After searching for a long time, all four were drenched in sweat.
Suddenly, Allen shouted excitedly, "I found it! I found it!"
At his words, the others immediately dropped their poles and rushed over.
Allen was holding up a pure black leather briefcase with his pole.
It looked very similar to the cases often seen in drug deals in movies.
After Allen carefully lifted the case out and tossed it on the ground, the four looked at each other, faced with a dilemma.
Who would open the case?
That was the question.
The leather case had been soaked in the septic pool for who knows how long, its color looked a bit yellowish and there were lots of dried filth on it.
Nobody wanted to touch it.
Daniel suggested, "How about we find a place to rinse it off first?"
Durant nodded, "Good idea, there's a public restroom in the office building over there."
After saying that, Durant took the lead with Daniel and Abel following behind. Allen, left with the task of carrying the briefcase, could only sigh and quickly catch up.
Soon, the four arrived at the restroom.
Allen tossed the case into the sink and was about to turn on the faucet.
Suddenly he turned around and blurted out, "Will rinsing it with water damage the contents?"
Daniel was speechless.
Abel scornfully said, "You think there's no water in the septic pool?"
Allen was stunned for a moment, then had an epiphany.
He gave an awkward laugh, then turned on the faucet.
After rinsing for a solid half hour, the briefcase no longer looked like it had been soaking in a septic pool for so long.
Abel said, "Allen, open it."
Allen was somewhat reluctant, "Why me?"
Seeing that none of the other three paid any attention to him, he had to grit his teeth and unlock the case.
Upon opening it, the inside was surprisingly clean.
On the black padding, there was a green dried-up twig sealed in a vacuum bag.
It was just a bit longer than a middle finger.
What could this be? This question popped into everyone's minds.
Durant reached out and grabbed the bag, examining it closely.
After only a few glances, a look of fear appeared in his eyes.
"Oh my God! If I'm not mistaken... this is a finger!"
A finger?!
Abel, Allen, and even Daniel all widened their eyes in shock.
The chat in the live stream also exploded.
"Oh my, could this be related to a murder case?"
"Even a cross-border murder case, things are getting interesting now!"
"But why is the finger green? It... doesn't look like a human finger."
"Is there any animal with a finger that looks like this?"
Everyone was filled with confusion.
Daniel's gaze fell on the severed finger.
The green on the surface was clearly the original skin color, there was no sign of staining.
The skin of the finger was as shriveled as that of a ninety-year-old human, even more wrinkled.
The strangest thing was, human fingers mostly have three joints, with the thumb having two.
But this green finger had five joints, which didn't look like any kind of deformity in human development.
It looked both normal and bizarre.
He also thought it didn't look like a human finger.
Gorillas, monkeys didn't have green fingers, and theirs weren't this long either.
Apart from these two humanoid animals, which other creature on earth has fingers like humans?
Daniel thought about all the creatures he knew of, and in the end, he found none.
His only option was to use the system, he focused his gaze and started appraising.
[Item]: Severed Finger
[Age]: 1300 years ago
[Condition]: Well-preserved
[Details]: Auric's severed finger.
[Appraisal]: Auric is an alien life form superior to humans, with great research value!
[Market Price]: 100,000,000StellarCoins.
[Buyback Price]: 50,000,000StellarCoins.
Alien... life form?!
Is it... an alien?
Even someone as composed as Daniel was taken aback at the moment, he stood still, unable to process the information shown by the system immediately.