25: Black Market Warehouse

"Do you have a set of basketball's Golden Generation draft cards? You haven't sold them yet, have you?"

Ross's voice was very excited. Ever since he saw the video of Qin Yun at the Auction House, he hadn't been able to stop thinking about those draft cards.

He had found Qin Yun's contact information on the car purchase contract and dialed it hurriedly.

"Yes, I found Allen's draft card as well. I've just completed the set and was planning to contact you."

Qin Yun had originally intended to contact Ross after finishing up with the Secondhand Store business.

But since Ross had called, he told him the truth.

"Great, great! Could you bring the draft cards over to the dealership? I'm willing to pay a high price for them."

"I'll also provide a full inspection and maintenance service for your pickup truck for free."

Ross was a bit anxious and had even come up with an excuse for Qin Yun to come over.

"Alright, I'll head over now."

After hanging up, Qin Yun drove to the shop to pick up the basketball cards.

Arriving at the shop, he saw the Black Man and Li Qiang organizing the shelves, which made him feel quite relieved.

Since these two could find work to do on their own, the shop would be kept in good order.

Taking the star cards from the safe, Qin Yun and Julia drove to the secondhand car dealership.

At the dealership's entrance, they found Ross waiting.

Ross didn't even wait for Qin Yun to park before hurriedly walking up to greet them.

"No need to go into the shop, let's head straight to the service department in the back."

With that, he led the way to the backyard.

He loved that set of draft cards too much, especially Kobe's draft card, which had long been hyped to a sky-high price and was incredibly hard to find.

Let alone a complete set; there weren't more than ten people in the world who owned one.

Ross was afraid his wife would find out, which was why he wanted to trade in the service department where there were fewer people.

Qin Yun was a bit confused, unable to figure out Ross's intentions.

However, seeing how much Ross cared about the draft cards, he followed along.

After handing the truck over to the maintenance staff, Ross led the two of them to an empty workshop.

"Did you bring the draft cards? How about selling them to me for fifty thousand?"

Ross rubbed his hands together, his voice lacking confidence. A complete set of draft cards was so hard to assemble that he felt a bit anxious about the outcome.

Qin Yun and Julia looked at each other, greatly surprised.

The two had already discussed it and expected forty thousand, which was the high price mentioned by the Appraiser at the Auction House.

The owner of a secondhand car dealership didn't seem like a major Tycoon, so they had been prepared for Ross to haggle.

Qin Yun couldn't understand why Ross wanted to trade in such a secluded place.

Forty thousand dollars was already good, and it didn't matter where the trade happened as long as the money was paid. Just as he was about to agree, Ross spoke again.

"This is all the private 'mad money' I can use right now. If you think it's not enough, I can also provide a secret about a Warehouse Auction."

Ross's voice was very urgent. He thought Qin Yun hadn't completed the set, so he had only prepared fifty thousand dollars in private savings.

Afraid that Qin Yun wouldn't agree to the deal, he quickly threw out another lure.

Ross knew that complete sets of draft cards were very difficult to gather, especially those of the Golden Generation.

If a Tycoon who liked them came across them, they might offer an even higher price.

Hearing that it was a secret about a Warehouse Auction, Qin Yun's interest was piqued.

Where did Paul get this inside information?

Was the inside information valuable to him?

"Alright, regardless of whether your secret is useful to me, I'll sell the draft cards to you for fifty thousand dollars."

The price was very fair, and since he got a discount when buying the car, he didn't want to make things too difficult for Ross.

Hearing Qin Yun's agreement, Ross smiled happily.

"I knew you were a good friend. I'll remember your help this time."

Giving Qin Yun a discount on the car earlier had truly been a wise decision; otherwise, how could he have had such a great opportunity to buy an incredibly precious set of basketball cards for only fifty thousand?

Qin Yun smiled.

"We're friends; helping each other is only natural. Who knows, I might even buy another car from you in the future."

"By the way, what exactly is this secret you mentioned? I'm quite curious now."

He was quite curious about what kind of secret it could be.

Ross took out his phone and opened a chat group.

"This is news I saw in a private group. This Warehouse Auction isn't open to the public; it's by invitation only, known only to veterans in the circle."

After speaking, he opened a link that contained a graphic introduction to the auction.

According to the description, the auction location was at an abandoned port.

The warehouses being auctioned were unclaimed shipping containers.

These containers were used for smuggling, and the costs were much higher than normal channels.

Inside, there were usually very valuable things.

Qin Yun had always worked alone before and didn't usually communicate with other Treasure Hunters, so he didn't know this type of Warehouse Auction existed.

The practice of auctioning containers directly sounded quite exciting.

Although the items in the containers might be illicit, they were at least worth a lot of money.

It wouldn't be like a typical Warehouse Auction, where there was a high probability of everything inside being worthless junk.

"Is this safe?"

After reading the introduction, Qin Yun felt an impulse to participate in this auction.

But he didn't know if there were safety issues, so he had some concerns.

Ross scratched the back of his head.

"I haven't participated in this kind of auction before, but it should be fine."

"I have many friends who have participated and returned safely. Some say they even bought treasures, but they're unwilling to say much about the details."

"The organization is a bit shady, so maybe you shouldn't go. It would be bad if something happened."

He was a bit unsure if such a place was safe and feared something might happen to Qin Yun, feeling a bit regretful.

Why did he tell Qin Yun this news?

Having finally managed to get close to such a high-level Treasure Hunter, Ross didn't want to see anything happen to Qin Yun.

Hearing Ross's description, Qin Yun's interest waned slightly.

If the warehouses were full of illicit goods and run by shady organizations, there was no need to participate in such an auction.

Julia had also spent time in many Treasure Hunter circles and knew quite a bit of inside information about such auctions.

"Most of these containers come from smuggling freighters, and many of the items are illicit."

"Moreover, these underground auctions have a history of at least fifty years. I haven't heard of any safety issues; they're probably tacitly permitted by the authorities."

"The auction organizers are in it for the money. The prices of the warehouses are mostly quite high, though I've heard some containers are filled with nothing but trash. I don't know if the organizers are behind that."

"But there are indeed many good things inside. There have been entire containers of arms, precious cultural relics smuggled from various countries, rare animal specimens, and even dozens of rotting corpses."

She hadn't expected to encounter such an underground Warehouse Auction, and her words were full of longing.

If she went with Qin Yun, given his ability and luck...

They might get some extraordinary treasures. This was much more exciting than a regular Warehouse Auction.

Hearing that there were national-level cultural relics, Qin Yun's interest was instantly piqued.

Since there was no danger, at most he would spend some money, and he might buy some good treasures.

"Sounds good. How do I participate in this kind of Warehouse Auction?"

If there were treasures, even cultural relics from Xia, this would be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

This would be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

Seeing Qin Yun's interest, Ross hesitated for a moment.

"You have to register for these events. After the organizers review your application, they'll send you the address and time."

After speaking, he clicked the application icon.

A black-and-white image appeared on the phone.

There were two lines of black text on it.

Location: Brockton Third Shipyard.

Time: 1:00 AM tonight.