94: Joy turns to sorrow

Seeing this situation, Qin Yun was stunned for a moment.

If he hadn't known it was impossible for the auction organization to cheat, he would have thought it was a script designed by the Storage Company.

This was too much of a coincidence.

The first storage unit had a cloth bag inside that contained five or six thousand dollars' worth of gold.

The second storage unit contained twenty or thirty cloth bags, which at most held some bits and pieces of Gold Dust.

Moreover, it just so happened that two big Tycoons were competing, and the auction for the second unit only began after the contents of the first were inspected.

With the stimulation from the first unit, the closing price for the second unit would definitely be very high.

Qin Yun shook his head and quickly put this ridiculous thought behind him.

The Storage Company was a giant in the US; there was no need for them to damage their reputation for tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars.

It must just be a coincidence.

These two units were next to each other, likely belonging to one person or organization.

The cloth bag in the first unit was likely specially picked out, while the bags in the second unit were what remained after filtering the Gold Dust, containing at most a few grains.

Thinking of this, Qin Yun decided to set a trap for Humphrey and Walter.

Qin Yun raised his hand and signaled, "Twenty thousand."

Hearing Qin Yun's bid, many people sighed inwardly.

If they had enough cash on them, they would definitely have raised the price.

This storage unit was destined for Tycoons and had nothing to do with ordinary people.

Humphrey's eyes turned red as he hurriedly placed a bid.

"I'll bid twenty-five thousand."

Qin Yun calmly raised it to thirty thousand.

One was calm and composed while the other was aggressive; each time, the bid increased by five thousand dollars.

After several rounds of bidding, Humphrey offered a high price of eighty thousand.

Walter saw that Qin Yun was acting a bit differently than usual.

"That guy is a little fox; you have to be careful he's not up to something."

"Qin Yun is very meticulous and never takes risks. By the time the price reached thirty thousand dollars, you already had no chance of winning, yet that kid kept bidding. He must have discovered something unusual."

Fearing Humphrey would be deceived by Qin Yun, Walter whispered a few warnings.

Humphrey nodded; what Walter said made sense.

Eighty thousand dollars was already a high price for this unit; he couldn't gamble on every cloth bag being the same as the one in the first unit.

He began to hesitate, deciding not to bid any further once Qin Yun made another offer.

Qin Yun saw the look on the other man's face and knew the situation had changed. He waved his hand at the Host and didn't bid again.

Bruno's lips twitched when he saw Qin Yun give up the bidding, but he didn't voice his doubts.

When the Host announced that Humphrey had won the unit for eighty thousand dollars, the scene erupted in intense cheering.

"Good job, Humphrey!"

"As expected of a big shot, such boldness!"

"Taking this unit for eighty thousand dollars is definitely worth it!"

"As long as money can be made, what does losing a competition between two people matter?"

"Exactly, Bruno is too conservative. Even if Humphrey loses, it's a glorious defeat!"

...Hearing everyone's compliments, the originally worried Humphrey became high-spirited.

So what if he lost the competition? He had already won everyone's approval.

Isn't it just buying everyone a drink?

The mood of buying drinks after making money is different from buying drinks after losing money.

Hearing everyone's shouts, Bruno felt a bit envious.

He was the most popular one before; why should this devious guy also get everyone's support?

"Qin Yun, are you being too conservative? Winning or losing is important to me, but not that important. I want to win beautifully, not be as calculating as Humphrey."

"Although I'm certain to win this time, seeing Humphrey act so smug makes me feel unhappy."

He had promised before never to interfere with Qin Yun's bidding, but seeing Humphrey so popular, Bruno felt a bit jealous and reminded Qin Yun indirectly.

Qin Yun smiled faintly.

However happy Humphrey was now, he would be just as miserable once he saw the contents of the unit.

When the people around saw that there wasn't as much gold as imagined in the unit, they would surely mock Humphrey for being a sucker.

"You can't just look at the surface of a storage unit; you have to see its essence through the surface. You'll understand once Humphrey finishes inspecting the unit."

To avoid exposing the Profound Vision Treasure Eye, Qin Yun didn't want to explain too much. After speaking a few cryptic words, he waited to enjoy the change in Humphrey's expression.

Humphrey clapped his hands toward everyone.

"Thank you for the encouragement. If I lose, I won't be as stingy as Bruno. I'll treat everyone to the best wine, and it'll be unlimited. Just drink as much as you want."

Hearing Humphrey's promise, intense applause rang out across the field.

"Humphrey, we will always support you."

"Humphrey is the generous one. When Bruno loses, he always has a long face, unlike Humphrey who is so straightforward."

"I can imagine how much gold is in this unit. If only I had enough cash to buy it."

...To get a taste of Humphrey's fine wine, everyone didn't mind offering more verbal praise.

Humphrey swayed his body, acting like a high-profile star receiving cheers under the spotlight.

He was already prepared on how to celebrate and how to mock Bruno.

Full of anticipation, he opened the cloth bags.

After tearing the cloth bags open, a pile of sand and soil was exposed to the air.

Humphrey spread it out with his foot, full of hope, but found no large chunks of gold.

Refusing to give up, he opened another bag. Just like before, there were only a few reddish-yellow particles the size of broad beans inside.

His face turned ashen as he called Walter over to pour out all the sand and soil.

It turned out there were only a few very scattered grains of Gold Dust.

The two had a deep understanding of gold and knew that unrefined Gold Dust contained very little actual gold and wasn't worth much.

This Gold Dust was worth two or three thousand dollars at most, not even comparable to a single piece of gold from the first unit.

The two were completely dumbfounded, standing frozen in the unit, not knowing what to do.

Humphrey couldn't take the blow of falling from the clouds to the depths of the earth and almost burst into tears.

The crowd, who had been full of anticipation expecting to see lots of gold, almost laughed out loud when they saw the scattered bits of gold.

They felt lucky that they hadn't bought the unit themselves, or they would have lost a fortune.

"How could this be? Aren't they the same cloth bags? Why is there so little gold in these bags?"

"What's going on? Is Humphrey just having bad luck? How can the gold in twenty or thirty bags not even compare to the one bag Bruno had?"

"It's definitely not a matter of luck. The amount of gold in the bags doesn't change. That bag of Bruno's must have been specially picked out by the owner."

"Oh, it's very likely as you say. The second unit was too deceptive; Humphrey's loss isn't unjustified!"

"Humphrey lost so completely; do you think he'll still fulfill his previous promise?"

"Hard to say. Humphrey isn't like Bruno; his credibility isn't high, especially when he's unhappy."

...Seeing someone down on their luck, especially a Tycoon, many who had disliked Humphrey before started making sarcastic remarks.

Seeing this, Bruno burst into laughter, doubling over and stomping his feet, almost unable to catch his breath.