Chapter 124: Revealing The Storage
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Hearing those words, Li Du creased his eyebrows. "What’s an extra auction chance?"
Hans said, "D*mn it, that’s when there is another storage unit up for auction. Haven’t we experienced last-minute cancellations of units? This is adding some storage units for auction at the last-minute."
With that, Li Du understood, and he also realized that there could be some very valuable items in the storage units that were in this extra auction. In fact, Lil’ Rick was aiming for these two extra units.
He forgot that besides the saying, "If idiots gathered in shallow ponds, they would all think they were the boss," there was also another saying: "Appearances are deceiving; one cannot measure the ocean with their eyes."
In the end, Li Du had underestimated Lil’ Rick. Or rather, he had underestimated Dog Ears Rick, whom he had not yet met.
When the two rushed over, the first unit had already been auctioned off.
Li Du asked in surprise, "That fast?"
Hans scoffed, "Most of the people have left; only about five people are here. Of course it’ll be fast."
At the entrance of the storage unit, Lil’ Rick pulled down the door and gleefully clicked his lock on the handle.
Seeing this, Hans laughed coldly and said, "So that’s how our Mr. Dog Ears became the Treasure Hunting Tycoon of Flagstaff?"
His words made Lil’ Rick’s expression darken. "Keep your mouth clean, Hans. Don’t think people don’t know what you did in the City of Angels. We know all about it, so do you think you still have the cheek to mock others?"
Hans’s expression also darkened, and continued to turn grim.
Lil’ Rick continued, "Listen here; getting info has always been one of the most important skills in the storage hunting business. We can get info that you guys can’t. That’s our strength, understand?"
As he spoke, he moved forward and used his finger to poke at Hans’s chest to show his arrogance.
Li Du went up and pushed him away, saying, "Didn’t your daddy teach you any manners? If he didn’t, then I’m willing to do it. You can start by calling me ‘Godfather.’"
These words enraged Lil’ Rick; he clenched his fist and was ready to sock Li Du.
Reginald and the others struggled to hold Lil’ Rick back. "Don’t do it, man—do you want to be kicked out? He was agitating you on purpose. He doesn’t want you to get the last unit!"
Lil’ Rick said in anger, "There’s nothing valuable in the last unit—move away—I’m gonna punch the teeth out of this Chinese man."
Reginald used all his might to stop him and pushed Lil’ Rick to the side. After whispering some words to Lil’ Rick at his ear, Lil’ Rick’s anger subsided; he made no other actions.
Li Du could guess what he said; Reginald knew of the presence of Godzilla.
Lil’ Rick spat at him, and then went to the next storage unit.
Li Du pulled Hans to him and said, "Let’s go see the last unit."
Hans’s expression was still terrible. Apparently, something horrible had happened when he was in Los Angeles that he still couldn’t let go.
Li Du was interested in that incident, but since he didn’t like to gossip, and Hans didn’t want him to know, Li Du didn’t ask about it. Respecting each other was one of the basics of making friends.
But this fight had, unfortunately, put them at the end of the queue. He let the bug into the storage.
It was a common household unit, with a random bunch of day-to-day products and children’s toys. As Lil’ Rick had said, this unit was not valuable.
Li DU shook his head and refused to bid. The storage unit ended up in the hands of Turís. The price was relatively low: only 250 dollars.
Lil’ Rick gave a cold stare at the pair and said, "Good, it’s time to open up the storage units and reveal what we have. I’ll let you guys see what a professional treasure hunter is really like!"
As he spoke, he waved his hands toward the other treasure hunters. "Guys, don’t go yet. I have something amazing to show everyone."
Li Du released the bug into the first unit from the extra auction. It was a storage unit full of tools such as hammers, chisels, electric saws, axes, and cutters.
The most eye-catching item was a large tarpaulin. The tarpaulin was covering something. After letting the bug in to see, he found that it was a small boat.
Even though it was a small boat, there were some differences from an actual boat. There were four wheels at the base; it looked like a hybrid between a sailboat and a jeep.
Li Du did not recognize what it was, so he didn’t know the value of it. He wasn’t interested to know. He took Hans away and left.
Since those words from Lil’ Rick, Hans’s mood was solemn. After going back to the first unit and realizing that it was all rubbish, his mood became worse.
The atmosphere was heavy. Ah Meow blinked and jumped, meowing twice. Then it ran over to help Godzilla clean up the rubbish.
The second unit had lots of bottles and cans. There were glass and metal ones. They were probably things that the veteran had collected to sell off as spare change.
Ah Meow brought the bottles out one by one, and soon it had racked up a small pile.
Li Du couldn’t resist the urge, and laughed. He wanted to praise Ah Meow, but then Ah Meow jumped and dove into the pile of plastic bottles, dispersing them all over.
The noises made by the bottles intrigued Ah Meow, and it became even more fervent playing with them.
Godzilla opened the chest in the corner and said in his naturally low voice, "Boss, look at this."
Hans walked over. When he looked into the chest, his eyes immediately brightened up. "Lord, what is this? Special paper used by Nazi commanders during World War II?"
Li Du walked over, appearing interested, and asked, "What is it?"
Hans took out a roll of paper from the chest. The paper was preserved well, protected carefully with plastic. On the paper were lots of Japanese words, and Japanese national and military flag symbols.
"What are these? Just pieces of writing paper?" Li Du asked, puzzled.
He wasn’t acting. He did know what was in the chest, but he didn’t know what it all really was.
Hans laughed. "They are, but they are also not. If it were anyone else, they would not have recognized what these were. Fortunately, I have seen these before."
"What are they?"
Hans said, "They are said to be napkins, but not ordinary napkins. The paper was specially made for the higher-ups that were royalty-born.
"Their purpose wasn’t just to wipe their hands and *ss, but to document information. Because the quality of these papers is very high, they were waterproof and fireproof to some extent."
As he spoke, Hans opened one of the rolls. Even after more than half a century, these papers still retained their tenacity.
Tearing off a piece, he used his lighter and lit them up. As expected, the flame wrapped around the paper, but it did not burn.
"If I’m not mistaken, these papers are a nice-sounding brand, called Edelweiss. It’s a kind of plant that grows in the mountainous areas of Hokkaido, Japan. It was also a folk song that was trending in Japan during World War II," he added.
Li Du gave him the thumbs up, and said, "Awesome, buddy. That explanation was professional enough, but are they worth any money?"
Hans nodded and said, "We have to see who we’re selling them to. I have a way to sell them. Every roll should be able to make 400 dollars. With this amount, let me count… Yeah, a total of 15 rolls, so 6,000 dollars."
"A roll would sell for 400?" Li Du was stunned.
Hans said, "If they are sold to ordinary people, they won’t be worth much. But if we can sell them to the right person, then 400 dollars is a conservative estimate."
After moving away the chest of papers, they saw that there was another chest below. Li Du opened the cover, and a black mess of steel appeared before them!
The mess of steel was composed of several parts, with a tripod, a thick iron pipe, and a bullet catch. When these were assembled, it would become a machine gun!
The machine gun was well preserved, with machine oil on it. With the cover opened for a short while, the pungent smell of machine oil rushed out.