Li Du waved and released the little bug . The villa was not sitting on a large land area—at most 650-square-feet . There was a total of three levels above ground and a basement level . He estimated it to have about a dozen rooms—it would not be that tedious to check through .
After the little bug had gone in, he realized it was not that clear-cut .
There was supposed to be about a dozen rooms in the house, but it had been configured . Just like those subletted houses that he'd heard about in university where one house could be converted into five smaller ones .
In this way, a large villa had become a huge hive, packed with many smaller houses . Each house was full of stuff, more chock-bloc full than a grocery store .
Now, he understood why the community organization had chosen to auction the villa off like how they would carry out auctions for old houses . There were 50-60 small rooms, which could be sold to many people .
From the basement to the balcony, the entire villa had been completely transformed .
Except for a single toilet, kitchen, and bedroom, the other rooms in the house had turned into storerooms and were filled with stuff like storage units .
However, he noticed that the stuff in these rooms had been arranged both neatly and messily, which was very contradictory .
The pictures, posters, and images hung up on the wall were all neatly displayed . Some of the boxes placed on the table were also very orderly . It was the big items like old furniture and old appliances that had been placed in there haphazardly .
As he looked out at the grass patches and gardens outside the villa, he got a better idea of what was going on .
The plants on the grass patches and in the gardens were in a bad state; the grass grew wildly, and in some spots the ground was completely bare with no plants growing at all .
There were traces of heavy items having been on the ground, but nothing was there now .
Obviously, this was a case of "no longer"—they had all been dragged into the house .
Li Du used the little bug's time reversal ability, and then he understood what had gone on .
Old man Viktor had kept the larger items he'd collected around the house until the people from the community organization took over . In order to attract the treasure hunters, they stuffed it all into the villa .
They had created the illusion that every single room was filled up, so as to arouse the treasure hunters' interest .
The little bug flew about in the villa, starting from the basement, and buzzed through the rooms until it finally found something it was interested in .
According to Li Du's observation, the little bug not only absorbed time capability, but also capability based on human effort .
The older the objects, and the more carefully preserved and regularly maintained, the more attractive the objects would be to it .
So it did not only absorb capability from antiques and artifacts, but also from common things that might have been loved by someone for years, such as ordinary watches and ordinary cutlery .
Many things in this villa attracted the little bug . When it flew into the first room in the basement, it went straight to a small box .
The small box, which had been placed in the cabinet, had been carved from a piece of yellowish-brown wood . It had an intricate flower pattern on it, as well as a mosaic made up of beautiful gems . It looked extremely valuable .
If the box was already so precious-looking, Li Du subconsciously guessed that there must be something treasured inside it, but it turned out to be a card-sized, leather identity document .
Several stamp marks could be seen on the document along with a motley picture . It looked like a black scallop and was discolored .
Seeing this, he understood—the gleaming box was what the little bug had been interested in .
He got the little bug to leave the box and continue with the search .
There were some other things in this house that the little bug was interested in such crutches, lighters and belt buckles . They were all small objects with little time capability .
Li Du took note of the room: skinny mosquitoes' legs were still meat, after all, as long as they could be used to replenish the little bug's time capability .
The little bug searched through the entire house and in the last room of the basement, he found the gold and silver coins that Magic Hand had mentioned .
And so the information from Magic Hand was accurate . This was a very valuable piece of information . About 20 gold and silver coins had been hidden within a picture frame . From the front, it looked like a substandard oil painting—one with some gold and silver coins pasted on its back .
The images on these gold and silver coins were not identical . Li Du could not tell what they were . He was sure they were not currencies as there were nothing to identify them as such .
The coins were in a set and had a phrase printed on the reverse side: "Royal Australian Mint . "
Li Du searched the Internet and quickly found the introduction of these gold and silver coins .
The gold and silver coins, which had been issued in 2005, were to commemorate the 90th anniversary of ANZAC . The image on the coins stemmed from a major military moment in Australia's history .
There was a total of 24 coins in the entire series of the ANZAC Day commemorative coins . There were 20 coins here, worth more than 100,000 dollars .
Li Du noted down these useful room numbers and kept looking .
At half past eight, the auctioneer arrived . He was a solemn-looking, white, middle-aged man with an aloof demeanor . As he made contact with the staff from the community organization, his icy glare landed on Li Du periodically .
Hans noticed that and went to look for Magic Hand . He whispered, "The auctioneer seems a little hostile toward us . What's the matter?"
Magic Hand chuckled, "Weren't you in LA previously? You don't know this guy?"
Hans shrugged . "I only know the VIPs, such as Magic Hand Johnson . "
Magic Hand guffawed loudly, and then he whispered, "This guy's York's cousin and famous for being an auctioneer with an iron hand . He's quite influential in the LA circuit—you guys better be careful . "
If this auctioneer could cause a member of the Million Dollar Club to speak in hushed tones, it meant that this auctioneer should not be provoked .
Hans conveyed the information to Li Du, and he nodded to indicate that he understood .
At 9:00 am, the auction began as scheduled . The auctioneer looked at the crowd with a razor-sharp glare, and rattled, "All of you queue up and listen here . If you break the rules, don't blame me for being mean . Alright, I'm gonna open the door and you can start viewing . The rules are the same as the usual rules for storage units: no going in or touching anything . . . "
Li Du predicted that he would be targeted by the auctioneer . After some thought, he signaled Lu Guan with his eyes and called him over to one side to make arrangements .
The dumpster master's collection had attracted many people . There were almost 100 treasure hunters there, including big shots like Magic Hand from the Million Dollar Club and many members from the Hundred Thousand Club . Too many to be listed .
Li Du and Hans lined up with the crowd . Magic Hand took the last position as he was well-regarded in California .
There were too many people, and each person had only about 20 seconds for the viewing .
In any case, the room was very small, and at most less than 70-square-feet . Twenty seconds was more than enough time for viewing .
When it came to Li Du and Hans, he thought that the auctioneer would give him trouble, but nothing happened—everything was as per usual .
Li Du waved and released the little bug . The villa was not sitting on a large land area at most 650 square feet . There was a total of three levels above ground and a basement level . He estimated it to have about a dozen rooms it would not be that tedious to check through . After the little bug had gone in, he realized it was not that clear cut . There was supposed to be about a dozen rooms in the house, but it had been configured . Just like those subletted houses that he 39 d heard about in university where one house could be converted into five smaller ones . In this way, a large villa had become a huge hive, packed with many smaller houses . Each house was full of stuff, more chock a bloc full than a grocery store . Now, he understood why the community organization had chosen to auction the villa off like how they would carry out auctions for old houses . There were 50 60 small rooms, which could be sold to many people . From the basement to the balcony, the entire villa had been completely transformed . Except for a single toilet, kitchen, and bedroom, the other rooms in the house had turned into storerooms and were filled with stuff like storage units . However, he noticed that the stuff in these rooms had been arranged both neatly and messily, which was very contradictory . The pictures, posters, and images hung up on the wall were all neatly displayed . Some of the boxes placed on the table were also very orderly . It was the big items like old furniture and old appliances that had been placed in there haphazardly . As he looked out at the grass patches and gardens outside the villa, he got a better idea of what was going on . The plants on the grass patches and in the gardens were in a bad state the grass grew wildly, and in some spots the ground was completely bare with no plants growing at all . There were traces of heavy items having been on the ground, but nothing was there now . Obviously, this was a case of no longer they had all been dragged into the house . Li Du used the little bug 39 s time reversal ability, and then he understood what had gone on . Old man Viktor had kept the larger items he 39 d collected around the house until the people from the community organization took over . In order to attract the treasure hunters, they stuffed it all into the villa . They had created the illusion that every single room was filled up, so as to arouse the treasure hunters 39 interest . The little bug flew about in the villa, starting from the basement, and buzzed through the rooms until it finally found something it was interested in . According to Li Du 39 s observation, the little bug not only absorbed time capability, but also capability based on human effort . The older the objects, and the more carefully preserved and regularly maintained, the more attractive the objects would be to it . So it did not only absorb capability from antiques and artifacts, but also from common things that might have been loved by someone for years, such as ordinary watches and ordinary cutlery . Many things in this villa attracted the little bug . When it flew into the first room in the basement, it went straight to a small box . The small box, which had been placed in the cabinet, had been carved from a piece of yellowish brown wood . It had an intricate flower pattern on it, as well as a mosaic made up of beautiful gems . It looked extremely valuable . If the box was already so precious looking, Li Du subconsciously guessed that there must be something treasured inside it, but it turned out to be a card sized, leather identity document . Several stamp marks could be seen on the document along with a motley picture . It looked like a black scallop and was discolored . Seeing this, he understood the gleaming box was what the little bug had been interested in . He got the little bug to leave the box and continue with the search . There were some other things in this house that the little bug was interested in such crutches, lighters and belt buckles . They were all small objects with little time capability . Li Du took note of the room skinny mosquitoes 39 legs were still meat, after all, as long as they could be used to replenish the little bug 39 s time capability . The little bug searched through the entire house and in the last room of the basement, he found the gold and silver coins that Magic Hand had mentioned . And so the information from Magic Hand was accurate . This was a very valuable piece of information . About 20 gold and silver coins had been hidden within a picture frame . From the front, it looked like a substandard oil painting one with some gold and silver coins pasted on its back . The images on these gold and silver coins were not identical . Li Du could not tell what they were . He was sure they were not currencies as there were nothing to identify them as such . The coins were in a set and had a phrase printed on the reverse side Royal Australian Mint . Li Du searched the Internet and quickly found the introduction of these gold and silver coins . The gold and silver coins, which had been issued in 2005, were to commemorate the 90th anniversary of ANZAC . The image on the coins stemmed from a major military moment in Australia 39 s history . There was a total of 24 coins in the entire series of the ANZAC Day commemorative coins . There were 20 coins here, worth more than 100,000 dollars . Li Du noted down these useful room numbers and kept looking . At half past eight, the auctioneer arrived . He was a solemn looking, white, middle aged man with an aloof demeanor . As he made contact with the staff from the community organization, his icy glare landed on Li Du periodically . Hans noticed that and went to look for Magic Hand . He whispered, The auctioneer seems a little hostile toward us . What 39 s the matter Magic Hand chuckled, Weren 39 t you in LA previously You don 39 t know this guy Hans shrugged . I only know the VIPs, such as Magic Hand Johnson . Magic Hand guffawed loudly, and then he whispered, This guy 39 s York 39 s cousin and famous for being an auctioneer with an iron hand . He 39 s quite influential in the LA circuit you guys better be careful . If this auctioneer could cause a member of the Million Dollar Club to speak in hushed tones, it meant that this auctioneer should not be provoked . Hans conveyed the information to Li Du, and he nodded to indicate that he understood . At 9 00 am, the auction began as scheduled . The auctioneer looked at the crowd with a razor sharp glare, and rattled, All of you queue up and listen here . If you break the rules, don 39 t blame me for being mean . Alright, I 39 m gonna open the door and you can start viewing . The rules are the same as the usual rules for storage units no going in or touching anything . . . Li Du predicted that he would be targeted by the auctioneer . After some thought, he signaled Lu Guan with his eyes and called him over to one side to make arrangements . The dumpster master 39 s collection had attracted many people . There were almost 100 treasure hunters there, including big shots like Magic Hand from the Million Dollar Club and many members from the Hundred Thousand Club . Too many to be listed . Li Du and Hans lined up with the crowd . Magic Hand took the last position as he was well regarded in California . There were too many people, and each person had only about 20 seconds for the viewing . In any case, the room was very small, and at most less than 70 square feet . Twenty seconds was more than enough time for viewing . When it came to Li Du and Hans, he thought that the auctioneer would give him trouble, but nothing happened everything was as per usual .
Chapter end
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