Chapter 342: Easy Peasy
Chapter 342: Easy Peasy
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
The Iron Knight continued its journey, with an open lane in front of it now. With no Hummer blocking their way, the ride was quick and pleasant.
Along the way, Hans was constantly genuflecting, while mumbling all the while.
Li Du glanced at him, perplexed. "What’s going on with you? What nonsense are you doing again?"
Hans glared at him, and exclaimed, "I’m repenting to God! Repenting for my previous disrespects toward him, repenting my past wrongdoings! I’m declaring right here, right now, that I am a true believer!"
"What the hell is wrong with you?" Li Du continued asking.
Hans said in a defeated tone, "My Lord, I seek refuge! I repeat, I’m a true believer now!"
Li Du smiled as he asked, "Is it because of me saying that God would punish them, and they ended up getting in an accident?"
Hans nodded seriously. "Yes."
"That’s just a coincidence."
"No, it was God warning me!"
Li Du shrugged. Alright, as long as you’re happy.
Frank and York’s plan was originally a smart one. By annoying Li Du and the others on the road, it would make them agitated for the whole day.
The purpose was not just simple revenge toward Li Du—there was a calculated motive behind their actions.
If the other party was agitated, the moment Li Du and the others made any physical threats at the auction, they would be chased out. If they didn’t, then Frank and York would at least have the upper hand mentally.
York had been tracking Li Du’s movements ever since he came to LA. He noticed that Li Du had been examining a storage company. The two guessed that Li Du had found a quality unit.
Frank and York recognized what the duo was capable of. Besides following Li Du, they wanted to create trouble for them.
The best result from their schemes would be Li Du and Hans becoming enraged and getting kicked out of the auction after physically attacking them. Then, Frank and York would snatch the unit that they had their eyes on.
Unfortunately, things do not always go according to plan. When they were trying to antagonize them, the tires malfunctioned, almost killing them in the accident.
Although the vehicle wasn’t destroyed, and neither were they injured, due to the multiple dangerous lane changes, the two were sent to the station under investigation.
Thus, they were unable to attend the auction, and they couldn’t throw a wrench in Li Du’s plans.
Reaching the storage beside the expo, Li Du and the others alighted. Soon after, someone came up to greet them, "Hey guys. Frank and York were in a car accident?"
"‘Those whom God wishes to destroy, he first drives mad!’" Hans exclaimed. "Those two fellas were already mad, so their day has finally come!"
A tall treasure hunter came up to ask, "I heard you guys were there, what happened?"
Li Du shrugged. "Who knows? That guy was hogging the road and kept spontaneously switching lanes. Probably the tire couldn’t handle the burden anymore, and it just burst."
He made a gesture of something blowing up with both hands, and the surrounding treasure hunters burst into laughter.
The treasure hunters from the Los Angeles side couldn’t laugh at the situation. Although Frank and York were irritating people, they were still colleagues from the same state.
Also, people from Los Angeles tended to be more arrogant. They felt that the storage here belonged to them, that treasure hunters from other places were trying to snatch their stuff.
Frank and York liked competing with treasure hunters from other states. Because of that, arrogance was an accepted attitude.
Now that Frank and York had been in a car accident, with no one at the front lines against the foreign treasure hunters, the people from LA were naturally displeased.
The auctioneer arrived, and after explaining the rules, he revealed the first storage unit.
The door had not been opened yet, but someone was already asking in a grim voice, "Where’s that smell coming from? It’s so bad."
Once the door was opened, an explosive stench wafted over them. The auctioneer retreated as he covered his nose, yelling, "D*mn it, what the hell is that?"
The other treasure hunters also reacted, and one of them said, "It’s the smell of disinfectant!"
"Why would there be such a strong smell of disinfectant? The unit has been locked up for awhile—why is the smell so pungent? What happened?"
"Would something have happened in there? Like someone found an animal or human corpse, and went to disinfect it?"
The auctioneer was puzzled too. Normally, units in auctions had been forgotten by their owners, untouched for months, sometimes years.
However, the moment the door was opened, there was the strong presence of disinfectant. How much disinfectant had been used for the smell to last so long?
A mountain of bottles appeared in their view. A treasure hunter gripped his nose as he approached closer to examine. "Was this unit used for manufacturing disinfectant?"
Most of the treasure hunters appeared to agree with this hypothesis. Li Du blended into the crowd and said, "That must be it."
"Or, it could be a meth lab," a treasure hunter said sternly.
The drug trade was prevalent all over America. Meth labs spawned everywhere like flowers on the roadside; the hit television series "Breaking Bad" illustrated this sort of thing.
Using a storage unit to make drugs was one of the ways people went about it. Some drug makers would rent a unit, make a batch, and abandon the place.
As many units were often rented at once, and the management of these facilities was lax, there were often no repercussions for the drug makers.
In addition, the cost of renting the unit was low. For a couple hundred dollars, they could rent for half a year. After that, it was easy to abandon.
There were too many uncertain factors surrounding this unit. Most of the treasure hunters immediately lost interest. During the viewing, more than half of the people left after just a peek.
The viewing was soon over. The auctioneer bellowed, "There’s a lot of chemicals in there, if you can find a school or a research lab then you will surely earn a fortune. So, I think 200 dollars is reasonable…"
The treasure hunters shook their heads. They wouldn’t even go for 200 dollars.
The auctioneer called twice. Seeing that still no one had taken the offer, he ended up lowering it: "100, 100 dollars, this unit is now only going for 100 dollars!"
Li Du chuckled with his arms crossed, "Make it cheaper. Fifty dollars and I’ll take care of this for you."
The auctioneer looked around. Seeing that none of the other treasure hunters showed interest, he waved lazily and pointed to Li Du. "Alright, 50 dollars, this unit is yours."
The treasure hunters from Los Angeles started laughing. "People from out of town really don’t know anything. You’re screwed, buddy. You’re gonna make a loss."
"I can clean up all the glass equipment inside," Li Du said. "That alone will sell for a few hundred dollars!"
"That’s if you can get it," a treasure hunter scoffed.
"What do you mean?" Li Du asked.
What it meant was that someone had made a report, saying that they had found a meth lab.
When they went to view the second unit, a police vehicle came over. They looked for Li Du and told him, "We’re going to search that unit."
The treasure hunters that were mocking him previously burst into laughter again. "Your unit is going to be locked down. It will take the whole day, and then it’ll go back to the storage company. You won’t be getting anything."
Li Du now understood why the treasure hunters from Los Angeles would say that he would be making a loss: he had once used this method to deal with Rambis and Carl.
However, there needed to be a real problem with the unit for the cops to lock it up.