Chapter 435: What a Refreshing Auction

"Success or failure depends on this one move."

Mu Chunsheng took a deep breath and exhaled slowly.

He looked at Pang Shan, and Pang Shan looked back at him. Their gazes met briefly, as if sparks were igniting and burning in the air.

The strategy formulated by Pang Shan and Zong Wen hadn't been able to cause much suppression on Mu Chunsheng. It seemed that his cooperation with the Whale Shark and Dinglu consortiums had likely drained the cash of those two, preparing to go head-to-head with Pang Shan and Zong Wen.

Just then, Chen Ling’s voice rang out again:

"Since there are only five left, no need for trouble... These five are bundled together. We will increase the price in an open auction, and the highest bidder wins."

As soon as these words were spoken, the five directors who were ready to write down prices were stunned, seemingly not understanding the intention behind Chen Ling’s design.

Chen Ling had chosen a blind auction before because it was more convenient for him to operate in secret. Now that the auction had entered a high-price slaughter as he wished, whether it was a blind auction or not was no longer important... Most importantly, except for Chen Ling, no one on the field knew the transaction volume of the others. In the view of the five directors, there was only a very vague guess.

Just like Mu Chunsheng, he could guess that Pang Shan had allied with Zong Wen, and the two had taken turns buying a large batch of items. Moreover, because there were eleven items "hidden" by Chen Ling, from Mu Chunsheng’s perspective, it was very likely that Pang Shan had won more items than him. He didn't know exactly how many more, but it shouldn't be more than five.

And Pang Shan thought the same. He felt that there was a gap between him and Mu Chunsheng, but it wasn't an irreparable one... It was precisely because of this that these last five items were particularly important. Whoever could win these five items had a great chance of becoming the winner.

If they weren't bundled and were auctioned individually, the transaction price of each item wouldn't be high, because neither side was sure if winning one or two items could turn the situation around... But if five were bundled together, there was a feeling of being able to "settle the matter in one hammer blow."

The voice behind the golden mask rang out slowly:

"Everyone, please place your bids."

As the voice fell, Mu Chunsheng’s voice was the first to ring out: "Ten million."

"Twelve million." Unsurprisingly, Pang Shan added to the price with a cold face.

"Fifteen million."

"Seventeen million."

"Nineteen million."

"Twenty million."

The voices of the two, tit-for-tat, echoed in the hall. Su Xiaohong and Lu Yuanzheng had no intention of participating at all. Only Zong Wen sat on the side, sharp light flashing in his eyes, seemingly hesitating whether to join the competition.

Based on his intuition, the gap between himself and Pang Shan wasn't that large. If he could snap up these five items in one go, he might have a chance to surpass his rival... As for the agreement between them?

Aren't agreements just things meant to be torn up? Zong Wen had navigated the business world for so many years and had gone back on his word more times than he could count. He only cared about whether he would receive a corresponding return after breaking the agreement.

But after thinking it over repeatedly for a long time, Zong Wen ultimately didn't place a bid.

After all, if he really wanted to burn bridges with Pang Shan, he had to be certain he could win. Otherwise, he would lose the auction, lose an ally, and all that money would go down the drain... Zong Wen carefully weighed the situation and, lacking the absolute certainty of victory, withdrew from the final competition.

"Tw... twenty million?" Outside the window, Jian Changsheng heard the amount and his jaw dropped in shock.

"For these consortiums, twenty million isn't exactly pocket change, but it's not a fortune either... Still, spending twenty million to buy five pieces of gold is just insane." Heart 9 grumbled, "Why don't we just rob the five major consortiums? They look like they have so much money."

"Why don't you go rob that Special Envoy? He's the richest person in the entire venue right now."

"...Have you forgotten how we ended up here?"

“……”

Inside the venue, Mu Chunsheng stared fixedly at Pang Shan. After gritting his teeth for a long time, he placed another bid:

"Twenty-one million!!"

Twenty-one million for five lots; the price for each piece had already exceeded four million... This was no longer a matter of a price premium; it was an absolutely astronomical price.

Damn it...

Pang Shan glanced at the cash box beside him and took a deep breath. "Twenty-two million."

"Twenty-five million!!!"

Mu Chunsheng raised the bid by three million in one go, dealing a heavy blow to Pang Shan, whose expression turned incredibly grim.

In the center of the venue, Chen Ling’s gaze was fixed on him, and his voice rang out without emotion:

"Twenty-five million, going once..."

Pang Shan’s eyes were bloodshot, and his palms were clenched involuntarily... Just as he prepared to bid again, his subordinate suddenly spoke up from behind:

"Chairman... we’ve run out of banknotes on hand."

"What??"

"Our cash flow wasn't healthy to begin with. It’s hard to scrape together a massive amount of banknotes in one night, and selling off assets would take too long. The Beidou Consortium has already signaled to all the banks, and they won't grant us a single cent in loans. You’ve already spent over forty million tonight; we simply can't come up with more than twenty million in banknotes on such short notice..."

"Isn't the Huadu Consortium still there? Go borrow from them."

"They don't have enough banknotes for this either." The subordinate shook his head. "In the entire main city, only the Beidou Consortium, which started as a bank, could produce that many banknotes at once..."

Hearing this, Pang Shan seemed to lose all his strength. He slumped into his seat, his face as pale as paper.

He knew... he had already lost.

"Twenty-five million, going twice..."

"Twenty-five million, going three times."

"Sold."

Seeing Pang Shan looking like he was "completely tapped out," Chen Ling couldn't help but feel a bit regretful. He had been counting on Paradise to be more capable and drive the price above thirty million... It seems the Beidou Consortium is the one with the real financial muscle after all.

Hearing that he had secured the final five lots, Mu Chunsheng finally relaxed. He lay back in his wheelchair, his back soaked in sweat.

Who could have imagined... that this banquet, originally intended to scheme against the Special Envoy, would end up like this?

Fortunately, the outcome was good. He had secured the most items in the entire venue. Having spent so much money, if he could strengthen his relationship with the Special Envoy, it would absolutely be worth it!

Under the gaze of the entire room, the figure wearing the golden mask finally stood up slowly from his seat...

His gaze swept across the crowd, and his voice lacked the chilling tone from before.

In its place was a faint sense of gratification:

"What a truly exhilarating auction..."