Chapter 37 The Enraged Chief Examiner
Chapter 37 The Enraged Chief Examiner
Xia Fei wasn't in a hurry to make his move. Instead, he secretly observed the other bidders that he would be competing against.
Most of these competing bidders were bidding very reasonably, while only two were frantically bidding. One was an elderly man, while the other was a young man in his twenties.
Most of the reasonable bidders wanted to acquire the Limited Edition Windshade Mark IV combat suit for their collection, waiting for a few years before selling it and make a tidy profit.
These sorts of bidders were reasonable and had a sense of price. As long as the bidding reached the price point they had in their minds, they would most definitely stop and see no reason to raise the bid.
In the meantime, the bidders who were frantically bidding were completely different. No matter their reasons, their goal was to ultimately obtain the Windshade Mark IV combat suit, so as long as they could afford the price, they would not hesitate to bid for it.
Xia Fei wanted to get this combat suit, and these two were his biggest competitors.
The old man seemed to be very excited, as he kept raising the bid by 1 million each time. He didn't raise the price too much to suppress the other bidders, which made it apparent that he did not have too good of an economic situation to work with.
However, that young man had been bidding very fiercely at the beginning, throwing out at least 3 million for every bid. But once the bid went over 100 million, the frequency of his bids had evidently slowed down significantly.
There was no way to look up any sort of information about the limited edition Windshade Mark IV combat suit, so it was naturally impossible to judge the true value of the suit. But once the bid had reached 140 million, it was clear that more than half of the people bidding would stop, as most of these rational investors chose to drop out of the bidding and watch instead.
"160 million!" The old man exclaimed with much vigor. The color on his face flushed red, and even though he was far away, Xia Fei could still tell his thin arms were trembling slightly, a sign that this was already close to the very limit that he could bear.
"180 million!" Xia Fei chose to act at this moment, raising the price by 20 million star coins without hesitation.
Bidding was also a psychological contest, a war that needed no gunpowder.
Xia Fei had chosen to act when the old man was at his most conflicted and troubled moment, as that would also be when he was at his weakest. There was basically no room for him to cushion this blow, and the momentum was enough to beat him, letting him know that he was up against an opponent whom he had no means of beating, instilling a sense of powerlessness in his heart.
If Xia Fei were to continue outbidding him bit by bit, the mentality that humans shared, which allowed them to believe in flukes, would drive the belief that he could try and continue to follow until it completely surpassed his ability to pay.
The old man bit his lips, his arm was placed upon his chest for a long time before finally deciding against raising the bid.
The old man helplessly sighed while rubbing his eyes that had become red from all the excitement. His chest was heaving up and down, unable to find peace for the longest time.
"180 million! Now that the price has reached 180 million star coins, is there anyone who would like to bid higher?" The blonde beauty excitedly asked. 180 million had been the second-highest price they had so far.
"185 million!" The young man raised his arm high and shouted.
Xia Fei turned to look at the man, and all he saw was his expressionless face, as if he were very calm, looking like the price wasn't a big deal for him.
'I'm afraid this guy won't be easy to handle,' Xia Fei thought to himself.
This young man's mental state was much higher than the old man, and the determination to buy this Windshade Mark IV combat suit was not any inferior to Xia Fei. There was no better solution than to engage in a grueling bidding war with such a competitor.
With that thought in mind, Xia Fei raised his arm and shouted, "186 million."
"190 million!"
"191 million!"
Xiao Haili gritted his teeth, "195 million!"
Xia Fei did not miss a beat and immediately followed, "196 million!"
Against someone with a good mental state, only by slowly wearing him out bit by bit could he begin to erode his state of mind and make him waver.
Raising the price bit by bit was also a mind trick. It was necessary to have no hesitation, following up with a bid of your own immediately after the other party had set a price to demonstrate confidence and formidability that was not weaker than the competitor, to let him realize that this was a fair competition.
If the timing of the follow-up bids were off, or if his tone when calling the bid were too flippant, the other party would surely think that this was an attempt to goad him. The ensuing frustration or shame would turn into rage, causing the other person to recklessly call out crazy prices, and no one would end up benefiting by then.
Any good bidder would not try to infuriate their competition, as humans turn irrational when enraged. Many bidders would risk paying liquidated damages as a result of the rage and shout out a high price so someone else wouldn't end up with it.
For these people to make a good showing, they would rather pay the liquidated damages and let this item pass than see it end up in the hands of others.
"200 million!" Xiao Haili shouted, regardless of the cost. This was already the maximum limit that he could financially bear, any higher and he would have no choice but to give up on this fight.
"202 million!" Xia Fei began to increase the bet by 2 million to slowly increase the pressure he had on the young man.
Xiao Haili clenched his fist till his knuckles turned white, a look of indignation and anger was visible on his face.
"Xiao Hai! I've already transferred all my savings into your account. It's a total of 85 million. Fight it out with him!" Bosingwa called out loudly.
"That's right! Brother Hai, we, Silver Adjudicators, can overdraft 10 million star coins from the bank, which adds up to a total of 30 million star coins. Add that all in, and I'll even throw in the 2 million I have in my account!" Queiroz added.
Bronze Adjudicators could take an interest-free loan of 1 million star coins, while Silver Adjudicators' limit was 10 million. Of course, Gold Adjudicators' limit was even higher.
"Bastard! 2 million is nothing! It's all because of your debaucherous lifestyle. You wouldn't be embarrassing yourself right now if you had been saving up some of your coins regularly," Bosingwa angrily huffed.
Queiroz felt very wronged, "I can't help it…"
Xiao Haili gratefully looked at his two brothers and was moved to the point of speechlessness.
"Okay! I'll fight it out with him!" Xiao Haili slapped his thigh with force as he made this declaration.
"202 million! The bid is now 202 million!" The blonde beauty rousingly shouted, "If there's no higher bid for this limited edition Windshade Mark IV combat suit, it will end up in the hands of this handsome young man!"
"250 million!" Xiao Haili raised his hand and yelled.
The crowd was in a state of shock. All of them turned to look at Xiao Haili, "Raising the bid by 48 million in a single go. Has this man gone insane?"
"He must have. The Seven Star Clear Water Vase had only gone for 210 million. Could this Windshade Mark IV combat suit be more valuable than that vase?"
"255 million!" The moment Xiao Haili's voice called out, Xia Fei had immediately thrown his follow-up bid without sparing even a moment's hesitation.
'Phantom, just how much exactly is this Windshade Mark IV combat suit worth?' Xia Fei was secretly conversing with the Phantom in his consciousness.
"Relax. As long as you can use all the money you have to win the bid for this set of Windshade Mark IV, you would definitely not be at a loss. These people have absolutely no idea just how powerful this combat suit is. It's a great opportunity," Phantom said resolutely.
Xia Fei nodded. He trusted Phantom's judgment a lot, so he couldn't be wrong when he said how much it was worth.
"280 million!" Xiao Haili raised the price once again. "I refuse to believe that you can continue going along."
But he was wrong! Xia Fei's zeal toward the combat suit was no less than him!
"300 million!" Xia Fei changed his defensive stance and began his assault!
Xiao Haili barely managed to catch himself from fainting. 280 million was already all the cash he had on hand. If he were to continue raising the bid, that would mean both his best friends Bosingwa and Queiroz would have to join him and take on a loan.
"Xiao Hai! Don't falter! Just boldly bid on. Your brothers here will go all out with you!" Bosingwa said animatedly.
"310 million!" Xiao Haili yelled in an angry tone, attempting to scare off Xia Fei with his loud and clear voice.
The corners of Xia Fei's mouth imperceptibly curled up. This yell from Xiao Haili had allowed Xia Fei to realize his lack of self-confidence. Someone who truly had this in the bag would most definitely not try to scare people off with their voice, but would instead rely on practical actions to make the other party succumb.
"320 million!" Xia Fei immediately pursued and attacked the instant Xiao Haili's bid left his lips, not letting him have even a moment to take a breath.
Xiao Haili could only feel his blood surge as his vision blurred as he almost fainted.
All the cash he had on hand, including what he could overdraft, came up to a total of 318.5 million.
Xia Fei's price just so happened to sufficiently beat Xiao Haili, and he did not need to spend any more undeserved money; it was truly a price that was just right.
*Slam!*
The crisp sound of the wooden gavel on the blonde beauty's hand rang out, as a round of applause rang throughout the auction house.
320 million. If nothing else unexpected were to happen, this would top bid for this auction today, and the crowd had also enjoyed an exciting showdown for free.
"320 million…" Xia Fei grimaced as he left the auction.
Phantom flashed a rather mysterious smile, "What? Feeling the heartache? Wait till you see the combat suit in person, then you will understand why it's worth so much."
....
New York.
Xiao Haili had taken off the virtual reality helmet and smashed it forcefully onto the ground.
*Crash!*
The helmet that was made of engineering fibers shattered as the pieces flew all over the room.
"I am not resigned to this! I simply refuse to accept this!" Xiao Haili's anger overwhelmed him, his face completely contorted in his rage.
"Queiroz! Don't you have a friend in the technical department? Send that man's details over. I want to know just who in the world that person was!" Xiao Haili barked his order.
Queiroz wanted to say something, but he quietly swallowed the words and blankly nodded when he saw Xiao Haili's rage-filled expression.
Xiao Haili strode out of the room, slamming the door heavily in his wake.
*Bang*
The aluminum alloy door suddenly deformed and fell down to the ground after swaying on its hinges for a few moments.
Queiroz looked at Bosingwa helplessly and said, "I broke up with Jenny from the technical department quite some time ago."
Bosingwa sympathetically patted Queiroz's shoulder, "I know. And you were the one who did the dumping."
"Xiao Hai is actually not a bad person, it's just that he would sometimes be a little too small-minded," Bosingwa sighed.
There was no way that Xia Fei, currently far away in Beijing, would know that he had already offended the small-minded chief examiner before the Adjudicator Union's Crisis grade assessment had even started.
Truly, crises could be found everywhere when participating in the Crisis grade assessment.