Chapter 273 Gimmick

"when--"

"when--"

…

Several resonant bell sounds were heard in the conference hall, and everyone in the venue turned their heads to look.

"It's midnight." Bai Yao said.

When midnight arrives, the gold and diamond auction begins.

The people in the reception hall walked down the red carpet and headed towards the final auction room.

Passing through the dark cabin corridor, the deepest door was brightly lit.

There weren't many people participating in this auction, less than one-third of the number seen outside the venue.

After entering the stepped conference hall, the waiter led the group to the front row of sofa seats.

"VIP, please."

When Lu Qian sat down, he quietly observed his surroundings. There were a few familiar people. He had seen them before in Germany at the banquet hosted by Duke Dai Wei.

They seemed to be acquaintances with Cheng Yi, but they had no intention of greeting each other. They just sat in their seats coldly.

Lu Qian half lowered his eyes, thinking that it was normal. After all, there were no so-called acquaintances at this auction, only enemies.

The purpose of this group of people coming here was very clear. Luo had already given the auction list to several people in advance. They only had two important goals this time.

One is a cipher machine that was eliminated by the British army twenty years ago. As expected, it is the first generation machine coded by Qu Hao.

There was no progress in deciphering Qu Le's code. The code deciphering methods left by Qu Hao were original, and each one had hundreds of millions of decoding methods. If one did not find a way to get the cipher machine, there would be no possibility of cracking it.

The second is all neurogenetic research reports published by the Royal Institute of Medicine in the past 15 years.

This batch of reports is likely to be closely related to Cheng Yi's "illness". Although they don't know why this thing became an auction item, they must get it no matter what and must not let it fall into Rex's hands.

"Did Rex send anyone?"

Lu Qian raised her hand to push her hair back and asked in a casual manner.

"Thirty degrees northwest corner, that woman in black," Cheng Yi casually lit a cigarette, "Don't look back."

"And the man on the far left of this row, the head of the British royal family, has a long-standing friendship with the L family."

Lu Qian was not interested in what these people looked like, so he just didn't look around.

"Can you take pictures of the things?"

Cheng Yi lifted the hem of his robe and crossed his legs leisurely.

"I sold two pieces of Tavia's information. The Golden Diamond Auction House has a limit on the number of items each buyer can bid on. They had to let go for those two pieces of information."

Qu Le folded his arms across his chest and glanced at Bai Yao.

"Can I get the cipher machine?"

Bai Yao pushed up his glasses, raised the corners of his lips in a charming way, narrowed his eyes and smiled softly, "How can I not get what I want?"

Qu Le rolled her eyes silently. Why did she hate Bai Yao's confused look so much?

Bullying her for being slow in thinking.

What Lu Qian didn't expect was that this final auction was surprisingly simple.

Both the size of the auction hall and the decoration of the auction table were surprisingly simple.

A thin old man walked out from the back of the venue, dressed in an elegant robe. He looked more like a teacher than an auctioneer.

"Everyone, long time no see."

The old man was thin, but his voice was so deep that it could be heard throughout the entire venue without a microphone.

Everyone in the room nodded or smiled in response.

Cheng Yi pinched his cigarette and pointed at the scene, "This old man has been in charge of the gold and diamond auction for about twenty years. He is an old acquaintance of these people."

Lu Qian nodded in sudden realization. Such an unremarkable old man turned out to be an auctioneer with 20 years of experience at the Golden Diamond Auction House. This place was truly full of hidden talents.

But to be honest, Lu Qian didn't expect the gold diamond auction to be so boring...

The items being auctioned were either things she couldn't understand, things she couldn't hear, or things she couldn't understand or couldn't see.

Sitting in the first row of the huge venue, she couldn't move around. She just sat there straight and had to slap away Cheng Yi's dirty hands from time to time.

"Next lot."

The elegant old man smiled slightly and said, "A British military cipher machine from the Battle of the North Sea."

"Starting price: 3 million euros."

After hearing this introduction, Lu Qian and Qu Le both sat up straight.

Qu Le was about to raise her hand to bid, but Bai Yao smiled and held down her hand.

"Just watch."

The whole audience fell silent for a moment, and no one wanted to offer this price.

It is really unwise to spend three million euros to buy a piece of junk like this.

They all knew that this old and broken cipher machine was not even a collectible for anyone else except them.

The old man was frank: "No one is willing to bid?"

There was silence again.

"Sir, what is the use of this thing?"

Suddenly, a question came from the audience

Bai Yao was seen leaning forward, his gaze fixed on the stage.

The old man chuckled, "It's useless."

As soon as these words were spoken, the whole audience was in an uproar. Three million euros worth of stuff is useless?

Bai Yao raised his eyebrows, his tone somewhat helpless: "Then why should I take it back?"

"I'm afraid it's up to you to decide on this matter."

Bai Yao smiled confidently, crossed his legs and leaned back, looking like a big boss.

"If you can convince me, I'll take it."

The old man smiled awkwardly, "Mr. Bai, you are really embarrassing me."

Qu Le felt dizzy listening to this. Was Bai Yao coming to the auction house to bargain?

Bai Yao still smiled and said nothing, as if this thing was dispensable to him.

"Well," the old man adjusted the sleeves of his robe, "I don't have much power anymore. If Mr. Bai is willing to bid for this cipher machine, I can promise you a condition."

"One condition?" Bai Yao shook his head. "I'm afraid it's not worth three million euros, right?"

"this……"

"How about this... I'll pay the three million."

Bai Yao stood up and smiled elegantly at the old man.

"But I have something important to do and must leave. I hope you can move my lot to the next one. Is that not too much to ask?"

The old man was stunned for a moment, then nodded, "Of course, of course."

He raised the auction hammer and headed towards the venue.

"Three million a time—"

"Three million twice—"

Sure enough, no one on the field bid.

--"make a deal."

Bai Yao turned around and bowed slightly to everyone in the venue.

"Thank you all for giving Bai this honor."

The people below were completely confused.

Three million? That's it?

Qu Le tugged at Lu Qian's shawl and asked in a perplexed tone, "What is he looking at?"

Lu Qian glanced at Bai Yao's smiling profile and seemed to have figured something out.

Then he turned his gaze to Qu Le, raised his hand and tapped her forehead, and said something in a deep voice.

"The gimmick is always more eye-catching than the purpose."