Chapter 405: Disappearance of Cultural Relics
405
The staff member didn't understand why Ivanov looked at him like that. He thought he had treated Ivanov with enough respect. Moreover, his work seemed to be flawless.
Even though the person in front of them was Ivanov, the staff didn't think there was anything he didn't do well enough.
Before he could open his mouth to ask his question, Ivanov had already slowly opened the box. The precious Tang Dynasty Buddha statue that was supposed to be lying quietly in the box disappeared, leaving only an empty box.
Ivanov looked down and saw what was inside the box. His guess was confirmed and he looked at the staff with a grim face.
"I think I need an explanation." Alexander Ivanov's voice was calm, but the chill he exuded seemed to be able to freeze people instantly, and his eyes seemed to be able to kill people.
The staff member was frightened by this sudden change, his legs trembling slightly, and beads of sweat rolled down his forehead. Only a few words kept echoing in his mind, "Impossible~"
He was thinking frantically in his mind. When he was holding the box just now, he clearly felt it was heavy, and the weight of each artifact was clearly palpable. How come they all disappeared after he gave it to Ivanov?
His mind was in a mess, but such a sudden change of events was simply inexplicable. The only possibility was that Ivanov had tampered with it?
But how could this be possible? Ivanov had been standing in front of him the entire time, leaving him no chance to do anything! Furthermore, Ivanov wasn't someone who needed more than 10 million rubles.
Faced with Alexander Ivanov's angry questioning at this moment, he was speechless and didn't know how to explain.
"I... I..." The staff member stuttered and couldn't say a complete sentence for a long time. He waved his hands helplessly in the air, trying to find a reasonable explanation, but to no avail.
Such staff seemed to give Ivanov a signal that there was something wrong with the person in front of him.
Ivanov lazily sat on the chair in front of the staff. "You must give me a reasonable explanation! I spent so much money, not just to buy a few empty boxes!"
After he finished speaking, he turned to look at his secretary and said, "Go get the general manager here."
The staff member turned pale with fear. He desperately tried to explain, but in his panic he could only speak incoherently: "Mr. Ivanov, it's really not my fault. I don't know why this happened... He was clearly still there just now..."
Ivanov simply didn't believe what the staff member said. He calmed down considerably, thinking to himself, "A small staff member wouldn't dare do such a thing." Could it be that someone higher up had some idea about his Alexander family?
Within three minutes, the auction's general manager arrived in a hurry. He was slightly overweight, with beads of sweat on his forehead, having obviously jogged all the way. Before he even stood still, he hurriedly bowed to Ivanov and apologized:
"Mr. Ivanov, we are truly sorry for causing you so much trouble. We will definitely investigate this matter thoroughly!"
Ivanov raised his eyes and glanced coldly at the general manager. He did not respond to his apology, but asked directly:
"I want to know what's going on. Why did my auction items disappear?" His voice was still low, but it revealed an oppressive feeling that could not be ignored.
The general manager wiped the sweat from his forehead and said with an apologetic smile, "Mr. Ivanov, calm down. Our internal security system is very comprehensive, and there are so many people guarding outside right now. In theory, this situation shouldn't happen."
Meeting Ivanov's playful gaze, he quickly continued, "But something happened. Although it was an accident, there must have been a problem on our end. We will investigate thoroughly now."
Ivanov sneered: "Accident? Humph, so many precious cultural relics disappeared at the same time, do you think this can be explained by a simple accident?
Besides, your employees just suspected that I was behind it." He said this, looking sharply at the trembling staff member beside him.
Upon hearing this, the general manager's expression suddenly changed. He glared at the staff member fiercely and shouted angrily, "What nonsense are you talking about? Who is Mr. Ivanov? How could he do such a thing?"
Then he quickly turned around and said to Ivanov with a smile on his face, "Mr. Ivanov, please calm down. I don't think he did it on purpose. We will definitely give you a satisfactory explanation."
Ivanov frowned slightly, obviously not satisfied with the general manager's explanation: "I'll give you half an hour. If you still can't find the result, your auction house should be prepared to bear the consequences.
I, Ivanov, am not someone to be trifled with. If you don't give me a perfect answer to this matter, I think the entire Russian nation will know about you and the person behind you."
The general manager groaned inwardly. Who was behind him? This was a naked threat. But he could only nod repeatedly: "Yes, yes, Mr. Ivanov, we must seize the time."
After saying that, he immediately turned around and began to loudly direct the staff around him, arranging them to check every corner.
At this moment, another staff member came running over in a panic and whispered something in the general manager's ear. The general manager's face turned pale in an instant and he almost lost his balance.
Ivanov took in all of this, and a sense of foreboding welled up in his heart. He asked coldly, "What happened again?"
The general manager hesitated for a moment, then said in a trembling voice, "Mr. Ivanov, this is terrible. The other guests' items... are gone too. Only the empty boxes are left."
As soon as these words were spoken, there was an uproar. The crowd, which had been whispering about something, suddenly erupted in panic. There's a saying that goes, "Good news doesn't travel far, but bad news travels a thousand miles."
The previous auction had not yet ended, but what happened next was already known to the people in the front.
Those who had just bought the items rushed here and asked to exchange their items. However, the staff had not finished making fun of them yet. When they handed over the cultural relics, they found that the boxes they were holding were too light and were no different from empty boxes.
The entire White Building was in motion. Dongfang Yi knew something was wrong when he saw the commotion among the crowd. He wanted to run, but Tang Yue hadn't returned yet, so he couldn't leave.
He huddled in a corner, anxiously waiting, fearing that someone would come and step on him again. Fortunately, everyone's attention was drawn to the disappearance of the cultural relics behind him, and he was safe.
When Tang Yue came over, she felt that Dongfang Yi looked like a pitiful little thing. "Let's go."
"Ah? Now?" Dongfang Yi was still a little dazed. Tang Yue gave him a look that told him to hurry up, and Dongfang Yi immediately followed.
The two of them left the White Building. The guards outside had already surrounded the entire building. People were huddled together, each holding a machine gun. Tang Yue looked at the weapons in their hands and felt really good about them. She pulled Dongfang Yi along and ran in front of them.
Dongfang Yi didn't know what this meant, but as a grown man, running a few steps wouldn't be a big deal. Tang Yue was probably looking for a way out, right?
As they ran past, the soldiers on guard suddenly felt empty-handed. They looked down in horror. Where were their weapons?
After collecting all the weapons, Tang Yue pulled Dongfang Yi away, and the two of them stood behind those people. Dongfang Yi didn't know how he got out.
"Um, Tang Yue, are you really leaving like this? What about those cultural relics? Didn't you come here to search for them?"
"Well, it's alright. Let's go to the building behind the museum now."
Oriental...
"Well, today's auction definitely doesn't include all the artifacts. There are still quite a few over there. The security there should be even tighter at night. Can the two of us go over there?"
Tang Yue naturally knew all this, but she didn't want to wait any longer. She had already asked Dongfang Yi to take photos of these people today. Judging from their familiarity, this kind of thing must have happened more than once before.
Then they should have Chinese cultural relics in their hands.
She will not let these people go.
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