Jing Shu sized up Xiao Liu again. The woman handled the factory's finances with a sharp eye, yet she was just a girl in her twenties who looked quiet and well-mannered in her professional attire. The way she had immediately reached for her phone when someone yelled at her earlier said enough about her character. She had her own spine and wasn't afraid to use the resources at her disposal to protect her interests.
"You have got potential," Jing Shu said before taking a calm sip of the coffee. She frowned a little as the liquid hit her tongue. This was the classic Nestle that used to cost one yuan a packet back in the old world. It didn't stand a chance. But getting coffee at all these days was already a rare luxury for most people. Since things were already this ridiculous, she didn't feel like tormenting her taste buds any further. She pulled a small milk pouch from the inner pocket of her coat, tore it open, and squeezed the fresh milk into the cup. The dark brown liquid swirled and lightened, and the flavor instantly turned rich and smooth.
Xiao Liu silently gave her a thumbs-up. Look at that. No wonder she was the factory director. She was awesome.
"Holy shit."
"Damn."
"That's classy."
"Hurry, someone get this queen a seat," a few voices whispered from the rows behind them.
Jin Baba grumbled, "Lan Shao, what are you doing? Didn't you say I would get to enjoy myself today?" Compared to her elaborate setup, his whole vibe collapsed into nothingness. He looked at her, sitting with a soft blanket on her chair and a clean tablecloth on her makeshift table. She had snacks arranged in plates, her legs crossed comfortably, and a bodyguard standing nearby.
Lan Shao nodded awkwardly, his face flushing. "I will go arrange it now." This damned place didn't have anything to eat or drink. The so-called Elite Society was so broke it couldn't afford a pair of underwear. Otherwise, he wouldn't have tricked his college classmates into working as free labor for the event.
Xiao Shuai tapped the microphone, the sound ringing hollowly through the mall. He had no idea if the battery in the portable unit would last until he finished hosting the entire list. He sped up his speech, his words tripping over each other. "Alright, I know what everyone is waiting for. Our first auction item today is something amazing and nearly extinct, the Jinhua sow. Bring her out!"
"Buy a sow today, get a boar for free! Trouble finding good breeding stock? Prices too high? Other people holding you hostage with their prices? Forget all that. We will solve everything for you in one go. Bring a sow and boar home, and next year you will have piglets. The year after that, those piglets will have piglets. You will have pigs running all over your place."
As he spoke excitedly, two servers huffed and puffed as they carried the pigs onstage. The animals were small and a bit thin, their ribs visible beneath their hides, but they were remarkably clean.
It wasn't that no one wanted to fatten them up. If you had pigs, you obviously had a supply of feed. This was just the harsh reality of the apocalypse. It was the same as the goose farm run by the Capital Food Regulation Bureau. The resources were there, but the apocalypse twisted the growth cycles of everything. Jing Shu even suspected there was some unknown gas or toxic element in the air damaging all living things, stunting their potential.
The crowd erupted in a wave of shock and murmured conversation. At this point in history, pigs weren't just pigs. They were walking Ferraris and Maseratis. No, they were moving piles of gold that could grow more gold if managed correctly.
"Alright, the nearly extinct Jinhua sow is up for auction. We don't accept virtual currency or fake bids here. Government staff are stationed at the doors to check your physical assets. Fake bids will get your entire household confiscated for fraud, so think before you shout. And one more thing. This Elite Society event is special. We only accept physical goods of equivalent value. Between items of equal value, we reserve the right to choose which one we want for the state reserves. Starting bid: goods equal to ten thousand virtual coins."
When virtual coins couldn't buy anything of substance anymore, that was when the nightmare truly began for the wealthy.
Someone in the middle rows quickly placed a bid. These pigs were too profitable to ignore. There was no way buying them would be a loss in the long run.
"Goods worth twenty thousand!"
"Goods worth twenty-five thousand in petroleum!"
"Oh, right, to save time and stop malicious price-raising or endless shouting matches, each person can bid a maximum of three times per item. Think carefully before you call your number. Every auction item has a traceable code. If your representative buys it and you resell it later, you will pay a two percent handling fee to the hall." Xiao Shuai rolled his eyes as he recited the rules. In his heart, he cursed the organizers. They were shameless, money-hungry lunatics.
The hall went quiet for a few seconds. No one called out a number as they calculated their reserves. After several more seconds of tense silence, someone finally shouted.
"Goods worth two hundred thousand!"
"Goods worth four hundred thousand!"
The hall stirred again, the air thick with tension. Prices that high crushed ninety-nine percent of the crowd's fantasies. Were they here to find deals? The item was great, sure, but the cost was becoming astronomical.
The bidding stalled. Xiao Shuai was about to call the final when Jin Baba yelled, "One million in goods!"
The whole venue exploded with noise. One million in goods for a sow and a boar? How many transport trucks would that take to deliver? Was it even worth it? It wasn't worth it. Even if the pigs had piglets, and those piglets had piglets, it still wasn't worth it. Normal pigs weren't remotely this pricey, regardless of the breed.
Xiao Shuai shouted several rounds with no new bids, then announced, "One million in goods, sold! Please complete the transaction now. Professionals will verify the warehouse manifests. Everyone wait a moment. If it's a fake bid, we will redo the auction immediately."
"Damn, Baba, you're insane."
"He really spent a million just like that. That's wild."
"I didn't hear wrong, right? He really bought two pigs for a million?"
Soon, the professionals arrived to verify the transaction. Two servers also came in with the pigs. They were Jin Baba and Lan Shao's college classmates, and they were wiggling their eyebrows excitedly.