Treasure Hunt Tycoon - Chapter 1603: Mountain of Cargo Containers
The yacht could lean against the cargo ship as it sailed closer, and there was a bridge connecting both vessels.
In the distance, the sea breeze howled and the waves billowed. Though the yacht was by no means small, the movement of the waves was rocking the ship. In the yacht, Li Du and his company felt like they were riding a roller coaster.
However, the anchored cargo ship was steady as a rock even as wave after wave crashed into its body. Just like a piece of reef, it remained still no matter what came at it!
As the bridge was lowered, they carefully climbed up to the cargo ship. The in-charge from the insurance company said with a smile, “Ladies and gentlemen, you can board the ship safely. We have already purchased sufficient insurance for everyone here. From the moment we set sail, you have no reason to worry.”
At those words, some idiot wanted to show off his physique and outstanding physical abilities. He dived into the water and swam all the way to climb up the ladder of the cargo ship.
The in-charge was a little frightened and hurried to say, “The waves are rough today so please be careful, everyone. Although we’ve purchased insurance, please also keep in mind that you won’t be the one to enjoy the payout if you get into an accident.”
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The crowd laughed uproariously as they climbed up the bridge.
After they boarded the cargo ship, the chasm turned into a smooth bridge. Li Du tilted his head up to look at the cargo containers stacked tall. He exclaimed, “There really are a lot of containers here!”
Every container was labeled, and different labels indicated the various types of goods that were in the container.
The insurance company hosted this auction in the hopes of gaining some sort of benefit so they operated differently from regular storage auctions. They were extremely secretive about the items in storage, opting only to drop hints.
Every person held a pile of pages that were bound together to form a brochure. In the brochure, there was information about the containers on the ship.
There were all sorts of containers here. General goods cargo containers, open-top containers, platform-based containers, regular platform containers, refrigerated containers, bulk containers, ventilation containers, tank containers, animal containers, automobile containers, combination containers, clothing containers, et cetera.
In an attempt to dupe the reporters, shareholders, and investors, Jang Bogo had initially set sail with a large number of cargo containers, some of which were empty but thrown into the mix with cargo containers that were actually full.
After the cargo ship set sail, they docked a few times instead of sailing straight to the destination. They had to do so in order to replenish their supplies and load a few more containers.
As such, the containers on the ship were mixed up, so it was difficult to follow up on a lead even if they had one.
On top of that, the insurance company did not give specific information on the goods in the containers. What information they had spread was generic, a vague description of the goods they had in store. This generated an air of mystery and raised the value of the containers.
If the treasure hunters wanted to gain something from this auction, they still had to rely on their own eyes. They had the brochure but still, they were not allowed to enter the cargo containers.
Of course, there were a number of containers packed so full that they could not go in even if they wanted to.
Li Du looked at the brochure in his hand, immediately excluding the refrigerated containers. These containers were likely to be more valuable than the goods that were stored in them. They were used to transport frozen or low-temperature goods, like fish, meat, fresh fruits, or vegetables. There was little to no value to these goods in the eyes of the treasure hunters.
Many of the treasure hunters rushed to the cargo containers storing sports cars the moment they boarded the ship. Those were valuable items that were also easy to sell. After all, America was a country on wheels, so any city in the country had a large number of used car dealerships.
The cargo container for sports cars was a simple box attached to a steel frame with end walls and sidewalls, and its base was lined with anti-slip steel boards. There were two types of containers: single and double-decker.
These containers were not the standard type — they were remodeled, and it was not too difficult to tell them apart. Regular sedans were about 1.35m to 1.45m tall and regular containers were about 2.5m tall. As such, only three-fifths of the space was used, which was quite a waste.
In order to maximize space use, the cargo container was remodeled to be either shorter or taller. Moreover, because it was in the midst of standard containers, it was easy to tell that this one was remodeled.
The people bounded over excitedly but they all lost their cheer the moment they peered into the container. There were only old cars here!
Korean and Japanese cars were rather popular in America because of their low fuel consumption, but also because they were simple and did not cost much to maintain. Given the current economic climate, they were much more suitable for the American family than gas-guzzlers were.
Popular as they were, their cars were still priced cheaper, the old ones even more so.
There were quite a number of sports car containers scattered on the ship. They were supposed to be the main attraction, but the treasure hunters had quickly lost interest in them the moment they realized there were only old cars in them.
Not that they had any other choice, really. The profit margin was small, and buying used cars carried its own risk. Because the treasure hunters had no reliable way of inspecting the condition of the cars, they would incur a huge loss if the cars turned out to be damaged in one way or another.
Li Du released the little bug. He did not go to the sports car and platform containers, or any of the other bulk cargo containers. These containers basically only had one item in them so there was no chance of him getting any loot from them.
His goal was the general goods container. These were containers for just about any goods, so their scope of application was large. They could store almost anything, unless the goods had to be refrigerated or kept warm, as long as the measurements and weight fell into the range.
The brochure had the least information on the general good containers, so much so that some did not even make it into the brochure.
Li Du found a general goods container and climbed up onto it. In terms of structure, the general goods containers could be divided into three categories: those that opened from one end, those that opened from two, and those that had doors on the sidewalls.
The one he found opened from one end and had the smallest exposed surface area of all the containers. It had the least number of items in it so it was the most suitable for him to loot from. When the little bug flew in, he discovered a large number of items as he had expected.
There were a neatly combed wig and boxes of sneakers, laptops, Samsung mobile phones, and several boxes of beautiful clocks and watches.
There was a lot of potential profit in this container, so Li Du made a note of it before launching into a proper evaluation.
The little bug stayed close to him as it examined the items in the container while another one trailed behind Stein and Gasol.
The two of them had boarded the ship with a few treasure hunters, but they split from the group to roam independently the moment they were on board. They were sauntering around the cargo containers, looking not at the brochure provided by the insurance company but at a piece of paper.
That was a customs declaration list and on it was written a container number. The two of them were trying to find a container based on this number.
The two of them set about their business cautiously. They would stop what they were doing the moment someone noticed them and only continued when there were no eyes on them, so they thought it was a flawless plan.
Ultimately, after a bout of searching, they stopped in front of a refrigerated cargo container.
Li Du was puzzled. What could they possibly have stored in that container? These containers were the least valuable of all the types because they were used to store food like vegetables and meat.
The two of them stuck out like a sore thumb because the area in front of that container was empty, so they quickly left the area after confirming this was the container they were looking for.
Something was up. Li Du chuckled, then sent the little bugs into the container.
