Past Life Returner

Chapter 383

「 7.11 / 14:41 ― $ 2,600,000,000」

Tik.

「 7.11 / 14:48 ― $ 2,900,000,000」

An additional three hundred million dollars had been added, and there was the possibility of reaching three billion dollars on the horizon.

Kubera grinned, realizing that had he persisted in his desire to venture into outer space, he would have died in the tragic fire that claimed the lives of his Awakened relatives at the Dukedom just a month ago. Then, he would have missed out on the opportunity to take part in this auction.

In the meantime, he was in Korea. As long as the location tracker was inserted under the skin, it was impossible for him to directly contact Odin’s family. As an alternative, he decided to approach the closest individuals of Odin’s father ‘Na Jeon-Il’ and confirm his family tree. It was quite easy.

Na Jeon-Il cherished his son. He didn’t spare time to boast about his son, and interestingly, Odin had become a famous analyst at Jonathan Investment Finance Group. Kubera couldn’t believe that he was under the title ‘analyst,’ when he ruled the entire world.

After months of hovering around them, Kubera realized that the Na Jeon-Il couple was indeed Odin’s kryptonite[1]. Ever since Odin departed from the Stage of Advent, he had been taking care of his parents. He tried not to reveal his shocking identity to them. Instead, he had hired high-level Awakened to guard them and called them regularly. To his parents, Odin was not the ruler of the world, but instead an only, beloved child.

It was an unbelievable result, but there was clear evidence. Odin, the demonic king, was an incredibly nice and caring son to his parents!

Tick.

「 7.11 / 14:48 ― $ 3,000,000,000」

Kubera bid on the auction and then looked over some profile documents. These documents contained information on people who could be used to lure Odin’s parents to a specific location to be taken hostage. Among the people listed were one of Na Jeon-Il’s subordinates and some of their old friends.

To the couple, Kubera was known simply as a foreign investor who was looking for a retired individual from the Jeonil Group who had strong influence. Kubera chose a few of them and winked at his subordinates to further deepen their relationships with the chosen figures. He also meant to identify those who would be easily manipulated by money and those who wouldn’t, and secure more of their weaknesses.

Since Kubera had formed the group with the Awakened who were once part of his group during the Stage of Advent, there was no need for much explanation. However, it was crucial that Kubera’s men were unaware of the identity of the Na Jeon-Il couple as the entire plan could be easily jeopardized.

At that time, Kubera received a message from the family through an encrypted channel.

<D: If you are participating in the auction, stop it.>

<C: What is the problem? The item is priceless. Just put more money in there. If our current plan succeeds, then the amount of money going in would be insignificant.>

<D: Think about why Odin left the trading system open. You can’t compete with him.>

<C: Did Odin join the auction?>

<D: I’m just saying we should assume that he did. If that’s the case, you shouldn’t provoke him by raising the price. Just stay quiet. As you said, if the plan works out, this will be nothing.>

“...Shit.”

「 7.11 / 14:48 ― $ 3,000,000,000」

Kubera glared at the amount he bid on the monitor and tasted bitterness in his mouth.

***

As soon as it hit exactly three billion dollars, Lille was in agony. There were no issues with regards to pursuing business in outer space, as the business agenda for it was already approved at the general shareholders’ meeting. The main concern was whether they would approve of the allocation of more than three billion dollars from company funds towards one single item.

She could easily tolerate any negative judgment from individual investors. In fact, she was ready to be responsible for all the disappointments due to their concerns of the company’s finances.

However, if powerful shareholders such as Jonathan Investment Finance Group, Gillian Investment Finance Group, and multinational investment firms based in tax havens disapproved of her decision to use that much money, then she couldn’t guarantee her chance of being reappointed for the next term.

Lille looked at a person among the executives. He was an Awakened, ranked 430th in the world. He used the code name ‘Skanda,’ the god of war in Indian mythology. He was dressed like other executives in a suit, but he caught everyone’s attention with a huge sword strapped to his back. It emitted a bright glow, overshadowing the conference room’s lighting.

His sword was also classified as an S-class item. She wondered how many individuals would possess an item valued at an astronomical amount of three billion dollars, purchased with their personal funds rather than their company’s.

Xi Wangmu's Ten Thousand-Year-Old Spider Egg had reached three billion dollars just because it was an S-class even though no one had confirmed its identity. Therefore, it was safe to say that this guy’s sword had more value than that.

However, he still had a poker face on. Although he had become a billionaire at once, he was only looking at the auction window on the large screen.

Lille thought that these items were generally overpriced. They generated supernatural abilities in Awakened hands, but they were just pieces of scrap metal in the hands of ordinary civilians.

Ironically, this was precisely why she needed to swiftly venture into outer space. There were forces leading the price increase, and they were creating the item market, the major sources of profit in outer space.

But three billion dollars is too much…

The company’s nested structure was this: the Jonathan Group held twenty one percent, the Gillian Group had fourteen percent, other holding companies had thirteen percent, the private equity funds held twelve percent, the individual investors held seven percent, their start-up partners had two percent, and the remaining thirty-one percent was distributed between tax havens-based multinational investment companies.

Most of them had a strong influence on the management of the company.

“We will put four billion dollars as the maximum limit.”

The company had already ventured enough, and they had shown the efforts to Skanda. After making that declaration, Lille examined Skanda’s response. Fortunately, he kept his position without saying much as if he understood the company’s position.

The executives also mentioned that it would be wise to bow out if the price exceeded four billion dollars. This was because even if the last bid was unsuccessful, there were funds available to shift toward Chinese investment.

***

The Chinese market was fully opened up, and a whole new world had unfolded for entrepreneurs. Nevertheless, merciless bandits such as the Jonathan and Gillian Group were fixated on obtaining lucrative deals at a low cost under the guise of investment.

The government had also been pressuring local companies to accept significant amounts of foreign investment. This had turned China into a profitable haven for foreigners, leading some to speculate that the detention of low-level Awakened by the authorities had contributed to the ongoing crisis. However, these were just the reasons cited by Western capitalists.

Li Zhiheng was certain about that as there was clear evidence of this happening. By simply deploying the IMF and gradually increasing the level of exploitation, they seemed to have already finalized their plan to subject China to their whims.

China had been subjected to numerous attacks on all fronts. Foreign capitalists sliced private companies that had relocated to Hong Kong, privatized China’s municipal enterprises and boiled them in hot water, and sold off the land originally owned by the Chinese government at a bargain price to grill them.

In addition, the leader, who was supposed to prioritize domestic affairs, seemed more invested in recovering slush funds and exposing corruption within the former regime. This preoccupation led to a constant military presence around the clock. Basically, China was a mess.

In the meantime, one S-class item was worth three billion dollars? Li Zhiheng thought it was unacceptable.

He complained, “With this kind of money, you can live either here or in the United States like royalty. We don’t lack anything.”

His son retorted, “It’s not that we will actually become royalty if we did that. Please make the bid, Father.”

“You only call me ‘Father’ when you want something from me,” Li Zhi-Heng accused.

“You will regret it if you miss it.”

“Do you even know what that is?” he asked incredulously.

His son rolled his eyes. “There is nothing to argue about an S-class item. Are you short of money?”

“No.”

Li Zhiheng picked up the phone and instructed his subordinate to transfer more money into his account. The moment he touched the keyboard…

「 7.11 / 14:52 ― $ 3,300,000,000」

Under the name of his son, Li Zhi-Heng’s bid went up to the top. He believed that he had to please the plunderers to recover the costs that would be incurred. Also, he saw himself as a weapon for foreign capital, committed to inflicting more harm on China, so that they would swallow the pieces of China without any problem.

“Watch carefully and learn what true wealth is.”

***

Even the Rothchild’s RMC had given up at this point. Even the CVA, which was the most enthusiastic about entering outer space, surrendered once the price reached three billion dollars. An Awakened, who had already been rich even before awakening, also gave up bidding at that point.

It wasn’t that they lacked the funds, but they arrived at a practical and unsentimental decision that it would be illogical to buy a solitary S-class item for over three billion dollars. The existing capital forces that were inflating the item market also thought that was enough. They were probably cheering at this time.

Therefore, the last two remaining bidders were a military company based in a European distribution company and an individual Awakened believed to be related to a Chinese capital. Among them, the last winner was the Chinese Awakened named Li Youkang.

「 7.11 / 15:50 ― $ 4,000,000,000」

No one made bids for thirty minutes after the price reached four billion dollars. Li Youkang held a rank of 162,329 among the Awakened, so he was in the gold section. He seemed to be channeling his regrets that hadn’t been resolved in the Stage of Advent by doing this.

Furthermore, I had a hunch that the money was coming from his father, Li Zhiheng. Similar to what had happened during Korea’s IMF crisis, numerous individuals in China were currently exploiting the national crisis for their personal gains.

Anyway, there was nothing for me to be afraid of as this money wasn’t coming directly from my pockets.

「 7.11 / 15:51 ― $ 4,100,000,000」

I added one hundred million dollars.

「 7.11 / 15:51 ― $ 4,200,000,000」

Then, he responded in the same way.

「 7.11 / 15:51 ― $ 5,000,000,000」

He became quiet when I changed the first number of the amount.

A few minutes later…

「 7.11 / 15:54 ― $ 6,000,000,000」

I could feel that Li Zhiheng had done a great job in harming his country when he added that much more money. With that amount, he could build a huge business on the mainland instead of entering outer space. Alternatively, he could earn above-average profits by directly investing in stocks that were steadily rising or leaving them to my investment group.

Nevertheless, Li Zhiheng and his son were only bidding so frantically because it was an S-class item.

Yeon-Hee pretended to cut her throat, so I accepted their challenge.

「 7.11 / 15:54 ― $ 10,000,000,000」

I felt like I had forgotten the taste of spending money. This kind of amount wasn’t even noticeable compared to the total capital I owned, but it was devastating to the public. To be honest, if it hadn’t been Xi Wangmu's Ten Thousand-Year-Old Spider Egg, then I wouldn’t have come this far either.

I never thought Li Zhiheng and his son would be able to catch up, but they appeared disheveled and surprisingly managed to do so.

「 7.11 / 15:55 ― $ 10,001,392,000」

Yeon-Hee whistled as if she was impressed by their action. I bid with one more dollar.

「 7.11 / 15:55 ― $ 10,001,392,001」

However, the number on the monitor remained unchanged even after the last bid opportunity passed. That was the maximum amount that Li Zhiheng and his son could bid by scraping up every single penny that they had. It was surprising that they could manage that much with personal cash, not company money.

It was not long after the final approval was dropped from the trading platform.

「Winning bid: 10,001,392,001」

As soon as the first S-class item auction ended, news articles poured out into the media.

「Breaking News: ‘Xi Wangmu's Ten Thousand-Year-Old Spider Egg’ Finally Sold for Over Ten Billion Dollars!」

「Breaking News: An S-class Item ‘Xi Wangmu's Ten Thousand Year Old Spider Egg.’ Sold More Than Sixty-Six Times the Average Price of an A-class Item Amid Fierce Competition.」

「Breaking News: A Single Item Worth Ten Billion?! ‘Astonished.’」

「Breaking News: Hidden Capital’s Collision, Stage was I-Trade.」

I pushed the laptop aside and picked up the phone.

<Seon-Hu: Gillian.>

<Gillian: Yes.>

<Seon-Hu: Are you in Beijing?>

<Gillian: Yes.>

<Seon-Hu: There must be an official named Li Zhiheng. Do you know him? He has over ten billion dollars in personal cash alone, but I have never heard of him before.>

<Gillian: He is barely managing his position in the government.>

<Seon-Hu: What kind of connection does he have with us?>

<Gillian: He is responsible for handling some of the express land-related issues.>

I asked because I wondered if he was in charge of the slush fund the Chinese leader was supposed to pay me back with. Li Zhiheng’s appearance didn’t come as a surprise to me. Even if he had pocketed ten billion dollars, he would have willingly surrendered hundreds of times more Chinese assets to us.

There were multiple people like them, so it wasn’t worth it for me to remember each of their names.

1. To be someone’s ‘kryptonite’ means to have power or influence over that person, making them weak or vulnerable, often used to describe a strong emotional or psychological impact on someone. ☜