SWNOVELS Chapter 426
Chapter 426
The auction went on for three days, but even on the afternoon of the third day, there was no sign of the voodoo incense. Olivia
felt disappointed and sat at the table with a gloomy expression. Daniel, concerned for her, approached and held her hand,
soothing her in a low voice. “The catalog for the evening’s auction. should be coming soon. It might be mentioned in there.”
Olivia didn’t want Daniel to be concerned about the matter with her, but she couldn’t relax. She forced a smile at him.
“Eat something first.” Daniel handed a fork over. As Olivia was about to take it, there was a knock at the door. Olivia’s eyes lit up
as she subconsciously raised her gaze. The catalog had arrived!
With the catalog in her hands, Olivia quickly opened it and scanned through it line by line. Finally, in the last line, she found the
words “voodoo incense.” Seeing this, Olivia breathed a sigh of relief and finally relaxed and thought, ‘Great, we’ve finally found
the voodoo incense!”
“Is the gold prepared?” Olivia turned to Daniel. He tightly held her hand and reassured her. “Don’t worry, we’ve prepared 600
million dollars in gold. Gold is not easy to exchange, and Ellis is still in contact with various banks worldwide, working on another
400 million dollars in gold.”
Captain Chavez also approached and whispered, “Mr. Book gave us their bidding paddle, so if Ms. Taylor needs it, you can draw
from the Book family.” Olivia nodded and said, “Please thank Mr. Book for me.”
They waited restlessly for over two hours until it was finally time for the auction of the voodoo incense. The auctioneer stood in
the center of the hall, holding a beautiful wooden box, and began. “Ladies and gentlemen, the next item is the 92nd lot of the
day, the voodoo incense. This box contains a total of 12 strands of voodoo incense, with a history of approximately three
hundred years. The condition is excellent, and it’s been preserved very well. With the owner’s consent, our appraiser lit a piece
of it earlier, and its effect was obvious. The voodoo incense is a type of scent that can attract voodoo worms. Due to its intricate
preparation method, it has been lost for over a hundred years. The fact that the auction can present this item today is indeed
fortunate...”
The auctioneer elaborated for a while before announcing the starting bid. “1.6 million dollars.” Upon hearing this, Olivia breathed
a sigh of relief. The price seemed reasonable. Based on previous transactions, final prices generally landed around three times
the starting bid, which would be 4.8 million dollars. This price was within Olivia’s comfort zone, and she was even prepared to go
a bit higher. The bidding began, and initially, Olivia didn’t participate. It wasn’t until the price. surged to 4 million dollars that she
raised her paddle. “4.2 million dollars.” Quickly, someone else joined the competition with 4.4 million dollars. The back–and–forth
continued, and it wasn’t until it reached 5 million dollars that the
number of bidders started to decrease.
Indeed, voodoo incense had an extraordinary effect in attracting voodoo worms. However, in this modern age, there were many
ways to catch these worms, and incense wasn’t necessarily the best method. The reason the price soared so high was mainly
because the secret formula had been lost. Most bidders were hoping to reverse–engineer the recipe.
At 5 million dollars, it should have been the highest bid, and logically, no one would continue to compete. However, something
peculiar happened. The occupants of Box 302 across from Olivia continued to bid consistently, adding exactly 10 thousand
dollars more each time, just above Olivia’s bids. Someone was targeting her! Olivia’s brow furrowed, and a glint of determination
shone in her eyes and thought, ‘We must have leaked information about our box, and the other side knows who we are,
intentionally trying to outbid us.
“What should we do?” Elena looked at Olivia, a worried expression on her face. “The price has already reached 6 million dollars,
and they’re continuously bidding against us. It could end up getting incredibly high.” Olivia’s expression turned cold. She tapped
her fingers and kept her gaze fixed on the central auction item below.
Inside Box 302. Bettany was also nervously watching the auction item. As the price soared higher and higher, her heart rate
quickened. She was indeed eager to frustrate Olivia, to see her fail to acquire what she desired and witness her disappointment.
However, spending so much money on something seemingly useless was also causing her some heartache. The price had
already soared to 10 million dollars, and each time Alexander placed a bid, her heart would skip a beat. “Alexander.” She turned
to the man behind her. “How far should we go? 16 million dollars?”
Alexander lowered his gaze, his eyes showing indifference. “200 million dollars. At the very least, we have to make her pay
more.”
Bettany’s heart clenched. She thought this plan was too outrageous and said inwardly, ‘What if Olivia gives up along the way?
Are we really going to spend 200 million dollars on something as seemingly useless as voodoo incense?”
Because both sides were engaged in a relentless bidding war, other spectators. joined in to make the scene more chaotic.
Several boxes took their turns to place bids, and Box 222 seemed the most whimsical, occasionally raising the bid by 10.
thousand dollars or 1 million dollars, further adding to the commotion.
Bettany kept a close eye on Box 301, where Olivia was located, and noticed that they started hesitating and even skipped a bid.
Quickly, she turned back and said, “Alexander, Olivia has stopped bidding!”
Alexander first frowned, and then a trace of mockery flashed in his eyes. “Truly shallow emotions. She gave up when it hadn’t
even reached 20 million dollars. I was wrong to think that her feelings for Isaac were so deep!” With those words, he put down
his bidding device and refrained from bidding. In the end, voodoo
incense was won by Box 222, which had joined the competition just for fun. Bettany grinned. “Olivia must be very upset right
now.”
Inside Box 301. Olivia rested her chin on one hand, her gaze faint. Elena was anxious. “Miss Taylor, the voodoo incense was
won by Box 222 downstairs. What should we do? Should we go downstairs and negotiate to buy it?”
Olivia beckoned to the anxious young lady and consoled her. “Don’t worry, the voodoo incense will be brought over shortly.”
As expected, it wasn’t long before someone arrived carrying the familiar wooden box. Elena’s eyes widened in surprise. “What’s
going on?”
Olivia curved her lips, her face radiating a gentle warmth. “That’s because Box 222 downstairs also belongs to me, and in
addition to that, there’s Box 111 and Box 333. I secured several boxes.”
Upon hearing this, Elena was even more astonished. “When did you do that? How come I didn’t know?”
Olivia chuckled. “It’s better that you didn’t know. This way, it remains discreet.” For such a crucial matter as bidding for the
voodoo incense, Olivia wouldn’t leave anything to chance. She had made preparations well in advance to prevent malicious
bidding, securing multiple boxes to ensure success. Now that the voodoo incense was in her possession, and there was nothing
more to do, Olivia got up to leave.
Just then, chaos erupted at the central auction podium downstairs. The auctioneer excitedly gasped for breath and announced,
“Due to the sudden appearance of an incredibly precious item, today’s auction will be extended until midnight.” Hearing this, the
entire room buzzed with discussion as everyone speculated about the extraordinary item that had disrupted a decades–long
tradition by extending the auction. This was an unprecedented event. Olivia also paused her steps, her curiosity piqued as she
peered downward.
The auctioneer on the lower level took a deep breath and announced loudly, “Today’s exceptionally rare item is a sight seen only
once in a century, the Golden Voodoo King!” Upon hearing this, Olivia dropped the phone she had been holding in her hand.