Chapter 567 - 340: An Unexpected Discovery (Part 2)
The woman in red was suddenly torn. On one hand, she was stunned by this unbelievable windfall. On the other, her rational mind told her that such good fortune often came with a catch.
She strongly suspected the potion was a fake.
'But what if it's real?'
She couldn't bring herself to trust someone else with appraising an item worth millions, so she quickly snatched the potion vial back. "Let me think about it."
The sales associate didn't seem to mind. As an employee of the Stu Commerce Association, he had handled major deals with transaction values in the hundreds of millions. A sale worth a few million wasn't something he considered particularly important.
...
Inside the office, a hook-nosed, middle-aged man was slightly taken aback when he saw the youthful-looking Su Ze. He asked, "Sir, how can I help you?"
Su Ze glanced at the man's name tag and saw he was just a manager. He immediately lost interest in speaking with him. He casually pulled two vials of Tier-5 extract from his storage item and slapped them on the desk. "Get your boss."
The hook-nosed man's eyes went wide. 'Two vials of Tier-5 extract... this is a massive deal!'
After all, the strongest evolvers on the entire Western Continent were currently only Supreme-rank.
He didn't waste any more time on pleasantries and immediately contacted his boss.
A moment later, a spirited, elderly man strode to the office door. The sales associate waiting outside quickly and respectfully greeted him, "Mr. Stu!"
"Is the guest still inside?" Mr. Stu asked.
"He is."
Mr. Stu said nothing more and pushed the door open to enter.
"Mr. Stu? Could he be...?" the woman in red speculated.
"That's right." The sales associate nodded. "He's our boss."
The woman in red was secretly delighted. 'It seems that young foreigner really is no ordinary person, to be able to prompt the owner of the Stu Commerce Association to meet him personally... The more extraordinary Su Ze appears, the more likely it is that this potion in my hand is real.'
A moment later, the hook-nosed manager came out, leaving only the owner of the Stu Commerce Association and Su Ze to talk inside the office.
"Hello, I'm Frank Stu. And you are?" Frank Stu politely extended his hand.
"Lin Luo." Su Ze shook his hand, casually giving a fake name.
'His surname is Lin?'
Mr. Stu's eyes flickered for a moment before he smiled. "Mr. Lin, what price are you looking to get for these two vials of Tier-5 extract? And how would you like to conduct the transaction?"
"I don't intend to sell these two vials directly to your association," Su Ze stated plainly. "Instead, I'd like to partner with you to sell them publicly via auction."
Frank Stu wasn't surprised. "You're saying you want to leverage the Stu Commerce Association's influence to host an auction?
"We don't have any auctions planned for the near future, but we could certainly arrange one for these two vials of Tier-5 extract. However, we would need to take a ten percent commission on the final sale price. What do you think?"
Su Ze didn't care about the money, but he didn't like being played for a fool either. "Tier-5 extract is a hot commodity anywhere, a scarce resource. I'm sure there are plenty of other associations out there willing to auction this for me for free—or even pay me for the opportunity. This is a great chance for any association to boost its influence."
"You have a point," Stu said, his words laced with implication. "So why come all the way to the Western Continent, to Dawn Shelter, to sell these two vials of Tier-5 extract? If my old eyes don't deceive me, you aren't from around here, are you? These vials would likely fetch a higher price in your homeland."
'He suspects these two vials are of questionable origin!'
'They might be considered stolen goods on the Lin Hua Continent.'
'That's why this young man calling himself Lin Luo traveled all the way to the Western Continent to offload them.'
Of course, Stu didn't actually care about the items' legitimacy. Goods stolen on the Lin Hua Continent weren't considered stolen in Dawn Shelter. He was merely using this as leverage to secure a better profit margin.
Frank Stu continued, "Besides, while two vials of Tier-5 extract are valuable, they aren't enough to carry an entire auction on their own. The Stu Commerce Association would still need to invest significant resources to fill out the event."
"You don't need to worry about that," Su Ze said casually. "I have plenty of other fine items—high-tier materials, natural medicines... their value isn't much less than the Tier-5 extracts."
Frank Stu's pupils contracted. He pondered for a moment before saying, "If that's the case, we can reduce our commission. How does eight percent sound?
"Believe me, it's more than worth it. I'm sure you chose the Stu Commerce Association for our deep-rooted influence on the Western Continent. We have a vast network of clients, not just in Dawn Shelter, but far beyond it. In fact, nearly every high-rank evolver on the entire Western Continent has done business with us at some point.
"That's something no other association can achieve. Only the Stu Commerce Association can guarantee you the highest possible price!"
Su Ze just smiled and shook his head, then began producing item after item from his storage device.
There were Tier-5 materials, precious natural medicines, Tier-4 Wondrous Items...
The treasures Su Ze took out varied in value, but even the least valuable among them was Tier-4!
And mixed in among them was a puzzle piece.
This was Puzzle Piece No. 1, left behind by Lin Hua's Legend.
Su Ze planned to use this piece as bait to lure out the holder of Puzzle Piece No. 4.
However, what he hadn't expected was that when he took out the puzzle piece, Frank Stu's expression suddenly changed.
Although he quickly concealed it and his expression returned to normal, Su Ze, who had his "Eye of Truth" active, still caught the fleeting change.
'Does Frank Stu recognize this puzzle piece? Or has he seen it before?'
Things seemed to be developing in an unexpected direction.