Auction's End

“The starting bid for a Life Fruit is 500 billion cosmic dollars. However, a Life Fruit is essentially an extra life for a Sector Lord. So the price will climb quite high! It usually exceeds two trillion, and if many people are competing, the price could be even higher!” Babata explained.

“Hmm, no way,” Luo Feng shook his head, giving up on the Life Fruit.

Although Hong wanted a Life Fruit, he intended to use it to cultivate his Moyun Teng.

In reality, using a Life Fruit to cultivate a Moyun Teng was quite wasteful, because the Life Fruit's true value lay in it being 'an extra life for a Sector Lord'. For cultivating plant life, its cost-effectiveness was far inferior to other items, such as the Lanke Fruit he had purchased earlier!

“Back then, when you were competing for Leiting Shi to exchange for treasures in the World of Worlds, you used a Life Fruit to cultivate your Moyun Teng. But actually, 'binge eating' isn't good for the body. The Life Fruit's energy is too strong and vast; swallowing it all at once would make the Moyun Teng 'overeat,' wasting much of its medicinal effect, which is truly too wasteful.”

“Moreover, the Life Fruit's best use is not for cultivating plant life at all.”

“Didn't you buy 200 Lanke Fruits?”

“Lanke Fruits are specifically for cultivating spirit beasts and plant life, and their medicinal effect is also milder than a Life Fruit, making them easier to absorb. Although the Moyun Teng might still 'overeat,' it won't burst apart like it would from consuming a Life Fruit.”

“By taking one Lanke Fruit every ten days, over three years, consuming 100 fruits, your elder brother Hong's Moyun Teng will be able to grow to Universe-level Third-tier or Fourth-tier. This is much better than swallowing a Life Fruit all at once.”

...

The final transaction price for the Life Fruit was 2.8609 trillion! It was a bit cheaper than the Yan Shen Blade, but still incredibly exaggerated.

...

In the subsequent auction, precious treasures appeared one after another, leaving Luo Feng only able to drool, as he no longer had enough money in his pocket.

“Even if I can't buy, it's good to just look,” Luo Feng smiled, holding the auction token. He looked at the 1000 items displayed on the token, casually clicking on one to view its detailed information.

The detailed information on these precious items was indeed eye-opening.

It allowed Luo Feng to learn many hidden secrets of the universe.

...

While Luo Feng was participating in the Ganwu Universe Nation's highest event—the Ganwu Auction, his younger brother, Luo Hua, was in his own studio.

In the Nine Star Bay, inside that villa studio.

“So boring.”

Lying on a chair, with six laptops simultaneously open on the desk in front of him, each screen displaying a webpage monitoring his six most important investments.

“After playing virtual combat games for half a day, and then virtual gunfights for another half a day, there's nothing to do, truly boring,” Luo Hua lay back, his legs propped on the desk.

The other people in the studio were diligently working on their own tasks.

As a financial investor, periods of leisure could last for ten days, half a month, or even several months. But once the market trend emerged, they would become extremely busy.

“Boss, XPHF000891-9279 suddenly has a huge buy order!!” a young girl exclaimed.

“Oh!”

The usually relaxed Luo Hua suddenly sat upright, pulled his chair, and slid to the desk, staring intently at the second laptop screen from the left. The screen clearly showed a massive buy order. Luo Hua grinned: “I'm not afraid of you stirring up trouble, only of you being stagnant! The opportunity has arrived!”

In this particular investment, Luo Hua had initially poured in 35% of his capital. For someone with his large funds, investing so much in a single venture was considered an extremely high allocation.

The reason he did this was because Luo Hua had confidence!

From an initial capital of 700 billion cosmic dollars, it had grown to 800 billion over two years. The profit was relatively small, but Luo Hua had never sold; he was waiting for an opportunity!

“The longer it's flat, the higher it will rise! It all depends on who has more patience. I hope this time, it's a real trend!” Luo Hua, like a venomous snake, stared fixedly at the screen. In the vast cosmic investment market, let alone his 2 trillion cosmic dollars of capital, even Three-Star Tier clients, or even Five-Star Tier clients, had to be extremely cautious.

Because the larger the investment, the more likely it was to encounter financial behemoths. It might be the investment department of a certain Cosmic Nation, or perhaps the Cosmic River Bank, or Universe First Bank. Or some super organizations. Once you ran into those behemoths, if you weren't careful, not only would you gain no benefits, but you might even be ruined yourself.

“3x leverage, within the safety alert line.”

“Team 1, Team 2, Team 3, monitor XPHF000891-9279, same old rules!” Luo Hua shouted.

“Yes, Boss!” The group of young people on Earth were all incredibly excited.

This investment Luo Hua was managing had a trading cycle of 12 hours, with each trade lasting 4 hours.

“Boss, the price is rising rapidly, it's already up 6%, should we sell?”

“Wait,” Luo Hua commanded.

“It's starting to fall, only 5% gain left, continuing to drop!”

Once prices started fluctuating, it was indeed worrying, because if it dropped by a third, with their current three-times leverage, they would be liquidated, and their 700 billion cosmic dollars principal would all be wiped out, a complete loss!

Luo Hua's face was expressionless, like a venomous snake, silently staring at the screen in front of him.

“Two minutes left until closing.”

“Surging, starting to pull up sharply.”

...

First trading cycle, up 12%.

Second trading cycle, up 8%.

Third trading cycle, down 6%.

Fourth trading cycle, fluctuating, slightly down 0.8%.

The market, which had been stagnant before, had now fully entered a period of turbulence. Even some financial behemoths dared not be careless, because the larger the play, the more difficult it would be to sell off if it plummeted. Handling truly large funds versus small funds, it was actually harder for large funds to double.

The fifth trading cycle, however, saw a surge, a straight climb, all the way to the upper limit—15%.

“Sell off 30% of the inventory in batches,” Luo Hua coldly ordered.

“Boss, the market is really good right now.”

“It's been soaring all day, even many small investors will go crazy tomorrow, there's definitely more room to rise.” Someone below immediately shouted, but while they shouted, they dared not hesitate in their actions.

You could offer opinions on the boss's orders, but you had to execute them!

In critical moments of operation, even a slight delay could lead to heavy losses.

“Team 1 finished selling.”

“Team 2 finished selling.”

“Team 3 finished selling.”

The three team leaders shouted loudly, and Luo Hua, sitting at his desk, showed a faint smile: “Very good.”

...

Sixth trading cycle, prices continued to rise! It seemed Luo Hua had sold too early.

“This investment had a principal of 700 billion. Selling 30% of the inventory means 210 billion of the principal. With three times leverage, if it continued to rise today, we would have earned tens of billions less cosmic dollars,” the young people whispered among themselves. But despite their discussions, they dared not disobey Luo Hua's orders in the slightest.

“Sell 10% of the inventory.”

“Continue to sell 10% of the inventory.”

In the seventh trading cycle, Luo Hua actually made two sales, and this seventh trading cycle remained in an upward trend.

The eighth trading cycle started with a rise, then plummeted! Finally, it hit the lower limit.

The ninth trading cycle, from the start, continued to fall.

“Buy 10% of the inventory,” Luo Hua ordered.

...

Amidst the thrilling ups and downs, Luo Hua issued clear instructions one after another. Seemingly risky purchase orders, but as prices rose, they turned into profits.

Twelfth trading cycle, continued to rise!

And then it kept rising.

During this process, Luo Hua had been selling!

“Target achieved, sell off all remaining inventory,” Luo Hua ordered.

“Yes.”

While the market was hot, Luo Hua had already sold all his inventory.

“Two years of waiting, half a year of planning, now the harvest is complete.” Luo Hua smiled. No matter how much it continued to rise afterward, it was meaningless to Luo Hua; he had achieved his desired goal, and that was enough.

“Final settlement, cash is 4.681 trillion, principal was 700 billion, so it's more than six times the principal.” Luo Hua was very satisfied. The proper use of leverage could indeed generate supernormal returns, but leverage was also a double-edged sword that could easily lead to liquidation.

...

This investment continued to rise for the next three trading cycles, with occasional slight dips, but generally maintaining a gentle upward trend. This excited countless investors in the universe. However, after one limit-down, this investment then experienced three consecutive limit-downs, as everyone panicked and sold off, with no one willing to buy.

“They wanted to sell but couldn't, everything was stuck in their hands.” Luo Hua shook his head and sighed at the sight, “I wonder how many people were liquidated and driven to suicide.”

“Boss is amazing.”

“Boss is still calm.” In the studio, everyone broke into a cold sweat seeing four consecutive limit-downs. Four limit-downs, each 15%, meant the price had fallen to half of its peak. And in just four cycles, which was only two days, such a rapid decline was simply terrifying.

“Some win, some lose,” Luo Hua shook his head. “Those who know how to buy are experts, but those who know how to sell are the true winners.”

“Achieving your goal is enough, don't be too greedy.”

“Originally, for this investment, I was prepared for 20-30% not to be sold in time. Unexpectedly, it turned out better than I thought.” Luo Hua ordered, “Alright, this price is good for establishing a position. Establish a 100 billion position within a 1% fluctuation range at this price, without using leverage. Under inertia, this price will continue to fall.”

“Understood.”

His subordinates immediately began establishing positions. Knowing it would fall, they still bought; knowing it would rise, they still sold. It seemed foolish, but only after each transaction was completed did the brilliance of these instructions become apparent.

“Calmness!”

Luo Hua knew very well that his success was primarily due to absolute calmness. This absolute mental calmness was forged during his childhood and adolescence, spent in isolation and depression due to his long-term disability. Calmness, timing, a bit of talent, and some Earth-based investment culture—these factors created Luo Hua!

“Brother, I have 4.2 trillion in cash.” In the thirteenth trading cycle, Luo Hua directly transferred this money to Luo Feng.

...

The Ganwu Auction usually lasted about ten days, sometimes a bit longer, sometimes a bit shorter.

Each batch of 1000 items was auctioned, lasting 3-6 hours, varying in length.

On the tenth day of the Ganwu Auction.

In the massive auction hall, countless Sector Lords sat on a million thrones, all looking at the host in the center.

“A total of 50 batches of auction items, 50,000 items in all, have been completely auctioned off,” the turtle-shelled elder announced with a loud laugh. “Now we've reached the final climax of this auction—the auction of the last 100 centerpiece items. Each of these centerpiece items is either unique or incredibly precious, and the starting bid for each item is uniformly 0!”

The end of the auction—the centerpiece auction—was about to begin.

“4.2 trillion cosmic dollars?” Among the dense rows of thrones in the distance, on an inconspicuous one, Luo Feng's face showed surprise. “Luo Hua's letter said this was profit? His principal wasn't affected?”

Ten days ago, his younger brother hadn't earned much.

In a blink of an eye, he had earned so much, Luo Feng was a bit bewildered.

“Haha, Luo Feng, your brother's skill is truly high. Even if I were to manage it, I couldn't keep up with him. The larger the capital, the harder it is to make a profit; other large funds won't easily let you feast. Impressive, impressive.” Babata praised endlessly. “With over 4 trillion cosmic dollars, you might even be able to participate in the centerpiece item auction.”