Xiaoyu and Ponzu had come to see Law to sell the antiques they had acquired from the Budera Palace.
This was something Law had arranged with them from the beginning.
When it came to transactions involving antiques, it was best to go through official auction channels or the underground black market, otherwise, situations like being cheated or robbed were common.
Especially for goods obtained under 'questionable' circumstances, aside from auctions with strong backing, they were difficult to offload.
And if you went through the black market, the prices were often brutally low.
The Budera Palace were located within a specific country's borders. Naturally, even if the ruins remained undiscovered, the country considered them part of its assets.
If someone found the ruins' location and reported it to that country, they could receive a substantial reward.
However, compared to the potential value of the items within the ruins, that reward was a drop in the bucket.
People like Xiaoyu, who had their eyes on the ancient ruins, naturally wouldn't report them. Instead, they formed teams to plunder the valuable items.
Therefore, from that country's perspective, what Xiaoyu's team did was akin to tomb raiding.
The cloth sack contained thirty-two antiques.
Xiaoyu couldn't estimate the exact value of this pile of antiques, but she knew it had to be worth a tremendous amount of money.
Law opened the tied mouth of the sack, and a few items spilled out.
"You're really casual about this," Law remarked, picking up a bronze statue with several noticeable white scratches on it.
She had stuffed everything into the sack without any protective measures.
"Once an item is damaged, its value drops significantly."
Xiaoyu said nonchalantly, "There's so much stuff here, and it'll sell for a lot. A little bit doesn't matter."
Hearing Xiaoyu's statement, Law and Ponzu were speechless.
'This 'little bit' wasn't a matter of hundreds of thousands or millions, but potentially tens of millions.'
Then, Law carefully took out the antiques from the sack one by one.
Although Xiaoyu's attitude towards the antiques was rather casual, her eye was good. The antiques she selected were mostly the types favored by wealthy collectors.
Out of thirty-two items, fifteen carried Nen, which is a decent haul.
Without absorbing the Nen from the antiques in front of the two women, Law picked up a severed woman's hand wearing a ring. Among all the antiques, this was the most valuable.
The severed hand was well-preserved because the ring on its finger had corpse-preserving properties.
Combined, and after the passage of time, along with the hand's owner being an empress, it had formed a collectible of astonishing value.
"So, how much are these worth?" Xiaoyu asked.
"A conservative estimate would be around ten billion," Law said, gently placing the severed hand down.
"What did you say? Ten billion?"
Xiaoyu's jaw dropped in shock, and Ponzu looked equally stunned.
Although they had a general idea that this batch of antiques was valuable, they never imagined it could exceed ten billion.
"Ten billion is actually conservative. In half a month, the Yorknew City Auction will start. If we pick a few pieces to auction there, the total value of this batch might exceed twenty or even thirty billion."
Law's words made Xiaoyu and Ponzu feel dizzy.
'Thirty billion? That was just too exaggerated.'
"I'll prepare a detailed price list immediately. Combined, it should be around ten billion, the margin of error shouldn't be too large. If you want to sell them here, I'll take them directly and transfer the money to you."
Law lightly patted the table full of goods and said calmly, "Of course, you could also take them to the Yorknew City Auction. You'd profit more that way."
Although the Lawlin Museum's website operated on a principle similar to an auction and had considerable traffic, no matter how well it performed online, the profit ceiling couldn't compare to the annual Yorknew City Auction.
Under Sabro and Salin's management, the company never missed the Yorknew City Auction.
Every year, they sent items with significant collectible value to participate, multiplying their profits by five or more.
Perhaps Law wasn't cut out to be a businessman, or perhaps he simply didn't care much about money.
He didn't hide anything and laid all the cards on the table.
The difference between ten billion and thirty billion wasn't something an ordinary person could easily ignore.
"I'll sell them to you here. That was our prior agreement," Xiaoyu said without much hesitation. After all, they had made the agreement with Law before even acquiring the goods.
Ponzu had no objections to Xiaoyu's decision.
"Alright, wait here a moment."
Seeing that Xiaoyu still chose to sell to him, Law didn't react much. He got up to get paper and pen, and in a short while, he had listed the names and prices of all the antiques, which he then handed to Xiaoyu.
Feng Xiaoyu took the list and looked at it, surprised. "Did you come up with these names yourself?"
On the list, every item had a specific name.
Completing a full set of appraisals in such a short time was hard to imagine, and it was difficult to believe all thirty-two names were accurate.
"Let's say so," Law said without explaining further.
Xiaoyu could tell Law was being evasive but didn't press further. After carefully confirming the list, she handed it to Ponzu.
Ponzu looked over the list two or three times, then put it down.
"All confirmed?" Law asked.
Xiaoyu and Ponzu exchanged a glance, then nodded at Law.
Law smiled and said, "The pen is here. Write your bank account numbers on the list."
Hearing this, Xiaoyu picked up the pen on the table, swiftly wrote her account number and name, then handed the pen to Ponzu, who quickly wrote her account number as well.
"Splitting it fifty-fifty?" Law asked, taking the list.
"Yes," Xiaoyu nodded.
Law took the list to Sabro. A short while later, both Xiaoyu and Ponzu received text notifications.
They each picked up their phones, looked at the amounts displayed, and were momentarily stunned.
'In the eyes of truly wealthy people, money really was just a string of numbers.'
Law came back to them and sat down slowly.
Feng Xiaoyu looked up at Law, puzzled. "You gave us an extra billion?"
"Yes, that money is the commission fee. Keep it. This batch of goods will bring me profits far exceeding a billion," Law said calmly.
"Then I won't stand on ceremony," Xiaoyu said, nodding.
"If you have more goods to sell in the future, consider coming to me," Law said.
Xiaoyu agreed.
After the transaction was completed, the two left the Lawlin Museum's office.
After seeing off Xiaoyu and Ponzu, Law returned to the table and absorbed the Nen from the fifteen antiques. The numerical increase was, as expected, low.
It had been nearly a year since returning to the Six Continents, yet his numerical value had increased by less than 1%. It was truly difficult.
'Better than nothing,' Law thought to himself, putting down the antiques.
Just then, Sabro came over, looked at the table full of antiques, and asked, "Are any of them qualified for the Yorknew City Auction?"
"Yes."
"How many?"
"Three."
"Can you estimate the potential profit margin?"
"Not exactly, but the profit will be substantial," Law said.
"Alright, I'll put the remaining goods up on the website," Sabro said.
Law nodded, then said, "I have something to take care of. I'm leaving tomorrow. Make sure you pack the goods for the Yorknew City Auction properly. I'll take them with me then."
"I'll pack the goods, but you're not going anywhere. You haven't finished paying off your debt yet," Sabro said with a grin.
"…" Law.
Early the next morning, Sabro looked at the hundreds of dismantled infrared detection devices and roared, "Salin! That bastard Law slipped away again!"
A moment later, Salin's voice came from the bedroom: "Oh? Then you'll have to move the books yourself."
Sabro's face immediately darkened.
Ten days later, Law arrived at the grand entrance of a sprawling palace-like mansion.
This was the home of the fortune-telling girl.
As for her name, Law didn't really remember, as he only had a rough impression of her appearance.
Standing outside the walled main gate, before Law could even state his business, he was surrounded.
Nearly a hundred men dressed in black, as if prepared in advance, quickly appeared and encircled Law. They all carried high-powered automatic rifles. Though they seemed aggressive, they made no move to harm Law.
From the courtyard inside the large iron gate, several people emerged, all of them Nen Users.
Looking at this display, Law pondered.
'Could it be that they knew of my arrival through divination?'