This… Why was this happening? The various major powers were dumbfounded. The scarcity of this sighing grass caught them off guard. After all, previously, this herb had not been commonly used. Even if there was a lack of stock, nobody would truly be bothered. Now, though, the various major powers were going crazy.
Even if they were willing to pay more to purchase this herb, the available stock was still too little in amount. Even after buying all available herbs on the market, they still couldn't produce much of the new gene reagent. Right at this instant, suddenly, a small gene store suddenly started selling sighing grass.
"How much?"
"It's priced at 99,999 yuan."
"The hell. Has this guy gone crazy from being too poor?"
"Should we give up, then?"
"Give up my ass. Buy it. Buy it all."
The various major powers all pounced on the market like beasts, afraid that the stock would be cleared if they were any slower. Next, with astonishment, they noted that even after several hundred million yuan was wasted purchasing these herbs, there was still available stock.
"There's more?"
The big shots, with their keen senses, noted that something seemed off. After contacting their friends, they noted that almost everyone had purchased a huge amount of sighing grass.
"How much have you bought?"
"Around a thousand." Wang Lin was not bothered by that amount. "How about you?"
Ma Teng sighed. "Two times your amount. How about Xu Yin?"
Xu Yin's face darkened. "Triple."
Zhou Hong's heart ached. "Five times."
Ding Shi had an unsightly expression as well. "Six times."
Jack Ma tried to make a light joke to reduce the tense atmosphere before reporting the amount he'd purchased. "I bid, landlord![1][1] Mhm, I bought ten times that amount." Apart from them, all the other powers of differing sizes had also exhausted a huge amount of wealth to purchase the sighing grass just so they could be the first to produce the new gene reagent. Each of them might not have had too much money individually, but when the amount was combined…
As everyone exchanged glances and looked at the green light signifying a still healthy stockpile of sighing grass in this store, their expressions became terrifyingly dark. If their guesses were correct, they had probably landed in a huge scam, an abyss of a scam so deep that the depths couldn't be seen. At this time, while the various powers were conflicted, the Genetic Union was instead rather relaxed.
"Please give us some sighing grass," the Research Agency begged.
The Genetic Union showed no trace of politeness. "Scram!" They still remembered how these fellows hadn't been on their side previously when they'd been fighting over the copyright of the new formula.
"You guys have so much in your storage anyway, so much that you guys can't even finish it." The Research Agency wasn't the least bothered with the Genetic Union's attitude. After all, the market price of sighing grass was now so expensive that one couldn't even begin to imagine it. As such, the only way of purchasing it at a cheaper price was by purchasing it from the Genetic Union. After all, the difference between 50 yuan and 99,999 yuan was incredibly large, a difference of nearly 2,000 times.
The Genetic Union directly rejected them. "Not now, but one day, they will still be finished."
The person from the Research Agency smiled. "Please don't be like this. We should help each other… You should let us have at least some of your stock, right? How about half your stock? Hey, don't go. How about 40% of your stock? Even 30% will do. Hey, bro… 20%! Please, just 20% will do. I will purchase it at 10 times your price. How about it, am I sincere enough?"
The people of the Genetic Union merely sneered at this. After all, even 10 times the price was still 500 yuan. Presently, the market price was 99,999 yuan. What a shameless fellow.
"Sigh, 20 times? For only 10% of your stock?"
"I seem to remember that the current market price is 99,999 yuan, right?" stated the Genetic Union unhurriedly. And thus, the manager of the Procurement Department of both parties started bargaining crazily. Unfortunately, the Genetic Union was unwilling to take a single step back.
"A price of 50,000 each for 10% of the amount we have in our storage." This was the most the Genetic Union could do.
The Research Agency found this unacceptable. "That is not possible. Although the market price is 99,999 yuan, nobody is buying it at all, all right? Even now, it's still for sale in the virtual community and the stock level is still green. This signifies that nobody is buying it at all, as the stock isn't reducing. I think that after a day or two, the price will readjust to the normal level."
"That's none of our business." The Genetic Union was unwilling to compromise. Ultimately, the Research Agency could only leave in disappointment.
Right at this moment, the employee in charge of checking the stock level of the Genetic Union's warehouse returned with a dark expression. His report stupefied everyone present.
The head of the Procurement Department was stupefied. "What are you saying?"
"The sighing grass is gone." The employee continued with an unsightly expression, "There's only 100 left."
Shua!
Everyone lapsed into silence.
"Have you checked wrongly?" The head checked the data on his screen. "Here, it clearly shows that the storage is still full. Moreover, the first instant after obtaining the formula, we forbade the sale of sighing grass."
"I know." The employee had also been shocked when he'd first seen it. As such, he'd immediately launched an investigation and discovered something that caused him to not know whether to laugh or cry. "Based on our investigation, the warehouse manager personally bought the sighing grasses in our storage and then resold it at the market. Since this herb was rarely used previously and had a cheap price, it went unnoticed."
"…"
The head almost fainted then and there. Sold… sold them? Even the eyes of the person from the Research Agency beside them were wide open as well. Wow, how dramatic.
The head cleared his mind from the shock shortly after. "Where's the money, then?" Despite the herb being sold, the money should still be around. Based on the current price of sighing grass, it had to have been sold for an extremely huge price. If they could repurchase the sold herbs with the money obtained previously, they shouldn't suffer too huge a loss.
"Oh…" The employee paused before cautiously saying, "When he sold the sighing grass, the beyond X formula had yet to appear. At that time…" He flipped the data around and continued, "the price was 999 yuan."
Bang!
Blood rushed to the brain of the head, who almost fainted then and there. Sold at 999 yuan? But the current market price was 99,999 yuan! The hell! A disparity of almost 100 times! As for the Research Agency person to the side, he was rejoicing in the calamity of others. Tsk tsk, the Genetic Union had a habit of hiring and providing for employees without much value. Now look what that had led to.
"How much did he sell?" the head asked while shuddering.
"Based on what he said, at first, he merely planned to sell half of what we had in the warehouse. Subsequently, as he saw that this herb was truly pricy, he sold more and more, and without realizing it, only 100 was left in the warehouse. Based on our investigation into his bank account, 100,000 sighing grass was sold," the employee concluded.
The department head's legs weakened. A hundred thousand? Based on present market price… Suddenly, he felt like this was the end of his career as the head of the department.
The head raged. "I want to kill him!" Now, he felt like swallowing that person whole.
"We have already captured him. You can do it anytime you want," the employee stated coldly.
The head gnashed his teeth. "Good."
Unfortunately, being angry wouldn't help much at this time. Despite the huge potential loss, if they tried to recover the money that person had gained from his sales… this amount that neared hundreds of millions was still quite huge.
"Have you recovered the money from him?" the head asked instinctively.
"…" The employee paused before answering awkwardly, "When we arrived, he had already spent all the money."
"???" The head was dumbfounded. "Spent?"
"Yes," the employee replied with a bitter smile.
The head found this inconceivable. "How did he spend that much money?" The hell, cash nearing a hundred million, even he wouldn't know how to spend that all within a few short days, let alone a normally poor warehouse manager.
The employee checked the record. "Oh. Based on our investigation, he has recently been in frequent contact with a female streamer called Yue Er. The amount he tipped this female streamer reached the tens of millions."
Tens of millions…
The head roared inwardly, wondering if that person's brain was made of shit. "What about the remaining 90 million, then?" he asked while shuddering.
The employee answered, "He bought a villa in the capital, paying for it partially."
The head was somewhat doubtful. "How about the rest of the payment?"
"The rest…" The employee checked the data. "The rest of the money for the villa has not yet been fully paid."
[1] 1. Landlord - A reference to a Chinese card game, Dou Dizhu.