Chapter 28 Auction

Chapter 28 Auction
Zina wore a curious expression and waited patiently for the host to give some information on what Brown Steel was. None would be coming from him though.

"Bidding starts at 1.2 billion with a hundred million increment"

Dazed by the price, she leaned towards Gabriel and whispered, "Why so expensive?"

Gabriel was in no hurry to bid, sitting straight up, his grip tightened slightly on his placard.

"I did not expect to see this here," Gabriel whispered. Zina's eyes widened at those words, and she looked down to see Gabriel's knuckles white as he gripped the placard tightly.

This was the first time since she had known him that he had expressed nervousness; she had never considered that he could be nervous.

Her curiosity was further piqued and she observed.

"Brown Steel is very uniquely formed. It's a carbon-nanolattice alloy formed only when iron deposits are exposed to high geothermal pressure and rare organic compounds over hundreds of years. It cannot be artificially replicated" Gabriel explained, his breath getting shorter with each draw.

"What makes it so special?" Zina asked further. None of the people here would go crazy over something just because it was rare.

Gabriel paused to glance at her, hesitating for a moment before he replied. "It has high electromagnetic tolerance and doesn't lose its function in high electromagnetic environments. But the best part about it is that it can hold electromagnetic imprints, like a stable analog memory."

"I understood half what you just said," Zina made a gesture with her hands.

"Anything built with it cannot be hacked or disabled by an EMP. Building memory cores with it also eliminates wipe risk and cloud dependence" Gabriel tried to explain again.

Zina did not understand everything he said but she was too embarrassed to ask again. She was a chemist in the world of an engineer.

The price of the Mining license kept increasing but Gabriel remained calm. Zina glanced at him from time to time, waiting for him to bid, but he still wouldn't. The price soon rose to $2 billion and Gabriel still hadn't moved.

Zina was baffled, and she glanced around to see that none of the Tech giants in Arclight were bidding, but all of them wore a tense expression.

The corner of Gabriel's lips twitched and he shifted in his seat. He was reaching the end of his patience.

But while he was anxious, there were many others more anxious than him.

"5 billion," someone from the back raised their placard, interrupting a bid and calling out a figure.

The host revealed a smile and became even more enthusiastic.
"A whopping five billion from Densel Group, do I have any higher? 5.1billion, going once,"

He started the count so quickly that the crowd was completely startled. No one waited for him to call out again and they all instead called out their bids.

"7 billion"

"7.5"

"8.1"

The auction became rowdy and everyone called out loudly.

The previous bidders immediately turned quiet, the giants had finally entered the fray. While not the wealthiest, not everyone had the liquid funds to throw around like this. These giants had the most influence in Arclight, dominating every other business.

Zina watched as a grin appeared on the corner of Gabriel's lips. It wasn't soft or gentle, nor was it arrogant. If she had to use an adjective to describe it, devilish would be the right word.

'Adam was never like this,' she thought to herself, her full attention on him.

Adam was stable and never seemed to be affected by anything. Since she had known him, today, Gabriel showed a stark difference from Adam's style for the first time.

Completely absorbed in this different side of him, a sense of unfamiliarity overwhelmed her and Zina felt an inexplicable fear filling up the distance between her and Gabriel.

At this moment, a loud voice broke her out of her thoughts and she perked up.

"17 billion!"

The crowd instantly fell silent and the frenzy stopped. This person had made a direct increase of seven billion directly eliminating many bidders.

Hearing this tone laced with arrogance and wild unrestraint, Zina scowled.

"Extra Technologies offering 17 billion!" After a few seconds of stun, the host excitedly called out.

"17 billion, can I get a higher bid everyone. The strategic impact-"

As the host rambled on about Brown Steel, Miles, who had been wearing an arrogant smile, found himself dumbfounded.

Earlier, the host had jumped to the count, but now he was rambling on and giving others time to consider.

Miles glanced around him as if looking for anyone else who noticed this discrepancy but all he saw were people throwing gloating glances.

Just then, a calm voice resounded. "27 Billion!"

The Host blanked. A pin drop could be heard in the silence. This wasn't even a mine! It was just a licence to mine.

"30 Billion" another voice came. It was the voice of the one who started the auction.

"Amazing offer from Densel Group."

The solemn expression was gone from Gabriel's face, and his devilish smile had disappeared. He had figured everyone's limits. It helped that this was a private auction, which limited the bidders; otherwise, he would never have been able to get it. He had feared there would be a worthy challenger here who truly had a strategic use for Brown Steel, but there was none.

"50 billion" he interrupted the host. The silence was normal at this point.

The Host was too charged to ramble, he simply waited about 30 seconds and started the count.

"50 Billion, going once, going twice, sold to the Gentleman in black!"

"Thank you all for this very exciting experience. If you have won a bid, please wait a moment for the staff to get to you; if you haven't, please also stay with us a little longer and enjoy the banquet. Have a good evening Ladies and Gentlemen"

The hall went into a gentle buzz filled with many soft gasps and wows. Many had heard of Auralis Innovations, but only because of their donations or partnership with Sentient Technologies, which made the news.

It was the first time Auralis Innovations manifested its power as a potential giant. Wealth wasn't everything but he had been hanging around Zina Lynch and Andrea Zade enough to reflect power.

The banquet was truly classy, without the press or unnecessary socialites, everyone had the luxury of free interaction. When Gabriel rejoined the crowd after settling his payment and the licence, many flocked to him.

Standing in a corner with a few women in the Cosmetics field, Zina watched as Gabriel interacted with people, a simple professional smile on his face.

"Oh goodness girl, would you rather be there?" a dark skinned woman noticed her staring.

Zina blushed and looked down, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.
"It's not like that, we came together," she explained.

"He's in cosmetics?" the dark-skinned woman asked with a confused frown.

"That can't be right," the third woman in the group, a blonde lady, shook her head.

"Regardless, we'll be dancing soon, does your man know how to control a lady?" the dark-skinned woman teased.