This Game Is Too Realistic-Chapter 340.1: Auction in Turmoil

Somewhere in the real world.

"Damn it!" Observing the two announcements popping up on the official website, the trader sitting in front of the computer couldn't help cursing.

Seeing his colleagues collectively turn to him, he cleared his throat to cover the embarrassment and spoke rapidly, "The trading has been temporarily suspended... No transactions can be made."

His revelation sparked a flurry of reactions.

"No transactions can be made?!"

"What's going on?"

"Is there an issue with the funds?"

"Why did they drop the ball at such a critical time?!"

The office erupted with voices, and an old man sitting at another desk stood up anxiously, asking, "Why can't trading be done? What exactly happened?"

The trader pushed his chair back, rested the back of his head on the cushion, and massaged his temples. He felt a headache forming. "The official explanation is due to server network fluctuations... In short, you can place or cancel orders now, but none of the transactions would go through." He said helplessly.

Server fluctuations? That's the excuse they're going with?!

The group murmured in disbelief. After all, even if all the servers on the entire planet fluctuated simultaneously, the Wasteland Online's official website probably still wouldn't be affected.

The man with a stern face coughed lightly. "Seems pretty much in line with that guy's style."

Naturally, they referred to Light.

Over the past half year, they had collected and organized nearly every post, every sentence, even every punctuation mark Light had made on the forums. They didn’t wish to miss any critical information.

It was especially so for his announcement regarding the auction!

If they overlooked this clue and let their competitors purchase the technology, that would indeed be a significant loss!

Rising from his chair, the trader paused before he continued, "However, although the bad news is that all transactions are suspended, the good news is that the auction time has been brought forward.”

Whispers filled the office.

The old man frowned. "Is that considered good news?"

"Of course," the trader said matter-of-factly. "We have the first-mover advantage. Although we aren't sure about the opponent's stock and how much our competitors have bought, judging from our trading volume's share in the transaction volume, we have a significant advantage!"

Hearing this, everyone finally relaxed a bit.

The old man, who had stood up earlier, also breathed a sigh of relief and returned to his seat. After a meeting the day before, he immediately sought advice from Academician Liu Yiping of the Institute of Materials Science and Engineering at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, consulting in detail about technical aspects concerning lithium batteries, lithium dendrites, and related topics.

To understand all the ins and outs, he had made several pages of notes!

According to Academician Liu Yiping, although the hope of solving the problem of lithium dendrites in a short time was slim, once it was solved, the impact on the domestic new energy industry, even the country's energy strategy, would be astonishing.

Even the usually rigorous Academician Liu used an exaggerated expression when describing it. The significance was immense!

In any case, they had to win the auction!

The man with a stern face cleared his throat. "Let's not speak too confidently for now... What about the auction's rules?"

The trader scratched his nose and stared at the computer screen. "... The rules are the same as other auctions, the highest bidder wins, and each bid must be at least 1% higher. However, because the transaction is to be completed on their platform and limited to silver coins, the bid cannot exceed the buyer's account limit."

No one knew how many silver coins each account held, but that was only limited to those on Earth. Nothing could be hidden from Chu Guang.

In other words, falsifying a bid was not feasible; their account balance would be the bid limit.

The man with the stern face frowned. "... So, you can't bid high upfront, you have to gather the amount before the delivery date."

The trader nodded. "Yes, according to the rules, delivery will take place immediately after the auction... This is actually good news for us. Our bid only needs to be 1% higher than other people, which is the minimum bid increment."

The old man immediately asked, "When does the auction start?"

The trader turned his gaze to the screen. "It has already started!"

It wasn’t just that it had started... The competition from all sides had already reached a fever pitch!

An anonymous account took the lead with the opening price of 1 million silver coins. Immediately after, another account boldly raised the bid to 2 million silver coins, and various parties began bidding in increments in the hundreds of thousands.

Based on public information, before the suspension of the silver coins trading platform, the highest price for silver coins was close to 600 RMB!

The daily average transaction price had increased from 50 RMB to 80 RMB!

Based on the average price, these 2 million silver coins equaled 160 million! It was simply insane!

However, everyone sitting in the room was well aware that compared to the actual value of the auction item itself, the bid of over 100 million was likely not even close.

Even a painting could sell for several hundred millions, let alone technology that could change an entire industry.

The reason it didn't start with an even higher base price was simply because there were only so many silver coins available.

Currently, there were around 3,000 players in the game, with an average of around 10,000 silver coins per person. Logically speaking, there would be around 30 million silver coins in circulation.

Taking into account a few high-level players in the game who had already established their industries, doubling the total circulation of currency to an estimate of 60 million was already remarkable.

Adding the participation of the vast cloud gamers, who also obtained some silver coins... Along with parties all over the world making their moves... Even if they went all out, they barley secured 10% of silver coins on the server.

10% might sound little, but it would be wise not to be fooled by the small figure.

For those who weren’t using the currency, holding 10% of it was an extremely aggressive buying strategy!

With hundreds of millions already invested, if what they ended up getting was an electronic card saying "Thank you for your purchase," everyone in the entire room would be held accountable.

In a sense, their fate had already been tied to Wasteland Online, although most of them had never even entered the game...

Staring at the notebook on his lap, the man with the stern face clenched his fist, sweat seemed to seep from his palm.

He was also a closed Alpha player.

Light never scammed his players.

He believed his brother, Light, wouldn't scam him!

As time ticked by, the bidding price quickly rose to 3 million silver coins, and the bidding speed began to slow down.

The trader, who had been silent all along, suddenly breathed a sigh of relief. "... 4 million should be their limit."

"With each bid increment not less than 1%, if we raise the price to 4 million directly, considering the 40,000 bid increment, we should be able to win the bid."

As he spoke, he pressed the keyboard with his index finger, entering a string of numbers.

After double-checking those zeros, he entered his bid.

The second he did, it was as though time had stopped.

At the moment the bid was submitted, the auction window seemed to freeze, and not a single new bid popped up.

Then, the pop-ups, occurring every 3 minutes, began flashing.

[4 million once!]

[4 million twice!]

[... Sold!]

The office, which had remained quiet for a full 9 minutes, erupted in excited cheers.

"We did it!"

"Haha! We won!"

"Great job!"

The man with the stern face finally relaxed, loosening his fist and then clenching it again.

Even though he was usually composed, he couldn't help but cheer along with his colleagues.

The old man excitedly walked up to the trader and leaned closer to the computer. "Where is it? That thing... How will they deliver it to us?"

They had won the auction, and there was no doubt about that.

Most players used RMB for transactions, so losing in that regard would be extremely unlikely.

But now the key question was... Where was the auction item?

The office quickly fell silent again.

Suddenly, the man with the stern face stood up, tossed the notebook onto the sofa, and swiftly walked to the office door, pulling it open.

Surprisingly enough, there was nothing there.

However, he heaved a sigh of relief after noticing the empty floor.

Sending the helmet to his doorstep was already scary enough.

They managed to deliver it to the room they were in... It would be downright terrifying!

However, everyone else had a different reaction from him. They gathered around and stared nervously at the screen.

Soon, a series of pop-up windows appeared.

The trader said in excitement, "... They've initiated a data transfer request to us!"

"Quickly, confirm that!" The old man urged eagerly, "Don't click the wrong button!"

"I know!"

Such a mistake was clearly impossible.

Even if his hand holding the mouse was trembling, it wouldn't tremble its way to the cross in the upper right corner.

The transfer of the 10GB data was completed in no time. What was downloaded was a RAR-compressed file.

However, the data's storage format was not important and the decompression was done quickly.

Staring at the pile of information in the folder, everyone gathered around the computer involuntarily held their breath.

"... An improved artificial SEI film?!"

"Not just research papers... They even gave us the manufacturing process!"

The old man, standing in front of the computer, yelled. "Quickly! Immediately send the information to the Institute of Materials Science and Engineering at the Chinese Academy of Sciences!"

A man in a green shirt wore a serious expression as he gave a sharp nod. He gave a crisp reply, "Yes, sir!"

An assistant next to him took out his previously turned-off phone from his pocket. "I'll call Academician Liu Yiping outside!"

The old man quickly said, "Let me talk to Academician Liu. I just consulted him about that lithium dendrite issue yesterday. So if I explain this matter to him, he'll understand better."

For a mere 10GB of data, the office became busy.

For such technology that concerned the country's energy strategy, it was impossible to send it via cloud storage or email.

Not long after, several special white-plated cars left the compound, heading in different directions.