'I-It's real! Since this Divine-grade treasure is real, there's a very good chance this person in the black mask is…' Lee turned to look at Yuan with a shocked face, looking like he'd just received a revelation.
"Have you verified it?" Meixiu suddenly asked him.
"Y-Yes! I have! Thank you very much!" Lee quickly responded in a startled manner.
"What should we do from this point?" Meixiu then asked.
Lee swallowed heavily and took a deep breath to calm himself down before speaking, "Before we continue, I have a few questions for you. The questions, of course, are optional, so you don't have to answer them if you don't want to. However, it would be in your and the bidders' best interest that they have more information on the treasure."
Meixiu nodded her head.
"Ahem! First and foremost, where did you obtain this treasure? A brief background is fine as well." Lee then asked.
"It was obtained from an event," Yuan responded.
'What a young voice! Could Player Yuan be a youngster?!' Lee cried inwardly after hearing Yuan's voice.
Lee swallowed nervously and continued to ask, "I-If you don't mind me asking, was it obtained from the Zither Competition that occurred recently?"
Lee really wanted to straight out ask Yuan if he was really Player Yuan but due to their anonymous account, such a question would break the terms of service, as anonymous accounts are called anonymous for a reason. With that being said, as long as he doesn't ask questions that directly ask for their identity, it would be fine.
"It's…"
Yuan opened his mouth to speak, but Meixiu quickly interrupted, "You may move onto the next question."
Lee nodded and immediately asked the next question without any complaints, "Then let's continue to the auction itself."
"You requested for the minimum bid to start at 100 million dollars, is that correct?"
"Yes," Meixiu said.
"The time limit for the auction will be 7 days, is that correct?"
"Yes."
"Do you have any special requests for the auction?"
"No."
"Do you accept trades, or do you want money only?"
"Money only."
Meixiu answered Lee's questions as straightforwardly as possible.
"Thank you. Now, allow me to explain to you how the auction will proceed since this appears to be your first time working with us." Lee said.
And he continued, "Once we get your approval and receive the treasure, we will immediately begin the auction. There is normally a line based on a first come first serve rule, but we will make an exception this time and give your treasure priority due to its value."
"At the end of the auction, the highest bidder will pay the money to the website, which will be transferred to your account after deducting the service fees, which is 10 percent of the total amount. Once we transfer the money to your account, we will hand over the treasure to the buyer. Do you have any questions so far?"
Meixiu pondered for a moment before speaking, "Are there any assurances for us? What if you take the treasure and run with it?"
"I understand your worries, esteemed guest, and while I personally don't have anything to reassure you, I do hope the website's reputation that has been built upon decades of trust will reassure you to some extent."
"Our website, COPlayerAuctions, has over ten million successful transactions since its foundation with millions of dollars transferred every day. In total, our website has earned tens of billions of dollars for the players. Furthermore, all of this was done without a single fraud transaction. While we have been accused of stealing before by people for clout and money, plenty of times at that, we've been proven innocent for every single case."
Lee explained their website's history and its trustworthiness.
"If that's not enough to convince you to trust us, we will even deposit the requested minimal amount— 100,000,000 dollars into your account temporarily. Of course, you won't be able to withdraw it until after the bid."
"What do you think?"
After pondering for a moment, Meixiu nodded, "Okay."
"Great! Can you give me about 30— no, 15 minutes to prepare things? I will log off and approve of the auction as well as notify the higher management so they can transfer the money to your account. Once that's done, I will return for the treasure."
"Okay."
"Thank you!"
Lee logged off a few seconds later.
Yuan and Meixiu also logged off shortly after.
Meanwhile, after logging off, Lee removed the console from his head before rushing out of the room with an ecstatic look on his face.
"It's real! It's real! It's really real! Hahaha!" Lee laughed out loud as he ran in the hallways, quickly returning to his workroom.
Bang!
Lee opened the door with force and shouted loudly, "It's real! The treasure is real! I verified it! It's really a Divine-grade treasure! And the person selling it was most likely Player Yuan!"
Everybody in the room stopped whatever they were doing and turned to look at him with dumbfounded expressions on their faces.
"W-Wait a second… Are you serious? The auction request is real?" One of Lee's co-workers asked him in a trembling voice.
"Yes! I will explain it later since I need to call upper management asap!"
Lee immediately went to pick up his phone and dialed a number.
"Hello, this is Lee. My staff code is 19X6SE... This call is regarding one of the auction requests I had received recently…"
Lee proceeded to explain to the upper management about the Frozen Jade Zither, which immediately caused a stir within the upper management.
"Are you sure?! That Player Yuan might be selling his Divine-grade treasure?!"
"Yes, I am fairly certain that was Player Yuan. His appearance and black mask matched the descriptions from those who saw him at the Zither Competition!" Lee said with confidence in his voice.
"This is huge news! And this auction… we're going to make sure the entire world knows of it! Don't mess this up, Lee! Your head is on the line here!"
"Yessir!" Lee said before hanging up and going to his computer to speak with Meixiu through the website.