I Spy With My Secret Eyes

Chapter 137

Everyone except Manuel was extremely surprised.

Only Manuel felt that he had a very secure bet, and indeed it turned out to be a ghost face. Moreover, this ghost face had a good appearance, with balanced features and a glossy texture.

This ghost face was even better in appearance compared to the previous one resembling an eight- legged spider.

Those who had bought the scentedwood piece with the spider face from Manuel and Oliver earlier had their eyes wide open, exclaiming, “Wow, you’ve hit the mark again.”

Their luck was indeed too good. Many people had lost their bets, but they managed to hit two in a row.

“Mr. Camden, I’d like this piece too. How about I bet with you? You’ve only made the first cut. I’ll offer you 40,000 dollars. You spent only about 10,000 or 12,000 dollars on this piece, so you’ll make a pure profit of over 20,000!”

Manuel didn’t consult Oliver this time. He glanced at the piece of scentedwood with several lines marked on it by Oliver and immediately shook his head, and declined, “Thanks a lot, my friend. I still want to take a gamble. Sir, cut it again.”

Seeing that Manuel was undeterred, the buyer thought of the earlier piece of scentedwood that had earned him a tidy profit of 200 thousand dollars. Even if all the pieces he later bid on turned out to be losses, he had already recouped his initial investment with that one piece.

As the second cut began, Manuel stared intently, and at first sight, he spotted the ghost face on the cut surface.

Oliver was indeed a highly skilled expert in identifying things!

Manuel was overjoyed and couldn’t help but laugh heartily when the second cut revealed another ghost face. This ghost face was even better in appearance compared to the piece he had bought previously. The other buyer could only smile wryly.

Even though only two cuts had been made, the appearance of the ghost face on this scentedwood piece already exceeded the 40,000 dollars he had offered. It was easily worth at least 100,000 dollars or more.

Needless to say, these two buyers wouldn’t stop at this point. They would continue with the remaining cuts.

Manuel certainly didn’t intend to settle now and gestured for the craftsman to proceed.

The process continued with the third cut, the fourth cut, and so on, until the final cut.

Each cut revealed a ghost face. Onlookers couldn’t help but feel envious, especially Will and Felix.

It was only at this moment that Felix realized the owner of this wood was Manuel.

Jenifer also saw the composed and silent Oliver, and she couldn’t help but gaze at him, too.

The person who had bought Manuel’s first piece of wood chuckled and said, “Mr. Camden, you have excellent luck. How about I offer you 300 thousand dollars for this piece? Will you sell it to me?”

Before Manuel could respond, Will chimed in, “400 thousand dollars, I’ll take it!”

That man was stunned. Seeing the eldest son in the Woods family compete with him, he hesitated a little and then couldn’t help but raise his offer and said, “Mr. Woods, I’m not really looking to compete

with you. I just want to get some good materials for making custom pieces for a client. I’m… going to offer 420,000 dollars.”

The focus then shifted to Manuel.

Will, with a displeased expression, straightforwardly declared, “500,000 dollars.”

That man’s face faltered. While the quality of this piece of scentedwood was indeed excellent, its highest potential value was around 460,000 to 480,000 dollars. After being crafted by top artisans, the finished product might fetch around 600,000 dollars. If it went beyond 500,000 dollars, it might not be worth it.

Will is going too far!

That man muttered a curse under his breath, blaming Will for ruining his plans with a 500,000 dollars bid.

Manuel turned to Oliver and asked, “Oliver, can I sell it?”

After saying that, Manuel also discreetly glanced at Jenifer, who was standing beside Will. Their conflict from the previous day still irked him. If Oliver declined to sell, even if Will offered 5 million dollars, Manuel wouldn’t agree to sell it.

But Oliver nodded and said, “You can sell it. In business, making money is what matters.”

“Good!” Manuel nodded to Will and agreed, “I’ll sell it.”

Will immediately wrote a check for 502,000 dollars, understanding a non-integer number isn’t good and generously adding 1,000 dollars more.

Manuel thought to himself that this young man might have an arrogant demeanor, but he was skilled in doing business.

The subsequent wood materials were all from Manuel and Oliver, and there were a total of sixteen more. They were cut in the order in which they were placed.

The opening of the next batch of materials left everyone dumbfounded. The craftsman produced a ghostly face with each piece, and astonishingly, they had a one hundred percent success rate.

While others struggled and had a ten out of ten failure rate, with none of their pieces turning out as expected, Manuel and Oliver successfully picked every piece, hitting the jackpot.

Will, upon seeing the opened wood materials, finally wore a smile and extended his hand to Oliver, and said, “Friend, I want all these wood materials, and I’ll pay one percent above market price. Is that acceptable?”

Although others were envious, they didn’t have the confidence to compete, especially since Will was the heir of the Woods family. Moreover, Will had voluntarily offered to pay one percent above market price, making it impossible for anyone else to compete.

Furthermore, no one dared to truly offend the Woods family, as they held a monopoly in the wood industry. Crossing them would mean no future for the others.

Oliver nodded and said, “Alright, I have no objections. It’s just business, after all. Making money is what matters.”

Then, the pricing of each wood material was determined one by one, with thirteen pieces priced between 520,000 to 700,000 dollars, totaling 6.8 million dollars.

Three wood materials were relatively large in size, had excellent quality, and were priced at 3.4 million, 3 million, and 2.9 million dollars, respectively. The total cost for these three pieces was 9.3 million dollars.

Together with the previous two, the total amounted to 16.1 million dollars.

Will, despite losing over 4 million dollars earlier, had now acquired all of these high-quality scentedwood materials. With the Woods family’s connections and industry status, once these materials were transformed into high-end products and marketed, the selling price would easily exceed 40 million dollars.

This was the advantage of having a monopoly. If it were someone else, they wouldn’t be able to consume such a large quantity of premium scentedwood, and they wouldn’t have the Woods family’s interpersonal connections. Hence, even if they acquired these top-notch materials, their profit would be unlikely to exceed 10 million dollars.

Will was delighted because he had recovered from his initial disadvantage. This batch of materials would make all his uncles and cousins stop criticizing him.

The owner of the wood factory was named Forest Blackwood, who had previously gone by a different name. A fortune teller had told him that his destiny was missing “wood,” so he changed his name to “Blackwood”

Surprisingly, after Forest changed his name, he experienced significant financial success, especially in the wood industry.

Forest extended his hand in a friendly gesture to Will, Manuel, and Oliver, saying, “Congratulations to all of you. Let’s go have some tea first and enjoy lunch, and then we can start gambling on sandalwood imported abroad. I’ve collected this batch of materials from several shipments. Mr. Camden, you’ve got good luck. I’m sure you’ll win big again.”

This was both flattery and building anticipation, as Forest was skilled in seizing the moment.

Manuel laughed and said, “Certainly, we’re here to have a good time and enjoy some exciting gambling.”

With Oliver by his side, he wasn’t worried about running out of things to gamble on. The more materials available at Forest’s place, the better. He wasn’t the least bit concerned because as long as there was something to bet on, money would naturally flow into their hands.