บท 18: Chapter 18: Selling the Gold
Ethan Ward immediately abandoned the customer he had been assisting with a high-limit credit card application, passing them off to a colleague. Compared to the potential commission from a $25 million gold sale, a credit card bonus was pocket change.
He quickly approached Logan, wearing the most sincere smile he could muster.
"Mr. Logan, good day! I'm Ethan Ward, your new account manager. How can I assist you today?"
Logan nodded slightly, "Let's discuss it inside."
"Of course, please follow me."
Ethan eagerly led Logan to the VIP lounge, savoring the envious glances from his colleagues. He couldn't help but feel a bit smug. Logan's casual $25 million gold purchase indicated he likely had even larger deposits in other banks. If Ethan could persuade Logan to transfer those funds here, his performance metrics—and by extension, his paycheck—would skyrocket.
The other bank employees shared this sentiment. For them, performance meant everything, and clients like Logan were their bread and butter.
However, Ethan had moved so swiftly that all they could do was mutter curses under their breath at his opportunism.
In the VIP area, Logan was about to speak when Ethan interjected, "Mr. Logan, please have a seat and wait just a moment."
Ethan hurried out of the room, leaving Logan to sit down and wait.
It wasn't long before Ethan returned, carrying a beautifully wrapped gift box. The bank always prepared gifts for its top-tier clients, and this year, the highest level clients received two bottles of premium Maotai liquor.
Originally, Logan hadn't qualified for this level of gift, but Ethan had dipped into his own pocket to secure it. If Logan made another large financial transaction, Ethan would easily recoup his investment and see his performance soar. He had even planned to deliver the gift personally in the coming days, but Logan had conveniently come to the bank on his own.
"Mr. Logan, this is a small gift from the bank this year, along with a personal token of my appreciation."
Logan barely acknowledged the gesture, nodding briefly before getting to the point, "I need to process a gold buyback."
With that, he opened his suitcase, revealing the entire 60 kilograms of gold bars.
Ethan was momentarily stunned, his expression shifting through a range of emotions.
"You're saying… you want to sell back these gold bars?"
Logan nodded.
Ethan glanced at the day's international gold price and forced a smile, "Mr. Logan, if you sell these gold bars now, you'll be taking a loss."
Logan had already prepared a response on his way to the bank, "I'm aware. I've done my research. I acted impulsively when I bought all this gold, but now I've realized that investing in gold isn't as profitable as I thought. I plan to reinvest the money elsewhere."
After a few unsuccessful attempts to change Logan's mind, Ethan had no choice but to start the buyback process, despite his reluctance.
Selling gold was much more complicated than buying it, as each bar's serial number had to be matched with its certificate, and the bars had to be inspected to ensure they were undamaged and scratch-free. It wasn't a quick process by any means.
Ethan had to call in another staff member to help with the task. When his colleague heard that Logan was selling back the gold he had just purchased, they couldn't help but feel a bit of schadenfreude at Ethan's expense. Ethan's mood darkened even further.
The process took the entire morning, with Logan eventually receiving $24.78 million in his account, a loss of over $60,000.
Having achieved his goal, Logan wasn't bothered by the loss. He declined all of Ethan's offers for various financial products and left the bank with the two bottles of fine liquor, leaving Ethan forcing a smile and cursing his decision to gift the liquor.
Ethan was already regretting the $200 he had spent out of his own pocket, as well as the carton of cigarettes he had used to curry favor with his boss. To make matters worse, he knew his colleagues would mock him behind his back for days to come.
Logan, however, didn't care about any of this.
After leaving the bank, he headed straight to a wholesale market.
He ordered 100 tons of rice in 50-kilogram bags—2,000 bags in total. He also purchased 1,000 bags of flour, 100 cases of cooking oil, 1,000 cases of table salt, and 100 cases each of MSG, chicken bouillon, soy sauce, and vinegar.
Logan also bought 1,000 cases each of instant noodles, sausages, ham, luncheon meat, and noodles. He added 100 cases of hot pot base and various seasoning packs to his order.
Come the deep freeze, he'd be enjoying hot pot every day, a true luxury in the apocalypse.
He continued to pick up various other supplies, eventually filling seven large trucks. The total bill came to over $1 million.
The wholesalers, mistaking Logan for a supermarket procurement manager, offered him significant discounts, hoping for repeat business.
Loading the goods would take several hours, so Logan requested extra labor to speed up the process. After paying a deposit and leaving his delivery address, he headed to the nearby agricultural market.
There, he ordered several thousand pounds of various live fish, requiring that they all be cleaned and gutted. He also bought a ton each of chicken, duck, pork, beef, lamb, and eggs.
Since it was already afternoon, these would have to be delivered the next day. Logan's request for freshly killed fish meant paying an extra dollar per pound, and it would take several days for the entire order to be fulfilled.
He also purchased hundreds of pounds of dried seaweed, various other dried seafood, and large quantities of ginger, scallions, and garlic.
Thanks to the Cornucopia's time-stopping feature, everything he stored would remain fresh indefinitely. If it weren't for the fact that the Cornucopia couldn't hold live creatures, he would have ordered fresh shrimp and crabs as well.
Logan then placed an order for three tons of various vegetables and three tons of fruit, all to be delivered the following morning.
Afterward, he visited several pharmacies, stocking up on medications.
Unlike food, there were limits on how much medication an individual could purchase. Logan spent the entire day visiting over a dozen pharmacies, finally amassing 50 boxes of antibiotics, 72 boxes of cold medicine, and various antiviral syrups and oral solutions.
He also bought 126 bottles of vitamin C, the cheap kind with 100 tablets for $2 a bottle.
However, this wasn't nearly enough. In the apocalypse, medications were extremely scarce, and even a common cold could be deadly in the extreme cold. Logan planned to place additional orders online.
By this time, the first batch of goods from the wholesale market had arrived at his rented warehouse.
After receiving the call, Logan drove back to meet them.
As he reached the warehouse, his phone rang again. It was David Lin calling.
Logan realized that Paul had been in South City for four days now—he must have found something.
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