The Shadow Tycoon
Copyright© 2026 by CaffeinatedTales
Chapter 167: The Auction Under Bright Lights
From afternoon into evening, the fervor in the venue never died down for even a moment. People kept competing to raise their paddles, and when the two apartments came up for auction, the atmosphere reached its peak.
Many people had come simply to take part. They did not really believe they could win either of the two villas, but a person needed some fantasies in life, didn’t he?
That was precisely what made the atmosphere even more heated. It lasted until the very end, and even after the crowd began to leave, some people were still actively asking when the next trading auction would be held and what would be included.
This Consignment Auction, which had drawn so much attention, ultimately did not disappoint William. A deal value of six hundred and ten thousand dollars set a new record for Interstellar Trading Company’s secondhand Consignment Auctions. Whether it was Noah, the investors hidden among the crowd, or the Mayor of Sabine City waiting for the result, all of them quietly let out a breath.
In a sense, Currilan City’s result also represented the likely performance of other cities. Their transaction volume might not exceed today’s figure, but the value of the model had already been demonstrated.
People were looking forward to this kind of trading auction. In truth, the most direct way to tell whether a policy was popular was to see how many people were willing to spend money on it voluntarily.
Behind that six hundred and ten thousand dollars in deal value, the buyers had perhaps saved themselves at least four hundred thousand dollars in total budget. It satisfied their desire to consume and their need for certain necessities, while also easing their financial pressure.
People liked it. They understood its value and its benefits. That was why they rushed to buy.
Reporters crowded around William, with Richard following at his side. Eleanor stood outside the crowd. She was not especially suited to be part of this picture.
If reporters “occasionally” captured photographs of her standing with William, it could be treated as the romantic indulgence of a young man.
But if she stood beside him during an almost public interview like this, it would send the wrong signal to the public, making people believe the two of them were still together.
In truth, neither the present William nor the present Eleanor was ready to welcome that kind of identity.
For William, romance was no longer his main occupation. And if it was only the current Eleanor, even if he allowed her into his life, they would eventually separate halfway down the road for any number of reasons.
An institution had once conducted a survey and found that among highly educated married couples, marriages between partners of comparable education lasted longer than marriages where one partner was highly educated and the other was not.
That survey had also led to another question: were shared interests, equal standing, and smooth communication necessary foundations for maintaining a marriage?
Put more plainly, as William’s pace grew faster and faster, if Eleanor could no longer keep up with him, then even if William reached back to pull her along, he might not be able to move her. Gradually, she would become an unnecessary burden in William’s life.
Even if William did not abandon her, she would eventually leave on her own, because more and more outstanding women would appear around him. As she stood among the dazzling identities those women carried, she would slowly begin to feel ashamed of herself. In the end, all she would feel was inferiority and despair.
It was the same for Eleanor.
She looked at William standing at the center of the crowd. Apart from her familiarity with his body, she actually felt a distant strangeness toward him as a person.
Sometimes he seemed so familiar.
But when he became serious, Eleanor felt as if he had turned into someone else.
She did not know how to describe the feeling. Perhaps this was what people called growth. She wanted to grow too, to grow until she could reach William’s height, then peel away his mask and see which one was truly him.
She was not ready for that yet.
She needed to turn that thought into a source of drive, to push herself to grow up and mature as quickly as possible. Only then could she understand what exactly had happened, what had changed her, and what had changed this most familiar stranger.
Looking at William’s back, Eleanor silently sighed.
Sometimes it was not good for a person to be too outstanding.
It had been the same back in high school. William had been the only student in the entire school allowed to eat lunch in the teachers’ office while enjoying the air-conditioning. At the same time, he had been the boy countless girls wanted to date. Under those circumstances, one could imagine how much pressure Eleanor had been under while dating him.
Now she felt that pressure again.
Because a crowd of female bitches was already “on the way.”
She had to pick up the pace.
At that moment, William was facing the media and the reporters with easy confidence. “Of course, we created a new miracle. But the purpose of creating this miracle was not to turn it into a benchmark for us, or for the entire industry...”