"Thank you, Mr. Watson. If you hadn't testified for me, I would have been taken directly to the police station after the cruise ship docked."
After the cruise ship docked, Pickman made several trips back and forth to move his pile of cargo.
Victor sat on the bench on the shore and watched him finish all this.
Li Anlong sat opposite him, quietly flipping through the book. His brooch was shining and very dazzling.
"Where will you go next?" Victor asked Pickman, who was sweating profusely.
The latter took a deep breath and replied with a smile: "I made an appointment with a friend in advance. I will stay at his house for a few days and then go to the club to perform."
It would also cost a lot of money to find someone to move his pile of things, but after that it was no longer a problem that Victor would care about. The two sides met by chance, and now it was time to go their separate ways.
Pickman took out a long item wrapped in burlap from the box and handed it to Victor's hand.
"What is this?" Victor asked him curiously.
Pickman said: "This is promised to you."
Victor opened it and saw a painting wrapped inside. The content of the painting was still weird, but the colors were simple and the painting techniques were more exquisite and careful than any other works.
Most of the painting is composed of twisting black flames and fuzzy smoke, with some faint golden light. A yellow shadow stands in the center of the painting, faintly visible, as if it is wearing a yellow
hood.
"What are you painting?" Victor asked him again.
Pickman shook his head: "I don't know."
"Is it those scenes you saw again?" Victor raised his eyebrows.
"No..." Pickman waved his hand, "This one is different. The other paintings are all based on what I saw. Only this one is my original work."
Victor was suddenly curious: "Your original work? But you don't know what you drew?"
"I really don't know, because it was also inspired by the strange scenes I could see. I sketched this inspiration in my mind and imagined such a mysterious figure." Pickman swallowed his saliva and continued.
Said, "And I already have a name in my mind. I call this painting - 'The King in Yellow', and I give it to you now, Mr. Watson."
Pickman touched the painting and couldn't put it down, which shows that this is indeed his favorite work.
Victor promised to free up the room for him to store his things, and he did so after the Deep One issue was resolved, for which Pickman was very grateful.
Not long after, an old convertible drove over and took Pickman and all his belongings away.
Victor glanced at the sun above his head, and Li Anlong in front of him suddenly said: "The person you are waiting for has not come yet."
After hearing this, Victor scratched his head in embarrassment. He had just gone to the service hall at the pier to send a telegram to the Sanfran Police Bureau branch, but until now, no one had come to pick him up.
The Northern Faith was still parked in the port, and there were still passengers lingering on the pier. At this time, a short man suddenly walked through the crowd, bumped a couple, and then there was a wallet in his hand.
This scene happened to be discovered by Victor.
He saw that the other person was wearing a peaked cap and overalls, which made him feel particularly familiar.
"Damn..."
After muttering something, Victor suddenly stood up, startling Rianlong.
"Just wait for me here and I'll buy an orange."
After telling a lie, Victor walked through the crowd and approached the boy who had just stolen someone's wallet.
The young man hid behind a newsstand, opened his wallet and counted the bills inside. But suddenly, he seemed to have a premonition that someone was staring at him, so he ran away immediately.
Victor frowned, raised his legs and chased after him, but before he could get very far, the figure of the little thief shook on the spot. A child eating suddenly appeared where he was, but the little thief disappeared.
.
The child looked around with his mouth full and was at a loss.
Victor stared, feeling incredible.
He had just recognized the thief. He was actually the thief who was trying his best to rescue his accomplices on the lifeboat, the one disguised as a man.
Later, the boat was capsized and Victor thought she was dead.
"Strange...why did she survive and still appear here?"
At this time, a group of people walked past him, and one of them, a bald man with a mustache, suddenly stopped, turned to look at Victor and said, "You are Minister William's assistant, Mr. Agent No. 99, right?"
…
Time goes back to the past, when Victor was still battling wits with the Deep Ones on the Northern Faith, Will Evans, who had been preparing for a long time, was finally about to complete his first big deal.
That night, Rockefeller's ocean-going trading fleet anchored outside the dock, and the Greycove was among them.
Under the cover of night, several fishing boats approached it covertly. After receiving the signal from the ship, they began to quickly unload the unregistered cargo from the cargo hold onto the fishing boat, and then quickly drove away.
A buyer was already waiting on the property of the Cambino family, men from the East-West General Railroad Company who had come to trade on behalf of Eurygus Grant.
"There are about 3,000 tons in total, and they are traded at 15 Faka per ton. Is there any problem?"
At the negotiation table, Will Evans listened to the other party's offer, feeling full of dissatisfaction.
"Twenty farka."
He replied with a price, but the other party did not agree. The reason was: "At this price, I can place an order directly with Rockefeller Company. Mr. Will, I know that Urugus recommended you, but you have to come up with the corresponding price."
Market competitiveness is what matters.”
According to the current supply and demand relationship, the selling price of steel in Secred fluctuates between 10 and 20 faraka.
The price of purchasing from Gray Bean, after currency conversion and various tax deductions, is roughly around 5-8 faraka. When it is more expensive, it will rise to more than ten faraka, but that is a small number of special periods.
To give you a rough estimate, if you sell for 15 faraka per ton, the profit will not exceed 10 faraka, which is probably about 5-7 faraka. After deducting some losses and various expenses in the process, it is estimated to be only 5 faraka.
A ton of profit.
The Grecov will free up 3,000 tons of cargo for them to smuggle, which is a profit of 15,000 faraka.
The profit that Will originally negotiated with Captain Is Benn was 73%, Issiben seven, Will three.
After this calculation, Will actually only earns 4,500 francs.
However, he still had to give Mike's gang a sum of money. If they split it half and half, he would only have about 2,300 faraka left.
He couldn't finish the 2,300 faraka, so he had to give half of the money to Victor, also in half. In other words, from such a shipment, Will could earn about 1,100-1,200 faraka.
A trip between the east and west continents would take two months, even if you directly cross the Sea of Tranquility.
Assuming the market doesn't fluctuate much, Will can earn between six and seven thousand francs a year.
After calculating this, Will was indeed able to join the upper class, but he felt that it was not enough. After all, he took more risks, while some people did nothing but took the biggest part.