Chapter 71

Robert laid back on the seat and massaged his temples.

Carlos put the tray aside and took a look at the documents.

"The government is aggressively promoting the tourism andculture policy. If the Zabel family takes over the 33 acres of land, the government will help them develop tourism there."

Robert closed his eyes and took a deep breath."What is the official auction price?"

"The official price is 120 thousand dollars per acre, but thetransaction price should be about 300 thousand dollars." Carlos, who was experienced, gave Robert a reply without even the need to calculate.

"How much money can we use now?"

"About 105 million dollars."

"105 million dollars..." Robert suddenly opened his eyes and saidfirmly."We have to get our hands on this land no matter what. What's the status of our capital return?"

"The company can operate as usual."

Robert nodded with satisfaction when he heard Carlos's reply.

The Zabinski Group and the Zabel Group were competing witheach other. All the small and big companies in Yrinas were waiting to see which one would come out with the upper hand so that they could side with them. After all, market shares are gained through multiple channels.

At first, the Zabinski Group had the upper hand in both the

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auction and the banquet, but everyone knew that it was just a precursor to the real thing since the party with the most money would win a real war.

The Zabel Group wanted to buy the land in the name of tourism development, and if they successfully won the auction, it would mean that they had the backing of the government's policy to gain a foothold in Yrinas.

If that were to happen, the Zabel Group's resources, coupled with Yrinas's local government's policy, would be able to overpower the Zabinski Group.

Therefore, Robert couldn't let Kendrick win the auction!

The landscape of running a business was like a battlefield. There would be nothing left if Robert lost this round.

The next morning, all the major companies in Yrinas came to the auction site, and the official host extolled the advantages of the land up on the podium.

Kendrick sat in the front seat with a confident smile on his face.

"Kendrick, do you think Robert will be here today?" Matthew satbeside Kendrick and kept looking around for Robert.

"It doesn't matter if he comes or not since he'll be dead meatanyhow!"Kendrick sneered."Do you know how much money Zabel Group has? How much money can Robert cough up anyways? He has nothing!I'll win the auction if he doesn't come, and no one can stop Zabel Group from gaining a foothold in Yrinas. Will he fight over the land with me if he comes? If he doesn't, that means Zabinski Group is weak, and if does,I'll show him who's boss with my money! I'm willing to pay a price that's 30% higher than the market price. Can he match that?"

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Marilyn was sitting next to Matthew, and she heard every word that came out of Kendrick's mouth.

Last night, Marilyn got the news from her family that the Quesnell family invested 15 million dollars to help the Zabel Group get the land in Yrinas.

There was no way Zabinski Group could outbid Zabel Group, not with the influx of funds from the Quesnells. In fact, the auction today was like a trap for which Robert would surely fall should he come.

The auction was about to begin, and most of the seats were already taken. However, there was still no sight of Robert.

"Huh, there's no sight of Zabinski Group's people at all. Aren'tthey going to develop tourism as well? What's going on? Don't they have any money for the auction?" asked Kendrick.

Everyone present there knew of the conflict between Zabel Group and Zabinski Group, so they put down Kendrick's words as good-natured teasing. But even so, they understood that it would impact Zabinski Group negatively if none of them showed up.

In their eyes, it would come across as the Zabinski Group running away from war.

"Sounds like Zabinski Group was bluffing when they calledthemselves a leading enterprise in Yrinas. Why, they're nothing but a piece of trash when compared to Zabel Group,"stated Matthew immediately."Everyone knows how powerful the consortium backing Zabel Group is. It'll be easy as one, two, three to crush Zabinski Group."

"The consortium behind Zabel Group?" Matthew's wordsimmediately made everyone think.

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Kendrick threw Matthew a "well-done"look and thought,"He's not as stupid as I thought."

"Zabinski Group can afford anything the Zabel Group can buy."Robert strode in from the entrance and sat down in the first row.