Hong Dali used the lighting equipment and curiously shone on those giant old trees from afar, approaching it slowly.
Soon, he got nearer. When Hong Dali got closer and used the lights to shine beyond those weird old trees, the Bureau Chief was shocked. He stared at the computer screen and mumbled to himself. “Oh my god… The giant numbers here are… they are actually… wood fossils!”
Tang Muxin asked softly, “Wood fossils, what is that?”
Lin Chuyin explained. “Wood fossils are trees that have been buried underground for millions of years or earlier. The chemical substance around the trunk, such as silica, iron sulfide, calcium carbonate, etc., seep into the interior of the trees through the groundwater, replacing the original composition of the wood. The shape of the trees remains, but fossilization occurs due to the petrochemical effect. Due to the high content of silica, the fossilized trees are known as petrified wood. Also called jade trees.”
“That’s right. Such a forest of jade trees!” The Bureau Chief exclaimed. “How much would this be worth. My god…”
Hong Dali stood close and, under the illumination of the searchlights, the giant jade trees were glittery and translucent, brilliant and lustrous. They looked beautiful even without polishing.
Hong Dali exclaimed. “Wahahahaha! Such a big forest of jade. And they naturally formed in the shape of trees! It’s amazing!”
“Rascal!” The Bureau Chief thumped his chest and stomped his feet. “These are wood fossils! Also known as jade trees. They are worth a lot! Don’t touch them. If you break just a leaf, that will be hundreds of thousands!”
“Let me see.” Hong Dali went closer to take a look and broke off a few small leaves. He smiled. “Not bad, not bad. It’s beautiful indeed. I’ll bring some back for Dad to use as ashtrays.” The leaves that he broke off were in the shape of a small tray, quite suitable as ashtrays.
Damn! The Bureau Chief went berserk. “Rascal, do you know how much the leaves you just broke off cost!? Don’t touch them! Just a bit of treating and they could be worth billions! It’s not a small amount!”
Tang Muxin stared with her eyes wide open. “Uncle Chief, Dali just discovered a whole forest of wood fossils treasure? Won’t he be rewarded a large sum of money, then?”
“It’s more than just a large sum of money.” The Bureau Chief sighed and slowly pointed at the computer screen. “Look, these jade trees are delicate, smooth, and rich in color. Just like a gem tree. The jade trees mainly consist of opal, agate, and chalcedony. These three substances are composed of different ratios of silica and contain a certain amount of water. To be exact, these are gems + fossils + rare stones!” Speaking up to this point, the Bureau Chief asked, “Have you ever heard of stone gambling?”
Tang Muxin nodded. “Yes, I’ve gone with Dali to one once. This is better than stone gambling?”
“That’s nothing compared to this.” The Bureau Chief smiled. “Just any one of these jade trees, with just some treatment, could cost billions. Stone gambling cannot be compared to this at all.”
“Looks normal to me.” Hong Dali looked at the ashtrays on his hand, expressing his lack of interest. “It does look nice, lousy quality…” The entire forest of jade trees was nothing in his eyes. The jade trees were like treasure to the Bureau Chief. But to Hong Dali, the most they could do was add some strength and agility, with mediocre attributes…
They continued walking.
After passing through the jade tree forest, they continued walking some more. The terrain started to decline by about fifteen degrees. The Bureau Chief had just recovered from his shock. He looked at the surroundings where the searchlight shone and rubbed his chin. As he was pondering, Lin Chuyin suddenly said, “Oh, that seems like a crater.”
Crater?!
The Bureau Chief was startled. Indeed, the surroundings seemed more and more like a crater formed by a meteorite. No wonder the jade trees from before were all slanted towards one side like sunflowers. It was because of this crater! The plants looked weird. The meteorite…
As he wanted to call out to Hong Dali to ask him to watch his step, Hong Dali suddenly yelled, “Damn!”
His yell shocked everyone. The Bureau Chief rushed to him and called out. “Rascal, what happened? What did you discover? Safety first! Safety first!”
“Ah, it’s nothing. I just found something really good. Hahahaha!” Hong Dali laughed. “It’s a giant pangolin, and it’s alive! Hahaha, it’s so cute. And really huge too!”
Pangolin! Alive! Giant!
The Bureau Chief jumped in shock. “Please be careful. Don’t get hurt by its claws. Those scratches on the wall were probably done by him! Rascal, let me see how big this thing is!”
“Okay.” Hong Dali shone the searchlights and a few black boards appeared on the screen. The Bureau Chief and the others were puzzled. “This… what is this?”
“You can’t see it?” Hong Dali mumbled. “Oh, maybe I’m too near. Let me walk further away…”
The Bureau Chief and the others’ jaws dropped. “This… this…”
It was indeed a pangolin. Long and cute with a conical head, small eyes, and scales arranged like tiles on its entire back. With its long tail, it looked really cute. The problem was, though it looked cute, it was too big. The pangolin lied in front of Hong Dali. Hong Dali was about 1.75m, and his head barely reached the pangolin’s head.
The pangolin’s head! Bald head!
Hong Dali held on the light and walked around the pangolin. Everyone’s jaws fell to the ground.
The Bureau Chief exclaimed. “So… so huge… It should be at least six or seven meters long?! Such a huge pangolin?!”
A pangolin six to seven meters long, what concept was that?
In simple terms, it was about the length of the Soaring Angel that Hong Dali always rode in… But comparing the Soaring Angel and this pangolin, it was like comparing a kid and black bear…
“How did this thing get so big?!” The Bureau Chief was stunned. “Can it grow to this size?!”
It was clear that this giant pangolin was not the good thing that Hong Dali had found. What he was really excited about was the little plants growing at the pangolin’s feet.
The plants looked no taller than 20 centimeters. Purple leaves with small white fruits growing on top. Each fruit was about the size of a fingernail. It was not important what this was, the important thing was that it looked delicious.
Hong Dali grinned. “Uncle Chief, the pangolin says these beans are nice. Do you know what these are?”
“No…” The Bureau Chief shook his head and shouted, “Rascal, the important thing is the giant pangolin. Why are you so concerned about those beans?!”
“I’m hungry.” Hong Dali innocently said. “The pangolin says the beans are nice. I want to try a few…”
Hearing that, the Bureau Chief was worried. “It might be poisonous?”
“It smells nice…” Hong Dali squatted down and picked one. He took a small bite and laughed. “It’s really delicious, hahahaha! Bro pangolin, thank you, thank you. Eat more!” As he spoke, he picked a few more to feed the pangolin. “Thanks for your reminder, hehe!”
Heaven knew how long the pangolin had lived. It looked wise. It stuck out its nose to smell the beans on Hong Dali’s hands and carefully ate one. It refused to eat any more after.
“Hmm, this is delicious.” Hong Dali ate a few more. Satisfied, he said, “It suppresses my hunger…” He said to the Bureau Chief, “The beans here belong to me. No one is allowed to snatch it from me!”
“Yours, yours. All yours!” It was obvious the Bureau Chief didn’t mind it. Even though the beans were peculiar, they were not worth as much as the forest of jade trees.
Hong Dali asked, “Oh yes, Uncle Chief. Do you know what they are called? They’re really quite yummy.”
“I’m not an encyclopedia…” The Bureau Chief gloomily said, “I don’t know what it’s called. You can name it whatever you want since you found it.”
“Oh, let’s call it… Dali beans, then. Hehe. This is a good name!” Hong Dali knelt down, picked about 20 more beans, and put them in his pocket. He laughed. “This shall be my snack in the future. Hehe.”
The area with plants producing Dali beans measured almost 20 acres. That was the only plant in the entire crater. Satisfied, Hong Dali said, “This plot of land is mine. Haha. I will have a steady supply of snacks in the future. Hmm. We’ll find someone to watch them, nobody is allowed to snatch it from me!”
With an entire forest of jade trees behind him, Hong Dali was only interested in a bunch of plants providing him with new snacks—Dali beans. They continued walking. It was strange that after the pangolin ate the Dali beans, it lied down motionless and looked like it was sleeping.
The Bureau Chief said, “Do these Dali beans have hypnotizing effects? That’s weird.”
There was nothing but Dali beans on the crater. But Hong Dali didn’t expect the crater to be so big. After walking for three to four minutes, he finally reached the center of the crater.
Expectedly, right in the middle of the crater was a meteorite standing tall. There were Dali beans growing all around the meteorite, covering it up. Hong Dali stood below the meteorite and stared at it, looking upset. “I thought there would be something good here, but it’s just a broken piece of stone. Really disheartening…”
