Looking at the huge pit, Li Du inhaled. This is different from what I imagined.
He had imagined, or rather concluded from what Musa had vaguely told him, that there
should be a deserted mountain near the river. The river would wash large amounts of
Kimberlite rock as it flowed down the mountain. There would be raw, unrefined
diamonds in the river and on its banks.
However, what lay before his eyes was a deserted diamond crater, one that had already
been reclaimed!
It was a reclaimed mine with a river surrounding it. The area had been dug and pitted.
The earth was piled up beside the pits, forming little mounds. Those were the marks of
mechanical work.
Also, not long after they arrived at the abandoned crater, someone crawled out from the
crater pit.
Obviously, there were many others besides Musa who knew that there were diamonds
in the area.
Two middle-aged black men crept out, their bodies smeared in soil. They were happily
chatting, but stopped once they noticed Li Du and his two companions, especially the
big-sized Godzilla.
The two of them observed Li Du and his gang cautiously, and walked off from another
side of the crater, keeping their hands on the cloth bags hanging from their waists.
Li Du let out the little bug to take a peek in the small cloth bags. There were diamonds
in both of them, one diamond in one sack and two in the other.
This discovery reversed Li Du’s feelings of disappointment. Judging by the loot of that
duo, there still seemed to be diamonds in the crater.
Why, then, did the previous owner abandon it?
He did not know, and nobody would give him the answer now.
Li Du walked to another hill, which overlooked the river, and saw more people.
Dozens of native men and women were busy in the river. Bending from their waists,
they were shaking nets in the water, washing off the sand. After removing the fine sand,
they looked for diamonds inside.
Li Du heaved a sigh and walked towards the river.
The people at the river spotted him and began straightening up, keeping their eyes on
him.
Li Du gave a smile and said, “Hi, good afternoon, everyone.”
Nobody replied, and everyone only kept looking at him warily.
Li Du asked, “May I ask, has this mining site been abandoned?”
The black people remained silent, staring at him coolly.
Seeing that, Li Du shrugged. It seemed impossible to get an answer out of these
people.
As the rest of Li Du’s group approached, the people at the river became even more
guarded.
Most of them stopped sieving out diamonds from the sand. Instead, they poured the
scoops of sand into their sacks and wheeled the heavy sacks away on their small
wheelbarrows.
Looking at the place, Li Du did not know how he could utilize the little bug’s ability. It
seemed that searching for diamonds here would not be much easier than at the
diamond garden.
It was already noon. No matter what, they were unable to leave now.
Li Du suggested they should set up their tents here temporarily, and after some
wandering, Brother Wolf and Big Ivan found a couple of houses.
Having ready houses would make things better, as they would not have to sleep in the
tents.
The houses were small and low, built of mud and stones. Most of them did not have
windows or doors.
Li Du was easily contented, however, and felt that having such houses in the wilderness
was good enough.
There were about twenty to thirty such mud huts. Perhaps they had been inhabited by
the miners. Although the crater had been abandoned, the place was not completely
deserted, and people who had formerly worked at the mine still occupied most of the
houses.
Two of the houses, however, were empty. Li Du entered one house for a look but came
out immediately with an expression of disgust.
He was not choosy, but those two houses were terribly poor. They were full of trash,
urine, and feces, with no clean spot to stand on. It would be better to live in the tents.
The four little ones peered into the windows and turned away scornfully. Ah Meow went
into the house and sniffed the feces on the ground with evident interest. Then it licked
its mouth, looking tempted.
Dragging him out by his ears, Sophie shook her head. “We have tents to live in. Let’s
just find a place to set them up.”
Big Ivan toyed with the army knife in his hands and said, “No need to, the other houses
here are pretty good. I can just turn the people out.”
Li Du shot him a warning look. “You better be good and behave yourself. There are
many people here. We are outsiders, so it’s better not to start a conflict.”
The natives living here in the wild were mostly from the lower class. They went
barefooted, unafraid of anything that walked or crawled. They definitely had more
courage than Li Du and his group. If there were a conflict, nobody could predict what
would happen.
Li Du was not afraid of facing open conflicts. He was only concerned that someone
might scheme and make hidden moves against them without them knowing.
There were plenty of dangerous plants in Africa, and many of them could easily be
refined to become poisons that killed without a trace.
In the end, although they had not wanted to invite trouble, it did not mean that they
could stay there peacefully and safely.
In the afternoon, Li Du got Godzilla and Big Quinn to put up the tents. He brought the
little ones and Sophie to browse around and check out the situation.
A few natives blocked Li Du and Sophie, and a big bare-chested man looked at Li Du
coldly and asked, “Hey, where are you guys from?”
Li Du smiled. “Hi there, buddy. We are from America. We…”
“You are not welcome here. Get lost,” the man demanded.
The other men folded their arms across their chests, flexing their biceps. They wanted
to push Li Du away to make him leave. Some even shooed them impatiently, “Go, go,
get lost, don’t stay here.”
Li Du dodged the shoves and shielded Sophie by pulling her behind him. He did not
want to start a conflict and did not strike. However, the four little ones were eager to
guard him. Seeing that Li Du and Sophie were bullied, they darted over.
Ali was most militant and jumped up to send a hard punch into the big guy’s belly.
Ah Ow threw itself against one of the youths, making him lose his balance and fall. Ah
Meow looked to Big Quinn for his lead, baring sharp teeth with an open mouth and
making threatening voices.
Crispy Noodles picked up a stone from the ground and walked over to Ah Meow’s side.
Then it banged the stone with a loud thud thud, timing it with Ah Meow’s warning calls.
“Dmn, D*mnit! Buick, help me! Chase this son of a b*tch away!” the youth who had
fallen down yelled in shock. Ah Ow had the aggression of a wolf once it entered
attacking mode.
The big hunk whom Ali had punched cried out as well. Angered, he chased after Ali,
wanting to kick it. Cunning Ali ran towards Little Flathead was and jumped hard over it.
Just like that, the big hunk ended up sending a kick at Little Flathead and making it roll
on the ground.
That was a battle trigger. Little Flathead sat up immediately and got to work.
It ran over to the big hunk and pounced on him. While the man was chasing after Ali
and paying no attention to anything else, it jumped onto his thigh, opened its mouth and
sunk its teeth in.
“Ahhh!” the big fellow yelled in pain.
