Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
As Hans was giving Li Du an explanation about the toys, he also showed him the
information he found on the internet.
That information was from the autobiography of A.C. Gilbert, owner of Gilbert Toys. He
wrote in his autobiography:
“The educational toy I am most proud of is the Gilbert U-238 Atomic Energy Laboratory.
Its product development was supported by the government and greatly helped the
public understand the principles of atomic energy. It was very meaningful and
significant. We also received assistance from the country’s top nuclear physicists and
got counseling from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.”
“The Atomic Energy Laboratory models did not have any fakes or defective products. It
was the real deal made from genuine materials, all of which were safe. Although we had
included radioactive materials, none of them were proved to be harmful to the human
body. All of the accessories and equipment had been carefully calculated, designed and
manufactured.”
After hearing this explanation, Li Du smiled and said, “If he had used impure materials,
perhaps it would have ended better.”
Hans said, “I like it because it was the real stuff. When I was younger, I wanted to
create a nuclear reactor. It’s a pity I didn’t find uranium 235 at the time.”
Li Du replied, “That stopped you from being a physicist, right?”
Hans said regretfully, “Yeah, I asked my father for uranium 235 back then. In the end,
my father gave me dry mud. D*mn, how can mud generate electricity?”
Li Du laughed heartily and Hans was annoyed. “Who wasn’t stupid as a kid? Didn’t you
have such an experience?”
After thinking for a while, Li Du shook his head. “Not really. When I was younger, I also
had the idea to study science. As a result, I took apart a TV set and got beaten up half
to death.”
When he was a child, he had only tried to repair a home appliance once. He had
accidentally broken the patch cord at home. At that time, the patch panel was not
something common, and each household only had one.
Li Du recalled that he had been beaten up to the point of becoming half-paralyzed, just
because he took the TV apart. Hence, he tried to fix the wires inside the patch cord.
He thought that he had managed to repair the patch cord when he connected the
neutral and live wire. How would he have known the difference between neutral wire
and live wire then?
Then, when his father came home and plugged in the socket, the circuit heated up,
starting a small fire.
Now that he thought about the past, Li Du felt relieved that he had stayed alive to this
age.
When he was young, given the electrical circuit conditions of the county suburbs, the
fact that the connected live and neutral wire had not exploded was a very lucky thing.
Having heard the story, Hans looked down on him. “It’s just fixing a simple circuit. Can’t
you even do such a simple thing? When I was younger, my dream was to invent a new
beverage, iced nuclear Coke…”
Li Du gave him a thumbs-up. “You’re insolent!”
“I had also wanted to design a small nuclear reactor that I could fit into my kid
motorcycle. It would give the bike more power and maybe enable it to fly…”
“It is an impressive feat that you are still here today,” Li Du said.
But then again, if that toy were marketed in China, perhaps China’s atomic bomb could
have been developed a couple of years earlier.
In 1950, many Chinese children didn't even know what electricity was. Yet the American
children were actually playing with nuclear energy. Honestly speaking, the gap was
really huge.
The gap between China and the United States had begun to widen in the twentieth
century. It continued to widen by the year. Since then, China had been playing catch up
and has achieved significant results. With regards to toys, today there was no difference
between the toys that American and Chinese children played with.
That Gilbert U-238 Atomic Energy Laboratory set was sold for fifty US dollars more than
60 years ago. Today, its value had multiplied a few hundred-fold. Hans said, “I just
checked on the web. There are now people looking for this set. On E-bay, the highest
offer is forty thousand dollars!”
Li Du replied, “The value had multiplied by eight hundred?”
Hans nodded, gloating. “That’s right, and I feel that the offer is a little low. Fifty US
dollars then is equivalent to ten thousand US dollars today. In the 50s, the salary of the
workers was at most twenty dollars.”
“In those days, there were such toys available for fifty dollars in the market. Where can
you find this in today’s market? Hence, its price should be much higher.”
In total, they had in possession eleven sets of the Gilbert U-238 Atomic Energy
Laboratory toys. Some of the tools inside had been damaged, like the shed battery.
However, the battery could be replaced.
Li Du left Hans to deal with those items, while Brother Wolf returned to look for him. Li
Du said, “I have other matters to attend to. You are responsible for packing up the
warehouse. Better deal with those toys quickly, and you must not bring them home.”
Those toys were all radioactive, and Li Du did not want them to come into contact with
Sophie and their pets.
Li Du and Brother Wolf left Blackstone Town for a hotel at a neighboring area. Brother
Wolf said, “The Tucson gang are staying here. How should we deal with them?”
Li Du stopped to consider this for a bit and then said, “Let’s not rush into it. Let me
check it out before deciding.”
Li Du let out the little bug to enter the hotel and do a search inside. It located Princeps,
who was taking a bath.
Princeps was enjoying a soak in the bathtub, with a towel covering his face as he
hummed to a song.
Li Du laughed and continued to search. Then, in a backpack, he found the silver coins
that Princeps had taken from him.
Seeing those silver coins, he let the little bug absorb their time capability.
Since Princeps had cheated him, he deserved this. Back when Princeps had damaged
the Taser gun, Li Du had already had that idea.
First, he gave the silver coins to Princeps, but then he would let the little bug absorb the
coins’ time capability.
Those silver coins were already very old and worn out. Although silver was a stable
compound and would not rust or rot, its chemical structure was still relatively active and
would easily react with the oxygen in the air.
Having lost their time capability, the coins began to oxidize quickly. The images on both
sides of the coin lost their shine and started to blur into small black silver surfaces.
Their appearance was what gave silver coins their value. Once it became difficult to
identify, the coin would lose its value and could only be sold off as scrap silver.
Regular scraps of silver were not valuable. A piece of silver weighing twenty grams was
worth only slightly more than ten US dollars.
After tainting the silver coins, Li Du waited for some time. He imagined how Princeps
would react when he realized that these silver coins would fetch no more than a
hundred dollars.
In the end, Princeps did not check on the coins. After the bath, he lolled on the bed,
watching TV. Then he picked up the phone and a while later, a coquettish girl entered
the room.
Seeing that scene, Li Du was elated. It was a pleasant surprise for him. Princeps had
actually engaged a prostitute!
In America, prostitution was illegal. It was only legalized in Nevada, Las Vegas. In other
areas, policemen loved to catch people at sex crimes. The law allowed them to engage
in phishing to arrest people for such crimes.
Li Du hurried to call up Luo Qun to get her there quickly to claim credit.
