Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Li Du was over the moon when it became apparent that what he stumbled upon was indeed a jade mine. Though he had expected this and knew that there was no way Tang Chaoyang would have given him inaccurate information, the moment of truth was still an exhilarating one.
Every jade mining area had a potential profit margin worth hundreds of billions. The Hpakant area had been reclaimed for hundreds of years and now, every area stood to earn tens of billions annually. It was truly a staggering amount of money.
The jade mine of Dena Mountain could not hold a candle to Hpakant in terms of vein quality and scale, but its value lay in the fact that no one had mined here before. Everything was essentially untouched so, naturally, there would be value in that!
That said, discovering the mine was the easy part — the real difficulty was the actual extraction. Even if Li Du could come up with the shortest and most efficient excavation path, the actual excavation was still a herculean effort in and of itself. The jade was hidden beneath granite that was virtually indestructible so it would take a lot of energy and effort to extract. The good news was that someone had already dug a hole, so they did not have as much work to do.
Li Du waited for two days as the people from the casino packed up their stuff and left as they had promised to. The mine was now unoccupied and he was free to take over it, even though he was still not completely at liberty to do as he pleased.
First, according to Myanmar laws, he had no right as a foreigner to contract the mining of jade. There were no loopholes to this: Myanmar was a country with no resources and its GDP was heavily reliant on jade ore, which explained why they were so protective of jade as a resource.
Secondly, the people of Wooku Town would not be pleased with seeing Li Du mine at Dena Mountain. The people had been so cautious with hiding what they knew about the jade in the mountain so there was absolutely no way they would let anybody go near that area.
Li Du had been careful to keep a low profile after he arrived in town. Originally, he had had no reason to shell out money to buy the mine from Du Enhai. The man was just an insignificant hooligan from a small town, so even if it had come down to violence, there was no doubt that Li Du would have been able to chase his gang out of the area. However, this would have caused a lot of unnecessary trouble for him so he chose to pay the man off instead. It was a win-win solution that had the added benefit of minimizing the influence Li Du would gain from occupying the mine.
After Du Enhai left, Li Du gathered a large amount of supplies with the help of the mayor and brought a bunch of people with him to stay on the mountain. The mine was situated at a location that concealed it somewhat. It sat halfway up the mountain and was surrounded by a lush forest. Right now, it was autumn, and the forest was a dense canopy of leaves and branches. Occasionally, the stray red or yellow leaf would float down, which served to conceal their traces.
At the mine, he found a hole and used a hammer to widen it. He then brought an engineer recommended by Zhong Dapao to inspect the reinforcement of the tunnel. Li Du did not have the faintest idea who dug the hole but it was obvious that whoever did it had full confidence that there would be a jade mine hidden beneath the ground. The hole was spacious and amply reinforced. Even though a decade had passed, the reinforcements were still very much robust.
There were no issues with regard to the safety of the mining hole, so Li Du arranged for Brother Wolf to bring a few men along with him to test it out. They entered from the top and all the way down to the bottom of the hole, completely unscathed through the entire experience.
Brother Wolf then set about retrieving all the tools from the hole. It was rather dry inside so the tools were not rotten or rusted. This was further proof that there was a mine here: the process of jade formation did not require water or moisture so the surrounding land was also dry.
A whole range of equipment was retrieved from the hole: pickaxes, shovels, a variety of hammers, hydraulic hammers, and hydraulic shears. The bulk of them was usable but the arm of the remodeled excavator was not in working condition.
Brother Wolf waited as the men fiddled with the arm to try to find the root of the issue but to no avail. Driver came over as well, since he knew his way around machinery; it was actually quite similar to cars. He was an expert when it came to repairing cars so naturally, he would be good at repairing the mechanical arm, too.
After inspecting the arm, he said, “The circuitry is old and some parts have short-circuited. Also, the car relies on battery ignition and diesel to start, but the battery is as good as trash now and the oil in the diesel engine has dried up, which affects the operation of the machine.”
“Can it be fixed?” Li Du was most concerned about this.
Driver smiled. “Rest assured and just leave this to me.”
Brother Wolf looked at the broad mining path and said, “Boss, don’t you think something’s not right? It looks like something happened on this path before which forced an emergency evacuation. It looks like they didn’t even have time to take the tools with them.”
Li Du felt the same. He used the little bugs to turn back time, hoping to see what transpired before on this path. The little bugs worked on the mechanical arm, peering at its history from the moment it was built until it was eventually sent to the mountain to excavate. Li Du could not see what exactly happened, but he did see people operating the machinery and then some people shouting from below. The operator was shocked and the blood drained from his face as he turned to run, but Li Du did not manage to discover what it was that sent him running.
What he did see in one of the scenes was several large-headed ants surfacing from the mining hole. These ants looked rather strange: they were mostly black but had several red rings on their abdomens.
He might have been able to deduce what had happened if he could only hear what they were saying, but unfortunately, the little bugs’ vision did not allow him to hear voices. He could not lip-read either so, for the time being, there was no way for him to find out the reason why they were running.
So all he could do was shake his head and caution his men, “Be careful, all of you. Since what we’re doing here is illegal anyway, let’s just dig carefully. The moment there’s trouble, we run.”
Driver handed a list over to Li Du. It consisted of a full list of tools he needed to repair the mechanical arm. As soon as Li Du took the list, Vampire’s voice sounded from the walkie-talkie, “Boss, the mayor is coming up the hill towards us.”
He had arranged for the bodyguards to keep a lookout. Though not many people climbed the mountain, it was still good to be prepared. Vampire’s warning shocked Li Du. What was Maung Kyaw Zin doing here? Just as well, Li Du needed his help to get some items.
He left the mine and headed towards the small forest. Shortly after, he saw Maung Kyaw Zin’s silhouette cutting through the forest and waving to him. “Hello, Boss Li.”
Li Du smiled. “Hello, mayor. What brings you here?”
Maung Kyaw Zin responded, “Well, I’m the mayor, and this mountain is technically our area, so I come up here from time to time. Besides, I’m also a forest ranger! Are you shocked to find out about this?”
Li Du was indeed shocked. “You’re a forest ranger on top of all of that? Tough job, that is. You really have my respect holding several jobs at once like this.”
Maung Kyaw Zin shrugged. “It’s not like I have a choice, actually. The town is just too small and the higher-ups don’t help us much so everyone is holding multiple posts at once. I’m actually not doing a lot. But why are you guys here on the mountain?”
Li Du smiled, “I’m here to look for something. Speaking of which, I need your help.”
He had planned to hand the list of tools over to the mayor but the mayor sighed. “Boss Li, you’re still going on about the jade mine? You really think there’s a jade mine here?”
Li Du knew how resistant the mayor was when it came to this issue so he simply said, “I know where you’re coming from, mayor, and that you believe your town will be ruined if we discover the jade here. I’m not here to wreck anything. I know exactly what I’m going after, so please believe me when I saw that I won’t harm Wooku Town.”
