Chapter 505: The Golden City
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Tucson was the second biggest city in Arizona and was located in the Sonoran Desert. There were many sand dunes and cactuses all around.
The last time Li Du had come here was to sell the old pictures to the history professor of Arizona University.
It had been spring during his last visit and now it was fall. The scenery was different during different seasons.
Tucson looked bright and golden now. The beautiful color was very amazing.
Driving from the east side of Exit 258 of the I-10 Intercontinental Highway, they reached Tucson city in the evening. The sunset was beautiful in Southwest America—even better than Phoenix. Although the golden sand dunes looked beautiful, it was difficult to tolerate the heat once they got out of the truck.
Hans gave Big Quinn instructions. "Go northeast, man. Another mile and we"ll reach the Arizona University campus. Let"s have our dinner and we"ll stay near there tonight."
Big Quinn looked at Li Du. "Boss, do you want to see the storage units tonight?"
Li Du yawned and said, "No, I"m exhausted. Let"s have a good rest tonight. We"ll talk about the storage units tomorrow. We have plenty of time."
They drove the truck to Fourth Avenue. This was the main street near the campus. There were many restaurants, bars and interesting shops.
The university students walked in pairs and groups. Li Du stared at them from inside the truck; he felt young and lively.
"I"m envious of these young people."
Hans looked at him. "Hey, are you trying to insult me? You say that as if you aren"t a young man."
Li Du was stunned. "Oh yes, I"m a university student too. D*mn, I forgot."
They first needed to find somewhere to stay tonight. Hans asked, "Do you still want to stay in a tent? We can have dinner here and go to the scenic cactus loop later. It"s eight miles long and open to all vehicles. There are plenty of picnic areas, lookout points and campsites."
Li Du waved his hand dismissively, "Let"s call it a day. We"ll find somewhere to stay and rest. Look, my three kids are exhausted."
Ah Ow, Ah Meow and Crispy Noodles lied quietly. The truck was too small for them to move around in.
If an animal didn"t move around and stayed in an enclosed environment for a long time, they became tired. This kind of mental fatigue was more torturous than physical fatigue.
The price range for accommodations in Tucson was very large. During the summer and fall, hotel prices there were cheaper because no one would come to Tucson due to the heat.
Hans contacted a modern hotel near the desert. They could stay under the stars and next to the cactuses. The hotel served free coffee and waffles in the morning and there was a big screen for them to watch movies.
There was a sandy plaza in front of the hotel. The guests were allowed to have barbeques there. There was also a big open kitchen in the hotel. Once they paid the money, they could use the kitchen and cook their own meals.
Therefore, Li Du decided to cook his dinner. He had become used to western food, but he sometimes didn"t like western food in different places.
G.o.dzilla and Big Quinn got out of the truck to buy the supplies to make Absolute hot dog s. Li Du tried had tried one during his last visit to Tucson. There was bacon, salsa, pinto beans, shredded cheese, mayonnaise, mustard and onions on these hot dogs.
The hot dogs needed to be grilled. So they borrowed some grills from the hotel and the two big men started to happily barbeque their food.
The plaza in front of the hotel was open to the public. Since the environment around the hotel was nice, many people had come to have a barbeque that evening.
When Li Du and the others reached the plaza, there were many people there already. They used limewater to draw lines, indicating different territories with different sizes.
He became curious. "What happened? Why did they draw these lines?"
Hans explained, "People in Tucson are very tough. It"s near Mexico and there were many conflicts in the past. They couldn"t rely on the police or army, so they had to be tough to protect themselves. Therefore, being brave and tough is in their culture."
He didn"t have to say more as Li Du understood. "And this is now reflected in their daily life. They might have to fight for territory, so they drew the lines to mark their territories?"
Hans snapped his fingers. "You are right. Did you know that someone could lose their life during a storage auction?"
"Huh?"
"Compet.i.tions are cruel, brother," Hans said lazily. "People from the central region like us, we like to quarrel. But they don"t quarrel here—they fight."
Li Du said, "Then we must be extra careful."
Lu Guan said defiantly, "There"s no need to be afraid. People in Tucson bully those who are weaker. You can"t show your fear—you must be tougher than them!"
Hans nodded. "You"re right, you"ve been here before?"
Lu Guan said, "Yes, my good buddy got himself into trouble here. There were 20 men and he was alone. But during the fight, instead of acting afraid, he was fierce and tough!"
Li Du said with respect, "He is a tough man indeed. Did he scare them away?"
"No. He became handicapped after being beaten."
Li Du was speechless; he glanced at him and said, "Are you kidding me?"
"Of course not," Lu Guan said. "Although he was beaten up, he was handicapped like a tough man. He is a tough and handicapped man."
"F*ck you!" Li Du gave him the finger.
They didn"t have to be afraid. They had G.o.dzilla and Big Quinn, and Li Du had an ocelot and racc.o.o.n with him as well. He looked like a gang leader.
Nowadays, gang leaders didn"t only bring fighters to conflicts. They brought wild animals as well. An ocelot could be considered a wild animal.
Once they reached the plaza, they found themselves in a wide place. There was a water pipe nearby, so it was very convenient.
G.o.dzilla and Big Quinn started to barbeque the hot dogs. Li Du grabbed a drink and rested. He asked G.o.dzilla to boil a pot of water so that he could cook some noodles.
During the sunset, the crowd grew bigger in the plaza.
There was no one near them. G.o.dzilla and Big Quinn had been busy the entire evening. The weather was hot and so was the grill. They took their s.h.i.+rts off and looked very fierce.
Hans laughed when he saw this. "This will be an easy auction. I bet no one will dare challenge us."
Li Du looked at his proud face and warned him, "Don"t challenge them either. Harmony brings prosperity. We are here to make money, not to get ourselves into trouble."
As the night approached, a few camo-painted SUVs drove toward them. Once the cars stopped, a bunch of huge men got out. They carried kegs and grills as they walked toward Li Du and the others.
As the big men approached them, they put their things on the empty ground. A black man looked at them coldly. "Who said you could come here?"
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Chapter 506: The Unfriendly Locals
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Li Du looked at the soldiers and suddenly realized: It wasn"t because of G.o.dzilla and Big Quinn that the others stayed away. It was because they knew this was the Air Force"s territory!
Tucson was one of the US military bases, and Davis-Monthan Air Force Base was located here too. It was probably due to the development of the manufacturing industry. People knew that Houston was the "s.p.a.ce City," and Tucson was known as the "Astronomy Capital of the World."
There were many businesses manufacturing astronomy machines, and they were very close with certain high-tech industries making missiles, parts of aircraft, calculators, electronic equipment, optical instruments and so on.
In the 1950s, Hughes Aircraft Company set up a branch for managing missile systems and it was the largest factory for manufacturing missiles in 1957.
They produced various types of missiles; for example, the BGM-71 TOW, AIM-54 Phoenix, AGM-65 Maverick, Roland anti-aircraft missile, and of course the latest version of the lightweight infrared homing air-to-air missile, the F-16 and F-18.
Therefore, it was not a surprise that Air Force soldiers were here.
Listening to what the soldiers were severely saying, Li Du was scared due to their tone. He thought, Are we gonna get beaten up by these military men?
Li Du was confident that with G.o.dzilla, Big Quinn and his fighting skills, they would win. But not this time—he was afraid of these soldiers with highly-skilled training.
Hans was in a totally different mood; he asked the soldiers carelessly, "What? The hotel we"re staying at said that we can use this area. Don"t tell me it belongs to the Air Force."
The black military officer nodded. "That"s right, can you share some grills with us? We have many people and not enough grills."
"What? That"s it?" Li Du asked in shock.
The black military officer nodded again with a serious expression on his face.
Li Du and his group had borrowed grills from the hotel. They had only needed to show their room key. Since they had brought extra, Li Du gave one of the grills to the soldiers.
The soldiers repaid them with two cans of beer.
Li Du felt relieved; apparently the US military wasn"t as scary as what the media had described.
Hans looked sideways at him and asked, "What were you afraid of?"
"I was afraid of getting beaten up by the soldiers," Li Du answered.
"Bullsh*t," Hans said; he didn"t appear to be bothered much. "There are so many people here that if a fight broke out the media could sneak in. As long as we don"t cause trouble, they won"t do anything to us—even if their base were behind them."
"I don"t think your att.i.tude towards them is very good," Li Du said. "We should be nice to them."
"Why? Why should we treat them differently?"
"These people protect us and the country. Without them, how could we even be here?"
"But I gave them protection money," Hans argued. "I paid taxes on time, so I paid their salary on time too. What"s the problem? I did my job, and they should too."
Li Du was stunned for a while and said, "Anyway, you were not nice to them."
Hans waved his hand dismissively. "Alright, you thought the soldiers were all patriotic like in the movies, right? That"s not true. Some of them are here because of the salary and self-interest. They might not necessarily love to protect the country."
Big Quinn nodded his head in agreement, and so did G.o.dzilla. Li Du stopped arguing with him and realized that different cultural backgrounds will result in different opinions. That was fair enough.
Anyhow, these soldiers didn"t bother Li Du and the group. They barbequed in their own territory.
Li Du wanted to find something out from the army, but was afraid that they might open fire at him if they were in the middle of discussing military secrets.
Fortunately, he had a new man: Lu Guan. He waved at him and asked him to do the job.
These soldiers were apparently talking about former president Bush and current president Obama. After hearing what Lu Guan had said, Li Du was shocked because it seemed like they weren"t happy about the current leader. He thought, Are they gonna start a secret rebellion?
They definitely wouldn"t. It was normal for Americans to curse their president, even for the armies and the Defense Minister. But one thing was for sure: they couldn"t even comment on the person leading the military district.
The next day, they finally drove to their destination, the Red Mount Storage Company.
This storage company was a large area located on the outskirts of Tucson. Along with the transformation of the urban areas, people living around the storage company had moved out one by one. Without the source of customers, the storage company was out of business.
A property developer had taken a liking to the property. The storage company saw the opportunity to gain profit, so they filed for bankruptcy, disposed of all the storage units and sold their property for money.
Li Du stopped the car and went into the storage company with Hans.
A few steps before they entered the building, someone blocked their way. Hans held out the cigarettes he"d brought but the person didn"t accept them.
Hans was puzzled by his reaction and said, "Do these guys think that they are guarding the military base? When did they become so responsible?"
Normally, guards at low-paying storage company positions would take any money offered.
"Next time, don"t buy stuff for them, give them some shopping vouchers. It"s more practical," Li Du said.
"Franklin would be more practical," said Hans. He took out some cash and offered it to the guard. "Bro, here"s 200 dollars, take it and go somewhere else for a minute. This is all yours man—200 dollars in cash."
The guard looked at him cautiously and asked, "What do you guys want to do?"
"Don"t worry," Hans said, "we"re storage treasure hunters. We would like to get familiar with this place before the auction tomorrow."
"If you"re worried, you can come with us," Li Du said.
The guard stared at the money in Hans"s hand; he licked his lips and said, "Alright, how "bout you go in, but not this Chinese dude."
"Why?" Li Du asked curiously.
The guard shrugged and said, "I can"t tell you that. That"s the only way to be familiar with this place."
Hans thought about this and narrowed his eyes at the guard. "I see. So someone has told you that if a Chinese man wants to enter the company, you need to stop him, right?"
The guard glanced at the cash in Hans"s hand. Hans immediately gave him some of it.
"Yeah," the guard blurted out after receiving the money. "That"s right. Bro, I can"t decide on this, it was ordered by our leader. I can"t turn against him, I don"t wanna lose this job."
Hans turned to Li Du. "Alright, someone"s targeting us. Probably the locals who knew that we would come for the auction and want to stop us from entering the storage company."
Li Du laughed, "Is that so? Looks like this city is rather unfriendly. We haven"t even met these people and they are already trying to make things difficult for us."
The treasure hunters were smart enough to realize that Li Du would always get something profitable from an auction. They had studied his treasure hunting pattern and discovered something unusual.