Chapter 581: How Did This Happen?
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
As the solution that Christopher and the rest had offered was evidently made after careful consideration, they had accurately addressed the needs of the hunters.
Just like what someone said: as long as they could find one or two boulder opals on this plot of land, then they would almost immediately earn back their investment.
In addition, according to the distribution of gem mines, this piece of land should be filled with boulder opals.
Immediately, someone was swayed. He went forward and said, "Buddy, I choose this piece—the one in the center. But 20,000 dollars is too steep. Bring the price down, since we"re old friends."
Christopher rejected him. "Don"t you even think about it, Rob. You know, if not out of pity for you guys, I wouldn"t even sell it for 20,000 dollars. So don"t try to negotiate with me, okay?"
"Hey guys, I found another piece!" A black teenager picked up a piece of opal which had been concealed amongst the rocks—it dazzled with its s.h.i.+ne.
Campbell punched his fist in the air excitedly, "Yes!"
At this time, Li Du, who had released the little bug to search the ground, made a fruitful find. He quickly went up and said, "Mr. Christopher, I will rent a piece. No negotiation of price."
Seeing that he was the first to offer, the black man was a little surprised. Since his motive was to earn money, it was fine by him as long as Li Du was willing to pay.
"Which spot are you buying?" Christopher asked.
Hesitation came over Li Du"s face. He pointed at the vast land and said, "This piece. Oh no, that piece. Forget it, this piece here then."
Looking at his greedy face as though he wanted to get his hands on all of it, Christopher laughed and said, "I know you made big bucks from here. Actually, you should buy the whole piece of land, so that you could continue to earn big bucks."
"Or maybe you should also buy these two pieces of land that you were eying," one of the hunters encouraged him.
Li Du showed him a puzzled expression, and said, "Who said I earned big bucks from here? I spoke to Mr. Owen to gain knowledge on opals."
It so happened that Owen had just wrapped the 20,000 dollars in a red packet. He took out the two thick wads of US dollars and handed them to Christopher.
Someone said enviously, "D*mn, this jerk is loaded."
"The Chinese just like to carry cash with them. No wonder they"re always the target of robbers."
"Then they have gotta be rich to carry 20,000 dollars around. You must first have that 20,000 dollars!"
Looking at the glossy wads of cash, Christopher"s eyes were gleaning too. He said excitedly, "No worries, friends. If you didn"t bring any cash, then an online transaction is fine too. I can accept online bank transfers!"
Li Du gave him the money, and so the piece of land in the center belonged to him.
With Li Du as an example, the rest of the gem hunters were swayed. As 20,000 dollars was not a small amount, they did not make any payment but continued watching.
They wanted to see if Christopher and company could still dig up boulder opals, or if Li Du could dig up any.
However, there were people who were getting ready to transact, it was just that they did not have 20,000 dollars and were pooling money to buy a piece of the land.
Li Du whistled; G.o.dzilla and Big Quinn took out the tools and began working. The three of them swiftly uncovered the rocks in search of the boulder opals.
At places where no one would take notice of, Sophie would make a call, just as Li Du had previously instructed.
Christopher and the rest had planned this scam very meticulously. They had buried quite a few fake opals in the ground. Li Du had wanted to find these things with the little bug"s help.
He had confirmed the spots of the fake opals before he had bought the land. Hence, it did not take him much effort to find a piece after lifting a rock.
Holding this piece of opal, he cheered, "Hey buddies, found it. I found this!"
The crowd of hunters glared at him with jealousy. They cried out, "This jerk is lucky!""He found a gemstone again!""He"s gonna be rich!"
They were now also even more won-over, and so they stopped watching, took out their mobile phones and prepared to conduct the transaction.
"Hey, Christopher, give me this piece. I"ll buy this piece."
"I"m eying this piece. This is mine, sell it to me!"
"We"ll buy this piece . . . "
Christopher was busy accepting the transfers, and he couldn"t stop beaming with delight.
Beside the hunters who had been won-over, some others continued to watch Li Du.
To them, the boulder opal that Li Du was holding was s.h.i.+ny. What they couldn"t see was a little black bug lying on top of the stone absorbing its time energy.
Li Du continued to wave the boulder opal in his hand, as though he were celebrating in excitement.
One of the hunters was irritated and grumbled, "G.o.d please make that the gem in his hand fall apart."
Opals were neither known for being hard nor brittle—it was a delicate gem. Its value was solely dependent on its bright colors. If it fell to the ground, it could break easily.
G.o.d must have heard him—the boulder opal in Li Du"s hands did not get flung out but as he waved his hand, the opal inside the boulder flew out instead!
The opal flew out and fell onto a piece of granite. With a crisp smack sound, the opal instantly broken into a few pieces!
At this scene, those who had been focusing on Li Du gloated at his misfortune and laughed gleefully. Then a few seconds later, as though someone had pressed the stop b.u.t.ton, they suddenly all stopped laughing—a look of surprise came across their faces.
Not far away, the people who were crowded around Christopher and trying to transact with him did not see what happened. They noticed the mood had become strange and asked, "What happened?"
A hunter said feebly, "The opal in that Chinaman"s hands flew out and shattered."
The rest of the hunters laughed out loud. Someone said, "That"s a shame. It still shattered even though it was wrapped. How unlucky."
The broken opal pieces were still stunning, but their value would be slashed. There was a type of opal that was made by piecing broken opals together.
That hunter said, "No, no boulder. It"s … it"s the opal dropping out from inside the boulder!"
"Impossible!" someone instantly countered.
Yes, it was impossible under normal circ.u.mstances. After millions of years of binding, the layers of stone and opal had already been integrated into one. Thus, it was impossible to extract the opal out, causing its value to be lower than that of pure broken opals.
However, this would be possible for counterfeits, because they had used glue to bind the opal with the layers of stones.
Li Du was having little bug absorb the time energy and damage the glue so it was no longer sticky.
The shattered fake opals on the ground still emitted dazzling brilliance. He looked at the rock in his hand in bewilderment and asked, "How did this happen?
Brendan and Alicia went up to console him. "It was possible that your gem and the boulder had not been tightly bound together—"
Li Du interrupted them and said, "You"re right—they"re not tightly bound. It looks like glue was used to bond them together. You guys, look!"
In the boulder was a layer of marks left behind by solidified glue, like a layer of plastic.
At this sight, Brendan and Alicia were perplexed. Brendan posed the same question as Li Du: "How did this happen?