Li Du looked at the black cloth used for blindfolding. He felt amused and helpless at the
same time. Isn"t the general too careful? Isn"t this a bit redundant?
Brother Wolf was not used to going blind. He shook his head at Li Du, indicating that Li
Du should not consent to this.
Li Du did not mind. He has the little bug, which was equivalent to a pair of see-through
eyes.
He mainly felt that this was unnecessary: "General, I understand your purpose and do
not want your mine"s information to leak out, but unless…"
At this point, he had a sudden realization and said, "What about your own workers?
What happens when they leave the mine?"
You can"t blindfold a worker every time he goes in or out of the mine, can you?
Even if all is covered up and the territory so vast, if a worker spreads the news of a local
diamond mine, someone could find it if they look thoroughly enough.
Unless the message does not go out.
"You don"t have to look at me like that. I said I"m not a brutal warlord. In my diamond
mine, workers are free to come and go. I pay them with food and money," said
Remonin. He looked at Li Du earnestly and went on, "Believe me, Mr. Li, I am doing this
to protect my property and my people."
Though he had just met Remonin, Li Du had a positive feeling about the warlord.
He felt that Remonin was more honest than the lion hunter, less like a despot and more
like the head of security at a great factory.
Therefore, he nodded and said, "Alright, I am willing to cooperate with you."
Despite saying this, he kept in mind that he had just met Remonin. He still had to be
careful, so he released the little bug.
Not only was he blindfolded, but the lion hunter was too. All except Remonin and his
guards were led into two jeeps.
Although Remonin was a warlord, he didn"t live in luxury. Most of his jeeps were rusted
and were most likely repaired vehicles left behind by Europeans and Americans.
Through the eyes of the little bug, Li Du saw that the car first pa.s.sed the surrounding
hills around and up. His rear b.u.mped against the seat with every jolt.
After a little while, the car headed straight southwest. Ten minutes later, there were
more hills around.
With the help of the little bug eyes, Li Du saw an old high stone pile that bore large
printed words in many languages: Mozambique - Cecil border!
Are we close to the border? As Li Du thought of this, the car stopped.
Remonin and the guards got out of the car. They pa.s.sed through the mountains and
into a small forest growing over them.
In a grove, there was a hole in the ground, supported by slabs of stone. The tunnel went
deep into the hills and they entered it.
Li Du suddenly realized that it was no wonder why Remonin wanted to blindfold them
and was confident that no one would find his mine.
The mine was in the hills, so it would not be easy to spot it from the outside.
However, the work included mining the ore and then crus.h.i.+ng it to reveal the diamonds
inside. How did the mines keep all this work hidden inside the hills?
The answer soon appeared to him.
The burrow in this hill was a natural cave rather than an excavation. The cave stretched
for hundreds of meters, tilted downward, and then a vast s.p.a.ce appeared.
As in karst landforms, there were tunnels and large hollow areas inside the hills. An
underground river was flowing slowly. Some guards stood on the bank with guns in their
hands, while miners rinsed the sieves in the river.
This was a good diamond mine!
There was abundant Kimberley ore underground, and the ore has been washed away
by the dark river over the years until it has become sand.
Naturally, water would eventually erode Kimberley ore, but not diamond, which was the
hardest substance in nature.
As time went by, the flowing water washed out the diamonds and deposited them the
sand layer of the dark river. As long as workers screened the sand, they would find
diamonds in it.
This was how diamonds were first discovered 4,000 years ago, along a riverbed in the
Golconda region of India, where the natural conditions were similar.
Many people thought of South Africa in a.s.sociation with diamonds, but actually, India
was the first diamond source in history. Before the 18th century, most of the world
diamonds were discovered in India.
The diamonds were cut naturally, and the rough diamonds were once considered
worthless because they were too hard to polish using old technology.
Besides soldiers carrying guns, there were also buckets, tables and a machine on the
sh.o.r.e. Li Du was about to identify the machine when a guard took off his blindfold.
The light in the cave was very bright, which was necessary to find diamonds in the
sand. Remonin had moved in a number of generators, that steadily rumbled as they
provided electricity.
Looking at the scene, Li Du feigned shock. He said, "G.o.d, is this real?"
"Yes, Mr. Li, what you see is real. Welcome to my diamond mine. I hope you enjoy your
visit."
Not long after their arrival, a boy who looked no older than twelve or thirteen raised his
hand excitedly and shouted something Li Du could not comprehend.
Remonin and the guards looked excited. They waved to the boy, who came up across
the dark river and laid a small gray stone on the table.
A woman came up, took the stone and went to the machine Li Du had seen earlier. He
now saw that it was a small X-ray machine.
X-rays could detect whether a diamond was real or not. A real diamond would not
appear on the negative when X-rayed. Therefore, some places use this intuitive method
to identify diamonds.
The woman nodded and began to speak in her native language. The boy sat at the
table happily and the guard brought him a plate of food.
The plate was full of bread, jam, b.u.t.ter, roast meat, fried meat, and other Western food.
It was simple fare, but the child was so excited that he devoured most of it in a few
minutes and put the rest into a broken leather bag which was filled to the brim.
"Don"t get me wrong, I didn"t skimp on their food, but it"s usually traditional food like
potatoes, onions, and tomatoes. To eat bread and roast meat, you must find diamonds,"
said Remonin.
Besides bread and roast meat, the boy also got something that looked like paper
money.
"That"s money and rewards. These are food stamps that I issue, and they can exchange
them for food at the camp," explained Remonin.
The lion hunter added, "As you can see, the geographical location of this place is close
to Cecil, and the locals use Cecil coins or Mozambican metical, both of which are very
problematic and have little inflation resistance, which makes the general"s food stamps
very popular in the area."