It was hard work to look for things on the endless ice sheet. Not only did it cause physical fatigue, but it was also extremely mentally exhausting.
Therefore, the group had a long lunch break. Everyone could drink, eat, play cards, chat, and have some entertainment to relax.
Li Du quickly won the favor of the hunters, not only because he had saved many people from drowning, not only because he could hold his liquor, but also because of his temperament and character.
The meteorite hunters were essentially the same as the treasure hunters. They were all rough people. The Ford brothers and Steve were born with a silver spoon in their mouths and mannerisms. They had received a noble education and were always showing the aura of advanced education.
This was not in line with the nature of the hunters. The two sides believed that it was an employer-employee relationship, which of course they were, so the hunters would not open up to them.
It was different with Li Du. After all, Li Du was a treasure hunter and was good at dealing with these people.
The two of them quickly became familiar with each other. They ate the fragrant roast chicken and drank the warm liquor while chatting.
The hunters were not as educated as them, but these people were at the bottom of society, always dealing with people, and they were all sophisticated.
They saw that Li Du was deliberately trying to be friendly, and one of them asked, "Li, you seem interested in us? Don't deny it, I feel you are trying to cater to us. "
Li Du did not hide it. He smiled generously and said, "Yes, I heard you were in Siberia? I have to go there in a while, so I want to know, do you know anything about Siberia? "
Hearing this, the group of hunters roared with laughter.
Hankway said, "Do you know anything about Siberia? Guys, tell him who we are! "
"Nenets, we are Nenets, Li. Do you think we know anything about Siberia?" The men laughed loudly.
The young man who had mocked Li Du earlier was called Hudi. After Li Du intimidated them, he was eager to ease his relationship with Li Du, so he took the initiative to ask, "What do you want to know about Siberia? We Nenets can tell you the answer. "
In the morning, Li Du and Hankway had introduced themselves, and he had heard them talk about their hometown.
However, Hankway's English was not very good and his accent was very vague, so Li Du did not quite catch what he was talking about. Now that he heard people talking, he knew who they were.
The Nenets, the natives of Siberia.
After deciding to go to Siberia, he began to learn about the vast and cold area, including the Nenets.
Nenets was a language, and it meant "human," so it was a bit irregular to call them Nenets people internationally.
But because few people understood the Nenets language, and the Nenets people had never played an important role in the history of human development, not many people cared about their opinions, so they had been using this name internationally.
In the early years, the Nenets, who called themselves the Samody, explored history and traced their ancestry back to the Dingling, one of the ancient northern ethnic groups in China.
During the Han Dynasty in China, the Dingling people were nomadic in the Sayan Mountains. Because of the chaos of war, a group of Dingling people migrated north along the Yenisei River and reached the coast of the Arctic Ocean. Some of them crossed the Ural Mountains.
Later, these people absorbed the language and cultural elements of some of the local inhabitants and gradually formed a new ethnic group, the Samody, now known as the Nenets.
In terms of race, the Nenets, like the people of China, were all yellow, just like the appearance of Hankway and the others.
It was just that over the years, they had drifted away from the yellow race and lived more with the white race. Especially in the late 16th and early 17th centuries, when the area where the Nenets lived was completely conquered by Russia, their race became a bit of a mixture of yellow and white.
The Nenets were one of the few inhabitants of Siberia. Like their habitat, they were a small but widespread race.
From the White Sea in the west to Taymyr and the base of the peninsula in the east, from the Sayan Mountains in the south to the Arctic Ocean in the north, they could be seen all over Siberia.
Li Du was very happy to meet the Siberian natives and talked about Siberia with them.
No wonder these people were meteorite hunters. Siberia was vast, and because of its unique geographical location, it had not been touched by humans for thousands of years, maintaining its ancient natural style.
There were the richest meteorite mines on the surface of the earth, and many meteorite hunters were looking for wealth there.
However, as far as Li Du knew, not many Nenets were meteorite hunters. They were reindeer herders who had been raising deer, fishing, and hunting for a living since ancient times.
When he asked, Hudi punched his leg angrily and said, "It's all because of those damn capitalists. They invaded our homeland, and we had to find another way of life."
"More than 20 years ago, Gazprom came up with the Yamal plan, do you know? A long-term plan to drill for natural gas on the Siberian peninsula? "
Li Du nodded. He knew about the project, which began in the 1990s, to tap Siberia's rich reserves of natural gas. Billions of cubic meters of natural gas were now piped to Western Europe every year.
Hudi said angrily, "They drove us away from our homeland and gave us a little money to fool us. Damn it, we had no choice but to find other ways to survive. Brother Hankway took us to pick up meteorites …"
"It's a good job," laughed a big man named Coulson. "We make a lot more money than reindeer."
"But I'd rather go back to raising reindeer. I like my herd," Hudi retorted immediately.
The Nenets had been raising reindeer since ancient times. Their reindeer were as tall as horses. The reindeer was their national totem, and they had a deep affection for the animals.
The reindeer, which Europeans and Americans regarded as prey, were owned by the Nenets. They provided their clothing, housing, food, transportation, and identity.
As they drank and chatted, Li Du gradually learned more about Siberia.
Now the Arctic and Siberia were undergoing rapid changes. As temperatures rose, some of the permafrost zones of the tundra thawed, which, while facilitating the exploitation of local natural resources, destroyed the ecological environment.
Starting in spring, Siberia would gradually become muddy, and some lakes would shrink and disappear, making it difficult to survive there.
They explained to Li Du the things he needed to prepare for his trip to Siberia, and they enthusiastically said that if Li Du went to Siberia, they could be his guide.
Li Du also generously expressed that if they were willing to help him as a guide, he could give them a suitable reward.
In this way, a trip to the Antarctic coincidentally helped him get in touch with the residents of the Arctic, which was also a kind of wonderful fate.
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