Holding up the opal, the gem hunter seemed to have become a star. He looked around proudly and shouted, "Hey, look at the treasure in my hand. Who's interested in it? I can sell it! "
As he swept his gaze across the crowd, he inevitably saw Sophie.
With a smirk on his face, the gem hunter said, "Pretty girl, come here. I have a treasure to show you. You'll definitely like it."
Sophie was furious. Li Du said disdainfully, "What treasure do you have? This piece of junk in your hand? It's just a piece of turbid rock. "
The gem hunter said proudly, "You can be jealous of me all you want. The more you talk, the more jealous you are of me. A piece of turbid rock? Haha, what you said is really funny. "
The other gem hunters laughed along. Someone mocked, "Kid, you definitely don't know its value. Come on, Cyril, let him know the value of this rock!"
The gem hunter who had picked up the opal looked around and said, "Who wants this opal? This is definitely the real thing. I just found it. Whoever is interested, then bid. Five thousand dollars! "
Some of the tourists gasped when they heard the bid. "Sh * t, this thing can sell for five thousand dollars?"
Opal was a very valuable gemstone, especially the top-grade black opals produced in Australia. They were often sold in carats. Some rare varieties could sell for up to five thousand dollars per carat.
However, those were pure, high-quality opals. Ordinary opals were much cheaper, and the value of fire opals was also lower than black opals. Although the piece in Cyril's hand was of average quality, it was not small and was, in fact, quite valuable.
Someone in the crowd who knew what was good immediately followed up with a bid. "Okay, five thousand dollars, buddy, sell it to me."
Cyril ignored him and shouted, "Alright, five thousand dollars, five thousand dollars, five thousand dollars. Someone is already willing to bid five thousand dollars for this treasure. Is there anyone willing to bid five thousand five hundred dollars?!"
Someone else followed up with a bid. "I'll bid five thousand five hundred dollars."
Li Du frowned. "What is this? Directly holding an auction? "
Someone in the crowd who knew about the industry said, "Fire opals are very rare. These gem hunters may not even find one in a month. Every time they find one, they will auction it off."
Li Du said, "Do tourists bring so much money with them?"
The man explained, "No, the ones bidding are not tourists, but fire opal collectors or gem merchants. They wander around the park every day, looking for valuable gems found by gem hunters."
While they were discussing, the price of the opal continued to rise. It had already reached 8,000 dollars.
Li Du said thoughtfully, "Looking for gemstones? This job looks good. Interesting. "
This piece of average-looking opal looked like it could easily fetch 10,000 dollars. From the looks of it, gem hunters had a good income, at least better than ordinary storage auction treasure hunters.
In fact, being a gem hunter was also considered a type of treasure hunter. Li Du had only briefly understood it and did not realize how broad the scope of a treasure hunter's work was.
Hearing Li Du's words, the person next to him shook his head and said, "It's not as simple as you think. There are too few opals. This is not Australia, where some people can't even find a single piece for years."
The production of opals was very concentrated. 95% of them were produced in Australia, with black opals and milk opals being the best. The other 5% were produced in the central region of North America, represented by fire opals.
Li Du pondered for a while and released the little bug to fly among the surrounding rocks in search of the precious gemstones.
It was a pity that opals were natural gemstones. Although they might also contain time energy, no one had put in the effort to find them. They were not attractive to the little bug, and there was no way for the little bug to search for them on its own.
He was very lucky. The little bug flew around for a while and found a similar orange-red stone under a pile of rocks.
Looking around the stone, he was sure that it was a fire opal. However, looking at its condition, it did not seem to be as good as the one in Cyril's hand.
Noting down the location of the opal, he said, "Actually, it's not that difficult to find opals. Isn't it just searching for this thing among a pile of rocks?"
A gem hunter heard what he said and immediately laughed. "Quick, listen to this guy's layman's words. It's easy to find opals among a pile of rocks? Yeah, it's also easy to find a needle in the sea. "
Li Du retorted, "What's so difficult about it?"
"There's nothing difficult about it," Cyril said coldly. "It's just that, unless God bless you, a rookie like you wouldn't be able to find a single opal even if you searched for a year."
He was not exaggerating. The national park covered an area of hundreds of hectares, and the number of rocks in it was in the hundreds of millions. Finding an opal was not as simple as finding one in a million.
Li Du said, "How about this, buddy? You think it's difficult to find opals, right?"
Cyril said, "It's not difficult for us veterans. But for a rookie, of course, it's difficult!"
Li Du said, "Want to take a gamble? I don't need a year, I only need an hour, and then I can find an opal. Do you dare? "
"An hour?" The gem hunters around them laughed. They egged him on. "Cyril, take the gamble. You'll win for sure!"
Cyril was not stupid. Any normal person would know that he would win for sure. Li Du was obviously a normal person, so why was he willing to bet with him? For example, he had something to rely on.
Hence, he asked cautiously, "What's the bet?"
Li Du said, "If I win, your opal is mine. If I lose, I can give you 20,000 dollars — your opal is worth at most 20,000 dollars, right?"
Cyril hesitated. 20,000 dollars was a huge sum of money. If he got it, he could go to the red-light district and have fun for ten days to half a month. He wouldn't have to do anything and could have fun every day.
However, Li Du's calm expression made him uncertain. He felt that this young man was not easy to deal with.
Li Du was surprised by the other party's vigilance, but he was too experienced in dealing with such people. He said, "You don't dare, right? If you don't dare, then why did you dare to laugh at me just now? Who gave you the courage? "
The gem hunters were furious. Someone shouted, "Take the bet with him, Cyril. This b * stard can't find an opal in an hour. Impossible!"
"That's right. I've been searching for two months and haven't found a single opal. Cyril, how long do you think it took you to find one?"
"The most important thing is, Cyril, he can only search in his own territory. We've searched there many times, and there's not even a single piece of sh * t!"
Cyril said decisively, "Alright, let's take the bet!"
Immediately, a busybody stepped forward to be the judge. It was a gemstone merchant named Owen Dale, who was very famous and respected in the area.
Cyril handed the opal to him, and Li Du transferred 20,000 dollars to Owen's account online.
Owen made sure that there were no problems. He laughed and waved his hand. "Get to work, lads!"
It was not easy to be a gem hunter. It required a combination of patience, physical strength, and eyesight. It was a test of endurance.
When Li Du registered as a gem hunter, he bought a set of tools, including a hammer, a hook, a magnifying glass, a small pickaxe, and so on.
He used the small pickaxe to sweep the rock fragments on the ground, hammering here and there.
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