The four of them were very satisfied with the sumptuous breakfast. Ah Ow ate with them until her tummy was round. While the others were packing up, she quickly went to poop.
Ah Ow would dig up the rocks and then bury them again.
After a day and a night, Brother Wolf was no longer so quiet. He took the initiative and said, "This wolf is too smart."
Li Du smiled. "Do you know why she buries her own poop?"
Brother Wolf shook his head.
Li Du pointed at Ah Meow and said, "It taught her. When Ah Ow was young, Ah Meow would stare at her. If she dared to do that, Ah Meow would give her a good beating. After a few times, she learned the correct way to poop."
"Unbelievable." Brother Wolf's mouth was agape.
Li Du smiled and started working with Godzilla. The two of them dug up some holes and carefully found the fire opals hidden in them. These opals were of poor quality and harder to find.
After a while, Brother Wolf walked over. "Boss, they are watching us with binoculars."
Li Du knew who he was talking about. He looked at the tent next door and asked, "Are you sure?"
"I saw very clearly with the reflection of the binoculars just now," Brother Wolf said confidently.
Li Du had no choice but to say, "Let them watch us. Let's continue to work. Search this place again and then move to another place."
They worked until noon. It was just nice that the weather was hot and the area was searched.
Li Du found a total of more than a hundred opals of various sizes. He did not specifically count them. Some of them were murky and not valuable and were stuck to the rocks.
However, no matter how small a mosquito was, it was still meat. He did not let it go.
Big Quinn and Brother Wolf packed up and dismantled the tent. Li Du did not work. He still released the little bug and let it search for resource-rich areas in the surroundings.
The national park covered an area of 380 square kilometers. It was about 44 kilometers long from north to south, 33 kilometers wide from east to west, and 1.6 kilometers at its narrowest point.
In this vast area, there was not only the siliceous forest, but also Interstate 40, the BNSF freight railroad, and the Peck River, a major tributary of the Little Colorado River, which all passed through the park.
In such a large area, it was naturally impossible to find fire opals everywhere.
Fire opals, like other gemstones, had ore belts. Gemstones could only be found in the ore belts. It was very difficult to find other gemstones.
The ore belt was not continuous. It was intermittent and distributed in several areas. The details were not clear, but according to word of mouth among gem hunters, these areas added up to at least ten square kilometers.
In other words, the area where fire opals were produced was more than 1,000 hectares!
Among these areas, some places had more fire opals, while others had fewer. Li Du had found the rich areas these few times, as he needed to work there.
Searching the rich zone was not easy. The little bug flew very fast and had a good field of vision. However, some of the gems were small and of poor color. It was not easy to find them in a pile of stones.
After searching for a while, Li Du still could not find a place that was rich in gems.
Just when he was about to give up, the little bug passed by a mound and saw that there were also some gravel and ore fragments under the soil.
Li Du's interest was piqued.
This place probably hadn't been searched before, because it wasn't a pure rocky beach environment, but a rocky beach wrapped around a piece of soil and a small hill.
Due to geographical reasons, there were very few fire opals in the soil. More gemstones and ores were hidden together.
This place was an exception. In fact, the soil that people saw was formed by a few small mounds of soil covering the rocky beach. Under the thin layer of soil, there were still gravel.
There would always be more fire opals in places that hadn't been searched. After all, the national park had been searched for decades or even centuries.
Even if people didn't have Li Du's ability to find fire opals in large quantities, over time, many opals would still be picked up.
Sure enough, after the little bug searched the area carefully, it immediately found a few pieces of opals of good quality. This was a gem-rich zone.
After confirming his target, Li Du left.
They first drove to the motel next door to rent a room, took a hot shower, and took an afternoon nap. As usual, he set off again in the afternoon.
This time, he rented the adjacent two hectares of land. Owen and some jewelers were waiting at the ticket booth. When they saw Li Du coming over to buy a ticket, they asked, "Li, how's the harvest?"
Li Du showed a depressed expression and said, "Very bad, mate. God seems to have suddenly left me. I wasted so much effort last night."
Owen said, "Patience, you have to be patient, mate. God will bless you."
After saying that, he revealed a meaningful smile.
If not for Brother Wolf's warning, Li Du wouldn't have carefully observed Owen's expression and wouldn't have been able to see the meaning of the smile. Now, although he wasn't looking directly at Owen, he released the little bug to keep an eye on him.
Through the little bug's vision, he noticed the strange smile and became vigilant.
The ancestor was right. You might know a person for a long time, but not his heart!
Seeing that he rented two hectares of land in one go, someone crossed his arms and said, "Mate, are you sure you can search such a large area in one day?"
"Yeah, even if you were to search two hectares of land, it would still take you a long time. Honestly, rookie, you need to dig deep to find opals."
"You look very confident. You're not using machines to do the work, are you?"
As soon as he said that, several people, including the ticket seller and the security guard, stared at Li Du.
The Petrified Forest National Park strictly forbade machines from entering, mainly to prevent machines from harming the protected area and to ensure the production of opals.
The national park had more than three million visitors every year, with an average of nearly 10,000 visitors per day. It was a famous local attraction, and the people who came not only to admire the petrified trees but also to search for fire opals.
Without the allure of fire opals, the number of visitors would have decreased by at least half.
There were often rumors circulating in the national park, such as where a tourist had randomly kicked a few rocks and found a fire opal, where a tourist had found a fire opal during a picnic, and how a tourist had found a fire opal.
These rumors attracted a large number of people who didn't know the truth. After all, people had the ambition to make a fortune and were willing to come and try their luck.
The national park was happy to see tourists looking for fire opals, not only for the ticket, but also for the profits from the discovery of opals.
According to the rules, tourists who found fire opals had to pay 20 percent of the profits to the national park. Gem hunters didn't have to pay this amount.
If tourists wanted to take other rocks from the national park, they also had to pay a corresponding fee. The purpose of this was also to protect the ores inside.
Otherwise, if they could take away the ores for free, there would probably be tourists who would drive trucks over to transport them.
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