"Snakes are related to black opals?" Li Du asked.
A miner said, "Yes, I've found black opals around underground snake nests many times. Not just me, but the other guys, too, right?"
"Right my ass," someone immediately retorted. "I've dug up more than ten opals, but none of them are related to snakes. You're being idealistic."
"I've never seen a snake related to opals either. This is ridiculous."
Soon, there were arguments in the crowd. Some people felt that the two sides were related, but more people felt that it was unrelated.
Li Du pondered this argument. If snakes could find gemstones, then he could find a way to let the little bug tame a snake for his use and then follow it to find gemstones.
However, he didn't quite believe this argument. He had never heard of snakes being related to opals. There were gemstones under the number 114 mine next door, but he didn't see any traces of snakes around the gemstones either.
Also, when he picked up fire opals in the national park, there was no information about snakes and gemstones. There was also no proof of the history of gemstone discovery.
As the night deepened, the miners left one after another as they had to work the next day. The mine became quiet again.
Starting in the middle of the night, the rain fell rhythmically on the roof of the cabin. With this sound, Li Du slept even more soundly.
When he got up in the morning, the weather outside was gloomy, and there was still a drizzle.
Li Du opened the door and saw that the whole place was foggy, which was rare in central Australia. Normally, the humidity here was very low.
Sophie drove to buy umbrellas, raincoats, and breakfast so that Li Du could take care of the little ones.
It was raining outside, and Ah Meow and Crispy Noodles didn't like getting their fur wet, so they hid in the house.
Ah Ow liked to play with water, or rather, she liked to play with muddy water. After lying at the door and looking at the environment outside, she ran out like a wild dog.
Rushing into the mine, she found a puddle and plunged into it. Like a war horse trampling through a glacier, her four limbs trampled the puddle, splashing a layer of muddy water, and then she ran through it.
Li Du hurriedly shouted for her, but Ah Ow didn't listen and ran happily in the wide mine. When Li Du finally caught up with her, she was covered in muddy water.
This made Li Du very angry. The weather was so bad, and there was no bathroom in the mine. He could not bathe Ah Ow.
It was one thing for Ah Ow to be dirty, but after being dragged back by the ear, she still wanted to get involved. She dashed towards Ah Meow and Crispy Noodles with her muddy body.
Ah Meow and Crispy Noodles were very smart. How could they not understand its intentions?
Ah Meow climbed up the wall as if his buttocks were on fire. The hut was made of wood and planks. It was not difficult for an animal like the ocelot to climb up.
A raccoon's climbing ability was not as good as an ocelot's, but Crispy Noodles had other ways to deal with it. He used his paw to slap the bouncing Ali toward Ah Ow to distract her.
Ali was just about to squat down to take a dump when it was slapped away by a wolf that was baring its fangs, scaring it out of its pants on the spot.
Brother Wolf shook his head and said, "This little kangaroo is really unlucky."
It was indeed unlucky. The reason Ali fell into the hands of Li Du and the others was that its mother had thrown it away to attract attention.
Now that it had come to Li Du's side, it was thrown away again to attract attention.
Ah Ow just wanted to play. It didn't matter who she played with. The little kangaroo staggered and jumped in front of her. She grabbed it with her paw and shook its fur. Suddenly, the little kangaroo became muddy.
Li Du went up again and pulled Ah Ow by the ear. He said angrily, "F * ck, it's fine if it's dirty, but it also dirtied others. Go away!"
He rescued Ali and used a towel dipped in warm water to wipe its body.
The little kangaroo was still drinking milk, and its resistance was very poor. Li Du was angry because he was afraid that the cold muddy water that Ah Ow had thrown down would cause the little kangaroo to get sick.
When Sophie came back, she saw Ah Ow sitting alone under the eaves of the doorway, looking at the rain on the ground in a daze, her face lifeless.
"What's wrong with her?" Sophie asked.
Li Du said, "She went to play in the mud. Don't worry about her."
"No, I'm talking about its mood. Why does it look so sad?"
Li Du said, "I scolded her. She's getting more and more disobedient."
Ali hid beside him. It was afraid of being tossed around by its little friends. Now it was afraid to see them and could only follow Li Du closely.
Although it was not as intelligent as Ah Ow and Ah Meow, it also knew that Li Du was its protective umbrella. It was safe to follow Li Du. This was survival instinct. The smaller and weaker the animal, the more sensitive it was.
In addition to buying a raincoat and umbrella, Sophie also bought a thick tarp, which was propped up by poles over the mine to shelter from the rain.
After dinner, Li Du, Godzilla, and Brother Wolf propped up the tarp so that the rain was not heavy. With the cover of the tarp, the mine was no longer affected by the rain and could continue to work.
This was the excellent geology of Lightning Ridge. Its underground was sand and gravel, which had good water permeability. When the rain fell into the mine, it would seep into the ground.
There was no groundwater around Lightning Ridge, so there was no need to worry about reverse osmosis, which meant that there would be no groundwater flowing into the mine through the cracks in the gravel.
Godzilla and Brother Wolf continued to work, and Sophie asked worriedly, "The weather is so bad now. Will it be dangerous to dig a tunnel down there?"
"It's fine now, Xiao Yu," said Li Du. "I've read the information. The geology of Lightning Ridge is very resistant to water. Unless it's a storm, we can continue to work."
The little bug corrected the direction. Godzilla and Brother Wolf took turns to break up the rock formation with a crusher, transport the gravel horizontally from the pit to the bottom of the mine through a belt conveyor, and then transport it to the surface in buckets.
The gravel could not be thrown away. It had to be left there. According to Australian law, the mine had to be backfilled after mining.
For safety reasons, Li Du bought steel pipe supports and planks. Every meter of the mine was mined, he and Lu Guan would go down and prop up a section of the support.
Horizontal mining was more difficult than digging a mine. Because of the scale, they could only work with a hand-held crusher, which was very physically exhausting and troublesome to transport gravel.
After working for two days and advancing ten meters, on the third day, Lightning Ridge was hit by heavy rain. The rain poured down from the sky, and Li Du had to stop working.
The heavy rain lasted for a day and a night. On the fourth day, it suddenly cleared up, and the sun, which had disappeared for several days, reappeared.
The weather in Australia was very bad. Li Du was not happy when the sun came out. The hot sun scorched the earth. Because it had just rained, there was a lot of water on the ground, and the air was very humid.
The sun evaporated the water, and the air was even more humid. The underground mine was not ventilated and was stuffy. Staying inside was like being in a sauna!
Mining was so difficult. Whether it was rain or shine, it was the miners who suffered.
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