Chapter 93: The Mammoth’s Tusk
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
A supposedly profitable storage unit turning into a loss made Carl feel like killing someone.
His actual loss was much greater than what the treasure hunters had estimated, for the insider information he paid for was a substantial amount as well.
Rambis obviously knew Carl very well. He quietly left the unit before anyone noticed.
Carl was furious. He picked up a plastic fender and threw it toward the onlookers, yelling, "Don’t block the light—just get out! Get out of here! Scram!"
"Such a pitiful sight, he went crazy," a tall black man chuckled.
"Where do you think his nickname "Maniac Carl" came from?" asked Hans.
"Oh yeah!" Both the black man and Hans bumped their fists and laughed together.
This was the way of the storage unit auction business: If someone made a huge loss, the other treasure hunters would gloat. Less competition meant better chances of getting the units they wanted and, in turn, higher earnings.
Li Du and Hans soon left to go pack up their units. On the way, they saw Rambis smoking alone in a corner.
"So, who’s crying his eyes out now?" Hans chuckled.
"Just f*ck off, you crazy, rotten wood collectors!" snapped Rambis bitterly.
Hans sneered, "Rotten wood, huh? So you thought we bought that unit merely …"
"You thought we bought that unit merely to do some cleaning up?" Li Du asked. "No, that’s not it. We can exercise and work out in here as if it were a gym. We lift logs here, or we lift metal weights in the gym—not much of a difference."
"Go to hell!" Rambis spit out the cigarette butt, raised a middle finger at both of them, and left.
"There are only rotten logs inside our unit? You’re kidding me, right?" asked Hans.
Li Du replied, "I’m not sure, but no matter what, my big brother, we should quietly go check out what we’ve bought without peering eyes!"
Hans playfully answered, "Right! Earn a fortune quietly!"
Both of them proceeded to open up the backpacks, boxes, and chests; they found torn tents, old ropes, shovels, hammers, pickaxes, and some broken pots and pans.
A few onlookers waved and walked away after seeing all the junk that the duo found:
"Congratulations for getting a hiker’s unit."
"That’s a woodcutter’s unit, you fool!"
"Bye Big Fox, Li—looks like your luck’s all used up."
Hans scratched his head. "D*mn, nothing good here?"
Li Du opened a wooden chest. "Over here, could these be good?"
Hans replied, "A human-made pump, high-pressure rubber hose—they do look sturdy. These should be worth some money."
"How much?"
"One thousand dollars shouldn’t be a problem. So these are why you wanted the unit?" Hans asked.
Li Du quietly scratched the log beside him without Hans noticing, then he slapped the log a few times in front of Hans. "No, this is why."
Hans took out his flashlight and pointed it at the log.
"See if you can find something out from it."
The pinewood logs were heavily infested with termites, and some logs had their bark completely eaten up; some of them were just full of holes.
Hans took a closer look and said, "What is this? It’s just a hole. Wait, the color doesn’t seem right—d*mn, d*mn, d*mn, something’s in there!"
Li Du nodded and smiled. "Yes, I’m sure there’s something hidden in there."
Actually, Li Du had just scratched the log to reveal the thing inside so that Hans could see it. He already knew from the little bug what was hidden inside.
Hans took a hammer that was lying inside the unit and carefully hammered the loose parts of the hollow log, revealing more of what was hidden inside.
As he worked on it, the thing hidden inside the log was revealed. It was about two meters long, curved like a crescent moon and a color of reddish brown, yellow and white intertwining one another. The base had a diameter of about 30 centimeters, and its end was pointed.
Hans squatted down with both hands on his head, "F*ck, it’s ivory! God-d*mned ivory!"
This was the first ivory Hans had uncovered.
And there are a total of five of these logs—they will definitely be worth much more than the Ferrari parts! Li Du thought.
However, Hans didn’t look too happy.
"Hey, is it not a good thing that we’ve found ivory?" Li Du asked, puzzled.
Hans wore a sorry smile. "America has banned the domestic trade of elephant ivory. Meaning, we can own ivory products, but we can’t sell them. And as these are still in their raw state, we better hide them well or they might get seized by the authorities."
"What the..!" Li Du’s good mood was ruined the moment he heard that he couldn’t sell the ivory.
"But on second thought, it can’t be helped, right? Poaching is a serious problem," Li Du added in an attempt to make Hans feel better.
With each ivory piece discovered, Hans’s smile looked more miserable. When all five of them were placed together, Hans was almost in tears.
Li Du patted him on his shoulder. "Hey buddy, cheer up, we still have the water pump and rubber hose—we can still earn some cash."
As Hans was feeling down, Li Du offered to drive the jeep back to Flagstaff.
Just as their jeep entered Flagstaff, Hans suddenly slapped the panel of the jeep and shouted, "I’m such a f*cking idiot!"
And suddenly a sharp meow followed by a thud sound was heard; Ah Meow had hit the roof of the jeep. The shout had made Li Du jump as well. The jeep came to an abrupt halt.
"Meeeoow! Meeeoow…!" Ah Meow complained. The ocelot mewled continuously after the bad scare. It had been originally having a nice nap.
Li Du went on blabbering, "D*mn Big Fox! What are you doing? You want to die? What are you thinking? If you want to die don’t …"
"It’s not ivory! It’s a Mammoth’s tusk!" Hans yelled excitedly.
"Huh?" Li Du had a blank look on his face.
Hans jumped out of the jeep, headed straight to the back, moved some logs and looked at the tusks which they had hidden underneath them as a precaution to avoid checks.
"I’m an idiot— really, I am. How could I have not realized earlier? How could these be elephant ivory?
"Look! These are so long and so thick. The African Elephant’s tusks are about a meter long. The shortest tusk we have here has a length of around one and a half meters! This is a mammoth’s tusk! It’s mammoth ivory!"
"And why were the rubber hose and pump in the same unit together with the tusks?"
"The reason is simple: Mammoth’s tusks are usually found buried underground, sometimes lodged under rocks, so shovels and pickaxes are needed to dig them out.
"And in order to excavate the tusk without damaging them, that’s where the man-made pump and the rubber hose came in handy. They use water to flush off the excess soil."
Hans pulled out a tusk, and scratched it. "See? This is clay; normal elephant ivory won’t have this on it, as most ivory is poached from live elephants. People don’t dig around in the ground to find elephant ivory."
Li Du was staring at Hans with his mouth agape.
"Wow buddy, you are fantastic. You handled the ‘question and answer’ all by yourself—you got the gift of gab!" Li exclaimed.
"F*ck! We are rich! We are rich! Ahhhhhhhhhhh!"
A police car siren was heard in the distance, and it was headed towards them.
"Quick! Run! Cops!" Li Du cried out.