1025 Acquainted
Li Du could not back down once he saw the men planning to beat his little ones. The young man who had pushed Ah Ow was planning to kick her. Li Du stepped forward and kicked the young man on his shin bone just at the nick of time.
The young man screamed as he hugged his shin and hopped backward.
Another young man became furious. He took out army knife out from the back of his waist and began swinging and slashing it about.
"Time deceleration!" Li Du mumbled. As he controlled time, the speed of the young man swinging his arms became slower, as slow as a crawling tortoise.
He quickly stepped up and used his elbow to knock the young man's arm away. Then he bent his knee and kicked sideways. His leg swept the man's ribs and he managed to send him flying and he even rolled on the ground for a few times.
Conflicts were inevitable. But the big hunk who was their leader suddenly raised his hands and yelled, "Stop! Stop!"
He had an extremely commanding presence. The two angry black men immediately stopped in their tracks as soon as he spoke and stared at Li Du with murderous eyes.
However, they had not touched Sophie at all during this fight. It seemed like these people were pretty particular.
Little Flathead was still hugging the big hunk's calf; it kept chewing and biting like it was gnawing on a bone. It was hurting the big hunk a lot.
He kicked his leg with all his strength, but Little Flathead's limbs were gripping him tightly. He couldn't get rid of Little Flathead. He also couldn't see its exact position, so he could only reach around to touch it.
It was getting interesting. As he reached out, Little Flathead raised its head and clamped its jaws down. The big hunk started screaming as he hugged his arm.
Li Du quickly walked forward and said, "Don't move, I'll remove it."
The big hunk screamed with a crying voice. "Quick! Oh God! Quickly get this thing off me! It hurts a lot!"
Both Li Du and Sophie went up and began pulling and dragging it away. After some effort, and by using his wallet to stuff into Little Flathead's mouth, they finally tore it off from the big hunk's leg.
The big hunk kept whining as he hugged his calf. He had been badly bitten.
Their conflict had caused quite the ruckus. Brother Wolf and the others ran over when they heard noises.
Brother Wolf, Godzilla, Big Ol, and Big Ivan, were all big in size, except for the latter who was comparatively smaller. All of them either had strong characteristics or looked violent. So when they stood beside Li Du, they had suppressed the black men's imposing manner.
The few young men who wanted to fight back were now afraid. They were behaving and actually stopped, even without their leader's order.
Brother Wolf said in a low voice, "Boss, what's happening?"
Li Du said, "Nothing, it was just a misunderstanding."
He looked over toward the big hunk leader and said, "Was this a misunderstanding?"
The big hunk looked at Brother Wolf, Godzilla, and Big Ol, then he frowned as he said, "Yes, this was a misunderstanding. I didn't think it would end up like this. I thought you guys were those dog sh*t police . . . never mind, I don't think you are."
"What do you mean?" Li Du asked. "What police? Don't just find any excuse, buddy. Just now you were actually chasing us away, weren't you? I want to know why you think you can do that."
Godzilla and Big Ol were raging with anger, they held their fists tight.
"I'm not just giving any excuse, there are actually black police around here," the big hunk said reluctantly. "It's difficult to explain. Anyway, it's better for you yellow-skinned and white-skinned people to stay away from here. I mean it, I'm just saying it for your own good.
Li Du said, "Thanks. But if you're really doing it for our good, why don't we have a little chat?"
He took out his wallet and pulled out a stack of US dollar bills, then he held it out to the big hunk. "This is for you, just take it as compensation for your buddy who was bitten."
Looking at the stack of US dollar bills, the black men stared with wide eyes.
Li Du was offering at least five thousand US dollars, and this was not a small amount for these mine workers who lived at the bottom of society.
The big hunk looked at him but he didn't dare accept the money. He was afraid that Li Du was playing tricks.
Li Du smiled. He walked over and stuffed the money into his hands as he said, "Just take it as medical expenses and the expenses for losing work time. My pet bit your friend, so of course I should compensate you."
The big hunk's pants were already torn, the wound on his calf was turned outwards and blood couldn't stop flowing from it. It was actually quite terrible.
As Li Du seemed sincere, the big hunk leader accepted the money and said, "Thank you. You are a reasonable person."
"Alright then, the misunderstanding has been resolved. Now I have a few questions that I hope you can answer. What happened to this mine? How long has it been abandoned? Does this mean anyone can come here to look for diamonds?"
The big hunk nodded. "Yes, anyone can come here. It went bankrupt and was abandoned over four years ago. Just as you can see, this place used to be a diamond mine. There weren't many diamonds left in the end, so there is nobody here to guard it anymore."
Li Du said, "Not many diamonds? There should be quite some harvest here, right? Or else why would you guys stay?"
The big hunk sighed helplessly. "We wanted to leave, but where can we go? There are still some diamonds here. The harvest is little, but we can still earn ten to twenty thousand dollars in a year. It's enough to keep our family alive."
Li Du nodded. He reached out his hand and said, "I'm Li, nice to meet you. Don't worry about us, we're not here to take away your diamonds."
"My name is Buick." The big hunk reached his hand out in a friendly manner. "I'm sorry, Mr. Li. We were too aggressive just now, and we mistook your identities. We shouldn't have done that."
With both the parties opening up and clearing the air, the conflict was considered resolved.
However, it was still not over for Little Flathead. It was snuggled in Sophie's arms, but both its little eyes were staring at the big hunkâit still wanted to fight.
The big hunk was afraid of it; he called out, "Can anyone please take this honey badger away?"
Sophie asked, "Which leg did you use to kick it?"
The few black men tensed up again when they heard her question. When someone asked such a question, it was generally implied that the person in question would have to lose that leg. The gangster movies and dramas were always showing that anyways.
Moreover, there were Godzilla and Big Ol behind Sophie. It made her look like a mafia godmother.
The big hunk, Buick, who was the leader, reached out his hand and said, "Hey, lady, there's no need for that, right?"
Sophie said, "Whichever leg he used to kick it, he has to give me the shoe on that leg. Or else my honey badger is just going to keep hunting him down."
The few black men suddenly realized that they had misunderstood her words earlier.
The black man who was bitten couldn't wait any longer. He took his broken shoe off and passed it to her. Sophie passed the shoe to Little Flathead, who grabbed it and tore it apart violently.
In the evening, Li Du saw that the weather didn't seem too good, so he wanted to strengthen his tent. Buick walked over and said, "Mr. Li, looking at the sky now, there will be a storm tonight."
Li Du raised his head to look. "Are you sure?"
Buick nodded. "My experience tells me so. What I mean is, your tents won't hold in this storm. You must stay in one of the houses."
Li Du shook his head. "The two remaining houses are too filthy, we can't go in there."
Buick laughed, "I will squeeze in with my brothers, and we have two available houses. If you guys don't mind, you can go and have a look."
The two houses that they had offered were also very small, but it was very clean inside.
Just like that, it was as if there had been no discord in the first place. Li Du's gang and Buick's gang had become friends.