1077 The Road to Earning Money
As the warehouse door opened, all they could see were shelves upon shelves.
The shelves were very tall and made of a stainless steel frame with solid wooden
boards across. They were five to six meters long and two to three meters tall. In order to
get things from the top shelf, one had to climb a ladder.
The shelves were fully packed. There were clothing items, blankets, bedsheets, bowls,
plates, cutlery, books, magazines, and mechanical tools.
Besides these, there were also some things stuffed at the corner of the warehouse.
They were mostly packages consisting of boxes, backpacks, and handbags.
The prison guard who led them there said in a laidback tone, "Arrange these things
according to their categories. Today you have to put at least ten shelves in order."
He looked at the shelves again and appeared to change his mind. "No, that won't do.
You have to arrange at least fifteen. You have some strong men here, this must be easy
for you guys."
Li Du cursed him in his heart. Arrange fifteen shelves? Are you trying to work us to
death?
The shelves were all very big, and the things on them were in a mess. It was not an
easy task to rearrange everything. First, they had to count every item, and only then sort
them.
Both Godzilla and Brother Wolf were practical workers. They rolled up their sleeves and
dived in.
Li Du stopped them as he let out the little bug. He wanted to see if there was any good
stuff in the warehouse.
The prison guard pushed him and said impatiently, "Start working now, don't play any
tricks, or else you won't get any dinner tonight."
After he said that, he took out his cellphone and started playing with it. The other jailer
did the same. They didn't bother them after that.
The little bug was flying freely around the huge warehouse. When it soared past a metal
rack, it suddenly changed direction and landed on top of a small box.
Li Du was curious, so he peeped inside. There were some small sculptures in the box,
such as a tiny walking stick, a miniature train engine, tiny vase and so on. The material
was unknown to him, but it was attractive to the little bug.
He had no idea if this was some famous artwork or not, so he used the time traveling
ability of the little bug to check on it.
As the time reversed, he could see the original material. It came from long, curvy,
brown-grey tusks, almost like an elephant's, but much longer.
Li Du knew what it was at once. This was mammoth ivory. They had once gotten a few
tusks to sell.
As time passed, the process of how these little sculptures were made showed itself.
After the mammoth ivory had been sawed and sent into the prison, an old man dressed
in prison uniform began carving it carefully. Slowly, the sculpture designs appeared.
Having a carving knife in prison was not to be taken for granted. The old man must have
been someone special, or else he would not have had such a sharp weapon in his
possession.
The small sculptures were fine to see. The carvings on them were highly detailed, and
the patterns were very lifelike. However, if one watched closely, they would find that
these sculptures were just halfway done. They were not completed.
Li Du let the little bug absorb the time capability within it. The ivory figurines didn't seem
to be any famous artist's work, and so they weren't very valuable.
After the little bug absorbed the time capability, it was even more energetic. It then flew
onto a piece of kraft paper.
The kraft paper was in the middle of a box. Li Du perked up when he noticed that. This
piece of paper might be valuable, or else it would not be kept so carefully.
He let Hans and the other two look around, while he went to open the box and took out
the piece of kraft paper.
The box was aged and oxidized, hence it was almost broken down, and he pried off the
lid very easily.
The kraft paper was more resistant to oxidation. It seemed there was a map drawn on it.
It features symbols of hills, rivers and terrain, and some patterns of star-like shapes as
well.
The most intriguing part for Li Du was the narrow line of words on the back of the kraft
paper: The icefield treasure belongs to me.
Is this a treasure map? Li Du glanced to his left and right, and when no one was
looking, he quickly shoved the map into the black hole to look at later.
The little bug continued flying around the warehouse. Many of the things inside have
been kept there for years and years. Many of the things had time capability in them, so
the little bug absorbed it as it flew past. Now its size was slightly bigger.
During this time Li Du unearthed a few treasures. He kept the things that he considered
valuable in his black hole, and noted the locations of other things that were less
valuable.
After making one round in the warehouse, he had gained quite a lot, and this was a
surprise for him.
Some of the things he found there would be difficult to get on the outside. For example,
there was a small bottle of brownish yellow liquid. It was difficult to determine what it
was just from its appearance. However, after the little bug used time reversal on it, Li Du
could tell that this was a type of poison.
He had also found a number of small bottles. Each bottle had clear, viscous liquid in it.
The bottle caps were made of some kind of alloy. There was some space in the caps,
and it was used to keep white chips of some unknown material.
He couldn't tell what was special about these bottles, nor could he identify what the
materials inside were. But as Li Du used time reversal, he could see that there were
once labels on the bottles. The writing on them said PBX Polymer Bonded Explosives.
Li Du quietly asked Brother Wolf about it, and Brother Wolf said this was a type of
extremely potent explosive. Once the liquid and the white chips got mixed together, they
would blow up after a few seconds!
PBX was meant for military use only, so the bottles were kept with extra care. Because
they were not easy to detect, they could even pass the security scans if they were kept
separately.
Besides that, Li Du also found a book of Buddhist sutra. Its pages were rolled up like
small cigarettes.
He couldn't understand what was written in the book, but it came from a long-gone era.
The little bug's time-traveling skill couldn't get to the point in the past when the sutra
was made, but it must have been brought to America around the end of Qing dynasty.
He was walking around the warehouse without doing anything, so both the prison
guards were annoyed. One of them pointed at him and shouted, "Hey, Chinaman, are
you fucking looking for trouble? Get to work!"
Li Du looked at him and said: "I AM working."
"How dare you talk back?" The prison guard was furious and walked over with the baton
in his hand.
Brother Wolf and Godzilla didn't even hesitate. They grabbed some steel rods and
sharp knives from a shelf and gave the prison guards murderous stares.
The frightened jailers shouted, "Are you guys trying to start a coup? Guards, get them!"
Li Du raised both his hands as he said, "Hey, hey, calm down, brothers. I really am
working over here. Moreover, I have found a way for the prison to make money. You
can tell the warden about it."
The prison guard laughed: "Fuck you!"
"I'm telling the truth. I wouldn't dare to joke about something like this. There really is a
way to make big money here. But if the warden misses out on it because you guys
didn't get the message to him, I think he won't be too pleased."
Seeing the confidence in Li Du's face, the prison guard felt rather suspicious and asked,
"Are you serious? What kind of way is that?"
Li Du said, "Just bring the warden here. It's not that I'm looking down on you, but this
idea is not something you can decide on."
The other jailer was calmer. He nodded and said, "Inform the warden."