Treasure Hunt Tycoon

The next day, Steve managed to link himself up with a truck.

Just as Li Du was about to leave in his car, the small white monkey caught up with him. It stood by his feet and looked up at him.

Li Du had stayed there for three days, and during those days, Li Du had been feeding the little monkey. Sometimes, he fed the monkey apples and bananas and other times, he gave the monkey some dried fruits.

The little white monkey enjoyed eating dried fruits. Li Du had been right in guessing that the animal’s intelligence was way ahead of other animals. Very quickly, the monkey learned to crack nuts and even knew how to bite on the melon seeds with its teeth.

Li Du took out an apple and passed it to the monkey. Then he put out his hands and said, “You stay behind here by yourself. I have to leave. But I will probably be back.”

The little white monkey hugged the apple and continued to look at Li Du. Its eyes were clear and it stared at Li Du with seriousness.

Sophie bent down and stretched out her hands to the monkey. Then, she asked, “Are you willing to leave with us?”

The little white monkey watched her and then looked up at Li Du again. It looked solemn.

Obviously, it had no idea what that meant.

After some thinking, Li Du got Brother Wolf to dig a hole. He wanted to see if they could bury the body of the other white monkey. If the monkey did not allow them to touch it, then they would leave it behind. Otherwise, they would bring the little white monkey along when they left.

The temperature on the surface of the ground was slightly warmer than in the cave. Furthermore, the bodies of the two white monkeys had been exposed to hot air. That had hastened the speed of their decay.

The carrion of the white monkeys was emitting a strange smell. Brother Wolf had dug a hole and put on his gloves. He intended to place the bodies of the monkeys inside the stone cave.

The little white monkey saw that and this time around, it did not stop them.

In fact, ever since the carrion had sped up in its decaying, the little white monkey had stopped going near the bodies, unlike previously. Perhaps its biological instinct had led the little white monkey to stay away from the rotting carrion.

Many animals would naturally avoid scavenging. Carrion contained a large number of bacteria, viruses and parasite eggs, which could easily lead to the death of whoever tried to eat it.

After burying the white monkeys, Li Du gave two peanuts to the little monkey again. The white monkey took them and held one peanut in each of its hands. Li Du opened the car door and got in. Then, the monkey started to hesitate and walked around with the peanuts.

After waiting for some time and seeing that the little white monkey refused to get in the car, Li Du sighed. Then he closed the door and said, “Let’s go.”

Driver started the car and Ah Meow suddenly looked up towards the backseat. Li Du peered out of the car and saw that the little white monkey had appeared by the car door. It was grabbing onto the door with one hand and pulling at the car window with the other. It was trying to climb up, agile and quick.

Even if the heavy-duty SUV were to speed up, it would not be able to shake the monkey off.

Li Du stretched his hand out, and the little monkey promptly jumped up and grabbed onto Li Du’s wrist. Just like that, it was in the car.

Inside the car, the little monkey sniffed and spat out a peanut from its mouth. Then it picked it up and passed it to Li Du.

Li Du had no idea what the monkey wanted. Sophie grinned and said, “That’s the monkey acknowledging you. It is sharing its food with you. In the animal world, that’s considered accepting you as their partner.”

Hearing that, Li Du could not help but grin. “That’s the food I gave you, to begin with, you know?”

He then took out an apple and cut it in two halves. The little white monkey took one half and jumped onto the headrest of the front passenger seat. Swaying its legs, it started to eat the apple.

The terrain was rough and the car shook vigorously. However, it was as though the little white monkey had a balancing board on its bottom. Although its body swayed with the car, it never fell off the headrest.

Li Du turned to Sophie and asked, “This little monkey is now part of our family. I want to give it a name. What do you think we should name it?”

Sophie crossed her slim legs and said, “Going with your style, it should be named Ah Bai, right?”

Li Du laughed. “The name you suggested is too low-class. However, since you are my fiancée, I will listen to you. It will be named Ah Bai.”

Sophie rolled her eyes and Li Du and said, “I have no class? I’m sure that’s the name you wanted to give it.”

Li Du was indignant, “Who said that?”

Sophie asked, “Alright, then you tell me, what names were you thinking of?”

“Ah Chi, Ah Hou, names like that,” Li Du laughed.

The truck did not return to Krasnoyarsk Krai, like the SUVs. It was left in the wilderness. The SUVs started on the return journey with the two mammoth tusks on the top of the car.

There were plenty of ivory hunters in Krasnoyarsk Krai. That was where the hunters took their rest and replenished their necessities. It was also a mammoth ivory exchange market.

Li Du had returned with two huge ivory tusks that looked to be in great shape. They would be considered in the top quality range in the market. Their car drove into the city, attracting the attention of many.

Some of them were the members of Flint’s gang. They recognized the cars of Li Du and his group. Such magnificent SUVs were rare in the provincial city.

After they arrived in the city with the ivory, Li Du and his group headed for the bar.

The bar was named Golden Ivory. From the name, one could tell that it was a place for ivory exchange besides being a drinking spot.

The owner of the bar was named Sapog, which meant “boot” in Russian. In the past, he was also a mammoth ivory hunter, a rather famous one. He was known for his capability at looking for ivory.

However, there was one time when his party encountered an ice storm in the wild, just when they had run out of fuel. Hence, when the ice storm hit them, out of a group of six people, four were frozen to death, and the remaining two were frostbitten.

After that experience, Sapog never ventured out to the wild again. He spent the money that he had accumulated from ivory excavation to open a bar. He started to earn an honest living and stopped risking his life.

When Li Du and his group entered, there were dozens of people drinking and chatting inside.

Other than the owner, the staff included a bartender and a lady server. The owner tended the counter, where he presided like a king. He was a typical Slavic man of forty-odd years, with a chestnut-colored short hair and a strong physique.

Li Du sat there and took out a thick roll of dollars. He said, “Bring out any alcohol you have. Each fellow here will get a beer!”

Because the mammoth ivory market mainly traded in US dollars, the dollar was considered hard currency in the small town. It was even more popular than the Russian ruble. That was because the US dollars were stronger in the foreign exchange.

Hearing Li Du’s words, the owner looked at him curiously and asked, “Buddy, today was a rewarding day for you, was it?”

Li Du nodded and smiled, “You guessed it. We got two big ivory tusks.”

The owner let out a whistle and said, “That’s cool, buddy. Congratulations.”

Then, he raised his voice and said, “Everyone gets a glass of beer. Today, our friend got two big ivory tusks, so let’s congratulate him!”

Hearing that someone was giving out free beer, some men started to bang on the tables in excitement. There were also a few who shouted happily. The atmosphere in the little bar became cheery and loud.

Someone walked up to them and asked, “Sapog, my old mate, this buddy of yours looks very familiar. Where is he from?”

Sapog smiled. “They are from America. They are in Siberia for the mammoth ivory. You guys gotta be careful, they are going to excavate all the ivory around.”