Chapter 1177: Critical Situation
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Li Du thought it was unlucky that these meteorite hunters seemed to have some hatred
for the rich, or maybe just people who were like the Ford brothers. Therefore, they were prejudiced against him.
After all, the hunters had been in the Antarctic for some time, and according to Steve, the Ford brothers had arrived at the end of the Antarctic polar night season this year but did not found anything until now.
The Ford brothers had been unsatisfied with these hunters since the beginning.
Now, after Steve has been here just a few days, Li Du helped him find a big meteorite.
Of course, the Ford brothers were now even more dissatisfied with their hired men and might have nagged them every day.
It was for this reason that the hunters were a little impatient with Li Du. After all, the main reason they have been out of favor these two days was that he found a meteorite.
These were just his thoughts, but it was not that simple. Another reason was that because of the harsh climate in Antarctica, meteorite hunters were rare. They had considered all the meteorites here like meat on their plate, waiting to be taken.
Now Li Du took the biggest piece of meat, so how could they think kindly of him?
Facing the hostile eyes of the hunters, Li Du smacked his lips and said, “You seem to misunderstand me, I think. We are companions. Shouldn’t we be more hospitable to our companions?”
The bearded hunter gave him a sneer and waved his hand. “Bullshit. You are rich, we are just workers. You pay and we work, we are not companions.”
Brother Wolf frowned and whispered, “Boss, should we teach them a lesson?”
Li Du shook his head and smiled. “No, I know what to do.”
Their insolence reminded him of Aubrey and Holiday who stayed at Lightning Ridge to dig out opals for him. They were not bad guys, just rude and more approachable than the Ford brothers.
However, making friends with them required some cunning. First of all, he had to disarm them.
Li Du noticed that the place where they found the meteorite was near the coast, where some Emperor penguins lived. According to the plan, they were going to search along the coast first.
He noticed where the meteorite hunters were standing, took a coil of rope from the sled, and put it over his shoulder.
A young hunter nearby noticed his behavior and sneered in a low voice, “Are you going down the mine? Well, it’s too bad. The meteorite is not in a mine or a pit.”
When meteorites hit the ground, they would inevitably produce a pit. Some pits would rise to ground level in time, but some still remained, and finding meteorites in the pits was the focus of meteorite-hunting.
Li Du looked at him and said, “Why do you hate me? Can’t you just be nice?”
The young man humphed and said, “Nice be damned, give me the meteorite you found yesterday and I might be a little nicer to you.”
Li Du smiled and said, “Dream on. You will only make me despise you this way, do you understand? If you have a problem with me, you can say so. Why are you acting sneaky like a mouse?”
The young hunter was angry but did not show his wrath. He glared at Li Du and left angrily.
Big Beard was right. They worked for the Ford brothers. There was a class gap between them and they would not dare to offend their employers.
The hunters had many tools, most of which were metal detectors, which were kind of like minesweepers in the old military movies. Li Du had seen them in movies and TV
shows where engineers looked for mines.
In principle, the two tools were similar in relying on the current in the coil to generate a magnetic field. Once metal impurities enter the magnetic field area, it would be disturbed and an alarm signal would be sent out.
However, these people’s equipment was more advanced. Their detector could do more than only eliminate the target signals. It had three groups of coil internal distribution, including the central transmitter coil, which connected the oscillator to generate the high-frequency variable magnetic field. Different metals had different influences on the magnetic field; the detector would eliminate changes of the magnetic field and reserved its action for the magnetic field induction.
Meteorites were often rich in iron, nickel, and other metals, and different content would give different impact on the current magnetic field.
Other hunters have brought out a radar vibrator, which worked by sending radar waves down from the earth’s surface through tiny vibrations and receiving feedback.
Because vibrations traveled through ice, earth, rocks, and meteorites in different ways, the signals could be used to determine what lay beneath.
Li Du was empty-handed, with only a coil of rope over his shoulder. Seeing this, the meteorite hunters showed derisive expressions.
The Big Beard guy passed by him and said, “What are you going to use to look for a meteorite? I suppose you have a magic eye that can see through ice sheets, don’t you?”
Some meteorite hunters laughed, and Newman Ford shouted, “All right, guys, don’t be funny, just do your job! Can you find a meteorite?”
Myron Ford came over, put his arm around Li Du, and said, “You are shameless to laugh at my friend. He does not have your set of tools, but he found a meteorite, so I think your joking is out of place.”
The hunters’ faces darkened, and their eyes became even less friendly.
The Ford brothers were not as kind as Steve. They were the elite offspring of a big old family, proud and powerful.
Newman and Myron appeared to be standing up for Li Du, but in fact, they were just using him as an incentive out to make the hunters work harder. The hunters understood this and saw it none too kindly.
However, Li Du didn’t care. He was waiting for a chance.
The opportunity came quickly. The hunters walked along the coast. It was the warm season, and the ice on the coast has melted, revealing the land below Some of the places were still covered in ice, though.
When Big Beard came to a ledge of ice, he lowered his probe into the water to see if he could discover something.
Seeing this, Li Du immediately released little bug to absorb the energy of time in the ice under his feet.
These ice sheets have been melting a lot, and their strength enduring weight was reduced. With the little bug’s time absorbing ability, the ice became vulnerable in an instant.
Big Beard weighed at least 120 kilograms, and when he walked on the ice, it could not bear his weight.
With a loud crash, the ice broke, and Big Beard had no time to jump aside. He fell into the icy water with a mighty splash, yelling for help.
Despite the warm season, it was still the coldest region on earth, and falling into the sea was no joke.
The bystanders ducked, then shouted for help, “Come here, quick, Hankway fell into the water!”
Big Beard reached for the ice and tried to climb up, but it was too slippery to hold on to.
On the other hand, the ice was so fragile that as he grabbed at it he made it break further, making his situation even more dangerous.
The hunters who wanted to help were so taken aback that they stopped and hesitated, not knowing what to do.
As the situation grew more critical with every second, a rope flew out and landed precisely in front of Big Beard.
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