YM778.TV Chapter 618: Water and Fire
Chapter 618: Water and Fire
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Besides the Narwhals’ teeth and balance springs of high-grade wrist watches, they also gained a complete set of high-grade furniture, a set of silverware, a safe full of gold and silver jewelry, and more than 50 laptops.
Among which, the Narwhals’ teeth were the most valuable. For centuries, people have always related the Narwhals’ long teeth with mythical unicorns and believed that they possessed potent medicinal and magical effects.
Unfortunately, they were not in the right era. In the European Middle Ages, this “unicorn horn” was worth 10 times its weight in gold.
Allegedly, Queen Elizabeth I of England had once kept a Narwhal’s tooth worth 10,000 pounds, which could buy a castle in that era.
Currently, Narwhals’ teeth could only be used as ornaments and were worth much less. However, there were still a lot of people interested in them and hence, they could still sell for a good price.
Hans had asked a friend to help check and found that the Narwhal’s tooth was rarely seen on the market. The latest open sale was in the year 2005 where Oliver Tang, the manager of a store in the north of Arctic Bay, Canada, used 75,000 US dollars to procure four Narwhals’ teeth from hunters in the polar region.
Oliver placed a Narwhal’s tooth inside a box and shipped it by boat to North Bay, Ontario, where it was auctioned off to an art dealer and collector for a total of 280,000 dollars.
All in all, a Narwhal’s tooth was worth around 70,000 dollars in the year 2005 and taking inflation into account, a Narwhal’s tooth would definitely be worth at least around 10,000 dollars at present.
Right now, as Narwhals were much rarer and had already been restricted by the Arctic Council from being hunted, a Narwhal’s tooth could sell for an even higher price if they handled it right.
In the past, the beautiful sea creature could also be spotted in Canadian waters but was now rarely seen. Japanese whalers had, for many years, wreaked havoc in the Arctic, resulting in a rapid decrease in the number of Narwhals from 10,500 in 1986 to 1,500 in 2002.
Today, if someone wanted to see Narwhals, they had to go to the Arctic waters or the west coast of Greenland.
In order to protect the Narwhals, the Arctic Council placed them on a restricted hunting list while the Greenland local government stipulated that local hunters were only allowed to hunt at most five Narwhals per year.
Li Du took a Narwhal tooth as he needed to prepare a present for Sophie father’s birthday.
Regrettably, he was unable to personally attend the birthday party, which was today. He initially planned to use a day and a half to clean up the storage units so he could hurry back in time.
However, as God’s plans supersede our own, Li Du was kidnapped. He was not able to return as he needed to assist the Las Vegas police and Knight’s group to solve this case.
With no other alternatives, he called Sophie on the day of the birthday. Poor Sophie, who was still waiting for him to come, picked up the call and immediately asked cheerfully, “Darling, where are you at?”
Li Du replied helplessly, “Sorry darling, I am still in Las Vegas.”
“Huh?” Sophie responded quickly before thoughtfully inquiring, “The auction did not go smoothly?”
Li Du initially did not want to tell her about the kidnapping incident to avoid worrying her.
However, after thinking about it carefully, he realized that even if he could hide the incident from her now, he could not hide it from her forever as Sophie, being so close with him, would find out eventually. Even if he didn’t tell her, other treasure hunters would spill the beans.
Furthermore, it was his first time participating in one of Sophie’s family gatherings after going steady with her, so he needed a proper reason for not attending.
As such, he told the truth. “Darling, I was kidnapped two days ago.”
Sophie was taken aback and said, “Are you playing with me?”
Before finishing what she had to say, Sophie was already sobbing. She obviously knew that Li Du would not use such news to play with her.
Li Du hurriedly said, “Don’t panic, don’t panic. I am alright. I safely escaped but have to stay here to assist the police in solving the case…”
He had not finished his words before Sophie said, “Alright, I will accompany you!”
Li Du smiled. “Why would you come and accompany me? Accompanying Thomas for his birthday will do…”
The call was hung up before he could finish his words. In the end, it was self-explanatory.
The impression Sophie gave him was always one that was gentle. This was the first time he saw her being so rash and panicky.
After about 20 minutes, Rose called him.
Li Du curiously picked up the call before Rose asked, “You were kidnapped? And escaped?”
“Uh, how did you know?” Mr. Li was dumbfounded.
Rose mumbled, “I’m a police officer and our internal department would notify us of such news. I saw that a Chinese called Li Du was kidnapped in Las Vegas and guessed it could be you. In the end, I was unfortunately correct.”
What did she mean by unfortunately correct? Li Du was depressed by these two words. As he was not killed, was it appropriate to describe the situation using “unfortunately?”
However, after thinking it through, being kidnapped was also unfortunate enough. Nonetheless, it seemed very amiss to him for such words to come out of Rose’s mouth.
What was even more amiss was that it had been more than 24 hours since he was kidnapped and Rose only knew about this now? Moreover, she called just right after he had spoken to Sophie.
Thinking of it this way, he said suspiciously, “What news from the internal department? It was Sophie who told you, right?”
Right after he finished speaking, Rose started laughing. “Hahaha, you managed to guess it? Hahaha, you are really amazing and have great inferential skills. No wonder you could escape after being kidnapped by eight people.”
Li Du inquired, “How did you know eight people kidnapped me?”
Rose replied, “If your current intellect is the same as when you were kidnapped, you would be screwed. Obviously, I went to check on the case after Sophie told me the news.”
Li Du smiled bitterly. “Alright, alright. What’s your purpose for calling? How did Sophie inform you of this?”
Rose replied, “That lady was anxiously on her way and met me while I was patrolling. I found out about the incident while taking her to her flight. Very coincidental, right?”
Li Du said, “Indeed, it was very coincidental. Alright, I am fine. Thank you for your concern.”
In the end, Li Du was baffled when Rose, all of a sudden, became angry. “I am not here to care for you, I am here to question you. Why did you not call me first after being kidnapped?”
Li Du helplessly replied “Why should I call you? Can you fly over from Flagstaff to save me? What’s more, I had already escaped when I got a phone.”
“Then you should have also let me know,” Rose said confidently.
“Would it do any good to let you know? For you to worry about me?”
Rose was momentarily speechless before she replied, “No, as you are my tenant, I have to be responsible for your safety. I was also suspicious of you getting kidnapped, alright? Furthermore, if you died, it would be beneficial for me to rent out the house. I can’t possibly let it go to waste being unoccupied…”
“You bit*h!” Li Du said indignantly.
Rose said, “Just playing with you. Am I that kind of a person? No matter if you are dead or alive, my house belongs to you for the next year.”