Chapter 736: Effortless
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Not only were there two tough, hefty men threatening the thief, there was still a wolf howling and an ocelot brandishing his claws to intimidate him. As such, the thief was completely overwhelmed.
Both Godzilla and Big Quinn were mean people who would show no mercy to those who had wronged them. After seeing the thief yielding to them, their facial expressions became much more pleasant.
Unlike them, Li Du still appeared very dark. He sneered, "Sorry? If saying sorry was effective, would there still be a need for policemen and judges?"
If there really was a policeman or a judge here, the thief would not be afraid.
Just like what the thief had said, as the abalones were grown in the wild and were not bred by anyone, if an abalone had not been harvested, it belonged to the person that found and harvested it.
Generally speaking, in regards to finding and harvesting, experienced abalone harvesters were not stumped by how to harvest the abalones but by how to find them.
As Li Du was a novice, he'd endured some hardship when harvesting abalones. Earlier, when he surfaced from the water and dived back down again, the thief had noticed him and suspected that a novice had probably found an abalone.
Since he was quite a distance away earlier, he hadn't seen Godzilla's and Big Quinn's hefty physiques clearly, and it was only at this point in time that he realized he had messed with the wrong people.
If the police were here, he would not be afraid as they would not be able to charge him for what he'd done. At worst, he would just say that he'd made a mistake.
However, as the person that had the biggest fists got to call the shots since there was no policeman here, he yielded to them. This could only be described as "a wicked person naturally suffering at the hands of other wicked people."
Left with no choice, the thief gave a depressed stare and said, "Sir, what will you have me do?"
Li Du replied, "I am actually a very affable and kind person. As long as no one messes me, I will not mess with anyone. However, once someone messes with me, it won't be over so easily."
After speaking, he waved his hand and ordered, "Godzilla, pull a boat over and tie rocks onto this fella's body for him to sink into the sea."
Having heard his words, the corner of Big Quinn's mouth twitched while he tried to hold himself back from asking a question: "Is that a joke?" But he quickly understood that Li Du was joking as he would never do something like this.
Godzilla did not hesitate. Once again, he walked over and picked the thief up like he was picking up a small chick before turning around to search for a boat.
The thief, who was scared out of his wits, screamed, "F*ck! F*ck! Oh no, help, help, help! You can't do this! There a lot of people here—all of them have seen us! You cannot do this!"
The thief did not doubt Li Du's order. As Godzilla's and Big Quinn's physiques were too terrifying and Big Quinn's face looked so fierce, not a single person would doubt it if both of them were said to be members of a gang.
Furthermore, the ocelot and wolf that Li Du had also brought along made him seem a lot like those gang bosses that loved to play with wild animals.
Lu Guan, who, unlike the others, was clever enough to figure out Li Du's intention, walked over and took the initiative to persuade Li Du. "Boss, forget it, forget it. There are too many people here, let's bring him to a quiet place first before dealing with him."
The thief exclaimed, "No, no, no—I only stole your abalone! You can't do this! Help!"
Li Du pointed impatiently at him. "Shut it! If you open your mouth again, I will kill you. Shut your mouth now. I have a few things to ask you. If your answers are satisfactory, I will let you go!"
"Okay-okay-okay." The thief nodded his head like a pestle pounding garlic.
Li Du asked, "How to harvest abalone in just one breath? I can't pry these things up with a pry bar. Also, briefly tell me everything you know about harvesting black gold abalone."
Once the thief heard the questions, he heaved a sigh of relief and explained, "As black gold abalones stick very strongly to the reef, it is very difficult to harvest them in one breath. You should pry a part of them away from the reef first and then stuff an abalone card inside.
"Since the abalone cards are very smooth, an abalone won't be able to stick onto the reef after a card is placed between it and the reef. By gradually prying it and stuffing the abalone card deeper inside, the abalone will ultimately stick completely to the abalone card, which will make harvesting it easy.
"Or, since some parts of the reef that the abalones are stuck to have already become less sturdy from being soaked in seawater, you can use knives or similar tools to break those parts off.
"After an abalone leaves the water, instead of continuing to adhere to a piece of rock, it will want to leave the rock and go back into the water. When that happens, you can easily—"
"Don't tell me useless information." Li Du pretended to be impatient. "I know all this. Tell me some things that I don't know."
Just like that, by intimidating the thief, Li Du managed to obtain knowledge on harvesting abalone that he'd wanted to know all along from him. Furthermore, the explanations from the thief were more detailed.
Having obtained all the information that he needed, he waved his hand to signal to Godzilla to release the thief.
After Godzilla let go of the thief, he immediately bolted away.
Li Du chuckled, "F*ck, can't get any information when I tried so hard, and yet managed to get all the information I needed without much effort."
Having found out how to pry black gold abalone, Li Du had a much easier time harvesting going forward.
He released the little bug for it to swim around in the water before diving into the water once more. Subsequently, he found a large abalone that was stuck to the reef and measured it by extending his arm.
The abalone was one foot long. Although it was slightly smaller than the previous abalone, it could also be harvested.
As such, he gently stuffed a pry bar into the base of the abalone and forcefully pried it from the reef little by little. In the meantime, using his other hand, he took out a smooth abalone card and stuffed it in the space between the reef and the abalone after prying a part of the abalone away from the reef.
Since black gold abalones grew at a very slow rate, more than a decade was usually required for one to grow this big.
Due to the shells of abalones growing bigger from the long period of growth in the water, and them not moving much, some seaweeds, and aquatic plants would take root on their shells.
This was considered a type of symbiotic relationship. Since the places where black gold abalones were usually found had swift currents and hence, were rich in nutrients, seaweeds and aquatic plants could take this opportunity to take in the nutrients and grow.
On the other hand, black gold abalone could use the seaweeds and aquatic plants as cover to protect themselves from being discovered by predators. With this, a symbiotic relationship was established among abalones, seaweeds, and aquatic plants.
It was also the reason for harvesters not being able to easily find black gold abalones. Even though the areas of the sea that the abalones lived in had very clear water, finding black gold abalones in the water was too difficult as they would either squeeze into the reef's gaps and live in them or be covered up by seaweeds and aquatic plants that grew on their shells.
In order to find black gold abalone, one could only dive into the water and depend on their luck. As such, finding black gold abalone was the same as finding opal.
After resurfacing a few times, Li Du finally pried the abalone away from the reef. He happily raised the abalone and said, "Hey, friends, I harvested another one!"
The two large abalones were placed inside a box. While Lu Guan and the others gathered around the box to look at them, Lu Guan exclaimed, "They are really ugly."
In truth, as the bodies of black gold abalones were as black as ink and full of bumps and depressions on the surface, they looked very ugly when they had just come out of the water.
Although the most beautiful part of an abalone was its shell, the shells of black gold abalones were even uglier than their bodies. Besides weeds growing all over their shells, lots of debris from the reef—the result of the reef being eroded for months and years by the water currents—had also accumulated on them.
With them being ugly and large, Ah Meow, who had always been fond of seafood, was uninterested in them and left in disgust after looking at them while lying next to the box.
Despite that, Li Du was not bothered. Since their value was not dependent on their looks, they were very valuable even though they were ugly.