Chapter 252 Advantages of the Hundred Thousand Club (1/2)

Chapter 252: Advantages of the Hundred Thousand Club

Translator: Nyoi-Bo StudioEditor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

Li Du was shocked by the price he heard and exclaimed, ”It’s worth millions?! Professor, you must be joking! ”

Dr. Clinken said, ”No, I’m not joking, what you have with you is the Mauritius dodo’s complete skeletal specimen. There are only five of these in the entire world!”

Li Du was thrilled; he couldn’t believe what he was hearing. ”Really? Is my specimen that rare? You mentioned that what I have is the Mauritius dodo, so do you mean the dodo lived in other places as well?”

Dr. Clinken replied, ”Yes, besides the Mauritius dodo, there was also the Rodrigues dodo, which was slimmer than the Mauritius dodo, but flightless as well.

”In addition, there was another white dodo. In actual fact it was not a dodo, but a réunion ibis, which belongs to the genus of storks that happens to be extinct as well...”

The professor said many things about the dodo, but the terms used were too specialized for someone like Li Du to understand.

He understood one major thing: the Mauritius dodo was discovered in the 17th century but became extinct shortly after.

At that time, people did not have the concept of species conservation, therefore many species like the dodo had suffered. Specimens like Li’s—which had been preserved for hundreds of years—were few and far in between. That was why the specimen was so precious.

”How did you preserve your specimen? It’s a miracle that the specimen was so well preserved—even after hundreds of years—without decaying. This is truly exceptional,” Dr. Clinken declared.

Li Du laughed, ”Well I’m not the one who preserved it. I got the specimen by bartering with the Amish...”

He gave an account of how he had gotten the specimen from the Amish to Dr. Clinken, who was amazed by his good luck.

After the enlightening conversation with Dr. Clinken, Li now understood that the Amish couple, Ricky and Ashley Tacoma, had not been lying.

During their lunch at the Amish home, Ricky had mentioned several times that the specimen had been around for several hundred years. Li hadn’t taken it seriously or believed it was true, but he had been wrong!

Both Li and Dr. Clinken were very worked up about the specimen on the phone together. Dr. Clinken could not contain his excitement as he had found a complete dodo skeletal specimen, whereas Li Du could not believe that he owned a specimen that was worth millions of dollars.

After both parties had calmed down, the professor told Li Du a fact as well: the specimen might have been worth millions, but in reality, it was hard to sell for that kind of price.

”It’s not hard to understand how it works,” the professor explained. ”Although the specimen is rare, most of the time, only museums are willing to buy them. And they might not want to pay so much for it.”

Li Du was disappointed upon hearing that. ”Okay, how much will your museum be willing to pay for the specimen?”

Dr. Clinken hesitated for a moment and said, ”The price might be around 100,000 dollars.”

Li Du felt like throwing his phone. The offer amount was a far cry from the millions of dollars he was told about earlier. Something that was worth millions could only be sold for a hundred thousand dollars?

But on second thought, this was still an unexpectedly high price. So he calmed down a bit.

However, it was hard for Li Du not to feel cheated, as the price difference was too significant. He even thought that he should just keep the specimen instead of selling it.

Li Du honestly told Dr. Clinken how he felt about the price difference.

Dr. Clinken said, ”My friend, first of all, the specimen won’t be of much use to you. With all due respect, I’m afraid you're not interested in it.

”Secondly, I think you may not understand how to preserve the specimen—the cost of preservation might be a big sum of money as time goes by. And if the preservation is not done properly, it will become a heap of trash.