Chapter 649 An Unusual Discovery (2/2)

As everyone knew, these machines were the reason for the search.

After muttering to himself, Li Du said to Surgi, ”You can call the police, but I believe the police will prove my innocence. Besides, although I didn't find any clues, my dog will be able to find the machine.”

The previous night when the machine had been working, there was a tent put up outside—there was bound to be some traces left behind.

Li Du found a torn piece of tent fabric and a broken tent pole. He beckoned Ah Ow over and let her sniff them. He then covered her eyes and motioned for Brother Wolf to destroy the items.

Hughes got anxious and said, ”Are you trying to destroy the evidence? Stop him!”

Li Du sneered, ”I think you're actually afraid that my dog will unearth more evidence?”

The man with the ponytail gazed at him doubtfully. ”Hey buddy, are you sure your dog can find the machine?”

”If the machine and the tent were hidden together,” Li Du said, ”then she will be able to find them.”

The man with the ponytail nodded. ”Well, let's take a look at what you can do. If you fail, then we'll tell the police about you destroying evidence.”

Brother Wolf burned the tent fragments and tent pole, and then Li Du released Ah Ow as a sign to her to look for these things.

Ah Ow started by taking a forceful sniff; her little body wandered up and down, before running a few steps further and then she howled at the ground below her.

Li Du dug up the gravel and found another tent fragment.

He shook his head and said, ”No, not right. Not this one.”

Ah Ow blinked and continued sniffing. She then dashed off eastward.

She ran in small steps, with her nose plastered on the ground to find the scent left behind by the tent and the machine. Finally, after running about two miles, she entered an ore hut.

This was a scenic spot; the stone hut had been built by the local Native Americans, using stone fragments. One of the most famous models was the agate house, which was a cultural icon of the United States' heritage.

The stone hut she found was not a cultural icon, but a featured scenic spot. In order to protect the huts, their doors were usually locked to prevent people from entering.

The group of them went over. The man with the ponytail frowned. ”It's wrong. In the morning, we guessed that the machine could be here. We searched the hut. There's nothing in here.”

Ah Ow kept howling at the hut, and wandered about excitedly in front of the door.

Li Du released the little bug into the house. Indeed, there was nothing in there—it was completely empty.

However, when the little bug flew underground, a space in the ground appeared before his eyes—in it were some machines and tents.

He had found the machines, and he had also found the gemstones.

There was a box in the corner of the basement. When the little bug flew into it, he saw a piece of soft and delicate black velvet inside—the brightly-colored fire opals had been placed on top of it!

The previous night, six machines had been used to search for the fire opals. The returns were pretty good—there was a total of 40-something fire opals of varying sizes in the box.

Their quality was not bad, and on average, even better than those Li Du had found. He estimated their haul to be worth a few million dollars or as much as tens of millions of dollars.

This was quite a common occurrence; when optical machines were used to search for opals, they were only able to find good quality opals. Turbid opals were not sensitive to light, and were usually destroyed like stones.

Using the little bug to find opals was much more exhaustive than this. But with this way, all were found and excavated.

This was one of the reasons national parks prohibited the use of machines to search for gemstones. Once machines were permitted, gem hunters would bring in a lot of them.

The machines could only find good quality gemstones, and the gemstones with poor quality would be destroyed.