Chapter 997 Surmise (1/2)

After traveling through a few hills not far away from the army camp, a meandering river appeared in front of them.

This river flowed from the southeast to the northwest. The muddy river was relatively narrow, only a few meters wide, and the current was gentle.

There were a few black soldiers carrying loaded rifles by the river, acting as lookout posts at the river bank. And there was also a pickup truck mounted with a machine gun patrolling the river. The defenses were extremely tight.

At the river, there was a large number of people wearing clothes so worn out they looked as if they were naked. All of them were bending over as they sifted the sand in the water. Humming sounds came from an operating machine by the river. They washed the sand and put it on the conveyor belt of the machine. The conveyor belt ran as some of the people were standing at both side to check for any diamonds.

Li Du had seen this method not long ago at Remonin's diamond mountain. The mining work at Remonin's, however, seemed much more comfortable. Those miners wore rubber boots and proper clothes. The soldiers allowed them to take breaks, and they could get water to drink from time to time.

The miners here were like refugees. All of them were expressionless with absolutely no spirit in their eyes. They were working like robots. It seemed like there was no life in them.

Li Du took a deep breath and said, ”Good commander, is this where you mine your diamonds?”

Good nodded. ”Yes, this is my mine. This is my territory, and the diamonds here are my wealth.”

As he spoke, he walked along the river bank with Li Du. ”Just as you see, my diamonds are pure and natural. They were washed from the sand in the river, and are extremely good quality. Are they worth a lot?”

This was true. Generally speaking, diamonds mined from the sand in rivers were worth more than the diamonds found from crushed kimberlites.

Diamonds were naturally extremely hard. However, after being hit by the sand in the river over a long time, the surface of the diamonds eventually wore away.

As a result, if the diamond of the same size was taken to be processed, the diamond from the river would have a higher utilization.

The river was very long. It surrounded the mountains and stretched out to no end.

Good continued to walk upstream along the river bank with Li Du. After leaving the mining area, a lot of sand and stones on the upper reaches of the river still had clear excavation marks on them and in the waters around them. Obviously, this used to be a mining area and was abandoned now.

They continued to move forward. Soon enough, they could see Good's military camp from a distance.

As they strolled along the river, Good lit a cigarette and said, ”The diamonds that I own are from this river. So it may well be argued that this is a money river, right?”

Li Du nodded. ”Yes. Congratulations.”

Good waved his hand. ”No, there is nothing to congratulate me for. Although this is truly a money river, it is not entirely under my control. The source of this river is under my territory. It originates from a hill. I always thought that its source was groundwater that flowed into the hill. But later I realized that this was not the case.”

Li Du asked, ”Then, what is it?”

Good casually blew out a smoke ring and said, ”It was an underground river that brought diamonds from somewhere far away to where we are.”

Li Du tried hard to look into the distance, but this was a mountainous region. His vision was blocked by mountains and hills.

However, according to the direction the river was flowing from, he knew that it was Remonin's territory right in front of them.