Chapter 1244 Mammoth Ivory Hunter (2/2)

Now that there was clear evidence, the youths started to tell the truth as they were frightened. They revealed that they had wanted to steal the telescope but had been attacked by the animals.

As the small town had prepared for incidents like this, the local doctor was present at the campsite. The doctor and nurse rushed over to treat the young men's wounds before they were brought to the police station.

Li Du was too lazy to stoop to the level of those youths and merely complied with the procedures to sue them for stealing. He chose to stay on at the camp to join in the rest of the gathering.

Although the gathering was officially held over two days, it would stretch for a day or two. Li Du was planning to stay until 14 February before he would begin his journey back to Phoenix.

Hans had sold off the portrait of the prince. His idea had been very clever. This painting fetched a million dollars for them.

Like the painting verification master, Logan Stanley, had mentioned, Spoilum's paintings could sell for millions. However, Logan had made that comment with the assumption that the painting would be sold at an auction. As it had been sold through private channels at that price, it was already considered a pretty impressive feat.

In the second half of February, Hans managed to sell off another three paintings. The prices of those three were slightly lower. They were collectively sold for 2,200,000 US dollars.

As for the telescopes, Li Du did not intend to sell them. He wanted to keep them for himself. Observing the stars was something that he felt was very interesting.

As February ended and March began, spring was in full bloom. They started to get ready for their trip to Siberia.

Siberia was a vast area of ​​North Asia, stretching from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Chukchi Peninsula in the east, and from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the mountains in the north-central part of Kazakhstan in the southwest and the Mongolian and Stanovoy Range in the south. Siberia spanned across an impressive 13 million square kilometers.

Li Du was going to accompany Luo Qun to search for the person who murdered her family. It was definitely going to be a long journey. After all, it was difficult to look for someone in a region as vast as Siberia.

Fortunately, Luo Qun had taken advantage of the connections she had amassed during her stint as a police officer. She had been doing some checks and found that Jonas Malone was indeed somewhere in Siberia. He was doing work related to excavating mammoth ivory.

Humans understood mammoths well. They were the distant cousins of elephants, but bigger-sized and stronger. They had been completely extinct for more than 3500 years.

These animals had survived on earth for three to four hundred thousand years. They could have gone on to become one of the animals that humans could domesticate and interact with. However, they went into extinction when civilizations first kicked in.

In ancient times, the mammoths lived in wide range areas and there were many different species. They had been named after the place where they were first discovered. Some of those species included Columbian mammoth, Romanian mammoth, North American gnome mammoth, Wrangel mammoth, African mammoth, southern mammoth, Sardinian mammoth and so on.

However, few of those mammoths had been successfully preserved. They were named after the wreckage left behind.

Siberia was an exception. From the prehistoric era, it had been a cold and deserted area. When mammoths died, they would be frozen in the soil and were often well-preserved thanks to unique geological activities or some other reasons.

Hence, a new profession was born in Siberia. Those people worked like meteorite hunters but could be defined as ivory hunters. There were many people who had become rich from excavating mammoth ivory.

Li Du had a map of the mammoth ivory locations. He was planning to become a mammoth ivory hunter himself during his trip in Siberia.

In March, Steve waited for them in Alaska so they could meet up. Then they flew towards Russia across the Bering Strait.

Other than its southwestern area, Siberia was almost entirely a part of Russia. Based on its terrain, the vast region could be divided into three parts: the Western Siberian Plain, the Central Siberian Plateau, and the Eastern Siberian Mountains.

Li Du's destination was the Central Siberian Plateau, where the weather was cold and the environment harsh. There were few people around there, but in the past, many mammoths had roamed in the area. Most of the mammoth ivory that ended up in the market had been found there.

Of course, many mammoths also used to live in the West Siberia Plains. However, the weather there was warmer and hence, the environment was not ideal for preserving mammoth remains.

Although Luo Qun had resigned from the police force, she had not been idling around. She had been busy checking up on Jonas Malone and located him to be somewhere near the highlands of Mid-west Siberia.