Chapter 1284 A Scary Fligh (1/2)

After locating the mammoth cemetery, there was still excavation and trading work to be done.

The last two were simple. There were many independent hunters and tribal people on the Siberian plains. They were considered cheap labor and could be engaged to excavate the mammoth ivory.

As they needed channels to sell the ivory, Li Du got in touch with the owner of Golden Ivory bar to reach out to buyers. Li Du had bribed the owner long before, and the man had been the one to leak out the news of the nuclear magnetic penetration and feedback analysis machine.

That had been a great help to Li Du. If they had been the ones to talk about the machine themselves, the ivory hunters might not have believed them. However, it was different with the owner of Golden Ivory bar. He was a well-known figure in the ivory trade.

With the two mammoth cemetery sites discovered, a large number of mammoth tusks had been excavated. The next step, of entering the market and exchanging them for cash, promised to be easy

For that, Li Du had to thank Steve. He had been the one to look up the people in charge of the mammoth cemetery. After all, there were risks involved in going underground for the excavation. It was Steve who had managed to mobilize his connections to engage the professional men who looked after the safety at the excavation sites.

Looking at the map, Li Du found four more mammoth cemeteries. Altogether, he would be able to make at least twenty million US dollars on this trip to Siberia.

Based on his current situation, twenty million dollars was not too much. Every time he had to support Remonin, he would have to spend at least a million dollars. However, having some deposits in his account was still better than none at all.

As for Seagull Island, the development was on track and the purging of the snakes was almost complete. Li Du was preparing to build a small power generator on the island. For that, he would have to set aside another sum of money.

The diamond mine at Amengda brought good news. It was a rich mine, and some of the diamonds were being polished and prepared for export. However, the diamonds had to be verified and reviewed by the Antwerp World Diamond Centre before they could be sent into the market and sold for cash.

Li Du didn't need to care too much about that. Carl was taking care of it all, since all the diamonds from Amengda were meant to be supplied to Harry Winston, Inc.

Steve suggested that Li Du should engage a professional team of accountants, poaching its members from the top talents of the Big Four accounting firms in the world. That was because Li Du's finances were now extremely complex and it would be best for him to engage professionals to help to manage them.

Li Du accepted the suggestion and intended to resolve that after he returned from Siberia. By May, they were supposed to cross the Arctic Circle, or more exactly, to sail to the Northern Islands.

According to the map, the Islands were to the north of the Siberian Highlands. As they continued traveling north from the Midwest of Siberian Highlands, the road conditions and weather would deteriorate.

Hence, when Li Du's work was done, they decided to change lanes and enter another city. After modifying their vehicles, they would continue to the Northern Islands via a waterway. Their SUVs would also be transported across the waterway.

When Li Du was searching for the last mammoth cemetery, Steve and some of his men started on their journey first. They were going to start the preparation for their expedition to the Arctic.

Early in May, Li Du made arrangements for the excavation work at one of the best spots of the mammoth cemetery. Then, he drove to a small town nearby, where there was an airport. They were going to take a plane to a transit city – The Arctic Black Pearl, Vorkuta.

Vorkuta was the administrative center of the Pechora mine in Russia as well as the main coal-mining center. The city was nicknamed 'Arctic Black Pearl' because of the resources it possessed.

In fact, before the discovery of the coal mine, the city had been a labor camp of the Soviet Union. Its specific location was in the northeast corner of the Autonomous Republic of Komi, Russia, 160 kilometers south of the Arctic Circle. It had a population of 200,000 people.

Based on what Li Du knew, the city was a rather primitive one. It was built entirely on the foundation of a coal company, which was home to one of the world's most famous energy companies, Vorkuta Coal Co., Ltd., and Northern Steel Group. Half of the population in the city was related to the two large corporations.

The plane they were traveling on was very rundown. Perhaps a more accurate description would be that it was fit for the recycling plant. The seats on the plane looked flattened from prolonged strain and it was uncomfortable sitting on them.

Li Du wanted to put on his safety belt when he realized, to his horror, that there was none.