Chapter 571: Little Capable Ones
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
After the success with its attack, the wolf's attacking speed increased.
Tossing its head, it threw Ah Meow onto the ground and then ran up to him from behind. Then, it opened its mouth, about to bite him.
Ah Meow had landed on a pile of broken rocks upon hitting the ground. Li Du and the others felt their hearts ache for the pain he must have felt.
But he didn't care and got up after turning over twice. By this time, the wolf had already caught up, and had exposed its razor-sharp teeth. It was poised to kill!
At this critical moment, Ah Meow jerked its back claws forcefully. Instead of directing them at the wolf, he used his claws to dig up the rocks from the pile.
The ocelot was strong and his paws acted like two spring hammers. They hit the broken rocks with a thud and a few immediately flew up.
The speed at which the rocks flew up was quick. As the wild wolf sped forward, the rocks hit his face with a bunch of whack sounds.
A rock hit him smack on its nose—a weak spot for canines. The ferocious wolf moaned and did not continue its attack on Ah Meow. Instead, it tilted its head and took a step to the side.
Taking advantage of the gap, Ah Meow sped forward, looking like a fast-forwarded movie. In the time that everyone else had taken a breath, he had already raced 20 feet away.
The wolf shook its head and the two predators glared at each other again.
Now, it had started to regard Ah Meow as a worthy opponent—throughout their encounter, Ah Meow had actually been gaining the upper hand!
Looking at this, Godzilla and Big Quinn were both dumbfounded. Big Quinn muttered, "Really unbelievable! So shocking that the ocelot could actually be a match for a wolf on the plains?"
"Ah Meow's winning—he's more than a match!" Godzilla corrected.
Under the starlit sky, the fight between the two beasts in the wilderness, as they were surrounded by gravel, was indeed an astounding sight to behold!
Facing the wild wolf, Ah Meow was gaining confidence. It was as though he were not an ocelot but a small tiger.
The wild wolf's will to fight had dwindled; it looked at Ah Meow with fear before retreating apprehensively.
When it had reached the side of a small hill, it disappeared under the cloak of darkness and left with haste.
Seeing that, the trio cheered, "Yeah!"
Sophie beckoned at Ah Meow from inside the tent. He dashed over and leaped into her arms, his big eyes gleaming with the pride and glory belonging to a winner.
"Well done, Ah Meow's such an amazing kid." The lady doctor heaped praises on him as she poured some milk into the palm of her hand for him to drink.
As she praised the ocelot, she turned her head around to look for the wolf pup. "Ah Ow also did well—she was so brave. Hey, where's Ah Ow?"
Li Du looked around and saw the wolf pup running toward the hill where the wild wolf had disappeared, looking both spirited and smug.
"Ah Ow, come back!" Li Du cried as he chased after her.
The brat actually knew that one should completely eliminate a conquered threat, and so chased after the defeated wolf. She was not aware, however, that she shouldn't chase after the threat in case it retaliated. This was especially the case for a little piece of meaty bait like herself.
Luckily, the wild wolf had really left. If it had been laying in ambush behind the hill, it would have jumped out to gobble the wolf pup up.
Li Du ran up and grabbed Ah Ow by the scruff of her neck. Ah Ow struggled, with a "let go of me, I still wanna put up a fight" look on her face.
The sudden attack by the wild wolf had caused them to be wide awake.
Li Du looked at the time—it was only 2:30 am. There were two and a half more hours before daybreak.
Godzilla said, "You guys sleep, I'll keep watch."
"I'll keep watch too," Li Du sighed. "Darling, go to sleep and get some rest with the three kids."
Sophie, who was still sleepy, smothered a yawn. Not being able to conquer her drowsiness, she went back to sleep with the three of them.
The starry sky became brighter during the second half of the night; it was full of flashing, colorful stars. Li Du remembered how he had seen the gem mine glittering under the sunlight. Both scenes were equally beautiful and mesmerizing.
Godzilla added more firewood to the bonfire in front of the tent so that the flames could be bigger.
Li Du got a box of sausages from the car and skewered them for grilling on the bonfire.
Godzilla beamed upon seeing the food.
"What an easily satisfied kid," Li Du laughed. "But this is for me. You gotta make your own."
He usually replenished his energy through sleep and food. Since he could not sleep, he could only use food as sustenance.
The winds in the wilderness were mighty, causing the bonfire to make a hoo sound while dispersing the smell from the grilling sausages.
After eating five sausages that were as thick as small ham rolls, Li Du stood up to stretch.
He waved to Godzilla and then started to wander about under the night sky. At the same time, he released the little bug to continue its search for opals.
Using him as the center, the little bug flew in circular motions outwards. Hence, given this method of widening each circle, nothing would be missed.
He raised his head to look at the sky even though he could see nothing—his vision was that of the little bug's.
He didn't really want to look at the sky but instead wanted to give people the impression that he liked to gaze at the starry sky.
The little bug made many rounds and flew about for more than 10 minutes without discovering anything.
As he was about to despair, the little bug finally found a gemstone under a pile of rocks north of where he was.
He perked up upon seeing this gemstone—it was a huge opal. Being as large as a child's fist, he reckoned it was at least 1,000 carats.
For an opal to be of such size and weight it would have to be an extraordinary emergence—just like how Yao Ming had emerged from among the Chinese.
As far as he could see, this gemstone looked pure and was a nice color. It was not the best blood-red color but was orangey-red, resembling the colors of dusk.
The gemstone's location was quite deep in the ground, over three feet. But since it was quite a hefty size, Li Du was willing to put in the effort to retrieve it.
Hence, he squatted there to move the rocks away. Soon after, a furry creature appeared next to him and caused him to jump in fright. Only when he took a close look did he realize it was Crispy Noodles.
He'd been over the moon at discovering the huge gemstone and had let his guard down.
Upon seeing Crispy Noodles, he quickly looked around. Luckily, there was no one nearby—Godzilla was still grilling sausages while Big Quinn and Sophie were still sleeping soundly in the tent.
Crispy Noodles had appeared to lend a hand; he probably hadn't slept and when he discovered that Li Du was digging rocks, he ran out to help.
And so the man and the raccoon started to dig. Crispy Noodles was capable of digging and could dig much faster than Li Du.
As he dug deeper and deeper, it was apparent that he was much better at it. Eventually, Li Du stopped digging altogether and let Crispy Noodles do the work.