Treasure Hunt Tycoon
Autor: Full-Metal Bullet© WebNovel
Kapitel 1: The Purple Bug
Flagstaff was a small town in the southwestern United States. It was located in Northern Arizona, near the edge of the Colorado Plateau. The City of Las Vegas was not far to the west of Flagstaff, while the famous Grand Canyon was nearby to the east.
Most Chinese people were probably quite familiar with many parts of the United States; Arizona, the Grand Canyon, and Las Vegas, but few knew about Flagstaff, the city in between Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon.
Half a year ago, Li Du was like most Chinese people and had not heard of Flagstaff. That changed when he moved there for his studies.
Flagstaff was not well-known in either China nor America, but it did have several good universities such as Northern Arizona University and CollegeAmerica at Flagstaff.
The school that Li Du came to study at was called National College at Flagstaff. The name of the school was only a single word away from the name "CollegeAmerica in Flagstaff," but the quality of education was vastly different.
CollegeAmerica at Flagstaff was an affiliated campus of CollegeAmerica with a great reputation as a privately funded University, and it offered undergraduates bachelor's and master's curriculums.
As for National College at Flagstaff? It was really just a diploma mill that Li Du was tricked into attending for his master's degree.
Barely half a year after he paid his tuition for the first semester, the school was closed for an investigation. By then, the board members of the school and the employees in the admissions office had been long gone and left behind a bunch of international students who were summarily driven out of the campus by the police.
Li Du was one of the lucky few who had his own place to stay. The dorm was too crowded and chaotic, and in order to focus on studying, Li Du rented out a room in an apartment and lived off campus instead. Therefore, Li Du at least still had a place to stay while many of his classmates who had paid for on-campus accommodations were drifting on the streets.
Other than the housing situation, however, Li Du was not much better off than his schoolmates. It was already the end of January, and his rent was due. If he could not pay it in time, he would have to accept his fate on the streets.
The problem was that he had no money!
He could borrow some from his friends and family back in China if he was still a student studying abroad. But now that the school was closed for the investigation, his plan to get a master's degree was ruined, and he was too ashamed to ask for money from his parents. He also couldn't borrow money from his friends. No, Li Du's pride prevented him from doing so.
As he sat in front of the small house with a frown on his face, the pine doors behind him were pushed open by a blonde girl. "Hey Li, you're here!"
This girl was his landlord, Hannah Fox. The house belonged to both Hannah and her brother, Hans Fox. They inherited it from their parents, who both passed away in a car crash.
Hans always claimed that he was "busy with big business," and only came back once in a blue moon, so Hannah rented out the open room for some extra income.
Upon hearing her greeting, Li Du got up and replied, "Oh, yes, Hannah. What's up?"
The girl shrugged as she smiled, displaying a dimple on her beautiful face. "I was just cleaning up the fridge earlier and found these bottles of beer. They were definitely left behind by Hans. I remembered that you enjoy wheat beer, so how about finishing it?"
In her hands were half a dozen beer bottles in their common cardboard packaging, the Budweiser logo on the side.
Li Du caught sight of the beer and responded to Hannah with a grin. There was only a small fridge in the apartment, which he used daily, and there had been no beer in it earlier.
Also, knowing Hans's obsession with alcohol, nothing would be left over if there was beer in the fridge.
A better guess was that Hannah got this beer for Li Du to cheer him up. Several times since the school was closed for investigation Hannah had tried to comfort him. Li Du was touched by her kindness.
The only thing was, Hannah's consolation was quite simple; either she gave him some inspirational books, or she got him some beer.
This American girl had previously learned a bit of Chinese culture, or more specifically, the saying that "one night of drinking can resolve a thousand worries." From this saying, she came to the conclusion that Chinese people would let go of all their worries after a night of drinking. This was why she bought Li Du beer when she felt he was upset.
Li Du accepted the beer, as he knew that in American culture there were some gifts that could not be refused; otherwise, it would be a sign of refusing friendship. Li Du really cherished his friendship with Hannah, and he knew that one day he would have to repay Hannah for all her kindness.
After Li Du took the six pack of beer, Hannah smiled and walked away. As she was leaving, she said, "There are many problems in life, but it is still beautiful nonetheless."
After repeating this saying a few times, Li Du reached for a bottle of beer. Just as he took one out, the box tipped over, and an amber-like crystal fell out. It dropped onto the ground, making a crack! when it hit.
This crystal was about the size of his thumb, and as it struck the ground relatively hard, a few cracks could be seen on its surface.
The reason why Li Du thought it a piece of amber was because the crystal was tinged with yellow, and contained a small creature inside. At first glance, this crystal looked very similar to the amber he had seen in class back in the sixth grade.
As he began reminiscing about his past, Li Du remembered that his teacher had mentioned that amber pieces with small insects trapped inside were very valuable. It was unfortunate that this amber was damaged already. What a pity! He thought that it could possibly be worth as much as two months of his living cost.
The crystal had hit the ground quite hard, and when he picked it up, it fell apart and revealed the purple bug inside.
The bug had the shape of a grasshopper, about two centimeters long. It had an eccentric outer appearance and had compound eyes just like a grasshopper. There were only two legs with strange marks under its belly and no wings on its back. It looked to be quite clumsy.
As Li Du had never seen this kind of insect before, he picked it up to take a better look.
Just at this moment, something unbelievable happened: the bug's claws twitched, and it seemingly had its vitality restored as it struggled to break free from his fingers.
He did not have time to process what was happening when the little bug jumped on his hand and lowered its head. And, just like that, it slowly dove into his palm!
Seeing this, Li Du became so terrified that he almost peed in his pants!
An amber-encased insect resurrecting was already frightening enough, but this bug had taken it a step further by driving itself into his skin—just like what happened in the movie Alien—leaving behind a tattoo-like mark.
Letting out a scream, he stumbled into the house while shouting, "Hannah, call nine-one-one, please! Help, a bug just dug itself into my hand!"
His scream sounded so miserable and scared that Hannah came out from her room with a terrified look on her face. "What? What bug?"
Li Du opened his hand and said, "This one! This bug in my palm!"
Hannah's expression immediately changed to bewilderment. "The bug in your palm? What bug in your palm?"
Not only was there a bug, but that bug was even wiggling! It seemed unwilling to remain calm after getting into Li Du's palm. Now it was trying to get out again, leaving half of its body poking out of his skin.
Li Du pointed to the half-shown bug and mumbled in terror, "This one, this purple bug! Can't you see it?"
Hannah's expression immediately turned even more terrified than Li Du's. Then she started to slowly back away, and said, "Li, I know that it is hard for you to accept the closing of your school, but I've always thought of you as a warrior, a very tough individual…"
Li Du instantly interrupted her: "I know what you mean, you think I've lost my mind! But Hannah, I haven't! It's just that my school was closed, that wouldn't cause me to go crazy…
"Sh*t, it came out again!"
Just as he was shouting, the bug slowly crawled out of his skin, jumped onto the floor, stood up on its legs, and began to walk on the ground like a human.
Thankfully, it landed next to a drain. Without paying much attention to where it was going, it fell down the drain.
Li Du watched it fall and felt a wave of relief. "Oh good, the bug fell down the drain."
Subconsciously, however, a thought popped into Li Du's mind: What's in a drain? Wastewater that can quickly drown the bug?
However, just as he thought of this, an even more unbelievable event occurred.
Kapitel 2: A New Sight
Just as the thought of "I wonder whether that little bug was drowned" occurred in Li Du's mind, his vision suddenly swayed, and then went dark.
At that moment, he was standing at the doorway of the house, and he should have been seeing the view of the front street, but instead, he saw a giant steel fence looming in his sight.
That change was truly mind-boggling, and he was suddenly stumped.
With a surprised jolt of his neck, he then saw that around him were moss-covered brick walls, almost as if he was locked inside a jail cell.
However, around him were also a few large leaves, massive stones, enormous utensils, and giant boxes printed with the picture of a grinning white-bearded man—KFC packaging!
He suddenly understood—it was not that these items were massive, but that he had become very tiny.
Lowering his head, he found that he was standing on a bottle cap. His entire body could fit into it. Coincidentally, there was also a piece of broken glass right next to him. Looking into the reflection, he was able to see his unexpected appearance clearly.
Like the grasshopper, he had a violet-black shell, a set of large compound eyes, and only two legs…
This wasn't him, but the bug that was previously in his hand!
What he saw through were not his eyes, but rather those of that little bug!
How can this be? What happened to me? Li Du thought in a moment of panic. Just as the thought popped into his head, his sight swayed again, and Hannah's face, filled with worry and panic, reappeared in his sight. He was normal again.
As if sensing his abnormal behavior, Hannah asked carefully, "Li, how… how are you? Do you need me to call nine-one-one?"
Li Du also felt somewhat tired, so he waved his hand and replied, "Never mind, there's no need—but thank you, Hannah! I was just feeling a little weird. I'm feeling much better now."
Hearing his reply, Hannah made the cross across her luscious chest. "Thank God! You should probably go get some rest."
What Li Du truly needed to do at that moment wasn't rest, but investigate what had happened to him.
After saying goodbye to Hannah, he returned to his own room. Like before, he imagined using the little bug's eyes, and immediately, the sight of the drainage appeared in his vision again.
And as he thought of returning to his own perspective, his vision changed back again, and he could see the NBA posters on the walls of his room.
After two consecutive successful attempts at changing his perspective, Li Du began to understand what had happened.
This little bug-like creature was originally encased in that amber-like crystal that he had destroyed. He had accidentally cracked open the crystal and freed the little bug. It subsequently entered his hand and began to share its vision with him.
In other words, he had gained another set of eyes outside of his body.
The mysterious thing was that it seemed that no one else could see this bug except for him.
After another few sets of experiments, he found that not only could he use the bug as another set of eyes, but he could also control its body as if he had gained an insect avatar.
During these experiments, he noticed that in the drain, there were four or five one-dollar coins.
He then went and opened the drainage grates. Appearing before him was exactly what he had seen with the eyes of the bug before: there was the little bug on top of the bottle cap, the KFC box, and the dinnerware. He then removed the trash and found five of the one-dollar coins buried underneath.
Holding those coins, Li Du let out a small grin.
At this moment, he thought that this little bug was quite useful. He could use the sight of bug to collect lost coins from the drain as his source of income and live on that.
After pocketing the coins, he reached towards the little bug.
The two legs of the creature were quite nimble. The bug immediately jumped up and landed on his hand. It then drove itself into his skin and left behind a dark violet bug-shaped tattoo in the center of Li Du's palm.
After storing away the little bug, Li Du suddenly felt a wave of fatigue. Exerting all his remaining stamina, he dragged himself back to his room, crashed into his bed, and almost immediately fell into a deep sleep.
When he woke up again, what greeted him was another pair of eyes.
"F*ck!" Seeing another man's face right at his own, Li Du almost jumped out from the bed.
Li Du's reaction also stunned the owner of the face, a handsome Caucasian who was about thirty years old. He had a pair of limpid green eyes and well-defined facial lines.
Letting out a small shiver, the good-looking man complained, "Hey, hey, hey, Chinese boy, why are you acting so aggressive? My name's Hans, you haven't forgotten me already, right?"
Li Du, of course, still remembered him. Hans Fox, Hannah's brother. He met him a few times in the past.
Glancing Hans, Li Du was quite angry. "Hey buddy, why are you in my room? Are you spying on me? This is an invasion of my privacy!"
Americans took personal privacy very seriously—so much that every year the American courts faced countless hearings stemming from privacy violations.
Hearing his reply, Hans immediately retorted, "First, this is my room. If we are talking about personal privacy, then it is mine that was invaded!
"Secondly, Chinese boy, I bet that you were having a nightmare. Haha, your eyelids were fluttering. It was really funny!"
As Li Du calmed his heart down, he quickly looked towards his right palm, where the bug tattoo could still be clearly seen.
At this moment, there was a knock on the door before Hannah entered and asked, "I heard a scream. Any problems here?"
"Of course there is a problem," Hans cried, "my lovely sister! Honoring the memory of our deceased parents, could you give me some respect? Can you please not carelessly give my room away to someone else?"
Hannah ignored her brother's complaint and turned towards Li Du. She was quite worried. "Li, how are you now? Dammit, you have been sleeping for close to 15 hours. Is something wrong?"
Li Du did not expect this. Had he really slept for 15 hours?
Realizing that he was being ignored, Hans complained again, "Come on, can you please show me some respect? I'm making a request!"
"I heard you. I'm not deaf. But what good is your request? I never have any idea when you will return, and every time you do, you only come back for some pizza and beer. I'm sorry, my brother, but if it wasn't for Li renting your room, I wouldn't even have enough money for that pizza and beer," Hannah replied. "Also, how can you still call this a bedroom with a straight face? If it wasn't for Li cleaning it up, I would have thought that our house was a dump!" Hannah was a white girl with a very sharp tongue.
At her verbal attack, Hans could only roll his eyes.
"Lastly, tell me, how many hours will you stick around this time?"
Upon hearing this sentence, Hans looked quite upset. "I'll probably be here for a long time. My business, well, my huge business is currently facing a small problem…"
"So how about the apartment that you shared with Dianna?"
Hans hesitated and took a moment before answering, "Who? Who's Dianna?"
Seeing Hannah's eyes almost afire with anger, Hans quickly brought up a smile and tried to ingratiate himself with his younger sister. "Okay, okay, I just remembered: Dianna is that Irish girl with long legs. Well, we've broken up, and the rent is way overdue."
"So you don't even have enough money for the rent?"
Hans let out a bitter smile. "Like I said, there was a bit of trouble. Dammit, I was swindled by that son of a b*tch and lost all my money. Now I can only rely on my sweet sister."
"Your sweet sister will always love her brother," Hannah said. "But can only accommodate him in the living room."
"NO!"
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