As Hans was giving Li Du an explanation about the toys, he also showed him the
information he found on the internet .
That information was from the autobiography of A . C . Gilbert, owner of Gilbert Toys . He
wrote in his autobiography:
"The educational toy I am most proud of is the Gilbert U-238 Atomic Energy Laboratory .
Its product development was supported by the government and greatly helped the
public understand the principles of atomic energy . It was very meaningful and
significant . We also received assistance from the country's top nuclear physicists and
got counseling from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology . "
"The Atomic Energy Laboratory models did not have any fakes or defective products . It
was the real deal made from genuine materials, all of which were safe . Although we had
included radioactive materials, none of them were proved to be harmful to the human
body . All of the accessories and equipment had been carefully calculated, designed and
manufactured . "
After hearing this explanation, Li Du smiled and said, "If he had used impure materials,
perhaps it would have ended better . "
Hans said, "I like it because it was the real stuff . When I was younger, I wanted to
create a nuclear reactor . It's a pity I didn't find uranium 235 at the time . "
Li Du replied, "That stopped you from being a physicist, right?"
Hans said regretfully, "Yeah, I asked my father for uranium 235 back then . In the end,
my father gave me dry mud . D*mn, how can mud generate electricity?"
Li Du laughed heartily and Hans was annoyed . "Who wasn't stupid as a kid? Didn't you
have such an experience?"
After thinking for a while, Li Du shook his head . "Not really . When I was younger, I also
had the idea to study science . As a result, I took apart a TV set and got beaten up half
to death . "
When he was a child, he had only tried to repair a home appliance once . He had
accidentally broken the patch cord at home . At that time, the patch panel was not
something common, and each household only had one .
Li Du recalled that he had been beaten up to the point of becoming half-paralyzed, just
because he took the TV apart . Hence, he tried to fix the wires inside the patch cord .
He thought that he had managed to repair the patch cord when he connected the
neutral and live wire . How would he have known the difference between neutral wire
and live wire then?
Then, when his father came home and plugged in the socket, the circuit heated up,
starting a small fire .
Now that he thought about the past, Li Du felt relieved that he had stayed alive to this
age .
When he was young, given the electrical circuit conditions of the county suburbs, the
fact that the connected live and neutral wire had not exploded was a very lucky thing .
Having heard the story, Hans looked down on him . "It's just fixing a simple circuit . Can't
you even do such a simple thing? When I was younger, my dream was to invent a new
beverage, iced nuclear Coke…"
Li Du gave him a thumbs-up . "You're insolent!"
"I had also wanted to design a small nuclear reactor that I could fit into my kid
motorcycle . It would give the bike more power and maybe enable it to fly…"
"It is an impressive feat that you are still here today," Li Du said .
But then again, if that toy were marketed in China, perhaps China's atomic bomb could
have been developed a couple of years earlier .
In 1950, many Chinese children didn't even know what electricity was . Yet the American
children were actually playing with nuclear energy . Honestly speaking, the gap was
really huge .
The gap between China and the United States had begun to widen in the twentieth
century . It continued to widen by the year . Since then, China had been playing catch up
and has achieved significant results . With regards to toys, today there was no difference
between the toys that American and Chinese children played with .
That Gilbert U-238 Atomic Energy Laboratory set was sold for fifty US dollars more than
60 years ago . Today, its value had multiplied a few hundred-fold . Hans said, "I just
checked on the web . There are now people looking for this set . On E-bay, the highest
offer is forty thousand dollars!"
Li Du replied, "The value had multiplied by eight hundred?"
Hans nodded, gloating . "That's right, and I feel that the offer is a little low . Fifty US
dollars then is equivalent to ten thousand US dollars today . In the 50s, the salary of the
workers was at most twenty dollars . "
"In those days, there were such toys available for fifty dollars in the market . Where can
you find this in today's market? Hence, its price should be much higher . "
In total, they had in possession eleven sets of the Gilbert U-238 Atomic Energy
Laboratory toys . Some of the tools inside had been damaged, like the shed battery .
However, the battery could be replaced .
Li Du left Hans to deal with those items, while Brother Wolf returned to look for him . Li
Du said, "I have other matters to attend to . You are responsible for packing up the
warehouse . Better deal with those toys quickly, and you must not bring them home . "
Those toys were all radioactive, and Li Du did not want them to come into contact with
Sophie and their pets .
Li Du and Brother Wolf left Blackstone Town for a hotel at a neighboring area . Brother
Wolf said, "The Tucson gang are staying here . How should we deal with them?"
Li Du stopped to consider this for a bit and then said, "Let's not rush into it . Let me
check it out before deciding . "
Li Du let out the little bug to enter the hotel and do a search inside . It located Princeps,
who was taking a bath .
Princeps was enjoying a soak in the bathtub, with a towel covering his face as he
hummed to a song .
Li Du laughed and continued to search . Then, in a backpack, he found the silver coins
that Princeps had taken from him .
Seeing those silver coins, he let the little bug absorb their time capability .
Since Princeps had cheated him, he deserved this . Back when Princeps had damaged
the Taser gun, Li Du had already had that idea .
First, he gave the silver coins to Princeps, but then he would let the little bug absorb the
coins' time capability .
Those silver coins were already very old and worn out . Although silver was a stable
compound and would not rust or rot, its chemical structure was still relatively active and
would easily react with the oxygen in the air .
Having lost their time capability, the coins began to oxidize quickly . The images on both
sides of the coin lost their shine and started to blur into small black silver surfaces .
Their appearance was what gave silver coins their value . Once it became difficult to
identify, the coin would lose its value and could only be sold off as scrap silver .
Regular scraps of silver were not valuable . A piece of silver weighing twenty grams was
worth only slightly more than ten US dollars .
After tainting the silver coins, Li Du waited for some time . He imagined how Princeps
would react when he realized that these silver coins would fetch no more than a
hundred dollars .
In the end, Princeps did not check on the coins . After the bath, he lolled on the bed,
watching TV . Then he picked up the phone and a while later, a coquettish girl entered
the room .
Seeing that scene, Li Du was elated . It was a pleasant surprise for him . Princeps had
actually engaged a prostitute!
In America, prostitution was illegal . It was only legalized in Nevada, Las Vegas . In other
areas, policemen loved to catch people at sex crimes . The law allowed them to engage
in phishing to arrest people for such crimes .
Li Du hurried to call up Luo Qun to get her there quickly to claim credit .
Chapter end
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