Chapter 10: Riding a Roller Coaster

  The sound of "ding" was like a brake line, abruptly stopping Duan Lei's foot that had just stepped forward in mid-air. His eyes kept scanning the surrounding cabinets, trying to find the mineral that could trigger the energy sensor.

  "Ding ding, which display case?" Duan Yue's eyes scanned back and forth, still not noticing anything unusual. The two rows of display cases next to him were filled with mineral specimens from all over the world, and Duan Yue barely recognized any of them. If it weren't for the explanatory labels stuck under each case, Duan Yue would have been completely in the dark.

  "A bit more to the left! Closer!" The sound of "ding ding" was filled with joy.

  Originally, today's visit to the Geological Museum was just a try at luck, and Ding didn't have much hope of encountering an energy crystal, it was just a case of treating a dead horse as if it were alive. In Duan Lei's memory, there wasn't any information about anything similar to energy crystals, so he didn't have high hopes for today's museum trip.

  But after walking around in the museum, Dingding unexpectedly felt the breath of energy existence, how could she not be overjoyed?

  Duanyang looked to the left and saw a large piece of rock in the display window, with various patterns on its dark gray body, looking dull. The label on the display window read "Kimberlite".

  "Kimberlite?" Duanyan heard this term for the first time, and it looked ordinary. Does it contain the minerals that Dingding needs?

  "Ding ding, are you sure it's this huge rock?" Duan Lei leaned against the window sill, staring at the rock inside, but couldn't see anything unusual either.

  "It's not the rock itself, but a mineral contained within it. Look closely, at the transparent crystals embedded on its surface!" The closer they got to the rock, the stronger the aura Tingting could feel became.

  Duan Lei stared at the Kimberlite rock with wide eyes, and finally found a small transparent crystal about the size of a toothpick head on the dark gray surface of the rock. Under the refraction of light, it seemed to look good. Duan Lei looked for a while, still couldn't identify what kind of mineral crystal this was, so he had to start looking at the label below the display case.

  Kimberlite, discovered in 1887 in Kimberley, South Africa, hence the name, is a slightly alkaline to ultramafic rock that contains phlogopite and possibly other micas, and has a distinctive spinel facies. The dominant minerals are olivine, phlogopite, and pyroxene, with minor amounts of garnet, titanomagnetite, and diamond.

  A large pile of professional terms, Duan Lei was a bit dizzy, but still couldn't see any wonderful things. In Duan Lei's previous understanding, minerals were generally simple in existence, such as iron ore and bauxite, and didn't expect this rock to contain so many kinds of minerals, which really broadened his horizons.

  It is said that being separated by a single line is like being separated by a mountain, and this is exactly what it means.

  "Ding ding, with so many minerals composed inside, what is the name of this transparent crystal?" Duan Lei's voice was getting lower and lower, because he suddenly thought of a very surprising possibility.

  The label on Kimberlite rock says that the secondary minerals contain diamonds. Could this transparent crystal be the legendary natural diamond?

  "I couldn't find any relevant information in your memory, and it seems that this crystal doesn't exist on our planet of Maca either, so I couldn't make a judgment!" Dingding furrowed her brow, at a loss.

  "Brother Jiang, come and take a look at what kind of mineral this is?" Of course, letting an expert idle around wasn't in Duan Yue's style.

  "What's the big deal?" Li Chunjiang slapped his book and walked over with a swagger, saying nonchalantly: "Isn't it all explained on the label? Just take a good look."

  "Come over and take a look, why so much nonsense!" Duan Lei punched Li Chunjiang and pointed at the almost invisible transparent crystal in the display window, asking: "Take a good look, is that little thing a natural diamond?"

  Upon hearing this, Li Chunjiang leaned against the window and looked inside in the direction that Duan Yue was pointing. After staring for a long time, he finally discovered a small transparent crystal embedded in the rock layer. As a third-year student majoring in geology, although Li Chunjiang was often laid-back, his professional knowledge was not bad, and at a glance, he could tell that the small crystal was a natural diamond.

  Of course, this diamond does not reach the level of gemstone used in jewelry, but is only a relatively small grain, general quality industrial diamond.

  "This isn't a diamond, just an ordinary natural diamond, generally used for industrial production, not the expensive diamonds you'd find in a jewelry store. Otherwise it wouldn't be put here as a specimen." Li Chunjiang took a look and began to give Duan Lei a geological blind scan.

  According to Li Chunjiang's explanation, Duan Yue finally understood that people have always had a misunderstanding, thinking that all natural diamonds are gemstones. In fact, the vast majority of natural diamonds cannot reach the level of gemstones used in jewelry, and at most they are only used in certain precision instruments in industry. For example, this piece of kimberlite is actually a specimen produced in the northeastern region of our country, and its main mineral component is mica, with natural diamond being just an associated mineral.

  Compared with diamond-grade diamonds, this quality diamond is relatively cheaper, which gave Duan Lei a glimmer of hope.

  At first, Duan Yue suspected that the crystal needed by Ding Ding was a diamond, and his heart felt as if it had been poured over with a basin of cold water, extremely chilly.

  You should know that this is diamond, not some cabbage by the roadside, want to buy as much as you can?

  If it takes 180 diamonds for Dingdang to recover, even if Duan Lei's organs are sold one by one to black-hearted organ smugglers, they probably can't even scrape together the change. If that's the case, then it's an impossible task for Dingdang to recover.

  Now that Li Chunjiang has said so, Duan Lei seems to have seen a bright future.

  "Nowadays, more and more industrial applications are using synthetic diamonds, which have a higher yield and lower price. They are already being used in many aspects of life." Li Chunjiang seemed to be getting carried away, and began to give Duan Yue more knowledge about diamonds, saying: "Like the glass knives we see every day, a large part of their blades are made from synthetic diamonds."

  Li Chunjiang was talking incessantly about various knowledge of diamonds, while Duan Lei listened with a smile on his face, but in fact his heart had already flown away.

  "Will the energy inside this diamond satisfy your needs?" Everything had to revolve around Dingdang's own needs, and Duan Lei was very clear about that.

  "I'm afraid it won't work, these crystals do contain energy, but in my current state, I'm probably unable to absorb it, and will have to find an even better and larger diamond." Tingting furrowed her small brow, her mood a bit down.

  After hearing this sentence, Duan Yue's mood was like a roller coaster, instantly falling from mid-air to the bottom of the valley!