HLM – Chapter 1037 Black Gold

The one who shouted in surprise was Lancaster. When Wang Bo ran over, he saw him under an oak tree, meticulously sweeping up fallen leaves with a serious expression on his face.

A few bodyguards, guns slung over their shoulders, watched with interest. Someone chuckled, “I didn’t expect to find treasure while exercising. What luck! It seems the closer you are to the sky, the closer God is to us.”

Lancaster rolled up his sleeves and swept aside the leaves, then used a rubber-tipped knife to dig something out of the soil.

What he unearthed looked a little like walnuts—bumpy, with intricate patterns. Their colors ranged from light brown to dark brown-black. Most were spherical, some oval; the small ones were about the size of beans, while the large ones were walnut-sized.

At first glance, Wang Bo thought Lancaster had dug up walnuts. Lancaster held up a slightly larger sphere, sniffed it, and laughed: “Sh*t, the unique forest scent! I feel like I own the entire woods.”

He then handed the small sphere to Wang Bo.

Wang Bo looked at it hesitantly and asked, “Th-this… is this a truffle?”

Truffles are a type of fungus, classified under the Ascomycota phylum, genus Tuber, with about ten different varieties, generally annual fungi. Anyone who has lived abroad for a while would know about them. They typically grow in symbiosis with the roots of broadleaf trees, often under pines, oaks, or chestnuts, and are extremely rare.

China is also a truffle-producing country, but due to dietary habits and the rarity of the fungus, truffles are not widely documented in Chinese culinary culture.

Abroad, especially in Europe, truffles are highly prized for their unique aroma and rich nutritional content, including proteins and amino acids. Among Western gourmet delicacies, caviar, foie gras, and truffles are considered the “three great treasures.”

Compared to caviar and foie gras, truffles are even more precious because they require extremely specific growth conditions, cannot be artificially cultivated, and have low yields. Only a few countries—including Italy, France, the UK, China, Australia, and New Zealand—produce these rare delicacies.

Hearing Wang Bo’s question, Lancaster’s face lit up with excitement. “Yes, these are truffles, a type of black truffle. I just happened to discover them by chance—what luck!”

Finding truffles is indeed a stroke of luck. They are usually scattered within a radius of one and a half meters from the base of a tree. The most valuable truffles lie thirty to forty centimeters underground.

Because truffles are so rare, even in areas known for production, only a few trees in a forest may yield them. They are deeply hidden in the soil, making discovery even harder.

The black truffles Lancaster found were underground, but the soil here was loose and covered with fallen leaves. He had initially planned to dig a trench but stumbled upon the truffles instead.

When you do dig up truffles, they are relatively easy to identify—they have a unique shape and a nutty aroma. Nobles like Lancaster, who frequently encounter truffles at meals, can recognize them at a glance.

Truffles differ from other natural resources: once discovered, you must dig them up quickly, as their growth cycle is only one year.

Their size does not correlate with age; they grow and die in accordance with the seasons. Black truffles typically mature from December to March, after which they overripe and decompose.

Since New Zealand’s seasons are opposite to those in the Northern Hemisphere, Europe has no fresh truffles at this time of year, while New Zealand and Australia happen to produce them.

Among the varieties, French black truffles and Italian white truffles are the most highly prized. New Zealand truffles are also well-known, largely because they emerge when most other producing countries no longer have truffles available. Scarcity increases their value.

After digging up these truffles, Lancaster sliced the largest one with a military knife, revealing its deep black interior marked with intricate, marble-like veins—somewhat reminiscent of prime beef.

Once the truffles were gathered, the group ended their training, and Lancaster led them away.

Wang Bo asked with a smile, “Aren’t you going to search around more? Maybe there are other truffles.”

Lancaster shook his head regretfully. “Truffles get their nutrients from the roots and soil they attach to. If a place has produced truffles, the land and plants have been drained of nutrients. Nothing else can grow there for some time. Besides, only one truffle grows per patch of land, never multiple.”

Wang Bo thought this might not necessarily be the case. He suspected the truffles might have something to do with the “Heart of the Forest” they had used earlier.

But this was only speculation. The Heart of the Forest doesn’t have such miraculous powers—it couldn’t spontaneously produce truffles overnight.

Over the years, Wang Bo had learned that these “territorial hearts” only optimize and enhance their respective domains. For example, the Heart of the Pasture can improve grass quality and optimize livestock breeds—but it cannot create an animal from nothing.

Similarly, the Heart of the Forest can improve soil quality and environment, making it more suitable for truffles to survive—but it cannot suddenly grow a batch of truffles overnight.

Even just improving the environment enough to support truffle growth is already remarkable.

Truffles are extremely sensitive during their growth. They are one of the few delicacies in the world that cannot be cultivated in an orderly manner and rely entirely on a symbiotic relationship with tree roots for nutrients.

Moreover, truffles prefer alkaline soil. High-quality truffles mainly come from limestone regions—such as Alba in Italy, Périgord in France, and Yunnan in China—all of which are limestone zones.

The Southern Alps also have limestone-rich terrain, so truffles do appear there. However, modern mechanized farming, pesticide use, irregular rainfall, and changes in forest species have gradually reduced truffle yields.

Lancaster wasn’t done with truffle hunting. He said that once back in England, he would buy a sow trained to sniff out truffles and return for a proper treasure hunt here.

In Europe, truffle hunters rely on sows, which have an extraordinarily sensitive sense of smell and can detect truffles buried 25–30 centimeters underground from six meters away. This is because the aroma of truffles contains a compound similar to androstenone, which triggers sexual arousal in sows—hence their strong attraction.

Lancaster, who spent most of his time in London or Yorkshire, enjoyed hunting. Among European nobles, digging for black truffles is considered a form of hunting.