Chapter 131: Chapter 130: Construction Site

The townspeople of Kivalina, with Old Swan among them, were all kneeling around the fire pit. The Inuit gazed at the flickering Fire Seed with devout expressions.

David and Yves stood nearby, looking helpless. Feng Mountain rode his snowmobile over to the two of them and frowned. "What’s wrong with them?" he asked.

"I’m not sure. Old Swan said he saw the Inuit God of the Sea in the fire," Yves said, shrugging. As an outsider, he found the beliefs of Alaska’s Indigenous People hard to understand.

They believed in so many things. The sky, the earth, the ocean, brown bears, wolves, trees—any of them could be an object of worship.

To the non-religious Yves, this was all a bit incredible; he couldn’t comprehend this belief in the spirituality of all things.

Feng Mountain felt he had no right to interfere with the beliefs of the Indigenous People. After all, faith was a personal freedom.

However, this situation was definitely related to the Fire Seed. Feng Mountain silently communicated with the Fire Seed, telling it not to entice the surrounding humans into worship.

Once he was done, Feng Mountain patted the back seat of his snowmobile.

"Don’t worry about them. Get on. Take me to see the spot chosen for the airstrip."

David climbed onto Feng Mountain’s snowmobile, while Yves sat on Andy’s, holding some tools. The two snowmobiles crossed the frozen Ice River, arriving at a riverbank three kilometers from the new camp.

The men jumped off their snowmobiles. In a spot where the snow had been cleared away, David pointed to the frozen ground.

"This is the spot. I’ve surveyed this land. It’s in an area of mountain rockfall, so the soil is mostly gravel. It can support the landing and takeoff of small to medium-sized aircraft. We just need to dig a trench half a meter deep, fill it with crushed stone, and compact it. Then it’ll be ready to use."

Feng Mountain kicked at the ground. The soil was frozen solid. He took a pickaxe from Yves, raised it high, and slammed it down with all his might.

With a loud CLANG, the pickaxe bounced back, sending a numbing shock up Feng Mountain’s arm.

Where the pickaxe struck, it had only chipped out a small, shallow hole. The soil within was laced with ice crystals, frozen solid.

David gave Feng Mountain an odd look and said cautiously,

"Khilla, this is the permafrost layer. It’s extremely hard. You need a professional jackhammer to break through the permafrost."

Feng Mountain shook his numb hands and looked speechlessly at David.

’Why didn’t you say so earlier?’

"What do we do now? If I can’t even make a dent in it, there’s no way Old Swan and his people can."

"Let’s just have them keep logging," David said after a moment’s thought. He agreed that manual labor was of little use here; in fact, it would just be a burden.

"Let’s wait and see." Feng Mountain felt his satellite phone vibrating. He took it out and saw it was an unknown number.

He answered it.

A deafening roar came from the other end of the line, followed by a man’s voice shouting to be heard.

"Mr. Feng, I’m from the North Slope Petroleum Company construction team. I hear you need a simple airport runway built?"

"That’s right. Did Jie Luo tell you?"

"I’m very sorry, it was too late yesterday, so we couldn’t dispatch the machinery. Are you in the Crown Territory now?"

"I am. Are you coming now?"

"Yes, the machinery has been loaded onto the aircraft. We’re about to enter Crown Territory Airspace. If it’s convenient, please guide us to a landing spot."

’That fast?’

"That’s great. I’ll guide you to a landing spot right away."

Feng Mountain was a little surprised. He’d expected to wait much longer and hadn’t thought they’d arrive so quickly.

Hanging up the phone, he looked at the three bewildered faces.

"Go find some firewood and start a fire. The North Slope Petroleum Company’s construction helicopter is about to arrive."

What?

With looks of utter disbelief, the three of them scrambled onto their snowmobiles and rushed back to the new camp for firewood.

They quickly returned with firewood.

Feng Mountain found a relatively flat patch of riverbank near the site for the airstrip and started a fire. To guide the helicopter, he deliberately added wet tree bark to the flames.

A plume of black smoke curled upwards.

The cold wind whipped the black smoke straight up into the sky, making it clearly visible from far away.

Feng Mountain and the others stood by the fire, staring intently at the sky.

Finally, the roar of helicopter rotors came from the distance.

Three helicopters appeared one by one over the Snow Mountain Range, descending into the sky above the riverbank. Their rotors whipped up a powerful downdraft, sending snow swirling across the ground.

Once the helicopters had landed and settled, their cabin doors opened, and the construction crew disembarked in an orderly manner.

One man, wearing a red vest, a thermal helmet, and a face mask, ran toward Feng Mountain’s group, ducking low with a hand on his head.

"Excuse me, which one of you is Mr. Feng?"

"I am," Feng Mountain said, stepping forward.

"I’m the construction team manager, Sam," the man said, removing his mask to reveal a thick beard. "We should clear the area. The machinery is about to be delivered."

’Clear the area?’

’It’s just a helicopter airlifting cargo, is it really necessary to move?’

But then he saw the three helicopters that had just landed take off again, hastily flying off in another direction as if to make room.

This piqued Feng Mountain’s curiosity.

"Fuck, what is that?" Andy suddenly pointed toward the Snow Mountain Range.

Feng Mountain whipped his head around to look and also blurted out, "Fuck."

A behemoth had appeared in the sky above the Snow Mountains.

He’d never seen such an ugly helicopter. Its shape made him think of an oversized dragonfly. The central part of its fuselage was completely hollow, like a chunk had been carved out to create a cargo bay.

Right now, this giant dragonfly was leisurely cresting the Snow Mountains, a shipping container slung beneath it.

While his workers cleared a space on the ground, Manager Sam used a walkie-talkie to direct the giant dragonfly’s descent.

"Man, that’s a CH-54!" Feng Mountain said to Andy, his mouth suddenly dry. Of the men there, only Andy was a professional pilot.

Andy’s eyes were glued to the helicopter, an amazed expression on his face. "I... I’ve never seen one in person either. That thing can lift at least 10 tons."

"Wrong. 12 tons," Manager Sam said with a smug look.

As directed, the giant dragonfly hovered overhead. The roar from its massive rotors was deafening, once again kicking the surrounding snow into a blinding flurry.

The shipping container slung beneath its fuselage was lowered by a winch, landing heavily on the ground.

The workers, who had been waiting, rushed forward and scrambled to unhook the lifting cables.

The giant dragonfly slowly lifted off and flew away from the riverbank.

"How much does one of those things cost?" Feng Mountain muttered to himself, watching the giant dragonfly disappear into the sky.

"120 million US Dollars. You need to order one two years in advance," Manager Sam said with a smile.

Damn it!

’120 million US Dollars for one of them.’

’No wonder Tom said it costs 100,000 US Dollars an hour to rent. That’s actually a bargain!’

Feng Mountain shook his head, filled with shock and awe. At that price, even selling off the entire Crown Territory would only buy a small fraction of the helicopter.

The workers opened the doors of the shipping container and drove two small excavators out from inside.

"Mr. Feng, has the location for the airstrip been confirmed?" Manager Sam asked.

Feng Mountain came to his senses and patted David’s shoulder. "It’s confirmed. David, take Manager Sam to the runway site."

"Okay, please follow me!" David nodded quickly and led the construction team to the selected airstrip location.

A simple airstrip’s main purpose is to meet basic takeoff and landing requirements. There’s no need to aim for high standards, so the precision for certain details could be relaxed.

David communicated briefly with Manager Sam. The construction team laid out marker lines and then began work.

The permafrost was impossible to dig by hand, but it was a small problem for machinery.

The workers fitted the small excavators with breaker hammers. BAM! BAM! BAM! They hammered away at the ground, the tremendous noise echoing across the open riverbank.

In just a few hits, they broke through the permafrost, revealing the unfrozen soil below. The other excavator then dug out a one-meter-deep pit.

Before long, one pit after another was connected into a single trench. The initial foundation work was progressing smoothly.

According to Feng Mountain’s requirements, the airstrip didn’t need to be too long. 200 meters would be enough for a P750 to land. As for the Carnation, it didn’t need a runway at all.

At this rate, it would be finished in a few days.

Just then, Old Swan and the townspeople arrived, having followed the noise.

They were shocked to see the bustling construction site and all the machinery, but a look of disappointment also crossed their faces.

Earlier that morning, David had told him to stop logging and start building the airstrip instead.

Old Swan had been quite happy about it. It meant a few more days of eating reindeer meat.

But now, it was clear just how insignificant and powerless human labor was compared to machines.

Those excavators seemed to finish in an instant what would have taken his people days, or even months, to accomplish.

Old Swan sighed. "We should go back."

The townspeople looked just as dejected. They were resentful, but what could they do?

That was just reality. Take the permafrost, for example. To dig that by hand, they’d first have to build a fire over it just to thaw the ground enough to make a dent.

"Grandpa!" Little Swan tugged at Old Swan’s clothes, unwilling to accept it.

"Folks, what do you think? These things pack a punch, huh!" Feng Mountain said with a grin as he walked up to the townspeople.

Old Swan asked with a dejected expression, "Feng, when are you sending us back to Kivalina."

’Go back?’

Feng Mountain narrowed his eyes and asked, confused, "Is something wrong in Kivalina? I was just about to say I need your help building the hangar. Since you want to go back, I’ll arrange for Yves to take you."

Old Swan’s head shot up. "You need a hangar built?"

"That’s right. And the gravel for the runway needs to be loaded and transported. If you all leave, I’ll have to find another way," Feng Mountain said with a nod.

Instantly, the dejected look on Old Swan’s face vanished, replaced by joy. He turned to the other townspeople.

"What are you all standing around for? Get to work! Go get the timber!"

A hangar didn’t require much technical skill; it just needed to be sturdy. It was even simpler than building a log cabin.

Borrowing the construction team’s machinery, they dug the foundation holes, used two tree trunks as support posts, and then laid whole logs between the posts, stacking them layer by layer until one wooden wall was complete.

Then they repeated the process, erecting four wooden walls.

Then they placed crossbeams on top and laid logs across them, and a simple, sturdy hangar was complete.

The construction team and the townspeople worked feverishly on the riverbank.

During this time, two fuel storage tanks were also delivered, and that giant dragonfly brought another two excavators and more equipment, increasing work efficiency several times over.

Seeing there was nothing for him to do at the construction site,

Feng Mountain rode his snowmobile back to camp, found Nash, and took out his newly acquired AR-15 automatic rifle. He attached a sled to the back of the snowmobile.

The two of them each got on a snowmobile and plunged into the Tundra to look for reindeer.

...