After dinner, the Wind-Rolling Grass Company’s installation contractors moved into the small cabins, the construction crew workers into the shipping containers, and the Kivalina logging residents returned to their reindeer hide tents.

Even Jenny and the others were thrilled to move into their own little cabins.

Only Feng Shan, with Nash, rode the snowmobile back to the bus.

The camp had just been filled with laughter and the clamor of voices, but now all that remained was the whistling wind. An inexplicable sense of loss welled up in Feng Shan’s heart.

Under the moonlight, the empty camp was bathed in a cold glow, looking especially silent and desolate.

’It’s easy to go from simplicity to luxury, but hard to go from luxury back to simplicity!’

Feng Shan finally understood why Frank had chosen those five people for him.

He was afraid that if Feng Shan stayed in the Crown Territory for too long with only Nash, he would become as taciturn as Nash. 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

"Nash, this is all your fault!"

"???" Nash was bewildered.

Back in the bus, Feng Shan picked up the satellite phone and called Hu Zi, who was thousands of miles away in China.

It was 9 PM there, which was 12 noon in China.

He dialed the number, and after a few rings, the call connected. Hu Zi’s voice came through.

"Bro?"

"What are you up to?"

"Just got back from Xiaohua’s prenatal checkup. Black Hide is here too!" As soon as Hu Zi finished speaking, the sound of Black Hide snatching the phone could be heard.

A smile touched Feng Shan’s lips. "Was the checkup okay?"

"Everything’s normal. Still got nine months to go. Black Hide couldn’t keep his mouth shut and asked the doctor if it was a boy or a girl, and the doctor chewed him out for it."

"Bullshit! You’re the one who secretly egged me on. You think I would’ve asked otherwise?" Black Hide cursed. "You son of a bitch, you really burn your bridges after you cross them."

Feng Shan said, half-joking and half-serious, "A boy or a girl is fine. You don’t have a preference, do you?"

"No, no, no! Boys and girls are both the same. I’d actually prefer a daughter. It’s just that if we don’t know the gender, it’s hard to prepare clothes for the baby," Hu Zi quickly explained.

"That’s good. So, how are things going with you guys coming to Alaska?"

"Brother Zhang is handling our passports and visas. Oh, by the way, bro, Black Egg is getting out early. I’m not sure if Brother Zhang had a hand in it, but I received a notification. It’ll probably be early next year."

"What!" Feng Shan’s heart leaped. "Is it confirmed?"

"Yeah, it’s confirmed."

"Good, good, good. Remember to let me know in advance. I’ll fly back to China to pick him up."

"Got it!"

"Alright then. Try to come over soon. If you wait any longer, the heavy snow will start."

"Okay, I’ll find some time to ask Brother Zhang."

After hanging up, the feeling of loss in Feng Shan’s heart faded quite a bit. He then started packing his things in the bus, preparing to move in a few days.

Just then, there was a sudden knock on the bus door.

The knock took Feng Shan by surprise.

’This isn’t a city; this is the Tundra, the ass-end of nowhere. Everyone else has moved to the new camp. Who could be knocking at this hour? What the hell!’

Feng Shan gestured for Nash to get the door.

The moment the door opened, Erica zipped inside. Seeing Feng Shan’s somewhat stunned expression, she grinned smugly.

"Surprise, surprise!"

Following her, Jenny, Tammy, Maria, Yves, and David walked into the bus one by one.

"Weren’t you guys staying in the new cabins? Why are you all back?" Feng Shan asked with a smile.

"Some old guy was all alone at home, and we were afraid you’d get sad. So we decided to keep living here until the large cabin is finished." Erica tilted her head up, wearing an expression that screamed, ’You’d better thank me.’

"You’re such a drama queen." Feng Shan walked over and ruffled her hair, then looked at the others. "How about a drink? A few hands of cards? I can teach you how to play Dou Dizhu."

Upon hearing this, everyone’s interest was piqued, and they all nodded in agreement.

They took out a deck of cards and glasses, and everyone gathered around the fireplace, drinking, chatting, and playing cards.

David stared intently at the cards in his hand. Erica, her face covered in paper slips from losing, looked indignant. Tammy nestled against Jenny, whispering secrets. Maria tanned a reindeer hide, her eyes full of relaxation and enjoyment. Yves disassembled his rifle for maintenance. And Nash sat in a corner, staring into space.

Outside the bus, the cold wind howled.

But inside, it was filled with warmth and joy.

The fire in the hearth blazed, casting a warm, orange glow on everyone’s faces, bringing a sense of comfort and coziness.

They drank and played cards, their laughter and conversation weaving together.

...

「The next morning.」

The first rays of sunlight streamed through the bus windows.

Feng Shan got out of bed and habitually glanced at the weather receiver.

Sunrise: 10:00:20 AM. Sunset: 06:49:25 PM. Daylight: 8h 49m 5s.

Today’s temperature: -10° to -15°C. Humidity: 80%. Conditions: Overcast and cloudy. Wind: ENE, Level 2. Forecast: Freezing rain in the Far North Tundra Region over the next three days.

SIGH!

’The days are getting shorter and shorter. Less than nine hours of daylight now.’

Feng Shan turned on the radio, tuned it to the public channel, and broadcast the weather forecast to the towns, communities, and villages in the Far North Tundra Region.

He turned off the radio amidst a chorus of thanks from the local old-timers.

Feng Shan opened the bus door, and a blast of cold, crisp air hit him, instantly refreshing his senses.

The others also began to wake up, enjoying the peace and beauty of the morning.

After breakfast, the group rode their snowmobiles to the new camp.

They needed to get the cabin materials delivered before the freezing rain arrived. Once it started, forget about airplanes—not even birds would dare to take flight.

Feng Shan had witnessed a small-scale freezing rain event once before.

The scene was still vivid in his memory.

At first, it was just a few scattered raindrops. But they instantly became a dense shower of ice pellets that felt like small stones hitting his body, immediately forming a crust of ice on his fur coat.

Before long, the Tundra was covered in a glittering layer of ice. Walking on it, one could easily slip and fall with the slightest carelessness.

In the Moonlight Forest, the branches and leaves of the trees were bent low by the heavy ice, and many snapped under the unbearable weight.

He didn’t have to chop any trees for a few days after that; he gathered plenty of firewood just by picking up the fallen branches.

’I should give the construction site a heads-up.’

Feng Shan sped across the snow on his snowmobile, kicking up flurries of white.

Arriving at the riverbank, he found the construction team already at work. Feng Shan located Manager Sam and told him about the freezing rain forecast for the next three days.

Hearing this news, Manager Sam looked troubled.

They had completed 30 meters of the airstrip, but it was far from finished. It was definitely too late to evacuate. The only thing they could do now was prepare enough lumber.

And for lumber, they could only turn to Old Swan.

Feng Shan went to the hangar construction site. The walls of the second hangar were already complete. Old Swan wasn’t worried about the freezing rain. As a long-time resident of the Far North Tundra, he’d seen all kinds of harsh weather.

Besides, with one hangar already built, the town’s residents could move in there, which was much more comfortable than living in tents.

As for the lack of lumber, Old Swan casually pointed out a few people and sent them to the Moonlight Forest to cut down trees.

With the help of the snowmobiles, they could now load the logs onto sleds and tow them back to the riverbank, increasing their logging efficiency several times over.

Feng Shan left four snowmobiles behind. After sorting things out at the construction site, he returned to the new camp.

The main event for today was receiving the materials for the large cabin.

Compared to transporting the small cabins, moving the materials for the large one was a massive undertaking, because the entire structure used a heavy timber frame, consisting entirely of whole logs.

When the installation workers arrived yesterday, they also brought a large amount of building materials and machinery.

Among the supplies were several twelve-meter-long concrete piles, each ten centimeters in diameter and encased in a PVC pipe.

When asked about their purpose, a worker explained that they were high-strength concrete piles used to increase the foundation’s load-bearing capacity, reduce settling, and improve stability.

State regulations required that heavy timber structures built in Alaska must have a foundation. The base of the foundation had to be at least one meter below the permafrost line, followed by a layer of concrete.

The ground in the Tundra region is soft, so before building a heavy timber log house, the foundation must be reinforced. Otherwise, geological shifts could cause the finished house to tilt, sink, or crack.

Before building the house, they had to conduct a piling test to check the soil quality to determine the next steps for construction.

’All right!’

Feng Shan admitted he didn’t understand any of it. ’Best to leave professional matters to the professionals.’

During construction yesterday, the Wind-Rolling Grass Company workers had asked the construction team for help. They had excavated a foundation pit one meter deep and nearly 200 square meters in area at the site of the new house.

This also included designated spaces for a basement, a septic tank, a domestic wastewater sedimentation system, underground drainage pipes, and a utility room for groundwater equipment.

The main task today was to conduct a test piling in the foundation pit to determine the soil structure before burying the twelve-meter-long, high-strength concrete piles.

They started with a small piling machine that looked like an excavator, but the bucket on its mechanical arm had been replaced with a long auger drill bit.

The foundation pit had been marked with a grid of lime powder, with the intersection of each line marking a spot for a pile.

First, they would drill a single pile hole to test the soil data.

The machine started up, and a CLANGING, CLANGING roar echoed across the riverbank.

Feng Shan squatted nearby to watch the show. He saw the auger bit touch the ground and begin to spin, pulling up soil.

Fortunately, the Fire Seed had improved the surrounding soil structure a few days ago. The time it took to drill the sample hole was surprisingly short. Even the construction workers hadn’t expected it to be so easy. A twelve-meter-deep hole was finished in less than ten minutes.

They compared the soil sample to the standard test criteria.

Loess-like clay, dark brown in color, stable strata, plastic. Average natural moisture content: 35.9%. Average natural void ratio: 1.021. Average coefficient of compressibility: 0.36 MPa-1. It was classified as a medium-compressibility soil layer.

This was, by all measures, Grade-A soil.

When he saw the test results, the installation contractor was completely baffled. It was the first time he had ever seen soil of such high quality in Alaska. Even in the continental United States, only the black earth near the Mississippi River was comparable.

"What is it? Is there a problem?" Feng Shan asked, coming over when he saw the workers’ expressions.

"N-no... no problem," the worker said, quickly shaking his head. He then sighed with regret. "Sir, it’s a shame for soil this good to be on the Tundra. If this were anywhere relatively warmer, it would be an absolutely prime piece of land."

"That’s right. The soil here is comparable only to the black earth of the Mississippi River. What a waste!" another worker added, also shaking his head.

You could make a fortune growing anything in soil like this. But here in the harsh climate of Alaska, anything you plant is doomed to freeze to death.

Feng Shan had thought something was wrong, but it was just this. He breathed a sigh of relief. "I’m more than satisfied just to have a piece of land like this. A man can’t be too greedy, right?"

"You’re right about that. The good news is, we can speed up the construction progress!" The installation contractor smiled and ordered the machine to begin drilling the official pile holes.

CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

The piling machine let out a piercing roar.

One after another, the pile holes were completed. According to the grid layout, a total of 200 such holes had to be drilled across the 200-square-meter foundation.

Watching the holes being drilled, Feng Shan couldn’t help but feel his eye twitch.

’This is all going to cost money.’

’A lot of money!!’

250,000 US Dollars.

...