Beard didn’t dare to look Red Hat Man in the eye and lowered his head in fear.

He was supposed to be gathering intelligence, but he ran into a prostitute on the way. He ended up going to a hotel with her, and she took the two hundred dollars as her fee for the "chat."

As for the intelligence, he could only cobble together a story to get by.

’Who knew Crown Territory would turn out like this?’

"Khilla, what should we do with these bastards?" Yves herded the four men out of the vehicle.

"Lock them in the warehouse for now. Tomorrow, take them to the Fairbanks police department and hand them over to Chief Bird to be booked."

"We can pay! Whatever you want, just don’t send us to the cops." Red Hat Man was panicking now—truly panicking.

Even though Feng Mountain was the local emperor of Crown Territory, he still had to follow the judicial procedures of the United States when dealing with captured criminal suspects.

The process starts with arresting the criminal suspect, followed by booking them. This involves recording their personal information and conducting a background check.

During this process, the authorities formally record the charges and inform the suspect of their rights, including the right to an attorney.

Once booked, the suspect may be held in custody or released, possibly on bail, under certain conditions.

Bail is a financial guarantee to ensure the suspect will return to court for subsequent legal proceedings.

The bail amount is determined based on factors such as the severity of the crime, the suspect’s criminal history, and the potential flight risk.

Once out on bail, the suspect is required to return to court at the specified times to attend all legal proceedings.

If they fail to appear on time, the bail money will be forfeited, and a warrant will be issued for their re-arrest.

Next is the arraignment, where the suspect makes their first formal appearance in court.

During the arraignment, the judge reads the formal charges against the suspect and informs them of their rights, including the right to remain silent and the right to an attorney.

At this stage, the suspect can plead guilty, not guilty, or no contest—the last of which means they neither admit nor deny the crime but are willing to accept the court’s judgment.

Then there are pretrial procedures, the trial, jury deliberation and verdict, and finally, sentencing.

However, about 90% of criminal cases in the United States are concluded through plea bargains.

This is where the defendant pleads guilty in exchange for the prosecutor pressing lesser charges, dropping some charges, or recommending a lighter sentence.

As for the four men’s crime of poaching, it wasn’t actually that serious, as long as it didn’t involve protected animals.

At trial, they would get a one-year sentence at most, plus some community service, and that would be the end of it.

But if they were tried on the charges Feng Mountain was leveling against them...

The bail alone would be astronomical, to say nothing of shooting at a Sheriff. Judges typically throw the book at offenders for such a serious crime.

A minimum of twenty years, or even life in prison.

The reason Red Hat Man was terrified of going to the police was that he had a prior record and was still on parole.

Alaska is a three-strikes law state.

If he ended up in court again, his sentence would be drastically increased.

"Sorry, I don’t need money," Feng Mountain said, waving his hand dismissively. "Take them to the warehouse."

He then turned to his employees, who were gathered on the wooden bridge.

"You all have a lot of free time, huh? The tour group will be here soon. Are you all ready? Is there enough food and drinks? I’m telling you now, if anyone screws up, I’m docking your pay."

The employees were long immune to their boss’s threats of docking their pay and dispersed with good-natured smiles.

"Why are you trying to scare them? They were just worried about you," Jenny said, giving Feng Mountain a light push. He gave an awkward chuckle.

"I’ve mixed a new drink, honey. Let’s go try it," Demi said, pulling Erica toward the bar.

Liu Jing wasn’t a man of many words. He nodded to Feng Mountain and left with his companions. In his view, excavating the Mammoth was more important than anything else.

"Feng, Maria has something to tell you." Jenny said, noticing Maria and Tammy standing to one side.

"What is it?" Feng Mountain asked with a smile.

’These two girls are so much less trouble than Erica,’ he thought. ’They don’t cause scenes or make a fuss.’

Maria hesitantly raised her head.

"Um... Feng, Tammy and I want to expand the vegetable garden. We’ll need some help clearing the land."

’That’s it?’ Feng Mountain had thought it was going to be something serious.

’Come to think of it, I haven’t been to the vegetable garden in a while. I remember after the camp was redesigned, a new plot was sectioned off east of the Ice River for it.’

’Is it already too small?’

"Let’s go. I’ll head to the garden with you and check on your progress."

Hearing that Feng Mountain was going to the garden, the two sweet, simple girls were overjoyed.

"You all go ahead. The restaurant just got a shipment of supplies, and I haven’t finished organizing it yet."

Jenny turned and left, a smile on her face.

...

「The Vegetable Garden」

Feng Mountain had originally built the garden by the Ice River, but it was later moved piece by piece to the east side of the camp according to David’s new layout.

This was a long, narrow stretch of open land, and it was also within the range of the tribe’s Fire Seed.

After crossing the wooden bridge, Feng Mountain saw patches of vibrant vegetables under the lamplight. Thanks to the nurturing glow of the Fire Seed, their growth wasn’t affected by the lack of sunlight during the polar night.

There were clumps upon clumps of lush green lettuce. The leaves looked like napa cabbage, but the hearts resembled round cabbages.

’Is this a real variety of lettuce?’

’I remember the seed packet said it was iceberg lettuce.’

Feng Mountain bent down, broke off a lettuce leaf, and popped it into his mouth.

Mmm!

It was crisp and sweet, with a faint, fruity flavor.

He looked up at the lettuce patch. It was huge; the entire field before him seemed to be nothing but lettuce.

"How much lettuce did you plant?"

"A third of an acre," Maria replied softly.

’A third of an acre?’

It took Feng Mountain a moment to process the measurement after hearing her say it.