Landlord in the Arctic-Chapter 79: No Way

They put all the fishing nets into the sea and dropped the marker buoys.

For the next while, the wooden boat weaved between the ice floes, searching for any sign of seals.

Seals held an important place on the Inuit menu, almost as vital as pork is to the Chinese.

With global warming, the seal population in the waters near Kivalina had plummeted. The appearance of the Super Wolf Pack had also forced the reindeer herds to change their migration routes.

This made survival difficult for the residents of Kivalina, driving them to the point of requesting food aid from the state government.

They refueled the wooden boat for a second time, but there was still no sight of any seals.

Searching any longer would just be a waste of fuel. Fuel was expensive in Kivalina, with the price having risen to over nine US dollars a gallon.

Disheartened, Old Swan told his little grandson to pilot the boat back to where they had set the nets, planning to pull them in early and return to Kivalina.

They found the yellow marker buoy.

Suddenly, Old Swan’s expression turned to excitement. The yellow marker buoy had drifted from its original position, and the ropes on the sea’s surface were tangled together.

This meant there were a lot of fish struggling in the net; otherwise, the ropes wouldn’t be tangled.

"Quick, pull in the nets!!!"

Old Swan’s voice was hoarse with excitement. He had his little grandson steer toward the marker buoy while he leaned over the side of the boat, looking like he wanted to jump right into the sea.

The wooden boat drew near the yellow buoy.

Old Swan raised a gaff hook and snagged the buoy, dragging it aboard. Ignoring the icy seawater on the ropes, he heaved at the fishing net with all his might, urging Maria and Feng Mountain to help. He even had Little Swan, who was steering the boat, join in pulling the net.

Even with four people pulling, the net moved upward from the seawater with excruciating slowness. It was so heavy it felt as if they had caught the weight of the entire ocean.

The next moment.

A mass of shimmering white figures appeared in the water.

It was whitefish.

Standing at the very front, Old Swan’s lips trembled, and tears welled in the corners of his eyes. It had been years since he had seen a full net.

"So many whitefish!!" Maria was so happy she almost let go of the net.

Little Swan was even more stunned, his eyes wide as saucers. For as long as he could remember, he had never seen so many fish in a net.

Among those present, only Feng Mountain remained composed, feeling secretly smug.

’See that!’

’Fishing is just this easy.’

As the net was slowly hauled into the boat, its mesh was packed tight with a dense mass of whitefish, all thrashing violently as they left the water.

The wooden boat wasn’t large to begin with, and with so many fish struggling at once, it began to rock precariously.

"Maria, stun the fish!" Old Swan had no intention of losing this rare catch to a capsized boat, so he quickly told the girl to get to work.

Maria grabbed a short club. Seeing a particularly lively fish flopping about, she brought the club down hard on its head.

Her movements were fluid and practiced. 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

One by one, the struggling whitefish grew still under the club, lying peacefully in the boat’s hold. Even those that were lucky enough to escape the club couldn’t escape death by suffocation.

Feng Mountain discreetly used the Witchcraft Bone Ring to collect Soul Power.

When the last section of the net was pulled in.

The three Inuit collapsed onto the heaps of whitefish filling the hold. They gazed at the catch that was weighing the boat down, and even though the seawater on their clothes had already frozen into frost, their faces were lit with fervent smiles.

A smile also spread across Feng Mountain’s face. The Soul Power patterns on his Witchcraft Bone Ring had grown considerably.

A single whitefish contained twice the Soul Power of a Thunderbird.

There were at least six or seven hundred whitefish on the boat. Back home, they could be used as kindling to burn the Fire Seed, and its light would be able to illuminate a vast new area of land.

After a short rest, Old Swan picked up a whitefish and placed it on the gunwale. He took out a small knife, plunged it into the fish’s back along the spine, and made a horizontal cut. A fillet of snow-white meat appeared.

Old Swan used his knife to cut the fish into small pieces, speared one on the tip, and offered it to Feng Mountain.

"Feng, according to Inuit custom, the first taste of a catch is offered to an honored guest. This is the freshest whitefish meat."

’Eating it raw!!’

Feng Mountain was actually quite resistant to eating it this way, but it would be inappropriate not to. He pinched the piece of fish and put it in his mouth to chew.

’Hmm, it doesn’t have much of a fishy taste.’

’The meat is fresh and delicious, the texture is firm. Not bad.’

’But it would definitely taste better pan-fried.’

The three of them stared at Feng Mountain’s expression. He broke into a grin. "Not bad. It’s pretty good."

Hearing this, the three broke into satisfied smiles and took out their own knives to divide the rest of the whitefish meat.

The hold was full of fish.

For the return journey, Old Swan revoked his little grandson’s piloting privileges.

After all, the boat was fully loaded now. The water was only a hand’s breadth from the gunwale; the slightest mistake would mean losing the boat and all the fish.

Compared to Little Swan’s bold piloting style, Old Swan was much steadier.

He would turn early upon spotting an ice floe, doing his best to avoid them.

Soon, the coastline appeared in their line of sight.

The beach was teeming with moving black dots—the residents of Kivalina Town, who had heard the news of the bountiful catch over the radio.

As they neared the shore.

A crowd had gathered. The old, the weak, women, and children stood on the shore supporting one another, while young kids ran alongside the fishing boat.

Little Swan grabbed a fat whitefish from the hold and held it high in the air.

A cheer erupted from the shore.

The fishing boat rocked as it docked at the pier.

The townspeople crowded around, their faces beaming with joy, loudly speaking a language Feng Mountain couldn’t understand.

Several elderly Inuit men took a few whitefish from Little Swan, produced knives, and began butchering them on the spot, handing out pieces of meat to the townspeople.

Seeing these people eating the bloody fish meat, as happy as children.

Feng Mountain watched in silence.

However, the next scene was somewhat surprising.

Old Swan and some other residents moved the whitefish from the hold onto the pier. They sorted them into piles by size, cutting some of the larger fish in half to ensure each pile was roughly the same weight.

Then, the townspeople lined up to receive their share. The elderly and children received an extra portion, while the younger residents got a standard one.

Just then, Louise walked over to Feng Mountain and said with deep emotion.

"In the past, when we Inuit had no food, the children would help the elderly push themselves into the Ice Sea to freeze to death, or help them onto an ice floe to be carried away by the current."

"That custom no longer exists. We treat every elder with kindness now. Even when food is scarce, we prioritize giving it to them."

’Here we go again!!’

’Can you please stop whispering this stuff in my ear?’

’I’ve already helped you catch all these whitefish.’

Feng Mountain blinked helplessly. "I’m sorry for your difficult past, and I hope you can overcome these hardships."

After speaking, he remembered something.

"Oh, right. If you still need food, I can give you a location. When I was chasing the Wolf Pack, they were hunting a herd of reindeer. There were about a dozen of them, and more than twenty gray wolves."

"The wolves have already eaten from the reindeer, so I don’t know if they might carry any diseases. You should consider that."

’What?’

’A dozen reindeer.’

’More than twenty wolves.’

’How much meat is that!!’

’Who cares if the wolves have eaten from them? Worst case, we’ll eat the wolves too!’

Louise shook her head excitedly, then turned and shouted to the crowd distributing the whitefish, "Old Swan, hurry! Feng has given us a precious gift!"

Reeking of fish, Old Swan ran over and looked at Louise with a puzzled expression. When she told him about the reindeer and the Wolf Pack, Old Swan’s eyes widened in disbelief.

On the Tundra, the most important thing was food. The second most important thing was also food, and the third most important thing was still food. With food, they could survive. With food, their children could grow. With food, the tribe would not perish.

With so many reindeer and wolves, if they were careful, it would be more than enough for Kivalina to make it through the winter.

"Feng!"

Feng Mountain smiled and handed a satellite phone to Old Swan. "I’ve marked the coordinates on the map. You know how to use this, right?"

「Not long after.」

A dozen snowmobiles, each pulling a cargo sled, roared out of Kivalina.

Feng Mountain gazed at the jubilant townspeople.

’This is all I can do.’

’As for anything else...’

’No way!!’

...