Chapter 427: Chapter 240: A Potential Threat
December 26, local time in Wiseman.
The storm that swept across the global internet overnight seemed to have no impact on this land at the edge of the world.
The sun still lazily hung on the horizon, the snowfields remained vast and boundless, and the air was still cold and pure.
Life, still had to return to its simplest origin, where those rapidly jumping numbers and astronomical gains could certainly bring immense security and infinite possibilities for the future.
But in the end, they could not replace the flames burning in the fireplace, the warm embrace of family, and the solid feeling of creating a new life with one’s own hands on this land.
At nine in the morning, Lin Yu’an made the fire in the fireplace burn a little more vigorously, added a few pieces of dry birch wood, and then put on his thickest winter gear.
It was a military green, Gore-Tex-coated, two-piece cold-weather work suit, lined with thick Primaloft insulation, enough to withstand the extreme cold of minus forty degrees.
"I need to go to Uncle Stan’s place to bring back our chickens," he said to Aliya and Emily, who were playing with the children on the living room carpet.
"Chickens? Are you taking that big machine?" Aliya looked up, knowing that twenty adult chickens were no small number, and that nimble snowmobile was clearly not up to the task.
"Of course." Lin Yu’an smiled, as he put on the heavy Sorel winter boots, "Only it can hold them. And I’ll check if there’s any new snow on the main road; last night’s wind was quite strong."
"Be careful on the road, dear." Emily was handing a teething biscuit to Olivia, who was trying to stand up. She gently reminded him, "Stay safe."
Lin Yu’an nodded, gave them a reassuring look, picked up a pair of heavy leather gloves, and walked out of the log cabin.
The outdoor air instantly enveloped him, the kind of dry cold that could sting the nasal cavity. The exhaled white breath condensed into a long-lasting mist before his eyes.
He headed straight for the XCMG XC760K loader, which looked like a yellow steel beast.
After a brief warm-up, with a low and powerful roar, this reliable partner was successfully awakened in the freezing cold.
The cab’s heating system kicked in, quickly clearing the frost on the glass and revealing the ice-sculpted, pure white world outside.
Lin Yu’an placed several large plastic transport cages specifically for carrying live poultry into the huge bucket, then swiftly climbed into the warm and spacious cab.
Before starting the engine, he skillfully pressed the DJI Osmo Action 4 action camera on the side of the console to silently document today’s task.
"Buzz — buzz —"
The loader moved slowly along the main road he had cleared himself, heading towards the Stan family’s home. The cab had a wide view and good soundproofing, keeping the harsh cold and noise outside.
This gave him a rare moment of quiet contemplation, and his thoughts gradually returned to the steady rhythm that Alaska should have, in the face of the vast snowfields.
As he drove, he kept an eye on the tree line on both sides of the road, watching for any new animal tracks.
This was a lonely journey. In sight, there was nothing but black coniferous forests and white snow, with no third color in between.
The sky was a high, slightly pale blue, and the sun hung like an indifferent silver coin on the horizon, casting long, blue shadows.
The forest after the snow was extraordinarily quiet, so quiet it seemed you could hear the passage of time. Occasionally, a breeze would pass by, causing the snow on pine branches to fall with a "swish," like a silent waterfall.
Aside from this, all that remained was the "crunch" of the loader’s tire chains over the snow and the low rumble of the Cummins engine.
This extreme solitude had driven many prospectors and explorers to madness, but for Lin Yu’an, it was a rare luxury.
It was like a giant filter, removing all the noise, restlessness, and anxiety of modern civilization, leaving only the purest thoughts about survival and freedom.
However, just as he was about to reach the open area near the Stan family’s house, the corner of his eye caught a hint of something amiss that was out of place with this tranquility.
He instinctively released the accelerator, smoothly bringing the loader to a stop, and then pressed the red parking brake button on the dashboard.
With a slight "hiss" of pneumatic sound, the steel beast came to a complete halt.
He squinted his eyes and looked at an open space about fifty meters to the right. On the snow there was a large patch of dark bloodstain, unusually striking in the pure white world.
The snow around the bloodstain was trampled into a mess, with countless animal tracks crisscrossing and extending into the depths of the forest.
Lin Yu’an’s brow furrowed tightly; he did not get out of the vehicle. On this land, sitting inside the loader’s heavy cab was far safer than standing in the snow.
He observed for a moment and quickly distinguished two main types of tracks from those footprints, one belonging to a large adult reindeer.
The other belonged to a pack of at least ten gray wolves; it was a hunting site. The local wolf pack in Wiseman had hunted a reindeer here.
This was nothing more than the natural law playing out daily in the Alaskan wilderness.
But there were two points that set off alarm bells in Lin Yu’an’s mind! Because this was less than a kilometer from Stan’s cabin, and only three kilometers from his own home.
