Landlord in the Arctic

Chapter 376: Chapter 285: The Appointment

Hearing the commotion and seeing the flames soaring into the sky from the direction of the airfield, everyone at the camp remembered their boss had gone there and immediately sped over on their snowmobiles.

Before long, the group arrived on the scene. Their hearts sank at the sight before them.

Of the five hangars that stood in a row, the last one had been burned to near-total ruin.

Fortunately, Feng Mountain and Jeff were both safe and sound. Though they both looked shaken, neither was injured. Everyone let out a long, collective sigh of relief, their worries finally put to rest.

After all, Feng Mountain was the backbone of Crown Territory; every aspect of the camp’s operations depended on him.

"Boss, what happened?" Yves leaped off his snowmobile, shouting in a panic as he rushed toward Feng Mountain.

The others didn’t stand idle. Grabbing whatever fire-fighting equipment they had, they charged without a word into the smoldering hangar, hoping to extinguish the blaze before it could spread and cause even greater losses.

Luckily, Jeff had specifically placed the American Bison specimen in the last hangar for the sake of secrecy, and there were no other highly flammable materials nearby.

As a result, the fire hadn’t spread to the other hangars, which was a blessing in disguise.

Otherwise, the losses would have been enormous; the P750 and the Carnation were parked in the first hangar.

"Jeff was messing with the wiring, caused a short circuit, and started a fire. Luckily, nothing important was damaged." Feng Mountain said this without batting an eye, pinning the blame squarely on Jeff.

’I did it?’

With an innocent expression, Jeff subconsciously pointed a finger at himself, his face a mask of disbelief.

’You’re the one who did this, and you’re making me take the fall.’

’Have you no shame?’

But when his eyes fell upon the Wild Ox Tatanka specimen, his anger instantly deflated. He could only take the blame in silence.

"Sorry. I’ll get a construction crew to come and fix the hangar in a couple of days."

"Just be more careful next time." Feng Mountain nodded calmly, looking every bit the part of a leader giving a reprimand. He then took a shovel from Frank and made a move to enter the hangar and help with the fire.

He had only taken a few steps when he seemed to remember something important. He looked back at the still-dazed Jeff and said in all seriousness,

"It would be better to rebuild the hangar with concrete. It’s sturdier."

"Got it!" Jeff burst out into a wry laugh, inwardly cursing that Feng Mountain was completely taking advantage of the disaster.

Soon, with everyone working together, the last of the embers in the hangar were completely extinguished.

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, and their attention turned to the American Bison specimen.

After all, none of them had ever seen an American Bison specimen this large.

But the sight sent Jeff into a panic.

He saw dirty hands, covered in ash and slush, pawing carelessly all over the tribal relic.

Wawa, that little rascal, was even trying to climb onto the ox’s back to take a selfie.

Jeff felt a murderous urge. He rushed forward and began pushing the onlookers away with both hands, frantically trying to stop them.

"Fellas, this... you can’t touch this."

Feng Mountain, watching from the side, understood what was happening. He smiled faintly but said nothing, then called for everyone to head back to camp.

"Alright, let’s go. Time to head back. We’ll leave this to Jeff. Besides, he’s gifting us a new hangar building."

*Heh.*

Jeff’s mouth twitched into a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. He felt utterly helpless.

’Feng Mountain is ruthless,’ he complained to himself. ’The price is rising faster than the Yukon River during the spring thaw.’

’At first, it was just one wooden hangar that burned down, and I only had to promise to repair it.’

’Then it turned into rebuilding it as a concrete hangar.’

’And now, it’s somehow become gifting him a new hangar building. At this rate, if he keeps talking, he’ll probably make me build him an entire airport.’

Jeff could only bite the bullet and agree, silently praying for them to leave quickly and stop causing him more trouble.

"That’s right, you all should get going. I need to contact the construction crew right away. You’re interfering with my work."

The group chuckled, knowing full well that Jeff was feeling the financial sting.

A hangar building might not cost much in a mainland city, but this was the Far North Tundra, a place with no road access where all transport relied on helicopters.

Jeff stood rooted to the spot, watching as Feng Mountain’s group receded into the distance. Only when they had completely vanished from sight did he finally feel a sense of relief.

’The tribal relic can’t stay here any longer. It has to be sent away immediately.’

’Even one extra minute here could lead to some kind of accident.’

With this in mind, Jeff didn’t dare delay. He immediately pulled out his phone and called his company in Prudhoe Bay, telling them to dispatch a CH-54 to Crown Territory at once.

Once that was arranged, he hung up without waiting for any questions and immediately dialed Chief Welta, who was far away in the Clark Lake Region.

The moment the call connected, Jeff blurted out the good news before the Elder Chief even had a chance to speak.

"Chief, the blessing of the Spirit of All Things is complete! I saw the Tatanka come back to life with my own eyes and felt the divine light of the Spirit of All Things."

"Yes, that’s right! I saw it with my own two eyes. And I even managed to secretly record a video."

"I’ve already arranged for a helicopter to bring the Tatanka back to the tribe right away."

"What? A tribal police escort? No, no, that’s not necessary."

The two spoke on the phone for a long time, hanging up only when Jeff felt his phone growing hot against his ear.