King of the Wilderness

In the Hilton Hotel, Isabella was recalling yesterday’s three-party meeting that ended unpleasantly.

MacKeez’s threat and the minister’s instructions echoed in her ears.

After the meeting ended yesterday, Isabella temporarily returned to the Hilton Hotel located downtown with the convoy.

Once settled, without minding the fatigue from the journey, she immediately dialed the encrypted direct line to report to her superior, Minister of Environment Richard Winters.

"Mr. Minister, I have arrived in Anchorage." Isabella’s voice was calm and professional, but upon close listening, one could detect a trace of irrepressible gravity.

"The situation is much more difficult than we anticipated..."

She concisely reported the details of the meeting and summarized: "Dr. MacKeez’s attitude is extremely resolute; she refuses any form of compromise."

"Moreover, she uses the exposure of the meeting recording and our department’s initial ’lacking rescue value’ assessment result as a bargaining chip."

On the other end, Winters let out a cold hum with unclear implications.

Isabella took a deep breath and threw out the most incredible information: "Her ultimate goal is not money, nor project leadership."

"She demands that the department officially and permanently relinquish December’s ownership and completely transfer it to her personally."

After saying this, there was a prolonged silence on the other end of the line. Isabella could even imagine Minister Winters slowly taking off his glasses and massaging his brow in the office filled with portraits of former prime ministers.

After a long while, Winters’s voice slowly came through, filled with the extreme disdain of someone in power towards dreamers!

He spoke in a low voice, as if commenting on a low-grade comedy, "It’s just... laughable."

"A young scientist, pierced by idealism, delusional enough to challenge a nation’s symbol of sovereignty? Who does she think she is, Saint Joan of Arc?"

He did not get angry at Isabella, but this light dismissal was more pressuring than any roar.

His tone became serious: "Isa, I didn’t send you to sense her excitement, nor to evaluate how firm that threat is. Your task is to solve the problem!"

"Yes, sir." Isabella immediately responded.

Winters began to issue instructions, every word filled with political wisdom.

"Listen, the threats she holds are indeed very troublesome; they are the public opinion bombs we need to deal with immediately. You did well here, alerting me promptly."

"However, regarding ownership, this is not a negotiable topic; this is a red line!"

"You must make her understand one thing: Canada’s natural heritage is as sacred and inviolable as the maple leaf on our national flag."

"We can, out of humanitarianism, entrust professionals to supervise and care, but ownership can never ever fall into the hands of any individual."

"Once this precedent is set, will tomorrow an American tycoon come wanting to buy a mountain in Banff National Park? Will the day after tomorrow want to adopt a group of our national treasure beavers? Sovereignty issues have no room for compromise!"

After finishing the call with the minister, Isabella let out a long breath.

However, today she had just woken up from adjusting her time difference, pouring herself a glass of red wine, and was thinking about how to eliminate the hidden danger brought by that assessment report.

Her young assistant Delice walked in quickly, looking flustered, holding a tablet.

"Ms. Leclerc!" The assistant’s voice was somewhat urgent, "You need to look at this immediately!"

"What is causing such panic? Is the sky falling?" Isabella frowned with some dissatisfaction.

The assistant handed the tablet to her, showing the real-time trending list on Twitter.

An ominous premonition surged in Isabella’s heart; she clicked on the tweet that had exploded the entire list.

Posted by: Justin Bieber.

Posted three minutes ago.

Content: "A surprise about love and guardianship, next month, Madison Square Garden, me and my bro @Lin Yu’an, be there or be square."

Attached below the tweet was a never-before-exposed high-definition photo, showing Lin Yu’an two months ago in the helicopter holding December’s warm scene.

Below that photo, Justin Bieber’s fans had gone completely wild.

"Oh my God! It’s Lin! Justin actually invited Lin to be a guest!"

"Look at that little polar bear! Did Lin rescue a little polar bear?"

"Love and Guardianship! My heart is going to melt! Is the theme of this concert related to animal protection?"

In one hour, this tweet’s retweets had surpassed one million.

The wine glass in Isabella’s hand shook slightly, the ruby-red liquid almost spilling out. Her face, usually always elegant and composed, instantly became extremely unsightly.

She realized what a foolish mistake she had made. She was still using the slow bureaucratic thinking of the last era to deal with a new-age opponent; the internet truly is a vile thing!

The opponent did not leave her any time for delay!

She immediately grabbed the encrypted phone beside her and dialed Ottawa again.

After listening to Isabella’s report, Winters’s face immediately became extremely grim.

He understood, the opponent had made a move; the first move was an open strategy.

Lin Yu’an did not directly attack them; he merely announced to tell a story with all possibilities on a globally watched stage, and the final interpretation of this story was firmly in his hands.