Landlord in the Arctic

As Feng Mountain and his group drew near, Tom’s face immediately broke into an eager smile, and he hurried forward to greet them.

"Hey, Feng, was Texas fun?"

"Not really. It was too hot. I much prefer the cold in Alaska." Feng Mountain shook his head lightly, then took a deep breath of the cold air, a look of bliss on his face.

Hearing this, Tom immediately exclaimed dramatically, "My God, you’re more of an Alaskan than I am! I’ve hated this place since the day I was born."

As he spoke, he rubbed his hands together and stomped his feet, as if trying to shake the cold from his body.

"Get in the car. Let’s hurry back to the Crown Territory."

Feng Mountain turned his head to look at Yves. Fiona, likely airsick, was curled up inside Yves’s animal-hide coat, fast asleep. Her little face still showed a trace of exhaustion.

The group piled into the car and slowly drove away from Fairbanks International Airport.

The vehicle drove along Highway 4, heading toward Tom’s flight school.

It was the middle of the night, and the streets were silent, as if shrouded in a thick veil of quiet.

A recent snowfall had covered the road with a thick layer of snow.

The car’s tires made a crunching sound as they rolled over the snow.

Even though the car’s heater was on full blast, the biting wind seemed to seep in from everywhere, and you could still feel a hint of the chill.

Through the car window, Feng Mountain saw that people had already started putting up Christmas lights and ribbons in front of the houses along the street.

The colorful decorations stood out starkly against the white snow, adding a bit of festive atmosphere to the cold winter night.

"Tom, what are your plans for Christmas this year?" Feng Mountain asked casually, breaking the brief silence in the car.

"Ha! I’m gonna get a few women to dress up as Santa Claus, and I’ll play the reindeer. What do you think of that idea? I’ve been thinking about it for a long time," Tom said animatedly while holding the steering wheel, a smug look on his face.

A fat reindeer riding Santa Claus!

The mere image in Feng Mountain’s mind was cringe-worthy. He couldn’t help but shake his head and say, "Why don’t you just come celebrate with us at the Crown Territory? The more the merrier."

"Al... alright!" Tom’s expression was conflicted for a moment. He was still reluctant to give up on his creative reindeer idea, but he eventually suppressed the thought and reluctantly agreed to Feng Mountain’s invitation.

After all, it wasn’t often the boss personally invited him, so he had to show him some respect.

As for the Santa Claus role-playing, that could be done anytime.

’At worst, I can just do something even more exciting next time, like a monster versus Godzilla role-play.’

’I can play the ferocious monster, and I’ll find a hot woman from the club to play Godzilla.’

At this thought, the corners of Tom’s mouth couldn’t help but curve up slightly.

「Half an hour later.」

The convoy pulled into the flight school.

Compared to the dilapidated state Feng Mountain had seen on his last visit, the school was now completely transformed.

The runway, once so potholed it looked like it could sprain a plane’s ankle at any moment, was now repaired, smooth, and new, reflecting a faint asphalt gleam under the lights.

And the few rickety, dilapidated prefabricated huts had been replaced with brand-new container homes.

These container homes had a very stylish design. Cleverly joined together, they actually formed a two-story building that was not only practical but also had a rather modern feel.

The P750 aircraft had also been brought back from the international airport by Tom and was now parked quietly on the runway.

Inadvertently, a two-story container building at the flight school caught Feng Mountain’s eye.

Before, because the roads were poor and transportation was extremely difficult, the camp had mostly been limited to using mini-cabins when building housing.

While the mini-cabins were passable for single occupancy, they became exceptionally cramped and inconvenient for any more people.

At the time, Feng Mountain had felt a real pang of regret logging trees from the Moonlight Forest to build log cabins.

After all, the Far North Tundra was not a place well-suited for trees to grow, and the ones in the Moonlight Forest had taken dozens, or even hundreds, of years to reach their current size.

If they chopped them all down to build houses, how many years would it take for them to grow back?

But these container homes seemed to solve all these problems perfectly. Not only did they eliminate the need to cut down precious trees, but they were also easy to assemble and made more rational use of space.

Right away, Feng Mountain called over Tom, who was preparing the plane, and asked as they stood in front of the building,

"How’s the insulation on these container homes?"

"Insulation?" Tom was taken aback for a second, a blank look on his face, but he instantly understood. A shrewd smile immediately appeared. "Buddy, you’re thinking of using these houses in the Crown Territory? That’s a great idea. Come on, I’ll give you a tour."

As he spoke, Tom pushed open the door and called out to the others, "Fellas, come on in for a cup of coffee and warm yourselves up."

Everyone followed Tom in single file, entering the container home.

Once inside, everyone was a little surprised. They hadn’t expected the interior to be so spacious.

The first floor in particular was clearly made from four containers joined together. The ceiling height was about the same as a normal house, and the total area was over a hundred square meters.

In addition, a fireplace had been built into one of the walls, giving the space a warm and cozy feeling.

"Sorry, the place is a bit of a mess!" Tom said, slightly embarrassed, as he led everyone to the lounge area. He hastily grabbed a pile of women’s clothing from the sofa and frantically stuffed it into a closet.

"It is a bit messy. You should find a woman and get married," Feng Mountain teased with a smile.