Landlord in the Arctic

Louise’s face fell.

But she quickly forced a smile, as if she still wanted to say something.

Just then, Old Swan at her side gently reached out and patted Mayor Louise on the arm.

Louise instinctively turned her head to look at Old Swan.

He narrowed his eyes slightly, giving her an imperceptible shake of his head.

Feng Mountain witnessed the subtle exchange.

But he gave no sign of it, his expression remaining unchanged as he continued to chat and laugh with the tribal chiefs.

He occasionally brought up some amusing recent events, acting as if the previous moment had never occurred.

Because Feng Mountain knew very well.

The Kivalina situation was extremely complicated.

Get involved, and it would become a problem he couldn’t shake.

Right now, he wasn’t in a position to get involved.

"Xiaofengzi! Xiaofengzi!" Just then, Old Li’s booming voice echoed from Tu’Er’s direction.

"Stop shouting, I hear you!" Feng Mountain said with a look of resignation, offering the chiefs a wry smile and a shake of his head.

He then excused himself and strode over toward Old Li.

As soon as Feng Mountain left,

The chiefs of the Tribal Alliance all turned to Mayor Louise and began to reason with her.

"Louise, we all know about Kivalina’s situation," one chief said gravely. "Bringing it up now isn’t just unhelpful; it might actually antagonize Feng."

"That’s right," another chief chimed in. "Feng’s territory is just starting to get on its feet. From his perspective, there’s no way he’ll agree to let the Kivalina Tribe relocate there."

Listening to them, Louise’s face filled with misery as she replied helplessly.

"I understand everything you’re saying, but the sea level rose another 10 centimeters this year. The original seawall is completely useless now. Large areas of land near the coast are starting to collapse, and on top of that, the food aid from the state government has been dwindling. If there were any other way, I wouldn’t have made this request to Mr. Feng."

Hearing Louise’s plight, the other tribal chiefs could only sigh in silence, momentarily at a loss for words.

Anyone would be overwhelmed by such a thorny problem. If it were a man-made disaster, there might be a solution, but this was a merciless act of nature. They were utterly powerless against it.

The only feasible solution, it seemed, was to relocate the tribe.

Kitto, the chief of Wevok Village, said slowly with a regretful expression.

"Louise, if there’s really no other option, you should just agree to the state government’s relocation plan. Moving to Fairbanks wouldn’t be so bad. They’ve built a separate community over there specifically for relocated tribes."

Darren, chief of the Wayne Wright Tribe, nodded in agreement.

"He’s right. You could negotiate with the state government. Trading the Kivalina Tribe’s reservation for a plot of land on the outskirts of Fairbanks could be a solution."

Despite their earnest pleas,

Mayor Louise’s expression only grew more determined, and she shook her head in refusal without hesitation.

"No, I will never relocate. Even if Kivalina is eventually submerged by the Ice Sea, I will stay to protect my tribe. Even if Kivalina is reduced to a nomadic tribe, I cannot stand by and watch it die on my watch."

"Once we leave Kivalina, we are no longer the Kivalina."

Seeing this, the assembled tribal chiefs could only shake their heads, falling silent once more.

...

「Meanwhile.」

Feng Mountain strode up to Old Li and immediately saw three middle-aged men standing beside him.

Judging by their features and demeanor, they were likely fellow Chinese.

Before Feng Mountain could ask,

One of the men, who had a scholarly air about him, stepped forward with a warm smile, extending a hand politely.

"Hello, you must be President Feng," he said. "I’m Zhang Qiang, the chief engineer for Dahua Construction Company. And these two are our company’s designers, Ren Haibo and Wang Zhiguo."

"Oh... hello." It took Feng Mountain only a moment to remember who they were. He quickly reached out to shake their hands, smiling warmly. "Please, don’t call me President Feng. It sounds too formal. Xiaofeng or Feng Mountain is fine."

"Alright then, Xiaofeng it is," Zhang Qiang said with a hearty laugh, his smile growing even wider. The two designers beside him also offered friendly smiles.

Old Li, standing to the side,

watched the four of them smiling and curled his lip in disdain.

"If you’ve got business, then talk business. Stop all this schmoozing, it’s nauseating to watch. No need for all this song and dance to get things done."

Hearing Old Li’s words, Feng Mountain and the other three men simply shook their heads with wry smiles.

Then, Feng Mountain turned to Zhang Qiang and asked, "Zhang Gong, Old Li... I mean, Elder Li has told you about the project, right? Are you running into any difficulties? If so, I’ll see what I can do to resolve them."

Zhang Qiang thought for a moment. Recalling Elder Li’s earlier warning, he answered truthfully.

"There are no major issues on the engineering side. We’re using the original construction of the Dalton Highway as a reference, and our technology is far more advanced now, so we can guarantee completion within two months. The main problem is that the highway needs to pass through a protected area. We’re not sure if that will cause any trouble."

A protected area!

This was an unexpected complication for Feng Mountain.

In recent years, Westerners had become extremely serious about environmental protection. Running a highway through a protected area had to be handled with the utmost care.

Feng Mountain paused for a moment before recovering. "Hold on," he said. "I don’t know much about the engineering side of things. I’ll get someone to act as your point of contact. You can address any problems directly with them."