American Landowners: Starting with Hunting in Alaska

Chapter 88: The Clouds Part to Reveal the Sun, Wild Laughter in the Wilderness (Bonus Chapter)

"Feed".

A low shout, like muffled thunder.

Blake stood on the steps a few meters away.

The old hunter held a rusty logging axe in his hand, pointing it at a piece of birch wood.

He has been watching ever since he got off the bus.

From Su Wei's initial tension when answering the phone, to her stiffness midway through, and now her utterly distraught state.

But he didn't ask anything.

He simply swung his arm around the handle and brought the axe down heavily.

Click!

The log exploded with a crack, sending wood chips flying and revealing a pale yellow core inside.

The sharp sound startled Suwei awake.

He turned and looked at the old man, who was as silent and unyielding as a rock.

"What's wrong?"

Blake pulled the axe off the stump with one hand and tossed it into the nearby woodpile. "What phone call made you so distraught? Kid, remember, no matter what happens, as long as you're alive, there's hope."

His tone was indifferent, as if he didn't care at all.

But his grey-blue eyes were always watching him.

Su Wei's violently beating heart suddenly calmed down.

A warm current, seemingly from nowhere, swept over my entire body.

He relaxed completely, and a smile involuntarily crept onto his lips.

Even though he tried his best to control his expression.

But, three million two hundred and fifty thousand!

This number changed his life.

Su Wei shook his head, his facial muscles becoming somewhat uncontrollable due to prolonged tension.

He tried to twitch the corners of his mouth, but instead revealed an expression that was even uglier than crying.

"no."

Suwei took two steps forward, his boots crunching through the snow.

"Good news: thanks to the efforts of the union, the insurance company has decided to pay out for that rare major shipwreck in Kodiak."

Blake's face twitched, and his eyebrows twitched.

"They paid compensation? Those damned vampires?"

He doesn't ask about the process, only the result.

Suwei stopped in front of Blake, separated by a pile of freshly chopped firewood, his body still smelling of deer blood.

"Compensation has been provided."

He took a few deep breaths, and his facial expression finally returned to normal. "I'm no longer in debt."

He did not give a specific number.

For someone like Blake who views money as a reserve of bullets, ten million and one million make no difference.

In fact, the other party's net worth might be even greater than the compensation he currently faces.

The important thing is the result.

Justice.

Although, it is a matter of due justice.

But now, this is a difficult step.

Blake stared at Suwei's face.

The lingering gloom and anxiety between the young man's brows are gradually dissipating.

Instead, there is a sense of bewildered ease.

It's like someone who has been carrying a huge boulder for a long time suddenly having their burden removed, and then staggering around, not knowing how to take another step.

"Those sons of bitches finally vomited."

Blake snorted, pulled out the crumpled empty cigarette pack from his pocket, and shook it.

Only the last one.

He held it in his mouth, but didn't light it.

"Now that you've lost money, who are you trying to fool with that mournful look on your face?"

Blake stepped forward and patted Suwei heavily on the shoulder with his large, calloused hand.

Its strength is astonishing.

The shot made Su Wei stagger.

"That's reality, kid."

Blake, a cigarette butt dangling from his lips, spoke in a muffled but powerful voice, "In this damned world, justice may be delayed. Humph!"

He himself seemed to find the statement somewhat laughable, and couldn't help but let out a soft hum.

But the situation had already come to this point, and the words had already been spoken.

Blake forced himself to continue, offering words of comfort that he was completely unskilled in.

"But as long as you have evidence, means, or even a gun, it will always come."

"The money is in hand, the debt is paid off, and the land is saved."

"This is a fucking good thing."

Blake rarely swears, at least not this frequently.

His hawk-like eyes were fixed on Su Wei. "Since it's a good thing, you should be smiling."

"laugh?"

Su Wei was stunned.

Next to it was a modified tracked vehicle, with a dead deer frozen solid in the cargo bed, and the air was thick with the smell of blood.

Before me was still a serious old man who took rocks as his standard.

This scene, is it funny?

"Yes, laugh."

Blake suddenly leaned closer, his weathered old face displaying a strange expression—an attempt to show joy that he had never done before but was trying.

"That polite smile is reserved for those bastards in suits."

"Here, in the wilderness, we will laugh out loud."

"Laugh like a madman! Howl like a wolf!"

As Blake spoke, a sudden grin spread across his face.

It was an exaggerated and wild curve, revealing a set of teeth stained yellow by tobacco.

"ha!"

A short, dry laugh burst from his throat.

It sounds like rusty gears being forced to turn.

It sounds awful.

It's even a little creepy.

But it's very pure.

"Hahaha!"

Blake tilted his head back, his laughter growing louder and wilder, shaking the snow on the treetops.

He is laughing.

I laughed out loud at the young man in front of me, whose parents had died in tragedy, who was burdened with debt, and who was forced to move forward by life.

They laughed because he had finally made it through, and because those damned vampire companies had finally paid the compensation they deserved.

His smile was strange, like an old toy that hadn't been oiled in a long time and had suddenly been wound up.

His expression was strange, and his laughter was stiff.

That strict mentor, known as the "Old Devil," truly resembled a devil at that moment.

Suwei looked at him.

Look at this old man laughing wildly in the snow.

Looking at his comical expression and forced laughter.

The emotions that had been suppressed in my chest for so long finally found an outlet.

The corners of his mouth turned up uncontrollably.

That's instinct.

It is a cry from the depths of the soul.

"Ha ha----"

Suwei let out his first laugh.

The voice was very soft and hoarse.

But this is like a spark igniting a fuse.

"Ha ha ha ha!"

Laughter burst forth from deep within his chest, carrying a scalding heat.

Su Wei bent over, his hands gripping his knees tightly, laughing so hard his whole body was shaking.

Tears welled up in her eyes.

It's not sadness, it's fucking awesome.

Screw the bank collection notices!

Screw the lack of money for bullets!

Screw being overly cautious!

I'm rich now!

The soul that had traveled through time finally took root in this land on this bitterly cold evening.

In the wildest, most unrestrained way.

Two madmen.

One old and one young.

On the vast, deserted snowfield, facing the clear sky after the blizzard and a deer carcass, he burst into wild laughter.

Laughter echoed through the valley, startling a few crows returning to their nests, which fluttered away into the distance.

The town of Kodiak in the distance is dimly lit, and the civilized world continues to operate within its established rules.

And here.

Only the most primal form of catharsis.

Blake laughed so hard he coughed violently, and the unlit cigarette fell onto the snow.

He didn't pick it up.

He simply rubbed his stiff, smiling cheeks and kicked Su Wei in the butt.

"Alright, stop laughing so hard you'll burst your lungs."

Blake took a deep breath. "Go, dissect the deer. I'm going to eat deer heart tonight; it's good for your energy."

"Okay, teacher."

Su Wei straightened up and fiercely wiped away the tears of laughter from the corners of her eyes.

My facial muscles ached terribly, but I had never felt so clear-headed.

The ever-vigilant gloom in those dark eyes shattered completely.

Instead, a ball of fire took its place.

A raging fire called ambition.

With this money, with the system, and with this land.

What he needs to do is more than just survive.

He wants to live better than anyone else, to be more like a human being than anyone else.

Suwei turned and walked toward the tracked vehicle, his steps as light as a wolf that had just learned to hunt.

Blake watched his retreating figure and picked up the axe from the ground again.

That kid.

He's finally starting to look like a hunter.

A hunter truly ready to take control of his own destiny.

"Suwei, now that you've paid off your debts, are you still going to continue tracking down that damned poacher?"

Blake placed the axe on the wood, but instead of chopping, he turned around and asked.

Su Wei stopped and turned around, a slight smile on his face, his tone relaxed.

"I will."

"Bang!"

The wood was split in two, and Blake put away his axe.

His face, which had never changed in ages, finally curled up at the corners of his mouth in a genuine smile.

Even if the magnitude is very small.