Chapter 1639: The Inuit Teen
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Strictly speaking, tree rings referred to the concentric ring patterns on the cross-section of woody perennial stems, and they were common in trees and shrubs. Usually, each ring represented one year.
The boundaries varied from region to region. In places with a temperate climate, the tree rings were obvious. However, in areas with a tropical climate, the rings were not too obvious because of the weather did not change too drastically, but they could still be identified.
In cold regions, the tree rings were much more visible.
As everyone knew, the air was warm in spring and summer and other environmental conditions like humidity were better. Plants grew quicker at this time, forming spa.r.s.e xylems that were lighter in color. In contrast to that, the conditions of the environment were much harsher in autumn and winter. The xylems were much denser and had a much deeper color. And so, throughout the year as the seasons came and went, rings of alternating depth formed.
In addition, the tree trunk received more sunlight from the south. It grew at a faster speed on that side, so the south of the stem was wide and the rings in the back that faced the north were narrow.
The trees on the island went against this natural law, which puzzled the group. However, Li Du had a bold theory regarding this phenomenon, which was that time flowed much quicker on this island, and so the changes in the weather were also sped up, leading to an increased formation of tree rings. The tree rings that formed were numerous but narrow, almost to the extent of invisibility.
He fished out a magnifying gla.s.s to scrutinize the rings and noticed that the rings were actually present. There were also differences in width in what was supposed to be the north and south sections of each ring, but the differences were very small and invisible if not magnified.
A regular person would not be able to believe this, but Li Du had his little bug. The little bug could also produce such tree rings; even though he had never tried doing so, he knew from experience that this would not be an issue.
Which means there was something wrong with the time and the four seasons of this island!
This was what Li Du speculated, and his face hardened; the abnormalities of the little bugs aligned with his conjecture. If Li Du guessed correctly, they had to hurry and wrap up their exploration work here on the island so they could leave soon.
However, he could not say too much either, since the rest of them might not necessarily believe him and he did not have evidence definite enough to prove his point.
Li Du carelessly tossed the firewood into the bonfire. The sky grew darker yet and the water vapor on the island was increasing. It seemed like it was going to rain soon.
He took out his watch when he was back in the tent. The watch was unusable, as usual, but time flowed normally on his phone. The day ended and everything was fine.
This confused him yet again: if his speculation was right, then the time on the phone should not be in sync with the actual time either.
Confused, he fell into a deep sleep.
While he was sleeping, Ah Ow suddenly started howling again.
Li Du crawled up and quickly walked out of the tent. He thought they had run into some crisis again, but everyone came out to check that everything was in order, and things looked normal.
However, Ah Ow was still howling, her head twisted to look south as she did so.
Li Du understood what was happening. He said, “Ah Ow’s found something. Young Markelov, bring some people with you to guard the camping ground. Let’s go, Brother Wolf!”
They followed Ah Ow, staggering up the mountain path. A light drizzle had started and the path was covered with moss, which made the climb much more effortful. They had to be careful because one misstep could cause them to slip.
Ah Ow had been leading them for half an hour when Li Du heard a terrifying cry, “Ooh ooh ah ah!”
The sound filled his heart with glee — they had found their target!
Li Du turned the flashlight and followed the sound. The beam entered one of the holes, and they saw a teenager inside.
The teen was crouched in the hole, fear written all over his face. He had a mop of black hair and his skin had a hue similar to Li Du’s. The boy was wearing a dirty outdoor jacket — this was the person Li Du was looking for.
Li Du adjusted the light so the beam was less strong, and asked in English, “h.e.l.lo, who are you? Are you okay?”
The teen was still screaming. His left hand clutched a rock and his right was gripping a dagger. The veins on his arm popped out violently and he looked like he was on the verge of a nervous breakdown.
Ah Ow waited beside Li Du, peering in curiously. Every time the teen called out, Ah Ow echoed him. It shouted into the hole, “Ah ooh ooh!”
This was the reason why the teen was panicking.
Li Du smacked the back of Ah Ow’s head, dragging her out the hole to hand to Brother Wolf. He then continued questioning the teen, “Can you listen to me? Do you need help?”
The teen called out a few more times, and then G.o.dzilla threw a box of chocolate into the hole.
The teenager shuffled back a little at the sight of the chocolates before gradually calming down. He then opened the box of candy and started eating.
From this, it seemed like the teenager was not a wild one. He knew how to open the box and he knew that chocolate was good; he was even wearing an outdoor jacket. Li Du hazarded a guess: he was probably stuck on this island after running away from home.
The teen seemed to understand that they had good intentions, so he tried hard to climb upwards.
Li Du and G.o.dzilla helped to pull him up and they found that his knees were stuck out at odd angles, much like Ah Bai’s. His joints were twisted.
The native’s medicinal cream was put to use once again. Li Du tore off the teenager’s pants to let Brother Wolf set the bone before applying a layer of the cream.
The teenager had a shockingly high pain tolerance. Even through something as painful as bone-setting, his only reaction was making a few weird sounds, then he calmed completely after the cream was applied.
Li Du asked him, “Can you speak English?”
The teenager finally opened his mouth to speak, but Li Du could not understand him. He was speaking too quickly in a language that was not English, even if it did sound similar.
Brother Wolf and the rest shook their heads, but Big Markelov listened for a while, then laughed as he said, “It’s an Inuit language that belongs to the Aleut family. It’s a minority language so it’s understandable that you don’t know any of it.”
LI Du asked, “You know the language?”
Big Markelov smiled but looked a little reserved. “Just a bit. The language is primarily made of short, long, and mixed vowels. There are five short vowels: a, e, u, i, and u. For the long vowels, there are—”
Li Du cut him off. “Are you teaching a cla.s.s right now? Just translate for me!”
Big Markelov winced as he said, “I only know a bit of it. There are actually many dialects to this language and the boy speaks just one of those, so I won’t be able to translate.”
G.o.dzilla poured out a bit of water for the teenager to drink, then some more for him to wash his face.
After he washed his face, Li Du realized he was exceptionally pale for someone of his race, but his skin was coa.r.s.e. Just like this mountain, he was a curious contradiction.
The two of them could not communicate, which made things a bit tricky to handle.
The teenager seemed to take to Li Du after the rescue and kept trying to tell them something.
Li Du felt helpless because he could not communicate with the teen. The two of them were speaking in tongues that neither could understand, one rambling after the other even though neither understood each other.
In the end, Li Du shrugged. “Alright, go get some rest for now. We’ll discuss everything else after the sun rises.”
The teenager grabbed on to him when he made to leave, then handed something to him.
It was a beautiful seash.e.l.l adorned with intricate, bright patterns.
The boy had obviously bestowed the seash.e.l.l upon Li Du for this very reason, and so the latter accepted it with a smile.