Chapter 1647: Again
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
The bunch of them sat on the raft, rooted to the spot. After a long time, Young Markelov murmured, “Good G.o.d, there are people down in the water? There are people living in such deep waters?”
There were people in the waters, which meant the raft was no longer safe. What if someone swam up from the depths to mess with the raft?
Li Du hurriedly ordered for Big Markelov and the rest to row to sh.o.r.e. His overreaction made Young Markelov suspicious. “When did you become such a scaredy-cat, boss?”
Brother Wolf could explain in Li Du’s stead. “The boss is no scaredy-cat, he’s just not in a position to take risks. His child’s about to be born.”
Li Du sucked in his breath. “We’ll make our way back first. The videos should be stored on the computer, right? Let’s go back and a.n.a.lyze those.”
They returned to the camping ground. After some time, Li Du’s walkie-talkie rang again. Someone said, “Boss, the Inuit from the morning swung by again.”
Li Du asked, “Did anyone discover how he appeared?”
The person on the other side of the line was clueless. “How he appeared? Sorry, boss, I didn’t pay attention, but I know he walked over.”
Li Du heaved a sigh, then said, “Alright, I got it. Bring him over.”
Very quickly, the Inuit walked over with his eyebrows furrowed.
Li Du waved at him, then said, “We meet again so soon, huh?”
The Inuit did not respond. Instead, he asked, “Is it really necessary for you to get to the bottom of things? Did you lot install some sort of tracking device on me earlier on?”
Li Du said, “I apologize. I mean you no harm, I just wanted to know where my friends are.”
This was as good as owning up to what he did. The Inuit flew into a rage and bellowed, “How could you do something like this? How could you treat us like this when we treated you so well?”
Li Du was confused. Days and days of hard work and toil had taken their toll on his mind and his mental state was not at its best. Today, something that was drastic enough to test the limits of his tolerance had happened, so he did not have a firm grasp on his emotions.
He could not help but shout back, “What do you mean I went too far? All I wanted was to find my friends who I’ve lost contact with, to live up to the trust their families placed in me — what’s so bad about that? Are you hiding my friends? Or did you lock them up? No matter how you spin it, aren’t you guys the ones at fault here?”
The Inuit quietened down at Li Du’s tirade.
He waved his hands and said, “Get a grip, you’re too agitated. Your guess is incorrect, we’re the victims in this, too. We should never have been so softhearted in the first place.”
“What do you mean by that?” Li Du asked.
The Inuit sighed again. “I don’t think you’ll understand if I tell it to you straight. Since you’ve already come this far, there’s no point in us beating around the bush anymore. You want to see Steve Tussenburg, yes?”
Li Du nodded. “Yes, I want to see him, I have a lot to ask him. Where is he?”
The Inuit responded, “I can bring you to him—”
He said that much, then heaved another sigh. “I don’t know if I’m making the right choice here. My tribe’s already small enough, so I hope I won’t have to sacrifice anyone this time.”
His words were confusing Li Du, who asked, “What do you mean? What are you planning to do? Why would you need to sacrifice anyone?”
The man waved his hands. “I can’t explain this here, but even if I could, I doubt you’d believe me. Why don’t we try this — I’ll bring you to Steve Tussenburg, but you’re the only person I can take with me! This is my bottom line, the absolute bottom line!”
Li Du asked cautiously, “And where would you take me?”
The Inuit replied, “To a very dangerous place. I’ve told you before that I cannot guarantee your safety, so you’re going to have to take this risk with me if you want to see Steve Tussenburg.”
Li Du’s guard was up again at the man’s words. He asked, “I’m the only one who can go with you? And you can’t guarantee my safety?”
The Inuit nodded. “Yes. Come with me if you’re willing. If not, then leave this place.”
Li Du asked, “How do I know this isn’t a trap?”
The Inuit countered impatiently, “Why are you being so difficult? Listen, you’re only going to get in trouble if you stay here and continue searching, and you’ll definitely not find Steve Tussenburg.”
Li Du asked, “Can’t you bring Steve out, then?”
The Inuit shook his head. “It’s not that I don’t want to bring him out. I want to send him off, too, but he doesn’t want to leave. He’s unwilling, do you get it? So the only way for this to work is if you go to see him!”
“Where is he? What’s this place like?” Li Du asked insistently.
The Inuit replied angrily, “In h.e.l.l! I can’t tell you, alright. All I can say is that if you want to meet him, then you come with me! As for your question on whether this is a trap I laid for you — completely out of the question. We’re connected, we could even be considered relatives!”
Li Du was stunned. “What do you mean?”
The Inuit did not respond any further. He kept his mouth shut then sat down with his legs crossed.
Li Du took a seat as well. Because of Sophie and the child, he was unwilling to take risks. Otherwise, he would have taken part in this expedition with Steve right from the get-go.
However, it was a good thing he was unwilling to take the risk, or he would have been in the same situation that Steve was in now. He would have gone missing too, which would be a complete disaster for Sophie!
He mulled it over for a while, then took out two sh.e.l.ls and asked, “You recognize these, right?”
The Inuit looked at the sh.e.l.ls, then laughed. “It’s a type of mollusk. The meat doesn’t taste good but the sh.e.l.ls are pretty. Why?”
Li Du had initially thought these two sh.e.l.ls were of importance so he had brought them in hopes of prying the Inuit for some information.
Now it seemed that these sh.e.l.ls were nothing out of the ordinary — he had miscalculated.
Li Du racked his brains for a solution but came up empty. He steeled his heart and said, “I’ll go with you and take this risk, but you have to throw me a line. Just what kind of dangers will we be facing? I want to make some preparations before we leave, is that okay?”
The Inuit tilted his head as he thought about it for a while, then nodded reluctantly. “Alright, but you can’t bring any more tracking devices or things like that. If you keep doing this, you can forget about interacting with us again for the rest of your life.”
Li Du sighed. “Alright, I promise I won’t do that anymore.”
“Swear on Sophie Martin and your child that’s about to be born!”
Li Du stared at him in shock. “How did you know that Sophie and I were expecting?”
Even if Steve had told the Inuits about Sophie Martin’s existence, who could have told them about the news of their unborn child? After all, Steve did not know that Sophie was pregnant when he left on this expedition.
The Inuit was giddy with pride. His teeth gleamed when he smiled as he said, “I just do. You’ll be shocked when you find out just how much we know!