Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
“You, you, you, are in… Antarctica?” Li Du’s eyes widened.
A stream of buzzing was heard over the satellite phone and the voice became muffled.
Steve seemed to have said a couple of phrases but Li Du could not hear his words
clearly.
Li Du was stunned. This young man was daring. With a heart that had undergone
bypass surgery, he dared to head over to the Antarctic?!
He found Steve to be a strange man. Steve was suffering from illness and should have
stayed home in comfort to recuperate and undergo treatment.
However, Steve did not like staying in the city and was always out and about. He even
enjoyed taking on risky adventures.
Li Du, on the other hand, had no interest in seeking out risks. His African trip could be
considered as one of those risky adventures and he almost lost his life there.
After a couple of broken phrases, Steve’s voice finally became clearer over the phone.
“Li, Li, Li, buzz-buzz, can you hear buzz-buzz, what I’m saying?”
“More or less, what about you?”
“Buzz-buzz, buzz-buzz, what did you say? Buzz-buzz, a huge storm, the signal is bad.”
Li Du shrugged. It was unlikely that they would be able to communicate properly. He
said, “Then wait till the storm is over before you call me. I can’t hear you clearly now.”
Then the line went dead. It seemed like Steve had heard Li Du and gave up trying to
resist the poor satellite signal. He had hung up.
The yacht was docked next to a reef, near the deep waters. The reef looked like a giant
had chopped it into two.
Li Du had plans to refurbish that area as a pier. Brother Wolf had dived to examine the
area previously and had confirmed that the place was suitable for developing into a pier.
Old Thunder, nicknamed Firecracker, was a great diver. Once the yacht had stopped,
he dove straight into the waters with an oxygen tank strapped to his back. He was going
underwater to check out the surroundings.
Half an hour later, he reemerged on the surface. Not only had he checked out the
surrounding waters, but he also brought up a couple of lobsters and black abalone in
the bag tied to his waist.
Seeing that he had caught lobsters and abalone so easily, Li Du’s parents were
shocked. “Wow, this place is rich in resources. Are these edible?”
Li Du pointed to the land and said, “Let’s go on up there. There’s everything on the
island, including a special type of grapes. It is delicious. Just be cautious of the
venomous snakes, all the snakes here are poisonous.”
Mrs. Martin was taking photographs at the front of the yacht. She said, “This is a piece
of land untainted by humankind. It’s so gorgeous, a pristine wilderness.”
Godzilla muttered, “Big Fox and Lu Guan have tainted the place. They have pooped on
the island and did not bury their sh*t.”
Li Du immediately shot him a look. D*mn, don’t say things that will destroy the beautiful
picture we are looking at.
It was mid-December, which was summer in Australia.
The weather was great and the sky was clear. There were no clouds in the sky, and the
sun was emitting bright golden light. The sunlight fell onto the surrounding ocean and
the sea water resembled a mirror, reflecting the light.
Seagull Island appeared in front of them with a quiet and peaceful atmosphere. The
island was full of green trees and grassy plains. White and green seabirds were flying in
the air.
Golden sand bordered the island and spread further out. Some of the beaches had
reefs in the middle. There were yellow, brown, and red reefs, and they all looked like oil
painting boards.
There was a hill atop the island. The entire island resembled an inverted bowl of soup.
The tide rose higher and higher around the land. At the current season, the island gave
the impression of being green all over. Other than the occasional patches of grey and
white due to the rocks and patches of exposed land, the surface of the island was
covered in rich verdure.
The group took careful steps on the reefs to get up to the island. Hans grabbed a
handful of sand with his hands before throwing it out, shouting, “Ah, Seagull Island, I’m
back!”
Other than Sophie, Hans and a few others, nobody knew that Li Du had bought the
island. Hence, although the island was beautiful, the rest did not feel the thrill that came
with being masters of the place.
The beach had been shaped by the waves eons ago. Nature had long since wiped off
the marks and footprints left behind by Li Du’s group when they were here last year.
Indeed, Seagull Island was rich in resources. As long as mankind did not exploit the
environment excessively, the island would always be rich in seafood.
After a brief swipe in the waters, Hans had revealed a Fiddler crab.
Ivana cheered at the sight and walked over to pick up the crab. Then she started an
exciting discussion with Victoria over it.
The two of them stopped walking towards the shore and instead stayed on the beach to
dig up more crabs.
Li Du pointed ahead and said, “Let’s check it out there, the grapes I mentioned are
supposed to be ahead.”
The sapphire grapes were one of the completely natural, wild grape varieties, unlike
those in the vineyards. They were not only found during the fall season. Even in
summer, some of those wild grapes were already ripe.
That was a result of natural selection. The island was surrounded by sea, and when the
wind and waves got too strong, there would be hurricanes from time to time. In order to
multiply, the sapphire grapes would have to bear fruit as early as possible. Once the
fruit rotted, the seeds would be able to take root.
Compared to when Li Du came previously, there were less ripe sapphire grapes.
Hence, they would have to go further inland to search for more grapes to pluck.
Li Du’s parents looked around and asked, “Can you pick them?”
Previously, when they were watching the news in China, they had seen reports of the
Chinese acting out when they were traveling overseas. As a result, there were many
foreigners who despised the Chinese people. Therefore, this time around they were
cautious of what they said and did overseas.
Li Du smiled. “We can pick them but you guys cannot. There are snakes around, it’s
very dangerous.”
As though cooperating with him, Ah Meow stared up at the grapevine before dashing
up. Using its claws, it swiftly pulled out a black snake from the vines.
Seeing the snake, Ah Meng’s eyes lit up.
It lowered its limbs to the ground before rushing forward. Without another word, it
opened its mouth before the black snake.
The black snake stroke at lightning speed and bit into Ah Meng’s shoulder.
Ah Meng could not care less. It held onto the snake with its claw, shook it off, and
opened its mouth. In a heartbeat, it devoured the snake like a noodle.
Li Du’s mother trembled and asked, “Oh dear, isn’t that snake poisonous? It bit Ah
Meng!”
Li Du said with ease, “Don’t worry. Ah Meng has the ability to repel poison. It’s not afraid
of being bitten by venomous snakes.”
Honey badgers indeed possessed this highly useful trait. In Africa, they lived in burrows
and were no stranger to meeting snakes.
As far as they were concerned, any snake, poisonous or not, was a tasty treat.
The snake's venom was like Chinese white wine. Toxicity was not measured by terms of
size, such as big or small, but in degrees – high or low. High degrees of poison would
rush into people’s heads and cause drowsiness. With low degrees, the afflicted person
would continue to be energetic.
The little black snake that Ah Meow had caught must have been a young sea snake and
had a low amount of venom. Other than shaking its head a couple of times, Ah Meng
suffered no other effect and stayed alert and awake.
Seeing that Ah Meng had eaten a snake, Ah Meow found that interesting. It ran into the
grapes vines and poked around in all directions. Then it picked up one poisonous snake
after another using its claws.
