Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
The bullet did not hit Blodwen, but went through his coat, burning three black holes in it.
Blodwen was not afraid of the heavy charge he had taken, but this time he was unsettled. He knew the danger of a bullet, and any shot from a slightly deflected muzzle would have killed him.
Under these circumstances, under these conditions, a gunshot wound, no matter where it was, would be fatal.
Elson held the Glock tightly and pointed the gun at Blodwen, who gasped in horror. “God, are you trying to kill me?”
Locked at the muzzle of the gun, he did not dare to escape this time. Elson went up, kicked him to the ground, and shouted angrily, “I want to kill you! I can kill you! Don’t you believe that if I killed you, nobody would object? Do you know what you did the other day?”
Listening to these words, Li Du looked at Steve and said, “It seems that your relatives are quite familiar with each other and your relationship is more than a little complicated.”
Steve shook his head. “You’re wrong, totally wrong. We are not familiar with each other; we can only say that we know each other. And our relationship isn’t just quite complicated, it’s a bloody tangle!”
Elson pressed down Blodwen and beat him, while he was cowering with his head in his arms, his distress palpable.
After the punch, Elson gasped, “You’re in luck, Blodwen, stupid boy. If I were twenty years younger, I’d crush half your bones before I stopped!”
Blodwen gritted his teeth. “I’d like to see you try!”
Elson was furious at this and hit him hard on the forehead with his gun.
Bam! Blodwen screamed and blood gushed from his forehead.
Someone was going up to dress his wound. Elson waved and said, “Ignore him! Didn’t he want to die? Then let him!”
The wound was nasty, but it didn’t actually put Blodwen’s life in danger.
Steve crouched down in front of him and said, “Bobby, I’ve always wanted to talk to you, but you can’t seem to get over your bad temper. You don’t want to talk to me, do you?”
Concussed by the handle of the gun, Blodwen mumbled, “Damn it, damn it! My eyes hurt! Steve Tussenberg, you’ve gone too far! Oh, you’ve come to the northern islands, oh, damn you, you came to seek trouble!”
“It’s you who’s in trouble now, isn’t it?” Steve asked him. “What are you doing in this godforsaken place? Are you looking for trouble, too?”
Blodwen looked up at him sideways. “Don’t you know why we’re here?”
Steve took a deep breath and said, “Yes, I know. Of course, I know. By the way, did you find any meteorites? There are many meteorites here, aren’t there? You must have found some.”
Blodwen sneered, “There are meteorites out there, but no matter how hard you try, you won’t find any.”
Steve said, “Since you say so, do you mean you found a lot of meteorites? Have you collected almost all the meteorites on these islands?”
Blodwen said nothing but gave a cold snort.
Steve laughed. “It would be great if you found a lot of meteorites here. Did your brother come to Severnaya Zemlya as well? He calls the shots in your family, doesn’t he? I’ll give him a call.”
He pulled a satellite phone from Blodwen’s belt, the only phone that still had a signal on the northern islands.
Steve dialed a number, waited for it to connect, communicated briefly, introduced the situation, and then said, “Mr. Odibo-Blodwen, your brother is in my hands, as I just mentioned, and if you want him back in one piece, prepare ten meteorites.”
Blodwen flew into a rage. “Steve, don’t f**k with me! Do you want to kidnap me? How dare you suggest that?”
Steve went over and kicked him in the face. Blodwen cried out.
He continued into the phone, “As you can hear, I’m torturing him. Don’t worry, Mr. Odibo-Blodwen, I’m doing this for a reason. Your clever brother found a kind of hallucinogen he thought to use on me. You know of my heart condition, of course. To tell you the truth, I was nearly killed by this thing, so before you send the meteorites, I will take this chance to teach him a lesson, let him realize the pain he had inflicted!”
With that, he hung up without giving the other side a chance to talk back.
Therefore, the number of Li Du’s people increased again because they captured a dozen prisoners.
Without enough tents for them to live in, Brother Wolf stripped the prisoners’ cotton-padded clothes off and got them to settle around the campfire.
“What if they run away?” said Little Ford.
Brother Wolf said lightly, “Let them run off in their underwear. Without a fire to keep them warm, they would die in the tundra is no more than half an hour.”
As the night wore on and the temperatures continued to drop, the captives did not dare to leave the campfire. A group of people huddled together to keep warm, inching as close as possible to the flames.
It was freezing in the middle of the night, and Blodwen couldn’t stand it anymore. He woke Li Du, Steve, and the others, shouting, “Get me a tent! I’ll tell you everything you want to know!”
“You still have the strength to bargain with us now? Looks like you’re comfortable enough,” Steve laughed.
Blodwen frowned angrily, but he was cold and weak. He said with a wry smile, “Give me the coat, Steve. I admit I was wrong. I should not have provoked you. However, we’re not mortal enemies, are we? Our ancestors were allies…”
“You think I want to hear that?” Steve retorted.
Blodwen said, “Well, well, I won’t talk nonsense. There’s no way you can get my brother to send you ten meteorites. Indeed, I swear, we only found two meteorites on our expedition this time!”
“I believe that you only found two meteorites this time, but what about before? This isn’t your first trip to Severnaya Zemlya, is it?” said Steve, half smiling.
Blodwen said, “Yes, we even have a camp in Severnaya Zemlya, but all the meteorites we’ve found are in my brother’s hands. Do you think he’ll give them to you? These two meteorites are in my hands. I will just give them to you, okay?”
Steve considered this, poured a cup of hot cocoa and handed it to Blodwen.
Reaching for the fragrant, scalding drink, Blodwen lifted it and gulped it down without even caring that it would burn his tongue.
Steve said, “Give me the meteorites you have and tell me what you found on these islands.”
