Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
The polar bear was eating iced fish in the distance. Brother Wolf said, “Hurry up and get on the ship!”
Madman grumbled carelessly, “Do we need to be afraid of it? It’s just a bear. We have so many guns. What problem do we have to deal with it?”
Brother Wolf said, “Let’s not cause trouble. It did not provoke us, so why should we kill it?”
Sophie said, “Yes, pack up and let’s go.”
Brother Wolf moved from the bow to the stern and kept throwing fish to the polar bear. There were many herring in the ice chunk from yesterday. They were not interested in the herring since they had codfish. Therefore, there were many leftovers.
Bit by bit, the bear’s flat belly grew round and it sat right on the edge of the ice, breathing heavily and clutching a herring.
When it was full, the polar bear was not as fierce as before. It occasionally looked at the crowd, but only roared a few times, and did not make any move to attack.
Ah Meng was still aggressive. It roared every time the polar bear roared. Its temper was hotter than the polar bear’s and it wanted to rush forward, unafraid of trouble.
The felines, on the other hand, ran away from it as soon as it bellowed for the first time. They did not look at it again and acted as if they did not know what was going on.
Sophie tried to pick the honey badger up, but Ah Meng, rebellious, struggled with its paw against Sophie’s arm. It looked like it was going to go after the polar bear.
Li Du came up, gave it a knock on the head and said angrily, “Come on, look at your damn size. You will not live long with this kind of attitude, do you understand? Stay quiet!”
He unscrewed the honey bottle and dipped some onto the honey badger’s paw. Ah Meng was still unconvinced. He licked the honey and roared at the polar bear.
“He is a warrior. I like this bastard. It should be on a military Logo.” Madman came up to touch Ah Meng’s head with a chuckle.
“Such a warrior must be the first to be sacrificed on the battlefield,” said Li Du angrily.
Luckily, the polar bear was not really looking for trouble. They picked up their things and returned to the ship with no further events.
The icebreaker was about to leave.
Having learned the lesson from the encounter with the polar bear, Li Du decided to get the icebreaker to change course and take a detour to find the invisible cemetery. It was too dangerous to travel in the ice cracks meant for small boats. They would be taking a risk of the polar bear hopping into their ship from the top of the ice peaks.
As the icebreaker moved, the ice that encased the tuna gradually melted as well. Seeing this, the polar bear perked up. It ran after the ship with a force that startled everyone.
It ran very fast for its size, making a screeching sound as its paws scratched the ice. It covered hundreds of meters in a few seconds, and was in front of the party again!
Facing this frightening beast, Li Du became a little nervous.
Brother Wolf said, “The polar bear sprints very fast. It only takes five or six seconds to run a hundred meters, and it can reach 60 kilometers per hour. A small-caliber rifle can seriously hurt it but won’t kill it on the spot. It would only become provoked further once shot. If it gets to the ship, it will certainly cause death and injury!”
Li Du asked, “Is it really that dangerous?”
He was not at all afraid a moment ago, for they had guns in their hands, and he was certain that there were no animals which modern guns could not handle.
Now he knew he underestimated the polar bear’s ability.
When the icebreaker left the ice sheet, the polar bear refused to let go and jumped back into the water to swim after the ship. It swam so fast that the ship seemed unable to leave it behind.
Firecracker said to Li Du, smiling,” Boss, why don’t you just keep it as a pet? With your gift for taming animals, you even succeeded with that fierce honey badger of yours. I think the polar bear would be less trouble.”
Li Du shook his head. “I don’t think it’s a good idea.”
If it was a young polar bear, he’d give it a try, but an adult would not be successfully modified even by the space-time bug.
The icebreaker sped up and the polar bear, unable to catch up with it, could only bellow angrily.
Sophie looked at it with pity and said, “It’s so pathetic. The greenhouse effect is influencing the arctic more and more. Polar bears can’t find food.”
Li Du sighed, “But we can’t do anything about it. Maybe you can take some photos and send them to the media to warn the world.”
Big Quinn snorted, “Expecting the capitalists to have enough of a conscience to care about nature? Get real.”
They had to rely on satellite navigation maps to draw up a new course to match the treasure map.
After they set sail, they attracted not only the polar bear but also sea birds that looked like clowns.
The bigger birds were thirty centimeters long, and the smaller ones reached no more than twenty centimeters. They had big red bills, red claws, white bellies, and black back feathers.
At first, a bird appeared in the boat. Its beak was unusual, like a triangle, and its head was relatively large.
It landed on the side of the ship and looked at the piles of ice and fish on the deck. Then it flapped its wings.
Ah Meow eyed it and approached it silently with his little catwalk.
Li Du saw it too and smiled. “Hey, puffin!”
Frightened by his voice, the clown bird immediately flew away, and in a moment, Ah Meow leaped in the air as if he stepped on a spring, in a move worthy of the NBA star Howard Bison, slapping his paw on the Arctic puffin.
The small fat bird gave a desperate cry, and Li Du went up to drive Ah Meow away. He released the fat bird on the side of the ship to see if it was injured, and the result was that the bird wanted to bite him.
Li Du quickly withdrew his hand and the puffin limped along the side of the boat, then jumped up and flew away.
“Ungrateful,” Li Du shook his head and smiled.
Sophie put the camera down regretfully and said, “I was just going to take a picture of it.”
She had no lack of opportunity. About twenty or thirty minutes later, a flock of Arctic puffins appeared over the icebreaker. It was not large but very loud.
Li Du said to Ah Meow, “Look, you’ve caused trouble, and they are coming to get back at you!”
Ah Meow’s eyes were bright, and it licked its lips unconsciously. It thought it was time for a change. It has been eating a lot of fish lately, and thought that some birds would be nice to diversify its diet!
However, before it could attack, Sophie dragged it away.
Li Du and the others were determined to protect the Arctic puffin, a rare bird whose numbers had declined in recent years.
As a result, the birds came to snatch their food. Like polar bears, they went for the fish. The difference was that polar bears couldn’t get on the boat and had to wait for treats, while these birds could snatch the fish themselves.
When the ice on the deck melted, a few small herrings were revealed, and the birds swooped down upon them at once.
