American Landowners: Starting with Hunting in Alaska

Chapter 86 The Laws of Reality and a Possible Claims Call (Bonus Chapter)

The antlers were dead and heavy.

The forked keratin resembles rock.

Su Wei clasped his hands together and used his waist and back muscles to exert force.

boom!

The frozen-hard carcass of a black-tailed deer crashed into the rear cargo bed of the tracked vehicle.

(For reference only: No suitable image could be found, so an AI-generated one was created, which looks roughly like this.)

Dark red blood-red ice shards fell, scattering a patch of red across the snow.

Blake stood in the wind.

The cigarette had burned down to the filter.

He didn't help, coldly watching Su Wei finish all of this.

"Teacher, what's next?"

Su Wei took off his blood-stained gloves, wiped them on his trouser leg, and looked at the spruce forest.

The place the poacher fled.

"That bastard is on the other side of the ridge. If we go around him now, we can intercept him—"

"Get in the car."

Blackla opened the car door without even glancing at the woods.

Su Wei stood there, stunned.

The barrel of the M70 rifle in his hand was still warm, and the adrenaline made his blood vessels throb, and he felt a surge of anger rising within him.

The poachers were on foot, and although the blizzard had stopped, the snow cover in the mountains was still thick.

He can't have gone far; if we catch up, there's a very good chance we can find him.

This is a good opportunity.

"I said, get in the car."

The car window was lowered halfway.

Blake's profile was sharply defined, his gaze fixed solely on the fuel gauge on the instrument panel.

Su Wei snapped out of his daze, looked into the distance, and exhaled.

He eventually opened the passenger door and got in.

As soon as the car door closed, the bone-chilling wind was instantly shut out.

Blake didn't start the car.

He pulled out a Motorola high-power car radio microphone from a hidden compartment under the dashboard and connected it to the extended gain antenna on the roof.

Sizzle—

The crackling sound of electricity echoed in the cramped carriage.

Blake's fingers were rough, and his fingertips rubbed against the anti-slip texture on the knob.

"Calling Kodiak Dispatch Center, transferring to the Fish and Game Bureau. This is Registered Hunter, Blake Anderson."

Su Wei's body stiffened.

Watching Blake's deliberate actions, he suddenly realized how foolish his earlier thought of rushing into the woods had been.

This is neither a movie nor a TV series.

When faced with an armed poacher who has a gun, and the other party is alert.

A rash pursuit would only cost you your life.

Su Wei suddenly realized that he had been too naive and had been watching too many TV dramas.

He closed his eyes, stretched out his hands, and gently patted his cheeks, trying to wake himself up.

Blake noticed Suwei's movements out of the corner of his eye. He leaned back in his chair and didn't say anything.

A few seconds later, a sleepy male voice came through the loudspeaker.

"Roger that, Blake. You're out working in this weather? I heard the blizzard closed a lot of roads last night."

"Enough talk, Charlie. I have work to do."

Blake's voice was very steady.

"Armed poachers spotted in the birch forest area at 57 degrees north latitude and 153 degrees west longitude."

As soon as he said that, the voice on the other end of the radio immediately perked up.

"Armed? What type of weapons are they carrying?"

"confirm."

Blake glanced at Suwei.

"A .338 Lapua Magnum caliber, high-precision rifle. The suspect has strong counter-surveillance capabilities; we were just in a standoff within 200 meters. He is now fleeing towards the northern ridge."

Su Wei heard a sharp sound of a chair scraping against the floor on the other end of the radio, followed by the frantic clatter of a keyboard.

.338 caliber.

On this island, this means the suspects have more firepower than most patrol officers who only issue tickets.

"Roger that! Is it the same poacher from before? That's egregious! We'll notify the Fisheries and Game Enforcement Team immediately. Wait—is he heading north?"

The voice on the other end paused for two seconds.

"That's a dead end. The ice in the valley to the north isn't thick enough for vehicles to pass."

"That's right."

Blake tossed the blood-stained piece of copper shrapnel onto the dashboard with a sharp clang.

"He doesn't have a car. He can't go fast hiking in the snow. All you need to do is block the Highway 11 exit to the north and send a team to guard the logging camp to the east."

Blake's lips twitched slightly; it was a cold laugh.

"That bastard's right here in my pocket, he can't escape."

"Understood! Weather permitting, the helicopter will take off in half an hour. What about you? Continue the pursuit?"

Blake reached into the cigarette pack; it was empty.

He crushed the empty box and casually tossed it into the trash bag at his feet.

"I'm not going to pursue him anymore. That's your job. My apprentice is still a rookie, and I don't want to turn him into a sieve."

Click.

Communication was cut off.

The microphone was put back on its bracket, and only the hum of the engine idling remained in the cabin.

Looking at the black radio, Su Wei's pent-up anger dissipated instantly.

Instead, he got goosebumps all over.

This is what a professional hunter should be like.

This is reality.

No need to risk your life, no need to exchange fire with madmen in that damned forest.

One phone call, and an invisible net is cast.

The poacher thought he had escaped into the vast wilderness, but little did he know that in the face of modern communication networks, he was crawling into a sealed iron can.

He's a madman, but the people who're chasing him aren't.

"Did you understand?"

Blake shifted gears and accelerated.

The tracked vehicle let out a deep roar, and the vehicle shook violently.

"In the wilderness, sometimes you have to bite like a wolf. But more often, you have to learn to weave a web like a spider."

""

"Also, watch fewer movies."

With the steering wheel turned all the way, the tracks dug two deep trenches in the snow.

The car turned around, its back to the forest that harbored danger, and headed straight down the mountain.

"I know this terrain better than he does. Heading north, even if he were made of iron, he couldn't travel more than twenty kilometers a day in this snow condition. Once the enforcement team blocks the road, the helicopter takes off, and the infrared scanner is activated—"

Blake stepped on the gas.

"He was like a bright light bulb in the snow."

"The blizzard stopping is his opportunity, but it's also ours. All we need to do is find out where he is."

"Luckily and unfortunately, you didn't get to use your abilities. But he came to you of his own accord."

Su Wei hugged the heavy M70 and fastened the straps.

The crisp sound of the buttons calmed him down.

"Understood, teacher."

"Good to know."

Blake snorted and said no more.

The tracked vehicle crushed the snow and bounced across the undulating wasteland.

The return journey was long.

The car swayed, and his tense muscles slowly relaxed as a wave of fatigue washed over him.

Outside the window, the blizzard had stopped.

The sky was very blue, and the sunlight shining on the snowfield was somewhat dazzling.

The snow-capped mountains in the distance stretch out in a continuous range.

But Su Wei was not in the mood to appreciate it.

-

The dark gun barrel and the black-tailed deer with its eyes wide open in death kept flashing before his eyes.

The poacher's back view was swift and his movements were professional.

Why would someone like that appear on such a remote island?

Just for the pleasure of killing?

hunting?

This world is rich in biological resources, and numerous hunting grounds have been established all over the world, so there is almost no need to worry about prey resources.

So, what was his purpose?

Was it really just for the sake of simple killing?

For this desire?

Su Wei's fingers unconsciously rubbed the rough edge of the seat belt.

After an unknown amount of time, the sparse woods of the wasteland were replaced by shrubs, and snow-covered fences and abandoned utility poles appeared by the roadside.

The outline of Kodiak town emerges on the horizon.

Black didn't go to the Hunter's Guild; instead, he swerved at the fork in the road and turned onto a dirt road that hadn't been cleared of snow.

The tracks kicked up a cloud of snow powder.

Two or three kilometers later, a solitary building came into view.

Blake's house, though called a cabin, is more like a small private fortress.

The main structure is built of large logs, and the exterior walls are dark brown.

All the windows were fitted with thick wooden panels, leaving only a few gaps for light to pass through.

The yard was surrounded by a barbed wire fence, and the firewood piled up at the entrance was as neat as a small mountain, with each piece of wood being roughly the same size.

crunch—

The car was parked at the entrance of the courtyard.

Blake turned off the engine and removed the key.

"Get out of the car. Let's deal with that deer first. We can sell the hide, and most of the meat is bloody; we can cut it off and feed it to the dogs."

Blake got out of the car, tightened the collar of his windbreaker, and strode toward the locked door.

Su Wei jumped out of the vehicle and went around to the back of the truck.

The deer had completely turned into a large, red and white block of ice.

He exhaled a puff of white mist and reached out to move it.

Buzz—buzz—

A vibration came from my pocket.

Su Wei paused.

In this godforsaken place, his phone was basically just for show.

Aside from the occasional sales text message and a message from Emily, no one calls him.

Emily?

Su Wei straightened up, took off his blood-stained gloves and tucked them under his arm, then took out his cell phone from his inner pocket.

The screen was cracked in several places, and the light shone brightly in the dim twilight.

I don't know when I fell.

There was no note; it was just a long, unfamiliar number.

Area code displayed: United States, Anchorage.

Su Wei frowned, and his heart skipped a beat for no apparent reason.

He glanced at Blake, who was fumbling for his keys at the door, then turned away, his back to the wind.

Press the answer button.

"Feed?"

His voice was a little hoarse.

"Hello, are you Mr. Suwei Yang?"

A standard, professional female voice.

In the background, the faint sounds of keyboard typing and printer operation can be heard.

The bustling atmosphere unique to office buildings in big cities, carried by the radio waves, instantly pierced through the deathly silence of this desolate wilderness.

The immense sense of separation left Suwei momentarily disoriented.

"I am."

His fingers tightened around the phone, his knuckles turning white.

"I am Jennifer, an insurance broker appointed by the Kodiak Island Fisheries Union. Regarding the accidental death claim for your parents, Mr. David Sue and Ms. Veri Young, at sea—"

The woman paused for a moment, and the rustling sound of the papers turning could be clearly heard.

One second, two seconds.

Suwei felt as if the wind around him had stopped.

Ever since that damn shipwreck, he and Aunt Tessa have been passed around by this insurance company.

Every inquiry is met with a cold "under review" or "insufficient materials." This is more chilling than the freezing cold.

And now—

"The results are in."

The woman's voice rang out again, still polite, but devoid of any warmth.

Su Wei did not speak.

He's waiting, waiting for a verdict.

At that moment, he could even hear the sound of his own pulse hitting his eardrums.

The heartbeat was crystal clear.

"Following multiple rounds of consultations between the legal team and the insurance company, and verification of the final crucial black box recording—Mr. Su, the company has decided to withdraw its previous denial of compensation regarding the 'illegal departure at sea' ruling."

"The claims process has officially begun."