Chapter 1647 - Again (1/2)
Chapter 1647: Again
The bunch of them sat on the raft, rooted to the spot. After a long time, Young Markelov murmured, “Good God, 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 shore. 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 analyze 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!”