"Ugh—"
Watching Jessica continuously retching, the widowed owner of Big Martha's Bar couldn't help but look at Li Pu with a strange gaze.
After getting off the stormbird, Broly took Koz to the nearby forest to revisit old haunts and play with the bears.
He even specifically opened a portal to bring Ah Fu, the husky from New York, over.
With the two children gone, Li Pu could only rent a pickup truck at the airport by himself and return to Picto Town, where he first experienced Transmigration.
And poor Jessica, after enduring another half an hour of Alaska's bumpy dirt roads, finally couldn't hold it in any longer.
As soon as she arrived at the bar entrance, she immediately threw up.
It was Li Pu, the boss himself, who personally carried the large and small bags of luggage from the pickup truck.
"Hey, dear Mrs. Martha, don't look at me like that; things are not what you think they are."
Li Pu explained helplessly, then asked Martha to quickly prepare some salt water for Jessica and boil some noodles or something.
This time, coming from New York to Alaska, he brought many gifts for his old acquaintance and friend.
Because logistics in the civilian sector are generally poor, even bullets and firearms, which are "local specialties" of America, are much more expensive in Alaskan gun stores than in other states.
He brought Martha many uncommon canned vegetables and fruits, instant noodles that could be stored for a long time, and a satellite dish for the TV.
Li Pu didn't forget Martha's granddaughter, Little Martha.
Although he used to flirt and jokingly call her his "little sister," he did bring many gifts for Little Martha.
For example, the latest game console, a laptop, a new cell phone, and so on.
"Boss, if you want to waste money, you can actually find me; I'd be happy to buy gifts on your behalf."
Even though she had just recovered a bit after throwing up, Jessica couldn't help but complain when she saw the pile of gifts.
Li Pu heard it, half understanding and half confused. He could understand every word, but when put together, he was bewildered by the meaning.
In the end, he could only conclude that the girl's brain was shaken, and she didn't know what she was saying.
Or perhaps this girl simply didn't understand what young people truly liked.
Hmm, confirmed, she doesn't understand... After giving the gifts, Li Pu chatted with Martha about daily life again.
"Boss Lady, Martha has been in college for two years now, right? What are my little sister's future plans?"
Hearing Li Pu say that, the owner, Martha, rolled her eyes at him.
"Li Pu, stop thinking about Little Martha; she already has a fiancé."
"What a pity." Li Pu said with a smile, "Who is Little Martha's fiancé? Is it that boy from the Krell family? I remember that little hunter once sent you several bottles of seal oil to curry favor with you."
"It's not Little Krell; that boy went to Fairbanks to pan for gold last year."
As she spoke, Martha brought Li Pu a pot of boiled reindeer meat and a serving of sauce.
"When Little Martha was in college in Anchorage, she met a man who worked at the Prudhoe Bay oil field. He's a security manager for Weyland Corporation, and they plan to get married this year."
"Working in Prudhoe Bay?"
Li Pu was a bit surprised.
Speaking of Prudhoe Bay, anyone familiar with U.S. geography should know that it's located within the Arctic Circle.
Furthermore, Prudhoe Bay is home to America's largest oil reserves, apart from shale oil.
There, you only need to dig 400-500 meters underground to strike oil, and it's all high-value light crude.
During the 1970s oil crisis, once the Prudhoe Bay oil field was discovered, capitalists invested heavily, deploying hundreds of thousands of man-hours and at the cost of dozens of lives, to build an oil pipeline to Prudhoe Bay.
However, Prudhoe Bay is indeed too far north.
Honestly, workers there are more likely to see a polar bear baring its teeth each year than to see a new colleague.
Moreover, most of the workers there are male, and it's very common for a group of men to be unable to go home for more than half a year.
Therefore, even though wages are high there, few people in Alaska are actually willing to marry an oil field worker from Prudhoe Bay.
Noticing Li Pu's confusion, Martha explained, "That young man is on assignment from Weyland Corporation; he'll rotate out in about a year and a half, and by then Little Martha will have graduated. They plan to live in another city together."
"So where is Little Martha now? Her university should be on holiday, right?"
"She went to Deadhorse four days ago. From there, she arranged with Lisa, who was driving a truck to Prudhoe Bay to deliver bear cages, to travel together on the Dalton Highway. Lisa needs most of the day to unload after arriving, and Little Martha will use that time to go on a date with her fiancé."
Li Pu thought,'So that's how it is,' but then he suddenly realized another problem.
Since there was no blizzard, a round trip by truck from Deadhorse to Prudhoe Bay would only take about a day, plus half a day for unloading... Even if there were some issues with unloading, extending it to a full day, Little Martha should have been home by this morning.
However, it was already past lunchtime, and the girl still hadn't arrived home.
You see, in Alaska, especially in rural areas outside the big cities, parents would never allow their children to play outside until dark before coming home.
Not everyone is like Little Broly or Little Koz, who can casually treat Black Bears and Brown Bears wandering in the forest as Alaskan hamsters!
What's more, after dark in Alaska, there are dangers beyond just Black Bears and Brown Bears.
In case of a sudden blizzard or heavy rain, staying outdoors not only makes it easy to get lost but can also lead to frostbite or even freezing to death.
In fact, if Li Pu could think of these problems, how could Martha, a native-born resident, not think of them?
Li Pu then noticed:
Not only did Martha have a clock on the bar counter, but the TV in the bar was also playing local news, and even a radio was tuned to the "Trucker's Friend" channel, often listened to by Alaskan truck drivers — any accident or incident on the Dalton Highway would be reported there immediately.
Noticing these anomalies, Li Pu stopped making witty remarks and quietly ate the pot of boiled reindeer meat.
Just as he finished eating, the bar's phone suddenly rang. Li Pu noticed that the owner, Martha, hesitated for half a second before picking up the receiver.
"Hello..."
After saying "YES" several times, Martha was immediately stunned by the information she received from the other party.
After the other party finished the notification, said "I'm sorry," and hung up, Martha dazedly tried to put the receiver back, but failed several times.
The receiver fell from her hand, and the overly plump widowed owner also fell to the ground.
Fortunately, Li Pu appeared by her side immediately and supported Martha's arm.
"Little Martha is still lying in the cold snow of Prudhoe Bay. I have a plane; let's go get Little Martha back."
"At the same time, we need to figure everything out."