Chapter 4, The Golden Finger Arrives

Endless Winter: My Camp Upgrades Infinitely

Xia Hong gave Xia Chuan a glance and quietly handed him a hand axe.  

Then he walked to the front and spoke to the two Xia Dings:  

“Father, we brothers can’t tell who’s real and who’s fake. Could you let us each stand by one of you, closer, so we can take a careful look before deciding?”  

“Fine, come on!”  

The two Xia Dings agreed in unison, clearly very confident.  

Xia Hong took a deep breath, patted his younger brother Xia Chuan, signaling him to go to the left side, while he himself walked toward the Xia Ding on the right.  

The two brothers stepped forward almost simultaneously, arriving in front of the two Xia Dings.  

Xia Hong widened his eyes, scrutinizing the Xia Ding on the right from head to toe, seemingly a bit careless, even walking around to look at his back.  

The Xia Ding wore a face full of sincerity, his expression extremely confident, allowing Xia Hong to circle behind him and even puffing out his chest to be examined more closely.  

However, the moment Xia Hong stood behind him, his eyes instantly filled with a blood-red glow, and his expression immediately turned ferocious.  

“Attack!”  

A fierce shout stunned everyone into silence.  

Xia Hong and Xia Chuan simultaneously raised their hand axes and swung them down sharply at the “Xia Dings” in front of them.  

Bang...  

The hand axe struck the head with a violent impact. Normally, the brain would have splattered, causing an incredibly bloody scene.  

But in reality, Xia Chuan’s hand axe hadn’t even landed on the Xia Ding’s head before it was caught barehanded.  

As for Xia Hong, who was stronger, his hand axe did hit the Xia Ding’s head.  

It cleanly split the head into two halves.  

The terrifying part was that nothing yellow or white spilled from the Xia Ding’s head; instead, it was like wood being split in the middle, with the two halves still connected to the neck.  

Even more horrifying, the “Xia Ding” whose head had been split still had his eyes moving, curiously looking at Xia Hong and even smiling.  

But that smile was chilling no matter how you looked at it.  

“Chuan, fall back!”  

Xia Hong didn’t even have time to pull back his stone axe as he shouted to Xia Chuan on the other side and dashed back toward the camp crowd.  

Hearing this, Xia Chuan hurriedly withdrew, abandoning his stone axe and retreating to the rear.  

Everyone in the camp had been stunned by the brothers’ actions earlier, but now seeing the state of the “Xia Ding,” it was clear.  

The Xia Ding who had come back from the right side was definitely fake.  

What about the one on the left?  

Why did Xia Chuan try to sneak attack—could he also be fake?  

As everyone was suspicious, the Xia Ding on the left moved.  

He walked over to the right Xia Ding, put his hand into the split head, gently stroked it twice, then pressed both halves together.  

The split head miraculously fused back into one.  

Not only that, the “Xia Ding” even twisted his neck, then turned to stare at Xia Hong standing before the crowd in the camp with a sinister smile.  

This bizarre scene made everyone in the camp shudder inwardly.  

The Xia Ding on the left stepped forward and spoke to Xia Hong.  

“Interesting, very interesting. These two creations of mine look exactly like your father. I believe I haven’t shown any flaws, so how did you two figure it out?”  

His voice sounded like the grating of wood shavings, hoarse, piercing, and strange.  

“Assuming one of you is real and one is fake, the fake one definitely wouldn’t know so much about us and your father. But you two know everything, so…”  

Xia Hong stopped there, his expression darkening.  

Of course, the Xia Ding wouldn’t reveal everything.  

The only possibility that this abomination knew so much about the camp and Xia Ding was...  

“Heh heh heh, quite clever. That Xia Ding, before dying, tried to escape in the opposite direction from your camp, hoping to lure me away. Looks like he cares a lot about you people!”  

“I’ll kill you!”  

Xia Chuan, having learned from the abomination about the death of their father Xia Ding, immediately lost control and charged at the abomination with bare hands.  

Xia Hong’s reflexes were quick, and he immediately stopped him.  

“Calm down!”  

If Xia Hong said he wasn’t hurting inside, that would be a lie.  

But there was no time for pain now.  

The two “Xia Dings” had already closed in, and the twenty-four lumberjack team members followed expressionlessly behind, clearly intending to attack.  

“Everyone, fight with all you’ve got! There’s still hope!”  

Without hesitation, Xia Hong shouted and charged forward.  

Although he said this, Xia Hong was not confident inside.  

With twenty-six lumberjack-level fighters and more than two hundred people in the camp, even if they fought desperately, the hope was slim.  

Moreover, he knew nothing about the abomination who could only transform into Xia Ding.  

The opponent definitely had more abilities than just shape-shifting.  

Could it be that after just one month since transmigrating, he was going to die?  

The answer had already revealed itself.  

The people in the camp roared like a tidal wave as they followed him forward.  

But the two “Xia Dings” were like punching machines, one hit each.  

Within moments, at least twenty people were killed.  

Blood splattered everywhere, accompanied by screams of agony.  

Soon, a thick bloody smell filled the cave.  

Bang...  

Xia Hong was kicked hard, flying violently into the cave wall, blood gushing from his mouth against the flow.  

Watching the bloody slaughter inside the cave, despair surged deep within his heart.  

For the past month since transmigrating, he had studied diligently and constantly thought about how to improve his strength.  

Because whether it was his father Xia Ding or the previous members of the lumberjack team, they always reminded him that the outside world was dangerous.  

But as his strength steadily increased and life inside the cave remained peaceful, he gradually felt this was just a colder version of a different world.  

Only now did he truly realize:  

The danger in this world far exceeded his imagination.  

His self-claimed efforts were insignificant in front of the abominations.  

“Brother… save… me……”  

Xia Chuan’s hoarse, low sobs reached his ears.  

Xia Hong turned his head and his eyes reddened with rage and hatred.  

The “Xia Ding” wore a sadistic smile as he tightly gripped Xia Chuan’s neck, pressing him against the wall.  

Seemingly playful, he deliberately restrained his strength, not breaking Xia Chuan’s neck instantly, but gradually increasing the pressure, making Xia Chuan suffocate and writhe in pain.  

After a month in this world, since their father Xia Ding was often away and only came back at night, and even then spoke little, Xia Hong’s feelings toward Xia Ding were not deep.  

Instead, he valued his younger brother Xia Chuan, who was with him day and night, more.  

The abomination’s grip tightened. Xia Chuan’s throat was crushed, and blood seeped from his eyes, ears, mouth, and nose, his expression turning increasingly twisted.  

At this moment, Xia Hong no longer feared death but only hated his own powerlessness and desperately desired more strength.  

If only he could be stronger, just a little stronger…  

The slaughter inside the cave continued. Already five or six dozen bodies lay on the ground.  

Many people crazily tried to flee toward the cave entrance, but their speed and strength were far inferior to the enemy’s, often killed before reaching the exit.  

[Encountered catastrophic damage. Camp system reconstruction initiated. Gifted beginner building: small campfire. Please check.]  

At that moment, a voice entered Xia Hong’s mind.  

He felt that in his two lifetimes, he had never heard such a beautiful sound.