Chapter 6: Relocation |
With over a hundred people working together, the cave entrance was quickly sealed. Although there were still flames inside the cave, sealing the entrance made it much darker. Perhaps it was the sense of security that came from being in an enclosed space, but the expressions of pain on the faces of the camp members lessened somewhat. However, their eyes still reflected confusion and uncertainty.
"Brother, what do we do now?" Xia Chuan's voice immediately drew everyone's attention to Xia Hong.
From initially distinguishing the real Xia Ding, to leading the desperate fight for survival, and finally creating the life-saving small fire pit—it could be said that without Xia Hong, almost no one in the camp would have survived. Now, everyone naturally placed their hopes on him.
Xia Hong could clearly see the dependence in their eyes and felt the weight of responsibility pressing down on him. In reality, he had no choice but to step up. Xia Ding and the lumberjack team—13 people in total—had already been confirmed dead. The recent massacre had claimed another 72 lives. He had just counted—only 154 people remained in the camp now.
Among them, only 53 were adults in their prime. The reason these older members had stayed behind in the camp instead of going out with Xia Ding to cut wood or hunt was precisely because they were too weak, their strength only at the level of ordinary people. Of the remaining 101, 25 were around his age, including himself, while the rest ranged from 3 to 12 years old.
He was now the strongest person in the camp. Combined with being the son of the former leader Xia Ding, the responsibility of ensuring the camp's survival naturally fell on his shoulders.
Shaking off his chaotic thoughts, Xia Hong surveyed the cave and quickly made his first decision: "We can't stay here. Pack up—we'll move out after dark." The Abomination at Redwood Ridge already knew the camp's location and could return at any time. Staying here would be certain death.
"Brother, which cave are we moving to?"
"West, to Number Four."
Having lived at Redwood Ridge for decades, the Great Xia Camp had prepared six hiding spots—all caves. The six caves were spaced only 500-600 meters apart, arranged in a ring around the eastern slope of Redwood Ridge. They were currently in Cave One; Cave Four was the farthest from it, so for safety, Xia Hong chose Four.
No one raised any objections. They all turned to pack their belongings according to Xia Hong's orders, preparing to leave after nightfall.
During this lull, Xia Hong turned his attention to the camp system he hadn't had time to examine closely earlier.
[Camp: Great Xia (Level 0)]
[Leader: Xia Hong]
[Population: 154]
[Resources: Wood 15 Coal 0 Iron 0 Silver 0 Gold 0]
[Buildings: Small Fire Pit (Level 1) Daily Wood Consumption: 2 (Placed)]
Small Fire Pit: Can significantly increase temperature within a ten-meter radius. Has deterrent and damaging effects against low-level Abominations, but also strongly attracts Frost Beasts.
Special Function: For every 10 units of wood burned, generates one special torch with similar functions to the fire pit that can be carried.
Resources required for Small Fire Pit upgrade: Wood 200 Iron 50
Below the already unlocked interface were eight grayed-out options:
Wooden Dummy, Bamboo Fence, Marker Stone, Medicine Pot, Yellow Earth, Grinding Stone, Small Wooden Table, Iron Chain.
With a thought, Xia Hong selected Wooden Dummy, and a message appeared:
Wooden Dummy (Not Built)
Resources required: Wood 100 Iron 20
As expected, the other seven buildings also required resources to unlock. Six of them needed wood, coal, and iron. The Small Wooden Table required silver, while the Iron Chain needed gold.
Having witnessed the power of the Small Fire Pit, Xia Hong coveted these buildings. But reality was harsh—not only did he lack gold and silver, in his month in this world, he hadn't even seen coal. Just upgrading the Small Fire Pit to level 2 required 200 wood and 50 iron.
Lost in thought, Xia Hong walked to one side of the cave wall. On the ground lay three massive trees—each about thirty meters long and three meters thick. Although Xia Hong had never gone out to cut wood himself, he had seen the nearby forest from the cave entrance over the past month. The trees in this world grew terrifyingly large—not just in size but also in weight. Due to the extreme cold, all tree bark was covered in a layer of ice crystals, making them even harder to cut. Without at least 5,000 jin of basic strength, felling them was impossible. This was why woodcutting had become a mark of strength.
Xia Ding had always chosen the thinnest trees—not because he didn't want thicker ones, but because they simply couldn't cut them down. Even if they got lucky and managed to fell one, they likely couldn't carry it back.
Looking at the three massive trees on the ground, Xia Hong's eyes gleamed with thought. "These three trees are probably about 15 units of wood. That means we'd need at least twenty trees like these plus 20 units of iron to upgrade the fire pit to level two."
At this realization, Xia Hong shook his head and stopped that train of thought. Forget twenty trees—according to what Xia Ding and the lumberjack team members had said, without breaking 5,000 jin of strength, even cutting trees was problematic. As for iron, in the entire Redwood Ridge area, only Rogge Camp might have any.
"Right now, survival is the top priority. Also, I need to intensify my training. Before, I thought I could take my time to break through 5,000 jin in a month, but now the sooner the better!" Xia Hong muttered to himself, feeling intense urgency. The 15 units of wood would only last the fire pit seven and a half days. They could tough it out at night, but during the day, without fire for warmth, people would freeze to death.
......
They had experienced daylight before, but for the camp members, these four hours of daytime were especially grueling. On one hand, they had just suffered a disaster and lost many loved ones, leaving them emotionally drained. On the other hand, knowing they would be relocating at night filled them with uncertainty about the future. But no matter what, they managed to endure through the day.
Xia Hong opened a small gap in the cave entrance and peered outside. Night had fallen. Though there was no light, the ice crystals and snow covering the ground reflected enough to provide decent visibility. Most importantly, temperatures rose at night.
Turning back, Xia Hong looked at the camp members, all packed and ready. He had divided the 154 people into three groups: The first group of 40 consisted of able-bodied adults, both men and women; the second group had 76 children and 13 able-bodied women; the third group was himself, Xia Chuan, and 23 other young adults.
"The strongest adults will lead, with twelve assigned to carry those three trees. All children in the middle—you thirteen women, take care of them. Xia Chuan, and you twenty-three, follow me in the rear. Keep the formation tight. If anything happens, blow the bone whistles first—no shouting to avoid drawing trouble. Understood?"
"Understood!" came the unanimous reply.
Only then did Xia Hong wave his hand to signal departure. Over a hundred people filed out of the cave in succession. After the last group left, Xia Hong turned back to look at the Small Fire Pit. With a thought, the flames extinguished, and its status in the camp system changed back to "not placed."
After dealing with the fire pit, Xia Hong quickly jogged to catch up with the group at the rear. The procession moved westward, their white fur coats blending with the snowy landscape as if gradually merging into the cruel, merciless world of ice and snow.
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