Chapter 30: Unexpected Gains |
With the lumberjack team now expanded to eight members, Xia Hong's mood had improved considerably. Of course, his mood was secondary - what truly mattered was that the danger level had significantly decreased.
During the early days when he was alone, there was no need to mention the difficulties. Even after Xia Chuan and Yuan Cheng joined, despite knowing the Frost Beasts slept deeply at night, they still had to exercise extreme caution, avoiding loud noises and choosing trees farther away from the Frost Beasts for lumbering.
Now, things were different. As Xia Hong walked across the snow-covered ground, he no longer needed to tread so carefully.
The outer perimeter of Redwood Ridge remained largely unchanged during the cold night. Snowflakes continued to fall from the sky, and cold winds occasionally brushed past their ears.
When Xia Hong led the team to the first Crystal Fruit Tree, he frowned slightly upon seeing the tree still bare, without a single fruit growing. "Over two months have passed, and still no growth. It seems the Crystal Fruit's growth cycle is much longer than we anticipated!"
Xia Chuan, being more meticulous, immediately climbed the tree upon hearing this. After a thorough inspection, he descended and reported, "The stems left from our previous harvest have just begun to sprout - slightly better than what we saw a month ago, similar to the other two trees. Barring any accidents, it should take another two months before they bear fruit."
Another two months until fruiting meant three harvests per year. Each harvest would yield about six thousand jin, making eighteen thousand jin per tree annually. For all three trees, that totaled fifty-four thousand jin.
After calculating these numbers in his head, Xia Hong's frown deepened. During this period, aside from hunting, his main activity had been leading the team to continuously monitor the growth of the three Crystal Fruit Trees.
Currently, Great Xia Camp couldn't afford to use Frost Beast meat as staple food. They had to admit their primary food source remained the Crystal Fruits. Therefore, understanding the fruit's growth cycle was absolutely essential.
This meant any accident affecting these three trees could potentially create a food shortage for the camp. Clearly, Xia Hong wasn't the only one who noticed this potential shortfall.
After some thought, Xia Chuan immediately raised a question: "How did father manage to support over two hundred people back then?"
Xia Hong had considered this too. During Xia Ding's leadership, the camp population reached two hundred thirty. Even if fruit distribution wasn't as strictly regulated as under his current rules, those three trees couldn't possibly have fed so many people.
After pondering, Xia Hong first looked toward the depths of Redwood Ridge, then shook his head and turned his gaze westward toward Boulder Camp's territory. "It seems not only did Boulder Camp cross boundaries - father must have done the same before."
This conclusion was easy to draw. With Xia Ding's group's capabilities, they definitely wouldn't dare venture deep into Redwood Ridge. "Boulder Camp reportedly has over three hundred people," Xia Chuan continued. "That suggests they must have many more Crystal Fruit Trees than we do."
Hearing this, Yuan Cheng immediately became excited. "Then what are we waiting for? Let's just go pick from their trees. Remember how they showed no mercy when they came stealing our fruits before?" Yue Feng, Lin Kai and others nodded in agreement, having heard about the incident.
Xia Hong glanced toward Redwood Ridge's interior, thought for a moment, then nodded. Currently, they lacked the strength to venture deep into Redwood Ridge, so "borrowing" some fruits from others seemed the only option.
Given that Xia Ding had managed to support so many people without triggering major conflicts with Boulder Camp, their fruit supply must have had surplus. Moreover, since Boulder Camp "borrowed" first, there was no psychological barrier to returning the favor.
"Let's go check their Crystal Fruit Trees' situation now," Xia Hong ordered, leading the seven others westward.
Actually, Xia Hong wanted more than just information about the trees - he hoped to encounter Boulder Camp members. Strangely enough, he hadn't seen anyone from Boulder Camp in Redwood Ridge for over a month.
He remained skeptical that his previous bluff could have scared them away for so long. Any group capable of sustaining three to four hundred people in this environment couldn't possibly be foolish. Xia Hong even suspected something might have happened to them.
Could Boulder Camp have also been discovered by those Abominations?
"Ouch! There's something on the ground!" Qiu Peng's sudden shout interrupted Xia Hong's thoughts.
Everyone stopped and turned to see Qiu Peng removing his straw sandal, clutching his foot while hissing in pain. They quickly gathered around to see what happened. When Qiu Peng removed his hand, they saw a two-inch gash on his foot, bleeding profusely from the deep wound.
The sight of the wound initially stunned everyone. Although none of the eight wore proper shoes, only straw-woven footwear, their Lumberjack Realm cultivation made their bodies far tougher than ordinary people's. Getting such a deep wound was rare - even minor cuts were uncommon.
"Don't know what I stepped on, but it cut deep... hiss..." At Qiu Peng's words, Xia Hong immediately knelt to carefully examine the area.
The snow-covered ground made visibility poor at night, but after sweeping his stone axe through the snow, Xia Hong soon hit something hard. Brushing away the snow, his expression froze.
Lying on the ground was a gleaming broadsword - about a palm's width, approximately one and a half meters long.
"Isn't this... Wang Ming's broadsword from Boulder Camp?" Yuan Cheng exclaimed in recognition. Xia Chuan remained silent but clearly recognized it too.
When Xia Hong grasped the broadsword, a flash of wild joy crossed his face, but he quickly composed himself and looked beneath the weapon. "There seems to be something else underneath."
After storing the broadsword, Xia Hong brushed aside more snow, revealing a corpse that made everyone gasp. "It's Wang Ming. Fatal wound to the head - killed by a single punch. Spread out and search the area for more bodies."
Xia Hong immediately identified Wang Ming and, after examining the injuries, his expression changed as he ordered a wider search. The group fanned out from Xia Hong's position to scour the surroundings.
"Found one here - wound between the eyebrows... just a red dot."
"Another one over here."
"Three more here - all with fatal wounds at the forehead, just red dots."
Only Lin Kai, searching west of Wang Ming's body, made discoveries - three more corpses in quick succession. Xia Hong examined all four bodies. Besides Wang Ming, he recognized one other from Boulder Camp's previous fruit theft. Though unfamiliar with the remaining two, their clothing confirmed they were from Boulder Camp too.
"All Boulder Camp members. Something really did happen." Earlier, he'd speculated about Boulder Camp's prolonged absence potentially meaning trouble - now his suspicions were confirmed. Not only had disaster struck, but it had happened within Great Xia's territory.
"What could they have encountered? Killed by others?"
"No signs of Frost Beast attacks - must have been killed by humans."
"So besides Boulder Camp, people from another camp invaded our territory?"
Xia Chuan, Yuan Cheng and others offered various theories while examining the corpses. Listening to their speculations, Xia Hong glanced at the broadsword in his hand, his gaze intensifying as he spoke quietly: "Who said it had to be humans or Frost Beasts?"
Everyone's expressions instantly changed. If not killed by humans or Frost Beasts, then only one possibility remained...
"Follow me back immediately. No more hunting or lumbering for now!" Without further explanation, Xia Hong led the group swiftly back toward camp.
Yet just as they turned to leave, about a hundred meters west of the corpse discovery site, a figure suddenly sat up from the snow. Slowly turning its head, it watched their retreating backs.