Chapter 79: Luo Ming’s Mouth Must Be Blessed |
Great Xia and Rogge Camp were actually only about four kilometers apart.
Although the lumberjack team had previously scouted the route once, that time it was only him and six others led by Xia Chuan. This time, with the entire camp of 341 people moving together, there were far more considerations to make, and it was much more difficult.
Fortunately, Luo Ming seemed truly eager to leave. On the second night, not long after dark, he hurried over with Li Baihe, Xu Kang, Shang Ping, and seven others from the direction of Redwood Ridge.
The Great Xia people, who had packed up overnight in advance, were naturally well prepared early on.
In fact, besides people, there was hardly anything to bring.
For clothing, out of over three hundred people in Great Xia, fewer than a hundred wore a single beast skin skirt, more than half of whom had come with Da Shi. The remaining two hundred plus all wore dry leaf clothes, usually just sleeping on a layer of dry grass, which could be easily sourced on site, so there was no need to carry them.
Food was just the current stockpile of Crystal Fruits, totaling more than 24,000 jin, divided into bags for each able-bodied adult to carry without issue; as for meat, there was only one recently hunted Snow Mane from the Frost Beasts, making it even simpler.
As for the wood accumulated during this time, Xia Hong had already converted it all into fixed resources, stored in the system along with the smelting furnace and several other buildings, so no one needed to carry it—it was even more convenient.
It was worth noting that once physical materials were converted into resources, they could only be used for system buildings. Xia Hong had reserved some wood from conversion because the camp people needed it to make some tools.
Just like before, 137 able-bodied adults led the way, with Shang Ping at the front to blaze the trail;
149 children under thirteen walked in the middle, guarded by seven lumberjack realm experts led by Xu Kang and Li Baihe;
44 older people walked in the third echelon;
Xia Hong and Luo Ming, together with ten lumberjack realm experts including Xia Chuan, brought up the rear.
“Move out!”
After Xia Hong finished his deployment, at his command,
the entire Great Xia team began their grand migration northward.
Unlike the last time when they moved from Cave One to Cave Four, when all the ordinary people in the camp wore expressions of hesitation and confusion, this time, once everyone stepped out of the cave and onto the road, their faces lit up with excitement and anticipation.
Even the children, their faces pale from the cold, still shone with spirited eyes full of hope.
This was understandable. For everyone around Redwood Ridge, the strength of Rogge Camp was deeply ingrained in their hearts. Even the children knew that life there was much better than their own.
The ordinary people’s thoughts were naturally innocent.
They did not understand the difficulties of camp integration, nor were they aware of the hardships the camp would face after Luo Ming left with three Digging Realm experts.
They simply naively believed that they were now going to Rogge Camp and would receive everything Rogge Camp had, which naturally made them inexplicably excited.
Of course, Xia Hong would not crush their hopes. It was better to have a goal than none at all.
Besides, he was confident that after arriving at the valley, Great Xia’s management and development would advance at least one level faster. Not only would they live better than before at Rogge Camp, but it would even be better than their current life.
…………
With more than three hundred people, it was naturally impossible to enter Redwood Ridge first and then continue north like before. So this time, the chosen migration route was to exit the cave’s earthen slope and head straight north, passing Pagoda Mountain and the camps of Great Chuan and Huang Zhao, finally reaching the valley.
For safety, Xia Hong had already tried to compress the length of the team, but because of the large number of people, it still stretched out to fifty or sixty meters.
The visibility under the snowy night was already poor. With such a long team, Xia Hong, hanging at the very back, quickly lost sight of the front. So he took Luo Ming to the side near the rear of the team, found a better vantage point to observe, and then caught up with the team to continue moving forward.
“Brother Xia Hong, no need to be so nervous. Frost Beasts rarely move at night anyway. Besides, we’re no longer in Redwood Ridge. We just passed Pagoda Mountain, and in another two kilometers, we’ll almost be there.”
Thinking back to the Frost Beasts they had seen sleeping soundly during the night in Redwood Ridge, Xia Hong nodded, his nerves relaxing a bit.
However, as if heaven had heard Luo Ming’s words and was unhappy, wanting to contradict him, just as Xia Hong’s tense nerves relaxed a little, a long wolf howl came from the west side of Redwood Ridge.
“Awoooo……………”
It was the voice of Frost Wolves.
Xia Hong was a little alarmed but quickly recognized it was just a single bone-spike Frost Wolf, so he felt it was not a big problem and soon relaxed again.
However,
Awoooo… awoooo… awoooo…
A dozen or more howls echoed one after another, the huge pack of Frost Wolves making Xia Hong’s expression abruptly change, every hair on his body standing on end. He suddenly looked up and shouted forward:
“Everyone, speed up and move forward, quickly, quickly!”
At this moment, Luo Ming no longer doubted whether his mouth was blessed. Realizing the danger, he shouted along with Xia Hong: “Shang Ping, speed up! Li Baihe, Xu Kang, bring people over to help.”
As the wolf howls sounded, the team already became restless. Fortunately, the loud warnings from Xia Hong and Luo Ming calmed the crowd considerably.
Shang Ping, blazing the trail, increased his pace. The people behind also tried their best to calm their fear and followed the team forward. Not only did the team not fall into chaos, but their pace actually quickened a bit.
At the same time, Li Baihe and Xu Kang led seven lumberjack realm experts to the west side, separating from the team. The ten people at the back including Xia Chuan and Yuan Cheng also stood up.
Everyone guarded the west side of the team, watching Redwood Ridge—the spot where the wolf howls had just sounded—on high alert.
They stared intently for over a hundred breaths, until the wolf howls completely faded away.
Yet, the crowd never saw a single Frost Wolf’s silhouette.
Shh…………
Suddenly, the snow on the ground stirred continuously.
More than a hundred meters away, suddenly, a dozen or so snow waves appeared out of thin air, rushing rapidly toward them from far to near.
“What is that? Isn’t that Frost Wolves?”
Everyone’s eyes fixed tightly on the snowflakes whipped up high, full of confusion. The howls were definitely from Frost Wolves, no doubt about that.
But what was with this snow?
A flash of insight suddenly struck Xia Hong’s mind, his face turning pale. Drawing the Jinghan Blade, he moved away from the snowfield while shouting to everyone in alarm:
“Underground! Underground! They’re all in the snow!”
Everyone instantly realized and hurriedly drew their weapons, quickly retreating outside the snowy area.
“Xu Ning, Qiu Peng, you two climb the trees. The rest, block them with me.”
Just as Xia Hong finished speaking, Luo Ming also reacted, quickly turning his head and saying to those behind him: “Bai He, Wang Dong, Wang Yu, you three get up the trees, quickly.”
Everyone’s reaction was already very fast.
But the Frost Wolves were even faster.
Just as Luo Ming finished speaking, three strong male Frost Wolves suddenly burst out from the snow in front of everyone, their targets clearly Luo Ming, Xia Hong, and Xu Kang;
Following closely were over ten smaller Frost Wolves, seven charging at the lumberjack realm experts including Xia Chuan and Yuan Cheng, and four or five bypassing the crowd to chase after the ordinary people of the camp fleeing north.
“This is bad!”
Xia Hong raised his blade to parry the one charging at him, but when he turned his head to see the four or five Frost Wolves rushing toward the ordinary people, his heart instantly sank to the bottom of the valley.
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