Delicious Snake Soup

At that moment, Cao Xing heard a rumbling sound beside his ear.

It was not coming from him, but from Liu Muxue beside him.

She had never been particularly strong, and she had just gone through a battle that had drained a great deal of her stamina.

It was only natural that she was hungry.

Seeing Cao Xing looking at her, Liu Muxue blushed and buried her head deeply.

"I-I'm sorry..."

Cao Xing shook his head. "Sister-in-law, let's go inside first. We need to prepare dinner."

Liu Muxue nodded softly.

Then, they entered the empty Lord's Cabin.

To cook, they first needed to build a stove.

So Cao Xing found a corner, opened the construction interface, and began building.

Consume materials: Stone x8, Wood x4. Build a Level 1 Simple Stove.1

"Yes."

Cao Xing began construction according to the blueprint provided by the system.

A few minutes later, a simple stove made of piled stones appeared before him.

Stove: Level 1 Defense: 30

Area: 1 square meter

Cao Xing then took out the starting equipment provided by the system from the storage chest: a Large Black Pot (White).1

Although it was just a large black pot, it could be dismantled into two pieces of iron.

This time, Cao Xing planned to make a pot of snake soup first.

In this frozen, snow-covered land, water was naturally not in short supply.

Cao Xing only needed to go outside, use a hammer to chip off some ice, and put it into the pot. It melted before long.7

Once the water boiled, Cao Xing tossed two palm-sized chunks of snake meat into the pot.

Those two chunks of snake meat were equivalent to ten units of food supplies, making this quite a lavish meal.

After thinking for a moment, Cao Xing threw two more chunks of snake meat into the pot.

More than ten minutes later, a rich aroma of meat began to fill the entire cabin.2

Liu Muxue, who had been huddled to one side, could not help raising her head and swallowing as she stared into the pot.

"Sister-in-law, it'll be ready soon. Just wait a little longer."

Liu Muxue lowered her head bashfully and replied softly, "A-Xing, leave the cooking to me from now on..."

Cao Xing smiled. "You're going to become the lord's woman someday. How can we let you handle these things?"7

"We're short on manpower right now. Once we recruit more troops later, we won't need to cook for ourselves."

Hearing that, Liu Muxue revealed a gentle smile as well. "A-Xing, you know so much."1

Cao Xing shook his head. "It's nothing. I just play a lot of games."1

The sky outside grew increasingly dim.

The temperature also began to plummet.

After the stove had been lit, the temperature in the room had risen to -11°C.

But in the blink of an eye, it had dropped back down to -16°C.

The temperature outside had reached an astonishing -50°C.

The freezing wind howled, constantly sweeping across the Polar People's bodies like blades scraping bone.

At this temperature, even with the protection of a bonfire, they could no longer work.

Unless they upgraded the bonfire into an Energy Tower later. Then, even in a blizzard, they would be able to endure safely.

At that moment, Cao Xing saw several notifications appear on the territory interface one after another.

[Your territory building, Lumber Mill, has been successfully constructed.]

[Your territory building, Market, has been successfully constructed.]

[Your territory building, Small Shelter, has been successfully constructed.]1

Cao Xing let out a sigh of relief.

The tasks he had assigned to the four Polar People had finally all been completed before nightfall.

So he walked to the entrance of the Lord's Cabin and said, "Dazhuang, Erzhuang, you can all come over and eat."

The four Polar People swarmed into the Lord's Cabin.

Even Ilena curled up against the wooden wall and slipped inside.1

The Lord's Cabin only had thirty square meters of space, and it instantly became extremely crowded.3

Liu Muxue had already filled six wooden bowls with meat soup, with softened snake meat floating inside.

The four Polar People's eyes lit up, and even the hands holding their wooden bowls trembled nonstop.

But since Cao Xing had not spoken, none of them dared make any improper move.

At that moment, Cao Xing walked to the stove, picked up one of the wooden bowls, and said, "Although this is only our first day together, I'm very satisfied with your performance!"

"To reward your hard work, you may enjoy this pot of snake soup to your hearts' content."1

"Now, enjoy the food!"

At that moment, the four Polar People raised their fragrant meat soup, their mouths watering furiously.

Then, they shouted in unison.

"Praise the great Lord!"

"Praise the great Second Lord!"3

As soon as the words fell, the four Polar People gulped down the meat soup in one go.

The sound of loud gulping filled the room.

A moment later, blissful expressions appeared on all four Polar People's faces.

"Good heavens, I swear this is the most delicious meal I've ever eaten in my life!"

"Erzhuang, me too! I never had such delicious meat soup underground."

"Everyone, remember that all of this was bestowed upon us by the Lord. We must work hard and repay the Lord!"

"May we brave fire and water for the Lord!"

The four Polar People were deeply moved.

A system notification appeared.

Your territory member: Dazhuang has tasted the delicious snake soup. His loyalty toward you has increased. Current loyalty: 85.

Your territory member: Erzhuang has tasted the delicious snake soup. His loyalty toward you has increased. Current loyalty: 80.

The four Polar People's favorability soared, all rising above 80 points!

At this level of favorability, they would basically do whatever Cao Xing told them to do.

Cao Xing also noticed Ilena beside him.

Her hunger had fallen below 50.1

Ilena narrowed her long eyes, her forked tongue flicking constantly as though she was also desperately craving food.

Cao Xing walked over to Ilena and asked, "Ilena, do you eat raw meat or cooked meat?"

Ilena flicked out her scarlet forked tongue. "Raw meat, respected Lord."

Cao Xing nodded. He had just been about to take two chunks of snake meat from his backpack.

After thinking about it, Cao Xing put them back.4

So, he tossed two chunks of the wolf meat he had just obtained to Ilena.1

Ilena caught them in one bite and swallowed them whole.

She licked her lips and said with a satisfied smile, "Thank you, Lord."

Your territory member: Ilena has tasted the delicious wolf meat. Her loyalty toward you has increased. Current loyalty: 71.1

Cao Xing noticed that Ilena's hunger had risen by 10 points, barely reaching 60.1

This would not do. Going without being full for too long would also lower loyalty.

Ilena was powerful, but accordingly, she consumed more food as well.

After thinking for a moment, Cao Xing fed her another four chunks of wolf meat before raising Ilena's hunger to 80.2

"Thank you for your generosity, Lord."

Cao Xing nodded. Fortunately, they had gone out and killed two snow wolves this time.

Otherwise, with Ilena's appetite, their stored food would not have lasted them even two days.

Moreover, Cao Xing still had an even more powerful recruitment scroll in his hands: Frostwolf Warrior.

It was easy to imagine that, with two huge eaters, their daily food consumption would reach an astonishing amount.

Starting tomorrow, I need to find a way to gather more food, Cao Xing thought.

Since it was night, they could neither work nor go out exploring.

So Cao Xing had Ilena and the four Polar People return to their own residences to rest.

After they left, the Lord's Cabin became spacious again.

As for Liu Muxue, before a new residence was built, she could only stay with Cao Xing.

Liu Muxue seemed a little nervous at that moment. This appeared to be her first time alone in a room with a man.1

However, Cao Xing had no inappropriate thoughts.7

Sitting before the fire, Cao Xing opened the chat channel in the system interface. He wanted to see how the other survivors were developing.

The moment he opened the World Channel, a flood of messages came pouring in.

Lin Zixuan: "Cold! So cold! I'm about to freeze to death!"

Lawrence: "Oh God! What kind of world is this? My family has run out of food, and our bonfire is about to go out. Can someone come save us?"

Andrei: "Damn it! There are monsters outside the camp. One of them bit me!"2

Fujiwara Akiko: "My husband has frozen to death. His body is so stiff and cold, boohoo..."18

Hurry up and fold paper cranes.