Unexpected Gains

The lumber team increased to eight people, and Xia Hong's mood improved significantly.

Of course, mood was secondary; the main thing was that the danger level had greatly decreased.

He wouldn't even mention when he was alone in the early days. Even after Xia Chuan and Yuan Cheng joined, and they knew the Frost Beasts slept deeply at night, they were still cautious everywhere, trying not to make loud noises and choosing to cut trees far from the Frost Beasts.

Now it was different. When Xia Hong walked on the snow, he was no longer as hesitant.

Under the cold night, the outer edge of Redwood Ridge hadn't changed much.

Snowflakes continuously fell from the sky, and the cold wind occasionally brushed past his ears.

Xia Hong led the team to the first Ice Vast Tree and saw that it was still empty, with no fruit on it. He frowned slightly.

"It's been over two months, and it hasn't grown yet. It seems the Crystal Fruit's growth cycle is much longer than we anticipated!"

Xia Chuan, being more meticulous, immediately climbed the tree and, after a long inspection, came down and said, "The roots left from picking fruit before have just started to sprout. It's a bit better than what we saw a month ago, and about the same as the other two trees. If nothing unexpected happens, it should take another two months to bear fruit."

Another two months to bear fruit meant three harvests a year, each yielding about six thousand jin, totaling eighteen thousand jin per tree, and fifty-four thousand jin from three trees.

After Xia Hong calculated this number in his mind, his frown deepened.

During this period, besides hunting, the most he did was lead the team to constantly observe the growth of the three Ice Vast Trees.

The current Great Xia Camp was naturally not qualified to use Frost Beast Meat as food. It had to be admitted that the camp's main staple was still Crystal Fruit.

Therefore, he had to figure out the Crystal Fruit's growth cycle.

Each Crystal Fruit weighed about half a jin. A normal person needed two to maintain their daily sustenance. By this calculation, the yield from the three Ice Vast Trees in a year could only support around 150 people.

The camp already had 154 people.

This meant that if any accident befell these three trees, the camp would likely face a food shortage.

Clearly, Xia Hong wasn't the only one who realized the Crystal Fruit deficit.

After thinking for a while, Xia Chuan immediately retorted, "How did Father and the others feed over 200 people before?"

Xia Hong had also thought of this. When Xia Ding was around, the camp's total population was over 230. Even if the Crystal Fruit quota wasn't as much as he had set now, these three trees couldn't possibly feed so many people.

After thinking for a moment, Xia Hong first looked towards the depths of Redwood Ridge, then shook his head, and finally looked towards the west, towards the territory of the Big Stone Camp.

"It seems not only the Big Stone Camp crossed the boundary, but Father did too."

This conclusion was easy to reach. With the strength of Xia Ding's group, they certainly wouldn't dare to venture deep into Redwood Ridge.

"I heard the Big Stone Camp has over 300 people. If that's the case, they should have many more Ice Vast Trees than we do."

As soon as Xia Chuan said this, Yuan Cheng's interest was piqued.

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's just go over there and pick some. They didn't hold back when they brought people here to steal Crystal Fruit before."

Yue Feng, Lin Kai, and the others nodded. They had also heard about this.

Xia Hong glanced at the inner part of Redwood Ridge, pondered for a moment, and then nodded.

They didn't have the strength to venture deep into Redwood Ridge yet, so they could only "borrow" some Crystal Fruit from others.

Judging from the fact that Xia Ding could feed so many people back then without any major conflict with the Big Stone Camp, it was clear that the Crystal Fruit there should have been in surplus.

Moreover, since the Big Stone Camp "borrowed" fruit first, he felt even less psychological burden.

"Let's go see the situation with their Ice Vast Trees now."

With Xia Hong's order, he set off with seven others.

Actually, it wasn't just to see the situation with their Ice Vast Trees; Xia Hong also wanted to see if they could encounter anyone from the Big Stone Camp.

Strangely enough, he hadn't seen anyone from the Big Stone Camp in Redwood Ridge for over a month.

He was still skeptical about whether his previous bluff could scare them away for over a month from their own territory. Those who could survive in this environment with three to four hundred people couldn't be fools.

Xia Hong even suspected that something might have happened to the other party.

Could the Big Stone Camp also have been found by that Grotesque?

"Ouch, there's something on the ground."

As Xia Hong was lost in thought, he was interrupted by Qiu Peng's shout.

Everyone stopped and looked over, seeing him take off his straw shoes and hold his sole, gasping in pain.

Everyone quickly gathered around him, asking what happened.

Qiu Peng released his hand, and everyone saw a two-inch-long wound on his sole. Judging by the bleeding, the wound was quite deep.

Upon seeing the wound, everyone was stunned for a moment.

Although the eight of them didn't have proper shoes and wore shoes woven from dry grass, they had the cultivation of the Lumbering Realm, so their physical bodies were definitely stronger than ordinary people. It was rare for them to even get scratched, let alone get such a deep wound.

"I don't know what I stepped on, but it cut so deep, hiss..."

Hearing Qiu Peng's words, Xia Hong immediately lowered his head and searched carefully near his feet.

The ground was covered in snow, and it was night, making it difficult to see clearly. But Xia Hong drew his Stone Axe and scraped the ground for a while, soon hitting something hard.

He swept away the snow on the ground and was immediately stunned.

On the ground lay a gleaming great saber.

The blade was about a palm's width across, and the saber was about a meter and a half long.

"Isn't this the great saber belonging to that Wang Ming from the Big Stone Camp?"

Yuan Cheng exclaimed, recognizing the saber at a glance.

Xia Chuan, standing beside him, remained silent but had clearly also recognized it.

As Xia Hong took the great saber into his hand, a look of wild joy flashed across his face, but he quickly calmed down and looked beneath the saber.

"There seems to be something else underneath."

Xia Hong put the great saber away first, then brushed aside a layer of snow. A corpse immediately came into view.

"It's Wang Ming. The wound is on his head; he was killed by a single punch. You guys spread out and search the sides for any other bodies."

Xia Hong recognized Wang Ming instantly. After examining his injuries, his expression changed slightly, and he signaled for the others to split up and search.

The group scattered, beginning their search around Xia Hong.

"I've got one here. The wound is between the eyebrows, a... red dot."

"There's another one nearby."

"And here, three fatal wounds, all red dots between the eyebrows."

Only Lin Kai, searching to the west of Wang Ming's body, made a discovery, finding three corpses in quick succession.

Xia Hong examined all four bodies. Besides Wang Ming, one of the other three was someone he had seen before when Wang Ming was stealing Crystal Fruit. He didn't recognize the other two, but judging by their clothing, he could tell they were from Big Stone.

"They're all from the Big Stone Camp. Something really happened."

He had been wondering why he hadn't seen anyone from the Big Stone Camp for so long, suspecting something had happened, and now his guess was correct.

Not only had something happened to them, but it had happened on Great Xia's territory.

"What did they run into? Were they killed by someone else?"

"There are no signs of Frost Beast attacks; they must have been killed by other people."

"So, besides Big Stone, people from other camps have also intruded onto our Great Xia territory?"

Xia Chuan, Yuan Cheng, and the others looked at the corpses on the ground, their minds racing with speculation.

Listening to their guesses, Xia Hong glanced at the great saber in his hand, his eyes narrowing slightly, and he spoke softly:

"Who says they were killed by people and Frost Beasts."

At his words, everyone's expression changed.

If they weren't killed by people or Frost Beasts, then there was only one other possibility...

"Let's head back first. No hunting or lumbering for a while!"

As soon as Xia Hong finished speaking, he immediately led everyone back towards the camp.

However, just as they turned to leave.

About a hundred meters away to the west of where the bodies had been found, on the snowy ground, a corpse suddenly sat up. It slowly turned its head, watching their retreating backs.