Moving House

More than a hundred people worked together, and the cave entrance was quickly sealed.

Though there was firelight inside the cave, once the entrance was sealed, it still became much darker.

Perhaps it was the sense of security brought by the enclosed space, but some of the pain on the camp members' faces faded.

Yet their expressions remained lost, their faces full of confusion.

"Brother, what do we do next?"

Xia Chuan's voice immediately drew everyone's eyes to Xia Hong.

From first identifying whether Xia Ding was real or fake, to later taking the lead in fighting desperately for survival, and finally that lifesaving Small Bonfire.

It could be said that without Xia Hong, almost no one in the camp would have survived.

At this moment, everyone naturally placed their hopes on him.

Xia Hong could naturally read the dependence in their eyes, and the pressure on him instantly doubled.

In truth, he had no choice but to step forward.

Xia Ding and the Lumber Team numbered thirteen in total, and their deaths had already been confirmed.

Another seventy-two people had died in that slaughter just now.

He had counted them. Only 154 people remained in the camp now.

Of those, only fifty-three were adults in their prime.

The reason these older people had stayed behind at the camp rather than following Xia Ding out to chop wood and hunt was that they were too weak, their strength only at the level of ordinary people.

Among the remaining 101, twenty-five, including himself, were close to his age. All the rest ranged from three to twelve years old.

He was already the strongest person in the camp.

On top of that, he was the son of the former leader, Xia Ding. Leading the camp members onward and keeping them alive had naturally become his responsibility.

Xia Hong cast aside his tangled thoughts, swept his gaze around the cave, and quickly made his first decision:

"We can't stay here. Pack up. We'll move after nightfall."

That ghost from Redwood Ridge already knew where the camp was and could return at any time.

If they continued staying here, they would undoubtedly be walking into a dead end.

"Brother, which cave are we moving to?"

"West. Cave Four."

The humans of this world had spent nearly their entire lives, from birth to death, hiding.

Hiding from daylight, from ice tides, from cold beasts, from ghosts and monsters.

After endlessly living in a state of evasion, humanity had long developed the habit of a cunning rabbit with three burrows.

Great Xia Camp was no exception.

Having lived in Redwood Ridge for decades, Great Xia Camp had long since opened up six shelters, all of them caves.

The six caves were, on average, only five or six hundred meters apart. They formed a ring around this slope of earth on the eastern side of Redwood Ridge.

They were currently in Cave One. Cave Four was the farthest from Cave One, so for safety's sake, Xia Hong chose Cave Four.

Naturally, no one objected. They all turned and left, following Xia Hong's orders to pack their belongings and prepare to leave after nightfall.

Taking advantage of the gap, Xia Hong turned his attention to the Camp System, which he had not had time to inspect carefully.

Camp: Great Xia (Level 0)

Lord: Xia Hong

Territory Population: 154

Resources: Wood 15, Coal 0, Iron 0, Silver 0, Gold 0

Buildings: Small Bonfire (Level 1), daily consumption: Wood 2 (Placed)

Small Bonfire: Can greatly raise the temperature within a ten-meter radius. Has deterrent and lethal effects on low-level ghosts, but also strongly attracts cold beasts.

Special Function: For every 10 units of wood resources burned, one special Small Torch will be generated. Its function is similar to the Small Bonfire's and it can be carried around.

Resources required to upgrade the Small Bonfire: Wood 200, Iron 50

Below the interface that had already opened were eight gray, dimmed options:

Wooden Stake, Green Bamboo Fence, Marking Stone, Medicine Pot, Yellow Earth, Grinding Stone, Small Wooden Table, Coarse Iron Chain.

With a slight stir of his mind, Xia Hong selected the Wooden Stake. A line of information immediately appeared:

Wooden Stake (Not Constructed)

Resources required for construction: Wood 100, Iron 20

Sure enough, the other seven buildings also required resources to unlock.

Six of them required wood, coal, and iron to construct.

The Small Wooden Table required silver, while the final Coarse Iron Chain required gold.

Having witnessed the power of the Small Bonfire, Xia Hong naturally yearned for these buildings.

But the reality was that, never mind gold and silver later on, in the month since he had arrived in this world, he had not even seen coal.

Just upgrading the Small Bonfire to Level Two required 200 wood and 50 iron.

With a slight stir of his mind, Xia Hong walked over to one side of the cave wall.

Three enormous trees, each roughly over thirty meters long and more than three meters thick, lay on the ground.

Though Xia Hong had never gone out to chop wood, over the past month, he had seen the forest not far from the cave entrance.

The trees in this world grew terrifyingly large.

Not only did they grow frighteningly large, their weight was equally astonishing.

Because the temperature was too low, every tree's bark was coated in a layer of ice crystals, greatly increasing the difficulty of felling them.

Without a base strength of five thousand jin, chopping them down was simply impossible.

That was why woodcutting had become a symbol of strength.

Whenever Xia Ding went out to chop wood, he basically chose the thinnest trees.

It was not that he did not want to choose thicker ones. They simply could not chop through them.

Even if they got lucky and felled one, they might not be able to carry it back.

Xia Hong looked at the three huge trees on the ground, a thoughtful light in his eyes.

"These three trees are probably fifteen units of wood. That means upgrading the Small Bonfire to Level Two would take at least twenty trees like these, plus twenty units of iron."

At that thought, Xia Hong shook his head and hurriedly cut off the train of thought.

Never mind twenty trees. According to what Xia Ding and the Lumber Team members had said before, before one's strength broke through five thousand jin, even chopping down a tree was a problem.

And iron was even less attainable. Among all the camps around Redwood Ridge, Rogue Camp was likely the only one that had any.

"Surviving is the top priority right now. Besides that, I need to step up my cultivation. I had planned to proceed step by step and break through five thousand jin in a month, but now, the faster the better!"

Xia Hong murmured softly, his heart filled with urgency.

Fifteen units of wood were only enough to keep the Small Bonfire going for seven and a half days.

They could endure a little at night, but during the day, without fire for warmth, the camp would freeze to death.

It was not as though they had never experienced daylight before, but for the camp members, these four hours of daytime had been especially difficult to endure.

On one hand, they had just suffered a disaster and lost many loved ones, so they were already deeply saddened.

On the other hand, knowing they would be moving that night left them all with a sense of uncertainty over the road ahead.

But no matter what, they had finally endured the daylight.

Xia Hong pulled open a narrow gap at the cave entrance and looked outside.

Night had already fallen. Though there was no light, the ice crystals and snowflakes had dressed the earth in silver, and visibility was still fairly good.

Of course, the most important thing was that once night came, the temperature rose.

Xia Hong turned around and looked at all the camp members behind him, each carrying a bundle.

He had divided the 154 people into three groups.

The first group had forty people, all adults in their prime, both men and women;

The second group consisted of seventy-six children and thirteen adult women;

The third group was Xia Hong and Xia Chuan, along with another twenty-three young adults.

"The adults will take the lead. Pick twelve people to carry those three trees.

All the children stay in the middle. You thirteen women, take good care of them.

Xia Chuan, you and the other twenty-three will bring up the rear with me.

Keep the formation orderly. If anything happens, blow the Bone Whistle first. Don't shout and make a fuss, or you'll draw trouble. Do you understand?"

"Understood!"

Only after hearing their unanimous reply did Xia Hong wave his hand to signal their departure.

The group of more than a hundred people filed out of the cave.

After the final group had left, Xia Hong turned back to look at the Small Bonfire.

With a slight stir of his mind, the Small Bonfire immediately went out, and the status after Small Bonfire in the Camp System changed back to Not Placed.

After dealing with the bonfire, Xia Hong immediately jogged after the group.

The group headed west, their white-furred beastskin clothes blending with the snow, as though they were gradually melting into this cruel, heartless world of ice and snow.