At that moment, Cao Xing heard a "gurgling" sound beside him.
It wasn't coming from him, but from Liu Muxue beside him.
She wasn't particularly strong to begin with, and on top of that, she had just been through a battle and used up a great deal of energy.
It was only natural that she was hungry.
When Liu Muxue noticed Cao Xing looking her way, her pretty face flushed, and she lowered her head deeply.
"S-sorry..."
Cao Xing shook his head. "Sister-in-law, let's go inside first. We need to get dinner ready."
Liu Muxue nodded gently.
Then they went into the empty Lord's Hut.
To cook, they first needed to build a stove.
So Cao Xing went straight to a corner, opened the [Building] interface, and began construction.
[Spend materials: Stone*8, Wood*4, to build a Level 1 Simple Stove?]
"Yes."
Cao Xing began building according to the blueprint provided by the system.
Within minutes, a simple stove made of piled stones appeared in front of him.
[Stove: Level 1]
[Defense: 30]
[Area: 1 square meter]
Cao Xing took the starting equipment provided by the system out of the storage chest: the [Big Black Pot (White)].
Although it was just a big black pot, it could be dismantled into two pieces of iron.
This time, Cao Xing planned to make a pot of snake soup.
In this frozen wasteland, there was no shortage of water.
Cao Xing only needed to go outside, chip off some ice with a hammer, and put it in the pot. It melted in no time.
Once the water boiled, Cao Xing tossed in two palm-sized pieces of snake meat.
Those two pieces of snake meat were worth ten units of food, so using them was quite extravagant.
After thinking for a moment, Cao Xing tossed in two more pieces.
A little over ten minutes later, the rich aroma of meat began to fill the entire hut.
Liu Muxue, huddled off to one side, couldn't help lifting her head. She gazed at the pot and swallowed.
"Sister-in-law, it's almost ready. Just wait a little longer."
Liu Muxue lowered her head shyly and replied softly, "A Xing, let me take care of the cooking from now on..."
Cao Xing laughed. "You're going to be the lord's woman one day. How could we make you do things like that?"
"We're just short on manpower right now. Once we recruit more soldiers, we won't need to cook for ourselves."
Liu Muxue smiled warmly. "A Xing, you know so much."
Cao Xing shook his head. "It's nothing. I just play a lot of games."
Outside, the sky grew darker and darker.
The temperature began to plummet.
After the stove was lit, the temperature inside the room had risen to -11°C.
But now, in the blink of an eye, it had dropped to -16°C again.
The outdoor temperature had fallen to a staggering -50°C.
The howling wind swept over the Polar Folk like a bone-scraping knife.
At this temperature, they couldn't work anymore, even with the bonfire's warmth.
Only after they upgraded the bonfire to an Energy Tower would they be able to weather even a blizzard safely.
Just then, Cao Xing saw several notifications appear one after another on the territory interface.
[Your territory building [Logging Mill] has been completed.]
[Your territory building [Market] has been completed.]
[Your territory building [Small Shelter] has been completed.]
Cao Xing breathed a sigh of relief.
The four Polar Folk had finally finished all the work he had assigned them before nightfall.
So he went to the entrance of the Lord's Hut and called, "Dazhuang, Erzhuang, you can all come over and eat now."
The four Polar Folk rushed into the Lord's Hut in a swarm.
Even Ilena squeezed inside, her body curled up as she hugged the wall of the wooden hut.
The Lord's Hut had only thirty square meters of space, and in an instant it became extremely crowded.
Liu Muxue had already filled all six wooden bowls with meat soup, with pieces of snake meat floating in it, cooked until soft.
The four Polar Folk's eyes lit up, and their hands trembled as they held the wooden bowls.
But since Cao Xing hadn't given the word, they didn't dare make a move.
Cao Xing went to the stove and picked up one of the wooden bowls. "Although today is only our first day together, I'm very pleased with how you've done!"
"To reward you for your hard work, you can enjoy this pot of snake soup to your heart's content."
"Now, let's enjoy the food!"
At that moment, the four Polar Folk raised their bowls of delicious meat soup, their mouths watering uncontrollably.
Then they all shouted together.
"Praise the great Lord!"
"Praise the great Second Lord!"
As soon as they finished speaking, the four Polar Folk downed their meat soup in one go.
"Gulp, gulp."
A moment later, looks of happiness appeared on all four of their faces.
"Good heavens, I swear this is the most delicious meal I've ever had in my life!"
"Erzhuang, me too! I've never had such delicious meat soup underground."
"Everyone, we must remember that the Lord gave us all of this. We must work hard and repay him!"
"I would gladly go through fire and water for the Lord!"
The four Polar Folk were deeply moved.
A system notification appeared.
[Your territory member: Dazhuang tasted the delicious snake soup, and his loyalty to you has increased. Current loyalty: 85.]
[Your territory member: Erzhuang tasted the delicious snake soup, and his loyalty to you has increased. Current loyalty: 80.]
The four Polar Folk's favorability surged, and all of them reached over 80 points!
At this level of favorability, they would basically do whatever Cao Xing asked them to do.
Cao Xing also noticed Ilena nearby.
Her hunger level had dropped below 50.
Ilena narrowed her long eyes, repeatedly flicking out her forked tongue. She seemed to be craving food as well.
Cao Xing went over to Ilena and asked, "Ilena, do you eat raw meat or cooked meat?"
Ilena flicked out her scarlet tongue. "I eat raw meat, respected Lord."
Cao Xing nodded. He was about to take two pieces of snake meat out of his backpack.
Then he reconsidered and put them back.
Instead, he tossed Ilena two pieces of the wolf meat they had just obtained.
Ilena caught one in her mouth and swallowed it whole.
She licked her lips and said with a satisfied smile, "Thank you, Lord."
[Your territory member: Ilena tasted the delicious wolf meat, and her loyalty to you has increased. Current loyalty: 71.]
Cao Xing noticed that Ilena's hunger had increased by ten points, bringing it to just 60.
This wouldn't do. If she stayed hungry for too long, her loyalty would drop too.
Ilena was powerful, but she also consumed more food.
Cao Xing thought for a moment, then fed her four more pieces of wolf meat before her hunger rose to 80.
"Thank you for your generosity, Lord."
Cao Xing nodded. Luckily, they had hunted two Snow Wolves this time.
Otherwise, with Ilena's appetite, their food supplies wouldn't have lasted them two days.
Besides, Cao Xing still had an even more powerful recruitment scroll in his hands: Frost Wolf Warrior.
He could imagine that once it was used, those two big eaters would consume an astonishing amount of food every day.
Starting tomorrow, I'll have to find a way to gather more food, Cao Xing thought to himself.
Since it was nighttime, they couldn't work or go out exploring.
So Cao Xing sent Ilena and the four Polar Folk back to their lodgings to rest.
After they left, the Lord's Hut became empty again.
As for Liu Muxue, until she built a new shelter, she had no choice but to stay with Cao Xing.
At that moment, Liu Muxue seemed a little nervous. It seemed this was her first time sharing a room with a man.
Cao Xing, however, had no ulterior thoughts.
Sitting before the bonfire, Cao Xing opened [Chat Channels] in the system interface.
He wanted to see how the other survivors were getting on.
He opened [World Channel], and a flood of messages immediately poured in.
Lin Zixuan: "Cold! So cold! I'm freezing to death!"
Lawrence: "God! What kind of world is this? My family has run out of food, and our bonfire is about to go out. Can anyone come save us?"
Andrei: "Damn it! There are monsters outside the camp! One bit me!"
Akiko Fujiwara: "My husband has frozen to death. His body is so stiff and cold. Sob, sob..."
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