Chapter 116: Have we fallen into heaven?

The moment they walked to the front of the crowd and saw the scene inside the valley,

Chen Ying and his two sons immediately understood why those people had just exclaimed.

First, upon entering the valley, a wave of warmth rushed toward them; the rise in temperature was truly immediate.

On the left and right sides of the valley, timber was piled like mountains, the vast majority of which was Gold-Lin Wood. In the outer area, some already-cut planks were laid out, and at this moment, many people were busy working with saws and utility knives, clearly crafting boards for building wooden houses.

From a small cave on the south side of the valley, the aroma of crystal fruit wafted out, nearly solidified; even from dozens of meters away, it could be clearly smelled.

Someone was walking out of the cave at that moment, holding what were clearly dozens of azure-blue cold beast meat strips, estimated to be several hundred jin in weight.

Others were carrying crystal fruit inside, and when they came out, their bags were empty, clearly having deposited the crystal fruit inside.

Without a doubt, that must be the Does Da Xia camp's warehouse.

In the center of the valley sat a square, massive wooden house, about two hundred meters on each side and fifteen meters high.

Under the glow of the firelight, the wooden house emitted a faint golden luster.

At a glance, Chen Ying knew it was entirely constructed from Gold-Lin Wood.

The roof of the wooden house was a four-cornered pyramidal style; although it was covered thickly with white snow, one could still clearly see the animal-hide tarpaulin laid beneath the snow at the eaves.

Generally speaking, the outermost layer of animal hide with fur is suitable for making clothes; the second layer inside is tougher and less prone to decay, suitable for making scrolls for writing and recording; the third layer further down is the strongest and hardest, and most camp tarpaulins are made from this third layer of hide.

But ordinary animal-hide tarpaulins were, of course, not enough to shock Chen Ying.

The problem was that the area of this wooden house was so large, and the entire roof was covered in animal-hide tarpaulin—that was truly terrifying.

The outer walls of the wooden house were estimated to be six meters thick and were entirely connected by single pieces of Gold-Lin Wood; at every joint, many large iron fixtures used for reinforcement were exposed.

The two large doors of the wooden house were fully five meters high; although the main body was wood, the perimeter was wrapped in a circle of iron plates. Even from a great distance, a sense of heaviness rushed toward them.

The doors were currently wide open, and people were carrying planks in and out. Those people coming and going almost all had wooden tools in their hands, and some even held various iron tools.

On the second and third floors of the wooden house, wooden windows with a diameter of half a meter had been opened. Through the open windows and the firelight shining from within, one could clearly see people working inside.

A warm-as-spring environment, endless timber, cold beast meat and crystal fruit that could be taken at will, a giant wooden house mixed with massive amounts of iron fixtures, various iron tools in people's hands...

At just the first glance, Chen Ying and his two sons were already completely stunned.

Not to mention, in the camp, there were people grabbing cold beast meat and stuffing it into their mouths, and there were even children; the youngest looked to be not even ten years old.

There were forty or fifty people who, at a glance, possessed the strength of the Woodcutting Realm, carrying giant logs.

At the four bonfires in front of the wooden house, dozens of complete animal hides were being grilled on each; women were beating them with wooden sticks, clearly processing them. Some young children were darting between them, all holding small wooden weapons, laughing and playing.

At all of this before their eyes, Chen Ying and his two sons were completely speechless, let alone the other two hundred or so people from the Chen Ye camp.

"Have we... arrived in heaven?"

"Red Wood Ridge has a place like this?"

"Is this... the Does Da Xia camp?"

Everyone stood frozen in place, their eyes filled with disbelief; many even thought it was a hallucination and subconsciously pinched themselves.

Until they realized that everything before them was real, everyone, including Chen Ying and his two sons, had joy appear on their faces; more than half of them even wept with joy, crying out.

But after the joy, they subconsciously cast their gazes toward Chen Ying, their faces again showing expressions of anxiety and apprehension.

This included Chen Ying and his two sons themselves.

Especially noticing that Xia Hong and the others, after entering the valley, went straight to the large wooden house without seeking to discuss the matter of taking in the Chen Ye camp, Chen Ying felt even more uneasy in his heart.

Would such a powerful Does Da Xia really be willing to take in their group of people?

While Chen Ying was feeling uneasy, a young man younger than his son suddenly walked over from the side, calling out to him with a smile.

"Leader Chen, rest assured. Since our leader has decided to take you in, he will not go back on his word. Since you have come to Does Da Xia, we are one family. Why don't you come with me to do the registration first?"

Seeing that although the young man's face was kind, his physique was burly and his aura was even above his own, and he was wearing the same ready-made clothing as the five people—Xia Chuan and Luo Yuan—before, Chen Ying dared not be arrogant in the slightest and hurriedly led his two sons to bow respectfully together.

"May I ask, my lord, who are you?"

Hearing this form of address, the young man was clearly stunned for a moment, but then revealed a rather pleased expression. He chuckled and waved his hand, saying, "Just call me Shi Ping. I am not any 'my lord'; I am just a member of the Camp Supplies Office, acting under the orders of Lord Xia Chuan to be responsible for registering new personnel. Come with me quickly!"

Shi Ping?

Hearing this name, Chen Ying was stunned for a moment, as if thinking of something. His expression was somewhat strange, and he asked with a hint of speculation, "My lord, could it be that you are Shi Qing's..."

"Old Chen?"

Before Shi Ping could speak, a voice of surprise came from behind. Chen Ying turned his head to look, and joy immediately appeared on his face as well.

"Old Shi!"

Seeing Shi Qing walk over, the young man respectfully made way.

Chen Ying immediately knew that he had guessed correctly just now.

"Old Shi, this son of yours is extraordinary!"

Shi Ping's aura, which was even stronger than his own; the set of ready-made clothing on him, which was one of the few in the entire Does Da Xia camp; and the fact that he took orders directly from the leader Xia Hong's younger brother, Xia Chuan, were all enough to show that his status in the Does Da Xia camp was definitely not low.

"Hahahaha, it's alright, it's alright."

Hearing Chen Ying's tone, which carried a hint of envy, Shi Qing was naturally extremely pleased. Although he knew Chen Ying must have misunderstood, he did not explain. He laughed heartily a few times and led him and the others from the Chen Ye camp to follow behind Shi Ping to register.

The Does Da Xia population was only nearly a thousand, and the living area was only this small, so there was no need for such a strict household registration system. The so-called registration was just recording the number of people, names, and ages to facilitate personnel division.

As the two hundred or so people from the Chen Ye camp reported their names and ages one by one, Shi Ping made records on the hide scroll and soon finished screening and dividing the people.

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"A total of two hundred and twelve people. Thirty-seven are under six years old; they are not yet at the age to consume cold beast meat. They will be issued five jin of cold beast meat per month, which can be crushed with crystal fruit and eaten as a small amount of supplementary food.

The remaining one hundred and seventy-two people are all assigned to the reserve force. Their strength is all under a thousand jin, and the daily quota is one jin.

In addition, Leader Chen, Chen Shang, and Chen Ping are all in the Woodcutting Realm. Currently, the gathering team has vacancies. You have no choice but to join the gathering team. After joining, the daily quota is five jin."

There should have been two hundred and seventy-seven people who escaped from the cave in the Chen Ye camp earlier, but they were chased by those two gnawing rats halfway, and more than sixty died, so only two hundred and twelve remained.

"Little Shi, just call me Uncle Chen. Please don't call me 'Leader' anymore. I am now also a member of Does Da Xia; calling me that again would be a joke."

Seeing Shi Qing, Chen Ying's mood relaxed much more. The two had been old acquaintances for many years. The reason he was familiar with Shi Ping's name was that he had seen Shi Ping when he was a child. Speaking now, he was naturally not as reserved as before.

Hearing that everyone in the camp, including himself, had been arranged into various teams, and that Shi Ping had thoughtfully stated the cold beast meat quotas for each grade, Chen Ying was naturally in a great mood.

The cold beast meat was secondary; the main thing was that from these arrangements by Shi Ping, he could finally be sure that Does Da Xia really intended to accept these people of his.

Not just him, but Chen Shang, Chen Ping, and the others from the Chen Ye camp, realizing that from today on they were people of Does Da Xia, also felt their hearts settle, and their faces no longer showed expressions of anxiety and apprehension.

"Old Chen, you are lucky. The wooden house should be completed in these two days. Coming and living in a new house immediately—this is called 'arriving early is not as good as arriving at the right time.' Hahahaha..."

Chen Ying's mood settled down, and he naturally had the interest to talk. Hearing Shi Qing's joke, he just shook his head and then told everything about how they had come.

Xia Hong had discussed the gnawing rat pack earlier, and Shi Ping was present, but Shi Qing was not.

Hearing the thrilling escape process of the Chen Ye camp and the massive gnawing rat pack entrenched on the north slope of the mountain wall, Shi Qing first comforted Chen Ying a few words, but then immediately realized the huge danger the Does Da Xia camp was currently facing.

Hearing that although the gnawing rat pack had been successfully lured away, they had returned and were still entrenched on the north slope of the mountain wall, knowing that Does Da Xia had not yet escaped the danger, the faces of father and son Shi Ping and Shi Qing immediately showed expressions of worry.

In sharp contrast to the joy and excitement of the people in Chen Ye's camp, Xia Hong, who had just returned, sat in the temporary wooden cabin.

Xia Hong sat alone, his brows tightly locked, his face full of worry.

From returning to the camp until now, he had been in this state.

"It has been confirmed that torches cannot lure them away. Now, we cannot beat them, and we cannot run. Could it be that we can only sit and wait for death?"

Sit and wait for death!

Pinning hopes on the gnawing rat pack not discovering the valley settlement.

What is the difference between that and waiting for death?

"There must be a way. First, calm down. According to what Chen Ying said, the thing attracting the gnawing rat pack is above the north slope of the mountain wall, which is further away from the valley. They shouldn't discover it in a short time. If there really is a problem, at worst, we will take everyone back to the dirt slope!"

Unable to think of any good countermeasures, Xia Hong could only let himself calm down temporarily. Although the crisis existed, it had not yet reached their doorstep, so he could not lose his footing.

Xia Hong was tired from being out all night, and after calming down, he lay directly on the chair and closed his eyes to rest. However, before he had rested for long, Xia Chuan and Mu Dong walked over from outside the house together.

After walking closer, seeing Xia Hong open his eyes, Xia Chuan spoke first:

"Leader, the people from the Chen Ye camp have been settled. The total population is two hundred and twelve, among whom those over six years old..."

Xia Hong nodded while listening. In fact, the moment those people from the Chen Ye camp entered the valley, he had already learned the total population through the system, but he still needed to hear Xia Chuan's report on how many children and adults there were and the ratio of men to women.

After Xia Chuan finished speaking, Xia Hong turned his gaze to Mu Dong beside him. Seeing the slightly excited expression on Mu Dong's face, he already had some guesses in his heart.

"Leader, tomorrow, tomorrow the wooden house can be completed!"

Even though his heart was still burdened with the gnawing rat pack, hearing Mu Dong's words, Xia Hong could not help but reveal a hint of joy on his face.

The new home, which had taken more than half a year, was finally about to be completed.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 117 =====