Chapter 22: Found the Right Person

Xia Hong's style, which was completely different from the previous logging team, was built on the foundation of sufficient resources, but the people in the camp who didn't know why didn't care.

They only thought that Xia Hong was capable and also selfless.

Since that night of distributing cold-beast meat, everyone in the camp, upon seeing Xia Hong, was without exception fanatical in expression, and then respectfully shouted "Leader."

Respect, admiration, and it was no exaggeration to say that it was almost to the level of believers.

Xia Hong naturally wouldn't foolishly stop everyone from doing this; special environment, special situation.

Hiding in the shadows year after year, not seeing sunlight, not having enough to eat, not having enough to wear—extreme despair was not enough to describe the plight of the humans in the camp.

In such a world, having something to rely on in their hearts was not a bad thing.

After all, once there was something to rely on in their hearts, people naturally had hope.

Of course, all of this had to be built on the foundation of sufficient cold-beast meat.

Excluding 70 jin, according to the 3-5-2 ratio, Xia Hong was allocated 120 jin of cold-beast meat. According to his current training progress, this meat could only be used for half a month.

Yue Feng and the five were also allocated 120 jin each. Xia Hong had calculated that according to their progress, the meat allocated this time was also not enough for them to break through.

Therefore, there was still a gap in cold-beast meat, and hunting could not stop.

Fortunately, as long as no accidents happened, at least there was no shortage of small torches.

"Wood collection cannot stop. As long as there is a steady stream of small torches, hunting is just a matter of probability. If you encounter a strong one, don't be reckless. As long as you can lure cold beasts every time, sooner or later there will be a harvest."

The cold-beast meat was distributed, and everyone started to roast meat around the bonfire.

After a while, the whole cave was overflowing with the fragrance of meat. Those in the camp who hadn't eaten cold-beast meat for a long time, or had never tasted it, all showed expressions of intoxication on their faces.

Looking at the satisfied expressions on everyone's faces, Xia Hong felt as if something in his heart had been gently touched.

A meal of meat, in his previous life, was the simplest thing.

But here, it had become an extravagant hope for these people.

Having suffered from ALS in his previous life, he had once hated the world immensely, blamed the world for being unfair, and even in the end, chose to end himself.

He felt it was unfair, but what about these people in Does Da Xia Camp?

And what about other humans living in this terrifying cold winter world?

Did these people feel it was fair?

Living in the shadows, who should they blame?

"Perhaps, letting me come to this world is the hope that I can do something for them..."

………………

And just as Does Da Xia Camp was full of joy.

On the outer perimeter of Red Wood Ridge, Shi Qing led the twelve members of the Dashan logging team to search several times on Does Da Xia's territory, and his complexion became increasingly ugly.

"For three consecutive days, we can't even find a hair. Don't Old Ding and his group need to come out to find food?"

Shi Dong had a violent temper; having searched several times without results, he couldn't sit still.

Wang Ming, who was holding a large blade on the side, also had his brows locked tightly, but after turning his head to look in the direction of the east side of Red Wood Ridge, he turned to Shi Qing and opened his mouth:

"Big brother, how about we go to the dirt slope side?"

Once Wang Ming said this, everyone immediately quieted down.

Even Shi Qing didn't answer immediately but fell into silence.

Camps as weak as them basically upheld a latent rule.

That was, they must maintain concealment from each other.

Human nature under resource shortage is extremely terrifying.

Around Red Wood Ridge, in the earliest days, there were dozens of camps.

In a situation where food was sufficient, naturally, there was nothing.

But once they couldn't obtain crystal fruits and other food, and were truly at their wits' end.

People, it wasn't that they couldn't be eaten.

Moreover, only those at the Woodcutting Realm could go out freely at night. A person at the Woodcutting Realm rashly breaking into someone else's camp was hard not to make people think wildly.

Therefore, the weaker the camp, the more they concealed themselves from each other.

Of course, because Dashan and Does Da Xia were neighbors, even if they were concealed, they actually knew each other's general location, just not that precisely.

But if it were really as Wang Ming said, and they broke into the dirt slope side now and found the location of Does Da Xia Camp.

Then the grudge between the two sides would be huge.

Even, it was possible for it to develop into an irreconcilable situation if one wasn't careful.

"No need. Old Ding helped us before, and I didn't want to really do anything to him. Just teach them a lesson and let them have fewer crooked ideas in the future."

Shi Qing shook his head and denied Wang Ming's proposal.

Also being a small camp, although competition existed, to put it bluntly, they were all people struggling humbly to survive.

He was naturally angry that the Snow-Mane had been picked up by Does Da Xia.

But in all fairness, the other party didn't directly harm them.

What's more, when they lacked manpower for hunting before, Xia Ding had helped.

There was no need to make things too ugly.

"Hey, there's someone over there, is that Old Ding?"

While deep in thought, Shi Dong suddenly pointed to the inner perimeter of the dense forest.

Shi Qing and the others all looked over following his gaze.

Sure enough, deep in the dense forest, there were over a dozen figures slowly walking toward them.

Shi Qing was an archer with excellent eyesight and soon identified that there were thirteen.

And the logging team of Does Da Xia Camp, counting Xia Ding, was exactly thirteen people.

After looking carefully at the build of the person leading, Shi Qing immediately confirmed it.

"It's Old Ding, finally found him. Let's go, come over with me!"

Finally found the right person.

Shi Dong, Wang Ming, and the other ten people immediately followed behind Shi Qing.

Sure enough, it was Xia Ding.

Seeing that the leader was indeed Xia Ding, the two events—three brothers died a few days ago and that Snow-Mane was picked up—suddenly surfaced in the minds of the people of Dashan Camp, and one by one, their anger rose.

"Old Ding, having been neighbors for so many years, you actually dared to trick me!"

Unlike Shi Qing's reprimand, which was still considered polite, Shi Dong and Wang Ming were very impolite, even excessive.

"Xia Ding, how many jin of meat from that Snow-Mane are left? Hand it all over to me, otherwise don't blame the bow and arrow in my hand for not recognizing people."

"We lost three brothers, and you didn't even say a word before taking the Snow-Mane. If you don't give an explanation today, don't think about leaving."

However, after the three finished speaking, whether it was Xia Ding or the twelve people behind him, none of them had any reaction at all.

They just stared at them blankly.

After a long time, a smile gradually squeezed out on Xia Ding's face.

Only, in the eyes of the people of Dashan Camp, this smile was incomparably eerie.

This smile was clearly normal, but no matter how one looked at it, it looked like someone whose five features didn't cooperate well, forcibly squeezing it out.

Shi Qing frowned, and before he could speak, his younger brother Shi Dong on the side couldn't help but walk forward two steps and curse out loud:

"Smile your mother, are your ears deaf?"

But even though they were scolded, that group of Xia Ding's still had no reaction.

Looking at the stiff expression on Xia Ding's face, and the twelve logging team members standing in the shadows behind him, Shi Qing instinctively sensed that something was wrong.

Whoosh...

A sharp sound, like a silver needle piercing the air, suddenly rang out.

Shi Qing's complexion changed drastically, his body first retreated violently toward the rear, and then he bent his bow and set an arrow, shouting at the crowd:

"Something's wrong, retreat quickly!"

However, it was already too late.

The three people who retreated the slowest suddenly had stiff expressions, standing in place, motionless.

Looking carefully again, the pupils of the three had already dilated, and a tiny red dot appeared between their eyebrows.

Inside the red dot, blood gradually flowed out.

Three corpses fell to the ground sadly.

Shi Qing and the others had nothing but horror on their faces.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 23 =====