Chapter 46

Hearing Shi Qing ask to leave and being so polite in his words.

Xia Hong raised an eyebrow, his heart suddenly becoming even more curious.

You have to know, they were currently picking crystal fruits on the Great Stone camp's territory.

Trespassing into the sphere of influence of another camp was no small matter here in Red Wood Ridge.

Shi Dong had at least pointed them out just now.

Yet Shi Qing, from beginning to end, did not say a word about them trespassing on Great Stone territory to pick crystal fruits, as if he had turned a blind eye.

Xia Hong's heart stirred slightly; he did not directly agree to let Shi Qing leave, but instead cast his gaze toward the bag Shi Dong was carrying on his back. The bag was bulging, and one could tell at a glance that it was filled with crystal fruits.

"Leader Shi, why are only the two of you out tonight?"

Shi Qing's expression stiffened slightly, but he quickly steadied his demeanor and said: "Just picking some crystal fruits, no need for so many people. Why, Leader Xia, do you know the people from our camp's woodcutting team?"

While Xia Hong was speaking, he had been staring at Shi Qing the whole time; although the other party masked it well, the subtle stiffness in his expression was still caught by his eyes.

But Xia Hong did not say anything, only nodding with a faint smile.

"Since that's the case, then Leader Shi should head back first, we'll meet again another day."

"Good, Shi will take his leave first, Leader Xia, until we meet again."

One could tell that Shi Qing was truly in a hurry; seeing Xia Hong let them go, he immediately left without looking back, almost running away while taking Shi Dong with him.

Xia Hong stared at their departing backs, a thoughtful look on his face.

"Leader, just letting them go like this, aren't we going to teach them a lesson?"

Yuan Cheng had always had significant grievances against the Great Stone camp; originally, seeing Xia Hong stop the two, he thought they could teach them a lesson tonight, but who knew they would just let them go like that.

Xia Hong shook his head and said: "No need. During this time, we've picked so many crystal fruits here on the Great Stone side, which counts as retaliation for their previous actions. Besides, the Great Stone camp... should have had an incident."

Yuan Cheng was stunned, his face showing confusion.

It was Watching Yue Feng nearby who walked over, nodded, and said: "Something must have happened. Great Stone has over ten Woodcutting Realm combatants; why would their leader need to go out personally to pick a few crystal fruits? Plus, we've basically swept all the crystal fruits here during this time; the bag of crystal fruits on their backs probably wasn't picked on their own territory either."

Xia Hong smiled approvingly at Watching Yue Feng. Among the camp's Woodcutting Realm members, Watching Yue Feng was the oldest, and his observation and consideration of problems were clearly more meticulous than the others.

Shi Qing had definitely lied, but Xia Hong could not be certain what exactly had happened to the Great Stone camp. He had wanted to ask just now, but held back when the words reached his lips.

Between camps, it was very taboo to pry into the other side's situation.

Just like before, after Xia Ding and the woodcutting team were wiped out, Xia Hong was also very worried about running into people from other camps. Later, when he ran into Wang Ming's group, he had to bluff and pretend that Xia Ding and the others were still around.

If he asked rashly, Shi Qing would not only refuse to say, but would instead be even more guarded against him.

"Alright, forget about them. Picking this much tonight is enough. Let's head back. Xu An, Liu Yuan, Li Yuankun, you three each chop down one tree tonight; everyone else must chop two."

Since he couldn't figure it out, he simply stopped thinking about it.

Xia Hong turned his head to look at the people, smiling as he issued the remaining tasks for the night.

Ever since they harvested that Golden-Eyed Demon Sheep last time, plus the gains from subsequent hunts, the camp's supply of cold beast meat had suddenly become abundant.

And after the thrilling scene where the monster ambushed Xia Hong, the young people in the camp became even more enthusiastic about their training. With the ample supply of cold beast meat, the camp had gained three new young Woodcutting Realm combatants.

Unsurprisingly, these three, like the previous eight, were still the offspring of the original woodcutting team members.

It is worth mentioning that Xu An was Xu Ning's younger brother.

A month ago, during the Golden-Eyed Demon Sheep incident, Xu Ning lost his right eye. Although it did not affect his cultivation and his injuries had mostly recovered, for the sake of safety, Xia Hong still tried to minimize the number of times he went out, letting him stay behind to guard the camp.

Perhaps stimulated by his brother's blindness, Xu An had been training exceptionally hard for a period of time, which was why he was the first of the three to break through.

In just one month, gaining three new Woodcutting Realm combatants was extremely encouraging for a camp that had just suffered losses.

Xu Ning would often joke that if he had known one right eye could be traded for three Woodcutting Realm combatants, he would have just given his left eye to that cold beast as well.

Jokes cannot be taken seriously, but losing in one aspect and gaining in another was a fact.

The camp's Woodcutting Realm combatants now numbered ten. Counting Xia Hong, the Earth-Digging Realm leader, it could be said that the Does Does Da Xia camp's strength now far exceeded the time when Xia Ding was the leader.

The iron smelting furnace provided warmth and protection against monsters, and small torches combined with the members' increasingly improved strength made the camp's hunting ability stronger and stronger. More importantly, the Condensing Fire Oil gave everyone the ability to fight back even when facing monsters while out.

It could be said that the current Does Does Da Xia camp had improved by more than one level in every aspect compared to before, and all of this was brought about by just the first building of the system.

Xia Hong was extremely greedy for the remaining eight buildings.

It was just a pity that a clever woman cannot cook without rice.

For the remaining buildings, even the most basic ones required iron resources to unlock, not to mention those that required gold and silver resources.

Therefore, during this time, Xia Hong had handed over the normal woodcutting and fruit-picking tasks to others, while he himself, besides presiding over the hunts, spent all other time constantly searching around Red Wood Ridge and the camp's surroundings, hoping to find coal and iron mines soon.

It was a pity that after searching alone for over half a month, he still had nothing to show for it.

He had wanted to let Xia Chuan and the others help look, but the others were not in the Earth-Digging Realm and could not even break the soil on the ground, let alone the mountain rock.

Therefore, not only did he have to rely on himself to find the mines, but even if they found a mine later, if no one else broke through to the Earth-Digging Realm, the mining work would still fall to him.

"We aren't lacking wood or crystal fruits anymore; what we lack now is cold beast meat. We can't rush if we can't find coal and iron for now. Once more people break through to the Earth-Digging Realm, we can expand the search area, and we'll find them sooner or later."

Xia Hong thought to himself, and seeing that the others had finished packing up, he hurriedly followed.

Approaching the group, Xia Hong noticed that Xia Chuan seemed to be looking down and thinking about something, his expression distracted.

Xia Chuan, like Yuan Cheng, had experienced the Great Stone camp boundary-crossing incident before. Thinking about how Xia Chuan hadn't spoken the whole time Shi Qing and the other were there.

Xia Hong thought he was thinking about that, so he stepped forward and patted his shoulder, asking: "Are you dissatisfied with me letting Shi Qing and the other go?"

However, Xia Chuan shook his head, then said with some hesitation on his face:

"I was thinking, how did Shi Dong recognize you at a glance just now? We've only crossed paths with Wang Ming's group of four before. Even with a verbal description, it shouldn't be possible to recognize you the first time we meet, right? And there were ten of us in total, yet Shi Dong recognized you at a glance. It feels a bit wrong!"

Hearing these words, Xia Hong was suddenly stunned, as if a string in his mind had been plucked.

That's right!

The first time he went out after breaking through to the Woodcutting Realm, he was hiding in the dark, so he could recognize Shi Qing and Shi Dong; the second time he went out with Xia Chuan and Yuan Cheng, they only ran into Wang Ming's group of four who were stealing crystal fruits.

Neither Shi Qing nor Shi Dong had seen him before.

In an instant, many things surfaced in Xia Hong's mind...

The corpses of Wang Ming's group of four that he had seen on Does Does Da Xia territory before;

That blade that Shi Qing didn't even have time to retrieve;

The fact that he hadn't seen the two of them on Great Stone camp territory during this time;

The crystal fruits that Shi Qing and the other brought back from the north, while not a single other Woodcutting Realm member from the Great Stone camp was seen;

And even the many changes in expression on Shi Qing's face just now...

After integrating the clues in his mind, Xia Hong suddenly looked up, his expression changing drastically:

"Something's wrong, follow them quickly, there's a problem with Shi Dong!"

The second round of recommendations has arrived, and the follow-up reading momentum is very strong. Thank you all. The foreshadowing in the previous chapters might have been annoying to read, but it was mainly to lay the groundwork for the protagonist to develop the camp. There's no help for it, please be understanding during the new book period. I still ask that you don't stop reading. It's fine to stockpile chapters, but during the new book period, I just ask that everyone comes in every day and flips to the latest one. Continuing to sprint for the second round, this humble author bows and thanks all the big shots! orz

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(End of chapter)