Chapter 7: The Heart of the Encampment

Ice and snow stretched endlessly, the wind biting to the bone.

Beneath the starry night, the people of the Great Xia encampment struggled westward.

From Cave One to Cave Four, the distance was less than two thousand meters.

Yet these less than two thousand meters took over a hundred people from the Great Xia encampment two full hours to cover.

The main obstacle was the astonishingly thick snowdrifts of Redwood Ridge.

Outside the caves, even the thinnest snow reached over half a meter in height.

In thicker patches, it reached five or six meters; several of the strong men leading the column had already slipped down snow slopes, their faces bruised and swollen.

Where the snow was deeper, the column had to halt, forcing the strongest men at the front to carve a path by sheer strength before they could proceed.

Second, the weather was bitterly cold, and visibility at night was poor.

Considering the children in the group, Xia Hong deliberately slowed their pace.

Though progress was slow, many still suffered injuries.

Yet in the end, they arrived without disaster.

Cave Four lay on the western side of a small hill, its entrance blocked by dense leaves, now covered in snow and even lined with tiny ice spikes.

Several children in the group had turned blue-lipped from the cold; Xia Hong seized his stone axe, hacked open the entrance in three swift strikes, and immediately organized everyone inside.

The cave was roughly a hundred meters square, even more spacious than the previous ones.

Xia Hong entered first, lit a fire, then ordered Xia Chuan to lead others in sealing the entrance again.

This puzzled Xia Chuan—night temperatures were higher than daytime, and cold beasts rarely moved about; sealing the cave was usually unnecessary.

But soon, he understood.

“Everyone, gather around—I have something to say!”

Xia Hong called everyone close and pointed solemnly at the fire.

“The most important thing in our encampment right now is this fire. It repels and harms the strange entities, but it also attracts cold beasts. From now on, whether day or night, the entrance must be sealed whenever anyone enters or leaves. Understood?”

Everyone had witnessed the fake Xia Ding being reduced to ash in the previous cave; they now trusted Xia Hong without question and nodded vigorously.

“Chuan, how much food do we have left?”

Xia Chuan’s expression darkened. “We have about seven hundred jin of crystal fruit, and only sixty jin of cold beast meat left.”

At this number, everyone instantly grew anxious.

Including Xia Hong himself.

In this world’s harsh environment, farming simply did not exist.

Perhaps it did somewhere, but the Great Xia encampment had no access to it.

The Great Xia, along with all human encampments around Redwood Ridge, relied on fruit from a tree called Bing Shuo.

The fruit was fist-sized, with a crystalline outer shell, soft and chewy inside, slightly sweet, each weighing about half a jin.

A normal person needed two per day to barely survive.

Seven hundred jin sounded like a lot, but for 154 people, it was insufficient.

Even if we rationed to one per person per day,

these seven hundred jin would last less than ten days.

As for cold beast meat, perhaps some massive encampments used it as staple food, but in Great Xia, cold beast flesh was as strategic as firewood.

Human cultivation in this world depended entirely on cold beast flesh.

Previously, Xia Ding had enforced a rationing system in Great Xia.

Woodcutters received one jin per day.

Those aged fifteen to eighteen received half a jin every three days.

Officially, that was the rule—but in practice, it was not followed.

Because cold beast flesh had always been scarce.

At least in the month since Xia Hong’s arrival, he had seen Xia Ding return with only one corpse: a juvenile bone-spiked frost wolf, weighing barely over a hundred jin.

With too few beasts and too many mouths, the cold beast flesh was prioritized for the children of the woodcutters.

Xia Ding and Xia Chuan had also received their shares.

But Xia Chuan, claiming his brother needed to break through Woodcutter Realm, gave all his portion to Xia Hong.

That was why Xia Hong had grown so deeply attached to Xia Chuan in just one month.

Though they were blood brothers,

remember—this was a world where death came anytime.

Cold beast flesh, a resource that enhanced strength, was as vital as life itself.

And yet Xia Chuan gave his to him—proof of how pure-hearted this younger brother truly was.

As Xia Hong pondered this, Xia Chuan walked over from behind, carrying a lump of deep blue flesh to the fire.

Cold beast flesh was blue.

Xia Hong paused, then immediately understood what Xia Chuan intended.

“Friends, I won’t lie. My brother is the strongest among us, and he’s just a step away from Woodcutter Realm.

I propose we give all sixty jin of cold beast flesh to him. If he breaks through sooner, our encampment’s safety is secured. What do you think?”

Xia Hong guessed correctly.

He instinctively wanted to refuse, but after thinking, he stayed silent.

Though selfish, Xia Chuan’s words made sense.

Yet human nature was complex; after Xia Chuan spoke, silence fell like death—no one answered.

=9+books_ah

Especially the children of the former woodcutters.

“Hong, we trust you—but can you swear that once you break through Woodcutter Realm, you won’t abandon us and leave alone?”

The speaker was a burly young man.

Yuan Cheng—outgoing, straightforward, no hidden motives.

His father, Yuan Gang, ranked second only to Xia Ding in strength within the encampment.

Xia Hong recalled the man’s details but did not answer immediately; instead, he turned his gaze elsewhere, observing others’ reactions.

“At this point, we should concentrate resources to help Hong strengthen.”

“But that flesh was my father’s life’s blood.”

“Without a Woodcutter-level fighter, we can’t even gather firewood. When these three trees burn out, we’ll freeze to death.”

“I think we should give it to Hong.”

“Yes, give it to him.”

…………

Only the children of the former woodcutters spoke up.

From this, one could clearly see the old hierarchy of Great Xia encampment.

Xia Ding and the woodcutters stood at the top, responsible for resource gathering and resource allocation.

Their families and children formed the second tier, enjoying priority access and some influence over camp affairs.

Everyone else belonged to the third tier, waiting for scraps.

Xia Hong organized his thoughts and raised a hand lightly.

At his gesture, everyone fell silent.

Clearly, after the camp’s attack and his leadership in relocating them, Xia Hong had earned their trust.

“Cheng, if I were going to leave, even a sworn oath wouldn’t stop me—I can’t promise you anything…”

Xia Hong paused after replying to Yuan Cheng, then intensified his tone:

“Trust is the foundation between us. I’ll say this: if you give me this flesh, one day I will repay you tenfold, a hundredfold.

If you’re willing, speak now.

If not, I won’t argue—we’ll return to the old way.”

After Xia Hong finished, the cave fell silent.

Then, a voice broke through:

“Hong, I trust you.”

Then a second, then a third.

“I trust the leader too.”

“I, Yuan Cheng, give my cold beast flesh to Hong.”

“Right—only when the leader grows stronger can we survive.”

…………

Voices of support and trust rose one after another.

A smile appeared on Xia Hong’s face.

Taking the lump of cold beast flesh from Xia Chuan, Xia Hong’s eyes hardened with resolve.

“In this frozen apocalypse, only a camp built on mutual trust and sincerity can truly survive. Strength will come—eventually.”

(End of Chapter)