Chapter 77: Changing the Meat Distribution Rules

The Daishi camp has been destroyed, and its former 500-meter territory on the outer edge of Hongmu Ridge now naturally belongs to Da Xia.

Da Xia’s territory has three Bingshuo trees; adding the six from Daishi gives a total of nine.

According to prior estimates, each Bingshuo tree yields about six thousand jin of crystal fruit per harvest, three times a year, totaling roughly 160,000 jin annually.

It sounds like a lot, but consider that the camp’s current total population is 341.

At one jin per person per day, with the current population, if the nine Bingshuo trees mature normally and are harvested regularly without incident, they can easily sustain the entire camp.

But the problem is, no one can guarantee no incidents will occur.

Humans are manageable—given Da Xia’s current strength and reputation, the other camps on Hongmu Ridge won’t casually cross boundaries to harvest unless under extreme circumstances.

The main threat is cold beasts.

There are simply too many cold beasts in Hongmu Ridge, and their range clearly shows a trend of expanding outward.

Originally, in the 500-meter area of Da Xia’s territory, Xia Hong found only four cold beasts; after the final Golden-Eyed Demon Sheep was killed, Da Xia’s territory should have been temporarily free of them.

But in reality, he just killed another adult Snowmane—unquestionably, it arrived within the past couple of days.

Crystal fruit isn’t just for humans; cold beasts eat it too.

These nine Bingshuo trees, if left unattended, will have their fruit devoured by cold beasts the moment they ripen.

So, until transplantation becomes feasible, the only solution is to regularly inspect the Bingshuo trees; once a fruiting date is confirmed, inspections can be spaced every three to four months.

Xia Hong also considered making cold beast meat the staple food for the entire camp, but it’s impossible—he can only supply it to some, as before.

Just from hunting that Snowmane, it’s clear that even with the Shocking Cold Blade, he cannot single-handedly kill low-tier cold beasts—he still needs others’ help.

Moreover, every hunt carries risk; even he can’t guarantee he won’t get injured, and right now he’s only encountered three types of cold beasts—he can’t even guarantee his own safety if he faces unfamiliar ones.

So, allowing the entire camp free access to cold beast meat is still far beyond Da Xia’s current capacity.

But remembering that even Luo Ge’s camp hasn’t achieved this, Xia Hong felt slightly better—after all, Da Xia has only been under his command for a little over three months, and reaching this point is already quite good.

Soon, Xia Hong and the other two inspected all six Bingshuo trees.

They had harvested just a few days ago, so the trees bore no fruit.

But after observing their growth, two appeared close to fruiting.

After marking their locations, the three returned to camp together.

Since the cave entrance no longer needs sealing at night, the camp’s firelight was visible over a hundred meters away.

Outside the cave, older people carried wooden buckets to collect slightly cleaner snow from the ground; younger ones played and laughed nearby.

“I haven’t seen this scene in a long time!”

Hearing Yuan Cheng’s sigh, Xia Hong and Xia Chuan both felt a pang of emotion.

Letting ordinary camp members freely come and go as they once did.

Achieving just this goal had taken them over three months of effort.

And along the way, there were several times they nearly lost their lives.

In truth, without the Level-Two Iron Smelter, he might still dare not open the cave entrance.

After all, after that Wooden Puppet Ghoul, who knew what other ghouls might lurk?

“Brother, should we give cold beast meat to Shi Qing and his group?”

As they neared the cave entrance, Xia Chuan suddenly asked.

Xia Hong turned to look at him and Yuan Cheng, and instead of answering, asked directly:

“What do you think?”

The two exchanged glances; their expressions showed hesitation.

But soon, Yuan Cheng nodded and said: “We should share—it’s part of the camp now.”

Xia Chuan also nodded, but hesitated slightly: “I agree we should share, but the rules must change—we can’t keep dividing meat the old three-five-two way.”

Now that we have iron tools, we’ll be able to reliably obtain cold beast meat—we must use it systematically and stop handing it all out indiscriminately.”

Hearing this, Xia Hong looked at Xia Chuan, his eyes brightening with approval.

“Looks like you’ve got a plan—tell me what it is.”

Encouraged by Xia Hong, Xia Chuan smiled confidently and thought for a moment: “My idea is to centralize all cold beast meat reserves, then divide it into four tiers.”

“Tier One: the leader—that’s you, Brother. You can allocate your own reserve based on your cultivation needs, since right now, the camp’s cold beast meat mainly comes from you alone...”

Hearing Tier One, Xia Hong slightly furrowed his brow but didn’t interrupt—just listened quietly.

“Tier Two: the hunting team. Today, though we all joined the Snowmane hunt, honestly, none of us contributed much. Following Luo Ge’s camp rules, only those who break through to Digging Earth Realm count as official hunting team members—so currently, Tier Two has no one.”

“Tier Three: the logging team—members of Logging Earth Realm. There are ten now, including me. At five jin per person per day, it’s enough for steady progress.”

“Tier Four: the logging team reserves. Based on baseline strength, split into two sub-tiers: those over one thousand jin get one jin per day; those over three thousand jin get two jin per day.”

“Also, the eligibility for logging team reserves should be broadened—I suggest an age range of fifteen to twenty-five. I’ve calculated: in the camp, there are exactly sixty-nine people in this age group.”

“With these four tiers, our monthly cold beast meat consumption would be around four thousand jin. If we succeed in three to five hunts, we can sustain it easily—more than enough for us now.”

“Any surplus should be stored. The leader can use it to reward those who contribute, or further expand the age limit for reserves—all tied to the reserve stockpile.”

After hearing Xia Chuan’s four-tier system, Xia Hong was deeply impressed.

“Could this kid be possessed by a ghoul?”

He even wondered if Xia Chuan wasn’t himself anymore.

It wasn’t that Xia Chuan’s idea was brilliant.

He himself had planned to revise the meat distribution rules, and his general idea was similar—just not as detailed.

The key point was: him thinking of it wasn’t surprising—he had past-life experience. But Xia Chuan? He’s only sixteen, raised his entire life in the Da Xia camp—where did he get all these intricate ideas from?

He even thought of setting aside some meat for the leader to use as rewards, and broadening the reserve age limit?

“How did you think of this?”

Xia Hong couldn’t hold back and asked.

Sensing Xia Hong’s shock, Xia Chuan grinned and glanced at Yuan Cheng beside him.

Yuan Cheng clearly knew the truth and smiled: “Leader, this was taught by Luo Ming two nights ago at Luo Ge’s camp. Xia Chuan asked him how Luo Ge’s camp divided meat, and after Luo Ming explained, we told him our three-five-two system.

Luo Ming said you’re strong and capable, and Da Xia has great potential—so he and Xia Chuan worked out this system together.”

Taught by Luo Ming.

Xia Hong froze, a strange feeling rising in his chest.

Why would Luo Ming teach Xia Chuan this?

(End of Chapter)