Chapter 81: Migration

The distance between Does Does Da Xia and the Luo Ge camp is actually only four kilometers.

Although he had led the woodcutting team through it once before, this time was different from when he only led Xia Chuan and the other five; with all 341 people in the camp moving together, there were naturally more aspects to consider, and it was much more difficult.

Fortunately, Luo Ming seemed truly eager to leave. The very next day, as soon as night fell, he arrived in a hurry from the direction of Seeing Seeing Hong Mu Ridge with ten others, including Li Baihe, Xu Kang, and Shang Ping.

The people of Does Does Da Xia, having spent the previous night packing, were naturally prepared well in advance.

In reality, aside from the people themselves, there was hardly anything that needed to be brought.

As for clothing, among the more than three hundred people currently in Does Does Da Xia, fewer than a hundred could even wear a beast-hide skirt—more than half of whom were people brought in by Da Shi—while the remaining two hundred-plus wore only dry-leaf garments. In their daily lives, they simply slept on a layer of dry grass. Since these things could be made from locally sourced materials at any time, there was naturally no need to carry them.

As for food, it consisted of the crystal fruits currently in storage, totaling over 24,000 jin. Splitting them up directly and having each able-bodied adult carry a bag was not a problem. Furthermore, there was only one freshly hunted snow-maned beast, which was even simpler.

As for the timber accumulated during this period, Xia Hong had converted it all into fixed resources, which, along with the iron-smelting furnace and several other buildings, were stored within the system. This required no one to carry them, making it even more convenient.

It is worth mentioning that once physical items are converted into resources, they can only be used for system buildings. The reason Xia Hong had set aside a portion without converting it was because the people in the camp needed timber to make certain tools.

Since there was little to pack and they had prepared a day in advance, Xia Hong quickly completed the itinerary deployment.

Just as before, 137 able-bodied adults would lead the way, with Shang Ping at the very front to clear the path;

149 children under the age of thirteen would walk in the middle, protected by Xu Kang and Li Baihe along with seven Woodcutting Realm guards;

44 slightly older individuals would walk in the third echelon;

Xia Hong and Luo Ming, along with Xia Chuan and the ten other Woodcutting Realm members, would be responsible for the rear guard.

"Set off!"

After Xia Hong finished the deployment, he gave the order.

The entire Does Does Da Xia team began their grand migration toward the north.

Unlike the last time they migrated from Cave No. 1 to Cave No. 4, when all the ordinary people in the camp had faces filled with hesitation and confusion, this time, after the entire camp left the cave and stepped onto the road, their faces were filled with excitement and agitation.

Even the small children, whose faces were blue from the cold, still had eyes glowing with spirit and longing.

In fact, this was normal. For everyone around Seeing Seeing Hong Mu Ridge, the strength of the Luo Ge camp was deeply imprinted in their hearts; even the children knew that the life led in the Luo Ge camp was much better than their own.

The thoughts of ordinary people are naturally naive.

They did not understand the difficulties of merging camps, nor did they know what kind of predicament the camp would face after Luo Ming left with three Earth-Digging Realm members.

They simply naively thought that they were now going to the Luo Ge camp to obtain everything it had, so they were naturally inexplicably excited.

Xia Hong, of course, would not dampen their spirits; having something to look forward to is better than having nothing.

Moreover, he was confident that after arriving at the valley, the operation and development of Does Does Da Xia would definitely be a step faster than it was now. Never mind living the life the Luo Ge camp had before, even living a life better than theirs would be no problem.

…………

With over three hundred people, it was of course impossible to enter Seeing Seeing Hong Mu Ridge and then head north as before. Therefore, the migration route chosen this time was to exit the cave slope and head directly north, passing through Tashan and the camps of Da Chuan and Huang Zhao, finally arriving at the valley.

For safety, Xia Hong had tried his best to compress the length of the team, but because the number of people was so large, it still stretched for a full fifty or sixty meters.

Visibility under the snowy night was poor to begin with. With such a long team, Xia Hong, who was trailing at the very back, soon could not see the situation at the front. He therefore took Luo Ming to a position on the side of the team to find a more convenient viewing angle before catching up with the team to continue moving forward.

"Brother Xia Hong, don't be too nervous. Cold beasts are rarely active at night anyway, and besides, we aren't in Seeing Seeing Hong Mu Ridge anymore. We've just passed Tashan, and we'll be there after walking another two kilometers."

Recalling all the cold beasts he had seen in Seeing Seeing Hong Mu Ridge at night previously, they were indeed all fast asleep. Xia Hong nodded, and his nerves relaxed slightly.

However, as if the heavens heard Luo Ming's words and were displeased, deliberately wanting to refute him, just as Xia Hong's tense nerves relaxed, a long wolf howl came from the Seeing Seeing Hong Mu Ridge on the west side.

"Awoo………………"

The sound of a frostwolf.

Xia Hong felt a slight shock in his heart, but upon realizing it was only a single bone-spined frostwolf, he felt the problem was not major and soon relaxed.

However,

Awoo... awoo... awoo...

A dense succession of over a dozen frostwolf howls caused Xia Hong's expression to change abruptly. The hair on his body stood on end, and he suddenly raised his head and shouted toward the front:

"Everyone speed up, hurry, hurry, hurry!"

Luo Ming, at this moment, could not bother to wonder if his mouth had been "blessed." After reacting, he, like Xia Hong, raised his head and shouted toward the front: "Shang Ping, speed up! Li Baihe, Xu Kang, bring people over to help."

When the wolf howls rang out, the team was already in a state of agitation. Fortunately, the loud reminders from Xia Hong and Luo Ming made everyone much calmer.

Shang Ping at the front increased his path-clearing speed, and the people at the rear also tried their best to calm their fearful emotions and followed the team forward. Not only was the team not in chaos, but their moving speed actually increased by a few notches.

At the same time, Li Baihe and Xu Kang, along with seven Woodcutting Realm members, also broke away from the team and walked to the west side. Xia Chuan, Yuan Cheng, and the other ten at the very back of the team also stood out.

Everyone guarded the west side of the team, staring vigilantly at Seeing Seeing Hong Mu Ridge, which was the location where the wolf howls had just erupted.

But after staring for a full hundred breaths, and waiting until the wolf howls had completely disappeared,

The crowd still never saw the shadow of a single frostwolf.

Chh…………

Suddenly, the accumulated snow on the ground began to churn incessantly.

Over a hundred meters away, more than a dozen snow waves suddenly appeared out of thin air, rushing toward the crowd rapidly from far to near.

"What is that? Isn't it a frostwolf?"

Everyone's gaze was fixed on the snow that had been kicked up high, their hearts filled with confusion. The sound from just now was a frostwolf; that was definitely correct.

But what was going on with this snow?

A flash of inspiration suddenly crossed Xia Hong's mind. His expression changed in shock. While taking out his Cold-Startling Blade and moving away from the snow, he shouted in alarm to the crowd:

"Underground, underground! They are all in the snow!"

Everyone reacted instantly, hurriedly taking out their respective weapons and quickly retreating outside the snow-covered area.

"Xu Ning, Qiu Peng, you two get up the trees. Everyone else, block with me."

Just as Xia Hong's voice fell, Luo Ming on the other side also reacted and hurriedly turned his head to speak to those behind him: "Baihe, Wang Dong, Wang Yu, you three get up the trees too, hurry."

The crowd's reaction could be said to have been very fast.

But the speed of the frostwolves was even faster.

Just as Luo Ming finished speaking, three robust frostwolves suddenly rushed out from the accumulated snow in front of the crowd, their targets being none other than Luo Ming, Xia Hong, and Xu Kang;

And the dozen or so smaller frostwolves that followed closely behind—seven or eight rushed toward the Woodcutting Realm members like Xia Chuan and Yuan Cheng, while the other four or five actually bypassed the crowd and charged toward the ordinary camp members who were fleeing north.

"It's over!"

Xia Hong first raised his blade to parry the one rushing toward him, then turned his head to see the four or five frostwolves heading toward the ordinary people, and his heart sank to the bottom.

(End of chapter)