Chapter 85

Several consecutive disasters, plus the frostwolf pack they just encountered.

Made Xia Hong have a deeper understanding and reflection on the plight of humans in the Ice Abyss world and the organizational form of the camp.

Ghosts, cold beasts, extreme weather, and even other camps that are also human—danger is everywhere. This hell-level survival environment means that sacrifice is destined to be the main theme of all camps.

Even with the system by his side, he cannot be an exception.

Compared to the two types of creatures, cold beasts and ghosts, humans are too weak!

Especially camps like Great Xia that are at the bottom, they are even more humble than ants.

A low-level ghost, a pack of low-level cold beasts—both are fatal crises for Great Xia.

Never mind the Woodcutting Realm; even with his current Earth-Digging Realm strength, encountering these things is almost a situation of nine deaths and one life;

Ordinary people don't even need to be mentioned; their only end is death.

Unity is the only way out for humans.

Without a strict top-down management regulation to unite the hearts of the entire camp, even if they can survive for a short time, they will probably not be able to escape the fate of destruction in the end.

Great Xia must be forced to have one person in charge.

In other words, Xia Hong must establish a one-man dictatorship!

Human hearts are treacherous; ten thousand people have ten thousand ideas. Great Xia alone was already like this, and now that the two camps have merged, human hearts have undoubtedly become more complex.

Just now, when encountering the frostwolf pack, he asked Li Baihe and the other five to give up rescuing ordinary people. The five hesitated for a full ten breaths before turning their arrowheads.

Those ten breaths, the consequences caused this time, might just be a few more ordinary people dying, but what about next time?

At some critical moments of life and death, any moment of hesitation is very likely to cause irreversible and serious consequences.

Xia Hong is not so confident that he thinks that as long as it is a decision he makes, it must be 100% correct. But at certain critical moments, especially when facing a desperate situation, what the camp needs is just a decision that everyone can believe in and execute.

As for whether this decision is correct or not, it is not important at all.

A one-man dictatorship will lead to excessive concentration of personal authority, eventually deifying the individual and creating a god out of thin air, which may not be desirable in a civilized society.

But in an environment like the Ice Abyss, it is absolutely the best way to gather human hearts and condense the collective.

Previously, hearing Shi Qing talk about the near-paranoid fanaticism and respect that Yang and Li had for the so-called great lord Yang Zun, Xia Hong was just curious at the time, but to be honest, he didn't understand.

But now, he can understand.

Perhaps, without using this method, that Beishuo Town would never have developed to a huge scale of one hundred thousand people and might have been destroyed by various accidents long ago.

Creating a camp atmosphere of a one-man dictatorship, besides uniting everyone, Xia Hong's second purpose is to prepare for future resource collection.

Upgrading the wooden dummy to level two requires 3,000 wood and 6,000 iron;

Upgrading the grinding stone to level two requires 5,000 coal and 10,000 iron;

Upgrading the medicine pot to level two requires 20,000 wood, 20,000 coal, 10,000 iron, and the generation of ten types of formulas.

Upgrading the level two iron-smelting furnace to level three requires 2,000 wood and 5,000 iron.

The upgrade resources required for the four camp buildings that have been opened are simply an astronomical figure for Xia Hong.

Timber is 1,000 jin for one point; coal is 20 jin for one point; iron is 10 jin for one point. Xia Hong has calculated that even if all five hundred-plus people in the current camp break through to the Earth-Digging Realm overnight, it would take at least several decades to gather the resources for upgrading the four buildings.

No, even several decades is impossible; they still have to consume.

So for resources, Xia Hong needs a large population.

This is also the reason why Xia Hong directly invited the two camps of Huang Zhao and Da Chuan to join.

Although ordinary people are useless, without ordinary people, where would the Earth-Digging Realm come from?

For humans in the Ice Abyss world, cold beast meat is the only threshold for the two realms of woodcutting and digging.

Xia Hong can already foresee that in the future, for these resources, the camp will definitely need a group of people who only engage in things like cutting wood and mining.

But after having strength, no one will be willing to do these things all day long.

After all, even in large camps, the woodcutting and digging realms are considered absolute middle-to-high-level personnel and are considered the batch of people who enjoy privileges.

So having absolute say becomes extremely important.

Xia Hong certainly didn't think that he could achieve the effect of a one-man dictatorship with this one question. This question was just a beginning.

Xia Hong could roughly guess everyone's answer.

But he wasn't in a hurry, just quietly waiting for everyone to speak.

Perhaps hearing the solemnity in Xia Hong's tone, the silence in the wooden house lasted for a full hundred breaths.

"If the leader can really successfully implement the four-grade meat distribution rule just mentioned, then I will give my life to the leader!"

Finally, on the Luo Ge camp side, an ordinary young man spoke.

"I agree too. If we can get a fixed share of cold beast meat in the long term, it doesn't matter if I give my life to the leader."

"I agree. As long as the leader can do it, I am willing to give my life to you."

……………

With the first voice, there was a second, a third...

Whether it was ordinary people or the fifteen people with cultivation, as time passed, almost everyone spoke.

Without exception, their attitude was that as long as they could ensure sufficient cold beast meat distribution, then they would agree to the conditions Xia Hong proposed.

Xia Hong naturally understood everyone's thoughts and didn't explain anything, only looking at everyone, his expression solemn:

"Good, I will ensure that I can do it, and you all remember what you said today!"

Saying more is not as useful as having cold beast meat in front of them.

Xia Hong understands this truth, so he didn't explain much.

Suddenly, Yue Feng ran over from outside the door and walked to Xia Hong's side.

"Leader, Luo Ming is calling you outside. It seems he is about to take people away."

Xia Hong was stunned, nodded, first gave an instruction to Xia Chuan beside him, telling him to settle the Great Xia camp people in the wooden house, and then walked out of the wooden house alone.

As soon as he walked out of the passage, Xia Hong saw Luo Ming and the other twelve people outside the valley, already packed and ready to go.

"Leader Luo, leaving so hurriedly?"

Xia Hong actually understood Luo Ming. He had already brought the Great Xia people over. For Luo Ming to continue staying here, firstly, it was inappropriate, and secondly, he might also be afraid of seeing those one hundred-plus people in the camp. After all, no matter how you put it, the fact that he abandoned these people was a fact.

Luo Ming put his young son, whom he was holding, on the ground, walked to Xia Hong, his face full of guilt, and bowed to him:

"Brother Xia Hong, thank you just now. I, Luo, am truly ashamed!"

Xia Hong was stunned for a moment before realizing that Luo Ming was talking about him helping him speak in front of those people from the Luo Ge camp just now.

"Leader Luo, where are you going? Can you tell me?"

Hearing this, a look of hesitation appeared on Luo Ming's face.

"Don't worry, Leader Luo, I won't abandon these people and leave Red Wood Ridge. I'm just asking in advance. If there is a chance in the future, maybe you and I can meet again."

Seeing that Xia Hong saw through his thoughts at a glance, Luo Ming smiled bitterly.

"It is I, Luo, who was small-minded.

Leader Xia, I won't hide it from you. This time I left, I took away half of the coal and iron stored in the camp. I hope you can understand!"

Xia Hong raised his head to glance at the four bags behind Luo Ming and nodded without saying anything. It is normal to take some capital when joining another family.

"In addition, I also left two things for you. Take a look!"

As Luo Ming spoke, he took out two scrolls made of cold beast fur from his bosom.

Xia Hong took the scrolls, opened the first one, and seeing the things inside, a look of joy instantly appeared on his face.

(End of chapter)