Chapter 92

Crack!

Two hours later, a frostwolf, lured by the torch, stepped into the animal trap in the snow once again.

Unlike the previous snow-mane that was only caught by its skeleton, this time the frostwolf's left forelimb was nearly severed by the trap.

Furthermore, because the frostwolf sensed danger and moved too quickly while struggling to escape, the trap tore a large chunk of flesh from its entire left leg, exposing almost all the leg bones; the scene was quite gruesome.

Although the frostwolf was agile and its reaction speed was even a few shades faster than the previous snow-mane, choosing to flee early, the trap's powerful pulling and restraining force, combined with Xia Hong's meticulous advance deployment, ultimately led to its demise on the spot, and Xia Chuan harvested its essence blood.

Luo Yuan and the others looked at the frostwolf carcass weighing over a thousand jin on the ground, then looked up at the sky, realizing that only half the night had passed and they had already harvested two pieces of prey; their expressions were already somewhat numb.

Since when did hunting become so simple?

It wasn't that they hadn't put in the effort, but compared to when Luo Ming led them out hunting before, the danger encountered tonight was almost negligible.

Whether it was the earlier snow-mane or the frostwolf before them now, both were lured by the torch to step into the trap, suffering leg injuries that stripped away thirty to forty percent of their strength; then, after a round of archery baptism, even if they didn't die, they lost half a layer of skin, and finally, with Xia Hong leading the five of them, the prey was easily obtained.

Moreover, when hunting the second frostwolf, Xia Chuan's white thread was used instead of a rope; the frostwolf pulled with all its might, yet the white thread never broke. Judging by time alone, hunting it was even easier than the snow-mane.

"With these animal traps, if I lead the team myself, hunting low-level cold beasts should be no problem from now on. It just depends on when we can finish clearing out the low-level cold beasts on the perimeter!"

After two consecutive hunts, Xia Hong had confirmed the efficacy and power of the animal traps he had crafted himself, and his confidence in future hunting was naturally doubled.

"Leader, can these animal traps be mass-produced?"

Luo Yuan's question immediately made everyone's eyes light up.

However, Xia Hong shook his head, unhurriedly removed the trap from the frostwolf's leg, and then said: "The main body and spring of this trap are made of ten-forged iron I hammered out myself; just the iron ore alone took twelve hundred jin. It's not the same thing as the ordinary ironware forged by the Luo Ge camp before. Given the camp's current iron ore reserves and mining capacity, mass production is impossible..."

Having said this, Xia Hong paused and continued: "Even if we could forge two or three more now, we wouldn't have a use for them."

Hearing this, the crowd pondered for a moment and immediately nodded.

Recalling the two hunting processes just now, although the animal trap played a huge role, what was more important was their frontal containment; more accurately, the fatal wounds on both pieces of prey were almost entirely caused by Xia Hong.

Therefore, strictly speaking, the animal trap can injure a cold beast, but relying on it to reap rewards without effort is impossible. Without advance deployment, plus the supplement of people with Earth-Digging Realm strength, the final result would most likely be the cold beast being heavily injured and then escaping while carrying the trap.

If that happened, they would lose both the person and the wealth.

"So, if any of you break through to the Earth-Digging Realm first, as long as you rely on the animal trap, the camp can fully form a second hunting team. At that time, hunting capability will be greatly improved, and the harvest of prey will inevitably rise to a higher level."

Hearing this, everyone's eyes suddenly lit up.

They had all witnessed tonight's experiment with their own eyes.

One Earth-Digging Realm expert, one animal trap, plus a group of Woodcutting Realm members—not to mention encountering unfamiliar types of cold beasts, at the very least, tonight had proven that as long as they were careful, these two types, the snow-mane and the frostwolf, could be hunted at will.

According to the hunting progress as of tonight, let alone the meat-sharing rule Xia Hong mentioned being successfully implemented, there might even be a surplus of cold beast meat.

Luo Yuan and the other eight looked at each other, then looked at Xia Hong; the suspicion originally in their eyes had completely vanished, leaving only admiration and respect.

That seemingly impossible meat-sharing rule.

It turned out he wasn't bragging.

This new leader, Xia Hong.

Really could do it!

"Next, it depends on how many low-level cold beasts are on the perimeter. Let's see if our camp's hunting speed is faster, or if their rate of spreading outward is faster. I want to see if these cold beasts are truly endless."

Xia Hong naturally didn't understand the change in mentality of Luo Yuan and the others; his gaze was cast toward the deep layers of Red Wood Ridge, his expression becoming somewhat excited.

These two hunts tonight could be considered proof that from now on, the Does Da Xia camp had truly stood above the snow-manes and frostwolves in the food chain.

As long as there were no mishaps and they focused on hunting the few types of cold beasts they were currently familiar with, hunting would basically be no problem from now on.

He was now even considering the question of whether there would be enough low-level cold beasts in the future.

The trees in Red Wood Ridge were thick, and the cold beasts were also quite large; the five-hundred-meter perimeter naturally couldn't harbor many cold beasts. For example, tonight, they had searched once when they came over and confirmed there were only seven.

But this didn't mean there were only seven on the perimeter; it just meant seven were entrenched there tonight. Although Xia Hong didn't know much about the living habits of cold beasts, judging by the few types he had come into contact with so far, at the very least, there was no such thing as settling down.

By common sense, those that mixed into the perimeter were definitely the weakest batch of cold beasts, but it was unknown exactly how many of these weaker ones were in Red Wood Ridge.

According to the meat-sharing rule currently implemented by Does Da Xia, at least fifteen were needed per month.

In the short term, it should be no problem, but if this continued long-term, the five-hundred-meter perimeter would definitely have much fewer. When that time came, there would be no other way but to expand the hunting range.

"Leader, two should be enough. Shall we end it here for tonight?"

Hearing Luo Yuan's inquiry, Xia Hong shook his head.

"Let's hunt that golden-eyed demon sheep as well."

Hearing this, everyone swallowed a mouthful of saliva, even Xia Chuan was no exception.

Two cold beasts in one night was already a fantasy to them, yet Xia Hong actually wanted to deal with a third.

It wasn't that they felt it was unrealistic; having personally experienced the process of hunting two, they didn't feel this third golden-eyed demon sheep would be that difficult in their hearts.

The problem was, hunting three cold beasts in one night.

This was indeed a bit crazy to them, and at the same time, very incredible.

If the hunting process of the first two cold beasts could be considered to have taken some effort, then the hunting process of this final golden-eyed demon sheep could absolutely be described as simple.

The golden-eyed demon sheep's attack method was extremely singular—it was just charging blindly. Although its strength was much stronger than the snow-mane, after stepping into the animal trap, its strength was also weakened too much; facing the siege of Xia Hong and the others, it still could only choose to flee.

Having long known the terror of the golden eye on its back, Xia Hong and the others naturally wouldn't give it a chance and all deliberately avoided it.

And coincidentally, the golden eye growing on its back became the best target for the seven archers, including Xu Ning and Qiu Peng, who were climbing in the trees.

It is worth mentioning that compared to Qiu Peng, Xu Ning, and even Xia Chuan, the hunting skills of Luo Yuan and the other eight were clearly a cut above. This could be seen not only from the golden-eyed demon sheep but also from the earlier snow-mane and frostwolf.

Xia Chuan could still compare with Luo Yuan and the others by relying on his black blade and white thread, but the archery levels of Qiu Peng and Xu Ning were clearly not on the same level as Luo Yuan and the others.

Both of them clearly noticed this point; although there was some frustration on their faces, there was clearly more of an unconvinced mentality, which could be seen from the fact that on the way back, the two kept taking opportunities to ask about archery techniques and kept practicing whenever they found a gap.

Xia Hong was naturally happy to see this kind of secret competition.

As they brought all three pieces of prey and prepared to return to the camp, the temperature began to drop significantly. Knowing that dawn was approaching, everyone quickened their pace back to the camp.

Coincidentally, as they returned to the valley entrance, they ran into Huang Yong and Hong Gang, who were leading the logging team to transport wood inside.

"Leader, how was it? Did you catch any prey..."

Seeing Xia Hong in the lead, Hong Gang bowed to pay respects and was about to ask about the hunting harvest, but before he could finish asking, he looked up and saw behind Xia Hong, his mouth immediately hanging open, his face full of shock.

"Greetings, Leader, this..."

Huang Yong also came over; he was originally puzzled as to why Hong Gang had suddenly stopped moving, but upon looking up, he saw the three behemoths carried on the backs of Xu Ning, Qiu Peng, and Zou Yuankai.

His expression instantly became exactly the same as Hong Gang's.

(End of chapter)