Chapter 442: The Cold Wave Arrives Quickly

By the second day, Xiong already felt extremely cold, but in order to reduce their burden at the time, they had not brought their robes, only their clothes and Leather Armor, which resulted in them having no thick clothing to wear now.

The others were in an even worse situation; "scarcely enough clothing to cover one's body" was exactly how to describe them. Xiong made a prompt decision to find a suitable location on the spot to set up camp, then put all effort into hunting prey and searching for anything edible.

Their Tents were reliable enough and blocked the wind and Snow, but their quantity was limited after all. Even if they put some of the women into their Tents, there were still many people with nowhere to go. Previously, they could pass the night by roasting by a fire, but that was no longer possible because it was about to Snow, or worse, rain mixed with Snow.

Therefore, Xiong directly planned to stay in place for a few days, waiting for this cold wave to pass, or rather, for the Snow to stop before moving on. They could not travel very far now anyway; if it really did Snow, they would have to wait, and it would be even harder to hunt then.

The Huaxia Soldiers did not consider much and immediately executed the order. Almost all the men went out to hunt, while the women began to build shacks for themselves. They did not need to be very sturdy, just enough to block a bit of wind and cover the Snow.

Although having many people meant more consumption, it also meant greater strength. Working together, they built enough shacks in one day.

The Soldiers also brought back a considerable amount of prey. At this temperature, there was no fear of food rotting. Considering future survival, they kept everything that could be eaten.

Another day passed, and the humidity in the air increased. The cold wind accompanied by moisture was unbearable for anyone, yet they had to go out to find food. Today, the women were searching everywhere for firewood, determined to fill the entire camp to feel at ease.

Even in such an urgent situation, they still used stones to build stoves. This could prevent the fire from being extinguished by Snow and wind, and also prevent sparks from igniting the camp. The stones could also better reflect heat into the shacks.

By evening, fine particles of Snow began to drift down, just like salt, and one could hear a rustling sound when they hit people.

Now it was impossible to carry out any work, so they could only wait. If the prey they had caught over these two days were eaten by so many people, it would barely guarantee they wouldn't starve to death. Their stored Dry Rations would likely have to be used, but Xiong's idea was that as long as they could hold on, they should not use the Dry Rations if possible.

By night, many people had already developed symptoms of fever, all from being blown by the wind and frozen. Faced with so many people falling ill at once, the Military Doctor stated that there was nothing he could do; as long as they could endure it, it was generally not fatal.

However, the few in the Huaxia army naturally had to be treated. Medicine was scarce, so it could only be distributed to them. Even if there was no food and people were going to starve, these Huaxia Soldiers could not be allowed to starve to death.

Xiong had already distributed all the animal skins—whether processed or unprocessed, good or bad—to everyone, telling them to spread them in their shacks or wrap them directly around their bodies, as long as it kept them warm.

There were two other Soldiers in Xiong's Tent; they all shared one with several people. It was impossible to be generous enough for one person per tent, and having more people had the benefit of being warmer.

The wind outside roared from time to time, making the Tent sound like a beating Drum. Because their Tents had wind ropes, there was no need to worry about them being blown away, but in this situation, Xiong could not sleep.

However, under the flickering light of the fire, Xiong did not know when he fell asleep, but there was a rustling sound in his ears the whole time.

When he woke up in the morning, it was a vast expanse of white outside. The wind had lessened, but the Snow was still falling. The other two Soldiers in his Tent had long since woken up and were tending to the fire. The open space around the fire pit had no Snow and was wet and slippery.

Xiong tightened his clothes and steeled himself, wanting to go out and take a look, but as soon as he poked his head out, he immediately shivered, and his head instantly felt much clearer.

He looked around; all the shacks and Tents were covered in Snow, but the fire pits in front of them were still smoking, which meant nothing was wrong. Xiong then hurriedly ducked back into the Tent.

Xiong had now reduced their two meals a day to one. As long as they ate a little before sleeping at night, they wouldn't starve to death. Moreover, eating and drinking less meant saving themselves the trouble of having to go out to use the toilet, and everyone expressed their understanding.

The Snow stopped in the afternoon. Xiong roughly tested it, and the accumulated Snow could submerge his ankles. It wasn't a very heavy snowfall, but it wasn't small either. In any case, for them, the road ahead would be even more difficult.

However, Xiong did not rashly let everyone continue their journey, because the sky was still gray, and who knew if it would continue to Snow at night.

Heaven followed their wishes. After another night passed, the thickness of the Snow did not increase after they got up, and the sky had become brighter, although it was still covered by a thin layer of clouds.

Xiong immediately ordered them to break camp and set off again. However, before departing, he let everyone have a meal. Because they had been too frugal with the prey they had caught, they hadn't even eaten a third of it yet.

To ensure everyone had good stamina and could maintain their body temperature in the snow, Xiong had everyone eat another third of that prey as breakfast. Everyone was overjoyed when they heard this; they didn't care how much food was left, as that was for the Leader and the Tribal Chief to worry about. They only needed to eat and be able to work.

The carrier pigeon Xiong had sent out a few days ago had also successfully returned to Baifeng's hands. But when it returned to the nest, there was only one pigeon, indicating that the other two pigeons had not returned to the tribe for various reasons. Baifeng was actually somewhat relieved; as long as one pigeon came back, if the whole group had been wiped out, he would have had no way to judge when Xiong would be able to return to the New City.

Although there was still nearly ten days of travel left, Baifeng still had the Soldiers of the New City set off now with supplies to meet Xiong's Large Team. After all, the number of people in Xiong's current team was too large, and their food source had already become a problem. Baifeng did not want to waste so much labor for nothing.