Endless Winter: My Camp Upgrades Infinitely

On the northern bank of the Xing River, the air was thick with frost and mist.

Perhaps it was because of the river's proximity, but the temperature here was even lower than in other places, as evidenced by the depth of the snow cover and the thickness of the ice crystals on the trees.

"Second Sister, the cold air from the Xing River seems to be spreading towards the mountainside faster lately. Is the cold snap coming again?"

Beside a large tree on the northern bank, a young man wearing a blue animal-hide coat and holding an iron axe looked at the icy river to the south, noticing the cold mist spreading towards him, and quickly looked up to ask.

Above the tree, a young woman, also wearing a blue animal-hide coat, was gazing into the distance, clearly in the same direction as the young man.

Unlike the young man, the young woman carried a set of bows and arrows on her back in addition to the stone axe in her hand. Her long hair was tied into a ponytail with a hairpin made from ground frost wolf bone. She wore a pair of blue animal-hide boots. Her skin was as rough as the young man's, but her eyes sparkled with a lively energy.

Xiao Yu was already frowning, but when she heard her younger brother Xiao Heng's question, her brow furrowed even more. She leaped down from the tree, walked straight to her brother, and pinched his ear:

"You're fifteen years old this year, at least. As the son of the chieftain, you can't even remember the dates of the cold snap. I think you need a lesson!"

"Hiss… … … … It hurts, Second Sister, have mercy! I remember now. Once a year, and the last one was twelve months ago. The cold snap is coming."

Seeing her brother beg for mercy, Xiao Yu gave his ear another hard twist before letting go, saying in an annoyed tone, "If the cold snap wasn't coming, why would Father be making us chop wood so diligently lately? He takes Big Sister and the hunting team out almost every night. You really don't pay any attention to the camp's affairs!"

Xiao Heng rubbed his ear and grinned, "Hunting is indeed necessary, but there's no need to hoard wood. We have a coal mine, so the cold snap is easy to deal with…"

Before he could finish speaking, Xiao Heng was silenced by Xiao Yu's glare.

"It's easy for you to say, but can you mine coal? The camp only produces so much each month, and we still have to use it to trade for iron and other supplies. We have to be economical. If you were so wasteful, our camp would have collapsed long ago…"

Seeing Xiao Yu's tendency to get angry, Xiao Heng shrank his neck and immediately raised his stone axe to chop wood, changing the subject, "Second Sister, never mind, let's hurry up and chop wood. Let's try to bring three trees back tonight."

"You rascal!"

Seeing her brother's mischievous look, Xiao Yu couldn't help but playfully scold him, but she didn't say anything more and joined him in chopping wood.

Her younger brother was kind-hearted, good-natured, and talented, but he was a little naive and usually didn't pay attention to the camp's affairs.

But there was no helping it. After all, he was the youngest in the family and was spoiled by their father, mother, older sister, and herself, which was why he had developed such a disposition.

Fortunately, despite his naivety, Xiao Heng had never caused any trouble for the camp and was clear-headed when it came to major issues.

For example, when it came to logging, their parents, older sister, and herself didn't want him to do it, but he insisted on coming, saying that as the son of the chieftain, he should lead by example.

From this, it could be seen that her brother's naivety was only temporary. As he became more involved in the camp's affairs in the future, he would naturally become more mature.

Fortunately, the Xiao River Camp's strength in the Five Ape Mountains was not bad, giving her brother enough time to grow up.

Beep… …

The two had been chopping for only a short while when a whistle suddenly came from the south of the forest.

"Father and Big Sister are back!"

Xiao Heng exclaimed in surprise, quickly turning his head to look south.

Xiao Yu also stopped chopping wood, a smile appearing on her face.

Every time the hunting team returned safely, it was good news for them.

As the figures gradually emerged from the south, they noticed that the number of people was all there, and the smiles on the siblings' faces grew even thicker.

"Hiss… … Three prey?"

Xiao Heng was the first to notice the approaching group, carrying three enormous cold beasts on their backs. In front were two thorn wolves, and behind… … was actually a snow mane.

The siblings knew very well what their hunting team usually brought back. It was already worth celebrating if they brought back one prey, let alone two. Three was something that had never happened before.

More importantly, cold beast resources were scarce on the northern bank. The only kind they could usually find and successfully hunt was the thorn wolf.

If they hadn't traded for snow mane with other camps using coal stone before, the siblings wouldn't even recognize it.

"Not only three prey, but there's one more person!"

Compared to her younger brother Xiao Heng, Xiao Yu's perception was clearly better. She noticed at a glance that there were sixteen people approaching them from the south.

Only fifteen people had gone out tonight, so how could sixteen people be coming back?

Although the siblings looked suspicious, their expressions immediately relaxed when they saw the two people at the very front of the group.

At the front of the group were a middle-aged man and a young woman slightly older than them. Seeing the two, Xiao Yu and her brother both revealed a strong sense of affection and quickly stepped forward:

"Father, Big Sister!"

"Father, Big Sister."

After calling out to their father Xiao Kangcheng and Big Sister Xiao Ning, the siblings' gazes turned to Big Sister's side, revealing a hint of curiosity.

It wasn't just that the siblings were sensitive, but mainly that of the sixteen people present, fifteen were wearing the same blue animal-hide clothes as them, except for the person standing side by side with their father and Big Sister, who was wearing a black cloak.

The black cloak worn by that person was clearly made of snow mane fur, and there was plenty of material used, almost covering them from head to toe. They were also wearing a pair of black snow mane fur boots. The only thing on their head was a blue animal-fur hat.

The moment the siblings saw the hat, they couldn't take their eyes off it.

The hat was clearly also blue, and it was obvious at a glance that it was also made of thorn wolf fur, but not only was the color darker than theirs, but the texture also looked countless times better than the clothes they were wearing.

Xiao Yu looked down at the animal-hide clothes she was wearing, saw the fine fluff on the outermost layer, and immediately realized when she compared it to the other person's hat.

That hat was actually made from the finest fluff from the top layer of the frost wolf's head.

Looking down at that person's face again, Xiao Yu's cheeks immediately turned slightly red.

The reason Xiao Yu was blushing, of course, wasn't because the person was good-looking.

Mainly, she realized that while she was observing, that person was also looking at her with a smile on their face.

This made her feel embarrassed, but also a little rude, so she quickly regained her composure and glared back at that person.

"Yu'er, don't be rude!"

Before Xiao Kangcheng could speak, Xiao Ning, who was standing next to him, scolded Xiao Yu.

Xiao Yu immediately pouted her lips. She wasn't even afraid of her father Xiao Kangcheng, but she was only afraid of her big sister Xiao Ning. Being scolded like this in front of outsiders naturally made her unhappy.

"Master Xia Chuan, I haven't introduced you yet. This is my second daughter Xiao Yu, and that is my son Xiao Heng. Yu'er, Heng'er, quickly greet Master Xia Chuan!"

Hearing her father's address to the young man, the two siblings' expressions changed slightly, realizing something, and hurriedly walked in front of Xia Chuan to prepare to bow.

However, before the two could lower their bodies, Xia Chuan helped them both up.

"There's no need to stand on ceremony. I didn't expect that in addition to Miss Xiao Ning, Chief Xiao's other two children would also be so outstanding. Digging Earth Realm, noble son, it seems like you're about to break through to the Digging Earth Realm too, right?"

Seeing the surprise on Xia Chuan's face, Xiao Kangcheng immediately grinned.

As a father, he naturally felt comfortable when his children were praised.

Mainly, his three children were indeed outstanding. Looking at the Five Ape Mountains, it was really hard to find anyone stronger than his three children.

Xiao Ning, on the other hand, revealed a hint of shyness on her face and said, "Brother Xia Chuan, don't say that. If you hadn't taken action just now, I might have lost my life. Compared to you, what kind of excellence are we?"

Xiao Yu and Xiao Heng, who were standing next to her, seemed to have smelled the scent of prey, and a strong color of gossip instantly rose in their eyes.

Hearing his eldest daughter's address to Xia Chuan, Xiao Kangcheng's face also clearly revealed some surprise. He turned his head to look at the two standing together, and a bright color instantly rose in his eyes. Without waiting for Xia Chuan to respond, he directly said:

"Master Xia Chuan, this place is not far from our base. Come back with me first and let Xiao fulfill his duty as a host, how about it?"

"Chief Xiao is so kind, how dare I refuse!"

"Good, Yu'er, Heng'er, pack up and go back."

Xiao Kangcheng revealed a smile on his face. After Xiao Yu and Xiao Heng packed up, he directly led the group back to the hills to the north.

Xiao Yu and her brother, who were full of curiosity, naturally wouldn't wait until they returned to the camp. Halfway there, they directly found someone from the hunting team and inquired about the situation.

After this inquiry, the two finally understood.

Tonight, Xiao Kangcheng led the team out hunting, and it was originally going very smoothly. They first took down a thorn wolf and originally wanted to return directly, but unexpectedly encountered another lone thorn wolf.

With the cold snap approaching, they had been going out hunting frequently lately in order to hoard as much supplies as possible, so they naturally didn't want to miss such a good opportunity.

Therefore, Xiao Dao Cheng led the hunting team to take action.

But just as they were about to successfully hunt the thorn wolf, an accident happened.

A snow mane broke in.

Cold beast resources were extremely scarce on the northern bank. The thorn wolf was considered one of the more common ones. Because it was common, they hunted it the most, and they were naturally skilled at besieging it together, so the success rate was very high.

But Snowmanes were different. Their speed wasn't as good as Bristle Wolves, but their strength was far greater. Moreover, they had never hunted Snowmanes before, only learning about some of their characteristics from other camps, lacking actual hunting experience.

"The leader told us to give up on that dying Bristle Wolf and have everyone retreat directly. Who would have thought the Snowmane would target us? Ning'er rushed up to confront the Snowmane to save us, and almost died!"

The people in the hunting team were about the same age as Xiao Kangcheng, considered elders to the three siblings Xiao Ning, Xiao Yu, and Xiao Heng, so they addressed them with affection.

"And then, Second Uncle, Big Sister almost died, and then this Xia Chuan…"

Upon hearing that their big sister was almost in danger, a trace of lingering fear appeared on Xiao Yu and Xiao Heng's faces. But they quickly realized that Xia Chuan should be appearing in the story soon, and they hurriedly asked Xiao Yuan. However, before they could finish speaking, Xiao Yuan nodded and began to speak.

"This Master Xia Chuan is truly amazing!"

Xiao Yuan first exclaimed, then held up a finger and said:

"Just one blade strike! I didn't even see how he appeared. He leaped down from the tree and finished off the Snowmane with a single strike. The Snowmane's usual tricks that we had heard about, like the long tongue and playing dead, none of them worked. I estimate that the Snowmane didn't even see Master Xia Chuan before it died."

Hearing Xiao Yuan's account, Xiao Yu and Xiao Heng both turned their gazes to the Snowmane on his back. Seeing that the Snowmane's body was normal, with only a neat, slender wound on its neck, they realized that what Xiao Yuan said was true, and their hearts were immediately filled with horror and shock.

"So strong? Is he even more powerful than Father?"

"Father's base strength is already 19,000 jin, and he still can't kill a low-level Frost Beast with a single strike. He looks about the same age as Big Sister, how is that possible?"

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… … … …

Ignoring the shock in Xiao Yu and Xiao Heng's hearts, up front, the moment Xia Chuan saw the five adjacent hillocks, he immediately knew that his destination had arrived.

"This should be the location Big Brother mentioned. It's true, there is a human camp here, and it might even be quite large… … … …"

Xia Chuan thought to himself, a bright light rising in his eyes, and soon followed Xiao Kangcheng towards the leftmost hill.

The five hillocks, although the main peak height was only a little over two hundred meters, the width at the bottom was exceptionally astonishing, like a palm spread on the ground with five thumbs raised.

The Xiaohe Camp's base was located at the foot of the thumb-shaped main peak.

"Master Xia Chuan, we've arrived, please!"

It was nighttime, and before the group could approach the mountain wall, a cave lit with firelight came into view.

Looking at the cave under the hill's wall, a trace of reminiscence flashed in Xia Chuan's eyes. This base was too similar to the Great Xia's earthen slope from before.

But as he walked into the cave, Xia Chuan's thoughts immediately changed.

The Xiaohe Camp's base only resembled the Great Xia's earthen slope at the entrance. The interior was completely different, far stronger than the Great Xia's earthen slope.

Outside the cave, there was a space over fifty meters long, filled with wood and coal. Looking at the way these supplies were arranged, it was clear that they had both storage and defense in mind.

"The leader is back."

"The hunting team is back, with three prey, wow!"

"Sister Ning is back."

… … … …

After all, it was nighttime, and several bonfires were lit in the outer space. Some adults were busy, and some children were playing. Seeing Xiao Kangcheng bringing people back, they all saluted and greeted him. Some people noticed Xia Chuan, a stranger, and looked at him curiously.

Fifty meters further in, there was a cast iron gate, embedded in the stone crevices of the mountain wall. This was clearly the most solid defense of the base.

"This iron gate should only weigh about 50,000 jin."

Having been in contact with iron ore for a long time, Xia Chuan could basically judge the weight based on the volume of the iron gate. Judging from this not-so-large iron gate and the weapons used by Xiao Kangcheng and others, this camp was clearly lacking in iron resources. It was impossible to tell if they lacked coal resources, but judging from the amount stored outside, it wasn't abundant either.

The gate opened, and Xia Chuan followed Xiao Kangcheng inside, finally seeing the core area of the base.

Behind the iron gate was actually a giant space about two hundred meters square and more than ten meters high, with more than twenty small wooden houses inside, and people coming and going.

Clearly, this was the core space of the Xiaohe Camp.

Xiao Kangcheng led the group all the way to the deepest part, to a house made entirely of Jinlin wood.

The house was fully equipped with wooden furniture and utensils, and there was also a small stove inside, burning coal. Several people were shirtless beside the stove, forging iron tools.

Xia Chuan followed all the way to the main hall, and after being invited to sit down by Xiao Daocheng, he saw that he wanted to speak, and immediately preempted him, speaking with a hint of humility:

"Leader Xiao, please don't call me 'Master' anymore. I've only just turned seventeen this year, and you are more than qualified to be my elder. If you don't mind, how about we address each other as uncle and nephew?"

Although Xiao Kangcheng had guessed that he wouldn't be too old from the moment he saw Xia Chuan's appearance, at most a few years older than his daughter, when he heard Xia Chuan say that he had only just turned seventeen, a strong look of astonishment flashed across his face, and a monstrous wave rose in his heart, to the point that he forgot to answer.

Just from that one strike that Xia Chuan used to kill the Snowmane in the dense forest, Xiao Kangcheng could already be sure that his strength was definitely stronger than his own.

And from his clothing and demeanor, it was not difficult to deduce that this Xia Chuan should have come from a large or even giant camp whose strength was much stronger than Xiaohe's.

This was also why he had been addressing Xia Chuan as "Master" all the way.

Just turned seventeen?

The same age as his eldest daughter!

No matter what, Xiao Daocheng never expected that Xia Chuan would be so young.

His own eldest daughter, Xiao Ning, had broken through to the Earth-Digging Realm at just seventeen. Xiao Kangcheng knew very well that this talent was definitely one of the best in all the camps around Five Ape Mountain, so he had always been proud of his eldest daughter.

Where exactly did this Xia Chuan come from?

If he's really seventeen years old, could he be lying to me?

"Dad, what are you spacing out about? Big Brother Xia Chuan is talking to you!"

Xiao Kangcheng was so shocked that he forgot himself and didn't speak for a long time, and was awakened by Xiao Ning's angry shout from the side.

"I really feel like I've lived to an old age in vain. Fine, since Little Brother Xia Chuan is so reasonable, then Xiao will take the liberty of being the older one and call you Nephew. I don't dare to be your uncle, so just call me Leader Xiao."

Xia Chuan nodded slightly. He had seen the shock on the faces of Xiao Kangcheng and the others when they heard his age, and he couldn't help but chuckle in his heart.

There were many people in the Great Xia Camp with higher talent than him. Not to mention Big Brother Xia Hong, but just Yu Wentao alone, as far as he knew, had already begun to reshape his skin at the age of fifteen. If these people were shocked to hear that he was seventeen, what would happen if they saw Yu Wentao?

"Nephew Xia Chuan, you shouldn't be from the Five Ape Mountain area, right?"

Five Ape Mountain should be the five hillocks he had just seen outside.

People from the Five Ape Mountain area!

Sure enough, there was more than just Xiaohe in this area, there were other camps as well.

Xia Chuan's expression brightened slightly, and without hiding anything, he directly took off the token from his waist and handed it to Xiao Kangcheng, saying loudly: "Leader Xiao has sharp eyes. Xia Chuan comes from the Great Xia Camp in Shuanglong Valley, about ten kilometers away from the Five Ape Mountain area. This time, I brought a team to hunt. If it weren't for the chance encounter with Leader Xiao and his party, I wouldn't have known that there was such a large human camp here."

Just from a rough look, Xia Chuan had a rough idea in his heart.

The Xiaohe Camp probably had a population of over a thousand, with about twenty or so in the Earth-Digging Realm, similar to the former Rogge Camp, belonging to a slightly stronger medium-sized camp.

Hearing Xia Chuan say such a large human camp, Xiao Kangcheng shook his head slightly. He could hear the politeness in the other party's tone, so he simply said directly: "Nephew is too kind. Although I don't know how many people are in Great Xia, judging from the strength shown by Nephew, the outfit and weapons you have, I can probably guess that it is definitely much stronger than our Xiaohe Camp. If you don't mind, I hope Nephew can tell us directly, so that we can all broaden our horizons, what do you say?"

As soon as Xiao Kangcheng asked, everyone else was immediately interested, including the three siblings Xiao Ning, Xiao Yu, and Xiao Heng, as well as the other members of the Xiaohe Camp's hunting team, all turned their heads to stare at Xia Chuan, waiting expectantly for him to speak.

Xia Chuan didn't hide anything, and directly took out a beast skin map from his body, unfolded it for Xiao Kangcheng and the others to see, and a hint of pride slowly appeared between his eyebrows:

"Since Leader Xiao asked, I won't hide anything.

Shuanglong Valley is right here!

Under the leadership of my elder brother Xia Hong, Great Xia, although its population is only barely five thousand, is full of talents, and has occupied a territory of more than three hundred square kilometers.

The entire arrow bamboo forest on the eastern periphery and north side of Redwood Ridge is now our Great Xia hunting ground. Beast hides, beast meat, beast blood, iron ore, coal, spiritual herbs, rare treasures, and exotic objects, we have everything… … … …"

Xia Chuan's series of accounts instantly captivated everyone.

Only Xiao Kangcheng, the more he listened, the more his brows furrowed, and the look in his eyes as he looked up at Xia Chuan gradually became a bit scrutinizing and suspicious.

"Leader Xiao, to be honest, Xia Chuan came to search the north bank of the Xinghe River this time, firstly to expand the territory for my Great Xia, and secondly, to rescue more humans struggling to survive in the Ice Abyss, and bring them into my Great Xia Camp to live a better life."

Sure enough!

As soon as Xia Chuan finished saying these last words.

Not only Xiao Kangcheng, but also the three siblings Xiao Ning, Xiao Yu, and Xiao Heng, including all the members of the Xiaohe Camp hunting team, their originally amiable expressions immediately changed.

Vigilance, guard, scrutiny, suspicion.

Seeing these emotions on the faces of the crowd, Xia Chuan's expression froze slightly.

This was different from what he had expected!

What was going on?