Endless Winter: My Camp Upgrades Infinitely

In the first year of the Great Xia Dynasty, on the twenty-ninth day of December,

North of Five Ape Mountain, a vast snowy night.

Compared to Crimsonwood Ridge, the trees on the Five Ape Mountain side are much sparser, but the variety is significantly richer.

The trees in the Ice Abyss World not only have a layer of ice crystals on their bark, but their branches are also covered with snow all year round, presenting a frosty white appearance. Therefore, identifying tree species usually requires cutting them open.

But Five Ape Mountain is different. From the shape and form of the trees, one can see the difference between them and those on Crimsonwood Ridge.

The overall vegetation of Crimsonwood Ridge is dominated by Crimson Frost Trees, followed by Golden Frost Trees, and then a very few precious species such as Ice Jade and Blue Jade.

Both Crimson Frost and Golden Frost Trees have one characteristic: their trunks are straight, and they are huge in size. Moreover, their growth cycles are similar, making them very suitable for building houses and woodworking products, making them very useful timber.

The trees on the Five Ape Mountain side, first of all, are not as large in scale as those on Crimsonwood Ridge;

Secondly, there are very few trees with straight trunks; almost all of them are crooked and have different shapes;

Finally, the growing environment is also messy. Some grow horizontally from the cracks in the rocks, some are tilted and inserted obliquely into the snow, and some grow in clusters. Moreover, most of the trees are of different thicknesses and have no order, giving people a messy feeling.

But precisely because of this, one can tell at a glance that their varieties must be richer than those on Crimsonwood Ridge.

Next to a crooked-necked tree, after listening to the explanation of Captain Xu An, all the members of the Golden Sword Squad showed a look of sudden realization.

"I was wondering why so many people from the logging department have been following our hunting team to Five Ape Mountain recently. It turns out they are all here to find more rare tree species."

"It's not surprising. Most of the logging department are in the Tree Felling Realm. They can't go deep into Crimsonwood Ridge, and they can only collect lumber on the periphery. The contribution points they get are only enough for some beast meat. It's better to come to Five Ape Mountain. If they can find any useful rare species, they can earn a lot."

"That's right, that's right. I heard that last month, someone found a whole Zhu Wood tree, and the Logistics Department rewarded him with 200 contribution points at once."

"Hiss… 200 points? That's enough for us to hunt more than a dozen Frost Beasts."

"Zhu Wood is the material used by Lord Si Cheng to make puppets, so it's normal for it to be more expensive."

"Do the people in the logging department earn so much?"

"No, no, no, this kind of thing depends on luck. More people still rely on diligent collection. It can only be said that those who are willing to take risks have a chance."

"That's right, it's still not as stable as our hunting."

… … … …

Hearing the discussions of the team members, Xu An shook his head, took out a book from his arms, showed it to everyone, and said: "Usually, when you have nothing to do, read this Great Xia Topographical Map more often."

"Not only Five Ape Mountain, but also Arrow Bamboo Forest, Pingxi Plain, Mirror Valley, Shuanglong Mountain, including Crimsonwood Ridge, what are the environmental characteristics of these different regions, what Frost Beasts are in them, and even what kinds of vegetation, this book has detailed explanations."

"Hehe, Captain, how can we have the mind to read that!"

"That thing is a headache to look at."

"Hunting every day is not tiring enough, how can we read books."

… … … …

Seeing that everyone didn't take it seriously, Xu An's face suddenly sank, and he said: "Don't take it lightly. I am hunting every day just like you, and I still have to take time to read. Have you all forgotten what Lord Si Cheng said?"

"As a member of Great Xia, if you don't even know what your own territory has and where it is, what kind of Great Xia person are you?"

Hearing this, everyone's expressions suddenly became serious, and they dared not be frivolous anymore.

"Now you are all members of the hunting team. Looking at the Topographical Map, understanding the distribution of Frost Beasts, vegetation types, and environmental characteristics of each region can not only improve the success rate of hunting, but also prevent problems before they occur. In the future, if there is an emergency, you won't be caught off guard, either waiting to die or fleeing in panic, and finally getting lost in the wilderness…"

While lecturing the fourteen team members, Xu An couldn't help but sigh in his heart.

"My hunting team started too late…"

As one of the earliest Tree Felling Realm cultivators in Great Xia, Xu An's requirements for himself are naturally not low.

This April, after his brother Xu Ning's basic strength met the standard, he created the Black Arrow Squad. Although Xu An joined, he always wanted to create a hunting squad of his own.

At the beginning of last month, his basic strength finally met the standard. Taking advantage of the fact that there were now too many Earth Digging Realm cultivators in the camp, he didn't even think about it and directly withdrew from his brother Xu Ning's Black Arrow Squad and applied to the Hunting Department to create this Golden Sword Squad.

Although the team only had ten people at the beginning, under his leadership, it finally successfully passed the assessment task, and the Golden Sword Squad also successfully became the 83rd hunting squad under the Hunting Department.

But after the creation was successful, he realized that this was just the beginning.

When he was in the Black Arrow Squad, he followed the team out and only took care of hunting Frost Beasts in the wilderness. After the hunt was successful, he waited to divide the contribution points, and he didn't have to worry about anything else.

But now that he is the captain, he realizes that there are so many things he has to manage.

The rational allocation of contribution points; the control of the frequency of going out; the choice of hunting areas; finding and selecting suitable prey; how to reasonably arrange traps; how the team members should cooperate; which essential supplies to exchange at the Logistics Department; what to do if there is an emergency in the wilderness; the control of mining time; how to deal with conflicts between team members…

As far as the hunting squad is concerned, these aspects are all crucial.

The key is that the team members below him will not worry about these things. Only the captain can do these things.

You can also find other people to help you, but hunting Frost Beasts is a life-threatening thing. It is a matter of life and death. Who dares not to do it yourself?

He now understands why the number of Earth Digging Realm cultivators in Great Xia is about to break 2,000, but there are only eighty-three hunting squads in total.

These aspects are not simple to deal with. Even if many people's basic strength has reached the standard, they simply do not have this ability. Even if they have this ability, they may not have this willingness.

Managing these things is really too annoying.

For example, this Great Xia Topographical Map in his hand, there are not many people in the entire camp who can quietly hold it and study it. He has persuaded his fourteen team members countless times, but they just don't want to read it, and they really can't read it.

He just spent so much time explaining the situation of Five Ape Mountain because he really had no choice. Since these people are unwilling to read, he can only dictate and tell them.

Listening to a little is always better than knowing nothing.

"A low-level hunting team has so many things to deal with. The sixteen intermediate hunting teams have a full quota of fifty members. I guess they have to deal with team member conflicts every day, and they are exhausted. There are even more things to manage when going out hunting…"

Xu An shook his head in his heart. Glory really comes at a price. Before he became the captain, he only saw that the intermediate hunting team's tokens were good-looking, and the members were all very powerful, and the intermediate prey they brought back was also eye-catching. Now that he thinks about it, it is not easy to achieve this step.

Although he was thinking in his heart, Xu An's lecture on his mouth did not stop at all. Seeing that only a few two or three people were listening carefully, and most of the team members had a bored look on their faces, obviously they couldn't listen to it, he could only sigh slightly:

"Take it slowly…"

It has only been a month since the Golden Sword Squad was created, and it is still far from being promoted to intermediate. There is enough time for him to slowly explore and grow.

"My brother's Black Arrow Squad was not strong when it first started, but now…"

Thinking of his brother Xu Ning, Xu An felt a touch of admiration in his heart, and then cheered himself up slightly, turned his head to look at the team members, and smiled:

"Okay, you guys are probably tired of listening, I won't say it anymore, let's look around nearby, and if there are no new discoveries, we'll go back…"

Speaking of this, Xu An paused, turned around and pointed to the north, and said: "We are almost out of the northern foothills and will soon be in someone else's territory."

Hearing the sound, everyone immediately looked to the north and nodded slightly.

In the past half year, the Great Xia camp has explored the entire area of Five Ape Mountain, five kilometers north and south, and fifteen kilometers east and west.

The position they are in now is on the northern edge of the northern foothills, and they are indeed about to leave the current borders of Great Xia.

Several people suddenly moved slightly and opened their mouths.

"Captain, the four medium-sized camps in the north of the mountain have a total population of five or six thousand. Why not directly incorporate them into our Great Xia?"

"I know about this. It seems that they themselves are unwilling. They are unwilling to even send people to Great Xia to visit. I heard that someone is interfering."

"Lord Shi has already secretly probed. The strength of the four camps is very weak, and their lives are not good. I don't know what they are thinking."

"I heard other people in the garrison say that there is a Flying Tiger Camp that is very resistant to the merger and is also persuading the other three camps, which is why these four camps have not merged for a long time."

"If you ask me, just take people and attack them. They are already living so hard. It is better to die than to stick to that small plot of land. It is better to come to our Great Xia to enjoy happiness…"

… … … …

"You have only been here for five days, but you know the situation better than I do!"

Xu An first joked with everyone, and then said seriously: "I have also heard about this. Since the four camps are unwilling to join, then respect their wishes. Our Great Xia will never force other camps to merge by means of coercion. Whether to come or not is up to them."

Hearing the last sentence, everyone's expressions suddenly became a little more solemn.

No matter what, Great Xia will never use force or coercion to force other camps to merge. Whether they come or not is entirely up to them.

These words were spoken by Lord Si Cheng himself in front of all members of the Reclamation Department during a meeting a few months ago.

In fact, many people did not understand this statement.

In their opinion, life in Great Xia is so good that even if others are forced to come and harbor resentment towards Great Xia, as long as they live a good life, their resentment will naturally dissipate, and they will definitely be grateful to those who forced them in the first place.

However, out of respect and trust for Si Cheng Xia Chuan, they unconditionally obeyed these words.

Of course, Xu An was not among them.

Xu An's vision was a bit higher than others. He could vaguely understand the deeper meaning of Xia Chuan's words, especially after creating the Golden Sword Squad and serving as its captain, and starting to manage the squad members, he understood the wisdom contained in these words even more.

A hunting squad with a full complement of only twenty people is so difficult to manage in all aspects, let alone the entire Great Xia camp.

If force and coercion are used to recklessly increase the population, it will not only be of no benefit to the Great Xia camp, but will also cause various hidden dangers, which will be detrimental to the development of the camp.

"Most of the camps that refuse to merge are those small groups at the top who are unwilling to give up their supreme position, so they instigate others to resist Great Xia, and even slander our Great Xia.

Even if you force this small group of people to come to Great Xia, they will definitely harbor ulterior motives. It will take a lot of effort to reform them, and success is not guaranteed in the end, which would be a loss.

As for those below, those who are willing to believe them and can be successfully instigated are not smart people; the truly smart people will find a way to come to Great Xia to experience it for themselves, and they will have their own answers as to whether to stay or leave."

Hearing Xu An's words, everyone nodded slightly.

One of them thought of something and said with a smile: "Actually, whether or not they merge is the same. I heard when I came here five days ago that although the four families refused to merge into Great Xia, they coveted the supplies of Great Xia, especially beast meat and weapons, tools, clothes, and cloth. I heard that Qiu Si Zheng sent representatives from the Camp Supply Department here to trade with them every ten days, using only a little bit of things to exchange for a lot of iron and coal, as well as other precious materials…"

Hearing this, everyone's faces immediately showed smiles.

With Great Xia's current productivity, it is a pure dimensionality reduction strike for the four camps on the northern foothills of Five Ape Mountain.

For example, the simplest ten-tempered weapons, although they can be forged by anyone in the Soil Digging Realm, the ones forged by Great Xia are completely different from those forged by other camps.

Once such a transaction is formed, it will definitely be unequal.

"It should be like this, fiercely seizing their resources. They don't know how to use iron ore, coal, and other rare materials, so it's better to let them all flow to our Great Xia."

Hearing a team member say this, Xu An immediately shook his head and said: "This cannot be considered our seizure of their resources. At most, it can only be considered one willing to hit and one willing to be hit. The transaction was proposed by them. With their strength, the things they can take out are not very attractive to us, but the supplies we can provide, such as beast meat, tools, better weapons, warmer clothes, and various medicines, are very important to them.

Therefore, it is really hard to say who is making a profit and who is losing."

Hearing this, everyone thought for a moment and then nodded.

"Captain, how do you even understand this?"

"What's so difficult about this? I told you to read more books, but you don't listen. As long as you read more and think more, you will naturally understand."

After Xu An finished speaking, seeing his team members looking at him with admiration, his old face turned slightly red, and he quickly turned around and looked elsewhere.

Of course, Xu An didn't understand these things. In fact, he heard them last time when Qiu Peng and his elder brother Xu Ning were talking.

"Ahem, stop talking nonsense, go ahead and take a closer look. If you don't find anything, hurry back!"

Fearing that the team members would continue to ask questions and that he would expose himself, Xu An changed the subject and led everyone another hundred meters north. After finding nothing, he planned to take them back to the Five Ape Mountain outpost.

"Alright, everyone retreat. Li Hun, take a few people to carry the Frost Electric Ape over. The rest of you wait here for a while."

"Yes, Captain."

A young man walked out of the team and quickly ran towards the east side with four other people.

They were not without any gains tonight. They had already hunted a Frost Electric Ape in the first half of the night, and hid it on a nearby big tree because they thought it was troublesome to carry.

The place where they hid the prey was not far away, and Li Hun and the five others quickly returned.

It's just that what they brought back seemed to be more than just the Frost Electric Ape.

"Captain, we found a seriously injured and unconscious person. What do you think…"

Only when Li Hun got closer did everyone realize that he was carrying a person on his back.

It was a sixteen or seventeen-year-old boy, wearing blue animal skin clothes, which were obviously of much lower quality than those of Great Xia. The boy's eyes were closed, there was a knife wound on his chest, and three iron arrows were stuck in his back. He was obviously seriously injured and unconscious.

Xu An stepped forward to look at the clothes on the boy's body, and after observing the three iron arrows for a while, his brows furrowed and he asked: "Where did you find him?"

Li Hun hurriedly replied: "Just next to the big tree where we hid the Frost Electric Ape. This kid must have buried himself in the snow before he passed out, but he forgot to cover up the surrounding traces, so I saw it at a glance. His body was almost stiff when we dug him out, Captain, look at his hand…"

Hearing this, Xu An lowered his head to look at the boy's hand, and his expression suddenly froze.

The boy was holding a small dagger in his right hand, and his left hand was tightly clutching a rectangular wooden box. Whether it was because he was frozen stiff or something else, his veins and bones were very obvious, and it could be seen that he was holding it very tightly before he passed out.

Xu An stretched out his hand and gently pulled on a corner of the wooden box.

"Huh?"

Seeing that the wooden box didn't move at all, Xu An raised his eyebrows, lowered his head to sense the boy's weak breathing, and a hint of curiosity suddenly rose in his eyes.

"This kid, he's almost dead and he still doesn't forget to hold on to the wooden box?"

"What precious thing is it? Captain, take it out and take a look."

Xu An shook his head, let go of his hand, and after thinking for a moment, he first took out a scarlet pill from his pocket and directly put it into the boy's mouth.

"Hot Wind Pill? Captain, that's a good thing. You're giving it to him?"

The Hot Wind Pill, which can quickly heal colds, costs 20 contribution points each, which is not cheap in Great Xia.

"Let's wake him up first and see what's going on. You guys hold him down!"

After Xu An finished speaking, Li Hun hurriedly put the boy down. After a few people held down his head and limbs respectively, Xu An took out a bottle of Golden Sore Ointment, and then quickly pulled out the three iron arrows from the boy's back.

Pfft… Pfft… Pfft…

The boy immediately twitched in pain. Fortunately, someone was holding down his body, so he didn't move much.

The effect of the Hot Wind Pill began to take effect, and the boy's frozen body quickly began to warm up and recover. As the iron arrows were pulled out, Xu An immediately applied a layer of Golden Sore Ointment to the wound.

Soon, a touch of bright red appeared on the boy's face, and his body was obviously recovering.

"He'll probably wake up in a while. Let's carry him back first, or this kid won't survive until dawn."

With Xu An's order, Li Hun continued to carry the boy on his back, and the group of fifteen people took the Frost Electric Ape and walked towards the Five Ape Mountain outpost in the south.

However, they had only walked for less than half an hour.

An accident happened.

Li Hun in the team suddenly bounced up and threw the boy on his back out.

Bang…

"Hey, you little cub, why don't you appreciate people's kindness!"

The boy was smashed into the snow, and immediately tried to stand up, but his injuries were too serious, and he was obviously a little clumsy. He tried two or three times before he barely managed to stand up half-supported.

After he stood up, he checked the wooden box in his left hand as soon as possible, and then clenched the dagger tightly in his right hand, looking at the group of people in front of him with vigilance and panic.

Seeing that Li Hun's right shoulder was torn, Xu An immediately knew what was going on. He looked at the boy with a frown and asked: "We saved you, is this how you treat your saviors?"

The boy looked panicked, but when he heard Xu An's words, he obviously realized something, reached out and touched his back, and then looked at the attire of the fifteen people in front of him, and a look of surprise suddenly appeared on his face.

"May I ask you adults, are you from the Great Xia camp?"

Definitely, these fifteen people were wearing exquisite clothes, weapons on their waists, and iron-tired bows in everyone's hands. They must be from the Great Xia camp.

Before Xu An could answer, the boy knelt down directly and said:

"I am Xiang Liang, the son of Xiang Kai, the leader of the He Feng camp. I have a treasure to offer to the leader of Great Xia, and I also have an urgent message to tell him. Please introduce me quickly, adults. I am very grateful!"

Offering a treasure to the leader?

And an urgent message to tell the leader?

Hearing the boy's words, Xu An and the other fourteen people were stunned, and then showed extremely strange expressions, looking at the boy as if they were looking at a fool.

Seeing that the fifteen people were obviously a little disbelieving, a look of anxiety suddenly appeared on Xiang Liang's face, and he hurriedly continued: "Please, adults, you must believe me. The Flying Tiger camp already knows the specific location of your Great Xia station. They have gathered several other camps and are secretly plotting to jointly attack your Great Xia. I must see your leader to explain the specific situation…"

The Flying Tiger camp knows the specific location of the Great Xia station.

And they have gathered several other camps to jointly attack Great Xia?

Xu An was stunned upon hearing this, and then his expression became even more peculiar.

Including the other team members, the expressions on their faces also had a kind of indescribable strangeness.

“Esteemed sirs, you must believe me. As long as you let me see your leader, I will say anything.”

Seeing Xu An and the others' expressions like this, Xiang Liang thought they didn't believe him, and his voice even carried a hint of crying, obviously very anxious.

“Don't worry, come back to the camp with me first!”

Seeing that Xiang Liang's expression didn't seem fake, Xu An thought for a moment and still spoke.

“Li Hun, he's injured, go carry him!”

“Thank you, sir!”

Xiang Liang's face immediately revealed hope, and he hurriedly thanked him.

However, when Li Hun was about to come over to help him, he immediately resisted, hid the wooden box behind him, and said cautiously: “Sir, you are too kind, I'll just follow behind you, no need to help me.”

His right shoulder clothes had just been torn, and Li Hun was already full of anger. Seeing that Xiang Liang was so ungrateful, he directly slapped him on the head.

Pa… … … …

“You little brat, you're quite cautious. Who wants your broken wooden box? Honestly lie on my back, and if you dare to move your little broken knife again, I'll snatch your wooden box.”

Xiang Liang only had the strength of the Lumbering Realm. With a slap, he immediately became honest, but he still tightly grasped the wooden box, not giving others a chance to touch it.

The group continued on the road back to the camp.

Xu An looked at the wooden box countless times along the way. Seeing that Xiang Liang's expression became tense every time he looked at it, he couldn't help but secretly laugh in his heart.

After a long time, Xu An finally couldn't help it and asked with a smile:

“Boy, you said you wanted to offer a treasure to our leader, you have to tell me what the treasure is, right? We can't just let anyone come and say they want to offer a treasure to the leader, and we have to bring them to the leader, right?”

Hearing this, Xiang Liang's expression changed repeatedly, and he didn't know what he was thinking. In the end, he directly chose to remain silent, as if he hadn't heard Xu An's question.

“Hehe, this kid won't let go until he sees the rabbit!”

“It seems that this wooden box is really a good thing, or else we should just snatch it and take a look.”

“Hunzi, don't scare people.”

“Hahahaha… … … …

Although everyone's tone was obviously teasing, Xiang Liang's face was tense, and he turned his head to look at Xu An from time to time, still quite frightened.

“Alright, stop scaring people, let's go back first.”

Xu An shook his head with a smile at the front, not caring.

The group accelerated their pace and quickly crossed the mountain, arriving at the southern foot of the Middle Ape Peak, which was the Daxia's outpost on the Five Ape Mountain.

The Daxia's outpost on the Middle Ape Peak is actually the original Three Tiger Camp's base.

The three evil tigers before only thought about how to exploit other humans, so naturally they wouldn't build their own base properly.

The original base was actually a cave under a rock wall. Besides building a few simple wooden houses inside, there was basically nothing else.

But since June this year, Xia Chuan ordered it to be established as an outpost. As Daxia's people came and went frequently, this place naturally changed drastically.

Following Xu An and his group, Xiang Liang only saw a giant wooden house appearing on the side of the mountain wall.

The wooden house was more than a hundred meters long, and the top was covered, just like a square box with its back against the mountain wall. Xu An led a group of people closer to the wooden wall, searched for a while, first knocked on it, and then said softly:

“The wind and rain from all directions can't compare to the rain of our Red Wood Ridge.”

Soon, a voice came from the inside of the wooden wall.

“There is rain on Dragon Gate Mountain, and the Snowfield Tiger comes down the mountain.”

As the voice sounded, the originally seamless wooden wall suddenly opened from the inside, revealing a dark door two meters wide and three meters high.

“Captain Xu is back!”

“Hehe, there are some new gains tonight, let's go in first.”

… … … …

A wave of warmth rushed towards him. Xiang Liang followed Xu An into the wooden door, and when he saw everything in front of him clearly, his expression instantly froze.