Endless Winter: My Camp Upgrades Infinitely

What would a camp with over 100,000 people look like?

In truth, Luo Ming, Shi Qing, and the other seven couldn't even imagine it.

But they were all leaders, each managing a camp of several hundred people.

They knew very well what a camp with a population exceeding 100,000 meant.

Massive amounts of food, extremely high security costs, countless frozen beast meat...

"Wait, with over 100,000 people, can we even find a cave that big?"

Shi Qing couldn't help but ask his biggest question.

Humans can't be exposed to sunlight; 100,000 people would need to hide.

Could they find a cave that big?

You can't discuss ice with a summer insect, nor the sea with a well frog.

These two sayings flashed in Yang Ning and Li Hu's minds, and they gently shook their heads.

"Not all humans are destined to live in the shadows. If one of you is fortunate enough to gain entry into North Shuo Town one day, you'll understand."

Yang Ning paused after speaking, then continued to himself, "Of course, for you few, that possibility is practically nonexistent."

Luo Ming and Shi Qing's expressions dimmed considerably upon hearing this.

Compared to Shi Qing, Luo Ming actually understood Yang Ning's words better.

Rogge Camp was the only medium-sized camp around Redwood Ridge.

The other eight camps had almost all approached him before, wanting to merge.

But he simply didn't dare to accept, or rather, couldn't accept.

Although he understood that the more people in the camp, the better.

However, expansion required strength.

Strength meant being able to acquire more resources, feed more people, hunt more frozen beast meat, and provide more cultivation opportunities.

Unfortunately, Rogge Camp's strength was not enough to support its expansion.

Rogge Camp had a total of five Earth Digging Realm cultivators and forty-seven Lumbering Realm cultivators. The frozen beast meat they obtained each month was barely enough to support their own people. If other small camps merged, the frozen beast meat simply wouldn't be enough.

Moreover, once merged, it meant that there would be more ordinary people, and the demand for crystal fruit would rapidly increase. They would have to increase their frequency of going out to find more ice jade trees, and this process was also risky.

Most importantly, the strongest in the small camps were only at the Lumbering Realm, lacking hunting capabilities. In other words, their addition would not only fail to improve hunting capabilities but would also squeeze the camp's original supply of frozen beast meat.

Therefore, when other camps proposed merging, almost everyone in Rogge Camp, not just Luo Ming himself, rejected it.

So, the rule was that only with sufficient strength could one expand, and then use the population advantage to cultivate more experts. Only through this cycle could the camp become stronger and larger.

Blind expansion would only make the camp unwieldy. Even if it wasn't slaughtered by frozen beasts and monsters, there was a high chance of internal strife and self-destruction.

Therefore, by analogy, although North Shuo Town, as mentioned by Yang and Li, had a population of over 100,000, it would definitely not randomly accept outsiders. The "qualification" they mentioned must be extremely stringent.

Shi Qing could forget about it. Even though Luo Ming had the strength of the Earth Digging Realm, Yang and Li were so much stronger than him at such a young age. The strength of North Shuo Town was enough to infer from a small observation, and it probably wouldn't look up to him.

Besides, they were still leaders of their respective camps.

They couldn't possibly abandon their families and companions to join other camps alone.

"Alright, it's useless to say so much to you. Didn't Leader Luo just ask about that wooden puppet monster? Let me explain it to you."

Seeing that Yang Ning was about to talk about monsters, Luo Ming and Shi Qing immediately perked up their ears.

"A long time ago, the Frozen Abyss wasn't like it is today.

Back then, the daytime not only had twelve hours, but the temperature wasn't as low as it is today.

Most of the frozen beasts weren't as cunning and powerful as they are now. Don't even mention eating people; back then, almost ninety-nine percent of the frozen beasts were just food for us humans.

And those monsters, they didn't exist before.

In that era, humans could move freely, day or night.

It was rumored that the Frozen Abyss had four seasons, with cycles of hot and cold, and a pleasant climate; back then, humans controlled all kinds of powerful tools and were the undisputed masters of the Frozen Abyss; back then, the land was fertile and could be cultivated everywhere, with more food than could be eaten; back then..."

"Food, clothing, housing, and transportation were all perfect. Humans lived and worked in peace and contentment, and civilization flourished."

"In that era, let alone 100,000 people, there were many large settlements with millions or even tens of millions of people."

Hearing Yang Ning's description, Luo Ming, Shi Qing, and the others were stunned.

Millions, tens of millions of people - they had no concept of this.

The eight words "move freely, day or night" were already a dream for them.

Ninety-nine percent of the frozen beasts were just food for humans?

Food, clothing, housing, and transportation were all perfect, living and working in peace and contentment, flourishing and prosperous.

What kind of dreamlike scene would that be?

It was difficult for people to imagine things they had never seen or experienced, but this didn't affect their yearning for and pursuit of beauty.

In the eyes of Luo Ming, Shi Qing, and the others, the world described by Yang Ning was no different from a celestial palace or paradise.

"Compared to today's Frozen Abyss world, we generally refer to that period as the Ancient Abyss Era, or prehistoric civilization."

"No one knows what happened in the Ancient Abyss Era, what prehistoric civilization encountered, or how our world became what it is today."

"Some say that humans angered the gods, and the Ancient Abyss was punished by the gods; others say that it was because humans themselves did too many things they shouldn't have done, leading to the emergence of frozen beasts and monsters, and finally the climate and time all changed. The specific reasons are unclear."

"But what is certain is that since the passing of the Ancient Abyss Era, the fall of civilization, monsters and frozen beasts have become the nightmare of mankind."

Although this long passage was a prelude, Yang Ning spoke with great emotion.

Clearly, even he had a strong yearning for that Ancient Abyss Era that he had never experienced.

"No one knows exactly how monsters came to be, but it is certain that they all originated from the Ancient Abyss Era because only from them can we find evidence of the existence of the Ancient Abyss Era."

"Monsters are divided into five types: Artisan, Nightmare, Wraith, God, and Demon."

"And Artisan monsters are one of them. They are all transformed from professional craftsmen with superb skills during the Ancient Abyss Era. Their killing preferences are strange and bizarre, and their killing methods are also mysterious and unpredictable."

"For example, the wooden puppet monster that appeared in Redwood Ridge should be a puppet craftsman from the Ancient Abyss Era, skilled in making and manipulating various puppets, preferring to carve humanoid wooden puppets to imitate humans and gain trust, while it hides in the dark and manipulates the puppets to kill."

Speaking of this, Yang Ning paused and added, "All monsters evolve by constantly killing people."

"Let's use this wooden puppet monster as an example. The puppets it makes now can only exert the strength of the Lumbering Realm, but as it kills more and more people, its own strength, including the puppets it makes, will become stronger and stronger."

"North Shuo Town once hunted down a mid-level Artisan monster, which we named the Tailor Monster."

"It has a pair of scissors in its hand that can instantly cut dozens of Earth Digging Realm humans into pieces;"

"It also has a set of needles and threads that once sewed up all the orifices of a Cold Resistance Realm expert in front of me."

"Then, after a while, that Cold Resistance Realm expert suffocated to death."

Cold Resistance Realm...

Hearing these three words for the first time, Luo Ming and Shi Qing had some guesses in their hearts, but their faces still showed confusion.

"Above the Earth Digging Realm is the Cold Resistance Realm. The reason it's called that is because people at this realm can resist the severe cold of the daytime and move around outside."