45: Chapter 45 My name is Xia Hong, the Great Xia Leader [Here He Comes] 45: Chapter 45 My name is Xia Hong, the Great Xia Leader [Here He Comes] As soon as night fell on the second day, Shi Qing went to find Luo Ming, ready to say goodbye.
The leaders of the Five Camps had reached an agreement to cooperate with Yang and Li for one last trip to Redwood Ridge, hoping to lure out the Wood Puppet Monster and finally slay it successfully.
Luo Ming brought three from the Earth-digging Realm and twenty-five from the Logging Realm, while the other four camps brought everyone they could.
Compared to the previous four times, everyone this time was clearly more determined.
But none of this had anything to do with Shi Qing anymore.
Da Shi Camp had suffered heavy losses, and even if he wanted to help, he couldn’t provide manpower.
Wishing everyone the best in slaying that deceitful monster, Shi Qing took his younger brother Shi Dong and headed back to Da Shi Camp through Redwood Ridge.
Along the way, they also carried a bag of Crystal Fruits gifted by Luo Ming.
There was little interaction between the various camps, so there were no major roads between them; people usually traveled along the outskirts of Redwood Ridge.
Redwood Ridge was large, so saying these camps were around the ridge wasn’t entirely accurate.
In fact, the camps, as a whole, were only distributed on the eastern side of Redwood Ridge.
Rogel Camp was due east, while the locations of Da Shi and Great Xia were to the southeast, with Great Xia positioned a bit more to the south.
The territory each camp occupied around the outskirts of Redwood Ridge was roughly divided according to their camp positions.
Rogel Camp, being the strongest, naturally occupied the largest range, stretching over two thousand meters north to south.
The other eight camps had about only five hundred meters each.
South of Rogel Camp, there were four camps: Huang Zhao, Da Chuan, Da Shi, and Great Xia.
So, from Rogel Camp, entering Redwood Ridge and heading south, it would take only about three kilometers to reach the territory area of Da Shi Camp.
Worried for the safety of the over three hundred people in the camp, Shi Qing hurried along with Shi Dong, covering the three kilometers quickly; they soon reached their own territory area.
“Phew…finally here, let’s hurry back!”
Though still in Redwood Ridge, stepping into their own territory area brought quite a bit of relief to Shi Qing.
But the thought of informing the camp that they lost three brothers made his heart heavy again.
It had been only a little over half a month since they lost eight brothers in Great Xia’s territory, and now three more.
Just over three months ago, Da Shi Camp had a solid sixteen Logging Realm warriors; at that time, he even proactively proposed hunting the Cold Beast.
In just a few months, the situation had changed dramatically; it was like heaven and hell.
Walking along, Shi Qing suddenly turned to look at the bag on Shi Dong’s back.
Shi Dong stopped, puzzled, looking at him.
Shi Qing took the bag from his back, weighed it a bit, and furrowed his brow: “It’s been more than half a month since then, the Crystal Fruits left in the camp must be all gone by now, and this bag only has over a thousand pounds.
If we take it back, it might not be enough.
Let’s go check the Ice Trees and see if we can pick some more.”
Shi Dong nodded, standing still until Shi Qing started walking towards the Ice Trees, then followed him.
Being the camp leader, Shi Qing was very familiar with the locations of the six Ice Trees in their territory, and soon reached the nearest one.
But thirty meters from the Ice Tree, his expression changed suddenly, pulling Shi Dong behind a nearby tree.
“Someone has intruded!”
Shi Dong, standing beside him, had also noticed, both looking towards the direction.
They saw two young men with bags on the Ice Tree, busily picking Crystal Fruits, with three others keeping watch below, five in all.
After carefully observing their appearance, Shi Qing’s face was initially shocked, then turned confused.
“So young, which camp are they from?”
Being out at night suggested they were at least at the Logging Realm.
The problem was that these five young people looked at most around twenty.
Even Rogel Camp couldn’t possibly have five Loggers so young.
Could they be from other large or even giant camps?
Shi Qing quickly dismissed this thought.
Because the six were all wearing ordinary Beast Skin Skirts.
“Those five are from Great Xia Camp.”
At this point, Shi Dong suddenly spoke up beside him.
Shi Qing was startled upon hearing this, and a trace of fear instantly surged in his heart as his eyes on those young men changed as well.
“Are you saying those five might be….”
Shi Dong said nothing, just gave him a gentle nod.
Shi Qing swallowed, his heartbeat slowing for a moment, and he moved cautiously, afraid to make a sound and alert the five people over there.
He couldn’t forget, Xia Ding’s group were all dead.
Any camp with all their Logging Squad members dead would mean no hope for the remaining camp members.
So before going to Rogel Camp, Shi Qing had been convinced that Great Xia Camp’s people were either starved to death or long ago killed by the deceitful monster.
This scene clearly told him the answer.
Yes, that’s it, it must be the deceitful monster’s doing.
Otherwise, how could there be such young Loggers, and five of them at once?
“Be quiet, don’t alarm them, let’s go!”
Hearing Shi Qing’s signal, Shi Dong nodded, a hint of somberness in his eyes.
The two retreated quietly, quickly leaving a distance of twenty to thirty meters.
Only then did Shi Qing let out a breath, turned to head toward Tower Mountain.
“Leader Shi, where are you two headed?”
However, a somewhat mocking voice suddenly spoke from in front of them, and both Shi Qing and Shi Dong froze.
Looking up, they found a burly young man holding a stone axe, standing on a large tree five meters ahead, watching them.
The young man’s voice was not quiet; the five who were picking Crystal Fruits heard it, stopped, and all came running over.
That wasn’t all; two people approached from both left and right sides as well.
Surrounded instantly by ten, Shi Qing’s face was filled with despair.
Facing ten deceitful monsters, he and Shi Dong had no chance of coping.
“Leader Xia, coming to pick Crystal Fruits is one thing, but do you also plan to kill us?”
At this point, Shi Dong suddenly spoke.
Shi Qing was stunned, looking up at the burly young man in the tree, a familiar glint flashed in his eyes, and he tentatively asked, “Are you Xia Ding’s son?”
Xia Hong stretched lazily, leaped down from the tree, and remarkably, the snow beneath didn’t sink a bit.
He walked calmly towards Shi Qing.
“Indeed, I am Xia Hong, the current leader of Great Xia!”
Not a deceitful monster?
Shi Qing suddenly realized this, and the relief of narrowly escaping death made him beam with joy, but his smile lasted only a moment before giving way to shock.
“Are you all at the Logging Realm?”
Xia Hong didn’t reply, instead, Yuan Cheng, Xia Chuan, and the other seven including Yue Feng and Lin Kai couldn’t help but snicker.
Quite the young crew, hearing the astonishment in Shi Qing’s tone, couldn’t resist a bit of swagger.
Especially Xia Chuan and Yuan Cheng, who held grudges against Da Shi Camp for twice crossing into Great Xia Territory before.
Xia Hong would not be arrogant over such a matter; his thoughts were more focused on the changes in Shi Qing’s expression just now.
From the despair when Shi Qing first saw him to the joy upon Shi Dong revealing his identity, the change intrigued him.
This curiosity even made him forget his original intention of intercepting them, which was to settle accounts for past grievances against Da Shi Camp.
“Leader Xia, I haven’t returned to the camp for a long time and need to go back first.
When there’s time, we’ll meet again in Redwood Ridge, how about that?”
However, Shi Qing clearly had no intention of enlightening him.