46: After modification: Chapter 46 Wrong, there’s an issue [Please follow!] 46: After modification: Chapter 46 Wrong, there’s an issue [Please follow!] Hearing Shi Qing’s polite request to leave.
Xia Hong raised an eyebrow slightly, feeling even more curious.
After all, they were currently picking Crystal Fruits on Da Shi Camp’s territory.
Intruding into another camp’s domain is no small matter at Redwood Ridge.
Shi Dong had at least hinted at them.
However, Shi Qing had not commented on their intrusion for picking Crystal Fruits on Da Shi Territory from start to finish, as if he turned a blind eye.
Xia Hong thought for a moment and did not immediately agree to let Shi Qing leave; instead, he looked at the bag Shi Dong carried, which was obviously filled with Crystal Fruits.
“Leader Shi, why are only the two of you out tonight?”
Shi Qing’s face stiffened slightly but quickly regained his composure, “Just picking some Crystal Fruits, no need for many people.
Why, Leader Xia, do you know the people from our camp’s logging team?”
Xia Hong kept a steady gaze on Shi Qing while speaking.
Despite his opponent’s excellent concealment, he still caught the brief stiffness in expression.
Nevertheless, Xia Hong only nodded with a faint smile, refraining from further comment.
“Since that’s the case, Leader Shi, you may go back for now.
We’ll meet again another day.”
“Alright, I’ll take my leave first, Leader Xia.
Until we meet again.”
It was clear that Shi Qing was indeed in a hurry; seeing Xia Hong let them go, he immediately left with Shi Dong almost in a run.
Xia Hong watched their departing figures, with a thoughtful expression on his face.
“Leader, you just let them go without teaching them a lesson?”
Yuan Cheng had always had a grudge against Da Shi Camp.
Seeing Xia Hong stop the two, he thought they’d have a chance to teach them a lesson tonight, but they ended up being let go.
Xia Hong shook his head, “No need.
This time, we picked so many Crystal Fruits on Da Shi’s side as retaliation for what happened before, and it seems Da Shi Camp…
has encountered some trouble.”
Yuan Cheng looked puzzled, his expression confused.
Yue Feng, standing nearby, stepped forward and nodded, “Definitely something wrong.
Da Shi has over ten Logging Realm combatants.
Picking Crystal Fruits doesn’t require their leader to step out personally, especially after we cleared out almost all the Crystal Fruits here.
Those Crystal Fruits on their backs weren’t picked on their own territory.”
Xia Hong gave an approving smile to Yue Feng; among the camp’s Logging Realm, Yue Feng, being the oldest, observed and considered matters more thoroughly than others.
Shi Qing must have lied, but Xia Hong couldn’t be sure what exactly happened at Da Shi Camp.
He wanted to ask earlier but held back the words that reached his lips.
Camps are very wary of probing into each other’s affairs.
Like last time when Xia Ding and the logging team were wiped out, Xia Hong was also worried about encountering people from other camps.
Later, when they ran into Wang Ming’s group, he pretended that Xia Ding and his team were still around.
If he rashly asked, not only would Shi Qing not respond, but he would also be more guarded against him.
“Alright, let’s ignore them.
Tonight, these picked will suffice, let’s go back.
Xu An, Liu Yuan, Li Yuankun, each of you will chop one tree tonight.
The rest will cut two each.”
Having no further thoughts, Xia Hong turned to the group, smiling as he announced the remaining tasks for the night.
Since harvesting that Golden-eyed Demon Sheep and subsequent successful hunts, the camp had an abundance of Cold Beast Meat.
After the alarming incident of the deceitful monster attacking Xia Hong, the enthusiasm for cultivation among the young camp members soared.
With ample Cold Beast Meat supply, the camp gained three new young Logging Realm combatants.
As expected, these three, like the previous eight, were offspring of the original logging team members.
Worth mentioning, Xu An was Xu Ning’s younger brother.
A month ago during the Golden-eyed Demon Sheep incident, Xu Ning lost his right eye.
Although it didn’t affect his cultivation and his wound almost healed, for safety’s sake, Xia Hong minimized his excursions, keeping him in the camp.
Perhaps triggered by his brother’s injury, Xu An trained exceptionally hard afterwards, and was the first among the three to break through.
Within just a month, gaining three new Logging Realm combatants was quite a morale booster for the recently troubled camp.
Xu Ning often joked that if he’d known one eye could exchange for three Logging Realms, he’d have given his left eye to the Cold Beast as well.
A joke indeed, but losing one thing and gaining another proves to be true.
The camp’s Logging Realm combatants now totaled ten, plus Xia Hong as the Earth-digging Realm leader, making Great Xia Camp’s strength surpass that during Xia Ding’s leadership.
The Iron Refining Furnace keeping them warm and safe from deceitful monsters, along with small torches and everyone’s growing prowess, heightened the camp’s hunting capability.
Importantly, the Solidified Fire Oil allowed them to face deceitful monsters even when venturing out.
In many aspects, the Great Xia Camp has improved significantly compared to before, and all these were just from the system’s first building.
Xia Hong craved the remaining eight buildings immensely.
Sadly, there’s no flour without grain.
The rest of the buildings, even the lowest required Iron resources to unlock, let alone those needing Gold and Silver resources.
So Xia Hong entrusted regular logging and fruit-picking tasks to others while he, besides leading hunts, constantly searched Redwood Ridge and surrounding areas for coal and iron mines.
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He considered letting Xia Chuan and others search, but lacking the Earth-digging Realm, they couldn’t even break the surface soil, let alone mountain rocks.
Thus, both searching and mining tasks would rely on him unless someone broke through to the Earth-digging Realm.
“We have enough wood and Crystal Fruits, what we lack is Cold Beast Meat.
We can’t rush finding coal and iron; once more break into the Earth-digging Realm, we can expand the search and will find them eventually.”
Thinking this to himself, Xia Hong noticed as the others had mostly packed up, quickly joining them.
Approaching the group, Xia Hong saw Xia Chuan seemed deep in thought, absent-mindedly.
Xia Chuan, like Yuan Cheng, had experienced the earlier Dai Shi Territory incident; Xia Hong noticed Xia Chuan stayed silent when Shi Qing was around.
Xia Hong assumed he was pondering that situation, so he patted his shoulder, asking, “Are you upset I let Shi Qing and his companion go?”
However, Xia Chuan shook his head, appearing slightly hesitant before saying:
“I was wondering how Shi Dong recognized you at a glance earlier.
The only ones we’ve had previous contact with were Wang Ming’s group of four.
Just from verbal descriptions, it shouldn’t be possible to recognize you at first meeting, especially among the ten of us.
Shi Dong recognizing you instantly feels off!”
Hearing this, Xia Hong froze, as if something in his mind was struck.
The first time he ventured out after breaking through to the Logging Realm, he hid in the dark, allowing him to recognize Shi Qing and Shi Dong; the second time out with Xia Chuan and Yuan Cheng, they only encountered Wang Ming’s Crystal Fruit-stealing group.
Neither Shi Qing nor Shi Dong had seen him before.
Suddenly, many things swirled in Xia Hong’s mind…
The corpses of Wang Ming’s group seen on Great Xia Territory;
The knife Shi Qing had no time to clean up;
The absence of both from Da Shi Territory for some time;
The Crystal Fruits Shi Qing and Shi Dong carried from the north, without seeing any other Da Shi’s Logging Realm;
Even Shi Qing’s facial expressions earlier……
Connecting these clues, Xia Hong’s face turned drastically as he abruptly looked up:
“Something’s wrong, follow up quickly, something’s up with Shi Dong!”