Endless Winter: My Camp Upgrades Infinitely

Great Xia Garrison, second floor of the wooden house.

Outside the Supply Office, dozens of people were gathered, looking up at the three wooden boards at the entrance, discussing them with great interest.

The three wooden boards were marked at the top with coal stones as the Lumber Ranking, Coal Ranking, and Iron Ranking, respectively, with densely packed names below, along with the amount of resources they had each extracted during this period.

Lumber Ranking (1 point equals 1000 catties):

First place, Bai Dongying, 724

Second place, Cheng Feng, 689

Third place, Liu Yuan, 674

Fourth place, Xu An, 663

Fifth place, Bai Wuting, 647

… … … …

Coal Ranking (1 point equals 20 catties):

First place, Yuan Cheng, 1520

Second place, Yue Feng, 1480

Third place, Hong Gang, 1470

Fourth place, Ying Xuan, 1380

Fifth place, Qiu Peng, 1370

… … … …

Iron Ranking (1 point equals 10 catties):

First place, Luo Yuan, 3217

Second place, Xia Chuan, 3195

Third place, Zhao Long, 2995

Fourth place, Zhao Hu, 2871

Fifth place, Huang Yong, 2862

… … … … … …

At this moment, those gathered here were all Woodcutters, and the focus was naturally on the first ranking list. Anyone who saw their name in the top thirty showed a look of surprise on their face.

“The captain is still amazing. From the start of the competition until now, it’s only been forty-eight days, 724 points. Converted, that’s more than one hundred and eighty trees. On average, he can bring back three trees every night, hiss…”

Upon hearing this, everyone calculated in their hearts and couldn't help but show a look of amazement.

The mining competition started on January 27th, and up to today, it has indeed been a total of forty-eight days. According to the smaller trees on the periphery, the average weight is four to five thousand catties, which translates to four to five points.

Converted, that’s indeed at least three trees every night.

“Why three trees? In the last ten days or so, haven’t you noticed that even the smaller trees on the periphery can’t be found anymore? Now the remaining ones have a minimum diameter of six or seven meters.”

“That’s right, I saw it. The big tree that Captain Bai pushed back with a wheelbarrow last night had a diameter of more than ten meters. I estimate that it weighed more than ten thousand catties.”

“Tsk tsk, there’s no comparison, no comparison. Look, Lin Wan, who is in thirtieth place, has 542 points. And she’s a woman! We can’t even compare to her!”

“I remember that Lin Wan is the wife of Yue Feng, a member of the hunting team. Her younger brother, Lin Kai, recently broke through to the Earth-Digging Realm and also joined the hunting team. This whole family is ruthless!”

“Haven’t you noticed that the ranking changes on the Lumber Ranking have been very small in the last few days? I estimate that the final result will be about the same as it is now.”

“Nonsense, in these ten days, everyone has been forbidden from leaving the valley by more than one kilometer. The lumber in the outer mid-section of Redwood Ridge has probably been chopped down by us. Nine days ago, Hong Mu’s team even alarmed a Frost Beast while chopping trees. If the people from the hunting team hadn’t arrived in time, there almost would have been casualties.”

“It’s not just that one time. In the last few days, there have been fewer and fewer trees available for cutting. There’s simply no choice. Many people who discover Frost Beasts will come back to notify the hunting team first, kill the Frost Beast, and then cut the trees.”

“Fortunately, the outer periphery is full of low-level Frost Beasts. There’s no need for the leader to take action. Several adults, like Xia Chuan and Luo Yuan, can clear them out.”

“I’ve almost been worked to death in the past month and a half, and I only have a little over 500 points. It looks like I’m out of the running for the top thirty.”

“It’s the same for everyone. I’ve already observed it. Everyone’s frequency of going out, logging tools, and transportation tools are all exactly the same. The main difference is in the logging efficiency. In the end, it’s still related to strength.”

“That’s right, logging and mining are essentially the same principle. The higher the basic strength, the greater the amount of extraction. This ranking is actually a different kind of strength ranking!”

“No wonder my ranking is a little lower than yours. My basic strength is also just over two hundred catties less than yours.”

… … … … … …

“What are you all doing here? What time is it now? Instead of chatting idly here, you should seize the time to cultivate!”

Xia Chuan, accompanied by Luo Yuan and Yuan Cheng, hurried up to the second floor and immediately reprimanded the crowd gathered at the entrance of the Supply Office.

Most of the Great Xia’s current affairs are the responsibility of Xia Chuan. Since the one-kilometer ban was issued, Xia Hong has become even more reclusive, and his say in the camp has become stronger and stronger, and his authority has grown day by day.

Upon hearing this, everyone thought of the camp’s recent situation and lowered their heads slightly.

“Sir, they all just came back from logging outside and only gathered here for a short time to look at the rankings!”

Shi Ping happened to come down from the third floor at this time. Seeing Xia Chuan’s gloomy face, he quickly smoothed things over, gesturing towards the crowd as he spoke.

Upon receiving the signal, everyone immediately dispersed.

Xia Chuan didn’t care, but asked Shi Ping:

“Has the leader returned?”

“He just came back. He brought back two more Frost Wolves and one Teng Jiao tonight. I just sent the beast blood up and he has already started his seclusion.”

Seeing the anxious expressions on the faces of Xia Chuan and the other two, Shi Ping guessed that something was up and quickly asked, “Sir, do you need to find the leader?”

Hearing that Xia Hong had already started his seclusion, Xia Chuan and the other two showed hesitation on their faces.

“It shouldn’t be anything major. Should we tell the leader?”

“Maybe we’ve been hunting too hard recently and they’ve all been scared away.”

“Within a one-kilometer radius, there are only five hundred meters on the periphery of Redwood Ridge. Recently, all logging and hunting have been concentrated in that area. In less than half a month, more than twenty low-level Frost Beasts have been killed. It’s normal for them to be gone.”

“The trees have also been cut down to almost nothing. It’s normal for those Frost Beasts to go elsewhere if they don’t have a suitable place to nest.”

… … … …

Hearing the conversation between Luo Yuan and Yuan Cheng, Shi Ping finally understood.

The low-level Frost Beasts have disappeared within a five-hundred-meter radius on the periphery.

After only a moment of thought, Shi Ping also agreed with their view.

The one-kilometer ban, to put it bluntly, starts from the Great Xia Valley and extends one kilometer westward in the direction of Redwood Ridge. All of Great Xia’s recent activities can only be within this one-kilometer fan-shaped area.

From the valley to Redwood Ridge is five hundred meters, which means that all recent logging, gathering, and hunting activities in the camp cannot exceed five hundred meters in depth into Redwood Ridge.

If it were the original Great Xia, this large area would naturally be enough.

But the current Great Xia is different from the past.

More than five hundred Woodcutters, even if they take turns going out, the amount of logging they do every day is astonishing; not to mention low-level Frost Beasts, let alone Xia Hong taking action, several people in the hunting team can already hunt them alone.

In addition, everyone knows that resources can help Xia Hong break through to the Cold Resistance level, and the threat of the Mirror Immortal Camp is imminent. Since the ban was issued on March 3rd, it has been a total of twelve days. In these twelve days, everyone has been working hard to mine.

As a result, it is understandable that the small area of ​​five hundred meters on the outer mid-section has changed due to excessive resource extraction.

Shi Ping thought so, and Luo Yuan and Yuan Cheng also thought so.

Only Xia Chuan didn’t speak, but lowered his head and pondered.

Obviously, he had a different view.

“Yuan Cheng, do you remember the experience of the Devil Sheep breaking into the camp when the garrison was at the earthen slope?”

Hearing Xia Chuan’s question, Yuan Cheng was stunned for a moment, and then recalled it, his expression immediately changing.

“Are you saying that this time is the same as last time?”

“What do you mean? What are you talking about?”

Luo Yuan didn’t understand what the two were talking about and immediately asked.

Shi Ping on the side also looked puzzled.

Yuan Cheng quickly explained it to the two of them.

Early on, when the Great Xia garrison was at the earthen slope, that Wooden Puppet Ghoul once controlled a Devil Sheep to break into the Great Xia garrison cave. Taking advantage of the chaos in the camp, it killed a person named Wang Ping in Great Xia, controlled the corpse and mixed into the cave, and even attempted to sneak attack Xia Hong at the last moment.

Unfortunately, Xia Hong had been prepared in advance at that time and had also applied a layer of Congealed Fire Oil on his body, so the Ghoul ultimately failed.

Hearing this, the faces of Luo Yuan and Shi Ping immediately changed.

The two are now also members of Great Xia and are very familiar with the functions and attributes of the three items: the iron smelting furnace, the torch, and the Congealed Fire Oil. They immediately understood.

Ghouls are afraid of the fire of the iron smelting furnace, but Frost Beasts are not afraid!

Not only are they not afraid, but they also have a kind of almost crazy obsession.

They have only been using torches to lure the Frost Beasts for so long, and the Frost Beasts are already so crazy. What would be the reaction of those Frost Beasts if they saw the iron smelting furnace?

“Sir, are you saying that the disappearance of the Frost Beasts on the periphery is not a complete disappearance, but that they have gathered together, and it is very likely that they were gathered by that Ghoul from the Mirror Immortal Camp, with the purpose of attacking our camp?”

As soon as Shi Ping spoke, Yuan Cheng and Luo Yuan on the other side immediately frowned, and a look of horror flashed in their pupils.

“Then we must quickly report to the leader!”

As soon as Yuan Cheng spoke, Xia Chuan immediately shook his head.

“This is just my guess. Recently, the camp has indeed been extracting resources from that small area on the periphery too severely. It cannot be ruled out that this is the reason why all the Frost Beasts have disappeared.”

Upon hearing this, the three of them immediately fell into thought.

“It’s a pity that we can’t go out. If we could expand the scope and see the distribution of Frost Beasts in other places, it would be easier to judge!”

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Luo Yuan’s tone was slightly regretful. The one-kilometer ban was still in effect, and they would definitely not be able to run out without Xia Hong’s permission.

It’s not that they are worried about disobeying Xia Hong’s orders, but mainly that the Mirror Immortal Camp may be watching from the sidelines. If it was just the people from the Mirror Immortal Camp, they could risk breaking out to take a look, but if it involves contact with Ghouls, then they can’t mess around.

"This matter is not small, we should report it to the leader first. Our strength is not enough, and we dare not venture out. The leader is strong, maybe he can go and take a look. If the situation is confirmed, we can prepare!"

Hearing Yuan Cheng's words, Xia Chuan pondered for a moment and nodded.

However, at this moment, Shi Ping showed a hint of embarrassment.

He looked at Xia Chuan with a hesitant expression and said:

"Sir, today the leader asked me to send all the beast blood collected in the previous period, a total of 1850 catties, over there. It seems that he is going to officially retreat to break through to the Cold Resistance level. When I just sent it over, he specifically told me not to disturb him unless it was a very important matter."

Shi Ping's words stunned Xia Chuan and the other two.

Since the ban was issued, Xia Hong had not been in seclusion for a long time.

Letting Shi Ping send all 1850 catties of beast blood at once, and specifically explaining these words, it was obvious that Shi Ping's guess was likely correct.

Xia Hong was really in seclusion, officially breaking through to the Cold Resistance level!

This matter could be big or small. If it was really caused by the strange creature behind the Mirror Immortal camp as Xia Chuan expected, then notifying Xia Hong would be justified.

But if it was a false alarm, it would not only be a wasted notification, but also affect Xia Hong's retreat and cultivation.

Luo Yuan, Yuan Cheng, and Shi Ping looked troubled. None of them dared to make a decision, and they all turned their attention to Xia Chuan.

Xia Chuan hesitated for a long time, and soon his face showed determination and he said:

"We can't notify the leader about this kind of ambiguous matter. If everything needs to be decided by him, what do we need these people for!"

After setting the tone, he paused for a moment and continued:

"Regardless of whether it's true or false, we must prepare first..."

"Hahahaha, I broke through, I broke through!"

Before Xia Chuan could finish his words, an excited voice suddenly came from the third floor.

Interrupted, Xia Chuan's face showed a smile instead.

"This is Hong Gang's son, Hong Mu's voice, right?"

"Even that kid broke through!"

"This is the sixth one today."

"Six today?"

Hearing Shi Ping say that Hong Mu was the sixth to break through today, the joy on the faces of Xia Chuan and the other two became even stronger.

"It's a pity that the boss has been cultivating during this period. If he knew, he would definitely be even happier!"

Xia Chuan looked up at Xia Hong's room on the third floor, his heart filled with excitement.

On the third day of the third month, that is, when the one-kilometer ban was officially implemented, the camp's activity area was reduced. Accordingly, fewer people were needed to cut wood.

The extra people naturally couldn't be idle.

Especially now, under the threat of the Mirror Immortal camp, improving the overall strength of the camp was even more urgent.

Under Xia Hong's instruction, anyone in the camp whose basic strength was close to ten thousand catties could enter the training ground for cultivation first.

The training ground officially started operating on the twentieth of last month. Initially, considering fairness and resource consumption, a queuing system was adopted. As long as you could afford 20 contribution points a day, you could go up when it was your turn.

Special circumstances naturally required special treatment.

Improving the camp's strength was now imminent. Once Xia Hong's order was issued, naturally no one objected.

As a result, almost from the next day, that is, the fourth day of the third month.

The camp ushered in a wave of breakthroughs in the Earth Digging Realm.

Bai Dongying, Bai Wuting, Lu Sheng, and Lu Yang broke through on the first day.

Tong Xinglong, Ying Yi, and Li Longkai broke through on the second day.

After that, almost every day, two to three people broke through.

Today, there were actually six at once!

"Most people in the camp don't know that those who have broken through to the Earth Digging Realm still spare time to cut trees every day in order not to drop in the wood ranking. If they weren't worried about exceeding others too much, with their wood-cutting efficiency, even if these Wood Cutting Realm people were exhausted, they probably wouldn't be able to compare to them."

Shi Ping looked at the wood ranking behind him, his expression slightly strange.

Xia Chuan also followed his gaze and looked over. Seeing that almost all of the top twenty or so in the wood ranking had broken through to the Earth Digging Realm, he pondered for a moment, and his brows suddenly furrowed.

"Are you saying that these people who have broken through to the Earth Digging Realm still spare some time every day to cut trees, and are not fully mining?"

Seeing Xia Chuan's dark face when he asked, Shi Ping's neck shrank suddenly, and he nodded with a hint of restraint.

He himself was one of them, ranked seventh in the wood ranking.

"Shi Ping, go and notify everyone who has broken through to the Earth Digging Realm to go to the south mine to mine iron ore. Yuan Cheng, go and notify the hunting team to come to the smithy. I'll wait for them there."

Shi Ping heard the coldness in Xia Chuan's tone, and didn't dare to ask any more questions. He turned around and went to notify the others.

Yuan Cheng nodded and turned to leave.

Luo Yuan stood in place with a puzzled expression and said: "We've collected enough iron ore recently, and it's all been sent to the leader. Why do you still want them to mine iron with all their strength?"

"To prepare!"

Xia Chuan only answered three words. Luo Yuan lowered his head and pondered for a moment, and his eyes lit up immediately, understanding his meaning.