Endless Winter: My Camp Upgrades Infinitely

Although the Cloud Serpent was dead, the poisonous mist would not dissipate immediately.

"No need to wait, pack up and leave quickly!"

Although the festering on Yuan Cheng's back was recovering, and at a rapid pace, he still showed no signs of waking. Sensing that the discomfort in his body was worsening, Xia Hong quickly ordered everyone to pack up and leave.

Xia Chuan carried Yuan Cheng on his back, while Luo Yuan and the other four carried the Cloud Serpent's three severed body parts, following behind Xia Hong, returning to the camp together.

"The total time used just now should be within twenty minutes. The Cloud Serpent's strength isn't considered strong, its only troublesome aspect is the poisonous mist. Without me, it would be very difficult for you six to lead a hunting team to kill it. During this time, when you lead hunting teams out, stay on the periphery!"

"Yes, Chief."

The five people traveling behind, hearing Xia Hong's words, all looked somewhat excited.

Snowmane Boars, Frost Wolves, and Magic Sheep—as long as they weren't in herds, it was no longer difficult for them six to lead a hunting team to kill them. Xia Hong had said before that he would hand it over to them.

Now that Xia Hong had said these words, it was clear that their performance just now had gained his approval, and he planned to officially hand over the hunting team to them. The six of them were naturally somewhat excited.

"How did this Cloud Serpent discover us just now?"

Zhao Long, carrying the Cloud Serpent's head, asked with some confusion.

Hearing his question, the others also began to ponder.

Xia Hong also frowned, this question had been on his mind as well.

The Ice Abyss World was freezing cold everywhere, the extreme low temperature made it difficult for smells to spread. Whether it was a frost beast or a human, it was difficult to judge enemies by smell.

Similarly, the extreme low temperature made everything, including humans, have extremely low body temperatures when going out, making heat sensing impossible.

In addition, they had already minimized their movements. According to previous hunting experience, the nighttime was the dormancy period for frost beasts. If they didn't actively provoke them, they wouldn't wake up.

"The last time we were chased by the Gnawing Rat swarm, it was the same. We didn't make any sound, but that Cloud Serpent discovered us early on. Could it be that the area shrouded in mist is the Cloud Serpent's sensing range?"

Hearing Luo Yuan's guess, everyone's eyes lit up, including Xia Hong.

But then Xia Hong shook his head and said, "A sensing range of fifty meters shouldn't be the case. If it really had such great power, then this Cloud Serpent wouldn't be something we could deal with.

Moreover, if it had discovered us as soon as we entered the mist area, then tonight's hunt wouldn't have been so easy!"

From entering the mist area and discovering the Cloud Serpent to arranging everything, the seven of them climbing up the tree took at least ten minutes. If it had really noticed them so early, then the Cloud Serpent would have had too many ways to deal with the seven of them.

"One thing is certain, whether it was the previous one or this one tonight, both Cloud Serpents discovered us ahead of time without being noticed. As long as we think about what the two Cloud Serpents had in common when they were coiled up, we should be able to find the answer."

After Xia Hong said these words, Xia Chuan and Luo Yuan immediately began to think back. Besides Xia Hong, they were the only two who had seen the Cloud Serpent twice.

"Tail!"

"Tail!"

Xia Chuan and Luo Yuan said in unison, clearly thinking of the same thing.

Hearing the word "tail", Xia Hong was also stunned for a moment, then a glimmer of light rose in his eyes, and a look of realization appeared on his face.

That's right!

When the two Cloud Serpents were coiled up in the tree, their tails were inserted into the snow on the ground. Xia Chuan and Luo Yuan's guess should be correct. The Cloud Serpent most likely relied on its tail to sense ground vibrations to judge enemies.

"It's eighty or ninety percent correct. Test it before hunting the Cloud Serpent next time. Xia Chuan, remember it first after returning. After testing next time, if it's confirmed to be true, be sure to record it in the Great Xia Frost Beast Records."

"Yes, Chief!"

Hearing the seriousness in Xia Hong's words, Xia Chuan nodded solemnly.

Xia Hong taking the time to guess the Cloud Serpent's methods of dealing with enemies and its habits was certainly not because he had nothing better to do. Every time he hunted, he would review the process with everyone, summarizing personal gains and losses, as well as the characteristics of different prey.

His biggest goal in doing this was to compile the Great Xia Frost Beast Records.

Ever since he saw the Frost Beast Scroll left by Luo Ming last time, Xia Hong had started this project.

From the current point of view, most of the casualties that occurred during camp hunts were caused by unfamiliarity with the prey. In that case, the task of collecting information on various frost beasts was particularly important.

Currently, the Great Xia Frost Beast Records only recorded seven kinds of frost beasts, namely Snowmane Boars, Frost Wolves, Magic Sheep, Gnawing Rats, Cloud Serpents, Thunder Kuis, and Blue Moon Spirits. Moreover, the latter two had not yet been dealt with.

But as the hunting team's activity range grew larger and larger, and they came into contact with more and more frost beasts, the records would definitely become more and more numerous.

Predecessors plant trees, successors enjoy the shade. The current records may seem redundant, but for those in the camp who can participate in hunting later, they are absolutely precious.

Reducing casualties among hunting members, increasing hunting success rates, dispelling the mystique of frost beasts and making them no longer so mysterious in people's eyes…

The compilation of the Great Xia Frost Beast Records was definitely of extraordinary significance to Great Xia.

Xia Chuan also understood this principle, so he responded to Xia Hong's instructions so solemnly.

… … … …

The group quickly returned to the camp.

"There's a big snake!"

"So big."

"Did the chief hunt three of them?"

"It's not three, it's one, but it was cut into three pieces."

"So scary… … … …"

Carrying the three sections of the serpent's body into the camp attracted many onlookers.

Adults were fine, pointing and talking.

Some children couldn't handle it, hiding behind adults in fear, wanting to watch but also being afraid; some who were too young were even frightened to tears.

"Chief, leave it to us to handle!"

Shi Ping walked through the crowd and came over. After receiving Xia Chuan's signal, he led people to take the Cloud Serpent's corpse from Luo Yuan and the other two.

The prey brought back by the hunting team was now handled uniformly by the camp's supply department.

Xia Chuan was the supply officer, but also a member of the hunting team, so he usually left these trivial matters to Shi Ping and others to do.

However, before Shi Ping could leave, Xia Hong called him back.

"The Cloud Serpent's corpse is very dangerous, wait for me to arrive before handling it."

Shi Ping nodded immediately. Although the supply department was experienced in handling prey, the Cloud Serpent was, after all, a new prey, and Xia Hong had specifically instructed him, so he naturally had to listen.

Xia Hong didn't rush to handle the Cloud Serpent's corpse, but took Xia Chuan, Luo Yuan, and others back to the second floor of the wooden house first.

As soon as they reached the main hall on the second floor, Xia Chuan put down Yuan Cheng from his back.

Xia Hong stepped forward, looked at his back, and found that most of the festering had already scabbed over, and immediately breathed a sigh of relief, then took out a ball of Cloud Serpent saliva from his backpack and smeared it on.

"Have someone take special care of him here, waiting for him to wake up!"

Xia Chuan nodded, he didn't even need to find someone.

Yuan Cheng's mother, Xu Lan, had already been waiting anxiously on the side.

The others only cared about looking at the prey, but Xu Lan only saw her seriously injured and unconscious son. There were too many people downstairs just now, and she couldn't squeeze to the front. Now that she finally heard Xia Hong asking someone to take care of her son, she immediately rushed up.

"Auntie, don't worry, Cheng is fine, he should wake up in a while."

Seeing Xu Lan gently stroking Yuan Cheng's festering back, constantly wiping away tears.

Xia Chuan on the side quickly comforted her.

On the other side, Xia Hong had already taken the ball of sticky liquid and went alone to the alchemy room on the second floor.

The alchemy room was empty, with only a medicine pot in the center and a large row of sorted wooden cabinets against the wall.

Xia Hong walked to the medicine pot, opened the lid, scooped out a little of the sticky liquid, and put it in.

[Unknown item, can be used for medicinal purposes, appraisal fee: Coal 50]

Tsk… … … …

Seeing the appraisal price, Xia Hong couldn't help but click his tongue.

"Last time, Cheng Feng appraised Blue Coagulation Grass, it only cost 20 points, the appraisal fee for this saliva is actually so high!"

50 units of coal resources, converted into coal stones, is a thousand catties.

[Camp: Great Xia (Level 0)]

[Lord: Xia Hong]

[Territory Population: 1096]

[Resources: Wood 28275 Coal 322 Iron 120 Silver 0 Gold 0]

[Opened Buildings 4: Smelting Furnace (Level 2) Wooden Dummy (Level 1) Medicine Pot (Level 1) Grindstone (Level 1)]

[Unopened Buildings 5: Green Bamboo Fence, Marking Stone, Loess Land, Small Wooden Table, Coarse Iron Chain]

It's not that he can't afford it. As the number of Earth Digging Realm people increased and new houses were completed, the accumulation speed of coal and iron resources had increased a lot.

If it weren't for forging that giant axe yesterday, which cost 280 points, the surplus of iron resources would be a little more than coal.

"It's only been three days since the new house was completed. Now there are two Gnawing Tooth Chisels, and the daily income of coal and iron will increase more and more in the future. 50 points is 50 points, the more expensive the price, the more useful this thing is, and the key to dealing with the Gnawing Rat swarm might be it!"

Although it hurt, Xia Hong still readily invested 50 points of coal resources into the medicine pot.

As the coal stones were invested, the medicine pot also burst out with a burst of light. At the same time, information about the saliva also appeared in Xia Hong's mind.

[Name: Cloud Serpent Saliva]

The most ⊥ new ⊥ small ⊥ said ⊥ in ⊥ six ⊥ 9 ⊥ ⊥ book ⊥ ⊥ bar ⊥ ⊥ first ⊥ hair!

[Can be used as an auxiliary material for refining pills; can be applied to heal external injuries caused by Cloud Serpent toxins; can be inhaled to relieve Cloud Serpent poisonous mist in the body]

As expected, the first and second effects of Cloud Serpent saliva were both within Xia Hong's guesses.

This saliva has a strange fragrance, so it's not surprising that it can be used as an ingredient in alchemy; when applied to the festering wounds on Yuan Cheng's back, they healed immediately, which basically confirms the second effect.

Only the third effect made Xia Hong frown slightly.

It can only be used for smelling to alleviate symptoms, not to cure them.

In other words, at best, it's only slightly better than covering the face with a wet cloth, allowing people to last a little longer in the Teng Jiao's poisonous mist.

It can't completely isolate people from the effects of the poisonous mist.

"It seems that other auxiliary materials are still needed to refine it into a pill!"

Xia Hong's expression became slightly serious as he looked at the medicinal materials recorded in the medicine pot, which already numbered more than forty. However, the current formula was still only the Golden Sore Ointment, and he shook his head helplessly.

The medicine pot automatically synthesizes formulas based on the materials that have been identified.

"This luck is really bad. Cheng Feng has collected more than twenty kinds of medicinal materials during this period, but he still can't put together a single formula!"

Xia Hong didn't blame Cheng Feng. Judging from the more than twenty kinds of medicinal materials he had brought back during this period, the collection team was definitely not slacking off. The biggest problem was that there were not many people in the collection team with knowledge of pharmacology.

If they had some knowledge of pharmacology, they should be able to try to bring back related medicinal materials, which should increase the probability of synthesizing a formula.

Although he understood this principle, Xia Hong had no way to improve it.

He himself didn't have any pharmacological knowledge. The civilization of the Ice Abyss World was already incomplete. There might be people with this knowledge, but the Great Xia camp certainly couldn't find them.

"I can only wait for Cheng Feng to slowly explore on his own, or for some talented individuals to appear. Otherwise, I'll have to rely on frantically accumulating coal stones to let the medicine pot continuously identify medicinal materials. This can also increase the probability of synthesizing a formula!"

Currently, these are the only options.

Xia Hong shook his head, stored all the Teng Jiao saliva in the wooden cabinet against the wall, then labeled it and left.

After walking out of the alchemy room, Xia Hong went directly to the camp supply office.

In the camp supply office, Shi Ping and three others were gathered around a giant wooden table, on which was piled the prey they had just brought back, the Teng Jiao.

"Greetings, Chief!"

Xia Hong waved his hand slightly, walked to the Teng Jiao, and looked back at the four people.

"Start processing it. Be careful. The Teng Jiao can spew poisonous mist from its nose and mouth when it's alive. Be extra careful when handling the area near its head."

"Understood, Chief!"

Great Xia is not what it used to be. There is prey every day, so naturally there are people who specialize in processing prey. The materials related to cold beasts are under the jurisdiction of the camp supply office, so the people responsible for processing prey are naturally also from the camp supply office.

Judging from the actions of the four people, Shi Ping was obviously just here to inform them. The other three were the main operators processing the prey.

Skinning, tendon extraction, boning, meat cutting… The three of them held butcher knives, cooperating with each other, and the series of procedures was like flowing water.

Xia Hong was a little overwhelmed, and it wasn't until the three of them began to process the head of the Teng Jiao that he quickly focused his attention, stood up, and prepared to deal with any unexpected situations.

The Teng Jiao's poisonous mist can directly kill those in the Lumbering Realm if inhaled. Although the Teng Jiao is dead, who knows if the poisonous mist has weakened? It would be too much of a loss if a few Lumbering Realm cultivators died because of handling the Teng Jiao's corpse.

Fortunately, the three people in the camp supply office were indeed very experienced in handling prey.

The three of them carefully cut open the head, especially the nose and mouth parts that Xia Hong mentioned, almost slowly scraping them open with small knives.

Under such a careful process, the three of them took out a fist-sized, bulging piece of meat from the throat of the Teng Jiao.

Inside the piece of meat was wrapped a pure white round bead, which was emitting a white gas, constantly expanding outwards, causing the piece of meat to bulge, as if it were alive, which was quite magical.

The three of them wrapped the piece of meat in a leather cloth and handed it to Xia Hong, who was standing aside.

"Chief, this bead should be the source of the poison!"

Xia Hong had already stepped forward to take the piece of meat. In fact, there was no need to explain. Smelling the scent emanating from the piece of meat, he immediately realized that the bead inside was the source of the Teng Jiao's poisonous mist.

"What are the names of you three?"

The three of them were stunned for a moment, and then their expressions were a little surprised, and they immediately opened their mouths to answer.

"Reporting to the Chief, my name is Tong Xinglong."

"Reporting to the Chief, my name is Tong Xingsheng."

"Reporting to the Chief, my name is Ying Yi."

Hearing the names of the three, Xia Hong raised his eyebrows slightly.

No wonder he didn't recognize them. These three were all from the former Rogge camp.

If he remembered correctly, Tong Xinglong and Ying Yi should still be two of the fifteen Lumbering Realm cultivators in the Rogge camp when they first merged; as for the last one, Tong Xingsheng, judging by his name and appearance, he was obviously Tong Xinglong's younger brother.

"How are contribution points calculated for you three here in the camp supply office?"

The three of them were slightly stunned, obviously not expecting Xia Hong to ask this.

After a while, Tong Xinglong still opened his mouth to answer: "The three of us are responsible for processing prey. Master Xia Chuan said that no matter the size of the cold beast, one contribution point is calculated for every five hundred catties of meat;"

"In addition to this, the matter of distributing cold beast meat to the reserve team every night and to children under the age of six every month is also the responsibility of the three of us, which is also one point per time;"

"In addition to these two, if we want to obtain additional contribution points, we can also go to the logging team and the collection team to help when the camp supply office is not busy."

Five hundred catties counts as one point. A single cold beast generally yields more than a thousand catties of meat, which is two points. Adding the one point for distributing cold beast meat, the guaranteed minimum is three contribution points per night. Adding the help in other places, the treatment in the camp supply office is actually not much different from that of the collection team and the logging team.

"You've done a good job. In the future, when handling prey, even if no one reminds you, you must be as careful as you were this time, especially with unfamiliar prey. You must be cautious. It would be bad if we didn't have any accidents while hunting outside, but something happened when you were processing it!"

"Yes, Chief!"

Hearing the concern in Xia Hong's tone, a touch of emotion flashed in the eyes of the three, and they quickly lowered their heads to obey the order, their expressions full of respect.

Xia Hong pondered for a moment and said to Shi Ping behind him: "Give each of the three of them three additional contribution points."

Hearing this, Shi Ping immediately nodded and obeyed.

The expressions of Tong Xinglong and the other two suddenly became extremely excited.

If Xia Hong hadn't stopped them, the three of them would have knelt down to thank him.

"There's no need to be like this. I thought there would be some trouble handling the Teng Jiao's corpse, but I didn't expect you to do a good job. Keep it up in the future!"

Being personally asked about their names by Xia Hong, plus the reward of three contribution points, was already an unexpected surprise;

Hearing Xia Hong's final verbal praise, the three of them were even more excited.

"Don't worry, Chief, the three of us will definitely do our best in the future."

The three bowed their heads at the same time and saluted Xia Hong solemnly.

"Alright, you three continue processing. Shi Ping, stay here and send all the Teng Jiao's spinal tendons to the blacksmith's workshop after it's processed."

"Yes, Chief!"

Shi Ping also nodded and obeyed, and when he looked up again, he found that Xia Hong had already left.

"You three are lucky to be personally praised by the Chief."

"Hahahahaha…"

Hearing Shi Ping's teasing, Tong Xinglong and the other two laughed heartily.