Endless Winter: My Camp Upgrades Infinitely

Chapter 350: Chapter 180: Exchange Meeting, Murder, Great Xia Gospel

First Year of the Great Xia, April 3rd

On the northern slope of the Five Ape Mountain, one peak of the Five Ape Peaks, Xiao Kangcheng and his group of three steadily pushed a wooden cart forward on the snow.

”Why does this cart feel less taxing to push than last month?”

”It seems like the ice layer on the ground has thickened.”

Hearing the conversation of the two beside him, Xiao Kangcheng’s brows furrowed slightly. He drew his blade, lowered his body, and stabbed it into the ground. After pulling out several pieces of broken ice and observing them, he said solemnly, ”It has indeed thickened. Within a few days, the cold wave will officially arrive.”

The ground of the Ice Abyss World is perpetually covered with snow, under which lies a layer of ice. This ice layer usually doesn’t change much, except during the cold wave period every year when it suddenly thickens two to three times. This is the basis by which the humans around the Five Ape Mountain determine the imminent arrival of the cold wave period.

Although Lu Shun and Xiao Ping also possess cultivation in the Earth-digging Realm, they naturally lack the experience of a leader like Xiao Kangcheng.

Upon hearing that the cold wave is only a few days away, the expressions of the two became noticeably more solemn.

However, looking at the ten bags of coal stone on the wooden cart, thinking of something, Lu Shun smiled and said, ”This time, fifty thousand pounds of coal stone, we can exchange it all for Cheng Guo and beast meat, and still get some extra beast skin and external wound medicines. This cold wave, our camp, should have it a bit better.”

”Not needing to exchange for iron makes it much more comfortable. Every exchange meeting, seeing Zhuhe and Tongling camps exchanging so many materials for iron ore, leaves me envious. Thanks to Lord Xia Chuan, who just handed out ten thousand pounds. Leader, do you think they have so much iron ore at Daxia Camp that they can’t use it all?”

”Not just iron ore, but those three longswords and that Ten Thousand Pounds Iron Embryo Bow, I reckon only the Three Tigers Camp on the entire Five Ape Mountain has them; Zhuhe and Tongling camps couldn’t produce such fine bows.”

Hearing their words, Xiao Kangcheng’s face also showed a smile.

The three items sent by Xia Chuan the day before yesterday indeed left them deeply shocked.

Does Great Xia really have so much iron ore that they can’t use it all?

To Lu Shun’s question, Xiao Kangcheng still dared not answer, his eyes flickering with a hint of hesitation: ”That might not necessarily be the case. We’ll know once we see Xiao Yuan and Ning’er with them.”

Lu Shun and Xiao Ping nodded at his words, a trace of anticipation in their eyes.

The night before last, Xiao Yuan had taken Xiao Ning and Xiao Yu to see Xia, so they were aware and couldn’t help but feel some anticipation.

Perhaps, Daxia Camp really is as Xia Chuan said...

”Leader, are you that sure that Xia Chuan will also come to the exchange meeting?”

Xiao Ping curiously asked. The night before last, Xia Chuan was at the camp, only inquiring about the time and place of the exchange meeting, not saying whether he would come or not, yet Xiao Kangcheng was so sure of it that he set out with them as soon as night fell.

Xiao Kangcheng pondered for a moment, then nodded: ”Haven’t you noticed that he already knows quite a bit about the situation of the camps around the Five Ape Mountain? I suspect that the Daxia camp has already figured out the lay of the land around here a long time ago. I even suspect that they might have already had actual contact with the Three Tigers Camp...”

Had actual contact with the Three Tigers Camp?

Lu Shun and Xiao Ping exchanged a glance, a hint of surprise on their faces.

”Report to the lord, Director Yuwen has already rescued the people, capturing many, and looks very angry. Hong Guang and their team must have faced some serious issues.”

Xiao Kangcheng recalled the words spoken into Xia Chuan’s ear by the last person to arrive the night before last, and his speculations became even more certain.

But since they were just speculations, he didn’t directly tell the two of them.

The three continued to push the cart forward, soon circling around to the mountain wall at the northern slope.

Seeing three large trees lined up not far away, Xiao Kangcheng’s expression immediately relaxed.

”We’ve arrived.”

Xiao Ping and Lu Shun weren’t here for the first time, relaxing significantly upon hearing this, continuing to push the cart towards the three big trees.

Once they were near the three trees, circling around to the back of the mountain wall, a cave lit by a campfire came into view for the trio.

Figures could be vaguely seen moving at the cave’s entrance, prompting the three to quicken their pace, soon arriving at the entrance.

Inside the cave, someone clearly noticed the approaching trio, and a middle-aged man wearing beast skin clothing emerged with several others wielding long knives. Upon recognizing Xiao Kangcheng, he immediately dropped his guard and spoke with a smile:

”Old Xiao, you’re a bit late, only you and Old Cheng are left.”

”Old Zhu, that’s easy for you to say. Old Cheng and I are from the Five Ape Peak side, being the furthest, so we’re definitely the last ones to arrive.”

Seeing the arrivals, Xiao Kangcheng couldn’t help but joke.

Zhu Xing, leader of the Zhuhe Camp.

The exchange meeting, although jointly organized by the eleven medium-sized camps around the Five Ape Mountain, where everyone appears to have equal status, is not quite so in reality.

Supposedly, the idea is to exchange materials with one another.

To put it bluntly, it’s about meeting each other’s needs.

It looks good, but the actual exchanges aren’t that straightforward.

They all live in the same area, so the resources they can obtain aren’t vastly different. But due to disparities in strength, some camps have larger activity ranges, stronger hunting abilities, and can collect and obtain more material, both in variety and quantity.

Iron ore and Cold Beasts are considered relatively representative resources.

Though Xiao He Camp’s strength isn’t weak with over twenty Earth-digging Realm cultivators, the lack of sufficient weapons has kept their hunting ability from improving, leading to a corresponding shortfall in beast meat supply.