Endless Winter: My Camp Upgrades Infinitely

Chapter 396: Chapter 192: Beehive Predicament, Surge in Earth-digging Realm_3

Beast meat is still fine, one jin of salt costs 500 points, and one jin of aged wine costs 100 points. These prices are per day as Qiu Peng described, so multiplying by eleven indeed amounts to over 180,000.

”As for salt, the Camp Supply Department has just over 400 jin in total. With this half month nearly used up, new salt hasn’t come in, and apart from reserving some for the leaders, nobody else can exchange for any. The situation with aged wine is similar.”

Xia Chuan watched Qiu Peng’s worried demeanor like a household head and couldn’t help but chuckle softly:

”With salt and aged wine prices so high, not many people have been able to exchange them. Lately, everyone’s been saving their Contribution Points to build houses; basically, no one’s looking to trade them. Keeping them is just keeping them—might as well share it with everyone and let them have a taste.”

Hearing this, Qiu Peng’s eyes lit up, and he laughed: ”True, besides the leaders, others can’t even afford to exchange for salt or aged wine. The key is, within this half month, we successfully spread the word about these two items. I noticed that many people from the Hunting Department have been eyeing the aged wine—asking about it every day, just reluctant to trade for it. Hahaha.”

Aged wine is indeed a good thing!

The rich fragrance of the wine, warming the whole body with one gulp, can even enhance strength.

Who could resist?

Hearing the people from the Hunting Department inquire about aged wine yet were unwilling to exchange for it, Xia Chuan couldn’t help but grin while shaking his head, thinking of their predicament.

But immediately, he turned serious and said: ”Consuming so many resources recently, the camp’s strength must’ve improved significantly, right?”

All resource consumption can be converted into strength.

Not to mention aged wine, salt, and beast meat—these three items are essential resources for enhancing strength. With eleven weddings consuming so much, it’s reasonable to assume that the camp’s strength has increased substantially recently.

Qiu Peng responded with a revitalized demeanor, nodding and smiling: ”Of course. It’s almost been two months since those three thousand-plus troops from Mirror Immortal joined us, and it’s been nearly a month since the people from Five Ape Mountain integrated. Over the past eleven days, these three items seemed to have spurred everyone’s potential, and more and more are breaking through...”

Upon saying this, Qiu Peng took out a roster from his body, flipped through a few pages, and continued excitedly: ”As of yesterday, our camp has 792 individuals in the Earth-digging Realm, and even more in the Logging Realm, totaling 6,921 people.

Moreover, from my observations at the Martial Arts Hall during this period, within the next month, there should be more than 200 people who will gradually break through in the Earth-digging Realm. As for the Logging Realm, there’s no doubt that the number will continuously rise!”

Within the next month, over 200 more will break through to the Earth-digging Realm.

The Martial Arts Hall is under Qiu Peng’s management, with 200 people training daily, all subject to his approval. Naturally, his words carry high credibility.

That means, by July, Daxia Camp’s Earth-digging Realm will surpass a thousand in scale; even the Logging Realm could reach ten thousand!

Xia Chuan’s expression flickered, both joyful and worried.

”No wonder Yuwen Dao has approached me recently, saying he wants to further relax the limits on the number of Hunting Teams, as it seems there are more and more people in the Earth-digging Realm, and the current number of Hunting Teams is too few.”

Qiu Peng is also aware of this situation, nodding in agreement: ”Recently, only 7 new Hunting Teams have been added, totaling just 30 teams. As it stands now, nearly 200 people haven’t joined any Hunting Team, which is a problem that needs solving.”

Currently, the maximum number of people in a Low-level Hunting Team is 20, so with thirty full teams, that’s 600 people. There are presently just over 200 additional, and more are surely to come.

Xia Chuan frowned, realizing this problem is indeed hard to solve.

Further raising the limit on numbers is certainly not feasible.

Hunting is not warfare, and more people don’t necessarily help; in fact, once numbers exceed a limit, it becomes harder to coordinate, and it may even attract hordes of Cold Beasts or even Deceitful Monsters.

He himself has led teams out for hunts, so he understands well that for hunting Low-level Cold Beasts, a team of twenty is already the limit. Adding more is not only a waste of manpower but unhelpful for the hunt and could even drag it down, severely reducing hunting efficiency.

”Sir, why not follow the leader’s suggestion and set up a squad that doesn’t need to hunt, dedicated to patrolling our Great Xia territory?”

Hearing this, Xia Chuan appeared tempted but quickly shook his head, saying: ”You’re managing the Camp Supply Department; you should be even clearer than I am about the accounts. Can the camp currently afford a non-working team?”

Qiu Peng was momentarily at a loss hearing this and, after pondering, shook his head helplessly.

”That’s an oversight on my part. To be honest, the camp’s beast meat is already facing a deficit, especially as those in the Earth-digging Realm increase. Beast meat consumption is rising daily. Without relying on the lead Hunting Teams, we might not even keep up with supply.”

Upon hearing this, Xia Chuan’s expression sharpened: ”Right now, what is the daily consumption of Cold Beast Meat in the camp, and what is the Camp Supply Department’s reserve amount?”

”Just from the Logging and Earth-digging Realms, 35,000 jin are needed daily, amounting to 1.05 million jin per month. Adding in about 10,000 reserves, daily consumption is around 15,000, which totals 450,000 jin per month. We can temporarily ignore those under six as it’s minimal. Just these two aspects combined tally up to 1.5 million jin monthly.”

Logging Realm training requires 3 to 5 jin per day, Earth-digging Realm requires 7 to 10 jin. Based on Qiu Peng’s reported figures, when adjusted, it’s roughly 35,000; reserves based on basic strength have a daily allocation of 1 to 2 jin, roughly 15,000 for 10,000 people.

So, Qiu Peng’s calculation is basically accurate.

1.5 million jin, calculating a yield ratio of 1,300 for a single Low-level Cold Beast, means the camp currently has to hunt at least 1,200 Cold Beasts per month just to make ends meet.

As it stands, there are only 30 Hunting Teams, meaning each team has to hunt 40 Cold Beasts per month to maintain the beast meat supply.

This far exceeds the initial base minimum of 15 set for the team, almost thrice as much.

After calculating everything in his mind, Xia Chuan frowned deeply.

No wonder they say relying solely on a few leading teams barely keeps up with supply.

This consumption rate is indeed alarming.

But there’s no helping it. Beast meat is crucial for the camp to continue strengthening. Unless the population is limited, the demand for beast meat will naturally keep rising.

”Reducing the beast meat quota isn’t realistic, and limiting the population is even less feasible. Therefore, we must find a way to meet the demand. If there’s not enough beast meat, we should continue to grow the teams and relax the conditions for creating new teams. Lower the basic strength requirement from 20,000 jin to 15,000 jin—this should suffice.”

On hearing this, Qiu Peng immediately nodded: ”This would indeed be more than sufficient. There aren’t many with basic strength over 20,000 jin, but quite a few exceed 15,000. Many from the earliest groups of Great Xia have a qualifying basic strength. But if we do this, casualties during hunts might increase.”

Xia Chuan replied solemnly: ”If casualties occur, there’s no choice. Beast meat shortages are emerging across the camp, and taking some risks is warranted. They’ve reached this point of training thanks to the beast meat hunted by those before them—now it’s their turn to support the coming batches.”

Qiu Peng nodded in agreement, a hint of approval in his eyes.

He himself grew stronger step by step, initially aided by the Cold Beast Meat brought back by Xia Hong, and now his basic strength exceeds 20,000.

”By the way, are you still thinking of staying in my team?”

Something occurred to Xia Chuan, and he turned to Qiu Peng to ask.

Qiu Peng grinned: ”I was just planning to bring it up!”

In fact, Qiu Peng had already met the basic strength requirement for forming a new Hunting Team a few days back, but staying in Xia Chuan’s Cloud Jiao Team earned him more Contribution Points, so he hadn’t mentioned forming his own team.

Clearly, now that won’t work. The Hunting Department lacks squads, and as the Camp Supply Department Director, he should prioritize the camp’s needs over personal gain, so he couldn’t continue benefiting at Xia Chuan’s expense.

Xia Chuan acknowledged this with a nod but then remembered something and extended his hand: ”Hold on a moment, I have a major operation the day after tomorrow. Wait until that’s done before leaving the team.”

Qiu Peng was momentarily surprised but quickly realized what Xia Chuan meant by the major operation, his expression showing a jolt of understanding.

”Of course, sir.”