Chapter 30: Chapter 30 Unexpected Gains The logging team increased to eight people, which lifted Xia Hong’s spirits quite a bit. Of course, mood is secondary; the main thing is that the danger factor has been greatly reduced. In the early days when it was just him, it was quite different. Even after Xia Chuan and Yuan Cheng joined, they knew the Cold Beasts slept heavily at night, they still remained vigilant everywhere, trying not to make loud noises, and choosing spots far from the Cold Beasts to chop trees. But now, things have changed. Xia Hong no longer tread cautiously through the snow. In the cold night, there was still not much change in the outskirts of Redwood Ridge. Snowflakes drifted continuously from the sky, and the cold wind occasionally brushed past his ears. Xia Hong led the group to the position of the first Ice Tree, noting that the tree was still barren, with no fruit growing, his brows furrowed slightly. "It’s been more than two months, and they haven’t grown. It seems the growth cycle of the Crystal Fruit is much longer than we anticipated!" Xia Chuan was more thorough. Upon hearing this, he immediately climbed the tree and examined it for a long time before coming down to say, "The stems left from the previous picking have just started to sprout. It’s a bit better than what we saw a month ago, similar to the other two trees. If there’s no surprise, it should take another two months to bear fruit." Another two months to bear fruit means they can bear fruit three times a year, approximately six thousand pounds per harvest, making it eighteen thousand pounds per tree, and fifty-four thousand pounds for three trees. After coming up with this number in his mind, Xia Hong’s brows furrowed even deeper. During this period, apart from hunting, the most he did was lead the team to continuously observe the growth of the three Ice Trees. The current Great Xia Camp, naturally, doesn’t have the privilege to use Cold Beast Meat as food. It’s essential to admit that the camp currently relies on the Crystal Fruit as the staple food. Therefore, he must understand the growth cycle of the Crystal Fruit. Each Crystal Fruit weighs about half a pound. A normal person needs two fruits a day to maintain basic sustenance, which means according to this calculation, the three Ice Trees can only support around one hundred and fifty people a year. There are already one hundred and fifty-four people in the camp now. This means if anything happens to these three trees, there might be a food shortage in the camp. Obviously, it’s not just Xia Hong who realized the shortage of Crystal Fruit. Xia Chuan pondered for a while and then immediately questioned. "How did father and the others support over two hundred people before?" Xia Hong also thought of this point. During Xia Ding’s time, the camp’s population was over two hundred thirty. Even though the Crystal Fruit quota wasn’t as high as he’s enforcing now, relying solely on these three trees wouldn’t have been enough to feed so many people. After thinking for a while, Xia Hong first glanced toward the depths of Redwood Ridge, then shook his head, turning his attention to the west toward Da Shi Camp’s territory. "Looks like it’s not just Da Shi Camp crossing the boundary; father used to do it too." This conclusion is easy to come to. Given Xia Ding and his group’s strength, they definitely wouldn’t dare venture deep into Redwood Ridge. "I’ve heard there are over three hundred in Da Shi Camp, so that means they must have many more Ice Trees than we do." Upon hearing this, Yuan Cheng was immediately interested. "Then what are we waiting for? Let’s go over there directly to pick some. Previously, they brought people over to steal our Crystal Fruit without any hesitation." Yue Feng, Lin Kai, and the others nodded, having heard about this matter as well. Xia Hong took one look into the depths of Redwood Ridge, thought for a moment, and then nodded too. Currently, they don’t possess the strength to venture deep into Redwood Ridge, so they can only go "borrow" some Crystal Fruit from others. Seeing how Xia Ding managed to support so many people without causing any major conflicts with Da Shi Camp, it’s clear that they must have a surplus of Crystal Fruit over there. Moreover, since Da Shi "borrowed" fruit first, there’s even less psychological burden. "Let’s head over now to see the situation with their Ice Trees." Xia Hong gave the order and led the seven of them over there. Actually, it’s not just to see the situation with their Ice Trees; Xia Hong also wants to see if they can encounter people from Da Shi Camp. Curiously, he hasn’t seen anyone from Da Shi Camp on Redwood Ridge for over a month now. The last time there was a bit of a bluff which scared them off for more than a month from his territory; Xia Hong remains skeptical of this. Being able to survive this long with three to four hundred people in such an environment, they can’t possibly be fools. Xia Hong even suspects that something might have happened to them. Could Da Shi Camp also have been found by that Deceitful Monster? "Hey, there’s something on the ground." Xia Hong’s thoughts were interrupted by Qiu Peng’s loud exclamation. Everyone stopped and turned to see him taking off his grass shoes, clutching his foot, hissing and inhaling from the cold. Everyone quickly gathered around him, asking what happened. Qiu Peng released his hand, revealing a two-inch gash on the sole of his foot, still bleeding heavily, indicating a deep cut. Upon seeing the wound, everyone was taken aback. Though the eight of them didn’t have proper shoes, wearing shoes made of woven dry grass, they had cultivation from the Logging Realm, meaning their bodies were much stronger than ordinary people. It’s rare even to break the skin, let alone incur such a deep wound. "I don’t know what I stepped on; it cut so deep, hissing..." Hearing Qiu Peng’s words, Xia Hong immediately bent down to search carefully around his feet. The ground was covered with snow, making it difficult to see at night, but Xia Hong drew out his stone axe and scraped the ground for a while, quickly hitting something hard. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢 After pushing aside the snow on the ground, he was suddenly taken aback. Lying on the ground was a gleaming large blade. The blade was about palm-width, with the blade itself about one and a half meters long. "Isn’t this the large blade of Wang Ming from Da Shi Camp?" Yuan Cheng exclaimed, instantly recognizing the large blade. Xia Chuan said nothing, but also clearly recognized it. When Xia Hong grasped the large blade, his face showed a flash of joy, but he quickly calmed down and looked below the blade. "There seems to be something else below." Xia Hong first took the large blade and then cleared another layer of snow, a corpse immediately coming into everyone’s view. "It’s Wang Ming. The wound is on the head, punched to death. You guys search around for any other corpses." Xia Hong immediately recognized Wang Ming and, after checking the injuries, his face changed slightly, signaling the others to search around. Everyone dispersed and began searching around with Xia Hong as the center. "I found one here, the wound is on the forehead—a... red spot." "There’s another one nearby." "And another, three fatal wounds, all with red spots on the forehead." Only Lin Kai, who was searching to the west of Wang Ming’s body, found anything, and he discovered three corpses in succession. Xia Hong checked the four corpses separately. Besides Wang Ming, one of the additional corpses was someone he had seen when Wang Ming stole the Crystal Fruit previously. Although he didn’t recognize the other two from their attire, he could judge they were from Da Shi. "They’re all from Da Shi Camp. Something really happened." He had guessed before what might have happened since it’s been so long without seeing anyone from Da Shi Camp. Now, it seemed his guess was right. Not only did something happen, but it also happened on Great Xia’s territory. "What did they encounter? Were they killed by someone else?" "There are no signs of a Cold Beast attack, so it must have been other people." "Which means, besides Da Shi, people from other camps have also intruded into our Great Xia territory?" Xia Chuan, Yuan Cheng, and the others speculated as they looked at the corpses on the ground. Listening to their guesses, Xia Hong glanced at the large blade in his hand, his eyes narrowing as he spoke softly: "Who said it had to be people or Cold Beasts that killed them?" Upon hearing this, everyone’s faces changed dramatically. If it wasn’t people or Cold Beasts, then it could only be... "Return with me first. No more hunting or logging for now!" With that, Xia Hong led the group back towards the camp immediately. However, just as they turned to leave, a corpse to the west of where they had found the bodies a hundred meters away suddenly sat up, slowly turning its head, watching their backs.