Endless Winter: My Camp Upgrades Infinitely

Chapter 422: Chapter 200: Xu An, Ten Thousand Urgent, Presenting Treasure (Part 3)

“The camps refusing to merge are mostly controlled by a handful of elites who are unwilling to relinquish their supreme status. They incite others to resist the Great Xia and even go as far as to slander us.

Even if you force this small group to come to the Great Xia, they will surely harbor ulterior motives. These people require a lot of effort to reform and transform, and success is not guaranteed, making it a risky and unwise investment.

As for those beneath them, those willing to believe their words and be persuaded are not the brightest. Truly intelligent people will find a way to personally experience the Great Xia and will answer for themselves whether to leave or stay.”

After hearing Xu An’s words, everyone nodded slightly.

Someone then thought of something and said with a smile, “Actually, not merging doesn’t make a difference. When I arrived five days ago, I heard that although those four families refused to join the Great Xia, they still covet our resources. They especially envy our beast meat, weapons, tools, clothes, and fabrics. I heard that Qiu Sizheng has sent representatives from the Camp Supply Department here to trade with them every ten days. With just a small amount of stuff, we can exchange for a large quantity of iron and coal, as well as other precious resources…”

At these words, smiles appeared on everyone’s faces.

Given Great Xia’s current productivity, for the four camps on the north slope of Five Ape Mountain, it’s like a dimensionality reduction attack.

Take, for example, the simplest ten-forged weapons. Although they can be forged by anyone at the Earth-digging Realm, the ones produced by the Great Xia are entirely different from those made by other camps.

Once such a trade is formed, it is undoubtedly unequal.

“This is the way to go, ruthlessly seizing their resources, iron ore, coal stone, and other rare materials. These camps don’t even know how to use them properly. It’s better for them to flow to our Great Xia.”

Upon hearing one member say this, Xu An immediately shook his head and said, “This cannot be considered us seizing their resources. At most, it’s a mutual agreement. The trade was proposed by them, and the things they can offer are not very tempting to us. However, the resources we can provide, such as beast meat, tools, better weapons, warmer clothing, and various medicines, are very important to them.

So, who gains and who loses is really uncertain.”

After pondering for a moment, everyone nodded in agreement.

“Captain, how do you even understand this stuff?”

“What’s so difficult about it? I’ve told you all to read more books regularly, but you never listen. As long as you read and think more, it will naturally become clear.”

After Xu An answered, seeing his team members looking at him admiringly, his face turned slightly red, and he quickly turned around, pretending to look elsewhere.

Of course, Xu An didn’t really understand these things. He heard them from Qiu Peng when he was talking with Xu Ning before.

“Ahem, stop with the chatter, and let’s take another careful look up front. If there’s nothing to find, let’s head back quickly!”

Worried that his team would keep asking questions and he might slip up, Xu An changed the subject and led the group north for over a hundred meters. Finding nothing, he planned to return to the Five Ape Mountain base.

“Alright, everyone fall back. Li Hun, take a few people and bring that Frost Electric Ape over here. The rest stay with me and wait for a while.”

“Yes, Captain.”

A young man stepped out of the team, taking four others with him, and quickly ran towards the east side.

They didn’t come up empty tonight. Earlier in the night, they already hunted a Frost Electric Ape, which they hid in a nearby large tree due to the hassle of carrying it.

The place they hid the prey wasn’t far, and Li Hun and the others returned quickly.

However, it seemed they brought back more than just the Frost Electric Ape.

“Captain, we found a critically injured unconscious person, take a look…”

As Li Hun approached, everyone realized he had someone on his back.

It was a youth of about sixteen or seventeen, wearing a blue beast skin clothing of visibly inferior craftsmanship compared to the Great Xia’s. The youth had his eyes closed, with a chest wound and three iron arrows lodged in his back, clearly in a state of severe injury and unconsciousness.

Xu An stepped forward to inspect the youth’s clothes and examined the three iron arrows for a moment before furrowing his brow and asking, “Where did you find him?”

Li Hun quickly responded, “Right next to the tree where we hid the Frost Electric Ape. The kid must have buried himself in the snow before passing out, but he forgot to cover his tracks, so I spotted him at a glance. By the time I dug him out, his body was almost stiff. Captain, look at his hand…”

Following Li Hun’s words, Xu An looked down at the youth’s hand, and his expression suddenly paused.

The youth’s right hand held a small dagger, while his left hand was tightly clutching a rectangular wooden box. It wasn’t clear if he was frozen or something else, but the veins and bones were very prominent, indicating he had been gripping it tightly before passing out.

Xu An reached out, pinched the corner of the wooden box, and pulled gently.

“Hmm?”

Seeing that the wooden box didn’t move an inch, Xu An raised his eyebrow, feeling the faint breath of the youth, and a hint of curiosity emerged in his eyes.

“This kid, on the brink of death, still doesn’t forget to hold onto the wooden box?”

“What’s this precious item? Captain, let’s take a look.”

Xu An shook his head, let go of the box, and after thinking for a moment, took out a red pill from his pocket and placed it into the youth’s mouth.

“Hot Wind Pill? Captain, that’s a valuable item, you’re giving it to him?”

The Hot Wind Pill, which can quickly cure chills, costs 20 Contribution Value a piece and is not cheap in the Great Xia.

“Let’s wake him up first and see what’s going on. Hold him down!”