Endless Winter: My Camp Upgrades Infinitely

Second Year of Great Xia, June 9th

More than half an hour into the night, northwest of the Beehive, snow was falling heavily.

The Pingxi Plain, with its low vegetation cover, has much thicker ground snow than other places, often reaching three to five meters, and some low-lying areas can be as deep as ten meters or more, and occasionally some ravines can even reach nearly a hundred meters.

The hardness of the Ice Abyss terrain means that falling from a height of over ten meters can injure someone at the Logging Realm; if someone at the freshly broken-through Earth-digging Realm were to fall from nearly a hundred meters, they'd likely suffer severe injuries.

Thus, for those living in this region of Longyou, traveling becomes quite troublesome.

Fortunately, most people usually operate within their own area of influence and basically do not cross into the territories of other camps; for those at the Cold Resistance Level, as well as those with stronger Earth-digging Realm abilities, these troubles can be overcome one way or another.

"That was under normal circumstances; from late April to early May, we relocated over seventy thousand people from Longyou. The Cold Beasts, roadblocks, ravines, accumulated snow... Various accidents occurred along the way, and about four hundred people were casualties during the migration. Luckily, we didn't encounter any Deceitful Monsters; otherwise, this number would have likely been several times higher."

On a raised Snow Hill, Xia Chuan, Peng Bo, Chen Yingyuan, Chen Yingba, Wu Tianxing, Lu Yang, Meng Yi, and Lin Kai stood encircling behind Xia Hong.

With a brushed gold armor, Xia Chuan couldn't help but sigh at Peng Bo's description of Longyou's terrain.

Peng Bo nodded in agreement, "The population migration last month was indeed a special case; usually, there wouldn't be a mass movement of people like this.

But frankly speaking, being able to relocate over seventy thousand people from Longyou to Xia City so far away in just half a month, with a casualty rate of less than one percent, is incredible and wouldn't be believed by any camp's people if they heard it..."

Peng Bo's words resonated with Chen Yingyuan.

"From Wushuang to the Beehive, then through Mirror Valley to Xia City, it's over seventy kilometers in a straight line, and considering the detours, it's easily over a hundred kilometers. Achieving the migration of over seventy thousand people in half a month is indeed astonishing!"

Upon hearing Chen Peng's and their astonishment, Lu Yang, Meng Yi, and Lin Kai, who participated in the migration, wore slight expressions of pride.

Xia Chuan was no exception, but after pondering for a moment, he smiled and explained: "Thanks to people familiar with the route at Wushuang, and with our deployment of a large number of elite forces along the way to ensure safety, the migration was smooth. Of course..."

He paused, turned to look at a distance near the snow hill, and continued, "The most important part is the Xia Direct Path. The most challenging part of the migration route was Longyou; once everyone reaches Mirror Valley, they can quickly take the direct path back to Xia City, making the journey several times faster."

Everyone followed his gaze and nodded slightly.

Clang clang clang...

From beneath the snow hill, came the sound of iron tools being struck one after another.

Following the sound, one could see a five-meter high bonfire not far from the snow hill.

Around the bonfire were hundreds of people, forging iron, driving stakes, cutting wood, moving trees, and a number of armored and sharp-witted members of the elite Hunting Team with strong bows in hand, patrolling the perimeter...

Everyone was clearly assigned, each performing their duties energetically.

"Bring a log, two meters in diameter."

"Start laying the crossboards, ten people lend a hand."

"Clear the snow path ahead in advance, prepare to drive stakes over there."

"On it, on it."

.........

If you look closely, you'll find that right behind the bonfire is a black tunnel entrance buried under the snow.

At the entrance, people continually come and go with tools, transporting timber, iron, or coal stone... it is apparent they are workers on a construction site.

It is hard to imagine that on the bitter cold southeast corner of Longyou, there is such a large-scale construction site involving so many people.

"The Xia Direct Path from Mirror Valley to the Beehive is completed, and there are currently two under construction. The one in front of us connects the Beehive to Wushuang, and another connects the Beehive to Hanqiong Gourd Valley. Once both are completed, in the future, whether transporting resources or mobilizing manpower from Longyou to Redwood Ridge, the efficiency and speed will be over ten times faster than before."

Upon hearing Xia Chuan's words, the others were invigorated.

Transporting resources is secondary; mobilizing manpower is the crucial point.

What does it mean to be ten times faster?

Originally, a road taking ten hours can now be traversed in one hour; for individuals, this might be trivial, but what about an army?

The key is that the Xia Direct Path is buried under the snow, completely enclosed and dark, meaning it can be traversed during the day without interruption.

"The Xia Direct Path is a colossal project, requiring considerable manpower and resources, thus having a long construction period. However, because of this, it is also difficult to destroy; unless someone at the Cold Resistance Level relentlessly sabotages it over time, or a massive Beast Tide tramples it, at most a segment may get damaged, which can be quickly repaired. Its maintenance cost is almost negligible compared to the huge benefit it brings to the camp."

Indeed, as the leader, Chen Yingyuan succinctly pointed out the key advantage of the Xia Direct Path.

Everyone nodded in agreement, showing their approval.

"Once the Xia Direct Path is completed, there will hardly be any maintenance costs, apart from regularly clearing the snow atop the direct path, with each outpost's hunting team patrolling once a night, reporting any issues to the Craftsmen Department for repairs.