Endless Winter: My Camp Upgrades Infinitely

"Third Brother, take twenty people to explore this tunnel, sort out the tunnel numbers, identify the direction of Tunnel No. 1, and confirm the exact location of the Hive Station's main entrance."

They only confirmed the entrance's location, but the specifics of the underground, what traps Great Xia had set, they knew nothing about. In such circumstances, Li Xuanling naturally wouldn't recklessly lead the army down but instead instructed his third brother Li Xuandu to lead the exploration.

The situation of all eleven camps in Longyou, Long Mountain was well aware of, and Li Xuandu was the person who had been organizing this intelligence for years. The twenty-nine tunnels beneath the Hive, including their location information, he knew best, so he was naturally the choice for the exploration.

"There shouldn't be any problems, I'll go right away!"

The twenty people Li Xuandu led were not regular Longyou Army soldiers but real Cold Resistance Level from Long Mountain. With so many Cold Resistance Level going down together, let alone traps, even if all the Great Xia people were hiding in the tunnels, they had nothing to fear.

Soon, Li Xuandu led twenty people down from the entrance.

Time slowly passed, and after waiting for a full half hour, Li Xuandu and his team did not come back up. Li Xuanling's face gradually showed a hint of impatience. He looked up at the sky, and his expression slightly hardened.

The Ice Abyss night lasted only ten hours in total, and tonight the army had already spent three and a half hours marching from Wushuang. Another hour was spent searching for the entrance, and now it had been over six hours in total.

There were only just over three hours left until dawn!

If they delayed further, tonight there would definitely be no battle.

Another half hour passed, just as Li Xuanling couldn't resist wanting to send more people down, Li Xuandu led his team, climbing up from the tunnel.

"Why did it take so long, what's the situation underground?"

Li Xuandu and his team's response appeared normal, suggesting they hadn't encountered any ambush, but their expressions were grim, clearly bringing back bad news.

"Great Xia has completely altered the underground tunnels, making them unrecognizable. We spent a long time using brute force to break through more than a dozen filled tunnels before we could map out all the tunnels' situations and create a draft map."

Li Xuandu took out two Beast Skin Rolls from his person and handed them to Li Xuanling.

The one on the left was a clearly organized diagram of the underground tunnels. From No. 1 to No. 29, all tunnels were clearly marked;

While the one on the right was a draft map of winding tunnels with many cut-off paths in the middle, with ink marks still wet, obviously drawn by Li Xuandu in the past hour.

"Can you sort it out and find the location of Tunnel No. 1?"

Li Xuanling only glanced at the draft map and immediately frowned and inquired.

Tunnel No. 1 is the only passage connecting to the Hive's main underground area. To find the main area, they must find Tunnel No. 1.

From this draft map on the right, it appeared Great Xia had scrambled all the underground tunnels, naturally not leaving any numbering for them. Therefore, to find Tunnel No. 1, it could only be done through field surveying and comparing with the original map.

"I stayed down there so long to try to find Tunnel No. 1's location, but Great Xia's destruction is simply too thorough. I can't do it in a short time. I need more manpower, preferably another twenty people, and give me two hours; I should be able to find it."

Hearing this, Li Xuanling showed no surprise.

The complexity and length of the Hive's underground tunnels are famous in Longyou. Li Xuandu being confident in finding it in just two hours was already quite impressive.

"Go gather the people first and be careful. Find it as soon as possible."

"Okay!"

Though she nodded in agreement for Li Xuandu to lead more people down, her expression involuntarily grew much more somber.

It was confirmed tonight there would be no battle; it meant another day was wasted.

According to the previous guess by Meng Ying and Li Xuandu, Great Xia retreating into the Hive was to make them retreat in difficulty, luring them to attack Xia City.

This guess was indeed logical and made sense, which was why Li Xuanling did not refute them.

But not refuting did not mean agreeing.

"Heading south to Mirror Valley to attack Xia City is clearly a foolish move. I would never do something so stupid. If Xia Hong really thinks like that, then he underestimates me. But if it's not that, then it proves he merely wants to use the Hive to stall my three thousand Longyou Army..."

Li Xuanling frowned deeply, and in the end, one question lingered in her mind: what was Great Xia's ultimate purpose in retreating into the Hive and stalling her three thousand Longyou Army?

Xia City had no reinforcements, Longyou couldn't have any other camps to aid Great Xia, and nine thousand people in underground cultivation was simply impossible.

So what was it for?

There's no reason!

"Leader, dawn is approaching. Should we have the army camp on the spot?"

While Li Xuanling was deep in thought, Meng Ying suddenly approached and asked.

She didn't answer immediately but first glanced at the newly discovered underground tunnel entrance, then said, "No need, wait for Third Brother to find the location of Tunnel No. 1. I'll lead you into the underground to camp."

Camp underground?

Meng Ying was momentarily stunned, a bit taken aback, but seeing Li Xuanling already closing her eyes to rest, clearly unwilling to say more, he didn't question further.

Time slowly passed as Li Xuanling, a few Cold Resistance Level, and the three thousand Longyou Army waited quietly. Just half an hour before dawn, Li Xuandu's excited voice finally came from the tunnel entrance.