Endless Winter: My Camp Upgrades Infinitely

Hearing Xia Hong's words, Xia Chuan immediately nodded. He certainly wouldn't be so naive as to believe the two of them outright, as he had also considered these two possibilities.

"I thought of that too. Regardless of which possibility it is, they definitely want Solidified Fire Oil. I stalled them for a while, and finally, the two sides had no choice but to agree to give me 200 pounds."

As Xia Chuan spoke, a smile appeared on his face. This is the advantage of being in a superior position in negotiations; both sides are waiting for Solidified Fire Oil to save people. He grasped this point firmly, ensuring a deal where he couldn't lose.

"I can tell that 200 pounds is pretty much their limit. Using Silver Melting Water to save people must be quite painful for them. They'd rather give us 200 pounds to exchange for Solidified Fire Oil, which proves silver is indeed very important and rare."

Xia Hong nodded and continued to ask, "You've listed so many resources. How exactly do you plan to trade them?"

Jade Bone and the other eleven herbs are easy enough; anyone can bring them over. But not the other items: 20 million Iron Ore, 50 million coal stones, 3 million beast meat. Just these three alone would require a substantial amount of manpower and resources to transport, so they can't be delivered all at once.

Xia Chuan replied, "I gave each of them 100 blocks of Solidified Fire Oil in advance to take back with them. Once they return, they'll immediately bring the Jade Bone and herbs here. The three largest resource categories—beast meat, coal stones, Iron Ore—will be delivered to Wushuang in five batches within a month."

Their inventory of coal stones and Iron Ore is certainly substantial, but taking out so much at once probably isn't easy;

As for beast meat, it's even more challenging. It's not that I doubt their hunting abilities. Having stayed in Ping Valley, I know the hunting ability of Zhaoyang Camp exceeds that of Great Xia. Three million pounds of beast meat isn't that difficult for them.

The challenge here is providing so much all at once.

Zhaoyang's population is over sixty thousand, Long Mountain has over seventy thousand. A large population means significant resource consumption. Even at one pound per person per day, they consume over two million pounds of beast meat monthly. No matter how strong their hunting ability is, they can't have too much stocked up.

Three million pounds of beast meat in a month's time should be more than enough.

"One hundred blocks of Solidified Fire Oil, based on the situation last night, is enough to save only about five hundred people. Once these two return, they should quickly bring the Jade Bone, the other eleven herbs, and the silver. The remaining nine hundred blocks will be given directly to them, even though they probably still won't have enough. As long as they promptly provide the remaining beast meat, Iron Ore, and coal, we can continue to release more Solidified Fire Oil. Our stock is sufficient, as long as they're willing to trade resources, we can continuously sell Solidified Fire Oil..."

Xia Chuan grew more excited as he spoke, even unable to stop himself from exclaiming, "I'm beginning to feel that the Deceitful Monster is not such a bad thing. This White Dew Gu came at just the right time; the population of Great Xia has just surged, leading to a large resource gap. I'm even hoping this Dewdrop Plague can last a bit longer!"

Hearing Xia Chuan's words, Xia Hong's expression slightly darkened as he reprimanded:

"There must be a limit to resource acquisition; don't harbor such thoughts. Those who play with fire will ultimately get burned. Even though the White Dew Gu has been slain by me, the longer this Dewdrop Plague lasts, the more unpredictable changes could occur. Great Xia is now part of Longyou; we must think long-term. The 130,000 people of Long Mountain and Zhaoyang will eventually become people of Great Xia. If they're all killed, it would be a loss for Great Xia as well!"

Xia Chuan's expression froze upon hearing this. He pondered for a moment with a gradually sobering expression, and with a tinge of regret, he said, "I was thinking wrong. Thank you, brother, for pointing it out."

Seeing Xia Chuan genuinely coming to his senses, Xia Hong nodded slightly, his expression softening.

The fact is, Xia Chuan's idea holds significant operability for Great Xia, which possesses the divine object of Solidified Fire Oil. By allowing the Deceitful Monster to exist and trading Solidified Fire Oil for other camps' resources, they could be invincible.

However, this idea also carries immense danger!

Acquiring resources in this way, should Great Xia become accustomed to it, will inevitably foster a lax and lazy culture among the camp inhabitants. After all, if everything can be obtained through trade, who would want to hunt, chop wood, or mine?

This isn't even the most dangerous part. Allowing the Deceitful Monster to exist unchecked is an extremely dangerous and terrifying ordeal. Once the balance is lost, it would harm others and themselves, and Great Xia wouldn't be immune to disaster.

The three Deceitful Monsters encountered so far were not simple at all.

Take the recent White Dew Gu, for example. On the night of Hanqiong, after Xia Hong escaped from being suppressed, it recognized the lack of threat and began slaughtering in Gourd Valley. Even Li Xuanling and ten other Cold Resistance Level individuals were scared away.

Had Xia Hong not quickly learned the details from Xia Chuan and rushed back to Xia City to retrieve the Cold Ruins Tripod and subdue it in Gourd Valley, Longyou's outcome could have been entirely different from now.

Therefore, Xia Chuan's idea must be nipped in the bud.

"Continue overseeing the trade. Once they deliver the goods, report back to me."

Xia Hong waved to dismiss Xia Chuan and turned back to the inner chamber, quietly awaiting news from the Alchemy Room.

Li Xuandu and Hou Quan acted swiftly. Within two hours, both had rushed back from their respective camps to Wushuang. Once they left, Xia Chuan immediately and anxiously brought over 200 pounds of Jade Bone, along with all sorts of herbs required to produce 180 pounds of Jade Bone Medicine, placing them in front of Xia Hong.