Thud! Thud! Thud!
Frost Wolf strode forward heavily, charging in the direction commanded by Han Xing.
Watching the figures of the man and the wolf disappear into the distance, Cao Xing nodded in satisfaction.
A few minutes later.
A system prompt appeared.
[Your territory building "Polar People Hut" has successfully upgraded to Level 2, current Level: 2, maximum recruitment of Polar People: 4/8]
...
Cao Xing's eyes brightened, "Excellent, the Polar People Hut has also been upgraded successfully. Now, I have even more people to work for me!"
Shortly thereafter, four Polar People, holding tools, approached Cao Xing.
"Lord, the task has been completed!"
Cao Xing nodded and then approached the now Level 2 Polar People Hut.
After the upgrade, the "Polar People Hut," originally a small tent, had transformed into a small flat building nearly three meters high and covering almost 20 square meters.
In front of him, the attributes of the building appeared.
[Level 2 Polar People Hut: Can summon Polar People to work for you by consuming food.]
[Coverage Area: 30 square meters]
[Maximum Recruitment Number: 4/8 people]
[Upgrade Requirement: Level 3 Lord's Hut, Stone*100, Wood*200, Iron*50]
...
Cao Xing pondered, "A Level 2 Polar People Hut can only recruit four more Polar People. That's still not enough manpower."
"To continue upgrading, I need a Level 3 Lord's Hut, which can't be built in the short term."
Shaking his head, Cao Xing spent another 20 units of food to summon four more Polar People.
The hut trembled.
Four Polar People surged out.
"Respected Lord, the Polar People report to you!"
Liu Muxue, standing aside, exclaimed softly, "Ah! A few more Polar People have emerged..."
Cao Xing nodded and then continued naming these Polar People.
From Wuzhuang, Liuzhuang, up to Bazhuang before he stopped.
The Polar People respectfully responded, "Thank you, Lord, for bestowing us with names."
[System Prompt: You have successfully granted names to the Polar People, Wuzhuang's loyalty increases by 5 points…]
[System Prompt: You have successfully granted names to the Polar People, Liuzhuang's loyalty increases by 5 points…]
Prompts regarding increased goodwill continued to appear.
Cao Xing first turned to Dazhuang, then said, "Dazhuang, you lead Erzhuang to Sizhuang, four of you go mine that coal mine fully."
"Wuzhuang and Liuzhuang, your task is to fell the nearby timber and then transport it to the Logging Factory for processing."
"Bazhuang and Qizhuang, your task is to collect more stones to build the Ore Processing Plant."
"Did everyone understand?"
The eight Polar People glanced at each other and respectfully saluted, "Understood, Lord!"
Then, under Dazhuang's lead, the Polar People enthusiastically began their work.
"Axing, is there anything I need to do?" Liu Muxue asked softly at the side.
Cao Xing glanced at Liu Muxue, who wore only the small wooden shield and a stone axe,
The shield also showed cracks from battle and seemed ready to completely fall apart after another fight.
With that in mind, Cao Xing said, "Saozi, I'll go to the market to see if there's anything useful."
Liu Muxue nodded gently, "Hmm...I'll leave it to you."
Cao Xing checked his food reserves.
[Food: Bread*45, Snake Meat*10, Wolf Meat*132]
"The food supply is still sufficient; I can spare some to trade for supplies or equipment."
He opened the market channel.
The auction items had increased by several dozen pages.
It seemed that more and more survivors, or rather groups, had built their own Markets.
Cao Xing entered "equipment" in the search field and started filtering.
Some basic white-grade equipment appeared, such as stone axes and stone spears.
Among them, a few iron items were sold at quite high prices.
Cao Xing shook his head; the attribute of this equipment was too poor to offer any improvement.
Just then, he saw an auction item.
[Auction Items: Rusty Iron Shield (White)*1.]
[Required Items: Food*50 or Medical Kit*1.]
[Auction Person: Chen Yuan]
(Seller's Note: Top Grade Iron Shield, impressive defensive power, first come, first served.)
Cao Xing glanced at the Iron Shield's attributes, with an armor value of 5-8 points—almost double that of Liu Muxue's Small Wooden Shield.
Although it wasn't top grade, it was decent.
Thus, Cao Xing, as usual, directly offered a price.
Cao Xing: "20 units of food for the Rusty Iron Shield."
Moments later, the other party responded with one word.
"Scram."
What the... this guy, such a temper, can't even handle a bargain.
Cao Xing was amused.
He shook his head but didn't mind.
Then, he posted his own auction item.
[Auction Items: Fresh Wolf Meat (Green)]
[Required Items: Equipment, Weapon, Skill Book]
[Auction Person: Cao Xing]
(Seller's Note: Fresh wolf meat, 1 piece of wolf meat = 5 units of food, needed by Aurora Knights and Frost Mages, equipment, Skill Books, PM if interested.)
...
It wasn't long after the Wolf Meat was listed that survivors immediately noticed the information in the market.
"Holy cow! Someone is selling food in the market, and it's Green Grade Wolf Meat!"
"Wolf Meat? Aren't all the wolves in the wild at least Level 3 monsters? Who is this powerhouse that has slain wolves so quickly!"
"Too strong, I'm still gnawing on dry bread while others are already eating meat."
"This big guy wants equipment and a skill book, who has them, go and trade with the big guy!"
...
At this stage, when everyone was worried about food, someone actually sold food, precious wolf meat at that, causing quite a stir.
Sure enough, it wasn't long before Cao Xing received the first private message.
Ren Yixu: "Brother, I see something extraordinary in you. I have a +18 top grade sword here, only selling it for 5 pieces of wolf meat, what do you think?"
Cao Xing was pleased, "Send it over and let me see."
[System Prompt: Rusty Iron Sword (White), Quality: Ordinary, Attack Power: 6~8, Attached Effect: None]
Cao Xing: "..."
"Is this the +18 top-grade sword you were talking about?"
Ren Yixu laughed, "I forgot to mention, this is the future +18 enhanced greatsword. With my skills, I will definitely enhance it to 18!"
Cao Xing, speechless, simply said, "2 pieces of wolf meat."
Ren Yixu was stunned, "That little?"
"Are you selling or not?"
"Selling!"
Ren Yixu promptly agreed.
Cao Xing, still speechless, modified the trade information.
[System Prompt: Trade successful, you have received Rusty Iron Sword (White), and you have lost Fresh Wolf Meat (Green)*2.]
Then, Cao Xing received many more private messages.
In them, not many were selling equipment; most wanted to trade their other territory supplies, such as wood, stone, and a small amount of iron.
For these survivors, Cao Xing would always remind them of the importance of these basic materials, the foundation of survival, and that they shouldn't be sold lightly.
Some survivors heeded the advice and gave up on the trade, but others insisted on trading with Cao Xing.
They told Cao Xing, people are nearly starving, who's thinking about future development? Of course, filling their bellies comes first.
Seeing these messages, Cao Xing pondered quietly.
"Since they want to sell, I might as well first gather some supplies."
"But I don't have much wolf meat storage, so I can't buy up all those stones and woods in large quantities."
"However, it might be possible to exchange some iron first, then build up the [Blacksmith Shop]."
Once the [Blacksmith Shop] was constructed, simple iron tools like iron axes, iron shovels, and iron spears could be made there.
Other equipment would need specific blueprints for production.
However, currently, the survivors had very little iron, at most two or three pieces.
Trading one piece of wolf meat for two irons, Cao Xing would be at a loss.
So, Cao Xing asked the system, "Is it possible to divide wolf meat into smaller portions?"
A system prompt appeared.
[System Prompt: 1 piece of wolf meat can be split into up to 10 smaller portions, 100g each.]
Cao Xing was stunned, it really was possible!
So, he took out 5 pieces of wolf meat and split them into 50 portions.
Then, Cao Xing modified the trading conditions.
The auction ratio was 1 wolf meat portion for 2 pieces of iron.
Attention was again drawn in the regional channel.
"Guys, the big guy has changed the terms, you can now trade iron for wolf meat, anyone with iron, go trade!"
"I just happen to have two pieces, I will go trade with this big guy right now."
"Damn, I also really want to eat meat, save me some!"
Cao Xing kept receiving trade requests.
[System Prompt: Trade successful, you have received Iron*2, and you have lost Wolf Meat*100g]
[System Prompt: Trade successful, you have received Iron*4, and you have lost Wolf Meat*200g]
[System Prompt: Trade successful, you have received Iron Round Shield (White)*1, and you have lost Fresh Wolf Meat*5.]
…
Apart from a large amount of iron, Cao Xing also received a shield as he had hoped.
Cao Xing checked the attributes.
[Iron Round Shield (White), Quality: Ordinary, Armor Value: 9~11, Attached Effect: None]
Although it was just a white shield, it was much better in attributes than the wood shield Liu Muxue had.
It wasn't long before the dozen pieces of wolf meat Cao Xing had put up were all snapped up.
And in Cao Xing's inventory, 100 pieces of iron appeared!
Now, he had enough iron to build the [Blacksmith Shop].
Joy appeared in Cao Xing's eyes, "Compared to slowly gathering, trading with other survivors is much faster!"
Of course, this method required having enough resources oneself.
Now that the population of his territory had increased so much, the daily consumption of food was a significant number.
Thus, he could only sell a small part of his food to trade for materials.
Just as Cao Xing was about to end the trade, the survivor named Chen Yuan sent another message.
"Brother, that iron shield is yours for 10 pieces of wolf meat."
He seemed to have also noticed the market movements.
Seeing this message, Cao Xing couldn't help but laugh.
This guy really dares to set prices, treating his own worn-out shield like a treasure.
Cao Xing had just obtained that shield through trade, not only was it better in attributes than this [Rusty Iron Shield], but it had also only cost him 5 pieces of wolf meat.
So, Cao Xing replied, "No need, keep it for yourself."
Hearing this, the survivor named Chen Yuan immediately panicked.
"Brother, don't do this! We can talk this over, 8 pieces, surely 8 pieces will do?"
Cao Xing didn't bother replying.
The other side pleaded desperately, "6 pieces, I really can't go any lower, don't be too greedy."
Cao Xing still did not reply.
Chen Yuan urgently said, "I am Chen Yuan from the Three Heroes Association, give me some face, take this shield for 5 pieces of wolf meat."
"..."
Chen Yuan seemed to have lost his patience.
"4 pieces of wolf meat! That's my final offer, I'm advising you not to be shameless!"
His tone became more impatient.
At that point, Cao Xing replied indifferently, "Scram."
...