Chapter 166: Camp Arrangements
“My lord.”
“My lord.”
When Zhou Ming returned, Lin Hai and Lu Tao immediately stepped forward to welcome him.
“Mm.”
Zhou Ming merely responded briefly before directly inspecting the results of their work over the past few days.
Because the Wildfolk had to prioritize survival, they had not spent much effort carefully constructing the caves formed by the underground dark river’s erosion.
If one were to describe the Wildfolk camp’s first impression to Zhou Ming, the word “slum” fit it perfectly.
However, this could not really be blamed on the Wildfolk. After all, every few years or at most every decade, they had to search for a new hidden location.
The camp before them, if not for its exceptionally good environment, would never have been used continuously for twenty to thirty years without being abandoned.
After making a round of inspection, Zhou Ming expressed satisfaction with the work done by Lin Hai and Lu Tao.
The main cave was about two hundred meters long, with its widest point reaching fifty meters, and an underground dark river flowed through the middle.
Under Zhou Ming’s instructions, the tents, wooden huts, and other messy structures here had already been cleared away.
The current work mainly involved leveling the ground and raising the lower areas on both sides of the dark river. This would become the core area of the camp.
At present, everyone else had already moved into the narrow caves along the dark river’s tributaries. In the future, Zhou Ming planned to widen those caves and carve out passages to fully connect them together.
From then on, there would be no need to enter individual caves from the tributary forks of the dark river, allowing quick movement between all the caves.
“Not bad. Although there aren’t major changes, being able to act according to my requirements is worth praise.”
“Thank you for your praise, my lord.”
Although he had received Zhou Ming’s praise, Lu Tao from the Internal Affairs Department showed hesitation. After hesitating for several breaths, he finally gathered the courage to report.
“My lord, with the camp’s current resources, this is already the limit of what can be done. As for the follow-up…”
“Don’t worry. I won’t ask you to cook a meal without rice. I’ve already found cooperation partners on this trip out. They’ll provide the resources you need later on.”
Afterward, Zhou Ming carefully arranged the trading location and the method of exchange. Only then did his gaze shift to the few people standing behind Lu Tao and Lin Hai.
“They’re the ones who previously went out hunting and gathering?”
Zhou Ming had already noticed the few people behind Lu Tao.
The aura around them didn’t resemble ordinary Wildfolk. Instead, they were more like hunters who frequently ventured into the wilderness.
“My lord, yes. Please allow me to introduce them one by one.”
This time, Lin Hai took the initiative to step forward and report.
“Mm.”
After receiving Zhou Ming’s consent, Lin Hai immediately pointed at two young men with similar appearances, lean builds, and buzz cuts.
“My lord, these are Li Hu and Li Bao, two brothers. They’re the best marksmen in our camp.”
“The two of them are skilled at using sniper rifles and once jointly hunted and killed a low-tier ferocious beast, the Spiral-Horn Blade Sheep.”
Hearing the Li brothers’ achievements, Zhou Ming was somewhat surprised.
The Spiral-Horn Blade Sheep had a body length close to two and a half meters and excelled at jumping and running.
The pair of curved horns on its head were as hard as steel, with exceptionally sharp sides and tips. Whether charging head-on or engaging in close combat, it was considered a formidable existence even among low-tier ferocious beasts.
Seeing the satisfied look on Zhou Ming’s face, Lin Hai continued introducing another person. The man stood two meters tall, with bronze-like skin, and from afar looked almost like a humanoid bear.
“My lord, this is Qiu Tieyi. He specializes in body-tempering martial arts. He once relied on a single battle blade to slay a mutated fierce tiger, and he can operate a heavy machine gun while standing. He’s the number one martial artist in our camp.”
“Exiled?”
The burly man before him was clearly not born in the camp. After all, body-tempering martial arts required massive amounts of food and medicinal materials, something the camp’s resources simply couldn’t support.
“Because of killing someone in a moment of impulsiveness, I was exiled from the base three years ago.”
Upon hearing Zhou Ming’s question, Qiu Tieyi immediately admitted it.
“I’ll test your physique.”
Zhou Ming’s tone was calm, yet it carried an unquestionable authority.
“Yes.”
Seeing the cold look in Zhou Ming’s eyes, Qiu Tieyi subconsciously swallowed and could only agree.
Just as Qiu Tieyi set his stance, planted his feet, and placed both hands at his waist, Zhou Ming’s palm, as refined and flawless as carved white jade, lightly pressed against Qiu Tieyi’s body.
In the next instant, Qiu Tieyi felt an overwhelming force crash into him like a collapsing mountain and raging sea, and his body uncontrollably slammed into the rock wall behind him.
Fortunately, the cave had been formed by thousands of years of erosion from the underground dark river. Moreover, due to changes brought by the dimensional rifts on Blue Star, the cave’s rock had already fused into a single solid mass.
Otherwise, such a violent impact might have caused the cave to collapse.
At this moment, Qiu Tieyi’s face was pale, his entire body leaning against the rock wall.
The others around them were confused, not understanding Zhou Ming’s intention in doing this.
“Body-tempering martial arts already damage the body. For the past three years, you haven’t had good resources to replenish yourself, and instead you accumulated a body full of hidden injuries during hunting.”
“With your current condition, those hidden injuries will erupt within a year at most, and you’ll die from the exhaustion of your qi and blood.”
“That palm strike just now shattered your old, deep-seated ailments. Combined with this low-tier healing potion, it’ll be enough to completely cure your hidden injuries from the root.”
Zhou Ming took out a vial of low-tier potion and signaled Lin Hai to help feed it to him.
As soon as the potion entered his mouth, Qiu Tieyi immediately felt as if every cell in his body had come alive, no longer carrying that dead, stagnant sensation he used to feel.
With the help of the low-tier potion, Qiu Tieyi was barely able to stand up.
“Thank you, my lord.”
“Don’t be happy too soon. A low-tier healing potion is worth seven to eight hundred thousand. If your performance is poor, I’ll use your body to repay my losses.”
When everyone present heard this, a chill immediately rose in their hearts. They naturally understood what Zhou Ming meant.
If Qiu Tieyi’s value couldn’t compensate for the low-tier healing potion, then he would become an experimental subject.
“Please rest assured, my lord. If I don’t perform well enough, I’ll submit to any punishment you see fit.”
Originally, he had only a year left to live. Now that he had a chance to live longer, Qiu Tieyi didn’t find Zhou Ming’s words unreasonable.
After three years of Wildfolk life, he had gained a clearer understanding of this world. If he had been a Beast Tamer back then, the crime he committed wouldn’t even have been enough to warrant exile.
“Good that you understand. Here’s a copy of Mad Python Martial Way. It contains my detailed martial insights. I want you to master it as soon as possible and then start teaching the others.”
Cultivating Beast Tamers was too slow. Zhou Ming planned to cultivate a group of assassins and gunfighters through martial arts instead.
In the early stage, Qiu Tieyi and the others would first enhance their strength through martial arts. Later on, Zhou Ming planned for them to practice the Beast King Body.
By practicing gene martial arts using Ironthread Snake blood, Zhou Ming could not only help them suppress the flaws of gene martial arts, but also use the power of bloodlines to ensure the loyalty of his subordinates.
He could even carry out subsequent bloodline fusion experiments on them. This would both increase the strength of his subordinates and help him obtain more experimental data.
This was precisely why Zhou Ming was willing to expend a low-tier healing potion to save Qiu Tieyi.
Afterward, Lin Hai continued introducing the remaining people.
Once he had understood the camp’s “elite” combat strength, Zhou Ming issued some simple instructions.
With the Li brothers and Qiu Tieyi as the core, a Training Department would be established. It would mainly teach firearms skills, martial arts, various tactical maneuvers, wilderness survival, emergency treatment, and other skills within the camp.
Everyone else would be assigned to the External Affairs Department. Stronger camp members would be selected to form three external-duty squads, each with thirty people.
One squad would go out hunting to gather resources, one would be responsible for camp security, and one would rest while learning martial arts and shooting.
After roughly setting up the system, Zhou Ming became a hands-off leader and directly went to the underground lake for secluded cultivation.