Chapter 189: Survival Difficulty Increases, Four Major Legions of District 174

Renice nestled in Cao Xing's arms, her face flushed with satisfaction, and whispered softly, "Finally, I have received the Lord's affection…"

Cao Xing was taken aback, then smiled and asked, "Have you been waiting long?"

"Mm…"

Renice nodded shyly.

Cao Xing smiled and said, "If I have time tonight, I'll come find you again."

Hearing this, Renice became even happier, nodding her head like a chick pecking at rice.

At that moment, Cao Xing suddenly said, "Oh, by the way, I have something for you."

With that, he took out the [Cruel Gloves] and [Fierce Beast Leather Pants] from his backpack.

Renice gently took the two pieces of equipment.

Feeling the aura emanating from them, she knew they were extremely suitable for her.

She carefully put the equipment away.

Then, under Cao Xing's astonished gaze, Renice directly slipped into the bed.

The next moment, Cao Xing felt a softness envelop him.

He couldn't help but take a sharp breath of cold air.

"Hiss!!"

Another half hour passed.

Cao Xing finally left Renice's room…

The cold night wind howled.

Mixed with the warmth emanating from the furnace, it gradually cooled his heated mind.

It was now almost the middle of the night.

Cao Xing thought to himself with a strange expression, "I still have some elite souls and equipment in my backpack that I haven't distributed."

"But it's too late now."

"Forget it, I'll just go back to my room and sleep today…"

Just as he was about to return to the Lords Cabin, he suddenly saw a dark figure flash before him.

And it sneaked into the cowshed.

"Huh? Who's that?" Cao Xing was startled.

"Could it be another infiltrator? Didn Sarah notice?"

Thinking of this possibility, Cao Xing immediately became nervous.

After all, the [Cowshed] housed over a dozen Cloud Yaks, a significant fortune of his.

Whoever it was, sneaking into the cowshed in the dead of night couldn't be up to any good.

He quietly followed.

Then stopped in front of the wooden door of the cowshed.

Through the crack, he saw a petite figure carrying a small wooden bucket slip into the midst of the Cloud Yaks.

After recognizing the figure inside, Cao Xing's face darkened.

'Creak!'

Cao Xing pushed open the cowshed door and asked with a dark face, "Elisa, what are you doing?"

Hearing Cao Xing's voice, the little girl who was milking was so startled she nearly jumped on the spot.

She hastily hid the small wooden bucket behind her back.

"L-L-Lord!"

"How did you get here?"

Cao Xing said speechlessly, "You ask me how I got here? Why aren't you sleeping in the middle of the night, sneaking here to steal milk again?"

Realizing she had been caught, Elisa decided not to hide it anymore.

She quickly ran to Cao Xing, knelt down gently, hugged his leg, and pleaded with a pitiful look.

"Boo hoo… Lord, Elisa was wrong…"

"Please forgive Elisa just this once, I won't dare again…"

Seeing her like this, Cao Xing was once again speechless.

He said, "Alright, get up. I didn't say I was going to do anything to you."

Hearing this, the little girl immediately jumped up and said happily, "Wow! Thank you, Lord."

"I knew the Lord would forgive me!"

Cao Xing was utterly speechless. "I didn't say I forgive you."

"First, tell me, isn't there milk in the cafeteria? Why do you have to sneak here to steal it?"

Elisa became excited and said, "Of course, because fresh milk tastes better!"

"Especially Cloud Yak milk, it's only in the first few minutes after milking that it has the most delicious flavor!"

"Elisa loves drinking milk the most!"

Cao Xing's mouth twitched, and he revealed a wicked smile.

"Is that so? Then should I tell Mr. Mel about you sneaking here to drink milk in the middle of the night?"

Hearing this, Elisa immediately became nervous.

"Waa! Don't tell my father, he'll knock my head and won't let me have milk for days!"

Just then, Elisa shuffled over shyly, turned around, and bent over.

Pointing her little bottom at Cao Xing.

Cao Xing was bewildered. "What are you doing?"

Elisa said pitifully, "I know I was wrong. Let the Lord spank me a few times, and please don't tell my father…"

Cao Xing was about to say no.

But a mischievous thought arose in his heart.

So, Cao Xing placed the little girl over his lap and gave her bottom a few 'smack smack smack' slaps.

Smack! Smack smack!

Each time he slapped, Cao Xing felt a soft touch.

And Elisa's body trembled slightly with each slap, letting out pleas for mercy.

"Boo… boohoo…"

"Lord… Elisa was wrong…"

The girl's pleas didn't make Cao Xing ease up; instead, he hit harder.

"Boo hoo…"

But after a few times, Elisa suddenly stopped moving.

Cao Xing thought he might have hit too hard and stopped.

"Elisa? Did I hit too hard?"

But at that moment, the little girl lifted her head.

Under Cao Xing's astonished gaze, she cupped his face and kissed him directly.

At that moment, Cao Xing was completely dumbfounded.

He hadn't expected Elisa to make such a bold move.

Their lips met.

Although Elisa's movements were still clumsy, it had a unique charm…

And a faint fragrance reached his nose.

Mm… and a hint of milk scent…

After a moment, they parted lips.

Elisa wiped the saliva from the corner of her mouth.

She gave a sly smile and said, "Lord, you can't tell my father~"

With that, Elisa trotted out of the cowshed…

It took Cao Xing a while to come to his senses.

He touched the lingering fragrance at the corner of his mouth and said speechlessly, "Geez… I think I've been outwitted by this little girl."

"Next time I get the chance, I'll teach you a lesson."

Cao Xing couldn't swallow this insult.

Then, he dusted off his clothes.

After leaving the cowshed, he returned to the Lords Cabin.

…

Cao Xing washed up briefly and slipped back into bed.

However, before he could fall asleep,

A pair of long, slender legs hooked around him, gently rubbing.

Cao Xing looked up and saw Liu Muxue's stunning face with a fiery gaze.

The restraint of the previous two nights had made this woman somewhat eager…

"A Xing…"

Cao Xing sighed inwardly.

Fortunately, he was now a third-tier mage with a robust physique; otherwise, he really couldn't handle it.

After satisfying Liu Muxue once more, the two fell into a deep sleep…

…

Late at night.

While most creatures were fast asleep,

The camp at the Great Rift Valley where Montev was located was still burning fiercely.

However, after seven or eight hours of burning, the fire had gradually diminished.

The various buildings inside, including the bodies of the Hunters, were mostly burned to ashes.

Several elite Hunter assassins quickly arrived at the edge of the Great Rift Valley and saw the towering flames in the camp.

They exchanged glances, all seeing the shock in each other's eyes.

"God of Light above! High Priest Montra's stronghold has been destroyed!"

"We were only away for a few days on a mission—how could this happen?"

"High Priest Montra was a fourth-tier chieftain-level expert. Aside from the Knight Captain of the Ice Crystal Kingdom, who else has the strength to deal with him?"

At this moment, a Hunter assassin whose aura was nearly at the fourth tier said, "Let's not worry about that for now. We need to investigate quickly and see if we can find any clues!"

"Leave one person to search the area above the canyon for the direction the perpetrators fled."

After he spoke, the other assassins nodded in agreement.

"Yes!"

Then, they descended to the bottom of the Great Rift Valley to begin their search.

Ten minutes later.

The assassins gathered again, shaking their heads.

"No clues. The battle likely occurred several hours ago; we can't determine the enemy's identity from the current state of things."

Another assassin replied, "All the bodies are burned, so we can't gauge the enemy's strength from their wounds either."

Even the assassin responsible for searching above the canyon approached.

"I've searched the area above the canyon thoroughly—no clues either. The other party was very thorough."

After they spoke, the other Hunter assassins fell into silence.

The assassin leader frowned and said, "This is troublesome… The fact that they could destroy Montra's camp means they have the strength to threaten many of our Church of Light's outposts."

"If they keep targeting our Church of Light, the plans in the Gale Snowfield might encounter obstacles."

Hearing this, the other Hunter assassins also frowned.

After a moment, the assassin leader continued.

"However, the only good news is that they deliberately erased all traces, which suggests they don't want to attract the attention of our Church of Light."

"That means this group isn't too strong and can't be the regular army of the Ice Crystal Kingdom."

The other assassins nodded in agreement.

For them, this might be the only good news.

The assassin leader's tone turned serious. "But regardless, we must report this to the Bishop as soon as possible!"

[part:gemini-3.1-flash-lite]

"If we find those guys who dare to blaspheme the God of Light, we must impose the harshest sanctions on them!"

The few killers made their decision and then quickly left the place.

…

…

The next day…

Cao Xing was still holding the beauty in his arms, having had a wonderful sleep.

A system notification appeared.

[Survivors, please note: You have passed the fifth day of the official period. The difficulty of monsters in the Ice Nest has increased. Starting today, Tier 2 Ice Nest Monsters will appear.]

[Weather forecast: Breezy, suitable for going out and developing the territory. Please watch out for snow on the ground…]

…

Seeing the system notification, the two of them opened their eyes.

Cao Xing thought to himself, "Tier 2 Ice Nest Monsters have already appeared?"

"Can the Survivors' levels keep up?"

So, he went to check the discussions in the chat channel and roughly understood the current situation.

In the entire District 174, the number of Survivors who have broken through to Tier 2 has exceeded two thousand, which is about one-tenth of the total.

The levels of other Survivors are also mostly between level 7 and 9.

He nodded secretly, "As expected, with the Ice Nest present, everyone's leveling speed is quite fast."

And as the number of Tier 2 Survivors increases, [Legions] have also started to emerge.

Just as discussed when chatting with Wu Xinghu at that time, Survivors grouping together is a major trend.

The founders of these [Legions] have all started recruiting on the chat channel.

Wu Xinghu: "District 174's first Legion, Ice Tiger, is starting to recruit. Our Legion has 57 Tier 2 powerhouses, 47 territories, and sufficient supplies. Join Ice Tiger, everyone who comes is a brother!"

Zhou Bo: "Heavenly Blade Legion is recruiting. Our Legion has 43 Tier 2 powerhouses and 54 territories. As long as you join our Heavenly Blade, you can bring your family and Arctic People to our territory headquarters, and you won't have to worry about the threat of Ice Nest Monsters anymore!"

Qiu Yating: "New Continent Legion is recruiting! We also have 18 Tier 2 powerhouses, and one Tier 3 elite warrior under our command, enough to easily deal with the Ice Nest at the current stage."

Currently, there are only four Legions in District 174.

After all, at the current stage, it is quite difficult to establish a Legion.

What surprised Cao Xing was that Qiu Yating didn't die, and she even established a Legion.

Ever since coming out of the Witch Forest last time, he hasn't been in contact with her.

Cao Xing thought to himself: "That's interesting!"

"It seems they also obtained some opportunities in the Witch Forest, having actually gained a Tier 3 elite-level subordinate."

"It's just that I don't know if the mission she mentioned has been completed?"

However, that has nothing to do with Cao Xing.

Although a Tier 3 elite is powerful, for the strength of Cao Xing's territory, one Tier 3 elite is insignificant.

Sending out one Wild Boar Warrior could take it out.

Meanwhile, seeing those recruitment messages from the Legions, the Survivors also threw out a series of questions below.

Zheng Yan: "Big Boss Wu Xinghu, how do we join your Ice Tiger? I am a Tier 2 Mechanic, and I have two Tier 2 warriors under my command. I want to join your territory."

Feng Yu: "Yeah, everyone's territories are too far apart now. If I join your Legion, how would I go to your territory?"

Wu Xinghu replied: "Everyone, don't worry about the distance. Once you join the Legion, when Survivors of the same faction travel to another Legion territory, there will be a 10% movement speed bonus."

"And as the Legion level gets higher, the movement speed bonus will also increase."

"If the distance is really too far, after a while, when we build Legion transport vehicles, we can visit each other."

"Furthermore, even if you join a Legion, it doesn't mean you have to abandon your own territory; everyone can still continue to develop at their own pace."

"The purpose of the Legion is just to unite everyone together, and then distribute resources better."

Hearing this, other Survivors asked one after another: "Big Boss Wu Xinghu, if we join your Legion, do all the resources in our territory have to be turned over? What can we get then?"

"Yeah, that's right. Besides being able to go to territories in the same faction, are there any other benefits to joining a Legion?"

Wu Xinghu answered: "As mentioned above, there are two development models after joining a Legion."

"The first type is that you bring your families and everyone to my Legion territory headquarters, which is my territory."

"Under this method, you need to turn over all resources, and the personnel will also be handed over to my command."

"The benefit is that you don't have to worry about the development of your territory anymore, nor do you have to worry about the safety issues regarding Ice Nest Monsters."

"The downside is that you lose your own territory."

"The second type is that you continue to develop your territory as before, and I will have the authority to view your basic territory resources, but I can only mobilize up to 40% of the resources."

"However, I promise here that as long as you join our Ice Tiger Legion, I will never privately use your resources, and I will also distribute some supplies to other territories based on contributions and the urgency of the situation to achieve common development."

After Wu Xinghu finished speaking, he immediately gained a lot of support.

Many Survivors decided to join the Ice Tiger Legion.

Currently, a Level 1 Legion can accommodate up to 100 territories. If so many resources are concentrated and distributed reasonably…

Their territories will experience rapid development.

Of course, some people also joined Zhou Bo's Heavenly Blade Legion.

Even Qiu Yating's New Continent Legion recruited more than thirty people.

The heated discussion on the chat channel was hard not to attract the attention of the Survivors.

In the Lords Cabin.

Liu Muxue asked softly: "Axing, don't we need to establish a Legion?"

Cao Xing shook his head.

"Not for now."

"If a territory wants to develop, besides needing population, it needs resources even more."

"Currently, we are not lacking in either of these two, so we just need to maintain our current development pace."

The main reason was that Cao Xing felt that when there are too many people, managing them would be a troublesome matter.

Hearing Cao Xing's explanation, Liu Muxue nodded in realization.

"Let's go, Muxue, we need to get up."

"Okay…"

Soon, the two of them pushed open the door of the Lords Cabin.

Because the development pace of Cao Xing's territory was still the same as yesterday.

So those territory residents went to work proactively as soon as they got up early in the morning.

Those mining went to mine, those logging went to log.

There was no need for Cao Xing to give any extra instructions.

However, there were still some people waiting outside the territory.

Old Mel and Du An brought a group of Arctic People and bowed respectfully to Cao Xing.

After the routine greeting.

Cao Xing asked: "Mr. Mel, is there something the matter?"

Old Mel nodded, and his face wore a look of joy.

"Lord, according to your instructions, I have collected all the hair from the 19 Cloud Yaks. Please take a look."

Hearing this, Cao Xing also became interested.

As long as these hairs were processed, he could wear clothes that generate heat on their own!

He quickly glanced at the blue and white hair in Old Mel's hands.

[Cloud Yak Hair: Special Material]

[Material Property: Thermal Energy Storage (Can store absorbed thermal energy in the hair and release it slowly)]

[Remaining Usage Life: 12 years]

(Tip: If the hair no longer generates heat, you can place it next to a stove or other heat source and let it sit for a period of time to allow it to re-absorb thermal energy, and it will restore its heating function.)

…

Seeing this description, a look of realization appeared in Cao Xing's eyes.

Although Cloud Yak hair can store thermal energy, it cannot generate heat permanently.

As the magic power dissipates, it will gradually lose its spiritual efficacy.

However, twelve years of usage time is already very long.

Cao Xing took all the hair that Old Mel had collected and put it into his backpack.

[Obtained: Cloud Yak Hair * 22.84 KG]

…

"Not bad, not bad!"

"Nearly 23 kilograms of hair, enough to make several sets of fur coats."

Cao Xing said with satisfaction: "Mr. Mel, you've worked hard."

"This hair is a great help to the territory."

Mel nodded respectfully and then retreated.

Du An also walked over at this time.

Then he reported: "Lord, according to your instructions, we have built the Alchemy Workshop to the intermediate level, and the medical room has also been built."

"In addition, we also incidentally upgraded the Arctic People Cabin to Level 5. Do you need to go and take a look?"

Hearing this, Cao Xing was stunned for a moment.

"The Arctic People Cabin has been upgraded to Level 5?"

He cast his gaze over and saw at a glance the stone building about three meters high and only one story tall next to the Lords Cabin.

[Arctic People Cabin: Level 5]

[Building Function: Can summon Arctic People to work for you by consuming food.]

[Area: 60 square meters]

[Maximum Recruitment Number: 8 / 20 people]

[Requirements for Level 6: Level 6 Lords Manor, Stone * 500, Wood * 300, Iron * 200, Refined Iron * 100, Intermediate Elemental Crystal * 10]