Endless Winter: My Camp Infinite Upgrades

Chapter 269 Assessment Target, Hell Level Difficulty
"It hasn't even started yet, and you're already so scared?"

"A group of 100 people, weapons, bows and arrows, armor, elixirs... everything you can bring can be brought. The Frost Beast has also been crippled by most of its strength. Are you still afraid?"

"I can't help it. I've never really faced a cold beast before, so it's normal to be afraid."

"The youngest is only 9 years old. It's really too early for them to fight against the cold beasts."

"This kind of selection method is still a little early for them."

………………

While the crowd below was in a commotion and talking, the group of cold-resistant-level people on top of the city gate also expressed their opinions. Some felt that the performance of the woodcutters below was too poor, while others felt that this preliminary round was too harsh and it was a bit too early to let these children below face the cold beasts.

Yuan Cheng, Lin Kai and Lu Yang all looked unhappy and never spoke a word.

The host, Qiu Peng, had a gloomy expression, and even a hint of anger.

But he didn't say much, just shouted to the people below:
"Stop talking nonsense, and start drawing lots now. There are ten groups in a round. The cage you draw will be the cage with the number you draw. There is no compulsory selection. As long as more than one-tenth of the group chooses to give up, the whole group will be considered to have given up. In addition, there is a rule I forgot to add just now..."

Qiu Peng paused, and continued with a look of contempt on his face: "We won't waste too much time on you termites and trash, so the assessment time for each group is limited to one hour. If you don't succeed in hunting within one hour, you will fail. Let's start now!"

Wow…………

Not only do you have to hunt the cold beast, you also have to do it within an hour.

The rule that Qiu Peng added was so abnormal that many people were so shocked that they didn't even notice how Qiu Peng addressed them.

"In Si Zheng's eyes, are we all termites and trash?"

In the 51st square formation, Xiao Heng looked around and saw that most of the people in the team had extremely pessimistic expressions. Although there was some anger on his face, he had to agree in his heart that this name was indeed appropriate for them.

"Killing the cold beast within an hour is impossible!"

"Our camp's low-level hunting team consists of 20 people. Even a team of 20 diggers cannot guarantee a % success in hunting. How can we possibly win with so few people?"

"Most of us are carrying five-stone bows, which can't even shoot through the skin of the cold beast. How about giving up?"

"Qiu Sizheng didn't say whether anyone would die in this selection. If there really is an accident, we..."

………………

"Everyone, calm down and listen to me!"

Seeing that some people in the team even started to think about giving up, Xiao Heng knew that he couldn't just stand there anymore. He spoke up to interrupt everyone's discussion and then walked to the center of the team.

Xiao Heng is quite famous among the young people in the camp.

As soon as he stood out, he was immediately recognized by many people.

"Is it Xiao Heng?"

"Xiao Heng is on the same team with us."

"He must be Si Cheng's brother-in-law!"

"It's useless. Si Cheng's brother-in-law is only at the logging level."

………………

Xiao Heng took a deep breath and continued in a clear voice: "I only want to ask you one question. If a hundred woodcutters work together, is it possible to hunt down low-level frigid beasts?"

"of course not!"

"How is that possible? People from the Lumberjack Realm don't even have the qualifications to go out hunting!"

"No, absolutely not."

…………

Hunting is not allowed in the logging realm, this is common knowledge among the people of the Ice Abyss!
Hearing everyone's unanimous answer, Xiao Heng did not refute, but just nodded first, and then waited for the noise to subside before he continued: "I only became a member of Daxia in April of the first year. Some of you were earlier than me, and some were later than me. I want to ask those who are more senior about a story about the leader. Tell me, is it true or false..."

Xiao Heng paused for a moment, then continued, "When the leader had just broken through to the logging realm, he went out alone and brought back a young Snowmane. Later, when Si Cheng and Yuan Si Zheng broke through to the logging realm, the three of them hunted down an adult Snowmane that night. Could this be a fake?"

As soon as the words fell, the crowd around him fell silent.

Everyone looked at each other, and soon lowered their heads guiltily.

There are many stories about the leader Xia Hong, but the one about hunting down the cold beast right after breaking through the logging realm is undoubtedly the most credible, because there are too many eyewitnesses who have witnessed it and are still alive.

Moreover, when they were practicing martial arts below the main building, many people had heard Si Cheng and Yuan Si Zheng tell them about this matter with their own ears.

"Of course it's true. It happened only four years ago. I was one of the witnesses of the Tupo incident. I just listened to it for a while. The words Qiu Sizheng used to describe you guys, termites and trash, are the most appropriate."

A contemptuous voice suddenly came from behind Team 52.

When everyone heard the termite waste, a hint of anger rose on their faces and they turned to look behind them.

At the back of the team, a young man wearing light gold armor and holding a sword was looking at them with contempt.

There were six people standing next to the young man, who were about the same age as him. They were all wearing light gold armor, holding Daxia-made swords in their hands, and most of them had contempt on their faces.

"Liu Peng!"

"Aren't you just a lumberjack?"

"You are almost the same as us, why are you so arrogant!"

………………

Liu Peng was the man who broke the logging record last May.

Different from the intense reactions of others, the moment Xiao Heng saw Liu Peng and his group of seven, his expression immediately became much more serious.

"The auras of the seven of them seem to be similar to mine, and they are also on the verge of a breakthrough. How is this possible!"

Liu Peng broke through to the Woodcutter Realm at the age of eleven. Only a year had passed. He was not yet thirteen years old, and was three years younger than himself.

There were six other people around him, two of whom were about the same age as himself, and the other four were about the same age as Liu Yuan, and looked obviously younger than himself.

what does this mean?
The current age record for breaking through the Digging Realm in the Martial Arts Academy is Hong Shaokang, who was fifteen years and one month old. In other words, if it weren't for this martial arts competition, could Liu Peng and the other four easily break Hong Shaokang's record?

Xiao Heng turned his gaze away from Liu Peng and the other seven, looked around at the entire Group 52, then pondered over it in his mind, with more and more astonishment in his eyes.

Liu Peng has seven people, plus himself, which makes eight people in total. There are also seven older people in the team who are obviously on the verge of a breakthrough, so the total number is fifteen.

Judging from the assessment method, the Quartermaster Department definitely did not randomly divide the groups last night. It is likely that each group has about fifteen people on the verge of a breakthrough.

This means that among the 172 teams in Xia City alone, there are more than 2500 people who deliberately refuse to break through the Digging Realm.

Plus the other five stations...

"Big sister really didn't lie to me. There are at least two thousand people who are stuck in the Digging Realm. Now it seems that there are probably far more than that!"

Xiao Heng swallowed hard and just suppressed the shock in his heart, but Liu Peng over there started arguing with the people in the team.

"What? I called you useless and you don't accept it? You...you...you...there are nine of you in total. Didn't you just say you wanted to give up? The nine of you, go and give up and get out. Anyone else who wants to give up can go now, so as not to delay us later."

The faces of the nine people pointed out by Liu Peng suddenly turned red. They had indeed said they would give up just now, but after hearing Xiao Heng talk about the deeds of their leader, they had already wavered in their thoughts. Now that Liu Peng was pointing at their noses and scolding them, they changed their minds immediately.

"I won't give up. It's just to kill the Frost Beast. I'll have to go sooner or later after I break through the Digging Realm. Let's give it a try first. Even if I fail, it doesn't matter."

"Liu Peng, don't look down on me. I would rather go in and die than give up."

"Yes, I won't give up either."

“I don’t abstain.”

…………

Seeing that the nine people who were about to give up had changed their minds, Xiao Heng immediately reacted, turned to look at Liu Peng, with a hint of meaning in his eyes.

"Well, you guys still have some spirit and didn't bring shame to our Great Xia!"

As Liu Peng spoke, his face still maintained a look of contempt, but his tone clearly carried a hint of relief at having achieved his goal.

Qiu Peng has just made it clear that as long as more than one-tenth of the people in the group choose to give up, the entire group will be deemed to have abstained.

Therefore, Liu Peng's seemingly contemptuous and suppressive behavior of the nine people was actually stimulating them not to abstain.

At this moment, many people in the team saw Liu Peng's intention and gathered around him. Even Xiao Heng walked towards him unconsciously.

"Thirteen people in group 6 chose to give up, and the entire group was eliminated!"

"25 people from the 11 groups chose to abstain, and the entire group was eliminated."

"35 people from the 14 groups chose to abstain, and the entire group was eliminated."

………………

Just at this moment, announcements were heard one after another in the square.

Some groups were completely eliminated because more than one-tenth of their participants abstained.

Nine people!
Their group 52 was just on the edge of elimination!

Everyone in the team, including the nine people who wanted to give up, showed a trace of fear on their faces, and then all focused their attention on Liu Peng. "The selection has begun. There are ten groups in a round. We will start the assessment in the sixth round. There is not much time left. Everyone come over here!"

The first round of selection has officially begun. 6 groups were eliminated and 11 groups were added in the first round. Groups 1 to 11 have all drawn lots and are ready to enter the iron cage.

Xiao Heng and the others turned around to look at the ten iron cages and discovered that some groups had already started attacking the cold beasts. They immediately gathered around Liu Peng.

The fourteen strongest people were positioned in the center, while the others wisely stood around. It was obvious that everyone knew their own strength.

Liu Peng's face turned serious, and he continued, "There are too many people participating in the Woodcutters' Martial Arts Competition, so we must eliminate a group of people as quickly as possible. Using the Frost Beast to test our courage can only be considered the first item. If more than one-tenth of the people choose to give up, it will be considered that the entire team has given up. Why do you think Qiu Sizheng made this rule?"

Everyone looked at each other in confusion when they heard this.

“Morale!”

Only Xiao Heng spoke two words.

"Brother Xiao, you are really amazing!"

Liu Peng looked up at Xiao Heng with a hint of surprise in his eyes, then turned his head to look at everyone and continued, "I observed when I first came here that the 172 groups were roughly evenly distributed according to age and strength, so I guess that the number of people who want to give up in each team is probably about the same, so the second item to be assessed in this selection should be whether we can solve the morale problem in the team!"

Everyone nodded and looked at Liu Peng with increasing respect in their eyes.

"Courage, morale..."

Liu Peng suddenly stopped talking halfway. He seemed to be interested and deliberately asked Xiao Heng: "Brother Xiao, what do you think will be the next test?"

Seeing that Liu Peng, who was two or three years younger than him, was gradually taking over the leadership of the team, Xiao Heng's spirit gradually rose. Although he knew what Liu Peng wanted him to say, he deliberately changed the words and said:

"No matter what the test is about, the ultimate goal is for us to hunt the cold beast in the cage. If our team of 100 people rush in like headless flies, we will definitely fail in the end. So I suggest that we choose a team leader and let the team leader command and dispatch the others. This way, the success rate will definitely be greatly improved."

When everyone heard Xiao Heng's words, they immediately showed expressions of approval.

Liu Peng obviously saw what Xiao Heng was thinking. A faint smile appeared on his face. He nodded and said, "Brother Xiao is right. The last item is about unity and cooperation. Of course, the woodcutters don't have the ability to hunt, but as long as a hundred fully armed woodcutters are united and have a clear-headed leader, it is not difficult to kill a cold beast that has lost most of its strength."

Courage, morale, unity and cooperation!

After listening to Liu Peng's explanation, everyone suddenly understood.

"So, who should be the leader?"

A slightly older man suddenly spoke.

The vast majority of people in the team immediately turned their eyes to Liu Peng.

Xiao Heng, along with three or four other strong men, began to have flickering eyes, and it was obvious that they were also interested in the position of team leader.

"I suggest that Liu Peng come!"

"I agree with Liu Peng too."

"Liu Peng."

"Liu Peng!"

"Liu Peng!"

"I also support Liu Peng."

…………

The six people standing next to Liu Peng spoke one after another, and voices suddenly rang out in the team. Including the nine people who had just been ridiculed by Liu Peng, nearly 90% of them shouted Liu Peng's name without exception.

When Xiao Heng saw the six people standing next to Liu Peng, he sighed slightly.

He had already guessed it from the positions of the seven people he had just seen.

If nothing unexpected happens, Liu Peng should have already found these six people when they were divided into groups last night, quickly got to know them, and reached some agreement in advance, otherwise these six people would not have listened to him so much.

After the groups were formed last night, he guessed that they would rely on unity and cooperation, but he was not sure in his heart until he saw the ten iron cages just now and connected them to the cold beast and finally confirmed it.

Obviously Liu Peng not only guessed it earlier than him, but also put it into action.

One step at a time, one step at a time!

Since Liu Peng had already taken control of the team, Xiao Heng no longer hesitated and continued what everyone was saying, "I agree with Liu Peng too!"

Hearing Xiao Heng's words, Liu Peng smiled, and after bowing to express his thanks, he turned his gaze towards the other people at the peak of the logging realm in the team with a look of certainty, even aggression.

The remaining few people, under his gaze, could only speak slowly:
"Liu Peng!"

"Liu Peng."

………………

The position of team leader is obtained!
Liu Peng looked excited. He waved his hand and spoke in a deep voice:
"Okay, I'll start the deployment now. To make a long story short..."

After all, the next deployment was related to whether they could advance, so everyone listened attentively, not daring to miss any details.

But as they listened, joy gradually appeared on their faces, and when Liu Peng finished explaining his plan, everyone looked at him with a little more admiration in their eyes.

Even Xiao Heng is no exception.

"I remember that his elder brother Liu Yuan was the deputy captain of the Yunjiao team. These things must have been taught by his elder brother!"

In terms of ability, knowledge, and even knowledge about cold beasts, Liu Peng seemed to be better than himself in every aspect;
The only thing I can compare with others in is probably my cultivation.

The problem is that Liu Peng is two years younger than him.

By this calculation, even his cultivation level cannot compare to others!

Xiao Heng clenched his fists, and a sense of urgency inexplicably arose in his heart.

Just at this time, the first round of assessment for 10 groups was completed.

"In the first round, all ten groups are eliminated and the next group will take over!"

Qiu Peng's slightly disappointed voice came from above the city gate, and Liu Peng and others who had just finished communicating all looked solemn in an instant.

"Go in and save them quickly. The cold beast has been driven to the side."

"Carry all the people out."

"In Group 1, 29 people were seriously injured, 52 were slightly injured, and the remaining 19 were fine."

"In Group 2, 16 people were seriously injured, 79 were slightly injured, and the remaining 5 were fine."

…………

"Group 11 has 29 serious injuries and 71 minor injuries. All the people are here."

Coincidentally, at this moment, the wounded were carried out of ten cages one by one by the diggers of the Quartermaster Department. As the people from the Quartermaster Department reported the battle damage of each group, the remaining people in the square who had not yet entered the venue swallowed their saliva.

This battle damage seems a bit scary...

"Groups 12 to 21, the draw is over, get ready to enter the cage!"

Qiu Peng's voice on the city gate rang out again, and ten square formations below began to move. They walked to the doors of ten iron cages and began to enter.

Having just missed the first round, this time, Liu Peng, Xiao Heng, and everyone in Group 52 all stared at the iron cage, trying to figure out how they were eliminated.

After just looking for a while, they were all stunned.

"14 groups eliminated!"

"18 groups were eliminated."

"21 groups were eliminated."

…………

"12 groups were eliminated."

Qiu Peng set the assessment time limit to one hour.

But in reality, it took less than thirty minutes from the time all ten groups entered the iron cages to the time they were all eliminated.

"The strength of this cold beast is too terrifying."

"The 12th group drew cage number 1. Both eyes of the Snowmane had been shot blind by the previous group. How come he hasn't been ground to death yet?"

"Group 14 was unlucky. They were drawn to the white bear in cage number 7. As soon as they entered the cage, before they even formed a formation, the white bear knocked half of them away. At least 20 of them were seriously injured, and the rest had no ability to fight back at all."

………………

Hearing the discussions coming from the people around him, Liu Peng's face became much gloomier.

"Courage, morale, unity and cooperation, solving these three problems is only the first step in the selection. Luck and strength are both essential. This preliminary selection is simply hellish!"

Xiao Heng, who was standing by, also looked extremely heavy. After a slight sigh, he couldn't help but look up at the crowd of cold-resistant soldiers on the city gate, and asked in his heart:
"Can anyone really advance?"

(End of this chapter)