Endless Winter: My Camp Infinite Upgrades

Chapter 506 Huang Shengyong's Triumph, the Black Cloak and Infiltration

December 28th, the twelfth year of the Great Xia Dynasty, late at night

Zhongyang Camp, warehouse entrance

"Warehouse restricted area, no unauthorized personnel allowed!"

Boom boom boom... Crack...

Ten giant iron-wheeled carts, loaded with animal meat, slowly drove in, escorted by thousands of people. At the shout of the armored soldiers on duty, the convoy immediately stopped.

The escort team was led by a young man in white robes carrying a sword. He looked to be in his early twenties, with a sharp look between his brows. When he saw the thousands of armored soldiers guarding the warehouse entrance, a smile immediately appeared on his face. He stepped forward, found a man dressed as a general, and cupped his hands in a smile, saying, "I am Lu Yun from Dongling, a disciple of Lu Yang, the swordsman of Beishuo. May I ask your honorable name, General?"

"Huang Shengyong, the head of the Northern Shuo Supervisory Council!"

Upon hearing the middle-aged general's name, Lu Yun instantly understood why the other party had been staring at him with an unfriendly expression when he first arrived.

In this year's Beishuo Martial Arts Competition, he came in sixth place. The person ranked after him was Huang Shengyu, the eldest son of Huang Tianxing, the current head of the Beishuo Supervisory Council.

You can probably guess from the name that Huang Shengyong is Huang Shengyu's younger brother or cousin, and he probably holds a grudge against him because of his martial arts skills.

"So it's General Huang. I've long admired your name. Lu Yun, on the orders of my master, has specially delivered these 10 cartloads of game meat to your army as military rations. Lord Yang Ping just told us to send them directly here for storage..."

"This is a restricted warehouse; we can't just come and go as we please. Uncover the tarpaulins on the vehicles so we can take inventory and put them into storage."

Huang Shengyong still didn't give Lu Yun a good look. After speaking, he walked to the first iron-wheeled cart, drew his broadsword, and slashed the black tarpaulin on it.

The tarpaulin was torn open, and bundles of blue animal meat immediately came into view.

The members of the Dongling escort team, including Lu Yun, were naturally displeased by Huang Shengyong's casual behavior.

They sent so much animal meat to aid Beishuo, and Huang Shengyong not only didn't offer a word of thanks, but also casually cut it up, clearly showing that he doesn't take Dongling seriously.

But that wasn't all that angered them.

Huang Shengyong noticed the expressions on everyone's faces, a sneer creeping onto his lips. He walked over to the second iron-wheeled cart, deliberately tearing open the tarpaulin to reveal the blue animal meat inside. Then he turned to Lu Yun and laughed, "You Dongling Village people are quite sensible, hahaha..."

"No matter what, it's still just a village. They should be more sensible!"

"Hahaha, if it weren't for the help from Beishuo last year, Dongling might have been destroyed by Daxia. Now that we have a formidable enemy at hand, Chief Lu Jian is still sensible and can stand with us."

"Hahahaha!"

…………

The soldiers guarding the warehouse could immediately tell that their commander, Huang Shengyong, was deliberately humiliating the people of Dongling, so they all laughed along, their laughter filled with contempt and arrogance.

Whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad.

Hearing the mocking laughter of the crowd, Lu Yun's expression was naturally unpleasant, but when his master's words suddenly popped into his mind, he was no longer angry at all.

The behavior of Huang Shengyong and others is not particularly strange. Putting aside this year's Beishuo Martial Arts Tournament, in recent years, as Dongling's strength has grown stronger, its voice in Jingxi and even the entire Beishuo region has become increasingly influential. It is normal for the people of Beishuo to be unhappy about it.

In addition, last year, Master had Luo Sizheng cooperate in that play. In the eyes of the Beishuo people, they were the ones who helped Dongling resist Daxia. However, Lu Yang refused Yang Fa's offer of recruitment, which was definitely an ingrate act.

Beishuo's hostility towards Dongling is not a recent development.

But at this critical juncture, Huang Shengyong actually dared to bring this group of people to deliberately cause trouble for them, which was something Lu Yun had not expected.

It's amazing how stupid they are!
Seeing Huang Shengyong continue walking towards the third vehicle, he walked over first with a stern face and took the initiative to lift the tarpaulin on it.

Unlike the first two carts, the meat on the third iron-wheeled cart was packed in giant leather bags.

Lu Yun pulled out a bag, untied it, revealing the blue animal meat inside, and said angrily, "These ten cartloads of animal meat are all the result of hard-won hunting in Dongling. I hope General Huang can show some respect..."

After pausing, ignoring Huang Shengyong's gloomy face, he continued, "To facilitate your inspection, the first two carts contain loose animal meat, each bundle weighing 500 jin, totaling 400 bundles and 20 jin; the following eight carts contain bagged meat, each bag weighing 2500 jin, with 90 bags per cart, totaling 720 bags and 180 million jin. Since General Huang doesn't trust Dongling, then you can slowly count it here. I'll take my leave!"

After finishing his sentence, Lu Yun stopped rambling and waved to the escort team.

The escort team was clearly also holding their breath. Upon receiving the order, they immediately abandoned the vehicle and followed Lu Yun toward the outer perimeter of the warehouse.

"and many more……"

Huang Shengyong, whose expression had remained gloomy, finally couldn't hold back any longer. He directly called out to stop Lu Yun, and then turned his head in a huff to signal to the soldiers behind him.

Sizzle... Sizzle...

The soldiers immediately understood and proceeded to cut open the tarpaulins of all seven iron-wheeled carts behind them.

Ten cartloads of animal meat were laid out before the crowd.

Seeing the stiff expressions on Lu Yun's and the others' faces, Huang Shengyong felt a surge of triumph.

Feeling a surge of pleasure, he feigned apology, saying, "This is a sensitive area, so we inevitably have to inspect it carefully. Please forgive us, Little Swordsman..."

He paused, a cold smile appearing in his eyes, and continued, "These brothers under my command are all going to fight against the Xia army. These heavy lifting tasks should naturally be done by the brothers of Dongling. Please!"

Upon hearing this, Lu Yun's pupils flashed with surprise, but he quickly concealed it and put on an angry expression, saying angrily, "Commander Huang, pushing these ten iron-wheeled carts in directly won't take much effort; it's not exactly hard work."

“Brother Lu, what do you think this place is? The Battle of Zhongyang is imminent. This is a warehouse, a place of great importance. Nothing is allowed inside except for animal meat. These ten iron-wheeled carts are not allowed to enter. You must move all the animal meat on the carts to the place I designate.”

"you……"

Lu Yun clenched his fists, his cheeks flushed crimson, as if he was about to unleash a torrent of curses at any moment.

But he held back in the end, suddenly loosened his fist, turned to the people around him and said, "Since Commander Huang has given the order, then we will do as he says. Brothers, let's start moving!"

After saying that, he didn't even look at Huang Shengyong. Instead, he walked directly to the first iron-wheeled cart, picked up a bundle of animal meat, and headed towards the warehouse door.

"Humph!"

Seeing Lu Yun's humiliation, Huang Shengyong's face was full of smugness. He gestured to the soldiers at the warehouse door with his eyes, signaling them to open the door, and then led Lu Yun inside.

Thus, under the guidance and supervision of Huang Shengyong and others, the more than 1,000 members of the Dongling escort team transported 2 million catties of animal meat from ten iron-wheeled carts into the warehouse, bundle by bundle and bag by bag.

Two million catties of animal meat is a lot, but it was all already packaged, totaling only 1120 items. With over a thousand people in Dongling, it should only take one trip and be completed quickly.

However, when Huang Shengyong was supervising with a group of soldiers, he deliberately sabotaged things, saying one minute that the goods should be placed here and the next that, making Lu Yun and the others move the goods back and forth, which took them a full hundred breaths to finish.

Delivering aid to others has turned into such a frustrating experience; this is unprecedented. Including Lu Yun, almost everyone among the thousands from Dongling wore a dark expression during the unloading process. After finally finishing moving the goods, Lu Yun's face was so sour that he didn't even want to greet Huang Shengyong, let alone say a word. He simply led everyone, pulling ten iron-wheeled carts, and turned to leave.

"Ha ha ha ha…………"

Watching the Dongling escort team leave in a sorry state, Huang Shengyong and his gang, like roosters that had won a fight, raised their necks and let out triumphant laughter.

Seeing that Lu Yun and the others quickened their pace, they assumed that their laughter had worked and couldn't help but raise its volume.

"These idiots..."

Lu Yun, who had already walked out of the warehouse area, heard his seventh junior brother Yang He about to speak and immediately turned around and glared at him.

"Do not say silly things!"

The experts at the Manifestation Yang level are sharp-eyed and keen-eared. Once they notice this area, nothing they say will escape their ears.

Yanghe realized what was happening and quickly shut his mouth.

"Young Master Lu, Lord Yang has arranged accommodations for you. Please follow me..."

As soon as Lu Yun and his group came out, an old man immediately came up to them and led them to the edge of the barracks.

…………

"Close the warehouse door!"

As soon as Dongling and the others left, Huang Shengyong gave an order, and the warehouse door was closed from the outside, plunging the entire warehouse into silence.

The warehouse wasn't very big, only about 200 meters long. It was mostly made of iron, with only a small portion made of wood.

For a town-level camp like Beishuo, iron ore is basically in surplus. Important places like barracks and warehouses need to be protected from people and cold-weather animals, and a certain degree of airtightness must also be taken into consideration. It is impossible to build them with wood.

Once the warehouse door was closed, the cold wind outside was immediately shut out, and it was almost impossible to hear any sound inside.

Tear...

In this tranquil setting, a soft tearing sound suddenly rang out, clearly the sound of a knife slicing through a bag.

The sound came from the northwest corner of the warehouse.

A sharp knife tip had quietly emerged from the bag without anyone noticing.

Then the blade slowly pulled down, slicing open the giant leather bag containing the meat. From the pile of meat, a hand quietly emerged.

Tear...

A person completely wrapped in a black robe crept out of the bag. He first turned his head and looked around the dark warehouse, then tapped the ground three times lightly with his long knife.

dong... dong... dong...

With three knocks, the once empty warehouse seemed to receive a signal, and immediately emitted a series of tearing sounds.

Four men in black emerged from bags in different areas one after another. As soon as they came out of the bags, they gathered around the first man in black who had come out.

The five people removed the black hoods covering their heads, revealing five unusually young faces.

"These idiots actually let Senior Brother bring people to move us in. It's outrageously stupid, Second Senior Brother..."

Zhu Baixu really couldn't hold back any longer, but he knew he absolutely couldn't make a sound at this moment, so he just patted his second senior brother and mouthed the words to him.

The first person to emerge from the bag was none other than Han Li, Lu Yang's second disciple. Upon seeing Zhu Baixu's words, he merely nodded slightly without responding. Instead, he turned his head to look at the massive amount of beast meat in the storeroom, his excitement barely concealed.

"This warehouse is mostly made of iron, with only a very small amount of wood used. Luckily, we tampered with the meat, otherwise we wouldn't even have been able to start a fire..."

Han Li also mouthed the words. He walked to the leather bag where he had just hidden, cut it open with a knife, and found that only the outermost layer contained animal meat; the innermost layers were filled with hay and animal fur.

He reached inside and rummaged around for a while, pulling out two earthenware jars that were about the size of a human head. When he opened the jars, they were filled with black kerosene.

"We brought 50 cans of kerosene. Be careful, find them all according to their numbers, and don't make a sound. Sprinkle them all over the entire warehouse. Also, keep 10 cans on your person, in case the warehouse catches fire..."

As Han Li meticulously described the mission using lip movements, the four young men, Zhu Baixu, Bai Wuji, Wan Qingyu, and Nie Shen, were filled with excitement.

Only after Han Li finished speaking did the four nod emphatically, then put on their black cloaks again and began to move around the warehouse stealthily.

Seeing his four junior brothers begin to act separately, Han Li looked down at his black robe, his pupils filled with excitement.

"This black concealment shield can even perfectly evade the perception of a Manifestation Yang level cultivator. It's truly heaven-defying. It's just a pity that there are so few of them. I heard that there are less than 10 in the entire Great Xia Dynasty..."

Calling Huang Shengyong stupid is actually a bit of an exaggeration.

Han Li knew very well that the fact that the five of them were able to sneak into the warehouse tonight had little to do with Huang Shengyong's stupidity.

When he came up from the southwest mountain road, he could sense that there were Xianyang-level beings patrolling the iron-wheeled vehicles, which meant that Beishuo was not entirely without suspicion towards them.

It's obvious, considering it's a warehouse, a very important place. Normally it would be fine, but with a major battle imminent, how could they let just anyone in?
Unfortunately, that Yang-level being seemed too confident in his own perception abilities and didn't bother to investigate carefully at all.

"The seven of us are risking our lives for wealth and honor. As long as we can help Governor Mu take Zhongyang Camp, we will be the ones to make the greatest contribution in this Northern Expedition of Great Xia!"

Han Li's pupils were full of excitement. He had been officially a member of the Great Xia Dynasty for more than five years under the guidance of his master, Lu Yang. Like ordinary people in the Great Xia Dynasty, he dreamed all the time that one day he could be granted a title and enter the palace.

Unfortunately, the Great Xia Dynasty has had virtually no wars in recent years. Under normal circumstances, with his current strength of 22 manes, it would be difficult for him to achieve enough merit to be granted a title.

Fortune favors the bold, and he wasn't the only one. His eldest brother, Lu Yun, and five other junior brothers also wanted to be ennobled. After discussing it, the seven of them came up with this plan.

Master Lu Yang initially refused.

But the seven insisted, and he finally agreed.

Of course, Lu Yang didn't let them take the risk blindly. Instead, he made a special trip back to Xia City to borrow these five black concealment shields for them.

"If things are not going to work, then give up. Don't lose your life in a muddle. It's just a minor Yang, we can take it down eventually, it's just a matter of time."

Touching the black concealment shield on his body, Han Li recalled his master's instructions before his departure, and a touch of emotion appeared on his face. Then, his eyes became even more determined, and he got up and quietly began to work in the storeroom.

(End of this chapter)