Chapter 63: The Hurried Caravan

With a sharp "pop," a flame soared more than a meter high, banishing the darkness and biting cold to bring both light and warmth.

By the glow of the bonfire, the two of them could clearly make out the procession in the distance, which turned out to be dozens of slowly moving spider-like vehicles, accompanied by Tong Kun and the others from the Copper Dragon Camp.

Unlike when they had departed, the spider vehicles had previously been piled high with cargo, concealed beneath heavy coverings.

Now, however, the vast majority of the spider vehicles were entirely empty, with only a few carrying a sparse amount of goods.

"It really is them, and they've returned so quickly," Chang Xin exclaimed in wonder.

A look of eager anticipation flashed in Liu Hen's eyes; he wondered if those fellows had managed to bring back any flint.

With flint in hand, he could manufacture more fragmentation grenades.

Equipped with fragmentation grenades, should they encounter a situation like the previous one again, he would not have to stand his ground alone; the others would also be able to step forward and slay the enemy.

Meanwhile, over three hundred meters away.

Tong Kun and his companions were making their way forward in the dark.

"Captain, this place has truly been bombed, and some areas even show signs of high-temperature crystallization. The commotion earlier must have originated right from here," someone nearby remarked.

"Without a doubt, it is likely the handiwork of that Esper," Tong Kun said, his expression grave.

"Espers usually reside in brightly lit surface megacities. For that Esper to come here, there might be some ulterior..."

Before he could finish his sentence, a sudden flash of light appeared ahead, and a bonfire ignited without any warning.

Illuminated by the firelight, nearly everyone wearing powered exoskeletons was instantly able to clearly observe the situation in that area.

They not only saw the fortress-like structure that seemed to have materialized out of thin air, but also the two figures standing atop its ramparts.

Tong Kun's pupils constricted. "Is this still the place we passed by earlier? When did this fortress appear?!"

Indeed, a fortress. In his view, although the structure was quite small, judging from the "city wall" capable of supporting human figures, it could barely qualify as a miniature stronghold.

The surrounding people carefully scanned the vicinity using the built-in scanning instruments of their exoskeletons, and quickly confirmed that this was indeed the exact route they had taken on their way here.

"Captain, this is precisely the place we passed through earlier," a nearby subordinate answered with certainty.

Tong Kun's expression grew even more solemn. "The methods of an Esper are truly unimaginable."

After a brief pause, he issued his orders: "Everyone else halt. Tong Ming, have a few people gather the surplus flint we obtained through trade and come with me."

...

"Chang Xin, please take some people to welcome our guests."

With a thought, Liu Hen opened the gate facing this side of the camp and said to Chang Xin, "Before they resort to violence, we must not do anything that could easily cause misunderstandings. Of course, there's no need to humble ourselves either. I'll go set up a few more bonfires."

With that, he quickly turned around, descended from the wall to the ground, packed up three of the bonfires, and headed toward the other three corners.

Soon, bonfires were placed at the remaining three corners of the square camp wall and promptly ignited.

Instantly, bright light illuminated the entire encampment while also casting a glow over a portion of the area outside.

Recalling the size of the spider vehicles from the Tongluo Camp, Liu Hen thought that it might be necessary next time to modify the "city gate" to make it larger.

Or—simply expand the camp, using this current small encampment as their own private living quarters, and build an expanded section to receive guests or any future residents who might arrive.

The current camp was indeed a bit too cramped. It was fine once or twice, but they couldn't always host only the primary figures while leaving everyone else stranded outside.

Anyone who arrived here should be able to feel the warmth of the camp; only then could guests be retained.

At the same time, he pondered that if he could harvest enough tree cores, it might be necessary to outfit Wu Yuanming and the others with some gear.

Even if it were only the lowest-tier cold-weather suits, it would at least provide a certain degree of deterrence against outsiders.

With these thoughts in mind, he did not linger, quickly entering his original homestead building, opening the Creation Workbench, and beginning to craft cold-weather bark garments.

"I can't just leave them waiting indefinitely, and I still don't know if they brought back the flint I asked for. I'll go ask."

Placing two sets of materials into the crafting slot, Liu Hen turned and headed out the door.

Just then, Chang Xin was already leading Tong Kun toward them.

Upon seeing Liu Hen, Tong Kun hurriedly retracted the face shield of his exoskeleton and saluted, "Greetings, Lord Liu Hen."

"Captain Tong Kun, we meet again."

Liu Hen smiled slightly. "Was the journey smooth?"

"Thank you for your concern, my lord. Although those fellows at odds with the Red Snail Camp were somewhat blind, our firearms are no pushovers either." Tong Kun smiled as well.

Clearly, they had clashed with the horse-riding outlaws, but seemed to have come out unscathed.

Naturally. Such a heavily armed squad, equipped even with machine guns and powered exoskeletons, was not easily bullied by run-of-the-mill bandits.

Besides, those people's primary target was the Red Snail Camp, and they likely saw no reason to bite off more than they could chew by needlessly offending another camp.

"Ah, right. Since I heard Lord Liu Hen mention earlier that you needed flint, we procured a bit extra this trip."

Tong Kun took the initiative to speak again. "Aside from the quota assigned by Lord Copper Dragon, we were able to spare ten tons this time, but as for the price..."

Ten tons... Liu Hen was ecstatic inwardly, yet his expression remained entirely unchanged. "Naturally, we will abide by your pricing."

"Thank you for your understanding, my lord."

Tong Kun continued: "The price of flint far exceeds that of copper ore. The Red Snail Camp traded ten tons of flint for a thousand tons of copper ore with our Copper Dragon Camp. With your wisdom, my lord, you can surely calculate that this represents a hundredfold price difference. Shall we trade according to that same ratio?"

A hundredfold price...

Chang Xin glanced at Liu Hen. She had previously traded a piece of flint to Liu Hen for a catty of tree-paste porridge; that piece of flint weighed roughly one catty.

"Are we still trading with cold-weather garments?" Liu Hen asked, his expression calm.

Copper ore was priced at one magic crystal per kilogram. A hundredfold price would mean one hundred magic crystals for a single kilogram of flint.

That price was indeed rather steep.

However, if they were still trading using cold-weather garments, it posed no problem at all.

The manufacturing cost of his cold-weather clothing was remarkably low.

During this period, he had harvested a massive quantity of tree bark and was fretting over where to store it all.

"Indeed."

Tong Kun nodded. "We will take as many of those cold-weather garments as you can provide. Trading entirely in garments would naturally be best."

"No problem."

Liu Hen replied, "However, crafting those garments is quite troublesome. You must have been traveling without rest for quite some time, haven't you? Why not rest here in my bonfire camp for a day? Before the next shallow night arrives, I should be able to finish making all the garments."

Upon hearing this, Tong Kun tightened imperceptibly for a fraction of a second, then apologized, "Lord Copper Dragon requires us to return to the camp before the next shallow night arrives, so we have no choice. But rest assured, my lord, we hope to maintain a long-term trading relationship with you. You mentioned earlier that you still require a large amount of copper ore, is that correct?"

A ripple stirred in Liu Hen's heart as he nodded. "Yes, I'll take as much as you have."

Because whether it was upgrading the cold-weather suits, bows and arrows, or Tang dao sabers, it all required iron ore and copper ore to be stacked up gradually.

Thus, fundamental ores like iron ore would face massive demand in the future, and copper ore would naturally be no exception.

"That makes things simple."

Tong Kun smiled. "We are willing to trust Lord Liu Hen's reputation. We can hand over the flint to you first; you can craft a few extra cold-weather garments while doing so, and we can settle the account together the next time we arrive. What do you think?"

Although ten tons of flint was no small amount, even their Copper Dragon Camp would feel a pang of heartache for a few days should Liu Hen prove untrustworthy.

Yet, if this could secure a long-term trading relationship with an Esper, taking that risk was well worth it.

"If Captain Tong Kun holds such trust in me, that is naturally for the best."

Liu Hen's face broke into a broad smile. "I intend to stay here for quite a long time, and I am also very much looking forward to maintaining a long-term trade relationship with the Copper Dragon Camp."

"Then please accompany me to the gate, Lord Liu Hen, to receive the flint."

Tong Kun immediately took the lead, guiding the way. "The time allotted by Lord Copper Dragon is extremely tight. Offloading these supplies will allow us to return to the camp all the sooner."

Clearly, the rulers of the Copper Dragon Camp exercised extremely stringent control over their territory—so much so that it could be called tyrannical and cold-blooded, otherwise they wouldn't have forced their men to march relentlessly through the darkness.

Before long, Liu Hen and Chang Xin followed Tong Kun to the camp gate.

Without any hesitation, Liu Hen used the Pickaxe of All Things to mine a small piece of flint, confirming there were no issues, before instructing Tong Kun to dump the rest onto the ground.

Tong Kun raised no objections and immediately ordered his men to unload the cargo.

The spider vehicle, equipped with eight mechanical legs, raised its front four legs high to tilt the cargo bed, sliding out the flint stored within.

Amidst a clattering cascade of tumbling stones, the colliding flint generated bright sparks.

"In that case, Lord Liu Hen, we shall take our leave."

Tong Kun seemed truly pressed for time; the moment the flint was unloaded, he turned and hurried away with his men.

Liu Hen hadn't thought much of it at first, but witnessing this scene, a few speculations couldn't help but arise in his mind.

Once the merchant caravan of the Copper Dragon Camp had retreated into the distance, the observant Chang Xin suddenly spoke up: "There are still things loaded on those strange vehicles. If the flint we have here truly weighs ten tons, then the goods remaining on those vehicles must easily weigh a hundred tons in total, if not more."

This remark stirred Liu Hen's thoughts. "Perhaps the tight schedule given by the so-called Lord Copper Dragon was merely an excuse? Were they afraid I might rob them?"

"Should we..." Chang Xin asked softly.

"Don't act rashly; the combat capability of this squad is not to be underestimated."

Liu Hen shook his head. "Besides, we don't even know what's in those crates; it's simply not worth the risk. What is unimaginably precious to others might turn out to be completely useless trash to us."

At this point, he harbored a few doubts as well: was the transaction between the Copper Dragon Camp and the Red Snail Camp truly limited to just copper ore and flint?

Still, he lacked any deep interest in the matter, provided it didn't interfere with his own affairs.

"Keep watch over the surroundings. I need to mine all of this flint."

He produced the Pickaxe of All Things once more, beginning to process the pile of varying-sized flint stones scattered across the ground.