Endless Winter: My Camp Upgrades Infinitely

Chapter 1287: Chapter 422: Ji Jiang’s Predicament, True Sibling Bond, the Head-Taker Strikes Again (Part 4)

As Ji Jiang slowly narrated the situation, Ji Hong finally understood the shop’s predicament.

"Something seems off in Hongmen City recently. Five days ago, Director Yuwen deployed the Dragon Slayer Army here. He himself and Director Yuan seem to have come too. I heard there was a deceitful monster causing quite a bit of damage in the city..."

Ji Hong paused as he spoke, glancing at his sister, hesitant to speak.

He came back this time because he heard about the deceitful monster in Hongmen.

His original intention was to have his sister leave Hongmen and return to Xia City.

But considering what just happened and his sister’s spirited demeanor when talking about the shop, suggesting her to leave Hongmen now seemed impossible.

In that case, it might as well not be mentioned.

"So, your shop is currently lacking rare beast skin and valuable clothing materials. As long as you can solve this, you’ll have a supply of goods, be able to offer more for sale, and increase your profits, right?"

Ji Hong, quick-witted as well, immediately grasped the key point in Ji Jiang’s words and pointed out the operational difficulties of her shop.

"Exactly! Just relying on buying from others isn’t financially viable for me, and the cost is a bit high, reducing the profit margin significantly."

Bang...

Ji Hong slapped his thigh and shook his head, saying, "Had I known, I wouldn’t have handed all the beast skins and gathered clothing materials to the Camp Supply Department..."

Seeing the confusion on Ji Jiang’s face, Ji Hong quickly explained further.

Currently, the military system implemented by Great Xia is called the integration of military and hunting.

The integration of military and hunting refers to soldiers fighting during wartime and undertaking more intensive hunting duties during peacetime.

The Dragon Martial Army, stationed at Bashang, often goes out hunting even in the absence of war, but unlike a hunting team, they go out at least at the battalion level and occasionally use small torches to create beast tides to train troops.

Therefore, during peacetime, the number of Cold Beasts hunted by the army is far more than that of a hunting team. Additionally, the soldiers only need to submit half of their hunting gains, so the hunting profits after joining the army are much higher than when they were in the hunting team.

"In the past few months, I’ve hunted a lot of Cold Beasts with the Dragon Martial Army, including many advanced beast skins. I basically submitted them all. Had I known you were in such need of beast skins, I would’ve kept them all for you."

Hearing her brother’s words, Ji Jiang naturally felt a sense of regret.

"But never mind. From now on, any good beast skins I get from hunting in Bashang, I’ll keep and send to you. Also, there are other brothers in the army; like me, they submit their beast skins to the Bashang Camp Supply Department. I could buy some from them at a slight markup and pass them on to you, how about that?"

Ji Jiang’s eyes immediately lit up, nodding, "That would be awesome!"

In the army, only half of the hunting gains need to be submitted, and the other half can be privately traded. The Camp Supply Department doesn’t get involved as long as the purchase price is properly controlled. Buying them back and then selling them as clothing will offer good profit margins.

"By the way, brother, how long will you be staying this time?"

Ji Hong smiled and said, "It’s just my turn for leave; I have seven days. Aren’t you lacking beast skins? I’ll accompany you to Beining Mountain during these seven days. Hunting an intermediate Cold Beast isn’t a problem, and I’ll gather more beast skin materials to keep your store stocked and not empty."

Since his sister cares so much about the shop, Ji Hong naturally wants to help her solve her problems as much as he can. With his current strength, teaming up with two or three others could easily take down advanced Cold Beasts, making intermediate ones no challenge at all.

"Brother, having you is just wonderful!"

Hearing that her brother was willing to accompany her into the mountains for hunting, Ji Jiang was naturally overjoyed. Overcome with excitement, she couldn’t help but hold his arm a little tighter.

The siblings, reunited after a long separation, naturally chatted for a long time.

It wasn’t until Ji Jiang remembered that her brother had just returned from Bashang without much rest that she quickly closed the shop, took him to their residence in the North City, and eagerly prepared to cook a hearty meal to reward him and allow him to rest.

......

With only two hours in the daytime, time quickly passed.

As night gradually fell, the previously deserted streets of South City started to come alive. Many vendors began shouting their wares, and various shops along the street opened for business one after another, with more and more pedestrians appearing.

At the same time, lights in the city buildings quickly lit up, and as patrol soldiers took their positions in South City, coal stoves, torches, and bonfires hung everywhere on the main street were all ignited.

Just over an hour into the night, South City seemed to have fully awakened, entirely different from the daytime’s quietness and tranquility, with throngs of people entering, leaving, going out, and arriving—lively and bustling.

Of course, despite being a large city of 25 square kilometers, there remained shadows in some corners of South City, especially along the main street where there were still several dark alleys with weak lighting in both the east and west residential areas.

Some people, for convenience, preferred to walk through the dark alleys.

To the west of the main street, a white-clad young man with a flushed face staggered out of a restaurant, swaying along the street northward for dozens of meters, evidently a bit disoriented. He paused momentarily, turned his head, looking at a dark alley on the left.

"This... this... this way... is closer..."

Mumbling drunkenly, the white-clad youth unhesitatingly wandered into the alley.

Although the light in the alley was extremely dim, it could barely cast a shadow of the white-clad youth. However, he was too drunk, causing his unsteady steps to make the shadow sway left and right, extremely unstable.

Soon he ventured deep into the alley, about a hundred meters from the main street, with few torches remaining on either side. The primary light source came mostly from the houses on both sides.

Whoosh......

A gust of ominous wind blew, causing the young man to shiver instantly. He turned his head to look behind him, then glanced to both sides. Hearing conversation from inside the houses, his tense expression slightly relaxed, and he smiled, shaking his head.

"Heh, not afraid to fight Cold Beasts but scared of this little wind?"

With that laugh, he continued to walk forward.

"Hee hee hee hee..."

But before he could take two steps, a chilling laughter suddenly came from beneath him.

The expression of the white-clad youth instantly froze, and he stood rigid on the spot.

It was only after three or four breaths that he dared to slowly lower his head and look at the ground.

And his pupils shrank abruptly at what he saw, his face covered in cold sweat.