Chapter 202

Zhao Hu's boots stomped on the damp grass, splashing mud onto his trouser legs—

He ran along a winding trail of water, the water glistening with a cool, damp mist, a stark contrast to the 35°C nighttime temperature of the polar day.

Hidden behind a dense forest in a deep mountain valley, one can vaguely see a corner of a silver-gray canvas and a faint mist of ice drifting in the air.

"Found it! There really is ice!" Zhao Hu shouted with joy, his voice startling the dozen or so refugees following behind him.

They all escaped from the abandoned stronghold. Their heat-resistant medicine had long been exhausted. Some had cracked lips that bled, and others had pustules from burns on their backs. They had survived until now by drinking muddy water.

Upon hearing the word "ice," the refugees rushed forward like madmen, their previously weary steps instantly filled with strength, their eyes gleaming with greed.

The leader was a burly man called Scarface, who held a rusty axe in his hand, which he had stolen earlier. The blade was now white from gripping it tightly. "Slow down, all of you! If anyone dares to steal it, don't blame me for my axe not recognizing anyone!"

But no one listened to him. A young man in a tattered heat-resistant suit rushed into the dense forest. The water under his feet grew colder and colder until he stepped on a piece of partially melted ice. The ice shards clung to his skin, bringing a bone-chilling cold. The young man couldn't help but scream, "It really is ice! So much ice!"

When everyone gathered around, they discovered that the broken ice came from a hidden ice cellar entrance. The entrance was covered by several manganese crystal plates, and ice water was seeping out from the gaps. There was also a broken glass bottle lying nearby, with a light green liquid remaining on the bottle wall. It was a high-level heat-resistant potion from the "I Am the God of Wealth" mall—obviously dropped by someone while moving it.

"It's antipyretics!" A mother holding a child rushed forward to pick up the shards of glass, but Zhao Hu kicked her away: "Get out of my way! This medicine is mine!"

The child in the woman's arms cried out in fright, its lips cracked and bleeding. The woman scrambled to her feet and rushed frantically toward the entrance to the ice cellar: "My child is dying of heat! Give me a piece of ice! Just one!"

Scarface suddenly raised his axe, the blade pointing at the woman's head: "Take one more step and I'll kill you!"

The woman froze, tears mingling with sweat streaming down her face. The child in her arms reached out a tiny hand and cried out hoarsely, "Water...ice..."

But Scarface's gaze didn't waver at all. Instead, he turned to the others and said, "If you want ice or medicine, you have to listen to me! Each person must hand over one first-tier demon core, or equivalent supplies, or nobody will get a piece of it!"

"We don't have any demon cores!" an old man coughed, his only remaining ration being half a bag of moldy biscuits. "Scarface, please have mercy and give me some ice, I can hardly breathe..."

The old man had only taken two steps forward when Scarface slammed his axe handle into his chest. He curled up on the ground in pain and couldn't get up for a long time. Half a bag of biscuits fell into the mud and was trampled to pieces by the others.

The conflict erupted instantly—a tall, thin vagrant suddenly pulled out a manganese crystal iron rod hidden in his pocket and smashed it against Scarface's back: "Why do you have the right to monopolize it! The ice belongs to everyone!"

Scarface reacted with lightning speed, dodging to the side and swinging his axe at the tall, thin man. The axe blade grazed his arm, instantly slicing a deep gash in his skin. Blood mixed with sweat flowed down his face, and the tall, thin man screamed in pain, but still brandished his iron rod and fought back: "I'll kill you, you heartless devil!"

Seeing this, the refugees also pulled out their weapons—some held stones, some held broken steel pipes, and some picked up shards of glass from the ground. Former companions instantly became enemies, tearing at each other for a piece of ice or a little bit of leftover medicine.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, Zhao Hu rushed to the entrance of the ice cellar, pried open the manganese crystal plate with an iron bar, and the icy mist inside instantly poured out, carrying a bone-chilling cold. He reached out to grab a piece of ice, but was grabbed by the arm by another refugee. The two wrestled on the ground, their fingernails digging into each other's flesh, just to fight over a piece of ice the size of a palm.

Taking advantage of the chaos, the woman holding the child grabbed a piece of ice and stuffed it into the child's mouth. The child's crying stopped instantly, and it greedily sucked on the ice shards. The woman then turned to pick up the shards of glass on the ground, wanting to scrape off some medicine, but a vagrant in gray clothes stepped on her hand: "This medicine is mine! You dare to use it?"

The woman's hands were being crushed, her bones cracking, yet she clung tightly to the shards of glass, refusing to let go, crying out, "My child needs medicine! He's dying!"

"Who doesn't need it?" The gray-clad vagrant kicked the woman in the waist, causing her to fall to the ground. The child in her arms rolled out and bumped into Scarface's leg.

Scarface looked down at the child's mouth, which was filled with ice shards, and a fierce glint flashed in his eyes. He raised his foot to stomp on the child, but was grabbed by the leg by the tall, thin man who suddenly rushed over: "You don't even spare children! You beast!"

The tall, thin man's arm was still bleeding, but he used all his strength to tackle Scarface. The two wrestled in the icy mist, and the axe fell to the ground, which Zhao Hu picked up.

Zhao Hu gripped his axe, looked at the chaotic crowd, and suddenly burst into laughter: "Stop fighting! From now on, the ice and medicine are mine! Anyone who disobeys will be chopped down!"

He raised his axe and swung it at a refugee who was grabbing ice. The axe struck the man's shoulder, and he screamed and fell to the ground, his blood staining the ice shards red.

The crowd fell silent instantly. The refugees stared at the axe in Zhao Hu's hand and the bloodstains on the ground, their eyes filled with fear, but no one dared to resist anymore.

Scarface got up from the ground, wiped the mud off his face, and glared at Zhao Hu fiercely: "I discovered this ice cellar first, why should it belong to you?"

"Because I have an axe!" Zhao Hu raised the axe and pointed it at Scarface. "Either cooperate with me, guard the ice cellar, and let others exchange supplies for ice and medicine, or I'll kill you right now!"

Scarface hesitated for a moment, looking at the mountain of ice in the ice cellar and the scattered bottles of heat-resistant medicine (obviously left behind during the previous move), and finally nodded: "Okay! Cooperation is fine, but I want half!"

The two quickly reached an agreement: Scarface and a few others guarded the entrance to the ice cellar, while Zhao Hu patrolled with an axe, shouting to the remaining refugees: "Want ice? One first-tier demon core for one kilogram."

Want heat-resistant medicine? Two Tier 1 demon cores for one bottle! Those without supplies, either get out or stay and do hard labor, guarding the ice cellar for us!

The refugees looked at each other, some reluctantly backing away, but Scarface stopped them: "Want to leave? Fine! Leave behind the last bit of supplies you have! Otherwise, you're not leaving!"

A young man tried to sneak away, but was slashed in the leg by Scarface's axe and fell to the ground in pain, forced to stay and work as a laborer.

The woman holding the child knelt on the ground, pulling out the last half of a compressed biscuit from her bosom: "This is all I have, could you exchange it for some ice?"

Zhao Hu glanced at the biscuits and laughed disdainfully, "This little bit of junk is only enough to exchange for a small piece of ice!" He tossed over a piece of ice the size of a fingernail, which the woman quickly caught and carefully fed to the child. The child, with the ice in his mouth, finally stopped crying, but the woman herself had cracked lips and couldn't even swallow her saliva.

In the distant dense forest, several late-arriving refugees witnessed this scene and were too frightened to approach. They could only hide behind trees, looking at Scarface and Zhao Hu at the entrance of the ice cellar with despair in their eyes.

One of the refugees pulled out a communicator and, trembling, sent a message in the national chat area of ​​the People's Republic of China: [SOS! There's an ice cellar and heat-resistant medicine in a deep mountain valley, but they've been seized by two thugs, Scarface and Zhao Hu! They want the supplies in exchange for ice and they're even beating people! Is anyone coming to rescue us? @IamGodofWealth]

After the message was sent, it was quickly overwhelmed by other requests for help—some said the outpost had been attacked by Flamewing Beasts, others said they were dying of thirst because they had no water to drink, and no one noticed this cry for help from the deep mountains.

At the entrance to the ice cellar, Zhao Hu and Scarface had already begun assigning "work": Scarface led his men to reinforce the entrance, sealing the gaps with manganese crystal plates to prevent the ice from melting; Zhao Hu, on the other hand, led his men to force the remaining laborers to search for supplies in nearby abandoned strongholds, and also told them to inform other refugees that if they wanted ice and medicine, they should bring supplies to the deep mountain valley to exchange for them.

The woman holding the child looked at the melting ice shards in her arms, her heart filled with despair—she had no more supplies, and once this small piece of ice melted, the child would be tormented by the high temperature again.

Not far away, Zhao Hu was punching and kicking a refugee who refused to hand over supplies with an axe. The refugee's screams echoed in the valley, intertwining with the gradually brightening daylight, and were filled with a bone-chilling cold.

Scarface stood at the entrance of the ice cellar, looking at the piles of ice inside, a greedy glint in his eyes—he knew that the ice in this ice cellar was enough for them to use for a long time, and the heat-resistant medicine of "I am the God of Wealth" was even more scarce. As long as they could hold onto this place, they could become the "local emperors" in the deep mountains, making all the refugees listen to them.

He turned to Zhao Hu and said, "We need to find more people to guard the place. If 'I am the God of Wealth' comes back, or other villains come knocking, we may not be able to hold it."

Zhao Hu nodded, wiping the blood off the axe: "I've already sent laborers to notify the nearby farmers. Once they arrive with supplies, we'll pick a few of the stronger ones to stay behind, and find some manganese crystal equipment to reinforce our defenses. Even if 'I am the God of Wealth' comes, we won't be afraid!"

The conversation between the two was overheard by the refugees hiding behind the trees. The refugees were so frightened that they quickly retreated, but they didn't know where to go. The temperature of the polar day was about to rise again. Without ice and heat medicine, they would not be able to survive for long. But if they went to the valley to exchange for ice, they would be exploited by Scarface and Zhao Hu, and might even lose their lives.

The icy mist from the ice cellar continued to drift out, bringing cool, damp air, but the air in the valley was unusually heavy due to the looting and violence.

The laughter of Scarface and Zhao Hu, the screams of refugees, and the cries of children intertwined, creating the most brutal scene in the deep mountains during the midnight sun. And this conflict caused by ice and medicine had only just begun.