A dark, slick, blood-stained creature with two large front teeth fell into the snow house.
It looks like a beaver, but is as big as a seal. It is not quite dead yet, and its tail is trembling slightly.
Lu Dangui cautiously pulled Xia Chuhe behind him.
The others also looked wary, and the three dwarfs immediately produced various weapons, one of whom even had a gun.
A rustling sound came from the cave entrance, revealing two long, fluffy legs.
A tall woman wearing a cotton-padded coat and trousers crawled into the snow cave, followed by a man in thin clothes with a ruddy complexion.
The trio, who had been silent until now, visibly relaxed. One of the women rushed to the taller woman's side and asked, "Ah Zhen, are you alright?"
Du Zhen kicked the beaver on the ground: "No, how could I be injured? Wang Yan and I hunted a seal, this was a sure win."
Xia Chuhe noticed that Du Zhen's kicking motion was somewhat stiff, and there was a slight purplish-red swelling on his cheek.
She was clearly frozen stiff and frostbitten, but she didn't seem to feel cold at all.
Du Zhen's teammates noticed her unusual behavior and quickly pushed her to the fire, where Xia Chuhe had been sitting.
Xia Chuhe remembers that Lu Danggui traded half a bag of nutrients for that spot.
She has a sack of flour on her farm now, so she won't starve for the time being. The immediate priority is information about the copy, and Du Zhen just came in from outside and hunted a seal.
Xia Chuhe said, "That's my seat."
Du Zhen glanced at her, his gaze lingering for a moment on the angelica root in front of her.
These two women were a pair; they looked weak, but she had a very unusual feeling about them.
Two beautiful women who can live without relying on men must have some unknown methods.
Du Zhen said casually, "I'll exchange information with you."
She didn't mind doing these two a favor, since she needed to communicate with her teammates in the igloo anyway. Rather than letting others eavesdrop passively, she might as well take the initiative to befriend them.
Xia Chuhe breathed a sigh of relief.
Du Zhen said, "It's very big outside, all ice and snow. There's only this one snow house within a ten-kilometer radius. The altitude is lower to the east, there are forests at the foot of the mountain, and there are footprints of a giant unknown creature."
Du Zhen raised his chin at the beaver: "There's a lake to the north, it's not completely frozen over. We caught a silly one by the lake. There should be a lot of good stuff in the lake, you can go and get some if you're capable."
“The other two areas… it’s best not to go there.” Du Zhen paused. “There are snow houses there, but no one is there. The snow surface is uneven, and there might be something in the snow.”
The little man stared at the beaver on the ground and exchanged glances with the two people behind him.
“We know what’s over there. You won’t lose out by exchanging beavers for information.”
Wang Yan cursed, "Idiot, get lost."
The dwarf wasn't angry: "There were six of us when we came, now there are only three of us left. That information was obtained at the cost of three lives."
He looked at Wang Yan: "By the way, two of the dead had fire-based abilities."
If he wasn't mistaken, Wang Yan's superpower was definitely related to fire. To walk around in the freezing snow like nothing had happened—it would be strange if he weren't a little fire spirit.
Wang Yan had a fiery temper. He rolled up his sleeves, his hands blazing with anger: "Who are you cursing? I'll beat you up!"
Du Zhen slapped out the fire in his hand, his expression unchanged: "Don't be impulsive."
She looked at the little man and said gently, "Half a beaver, if the information you provide is worth three lives."
The short man and the two men behind him exchanged a glance, and the two men nodded.
The little dwarf glanced at Xia Chuhe and Lu Danggui.
Du Zhen ignored him and said, "Speak."
Xia Chuhe: ...
Cover your ears.
I won't listen, I won't listen, you're just spouting nonsense.
She knew from a young age that debts of gratitude are the hardest to repay.
On the wasteland, how could she possibly repay a giant beaver that was half-eaten?
Lu Dangui didn't understand the complicated thoughts in her heart, so she took Xia Chuhe's hand off her ear.
The dwarf said, "You just said there was something in the snow. That thing is a snow ape-man. They are all white, with long hair, and look exactly like apes."
Snow apes are very clever; they lie in ambush in the snow, waiting for their prey to appear.
When the sun sets, they come knocking on our door, bringing us furs and asking us to help build a snow hut. After it's built, they give us dried meat.
On the first night, all six of us went. Building snow huts was easy, and in order to get more jerky, we split up and built six snow huts.
That night was safe, nothing happened.
But on the second night, when we were about to go back at dawn, one person was missing—the one with fire powers.
We don't know where he went, or even when he disappeared.
We are very scared.
On the third night, we refused the snow apes' request. As a result, they attacked us in a frenzy. The snow apes were very strong, almost as terrifying as the monsters in the wasteland; bullets could only graze their skin.
They killed one of our brothers before leaving.
On the fourth and fifth nights, we went to help them build snow houses again, but we didn't separate on those two nights, so nothing happened.
When we got back, we checked the jerky they gave us and found…
The short man's voice was hoarse: "There are human fingers in the jerky."
What he didn't say was that the finger had a tattoo, exactly the same as the tattoo on the missing person's hand.
Wang Yan, still furious, said, "Weren't you three people short? The Snow Ape only killed two."
The dwarf gave a half-smile: "The lake to the north...you're really lucky. One of our brothers died on our first day hunting there."
"You encountered a beaver, we encountered a megalodon."
Wang Yan: ...
After hearing the little dwarf's story, Du Zhen remained calm: "The information you provided isn't worth half a beaver. I can only give you a beaver hind leg."
A man behind the short man pointed a gun at Du Zhen.
Du Zhen said, "You are weak. You could have avoided death by being careful, but three of you have died."
Du Zhen's four teammates surrounded her, silently and forcefully adopting an offensive stance.
The short man lowered the gun of the person behind him: "Beaver hind leg, okay."
Xia Chuhe watched the standoff between the two sides with awe.
Du Zhen's bargaining skills are amazing. In just a few words, he managed to reduce the price of the beaver that the little guy wanted to a beaver hind leg.
If she had that ability, she wouldn't have made Lu Danggui pay the price of half a dose of nutritional supplement.
The three groups subtly maintained peace.
The light filtering through the skylight grew narrower and narrower.
Suddenly, the skylight went completely dark.
The firelight from the burning pine wood reflected on the skylight, revealing a strange human face.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
