The wicked female is extremely fierce, but she's pampered by her seven beast husbands.

Chapter 292 A Dilemma
"Thunder in the eastern region?"

Ling Chengen was extremely surprised, never expecting that they would still have to travel even in this kind of weather.

Looking at Ling Chengen's shocked expression, Shi Ruoan said helplessly, "Yes, this is also the first time we've encountered thunderstorms on land. If it weren't for the timely reminder from our companions, we might have really been caught in the storm."

The key point is that Shi Panxing had no concept of thunderstorms on this land, and he was still holding something he had scavenged from the orcs of Huangyan Beast City. This thing happened to be made of metal, so the lightning really struck down on their heads without any warning.

If Shi Panxing hadn't been quick-witted and stored the items in his spatial storage, they would all have been in trouble.

But in the end, a tree next to them was struck by lightning, and sparks flew on the spot.

Even Shi Panxing was electrocuted, and all his hair stood on end.

Shi Ruoan wasn't much better off. Although he let go in time and distanced himself from Shi Panxing, he still felt a tingling sensation as if he had been electrocuted.

Shi Panxing said quietly, "You didn't even remind me, okay."

Shi Ruoan turned her head away from his face, touched the tip of her nose a little guiltily, and whispered, "You completely ignore people, okay?"

Shi Panxing stared at his profile, feeling annoyed and refusing to speak again.

Ling Chengen gave Bai Qingyu a look, signaling him to ask something.

Bai Qingyu spread her hands, indicating that she had no idea what to say and was not familiar with the two of them at all.

"A room has been prepared for you. After you've warmed up a bit, go back and rest." Ling Chengen gave up on asking further questions, picked up the bracelet filled with Crimson Source Stones, and prepared to get up and go outside. "By the way, the snow won't stop today, so it's best to go back early before the snow gets too deep."

Shi Panxing pulled something out of the wide sleeves of his fur coat and casually tossed it to Ling Chengen: "Take this."

"what is this?"

Ling Chengen grasped the somewhat cold metal, and gently pinched it with his fingertips, discovering that several fingerprints had been left on the metal.

Soft metal.

It's quite unique.

Shi Panxing leaned back in his wheelchair and pulled the fur blanket covering his legs: "Didn't you want the Baman Snake Clan's heat-locking technology?"

"That's a heat-locking ring, produced in Huangyan Beast City. You just need to put a Crimson Source Stone inside and wear it on your wrist or waist to continuously provide warmth to your whole body. One Crimson Source Stone can usually last for more than a month. After the heat of the Crimson Source Stone is exhausted, you should replace it."

"Moreover, this stretchable soft metal, which is wrapped in Crimson Origin Stone, can freely deform as it switches between human and beast forms. Once worn, it generally won't break unless you use a bone blade to cut it."

"The temperature-locking ring technology is exclusive to the nobles of Huangyan Beast City. The Baman Snake Clan has been trying to crack the secret of the temperature-locking ring for many years, but so far they have made no progress and still have to purchase a large number of temperature-locking rings from the nobles of Huangyan Beast City every year."

Ling Chengen asked in confusion, "Isn't it enough to just replace the Crimson Source Stone? Why do we need to buy a large number of temperature-locking rings?"

Shi Panxing sneered, "Do you think the nobles of Huangyan Beast City would be so kind as to let go of the opportunity to fleece the Sea Serpent Clan? They almost never sell Crimson Source Stones to the Sea Clan, only Temperature Locking Rings. Moreover, they set the price of the Temperature Locking Rings, and the Baman Serpent Clan has to trade according to their asking price if they want them, otherwise they won't get the Temperature Locking Rings."

"I got my hands on a few of these temperature-locking rings and disassembled one. The internal structure is very simple, and I can copy it at any time. But the technical difficulty of the temperature-locking ring lies in the structural chamber that encloses the red source stone. Once it is manually disassembled, the internal sequence of the structural chamber will be automatically destroyed. There should be some kind of special fire-type runes and anti-disassembly seals inside."

“I’m not a fire-type warrior, and I have no clue about these fire-type runes… Your ability is special, so you can study it yourself. There should be quite a few fire-type warriors around you, so you can try asking them. Maybe they can crack it, and then Beiyuan can mass-produce temperature-locking rings on its own.”

Ling Chengen patted the temperature-locking ring in his hand, his eyes immediately lighting up: "Thank you, I will find someone to study these temperature-locking rings carefully."

As soon as Ling Chengen opened the door, the wind and snow outside rushed in.

The wildly swirling snowflakes, like blades of wind, violently tore through the warmth inside the room.

She pulled her hat over her head, lowered her head, and ran down the city wall. It had only been snowing for half a day, and the snow on the steps was already ankle-deep.

Ling Chengen shivered and turned up his scarf.

She looked around the street, where there were very few people. On the main north-south street, all the giant trees had been shaved, their trunks bare, without a single leaf in sight.

There wasn't a single withered branch or fallen leaf to be seen on the ground.

However, the branches of the giant trees in the city have not been pruned yet. After releasing her mental abilities, she sensed that there were small teams of six or seven people everywhere in the city, who were speeding up the pruning of the branches.

Ling Chengen walked towards the center of the heating boiler.

She glanced at the amount of Crimson Origin Stones in the storage space and found it to be much more than she had expected. While she couldn't say it would be enough to provide heating for the entire cold season, it was definitely sufficient, especially with the small amount of coal and firewood stored in the city.

……

There are currently many vacant houses in Beast City, and heating will not be provided for houses that are not inhabited for the time being.

Orcs who live alone are generally advised to gather in groups of three or five, and squeeze in during the cold season to conserve resources.

These are all things that Chongzhen arranged to coordinate, and Ling Chengen didn't have time to deal with them.

After the Crimson Source Stones were delivered to the boiler room, Ling Chengen watched them use them. Once he confirmed that they had mastered how to use the Crimson Source Stones, he carefully instructed them: "Do not discard the used Crimson Source Stones. Put them in one place. Also, record the amount consumed each day. This kind of resource is currently under control and will not be distributed to the beastmen in the city for the time being. It will be given priority for heating in the city. Do you all remember that?"

"Understood, young clan leader, rest assured."

Most of those responsible for heating the boiler room were rat-tribe orcs, along with some orcs from the Medicine Locust Tribe. There weren't many orcs from the Stone Forest, but there were three females with excellent physical abilities.

One of them knew Zhilu and had learned some writing on and off, so there were no major problems with simply recording the data of the Red Source Stone.

Heating has always been a major concern for her; without adequate resources, she can't feel at ease.

Now that the heating problem has been solved, the remaining issue to be addressed is the large-scale relocation of the Sangqi tribe.

……

The Sangqi tribe had been serving Ujah for a long time, losing a large number of warriors and having to pay a considerable price to bring back their people. This news had already spread throughout the south bank of the Xuemu River.

Out of consideration for their feelings, Ujah had no choice but to send them a batch of supplies as a token of his appreciation.

This was done partly to appease the Xiama tribe, lest they harbor resentment; and partly to put on a show, ensuring the surrounding tribes that depended on them remained loyal and wouldn't feel any sense of shared fate.

However, compared to the Sangqi who received supplies, the Lin Ya and Lu Ya tribes have been having a really tough time lately.

Because on the day of the siege, they tentatively inquired about the situation, and after losing dozens of soldiers, they immediately decided to retreat. Even when the camp was set on fire, they fled quickly without taking any remedial measures.

Therefore, the warriors of Uga who had made a difficult return to their territory immediately filed a complaint against the Raven Clan upon returning to their tribe.

Now that the matter is settled, Uga can finally settle scores later. They could only swallow their anger and endure the insults directed at them by Uga's chieftain, elders, and many arrogant orcs.

But some people have bad tempers and look down on their scoundrel behavior.

So these past few days, the warriors of the Raven Clan have been frequently cursed at by passing Uga orcs, and some have even physically assaulted them, spitting on them afterward... Even the young cubs who went out to play in the tribe have been beaten bloody by those Uga cubs who consider themselves superior.

The atmosphere in the Crow tribe was heavy, and the chieftain was particularly worried, desperate to regain face with Ujah as soon as possible...

Unfortunately, no solution has been found yet.

Chief Lin Ya paced anxiously in place, finally gritting his teeth and saying, "If all else fails, we'll send some supplies over. We can't go on like this. The children in the tribe are too afraid to go out now. The people from Uga look at us like we're nothing. Sigh..."

Elder Ya Shou of the Lin Ya tribe stroked his white beard and frowned, saying, "No, our Ya tribe already has a large population, and our hunting range has been shrinking due to our dependence on Uja. In addition, we have to hand over a portion of our supplies every year, so we don't have much left for ourselves. It's barely enough for our tribe to get through the winter."

"Send another batch of supplies; many people will definitely freeze to death this year."

"Besides, you know exactly what kind of people the orcs of Uga are."

"Once this starts, we'll have to pay that much every year from now on."

“We already have it hard enough living humbly in Ujah’s territory, how can we continue to feed their appetites with our own flesh and blood?”

"There's no room for discussion about sending supplies."

"Absolutely not!"

"Yes, yes, that definitely won't work."

Several elders around nodded in agreement, their expressions extremely solemn.

Chief Lin Ya turned to look at the group and sighed, "If we don't take the supplies, do you believe we'll be forced to reduce our hunting range again next year? Uja holds grudges very well. We ran away early this time, and they suffered considerable losses. In order to appease the Xiama tribe, they personally paid for a batch of supplies."

"They will definitely get their revenge on the other tribes."

"The Hapa and Reka tribes, because their warriors can't fly, suffered a similar fate to the Sangqi. They also suffered countless casualties this time. Some warriors were lucky enough to escape with the help of the water beast tribe, but if Uga asks them to hand over supplies at this time, it will definitely give rise to gossip..."

"Leaving aside those three tribes, which one do you think they would target first?"

If they don't hand it over now, when Ujah deals with them personally, the exact amount they'll have to pay will be beyond his control.

"But how can that be?"

"We are small-sized orcs, and fighting against those large-sized orcs is simply courting death."

"From the beginning, we agreed with Ujah that we would only provide them with intelligence; combat is not our specialty..."

Will they reason with us?

"No, they only care about the results and won't care about our difficulties."

Most of the respected members of the clan gathered in the wooden house, discussing the matter at length, but no consensus was reached.

The serpent hung below the window frame of the wooden house, its upright leaves carrying all their voices back.

In the grass beneath the wooden bed, a small, dark green snake flicked its tongue, quietly slipped into a gap in the corner of the wooden house, scratched at the soil with the tip of its tail, buried itself, covered its head with a patch of yellowish-green turf, and then remained completely still.

When Jiaojiao left, she secretly abducted a crow cub that was fast asleep in a rabbit hole. After leaving the territory of the Forest Crow Clan, she quickly darted into a hole in a giant tree.

Yuheng and Bai Qingyu, who were still waiting, took the carefree crow cub from one hand and Jiaojiao from the other. The two looked at the cub with its rosy cheeks from sleeping and exchanged glances.

"Can such a tiny cub really help us deliver messages?"

"Don't forget what you just heard and then spout nonsense..." Yu Heng frowned, his expression full of disgust, and muttered, "Ling Xiaoxi is like this sometimes. You tell her seven, eight, nine things, and she turns around and tells you something like pigs, sheep, and dogs!"

Bai Qingyu couldn't help but chuckle upon hearing this, saying, "Xiao west isn't like that, is she? She's still very smart."

"What do you know?!" Yuheng sighed deeply.

He was the one who stayed at home during the autumn hunt, and spent more than two months with Ling Xiaoxi.

Ling Xiaoxi looks lively and clever, but she actually has some of the common problems of cubs.

They're masters of spouting nonsense with a straight face.

As someone who has suffered greatly from this, he has the most right to speak on the matter.

Bai Qingyu glanced outside; the crow people hadn't yet realized that the chubby cub was missing.

He placed the child in his arms on the haystack inside the tree hole, watched him whimper and turn over, turning his back to them, and continue sleeping.

He was just about to reach out and wake the person when he suddenly stared intently at the back of the cub's head, his fingertips gently tracing the cub's soft scalp. He said in a serious tone, "He has an injury on the back of his head. It's a fresh wound, not deep, and it has already scabbed over."

Yuheng immediately knelt down on one knee, took his place, gently stroked the wound with his fingertips, and nodded, saying, "It is indeed a fresh wound, probably caused by being hit by a stone. It's not life-threatening, but if this wound isn't treated, he might develop a fever tonight..."

His fingertips emitted supernatural power, which quickly soothed the wound.

After Yuheng stopped, he said, "It seems that what Jiaojiao said is true. The situation of the Crow Clan in Ujah is very bad."

"Wouldn't that increase our chances of persuading them to cooperate?"

Bai Qingyu hesitated and said, "I'm not sure either. We'll only know the result after we negotiate."

Unfortunately, they failed to capture any prisoners of the Crow Clan. In order to intimidate the Crow Clan, Yuheng directly used the Giant Wood Barrier to kill dozens of Crow Clan warriors, leaving no one alive.

"Why don't you wake up this cub? Whether it can accurately convey the message or not, let's give it a try."

"If all else fails, we can kidnap an older one." Yu Heng took two steps back and urged Bai Qingyu to make a move.

Bai Qingyu also took a step back and looked at him, saying, "You come here. I'm not good at dealing with cubs."

Yu Heng looked indifferent, crossed his arms in front of his chest in a defensive posture, and said in a cool tone: "Look at what you're saying, as if I'm very good at dealing with cubs."

"I can only treat half-dead wounded, not stupid little brats who can knock out their front teeth just by walking."

Bai Qingyu stared at Yu Heng, speechless.