The leather-bound book contained historical records.
Fifty-three years ago, fifty-two years ago, fifty-one years ago—three years of favorable weather.
The camp had a bountiful harvest, and the people in the outer city no longer looked pale or sallow; their complexions had improved somewhat.
Just when people thought life would continue to be this good.
Fifty years ago, in May, a torrential downpour lasted for a month without stopping.
The seedlings in the fields all died, stored grains sprouted and rotted, and many people died from diarrhea after eating spoiled food.
Then, a plague spread.
In the outer city of the camp, nine out of ten houses were empty.
In the inner city, the population was halved.
Forty-nine years ago, the situation improved. Over the next five years, the camp received many Scavengers fleeing from disasters.
The population gradually recovered.
Then, forty-four years ago, a severe drought struck.
The fields cracked, and there was no rain for half a year until winter arrived.
People survived on stored food for a year.
The following year, forty-three years ago, the first season saw no harvest because no seeds had been planted the previous year.
In early summer, the rains returned to normal.
But just as the foxtail millet seedlings grew knee-high, hail fell from the sky.
Another crop failure, and the flimsy houses in the outer city were crushed, while the inner city also suffered severe damage.
Many people died from hunger and illness.
The next three years were slightly better. Although not every year was smooth sailing, each season yielded some harvest.
People could barely fill their stomachs by farming.
After all, fields without breeding, fertilizer, or pesticides couldn't produce much grain.
Thirty-nine years ago, a flood struck.
Countless lives were lost, and after the flood, the bodies in the outer city weren't cleared in time, leading to outbreaks of disease.
This wasn't just history—it was a bloody, tearful chronicle of disasters!
Tang Wen's brows furrowed deeply.
Natural disasters in this world were too frequent.
Not only here but everywhere else as well.
According to the records in the leather-bound book, a cycle occurred every seven or eight years, interspersed with numerous smaller calamities.
Survive, and you live; fail, and you die!
Tang Wen recalled that his parents, in this body, had fled with him and his sister to the camp.
Counting the time, it had been less than ten years.
Now, signs of another drought were emerging.
No wonder the camp was so tense, starting to control food consumption early.
Tang Wen felt a bitter taste in his heart as he looked toward the outskirts: No wonder so many people preferred to become Scavengers, to wander, rather than settle down and farm peacefully.
In such unpredictable weather, farming was akin to gambling with one's life.
Moreover, for ordinary people, farming in the wild meant risking sudden death from Mutated Beasts at any moment.
But why was the weather so bizarre?
Had the natural ecosystem been severely damaged, or was there some other reason?
How long would this last?
Questions flooded his mind.
Tang Wen was deeply puzzled.
Humans were truly fragile in the face of nature.
Feeling a heaviness in his heart, Tang Wen forced himself to keep reading.
The records showed that natural disasters continued unabated.
But there was also good news.
About ten years ago, farming efficiency improved, and yields per acre increased.
At that time, many refugees fleeing famine arrived from various places and became farmers in the outer city.
They brought some advanced techniques, such as composting and fertilizing, which increased soil fertility and raised production to a new level.
Click.
Tang Wen closed the book and looked at the crowd, silently sighing: "So, it's only been a few years since Flame Camp truly had enough to eat."
A drought is coming. I need to stock up on grain and meat!
After becoming the Commander, Tang Wen was assigned a residence in the inner city.
The house didn't have many rooms, but the courtyard was large.
It was just a wall away from Zhou Bing's mansion.
Originally, someone else lived there, but the person in charge of assigning residences quietly inquired about Tang Wen's situation.
He decisively approached the tenant, offering to waive half a year's rent if they moved out.
Thus, the tenant happily relocated.
The courtyard was naturally assigned to Tang Wen.
Living comfortably at Zhou Bing's place, he had no intention of moving.
But now, he planned to make use of the courtyard.
First, let's dig a cellar!
Tang Wen arrived at a row of stone houses in the Guard Barracks.
"Commander Tang," a familiar figure jogged over.
"Oh, Li Ge," he recognized the man.
"Oh no, no, I dare not. Commander, whatever you need, just give me the order," Wang Li slightly bowed, standing respectfully beside Tang Wen.
Tang Wen thought for a moment, gesturing as he spoke: "I want to find someone to dig a large cellar."
Wang Li readily agreed: "No problem, Commander. The construction team is idle right now!"
"Good, then please bring them here."
"Of course, of course!"
In a short while, Wang Li returned with a middle-aged man with dark skin and an honest, simple appearance.
The man looked nervous until Tang Wen explained the cellar-digging request, then he relaxed.
"A three-level cellar for storage? No problem, leave it to us!"
"How long will it take to build?"
"One month."
Tang Wen frowned.
The middle-aged man quickly amended: "With overtime, twenty days is possible, but you'll need to provide meals and some rice, sir."
Wang Li sharply turned to glare at him.
Tang Wen raised his hand to stop him: "Fair enough. I'll give you copper coins. Besides meals, three coins per person per day. Bring three times the workers and finish it in seven days!"
"Yes, yes! No problem, absolutely no problem!" The middle-aged man excitedly bowed repeatedly.
Immediately, Tang Wen took the two into the inner city, to his courtyard.
He handed Wang Li a silver ingot, tasking him with purchasing construction materials.
Wang Li declined a few times before finally accepting, smiling wryly: "Lately, for some reason, the camp has been strict with accounts. Otherwise, the Commander wouldn't need to pay out of pocket."
With copper coins in hand and a full meal, the construction team started working that very day.
With many workers and limited space in the courtyard, they couldn't work efficiently.
So they worked in three shifts, day and night.
The scene resembled a bustling construction site during a real estate boom.
The construction site was just a wall away from Tang Tang's bedroom.
The young lady couldn't stand the noise and temporarily moved to Zhou Bing's place.
Five days later.
Tang Wen was practicing the Primal Chaos Stance in the Commander's lounge at the Guard Barracks.
Over and over, he didn't leave until noon.
Zhou Bing curiously peeked at the door, initially confused, thinking it looked like health exercises.
As Tang Wen began practicing movements on the bed, she finally understood: "Little Wen, what kind of Cultivation Method are you practicing? It looks so... so improper?"
Tang Wen didn't look at her, humming: "Won't you be the one enjoying it later?"
"Pah!"
The ice beauty's cheeks flushed, but her gaze didn't waver in the slightest.
After a while, she hurried out and brought back several bowls of food from the canteen.
[Primal Chaos Stance, Beginner → Proficient (1/3000)]
The Primal Chaos Stance had broken through.
It must be said that Tang Wen was indeed the genius unanimously recognized by several senior male physicians.
In his daily practice of the Primal Chaos Stance, he always felt particularly adept, and his experience points increased rapidly.
If this continued, wouldn't having one wife and thirty concubines be just around the corner?
"The food's here! Come and eat."
Tang Wen didn't move, instead looking at his Attribute Panel.
[Body: 8.05→8.65]
[Spirit: 8.6→9.2]
"Huh?"
Only a 0.6 increase?
Was it due to insufficient momentum from the Cultivation Method, or something else?
The Primal Chaos Stance shouldn't be much different from the Vajra Skill.
For the second upgrade, the attributes should have increased by about 1.0, right?
Could it be that my attributes are too strong, causing the effect of the Cultivation Method to weaken?
Gurgle, gurgle.
His stomach growled, and Tang Wen decided to stop pondering and eat first.
He walked over to the dining table, where the plates and chopsticks were already set.
Beside them was a large pot of tea.
Tang Wen reached out, picked it up, blew on it, and took a sip—just the right temperature.
He drank half the pot in one go.
After a hearty meal, Tang Wen stretched and let out a satisfied burp.
Zhou Bing, who had already finished eating, bent over and skillfully began cleaning up the messy table.
Admiring the graceful curves she inadvertently revealed, Tang Wen felt a sense of contentment.
In his previous life, without the resources of four companies, three maids, and two cleaners, marrying a beauty of this caliber would have been a pipe dream!
Conservatively speaking, Zhou Bing could easily become an international supermodel based on her figure alone.
And if you added her combat skills, it would be simply extraordinary.
After feeling full and warm, Tang Wen couldn't help but stand behind the ice beauty and help her clean up.
Squeezing close, Zhou Bing shot him an affectionate glare: "Go back to your room and sleep, stop causing trouble."
"How is this causing trouble?" Tang Wen refused to let go, his face showing a look of bliss.
"Go on, get out!" Zhou Bing pushed him into the bedroom to rest.
She had concluded that Tang Wen's sudden increase in strength not only required a big meal but also a good night's sleep.
In the evening, Tang Wen woke up.
Inside and outside the courtyard, there was no sign of Zhou Bing.
After asking the gatekeeper, he learned that something had happened.
Recently, the guards had repeatedly received reports from Scavengers.
They said that people were disappearing from the Scavenger Camp.
At first, the guards didn't pay much attention—Scavengers going missing was all too common.
It was as normal as cats eating fish or dogs eating meat.
But as the Scavengers reported it more frequently, a guard went to take a look.
He immediately noticed something unusual: the missing people were disappearing in entire families, and they all lived in the westernmost part of the Scavenger Camp.
Now, over a hundred earthen houses and shacks there were em
pty.
There were no special traces on the ground either.
The guards felt something was off and reported the incident to their hunting camp in the afternoon.
Zhou Bing had just taken a team out to investigate.
Disappearances?
Tang Wen was puzzled—this didn't seem like something the Mutated Beasts could do.
"Prepare the horses and lead the way."
He decided to go and take a look as well.
(End of Chapter)