At that moment, Cao Xing heard a 'gurgle gurgle' sound near his ear.
It wasn't coming from him, but rather from Liu Muxue beside him.
She wasn't someone with a particularly strong physique to begin with, and on top of that, she had just been through a battle, which had drained a great deal of her strength.
So it was normal for her to be hungry.
Seeing Cao Xing looking over, Liu Muxue's pretty face turned red, and she buried her head deeply.
Cao Xing shook his head and said, "Saozi, let's go inside first. It's time to start cooking."
Liu Muxue nodded gently.
Then, they entered the empty Lord's Hut.
To cook, one must first build the stove.
So, Cao Xing found a corner and then opened the [Construction] interface to start building.
[Do you want to consume materials: Stone*8, Wood*4, to build a level 1 simple stove?]
Cao Xing started to build according to the blueprint provided by the system.
In just a few minutes, a simple stove made of stone appeared in front of Cao Xing.
[Occupied Space: 1 square meter]
Cao Xing then took out the initial equipment provided by the system from the Storage Box, [Big Black Pot (White)]
Don't think it's just a big black pot, but it could actually be broken down into two pieces of iron.
This time, Cao Xing planned to make a pot of snake soup.
In this icy and snowy land, there was naturally no shortage of water sources.
Cao Xing just needed to go outside with a hammer, knock off some ice, bring it back and put it in the pot, where it soon melted.
After the water boiled, Cao Xing directly threw two palm-sized pieces of snake meat into the pot.
These two pieces of snake meat were equal to 10 units of food supplies, which was quite luxurious.
After contemplating for a moment, Cao Xing threw two more pieces of snake meat into the pot.
A dozen minutes later, the rich aroma of the meat started to permeate the entire hut.
Liu Muxue, who was huddled to one side, couldn't help but lift her head and swallow saliva as she gazed at the pot.
"Saozi, it's almost ready, just wait a little longer."
Liu Muxue, feeling embarrassed, lowered her head and responded softly, "Axing, let me handle the cooking in the future..."
After hearing this, Cao Xing laughed and said, "In the future, you are going to be the Lord's woman. How can we be the ones to do these tasks?"
"Now we are short-handed, but once we recruit more forces, we won't need to cook ourselves."
Hearing this, Liu Muxue also revealed a gentle smile, "Axing, you understand so much."
Cao Xing shook his head, "It's nothing, I just play a lot of games, that's all."
Outside, the sky turned increasingly dim.
The temperature started to drop sharply as well.
After the stove was lit, the temperature in the room had risen to -11°C.
But now, in the blink of an eye, it dropped back down to -16°C.
The temperature outside was an astonishing -50°C.
The howling wind, like a bone-scraping knife, incessantly swept over the bodies of the Polar People.
Under these temperature conditions, even with a bonfire, work couldn't continue.
Unless, later on, the bonfire was upgraded to an Energy Tower, then even in blizzard conditions, one could safely get through.
At this point, Cao Xing saw several prompts appear on the territory interface.
[Your territory building, the [Logging Factory], has been successfully constructed.]
[Your territory building, the [Market], has been successfully constructed.]
[Your territory building, the [Small Shelter], has been successfully constructed.]
Cao Xing breathed a sigh of relief.
The tasks he had entrusted to the four Polar People had all been completed before nightfall.
So he went to the door of the Lord's Hut and said, "Dazhuang, Erzhuang, you all can come and eat now."
Four Polar People swarmed into the Lord's Hut.
Even Yilena curled up and squeezed into the hut against the wooden walls.
The Lord's Hut, which was a total of thirty square meters in area, became extremely crowded all at once.
Liu Muxue had already filled six wooden bowls with meat soup, which also contained melted snake meat.
The eyes of the four Polar People gleamed, and their hands holding the bowls were shaking.
But since Cao Xing hadn't spoken, they didn't dare make any presumptuous moves.
At that moment, Cao Xing came to the stove and picked up one of the wooden bowls, saying, "Although we've only known each other for a day, I'm very satisfied with your performance!"
"To reward you for your efforts, enjoy this pot of snake soup to your heart's content."
"Now, let's enjoy the meal!"
At this instant, the four Polar People lifted the delicious soup in their hands, their saliva secreting crazily.
Then, they shouted in unison.
"Praise the great Lord!"
"Praise the great Second Lord!"
As the words were uttered, the four Polar People drained the soup bowls in one gulp.
The sounds of "glug glug" filled the air.
Moments later, a look of bliss appeared on the faces of all four Polar People.
"Good heavens, I swear, this is the most delicious meal I've ever had in my life!"
"Erzhuang, me too! I've never had such delicious soup in the underground."
"Everyone, we must remember, all of this was bestowed upon us by the Lord. We must work hard to repay the Lord!"
"We are willing to go through fire and water for the Lord!"
The four Polar People were deeply moved.
A system prompt appeared.
[Your Territory Member: Dazhuang has tasted delicious snake soup, his Loyalty has increased, current Loyalty: 85.]
[Your Territory Member: Erzhuang has tasted delicious snake soup, his Loyalty has increased, current Loyalty: 80.]
The goodwill of the four Polar People skyrocketed, all over 80 points!
With such high goodwill, basically, whatever Cao Xing asked them to do, they would do.
Cao Xing also noticed Yilena nearby.
Her Hunger Level had dropped below 50.
Yilena squinted her slender eyelids, constantly sticking out her tongue, seemingly also eager to eat.
Cao Xing approached Yilena and asked, "Yilena, do you want raw meat or cooked meat?"
Yilena spat out her crimson tongue, "Raw meat, respected Lord."
Cao Xing nodded, about to take out two pieces of snake meat from his backpack.
After a thought, Cao Xing put them back.
Instead, he tossed two pieces of the newly harvested Wolf Meat to Yilena.
Yilena bit into it in one go and then swallowed it down directly.
Licking her lips, she smiled contentedly and said, "Thank you, Lord."
[Your Territory Member: Yilena has tasted delicious Wolf Meat, her Loyalty has increased, current Loyalty: 71.]
Cao Xing noticed that Yilena's Hunger Level had risen by 10 points, barely reaching 60.
This wouldn't do, as not reaching a full state for an extended period would also decrease Loyalty.
Yilena was powerful, but likewise, she consumed more food.
After pondering for a moment, Cao Xing continued to feed her four more pieces of Wolf Meat, finally bringing her Hunger Value up to 80.
"Thank you for your generosity, Lord."
Cao Xing nodded; fortunately, this time, they'd hunted two Snow Wolves.
Otherwise, with Yilena's appetite, their food stores wouldn't last them two days.
Moreover, in Cao Xing's hands, there was an even more powerful Recruitment Scroll: Frost Wolf Warrior.
One could imagine that when the time came, feeding the two big eaters every day would require a staggering amount of food.
"Starting tomorrow, we'll have to find a way to gather more food," Cao Xing thought to himself.
Since it was night, he couldn't work or go out exploring.
So, Cao Xing instructed Yilena and the four Polar People to return to their quarters to rest.
After they left, the Lord's Hut became spacious again.
As for Liu Muxue, she had to stay with Cao Xing until new quarters were built.
At the moment, Liu Muxue seemed a bit nervous; this appeared to be her first time sharing a room with a man.
However, Cao Xing didn't harbor any superfluous thoughts.
Sitting in front of the fire, Cao Xing opened the system interface's [Chat Channel].
He wanted to see how the other Survivors were faring.
He opened the [World Channel], and a deluge of messages poured in.
Lin Zixuan: "Cold! So cold! I'm freezing to death!"
Lawrence: "Oh, God! What kind of world is this? My family has run out of food, the Bonfire is about to go out, can anyone save us?"
Andre: "Damn! There are monsters lurking outside the Camp, and one of them bit me!"
Fujihara Ayako: "My husband has frozen to death, his body is so stiff and cold, sob sob sob..."