“Weapons?” Ake and Aze looked at each other. They didn’t expect that the problem was just raised and yet Chen Qi immediately found a solution.

Chen Qi sent Aze to bring some wood over, and then sharpen it for later use. Because the half-built wall had well been frozen solid, the only way to insert the wood into the wall was to extend it outwards.

Worried that the locust dragons would notice their movements here, it wasn’t until they could no longer see the figure of any locust dragon that they opened the wooden gate to go out. There was even more snow outside the wall than what was in the yard. This time, the expansion fully increased the width of the wall by about one and a half meters and each time the snow was raised to a certain height, they embedded a sharpened wooden stake in it. Some of the stakes were thick, while others were thin. Chen Qi worried that they were not sufficient and had Aze drag back the trees that were knocked down by the locust dragons.

That evening, as the others continued their busy work, Azhang, who had followed the locust dragon to check things out, finally came back.

“Why were you gone for so long? How was it? Did you see where the locust dragons went?” Ali went over and asked anxiously.

Azhang shook his head, expression looking a little unsightly. “They crossed the Chishui River, then kept on going forward. I followed them up till the riverside and watched all of them cross the river before I headed back.”

“At least we don’t have to worry about them coming here anymore.” Ka Luo patted his chest in relief and said.

Ake said, “After crossing the Chishui River, I’m afraid they will head in the direction of the Lion-Wolf Tribe.”

Everyone fell silent at Ake’s words. In the end, Azhang smiled and comforted them, “There’s no need to worry. In the winter, the Lion-Wolf Tribe would arrange patrols all around, in order to guard against hyena-drakes. The locust dragons are so slow and the guards will spot them.” After a pause, he added, “Also, if the locust dragons really did attack the Lion-Wolf Tribe, there is nothing we can do to help.”

The few of them didn’t continue the topic. Instead, they took advantage of the last light of the setting sun to continue expanding the ice wall.

Even just adding wooden stakes for defense at every meter or so used up a lot of wood. Chen Qi also put to use some of the hydrochoerus dragon bones that were saved up from before. It was not easy to grind the bones, so Ali and Ka Luo took on that job directly.

The wall needed to be raised further and it would not be enough to rely on the firewood they had previously stored. Moreover, it would get colder and colder further into winter. Azhang and Aze planned to collect more firewood while it wasn’t snowing in the next few days.

After the busy day, Ali naturally had not had the time to sew the new quilt for Aze. Even Chen Qi planned to just roast some meat or stew it and be done with it. He didn’t know where Ka Luo got the energy from, but he had insisted on stir-frying some dishes for dinner. As a result, once they finished eating, he was so tired that Ake had to carry him home to sleep.

Aze spread out two new pieces of fur hides over the fire keng. Then he looked up and saw Chen Qi mixing a few dye-fruits into a pottery dish.

“You’ve had a tiring day, so don’t practice writing tonight. Let’s rest for the night.” Recently, Chen Qi would practice writing for a little while every day before going to bed. Aze worried that he would be too tired.

“En, I’ll sleep after finishing this.” Chen Qi dripped a little bit of the mixed dye-fruit solution onto a piece of white cloth, which quickly dyed it with a spot of light red. Chen Qi was dissatisfied and added a little more of the thicker red dye-fruit liquid into the mixture.

Seeing that Chen Qi didn’t look like he was going to practice writing, Aze leaned over to him after making the bed and asked, “What are you doing?”

“I’m going to make a new quilt.”

“A new quilt?” What is the relation between a new quilt and the dye-fruits? Shouldn’t it be made by sewing together a few animal skins?

“En.” Chen Qi replied vaguely. He dripped the newly adjusted dye-fruit solution on another side of the white fabric. This time, the white fabric was quickly dyed with a spot of beautiful red. Chen Qi was finally satisfied with the color. He put aside the white cloth for the color test, then picked up a piece of fabric that he’d cut earlier and dipped it into the pottery dish with the dye-fruit mixture, stirring it with a wooden stick so that the fabric would be fully colored.

Chen Qi smiled mysteriously at Aze. “You’ll know once I’m done.”