Steve, with his spirit on the verge of collapse, took "Christ" and returned towards the camp.
But he dared not go directly into the camp, instead wandering aimlessly around its perimeter.
Until he saw his eldest son George leading a team out to search for them.
Without any hesitation, he unexpectedly smashed "Christ" beside him into pieces with a punch, then resolutely tore off his wooden arm.
Indeed, Steve was cowardly and afraid of death, but forcing him to use the lives of ordinary people from his camp to exchange for his survival was something he could not do under any circumstances.
Moreover, once it started, it was an endless abyss.
As long as the Mimicking Monster found him again, he'd have to surrender people continuously, and over time, the entire Rogel Camp, including the surrounding Redwood Ridge, would have no human survivors left.
From the moment he began to barter with the Mimicking Monster, Steve had already made up his mind.
But, even knowing his youngest son was already under the control of the Mimicking Monster, having to personally smash his body into pieces, the overwhelming sorrow combined with the psychological pressure from the Mimicking Monster's torment drove Steve to collapse.
He gave a few words to his eldest son George, after which he fell into a half-mad state.
He often felt that the Mimicking Monster was waiting for him outside the camp and had even snuck into Rogel Camp, ready to slice away his flesh and blood at any time.
He could often see his youngest son, whom he had shattered with his own hands, climbing out from the ground, crying and asking him why he had killed him.
Under the strong fear and guilt, Steve's mental state remained on edge for many years.
For years, regardless of eating, drinking, or relieving himself, he stayed hidden in his small wooden cabin, never stepping out and never communicating with others.
In the small cabin, Steve, now with graying hair, lay on the bed, his right hand hanging over the edge, peacefully asleep with his eyes closed.
Suddenly, a blood-soaked hand reached out from under the bed, grabbing his right hand.
Steve opened his eyes and turned to look at the edge of the bed, instantly terror-stricken.
There was Christ, with half a blood-drenched head emerging, looking at him with a face full of hatred and malice:
"Father, Father, why did you kill me? Look at me; I can't even find a piece of good flesh. Help me piece my body back together, Father…"
"Ah!!!"
Steve screamed, shooting up from the bed, and looked around, even checking under the bed.
Realizing it was just a dream like before, the terror in his pupils gradually faded, returning to a previous lethargic state.
"It's just a dream, hehe, just a dream, hehe…"
The thought process of a mentally unstable person is hard for a normal person to comprehend.
Steve sat on the bed for a long while.
Once he had completely calmed down, he began laughing and giggling again.
Then, amid his laughter, he started pointing to the wall and muttering to himself:
"I won't let you find it; all the wood from my body is gone, hehe."
"You can't find me; you just can't find me."
"Hahaha, I won't give you anyone; come find me then…"
---
However, two consecutive low voices with a bit of amusement suddenly sounded inside the room, interrupting Steve's self-talking.
"Can't find?"
"The payment for sparing your life all these years needs to be repaid too!"
Sitting on the bed, Steve heard the voice and was struck as if by lightning.
---
As soon as night fell on the second day, William went to find George, ready to say goodbye.
The leaders of the Five Camps had reached an agreement to cooperate with Lex and Matthew for one last trip to Redwood Ridge, hoping to lure out the Wood Puppet Monster and finally slay it successfully.
George brought three from the Earthripper Realm and twenty-five from the Axeheart Realm, while the other four camps brought everyone they could.
Compared to the previous four times, everyone this time was clearly more determined.
But none of this had anything to do with William anymore.
Taylor Camp had suffered heavy losses, and even if he wanted to help, he couldn't provide manpower.
Wishing everyone the best in slaying that Mimicking monster, William took his younger brother Barry and headed back to Taylor Camp through Redwood Ridge.
Along the way, they also carried a bag of Crystal Fruits gifted by George.
There was little interaction between the various camps, so there were no major roads between them; people usually traveled along the outskirts of Redwood Ridge.
Redwood Ridge was large, so saying these camps were around the ridge wasn't entirely accurate.
In fact, the camps, as a whole, were only distributed on the eastern side of Redwood Ridge.
Rogel Camp was due east, while the locations of Taylor and Harper were to the southeast, with Harper positioned a bit more to the south.
The territory each camp occupied around the outskirts of Redwood Ridge was roughly divided according to their camp positions.
Rogel Camp, being the strongest, naturally occupied the largest range, stretching over two thousand meters north to south.
The other eight camps had about only five hundred meters each.
South of Rogel Camp, there were four camps: Ben, Samsung, Taylor, and Harper.
So, from Rogel Camp, entering Redwood Ridge and heading south, it would take only about three kilometers to reach the territory area of Taylor Camp.
Worried for the safety of the over three hundred people in the camp, William hurried along with Barry, covering the three kilometers quickly; they soon reached their own territory.
"Phew…finally here, let's hurry back!"
Though still in Redwood Ridge, stepping into their own territory area brought quite a bit of relief to William.
But the thought of informing the camp that they lost three brothers made his heart heavy again.
It had been only a little over half a month since they lost eight brothers in Harper's territory, and now three more.
Just over three months ago, Taylor Camp had a solid sixteen Axeheart Realm warriors; at that time, he even proactively proposed hunting the Cold Beast.
In just a few months, the situation had changed dramatically; it was like heaven and hell.
Walking along, William suddenly turned to look at the bag on Barry's back.
"Hey, wait."
Barry stopped, puzzled, looking at him.
William took the bag from his back, weighed it a bit, and furrowed his brow: "It's been more than half a month since then, the Crystal Fruits left in the camp must be all gone by now, and this bag only has over a thousand pounds.
If we take it back, it might not be enough. Let's go check the Ice Trees and see if we can pick some more."
Barry nodded, standing still until William started walking towards the Ice Trees, then followed him.
Being the camp leader, William was very familiar with the locations of the six Ice Trees in their territory, and soon reached the nearest one.
But thirty meters from the Ice Tree, his expression changed suddenly, pulling Barry behind a nearby tree.
"Someone has intruded!"
Barry, standing beside him, had also noticed, both looking towards the direction.
They saw two young men with bags on the Ice Tree, busily picking Crystal Fruits, with three others keeping watch below, five in all.
After carefully observing their appearance, William's face was initially shocked, then turned confused.
"So young, which camp are they from?"
Being out at night suggested they were at least at the Axeheart Realm.
The problem was that these five young people looked at most around twenty.
Even Rogel Camp couldn't possibly have five Axeheart so young.
Could they be from other large or even giant camps?
No, no.
William quickly dismissed this thought.
Because the six were all wearing ordinary Beast Skin Clothes.
"Those five are from Harper Camp."
At this point, Barry suddenly spoke up beside him.
William was startled upon hearing this, and a trace of fear instantly surged in his heart as his eyes on those young men changed as well.
"Are you saying those five might be…."
Barry said nothing, just gave him a gentle nod.
William swallowed, his heartbeat slowing for a moment, and he moved cautiously, afraid to make a sound and alert the five people over there.
He couldn't forget, Thomas's group were all dead.
Any camp with all their Axeheart Squad members dead would mean no hope for the remaining camp members.
So before going to Rogel Camp, William had been convinced that Harper Camp's people were either starved to death or long ago killed by the Mimicking monster.
This scene clearly told him the answer.
Mimicking Monster!
Yes, that's it, it must be the Mimicking monster's doing.
Otherwise, how could there be such young Loggers, and five of them at once?
"Be quiet, don't alarm them, let's go!"
Hearing William's signal, Barry nodded, a hint of somberness in his eyes.
The two retreated quietly, quickly leaving a distance of twenty to thirty meters.
Only then did William let out a breath, turned to head toward Tower Mountain.
"Leader William, where are you two headed?"
However, a somewhat mocking voice suddenly spoke from in front of them, and both William and Barry froze.
Looking up, they found a burly young man holding a stone axe, standing on a large tree five meters ahead, watching them.
The young man's voice was not quiet; the five who were picking Crystal Fruits heard it, stopped, and all came running over.
That wasn't all; two people approached from both left and right sides as well.
Surrounded instantly by ten, William's face was filled with despair.
Facing ten Mimicking monsters, he and Barry had no chance of coping.
"Leader Bruce, coming to pick Crystal Fruits is one thing, but do you also plan to kill us?"
At this point, Barry suddenly spoke.
William was stunned, looking up at the burly young man in the tree, a familiar glint flashed in his eyes, and he tentatively asked, "Are you Thomas's son?"
Bruce stretched lazily, leaped down from the tree, and remarkably, the snow beneath didn't sink a bit.
He walked calmly towards William.
"Indeed, I am Bruce, the current leader of Harper!"
Not a Mimicking monster?
William suddenly realized this, and the relief of narrowly escaping death made him beam with joy, but his smile lasted only a moment before giving way to shock.
"Are you all at the Axeheart Realm?"
Bruce didn't reply, instead, Tony, Charlie, and the other seven including Clark and Jordan couldn't help but snicker.
Quite the young crew, hearing the astonishment in William's tone, couldn't resist a bit of swagger.
Especially Charlie and Tony, who held grudges against Taylor Camp for twice crossing into Harper Territory before.
Bruce would not be arrogant over such a matter; his thoughts were more focused on the changes in William's expression just now.
From the despair when William first saw him to the joy upon Barry revealing his identity, the change intrigued him.
This curiosity even made him forget his original intention of intercepting them, which was to settle accounts for past grievances against Taylor Camp.
"Leader Bruce, I haven't returned to the camp for a long time and need to go back first. When there's time, we'll meet again in Redwood Ridge, how about that?"
However, William clearly had no intention of enlightening him.