[Vol. 9] Chapter 52: The Queen of “Scavengers”
These truths were not only known by outsiders, even many prisoners trapped on Icefang Island understood them. They were not willing to let their lives and deaths be controlled so easily, so they grouped together for protection. From this background, the four main forces of the island were formed.
Each of the four gangs had its own rules for survival. The group led by Veranica, called the [Scavenger Gang], focused on reducing their reliance on the limited supplies dropped from outside. Instead, they tried to “scavenge” food and resources from the island itself, in order to avoid endless bloodshed with other prisoners, fights that would only let outsiders profit from their suffering.
The kind of belief a group holds attracts certain kinds of people. Because the [Scavenger Gang] fought less often with the other three gangs, and didn’t need to kill each other daily over rough supplies, most of its members were actually not very strong in combat.
Instead, many of them had unique skills that were hard to use on this harsh island. Their ferocity was low, but their large numbers gave them a kind of safety, enough to make other criminals hesitate before attacking.
Simply put, it was a group made mostly of the weak. The old, the young, and the vulnerable.
Of course, Veranica herself was not weak. On the contrary, her own strength made her the protector of the group. When she first created the [Scavenger Gang], it was only because she had seen far too many pitiful people fight to the death over scraps of food. In a moment of heated emotion, she chose to help.
Not every prisoner sent to Icefang Island was truly evil. Many of them carried heavy charges, but quite a few were actually wrongly accused.
Veranica herself was one of them. The man she killed, a noble of the Preston Kingdom, had already taken countless innocent lives. All she did was strike back when he tried to kill again. But he was weak despite his title, and he died from just a single blow.
The kingdom’s laws did not punish such a villain, but instead threw Veranica onto Icefang Island without even letting her argue her case. Faced with such ugly injustice, how could she accept it quietly?
That was why she chose to gather people with similar experiences, so they could support each other and survive in this hell that devoured people whole. She even hoped to build her power strong enough that one day…
At first, things went well. The creation of the [Scavenger Gang] added another force to Icefang Island, but since they rarely fought over the same resources as the other three gangs, they were tolerated. They even helped reduce outside supply usage by finding their own food. And with Veranica herself being a fierce fighter, no one wanted to bother with this “hard bone that had no meat.”
But once any group grows larger, problems always follow. As the [Scavenger Gang] expanded, its members became mixed in quality, and Veranica faced many troubles in managing them. Relying only on the island’s poor resources was no longer enough to feed the ever-growing numbers.
She thought about stopping recruitment, reforming the group, and removing useless members. But the outside world kept sending in new criminals, and for many of those who had no way to survive on their own, rejection by the [Scavenger Gang] meant certain death. Her reason told her she couldn’t go on like this, but when the moment came, she often couldn’t harden her heart.
It gave her constant headaches.
As inner conflict grew worse, and the other three gangs began to eye the [Scavenger Gang] with more hostility, the only thing Veranica could do was increase the frequency of scavenging trips.
After all, on Icefang Island, every fight, every problem, always came down to the same root—not enough food and supplies. And no matter the time, this was always the number one problem to solve.
But unexpectedly, today’s “scavenging” ran into trouble.
“Ah!”
A sharp blade pierced through a chest, blood splattering onto the ground. Almost instantly, it froze into dark red stains. A few members of the [Scavenger Gang] lay flat on a high cliff, watching the bloody battle happening below. They didn’t even dare to breathe loudly.
On Icefang Island, because of its strange and unknown environment, almost no plants can grow here. The only exception is a small plant called Snow Spirit Grass.
This grass is one of the main materials used in the northern kingdoms to make a special military weapon called the Snow Spirit Lamp. Normally, it can only be found in the far north, on icy tundras or extreme frozen lands. For some unknown reason, Icefang Island also has it, and in large amounts.
Among the four big gangs on the island, the [Bone Gang] focused on collecting this herb and secretly selling it to the outside world in exchange for supplies.
Even though Snow Spirit Grass grows everywhere here, it can’t be eaten directly because it’s filled with extreme cold energy that harms the body. So, for most people living on the island, it wasn’t very useful.
But once, by accident, Veranica discovered a hot spring hidden deep underground. After some testing, she was shocked to find that if the Snow Spirit Grass was soaked in the spring water, its harmful cold energy disappeared completely. After crushing it and mixing it with other ingredients, it could be eaten safely.
Even better, the grass contained an incredible amount of energy. Just a small bite was enough to fuel her, a strong-bodied ice demon, for an entire day. Because of this, Veranica often led a small team to secretly harvest and prepare Snow Spirit Grass, mixing it into food for her gang members.
This way, they didn’t need to fight the [Bone Gang] over resources, and they could fully use one of the few natural resources around them. This secret was the key reason the [Scavenger Gang] could survive without relying on outside supplies.
On the island, there were several areas where Snow Spirit Grass grew in clusters. Both the [Bone Gang] and [Scavenger Gang] often went there to collect it.
Since the grass grew extremely fast and could never be fully gathered, even the [Bone Gang] didn’t bother monopolizing it. After all, their real profit didn’t come from how much grass they had, but from their secret trade routes to the outside world. The amount they could sell was limited, and if they couldn’t trade it away, the grass was just useless weeds taking up space.
Veranica was always worried that if too many people saw her collecting the grass, they might grow suspicious and eventually discover her hidden hot spring. That’s why she was always extra careful, bringing only a few trusted followers. Ironically, it was this very caution that let her avoid being caught in the brutal battle below.
“Big Sis, one of the groups below looks like the [Bone Gang]… but who are the people attacking them?”
Hearing her younger brother whisper in surprise, Veranica shook her head.
“…Very strange.”