Agony exploded from the depths of his soul, and the icy air stabbed at his lungs.
When he opened his eyes, what came into view was not the deathly white ceiling of a hospital, nor the chaos of a crowd after a car accident, but an endless, deathly silent expanse of grayish brown!
A turbid sky. Cracked earth.
A few sparse stalks of withered black wild grass pointed toward the heavens in twisted postures. The wild wind whimpered across the wasteland, sweeping up dry dust, filling the air with a desolate scent where death and rust were mingled together.
“Where... where is this?”
Chen Fan stared at everything unfamiliar before him and struggled to sit up from the ground. Out of habit, he reached toward his trouser pocket to take out a cigarette, only to discover that his original clothes were gone, replaced by a rough gray cloth garment that chafed against his skin. There were certainly no cigarettes in his pocket.
Transmigration?
This possibility slowly surfaced in his mind.
He could feel that his current body was extremely weak, with some stabbing pain as well. But before he had closed his eyes, he had been run over by a heavy truck that had barreled through a red light. His injuries could not possibly be this light.
Just then—
A trembling voice, choked with sobs, sounded beside his ear. “Young Master... you’re finally awake!”
Hearing the voice at his side,
he instinctively turned his head and looked over. Only then did he realize that, on this boundless wasteland, aside from himself, there was also a bony servant dressed in cloth garments, as well as a crude wooden hut and a blazing bonfire.
The next instant!
A violent stabbing pain surged forth. Countless fragments of memory were forcibly stuffed into his mind, causing him to faint once again.
When he woke up again, he had already been carried by that servant onto the plank bed inside the crude wooden hut, and he also understood his current situation.
He had transmigrated.
The original owner of this body in this life was also named Chen Fan. Even his appearance and body were completely identical, as if he were another self from a parallel world.
In this world, after night descended, countless extremely bizarre monsters would appear and take human lives. This situation had continued for several hundred years, and the people of the world named it the “Eternal Night.”
Only by staying near “Eerie Fire” could one ensure their safety.
Eerie Fire was a specially made bonfire.
If one wanted to ensure one’s safety while traveling through the wasteland, one had to find a “station” before nightfall. Only stations possessed Eerie Fire.
Creating Eerie Fire was not a simple matter. The base of the Eerie Fire was extremely heavy and could not be carried around, and once it went out, the base would automatically be damaged. To keep the Eerie Fire burning, one needed to continuously feed it “Eerie Stones.”
Therefore—
On the wastelands outside the cities, the various clans had set up many “stations” to guarantee the safety of passing merchant caravans and travelers, while charging corresponding fees.
The place he was at now was one of the stations under the name of the Chen family.
Only...
He had been persecuted and sent here by force. Though he bore the status of a young master of the Chen family, he had been assigned the extremely dangerous task of guarding a station out in the wasteland. Before he left, they had not given him a single Eerie Stone.
This also meant
that when this Eerie Fire went out, it would be the day he died.
The original owner could not withstand this pressure. In a fit of rage and despair, his heart had failed on the spot, giving him the chance to live another life.
And the servant beside him was his attendant.
“Young Master.”
The bony servant kneeling before the bed, his face covered in tear streaks, said hoarsely, “After traveling so long, Young Master must be exhausted. I’ll keep watch tonight. Young Master, please sleep in peace.”
“...”
Chen Fan struggled up from the bed, pushed open the door of the wooden hut, and looked toward the bonfire outside. According to the memories in his mind, there were currently three Eerie Stones buried beneath this Eerie Fire. In other words, it could burn for at most three more days.
Three days later, this Eerie Fire would go out.
And that was also the countdown to his life. Under these circumstances, how could he possibly sleep?
Out in the wilderness, the only way to obtain Eerie Stones was to kill eerie creatures and dig the Eerie Stones out from their bodies.
Only...
His body was weak, and he was empty-handed. How could he possibly kill an eerie creature?
After remaining in a daze for a long while,
he finally said softly, “You didn’t have to come with me.”
Before those petty villains had persecuted him and sent him here, they had promised this attendant of his a great reward, telling him not to come along. Their purpose was to make him experience the despair of dying alone in the wasteland’s Eternal Night amid fear and solitude.
But this fellow had still come.
Without even the slightest hesitation.
“Wherever Young Master goes, I go.”
“Wherever Young Master dies, I die.”
The bony man behind him was somewhat afraid, but he still gritted his teeth firmly and said, “Without Young Master, I would have long since become a pile of white bones.”
“...”
Chen Fan was silent for a while. “I’ve forgotten to ask all this time. What is your name?”
There was no name for this fellow in his mind.
Back then, when all the core members of the Chen family were selecting subordinates, the others had taken away all the strong and sturdy ones, leaving only this bony fellow behind. The original owner of this body had always treated him as his own humiliation.
He had never been willing to speak to him much, let alone ask what his name was.
To have such a loyal subordinate despite treating him like this—the original owner’s luck really had been quite good.
“Quehou.”
“Young Master, my name is Quehou.”
Quehou lowered his head, his voice as faint as a mosquito’s buzz and tinged with self-abasement. “I’m an orphan and had no name. Housekeeper Zhou said I was a cripple, and so skinny I looked like a monkey, so he gave me the name Quehou.”
Chen Fan glanced at Quehou’s right leg. It did indeed look a little lame.
“Good.”
He nodded and swept his gaze around the house. “Since we’re here, our first priority is to survive. Go outside and see if there are any travelers passing by. It’s almost dark, and those travelers will also need a station to rest at. If you see any, call them over loudly.”
“The Eerie Fire can last at most three days.”
“We need to earn some Eerie Stones.”
“And—”
He walked up to Quehou, patted him on the shoulder, and said in a calm, soft voice, “If I am fortunate enough to rise again one day, I definitely won’t forget you. But if I die, then that is your fate and mine. We’ll have to accept it.”
Quehou was slightly stunned. A strange light flashed through his eyes, and much of the fear he had felt after arriving at the station dissipated. He straightened his back as much as he could and roared, “Yes!”
Then he hurriedly rushed out of the wooden hut
to see if there were any travelers in the surrounding area.
Outside the wooden hut.
Quehou looked around. The wasteland was endless, and there was not a single traveler in sight. Not far away, however, there was a small earthen slope. If he stood on that slope, he would be able to see farther. Only...
He hesitated slightly.
It was almost dark now. If he failed to return here before nightfall, he feared he would lose his life.
But very quickly,
he no longer hesitated much and immediately ran with all his might toward the small earthen slope not far away.
Though he was disabled and of humble birth,
he could keenly sense that Young Master’s current state was completely different from how he had been in the clan. It could be said to be the difference between heaven and earth.
He had a bold guess.
That was, Young Master knew he was being targeted everywhere in the clan and could not fully display his abilities, so he had deliberately allowed himself to be assigned to a place the clan found inconvenient to oversee. In this vast world, he would finally spread his wings, until one day he killed his way back to the clan and seized everything that should have belonged to him!
Young Master’s deep foresight instantly invigorated him as though he had drunk sweet dew.
And he, Quehou,
what he had to do was assist Young Master as much as possible in returning to the Chen family!
To make those people no longer look down on Young Master!
How fast could a cripple run?
Yet at this moment, a flame seemed to be gradually burning in his heart, making him run faster and faster. He even ignored the stabbing pain gradually spreading from his right leg. All he wanted was to reach that earthen slope before him as quickly as possible!