“Understood.”
The bronze-skinned man said thoughtfully, “Station Chief, you mean Chen Fan’s mother may have left him some sort of backup plan?”
“That makes sense. She was a Level 4 architect, after all. She wouldn’t have been lacking in assets.”
“Exactly.”
Wang Kui nodded. As they spoke, they had already reached his own station. He lowered his voice and instructed, “That’s why we’re forming a bit of goodwill. I’ve worked for the Wang family for so long; I’m hardly short of five eerie stones.”
“Even if I lose them, it’s no pity.”
“But if it pays off, and he remembers this goodwill, he’ll definitely repay it somehow.”
“Even if he doesn’t, it doesn’t matter.”
“When you’re away from home, making more friends and fewer enemies is never a bad thing.”
“Oh, right—”
“When you go deliver the supplies later, watch your tone. Don’t make it feel like charity. Good intentions can turn into bad blood.”
“Don’t worry, Station Chief. Leave it to me!”
“Young Master.”
Jiangbei Chen Family Station No. 37.
Lame Monkey stuffed the small knife back into his robes and looked toward the receding backs of Wang Kui and the other man. In a hoarse voice, he said, “Those two probably think we’ll steal their business in the future. They may have come with ill intentions. Should we strike first?”
“No need.”
Chen Fan shook his head and did not say much more. He merely took the hemp rope from Lame Monkey and tied it to the “beast trap,” waiting only for nightfall.
His plan was very simple.
Once the Eternal Night descended, as soon as he sensed movement from the “beast trap,” he would immediately pull the trap into the safe zone, kill the eerie creature with a small knife, then send the trap back into the darkness.
That way, the beast trap could be reused.
Low-level eerie creatures could be killed with an ordinary knife like this.
But against eerie creatures that had reached even a slightly higher level, an ordinary knife like this would not be able to cause any damage at all.
And any eerie creature that could be trapped by the “beast trap” would be very low-level, so there would be no backlash.
After testing it for a while, Chen Fan went back inside to catch up on sleep, leaving Lame Monkey outside to keep watch. They would take turns resting in preparation for tonight’s work.
“Young Master, Young Master.”
Chen Fan, awakened from sleep, walked outside and saw an extremely sturdy man with very rough, bronze-colored skin standing outside the camp, dragging a handcart. He was grinning and waving at him.
It was the subordinate who had been following behind Wang Kui earlier.
Before Chen Fan could speak,
the burly man took the initiative to explain, “Station Chief Chen, before this station of yours was abandoned, Station Chief Wang borrowed some food and water from your camp. After your Chen family withdrew from this camp, we never had the chance to return it.”
“Now that your Chen family has restarted this station, he immediately sent me over at full speed to return it.”
“Well, uh…”
“I won’t linger. There are still matters to handle back at the station.”
After the burly man left,
Lame Monkey walked over to the handcart with a wary expression. In the two brimming vats, one was filled with clean purified water, while the other was packed with food: dozens of dry flatbreads, rice, all kinds of vegetables, and… two roast ducks still giving off steam.
“Gulp.”
After Lame Monkey’s throat rolled uncontrollably, he said with absolute certainty, “Young Master, it’s definitely poisoned!”
“It won’t be poisoned.”
Chen Fan shook his head. “The moment he revealed that he knew my identity, he knew I wouldn’t live much longer. There’s no need to poison me and cause trouble for himself.”
“Not poisoned?”
Lame Monkey frowned tightly, somewhat unconvinced. “Could it really be that he’s returning what he borrowed? Is this Wang Kui truly so faithful to his word?”
“Of course not.”
Chen Fan picked up five eerie stones from the bottom of the vat, weighed them in his hand, and suddenly laughed. “Consider it an investment. He thinks I might not die, so he’s betting on my future.”
“You mean this is all a gift to us?”
“Exactly.”
“Then he… then why did he say…”
“He was afraid of hurting my pride. Quite considerate of him.”
“But if that’s the case, isn’t he worried we won’t remember this favor in the future? After all, what he said was that he was returning something.”
“…”
Chen Fan patted Lame Monkey on the head. “Go inside and catch up on sleep. I’ll keep watch next.”
“Yes!”
After Lame Monkey went inside,
Chen Fan began taking stock of the camp’s current assets. He had to admit, this angel investment had come at just the right time. It meant he would not need to worry about food in the short term, and those five eerie stones would also be of great help to him.
There were still two eerie stones in the “Eerie Flame,” enough to keep it burning for two days.
Those two eerie stones could not be touched. At the very least, he needed to leave himself one day of room for error; he could not cut things too close.
Including these five eerie stones, he had a total of six eerie stones in hand.
Six eerie stones…
He looked toward the five basic buildings that came with the Eternal Night Lord panel.
-
“Currently available basic buildings: 5 types.”
“Level 1 City Wall”: Can withstand the impact of low-level eerie creatures. Building one meter requires 10 eerie stones.
“Level 1 Farmland”: Can greatly shorten the maturation cycle of planted crops. Building one plot requires 2 eerie stones.
“Level 1 Arrow Tower”: Can deal a certain amount of damage to low-level ghostly creatures. Building requires 10 eerie stones.
“Level 1 Wooden House”: Possesses decent cold-resistant and windproof effects. Building requires 2 eerie stones.
“Level 1 Sacrificial Tower”: Can obtain special resources. Building requires 20 eerie stones.
-
City wall…
Damn, that was expensive.
One meter cost 10 eerie stones. The current safe range of his Eerie Flame was 10 meters, which meant he needed a wall 32 meters long. That was 320 eerie stones. For now, he definitely could not afford it.
If he really ran into an eerie tide attacking the Eerie Flame, he would just accept it.
He would count himself unlucky.
After pondering briefly,
he used his only six eerie stones to produce three more “Level 1 Beast Traps.”
At this point—
he had four beast traps. The price was that his pockets were completely empty. He did not have a single eerie stone left.
Next,
he would wait for the Eternal Night to descend and prepare to get to work!
“Phew…”
Chen Fan patted his round, bulging belly and looked toward the dense darkness rushing over from the horizon, letting out a long breath.
He was full.
The roast duck had been delicious, rich and fatty.
Four steel Level 1 beast traps tied with hemp ropes were laid out on the barren ground outside the halo of light.
The next moment!
Dense darkness completely enveloped everything. The light emitted by the Eerie Flame covered the two of them like an eggshell. That rustling sound once again rang beside their ears. Countless eerie creatures had descended together with the Eternal Night!
“Lame Monkey.”
Chen Fan’s expression was slightly tense as he said in a low voice, “I’ll be responsible for pulling the ropes. You’re responsible for killing them in one blow. Be careful!”
“Understood.”
Lame Monkey was likewise somewhat nervous. This was his first time attempting to kill an eerie creature head-on. It would be a lie to say he was not nervous.
Finally,
after half an hour passed, one of the hemp ropes suddenly trembled. The movement was very slight, but Chen Fan still noticed the difference immediately. He took a deep breath, gripped the hemp rope with both hands, and slowly pulled back the beast trap that had been placed in the darkness.
The moment the beast trap was pulled into the halo of light,
a monkey-like eerie creature whose lower leg was caught in the trap was dragged into the halo.
It was precisely a Monkey-Headed Ghost.