"Young Master, My Name Is Crippled Monkey"

A stabbing pain burst from the depths of his soul, and the frigid air stung his lung lobes.

Opening his eyes, what met his gaze was not the pale-white ceiling of a hospital, nor the chaotic crowd following a car accident, but an endless, dead, grayish-brown expanse!

A turbid sky and cracked earth.

Scattered patches of withered black wildgrass pointed toward the sky in twisted postures, and a wild gale whined across the Wasteland, kicking up dry dust and filling the air with a wild scent of a mixture of death and rust.

W-What is this place?

Chen Fan gazed at the unfamiliar sights before him, struggling to sit up from the ground. He instinctively wanted to fish a cigarette out of his pants pocket, only to find that his original clothes had vanished, replaced by a coarse and prickly gray cloth garment, with no sign of a cigarette in his pocket.

Time-travel?

This possibility slowly surfaced in his mind.

He could feel that his body was extremely weak at the moment, along with some tingling sensations, but he had been run over by a heavy-duty dump truck running a red light before he closed his eyes—his injuries couldn't possibly be this minor.

Right at that moment—

A trembling voice laced with sobbing reached his ears. "Young Master, you're finally awake!"

Hearing the voice beside him.

He instinctively turned his head to look, only to discover that on this boundless Wasteland, apart from him, there was also a skinny manservant similarly dressed in cloth garments, as well as a rudimentary Wooden Hut and a bonfire burning fiercely.

The next instant!

A sharp pain struck violently, and countless memory fragments were forcibly crammed into his mind like an enema, causing him to lose consciousness once more.

When he woke up again, he had already been moved by the manservant onto the wooden plank bed inside the crude Wooden Hut, and he also understood his current situation.

He had time-traveled.

The original owner of this body in this lifetime was likewise named Chen Fan, and even his appearance and physique were completely identical, just like another lifetime in a parallel world.

In this world, after nightfall, countless extremely bizarre monsters would appear to take human lives. This condition had continued for hundreds of years, and the people of the world named it "Eternal Night".

Only by staying near the "Eerie Fire" could one ensure their safety.

The Eerie Fire was a specially manufactured bonfire pile.

To ensure one's safety while traveling across the Wasteland, one had to find a "station" before nightfall, and only stations possessed "Eerie Fire".

Forging an "Eerie Fire" was no simple matter; the base of the "Eerie Fire" was extremely bulky and could not be carried around, and once it extinguished, the base would automatically break. To keep the Eerie Fire burning continuously, one needed to constantly feed it with "Eerie Stone".

Therefore—

On the Wasteland outside the cities, various Lineages had established quite a few "stations" to safeguard the safety of passing caravans and travelers, while collecting corresponding fees.

The place where he was currently located was a station under the name of the Chen Family.

Except—

He had been persecuted and sent here. Despite his status as a young master of the Chen Family, he was assigned the extremely hazardous job of guarding a station out on the Wasteland, and before leaving, they hadn't given him a single Eerie Stone.

This also meant!

The moment this Eerie Fire extinguished would be the day of his death.

The previous owner could not handle this pressure, and under a surge of pent-up anger, he instantly dropped dead on the spot, thus giving him a chance to live a second life.

As for the manservant beside him, he was his lackey.

"Young Master."

The skinny manservant kneeling before the bed bore a tear-stained face and rasped, "You've journeyed so long and you're exhausted, Young Master. I'll keep watch tonight, so you can sleep in peace."

"..."

Chen Fan struggled up from the bed, pushed open the door of the Wooden Hut, and looked out at that bonfire outside. According to the memories in his mind, the bottom of this Eerie Fire currently had three Eerie Stones buried beneath it, meaning it could burn for at most three days more.

Three days later, this Eerie Fire would extinguish.

And this was also the countdown to his life; under these circumstances, how could he possibly still sleep.

In the desolate wilderness, the only way to obtain Eerie Stone was by slaying Strange Entities, and then digging the Eerie Stone out from their bodies.

Except—

His body was weak, and he was empty-handed. How could he possibly kill a Strange Entity.

After being dazed for a long while.

He softly said, "You didn't have to follow me here." That group of petty villains, before persecuting him to be sent here, had promised this lackey of his a generous reward, telling him not to come along with him precisely so that he would experience the despair of dying in the wilderness Eternal Night amidst fear and loneliness.

Yet this fellow came anyway.

Without even a shred of hesitation.

"Wherever Young Master goes, I go."

"Wherever Young Master dies, I die."

The skinny man behind him, though somewhat terrified, still gritted his teeth firmly and said, "Without Young Master, I would have long since turned into a pile of white bones."

"..."

Chen Fan fell silent for a moment. "I've forgotten to ask all this time: what is your name?"

His mind held no name for this fellow.

When all core members of the Chen Family had selected their subordinates back then, everyone else had picked all the strong and sturdy subordinates, leaving behind only this scrawny fellow. Furthermore, the original owner of the body had always regarded him as his own humiliation.

He had been utterly unwilling to speak much with him, let alone ask what his name was.

To be treated that way and still possess such a loyal and devoted subordinate, the original owner's luck was truly quite good.

"Crippled Monkey."

"Young Master, my name is Crippled Monkey."

Lowering his head with a trace of self-abasement, Crippled Monkey spoke in a voice as soft as a mosquito's, "I'm an orphan without a name. Steward Zhou said I was crippled and as skinny as a monkey, so he gave me the name Crippled Monkey."

Chen Fan glanced at Crippled Monkey's right leg, which indeed looked a bit lame.

"Good."

He nodded and swept his gaze around the surroundings of the Wooden Hut: "Since we've come, the primary task is to survive first. Go outside and see if there are any passing travelers. It's getting dark soon, and those travelers will also need a station to rest. If you run into any, shout loudly to call them over."

"The Eerie Fire can only last for three days at most."

"We need to earn some Eerie Stones."

"And—"

He walked up to Crippled Monkey, patted his shoulder, and said softly in a calm voice, "If by some stroke of luck I make a comeback in the future, I definitely won't shortchange you. But if I die, then this is your fate and mine; we have to accept it."

Crippled Monkey was slightly stunned, a trace of unusual radiance flashing through his eyes. The fear he had originally felt upon arriving at the station also dissipated quite a bit, and straightening his back as much as he could, he roared, "Yes!"

Afterward, he hurriedly rushed out of the Wooden Hut.

To check if there were any passing travelers around.

Outside the Wooden Hut.

Crippled Monkey glanced around. The Wasteland was boundless, and not a single traveler could be seen. Not far away, however, was a small earthen mound. Standing on the earthen mound would allow him to see much farther, except...

He felt a slight hesitation.

It was getting dark soon. If he failed to rush back here before dark, he was afraid he would lose his life.

Yet very quickly.

He didn't hesitate much longer, immediately running with all his might toward that small earthen mound not far away.

Although physically impaired and of humble birth.

He was nevertheless able to acutely perceive that the Young Master's state at this moment was completely different from his state within the Lineage—you could say it was a difference as vast as heaven and earth.

He had a bold guess.

That was, the Young Master knew he was being targeted everywhere within the Lineage and unable to stretch his limbs, so he had simply allowed himself to be assigned to a place inconveniently managed by the Lineage, thereby spreading his wings and making a grand display of ability in this realm until one day he would slaughter his way back to the Lineage and seize everything that should have belonged to him!

The Young Master's deep and far-reaching considerations made him instantly feel as though he were drinking sweet dew, galvanizing him into high spirits.

And he, Crippled Monkey.

What he needed to do was assist the Young Master in returning to the Chen Family as much as possible!

To make those people no longer look down on the Young Master!

How fast could a cripple run?

Yet a ball of fire seemed to be gradually burning within his heart at this moment, causing his running speed to grow faster and faster, even making him ignore the stabbing pain gradually coming from his right leg, desiring only to run at top speed to the earthen mound before him!