"Good Stuff!"

"Were you hurt?"

Chen Fan looked at Crippled Monkey, who stood to one side holding a spear.

"No."

Crippled Monkey shook his head, still breathing heavily from lingering fear. "Young Master, that Strange Entity was at least Level 3. If not for those two Arrow Towers, we might have met our end here today."

"Get to work."

He said nothing more, merely signaling for Crippled Monkey to toss the Beast Traps into the darkness and begin tonight's hunt.

Since that big fellow had already been driven away, they could work normally tonight.

The Arrow Towers could only attack Strange Entities within the range of the Eerie Fire. They were good for defense, but somewhat lacking when it came to taking the initiative.

About two hours later.

Chen Fan frowned slightly. After a brief pause, he said, "We probably won't gain anything tonight. Let's go back inside and sleep first. We'll talk after daybreak."

Two hours had passed, yet not a single Beast Trap had stirred.

Not one Monkey-Head Ghost was in sight.

Something was off. He did not know whether the nearby Monkey-Head Ghosts had all been killed or whether that big fellow from earlier had summoned them away.

He knew too little about the situation within Eternal Night.

In particular, he knew little about many things in this world. He needed a tutor; he had to find a way to snatch one over. Intelligence was of the utmost importance.

He had just crafted five Beast Traps. Before he could even begin, he could no longer catch Strange Entities.

But—

Wasn't it said that the Strange Entities in Eternal Night were inexhaustible? Even if he could not catch Monkey-Head Ghosts, there should have been other Strange Entities. How could the place suddenly be completely empty?

In his daze, Chen Fan fell asleep on the bed.

There were only three Eerie Stones left.

If he did not find a way to earn more Eerie Stones soon, he would not even be able to keep the Eerie Fire going.

Crippled Monkey slept on a pallet inside the Wooden Hut.

"Young Master!"

"Young Master!"

Still half-asleep, Chen Fan was roused by Crippled Monkey's urgent calls.

"What is it?"

Chen Fan rolled off the bed, rubbed his eyes, and walked out of the Wooden Hut. Why did Crippled Monkey wake earlier than him every time? The fellow looked thin and frail, yet his vigor was far greater than Chen Fan's.

The next moment—

Chen Fan stepped out of the Wooden Hut and suddenly broke into a grin.

About a dozen meters from the camp, the Monkey-Head Ghost from last night lay quietly on the ground. It was already dead. Apparently, after fleeing into the darkness with severe injuries last night, it had only gone a few steps before collapsing where it stood.

Several glowing items were scattered beside it.

As expected, they should have been Exotic Treasures dropped after the Monkey-Head Ghost's death.

Crippled Monkey stood outside the Wooden Hut, calling out with excitement. Dawn had only just broken, and the darkness had only recently receded. The sky was still dimly lit. At this hour, no one could possibly be passing by their camp.

"I'm coming!"

The corners of Chen Fan's mouth rose uncontrollably. He strode to the Monkey-Head Ghost, picked up the two glowing items, and stuffed them into his clothes. Luckily, Crippled Monkey had woken early, or someone else might have picked them up.

Of course—

That possibility was slim. Few travelers passed through their area anyway.

"I'll dig out the Eerie Stones."

Crippled Monkey looked excited. He removed the small knife from the wooden pole and began dissecting the corpse.

Normally, a low-level Strange Entity only had one Eerie Stone in its body. But this Monkey-Head Ghost clearly had more than one. After Crippled Monkey cut open its head, he kept digging Eerie Stones out of the flesh with his knife, one after another.

The process looked like digging tonsil stones out one by one.

It was incredibly stress-relieving. Soon, all the Eerie Stones had been dug out and arranged neatly on the ground.

There were seventeen in total!

Together with the three Eerie Stones he already had, he now possessed twenty Eerie Stones.

"Not bad."

Chen Fan nodded in satisfaction. "Put this Monkey-Head Ghost's corpse away. Store it in the haystack behind the Wooden Hut with the other Monkey-Head Ghost corpses. It might come in handy later."

Even if it was useless, he still had to hide it first. Otherwise, if passersby saw this obviously unusual Monkey-Head Ghost corpse, they would surely wonder whether it had dropped something valuable, bringing unnecessary trouble their way.

Most Strange Entities would not eat the corpses of their own kind.

Humans could not eat Strange Entity corpses either.

Aside from certain organs that could be used as "Ghost Material," most corpses were burned on the spot.

Only then did he look at the two white-glowing Exotic Treasures in his hand.

Any Exotic Treasure could not be crafted by human hands, so none of them were worth little. Especially after the Building Replication Stone Exotic Treasure had dropped from the mother and daughter they killed yesterday, his expectations for these two Exotic Treasures were now very high.

"I hope they can expand my territory, or perhaps continuously produce Eerie Stones."

Chen Fan clasped his hands together and muttered a prayer.

He was a little short on territory right now.

The safe range of a Level 1 Eerie Fire was ten meters in diameter. Now that he had placed the Arrow Towers, the Wooden Hut, and the Eerie Fire within its range, there was no longer enough room for a piece of Farmland. If the Farmland was not placed within the Eerie Fire's range, then once Eternal Night descended, it would be ravaged by Strange Entities.

Originally, he could have continuously hunted for Eerie Stones through Beast Traps.

But the Monkey-Head Ghosts had never appeared last night, cutting off that source of Eerie Stones. Although he had just gained a considerable haul of Eerie Stones, it was not sustainable. How to acquire Eerie Stones in the future was still a problem.

The first Exotic Treasure, like the Monkey-Head Mushroom Seed, was a seed-type Exotic Treasure.

It was wrapped in a thin membrane.

"Exotic Treasure Name": Ghoststone Vein Seed.

"Exotic Treasure Grade": White.

"Exotic Treasure Effect": Must be planted in Farmland. It has a maturation period of three days. Once mature, it can grow Eerie Stones and requires Strange Entity corpses as fertilizer.

"Good stuff!"

Chen Fan laughed. Even if the other Exotic Treasure was trash, this one alone made it worthwhile. It seemed that crafting Farmland had to be put on today's agenda.

He wondered how many Eerie Stones it could yield.

Fortunately, he had kept all those Monkey-Head Ghost corpses. They could now serve as fertilizer.

He looked at the other Exotic Treasure.

"Exotic Treasure Name": Godslaying Spear.

"Exotic Treasure Grade": White.

"Exotic Treasure Effect": Deals considerable damage to low-level Strange Entities. Can change size at will.

"Not bad."

With a thought from Chen Fan, the miniature spear in his hand instantly grew larger, turning into an exceedingly imposing long spear. Its so-called ability to change size at will merely meant it could switch between its normal form and a miniature version.

It could not become dozens of meters long or anything like that.

It was a fake version of changing size at will.

It counted as an individual weapon.

Compared to the crude spears they had made from wooden poles and small knives, it was certainly far more effective.

"It's yours."

Chen Fan tossed the spear in his hand into Crippled Monkey's arms, then strode toward the Eerie Fire. Though Crippled Monkey was lame, his physical ability and combat experience were both slightly better than Chen Fan's.

The spear could also exert greater power in Crippled Monkey's hands.

After returning to the camp.

He took a deep breath, placed the twenty Eerie Stones on the ground, and slowly closed his eyes.

(End of Chapter)