Eternal Night Descends, Strange Entities Run Rampant!

"Even so, try not to give people something to gossip about."

The youth slowly shook his head and said softly, "The rainy night has arrived early. There's a high chance a Strange Tide will run rampant. From here on, our focus should be on how you and I will survive this Rainy Season."

Before he could finish speaking.

A servant strode over from afar, leaned close to his ear, and spoke in a low voice.

"Young Master, the three great families of Northbank City have gathered to discuss how to deal with the Rainy Season. The master has asked you to join them."

"Understood."

The youth's expression did not ripple in the slightest, yet as he rose to his feet, the corners of his lips still curled upward despite himself.

This was clearly grooming him as the successor.

Sooner or later, he would sit in the seat of the Chen Family's patriarch.

As for Chen Fan—

He was probably out in the wilderness, despairing as he waited to die. Just an irrelevant nobody; there was no need to pay him any more attention.

When Eternal Night descended and Strange Entities ran rampant, only by staying near Eerie Fire could one ensure one's safety.

But—

Some areas would form natural "Eerie Fire Zones." They could remain safe every day without consuming Eerie Stones. These areas varied in size, and human settlements gradually formed around them.

"Northbank City" was built within a fairly large natural Eerie Fire Zone.

It was precisely because of this natural geographical advantage that, despite nearly being wiped out thirty-seven years ago, it had been able to rapidly develop again.

Otherwise, for a city that large, merely maintaining its Eerie Fire each day would consume a massive number of Eerie Stones. No force could afford to sustain it.

No one knew how natural Eerie Fire Zones came into being, nor did anyone know whether they might suddenly fail one day.

But so far.

No one had heard of any natural Eerie Fire Zone suddenly failing.

Wasteland.

"North River Chen Family No. 37" station.

Chen Fan stood amid the torrential rain, looking at the group outside the camp's Safety Zone. There were seven people in total, all brought over by Wang Kui from nearby stations.

Crippled Monkey was currently searching them one by one, confiscating Message Talismans and other means of contacting the outside world. He also placed an Eerie Stone in each person's palm to prevent Impostors from slipping in among them.

Just then—

"Stationmaster Chen."

A middle-aged man dressed in sackcloth and carrying a long blade looked at Chen Fan standing in the rain, his voice trembling slightly. "Stationmaster Wang roughly explained the situation to me. From now on, our lives are in your hands. If we really survive the Rainy Season, then this life of mine will be yours, Stationmaster Chen!"

"If you tell me to go east, I'll never go west!"

He had originally been a stationmaster under the Qiuhe Wang Family. The instant he learned that the Rainy Season had come early and that his lineage could not send help.

Utter despair had instantly flooded his mind.

Being a stationmaster was a profession of licking blood from a blade's edge. He knew all too well what this meant. Just as he was preparing to slit his own throat, he heard Wang Kui shouting his name outside the hut. Half believing and half doubting, he followed him over.

Even if it was a lie, he accepted it. After all, this was the only straw he had managed to grasp.

Only after arriving at this camp and seeing the two Arrow Towers standing in the rain did a thread of hope finally ignite in his heart. Perhaps—perhaps he really could survive, though that hope was faint beyond measure.

"..."

Chen Fan calmly walked over to the middle-aged man carrying the long blade. Two shallow wounds could still vaguely be seen on his neck, the blood seeping from them already diluted by the torrential rain.

These were hesitation cuts.

Few people who used a blade to kill themselves could give themselves one clean, decisive cut. Those who truly could had first-rate mental fortitude.

When they hesitated and could not bring themselves to strike, such hesitation cuts would form.

"It seems that if Wang Kui had arrived one step later, you wouldn't be standing here now."

"Stationmaster Chen."

The middle-aged man's face was full of bitterness as he said in a trembling voice, "You work in this line too. You know that even after night falls, walking into the darkness doesn't mean immediate death. But that feeling of despairingly waiting to die in the dark... not many people can bear it."

"If I really have to die, I'd rather die beneath my own blade than wait for death in despair."

"Everyone!" Chen Fan looked toward the remaining people. Rather than continue the middle-aged man's thread of conversation, he swept his gaze across every face and said hoarsely, "You all belong to the three great powers. More or less, you should have heard my name."

"My name is Chen Fan."

"I am the heir of the North River Chen Family. My birth mother was a Level-4 Builder. Over the years, because of conflicts within the lineage, I was targeted at every turn, until I came to this originally abandoned station to serve as its stationmaster."

"At this point, I'll be blunt. Before my birth mother died, she left me a Builder's inheritance. I deliberately stayed far from the eyes and ears of the lineage, quietly accumulating strength here."

"These two Level-2 Arrow Towers were built by me."

"From here on—"

"As long as you follow my command, what I, Chen Fan, can do is try my utmost to lead every one of you through this alive and survive the Rainy Season."

"After the Rainy Season ends, whether you leave or stay, I won't stop you."

The six exchanged glances, then each pulled a bundle from his arms and placed it on the ground. In hoarse voices, they said, "We await the stationmaster's command!"

"Good!"

Chen Fan glanced at the Ghosthide Map, then turned to Wang Kui at his side and issued another order. "Time is tight. We can't reach any farther stations. Two nearby stations were destroyed last night."

"You and Little Qiu pick two more men and split up for those two abandoned stations. Haul back everything usable. There may still be some Eerie Stone reserves in those stations."

"Yes."

After Wang Kui left.

Four people remained behind. They were all grown men; no women stayed at the stations. These four were all from other stations.

Among the six, not one was a traveler. It just so happened that no travelers had passed through or stayed at the stations over the past two days.

The main reason was that the stations in this area were indeed rather remote, with few people passing through.

"..."

Chen Fan turned to look at the Wooden Hut behind him. He discovered that his status as an illegitimate son of the Chen Family, along with the name of his mother whom he had never met, was quite useful. In this world, with those two things backing him up, gaining a preliminary sense of trust was much easier.

Station operations on the Wasteland were monopolized. Nearly all stations had been established by the three great families; there were no stations built by independent wanderers. Only a small number had been established by forces from Flat City.

"Stationmaster."

A pockmarked man behind him hurried forward through the downpour and asked, "Is there anything we can do?"

He was the stationmaster of North River Chen Family No. 36 station. With the Rainy Season arriving early, he too had been abandoned on the Wasteland.

When he returned to the lineage during a holiday, he had once seen Chen Fan from afar. Back then, Chen Fan always walked with his head lowered, appearing extremely weak and self-conscious—utterly different from the bearing he displayed now. At the time, he had even lamented how a perfectly good eldest legitimate son of the first wife had been forced into a state worse than that of a servant.

Now, it seemed.

It had all been an act, all a disguise to protect himself while waiting for the right moment to rise.

He knew it. Every one of those people from great families had more tricks up their sleeves than the last. Not a single one was truly honest and dutiful.

But—

In this Rainy Season, where they were practically waiting for death, a young master who had long lain low and endured in silence while awaiting his rise, one who possessed a Builder's inheritance, had become his sole hope of surviving.

He swore!

There was no one in the whole world who hoped more than he did for Chen Fan to rise successfully!

"..."

Standing in the torrential rain, Chen Fan tilted his head toward the pockmarked middle-aged man beside him and said calmly, "I know you. You're the stationmaster of North River Chen Family No. 36 station. Your nickname is Wang Mazi."

"Take the other three. Before night falls, tear down this Wooden Hut as quickly as possible."

Disbelief flashed through Wang Mazi's eyes at first. Then he hurriedly nodded and called to the people behind him to get to work. He did not even ask why they had to tear down the only Wooden Hut that sheltered them from the wind and rain.

He swore!

He had never had any dealings with Chen Fan. He had only heard stories about him through gossip, and had seen him from afar once when he last returned to the lineage. Chen Fan had not even raised his head then.

Yet Chen Fan knew his name and even knew which station he was stationed at.

That alone proved that during his period of lying low and enduring in silence, Chen Fan had seemingly resigned himself to his fate and waited to die without contending with the world. In truth, he had already done much work in secret, even investigating a completely insignificant stationmaster like him down to the last detail.

The depth of such scheming left him horrified!

Yet at the same time, the faint thread of hope in his heart grew a little stronger.

Perhaps—

Following Chen Fan, they really could survive the Rainy Season.

(End of Chapter)