A Miniature Hut, Not Bad

"Not bad."

Chen Fan said nothing more and handed the parchment to Zhou Mo. "It's good to keep a record. If we survive the Rainy Season, this will be the finest medal proving our tenacious resilience. How did you rest last night?"

After the danger had mostly passed in the latter half of the night,

he had sent Zhou Mo, Qi Chong, and both of their subordinates into the hut to sleep, all for the actions awaiting them after daybreak.

"I slept well. I'm full of energy now and ready to carry out any mission."

"Good."

Chen Fan pulled out the Ghosthide Map from his robes and pointed at several markers on it. "Last night, nearly every station across the Wasteland was wiped out. Not one survivor remained. Only two stations made it through the night."

"One is our station, Jiangbei Chen Family Station No. 37."

"The other is nine kilometers away from us in a straight line."

"Your task today is to take your men to that station, bring back any resources that can be carried, and bring the people from that station to ours."

"They were lucky enough to survive last night, which means their luck is good. But during the Rainy Season, luck cannot shelter them forever."

"We need to huddle together for warmth. One more person means one more measure of strength."

"Understood."

Zhou Mo nodded heavily. He took out his own Ghosthide Map and looked toward that fortunate station. If he remembered correctly, it seemed to be Qiuhe Wang Family Station No. 16.

He had met that station's chief a few times, but they had never had much interaction.

"Traveling through the torrential rain is inconvenient. Keeping yourselves safe takes top priority. If you encounter anything beyond your control, abandon the mission at once and return to camp."

Only after giving that reminder did Chen Fan turn to Qi Chong, who had been startled awake and was hurriedly dressing.

"Qi Chong."

He rose to his feet and looked at Qi Chong seriously. "Your task is to visit several nearby stations that were destroyed last night and bring back whatever usable supplies you can find. There is no fixed objective. Go to however many stations you think you can manage."

"But remember to keep turning the hourglass over."

"When the hourglass has been flipped eight times, return to camp immediately, no matter where you are."

"Yes!" Qi Chong hurriedly finished dressing, opened his bleary eyes, and shouted.

During the Wasteland's Rainy Season, the deadliest thing was being unable to judge the time by the heavens.

The rain fell without end.

If they failed to return to camp within the allotted time, the only thing waiting for them would be... Eternal Night descending.

The hourglass was one way of telling time on the Wasteland.

When the sand ran out, half a shichen had passed. After flipping it eight consecutive times, less than two shichen remained until nightfall, and they had to return to camp immediately.

A section of the wall slowly sank into the ground.

After casually eating a few bites of dried rations, Zhou Mo and Qi Chong took their Ghosthide Maps and led their men out of camp into the downpour, their footprints fading into the mist one step at a time.

On the Wasteland,

no station possessed rain gear like raincoats or bamboo hats.

After all,

only the Rainy Season brought continuous rainfall to this Wasteland. There was no use for such things at ordinary times, and during the Rainy Season, they were completely useless anyway.

"Once you're done here, go get some sleep first."

Chen Fan called out to Wang Kui and the others, who were dissecting Strange Entity corpses on the wasteland beyond the wall. Then he walked toward Crippled Monkey, who was carefully setting upright the seedlings beside the farmland. Last night, the Meatworm Wraith Tide had swept across the farmland.

The damage it caused was not minor.

"Young Master."

Crippled Monkey spoke with some heartache. "Of the seventeen Monkey Head Mushroom seedlings, seven were trampled to death. Of the twelve Eerie Stone vein seedlings, four were trampled to death."

"The losses are not small."

"It's fine. It's much better than expected."

Chen Fan's face was filled with emotion. "It's already good enough that so many remain. With how things looked last night, I thought this entire farmland would be ripped out by the roots. All right, you should head inside and rest too. I'll take inventory in a bit, then sleep as well."

"Young Master, do you remember the seed I found in the wooden hut and planted in the farmland?"

"Of course I remember. What, has it sprouted?"

"It just sprouted!"

Crippled Monkey excitedly pointed toward several flower buds in the corner of the farmland, barely larger than sesame seeds and just poking out of the soil. "They're flowers. At this rate, they'll bloom before long."

"Oh?"

Chen Fan crouched beside the farmland in surprise and looked at the several brown buds sitting amid the new grass in the corner. He had originally thought they were some kind of moldy wheat seeds, but they had turned out to be flower seeds—and they had actually grown.

Their vitality was impressive!

After all, the Monkey Head Mushroom and Eerie Stone vein seeds had successfully grown into seedlings only because they were special seeds dropped by Strange Entities. For ordinary crops to survive in such torrential weather was truly no easy feat.

"All right."

Chen Fan smiled and patted Crippled Monkey on the shoulder. "Go inside, eat something, and sleep. There'll still be work to do after you wake up this afternoon."

"I'll listen to Young Master."

Crippled Monkey hugged the Godslaying Spear in his arms and did not refuse again. He headed toward the wooden hut within the wall.

By then,

Wang Kui and the others had finished dissecting all the Strange Entity corpses outside the wall. They had obtained forty-one Eerie Stones, no Exotic Treasures, and quite a bit of Ghost Material.

The corpses were temporarily left outside the wall to deal with after they woke up. Chen Fan sent the others back into the hut to sleep as well.

Then he began taking stock of the camp's assets alone.

He originally had four Eerie Stones in his possession. Adding the 484 Eerie Stones dropped by the Meatworm Wraiths and these forty-one, he now had 529 Eerie Stones in total. There was also one used Eerie Stone—the one he had pried from the Arrow Tower at the start. After daybreak, he had put it back into the recess of that Arrow Tower.

"529 Eerie Stones."

Chen Fan stood beside the farmland, facing the heavy rain and the unbroken overcast sky in the distance. After standing dazed for a while, he suddenly chuckled.

Heaven was fair.

While giving you a crisis, it also brought you opportunities.

If not for last night's Meatworm Wraith Tide, it would have taken him a long time to save up these 529 Eerie Stones.

An ordinary station chief earned only ten Eerie Stones a month.

That was equivalent to nearly five years of a station chief's income.

It was roughly one-third of Wang Kui's total income over his thirteen years with the Wang Family.

Only then did he gather his thoughts and lower his head to look at the three Exotic Treasures in his hand, all of which had dropped last night. There was no rush to use them; he could deal with them after waking up. His nerves had been stretched taut through the entire night, and his mind was somewhat foggy now.

Decisions made in this state were often not very sound.

He would deal with it after sleeping.

Just as he was about to turn around and return to the wooden hut, the corner of his eye caught sight of that flower bud swaying gently in the rain again. After hesitating for a while, he picked up several suitable broken planks beside the wooden hut within the wall and went to the farmland to build a crude little wooden house over the flower bud.

It was only the size of a palm.

A miniature hut.

Not bad.

Satisfied, Chen Fan stood up and returned to the wooden hut. He took off his soaked hemp clothes, glanced at Crippled Monkey, who had already fallen asleep hugging the spear, then smiled and lay down on the bed beside him, gradually drifting into dreams as well.

They had survived another night.

The Rainy Season had its benefits too. At the very least, it kept many demons and monsters from bothering him and gave him plenty of time to grow.

For instance,

after daybreak, once they learned that Jiangbei Chen Family Station No. 37 was still standing strong, things should be quite lively over at the Chen Family in Northbank City.

When those who ought to die refused to die, it always left certain people sitting on pins and needles.