A Great Kindness Needs No Thanks

Dawn broke.

It came swiftly, the tide-like darkness receding at speed. Before long, pitch-black night had turned into a sunrise blazing with a riot of colors.

That night.

Chen Fan woke with a start several times. It was his first sleep since crossing into this world, and with his nerves on edge, countless emotions tangled together, and rustling sounds coming from the darkness, he had barely slept at all.

The instant dawn arrived, Chen Fan snapped awake. The halo had already faded, and the entire Wooden Hut had once again blended into the Wasteland. Only that bonfire still burned in lonely silence.

Out on the Wasteland.

A dead Strange Entity lay quietly in the Beast Trap. It was monkey-like and rather small.

He scarcely paused before striding onto the Wasteland and stuffing both the Strange Entity and the Beast Trap into the haystack behind the Wooden Hut. He planned to dissect it and extract its Eerie Stone after the guest inside had left, lest he reveal too much.

An hour later.

The middle-aged man in green robes finally woke. Unhurriedly, he walked outside, looked at Chen Fan standing where he was, shook the map in his hand, and said with a smile, "There's a station nearby with better conditions than yours, and it also costs only one Eerie Stone. Yet yesterday, I still chose your station. Do you know why?"

Without waiting for Chen Fan to answer, he stretched lazily.

"Yesterday, seeing your subordinate desperately trying to draw in customers moved me somewhat. It was only after arriving at your station that I understood."

"This was originally an abandoned station. There were few passersby—so few that there were practically none."

"Now it has suddenly been lit again. Since your Lineage assigned you here, you must have been quite heavily ostracized within it. Your Lineage likely didn't even give you supplies. You need Eerie Stones to maintain the Eerie Fire and keep yourself alive."

"A little kindness stirred in me."

"I wanted to help you, just as I had desperately wished someone would lend me a hand when I was likewise ostracized and targeted by my Lineage."

"But I didn't want to help you too much. Back then, I received help from no one. Why should you get it?"

"So—"

"I won't give you even one extra Eerie Stone. That isn't something you deserve. I can only answer one question for you. You may begin asking now."

He looked at the young man before him with a half-smile.

He had long since sketched out this youth's identity in his mind. This youth and that frail subordinate were both not cultivators. After being repeatedly targeted within their Lineage, they had been thrown into this godforsaken place to await death.

This place had originally been abandoned long ago.

The "Eerie Fire" had gone out.

Yet it had been lit again on the map, which meant an "Eerie Fire" had been rebuilt. The cost of constructing one was roughly fifty Eerie Stones. There was no need to spend such a huge sum just to send some ordinary Lineage member to their death.

Thus, the youth before him likely had some backing. It would not be easy to openly kill him without inviting gossip—perhaps he was the Lineage head's illegitimate son or something of that sort.

So they had adopted this method.

A faint flicker of anger flashed through his eyes. He saw his former self in this youth. He wanted to help him, just as though helping his past self, yet he also did not wish to help him too much. Back then, no one had ever lent him a hand.

That strange conflict left him somewhat irritated.

He could more or less guess what question this youth would ask.

Nothing more than how to leave this Wasteland, or perhaps, seeing that he had shown kindness, directly asking whether he could borrow some Eerie Stones, promising a rich repayment in the future.

If this youth asked such a meaningless question, his kindness would extinguish in an instant, and he would leave without looking back.

"Thank you for your guidance, Senior."

Chen Fan clasped his fists with a solemn expression and said in a deep voice, "Senior can traverse the Wasteland alone, so you must be no ordinary man. This junior has entered the Wasteland for the first time and wishes to know what I must do to improve my chances of survival in the wilderness."

"..."

After falling silent for a moment, the middle-aged man in green robes looked at Chen Fan and suddenly laughed. "You're like I was back then, holding a breath of resentment in your heart. I like that about you."

"Since that is the case, I can tell you a little."

"If a traveler wishes to enter a station, the rule of the Wasteland is that they must first pay an 'Eerie Stone' before they may enter."

"There is a Strange Entity called an 'Impostor Ghost.' It resembles a human and possesses a certain degree of intelligence."

"Before Eternal Night fully descends, it can move about. It will ask whether it may enter your station and say it will pay the Eerie Stone after entering. You must refuse, because without your permission, it cannot enter your station. This kind of Strange Entity is relatively less dangerous."

"Last night, collecting the Eerie Stone only after I entered your station was an incorrect method."

"But you had no way to stop me either. Your station is exceedingly crude, without the slightest defensive facility. It cannot stand against cultivators."

"On the Wasteland."

"Every station master's life is bound to the 'Eerie Fire.' No one attacks a station master, because once the station master dies, the Eerie Fire goes out as well. But you still need some basic offensive structures. Besides fighting Strange Entities, they are also needed to solidify your position within the station."

"And!"

"The Eerie Fire is not absolutely safe. Other than truly weak Strange Entities, most merely loathe the Eerie Fire; it is not that they truly cannot approach it. When a Strange Tide erupts or under special circumstances, those Strange Entities will devour this station in an instant."

"You need the structure known as the 'City Wall' to ensure absolute safety."

"Based on those two points."

"If you wish to survive on this Wasteland for long enough, you need an enclosed City Wall surrounding the station, as well as a basic offensive structure. Both are fairly common and simple. Basically every Builder knows how to make them. The market master of the nearby North River Market is a level-two Builder. Find him, and he can construct them for you."

"But such immovable structures require the Builder to come to your door and build them, which will cost quite a few Eerie Stones."

"As for how to obtain Eerie Stones, that is no longer my concern."

"I have helped you more than enough already."

The man in green robes suddenly shook his head and laughed. He realized he could not keep talking. He had originally intended to answer only one question, but the other party had asked an exceedingly vague one, causing him to continue for several more sentences without realizing it.

He took a map from his robes and tossed it into Chen Fan's arms.

"This is a nearby Ghosthide Map. It updates in real time with the status of every 'Eerie Fire' on the Wasteland."

"Three months from now, I will pass through this Wasteland again."

"At that time, I will make a point of passing by this station. If you can survive until then, I would not mind truly helping you once."

With that said.

The middle-aged man in green robes did not linger in the slightest. With his hands clasped behind his back, he strode calmly toward a low earthen slope in the distance. Though his movements were clearly slow, his actual speed was astonishingly fast, creating an eerie contrast.

"Senior!"

Gripping the leather map in his hand, Chen Fan looked at the man's departing back and shouted, "Great kindness needs no thanks, but could you leave your name? I will surely repay you someday!"

The man did not answer. He merely waved without turning his head.

His figure gradually disappeared into the Wasteland.

"Phew."

Chen Fan lowered his head to look at the leather map in his hand and murmured, "That Senior is quite free-spirited."

This information was immensely valuable and of great help to him!

Before the original owner died, he had been too busy suffering and seething within the Lineage. He didn't have a damn bit of memory about this crucial information.

(End of Chapter)