"Today was the last day of clearing new ground, too."

"I feel like six nights have passed, right?"

King Mazi scratched his head. "It shouldn't be as long as seven nights."

"The eighth night."

Zhou Mo put the Wooden Board back under his buttocks, and continued to take a big bite of the dry biscuit in his hand with some emotion, "My little brother Er Gou, who has been with me for so long, died in the mouth of the Doppelganger Wraith before the fifth night descended."

On the sixth night, we encountered the Funeral Wraith.

"On the seventh night, we moved here and spent the night in the Natural Eerie Fire Zone."

"On the eighth night, we spent the night in the Cave that the Station Master had newly opened up."

"If we can get through tonight safely, then nine nights will have passed."

"The Rainy Season usually lasts about 30 days, and we have persisted for a third of Rainy Season. In the history of Northbank City, we are the first and only ones to have done so."

"Northbank City has a history?" Wang Kui raised an eyebrow.

"Tsk."

Zhou Mo couldn't help but laugh upon hearing this, "Although we've experienced the destruction of several cities, some fragmented information has still been passed down. That's how humans are; even knowing they might not live much longer, they still want to write something down so that future generations know what they encountered."

"Like you like writing Diary?"

"That's right."

Zhou Mo pulled out his Diary from his pocket and wrote while munching on a dry biscuit, "Everyone needs a hobby, otherwise life would be too boring. Besides, without people like us, the conditions for creating the Eerie Fire wouldn't have been revealed."

"The version that's been leaked is the more complex version."

Wang Kui glanced at Chen Fan's back as he built a temporary Wooden Hut for the night inside the Cave and whispered, "I remember there are many kinds of materials needed for the rumored Eerie Fire, but the Station Master didn't use any of them to make it."

"It's good enough that it exists."

Zhou Mo closed the Diary and tucked it back into his pocket. "For a City built on Natural Eerie Fire Zone, those materials are easy to gather. It's just that there's a certain threshold. After all, those people also want to make some Eerie Stone from this, so a more streamlined formula certainly won't be easily revealed."

Just then--

Chen Fan climbed the City Wall.

He glanced at the group of people talking and casually remarked, "They're all chatting."

"Station Master."

Zhou Mo and the others hurriedly stood up.

"Alright, go to sleep. I'll keep watch tonight."

"There's no heating right now, it's a bit cold."

"Wear more layers to bed at night, bear with it for a few days, and once the Cave is fully excavated, we can start building the basic structures."

"Clear!"

"..."

The Cave quickly quieted down. Zhou Mo and the others had all gone to sleep in the makeshift huts, leaving only Chen Fan sitting alone on the City Wall, gazing at the rainy night outside the Cave.

Tonight is the ninth night of the Rainy Season.

He knew that number better than anyone else.

Others may have been born into a world like this, and although they don't want to die, their long-term living environment has made them highly accepting of death. He is different; he still doesn't really want to die.

He wanted to try to survive the Rainy Season.

If they really can't survive, then there's nothing that can be done.

Today, the Cave has been opened up to a depth of 27 meters. We'll open it up for another day tomorrow, and the Cave depth will be sufficient for our current use. We can then slowly open up the rest.

As for the "vehicle Factory".

He didn't intend to place it in this Cave; he planned to carve out another Cave on the left cliff and house the massive vehicle Factory Cave.

Time always flies when you're lost in thought.

Or rather...

It's hard for someone not to overthink things in this kind of environment.

"Bang."

The sudden sound of a heavy object falling off a cliff startled him from his reverie, followed by a series of similar sounds.

Chen Fan immediately snapped out of his daze, his eyes fixed on the darkness outside the City Wall.

Based on the previous two times.

That Crocodile should be here soon.

As expected.

Incense Stick later, he heard the rustling sound again in the rainy night; the Crocodile had returned to the Canyon Hollow.

He now strongly suspects that the Strange Entities that fell off the cliff were forced to do so by this Crocodile. Otherwise, although most of the Strange Entities lack Sentience, they wouldn't necessarily jump off a cliff to their deaths. But this Crocodile is clearly strong enough to directly hunt and kill the Strange Entities, so why does it have to use this method to hunt them?

The next moment!

The Copper Pipe are lit, and the Watchtower is activated.

The entire Canyon Hollow offered an unobstructed view, with Gray Fog replacing the darkness.

He saw the crocodile again at the bottom of the cliff, General Strange carrying the corpse of the Crocodile in its mouth, but this time it didn't flee quickly, perhaps because it was too hungry to bear it any longer.

Release the Strange Entities's corpse.

Turning to look at Chen Fan, his large pupils were filled with fear and anger. He forced back his terror and opened his blood-red mouth to roar in the rainy night.

"Roar!!"

The sound was so loud that it almost drowned out the sounds of the rainy night.

That sounds very impressive.

But...

The trembling limbs and the tail that kept thrashing and pounding the ground indicated the other's unease, making it appear outwardly fierce but inwardly weak.

He strongly suspected that if he made even the slightest move, the other party would immediately flee.

"..."

Chen Fan remained silent, gently placing the Ghostlight Lantern aside, and watched quietly.

They remained locked in this standoff for several breaths.

As if sensing that Chen Fan had no intention of attacking, the Crocodile tentatively swallowed the corpse of a Strange Entities whole. Seeing that Chen Fan still did not react, it then swiftly devoured all thirty-odd corpses of Strange Entities.

She looked up at Chen Fan again.

Then, without looking back, it quickly disappeared into the Canyon Passage. This time, it didn't run as fast or make as much noise, but its tail kept swaying from side to side and tapping the ground as it ran.

He could vaguely sense the other party's joy and happiness from the wagging tail.

It seems like they're celebrating that they can finally have a good meal tonight.

Long after the Crocodile disappeared.

Chen Fan murmured in a daze, "Is there a spatial bag stuffed in my stomach?"

Although this Crocodile was relatively large, it was only a few times larger than an ordinary Crocodile, and its stomach definitely couldn't hold more than thirty corpses of Strange Entities...

After three nights together.

He already had a general understanding of the Crocodile.

It's most likely not Strange Entities; it's powerful but extremely timid. Now there's another one: its stomach can hold a lot of things.

And...

Their Sentience is probably not very high.

If the goal was to drive the Strange Entities off a cliff, why General Strange it into Deep Pit and have it fall off? Falling from either side of the Canyon Passage would have been fatal enough.

The night remained quiet until late.

There was nothing unusual.

When darkness fell, they had successfully survived the ninth night of the Rainy Season, with twenty days remaining until Rainy Season end.

"Get to work!"

The sound of the Wooden Hut being bombarded and collapsed by the Cannon Tower marked the start of a new day of land clearing.

Today is also the last day of clearing the land.

After today.

The initial stage of the Rear Base has been largely completed.