"Is this a prerequisite for becoming a great achiever?"

The Crippled Monkey was slightly taken aback, somewhat puzzled. "Young Master, how did you determine that?"

"I figured it out by counting on my fingers."

Chen Fan didn't explain further, chuckled, picked up a piece of Pickled Greens with his chopsticks, and put it in his mouth. "It tastes good, have a taste."

Last night, after the Eternal Nightfall.

He stared blankly for a while.

The Strange Tide rushed into the Canyon; the time he was in a daze was no more than the time it takes to drink a cup of tea.

The Strange Entities cannot move during the Daytime, and no one knows where Strange Entities go Daytime.

So...

He guessed.

This wave of Strange Tide may have arrived in the Wasteland the night before, but they didn't launch All-Out Assault because it was almost dawn. So they waited until it got dark the next day before placing the General Strange stones in a certain place and launching All-Out Assault on the Sinkhole.

This is just a guess, but he thinks there's a 70% chance it's true.

After all--

Surely the Strange Tide couldn't possibly launch All-Out Assault from some unknown point across the sea in the time it takes to drink a cup of tea?

They must have found a place to rest the night before.

The place where the repairs were being carried out is where the Eerie Stone hides.

"Young Master, you have a really good attitude."

The monkey, somewhat restless, scratched his head and said, "If we can find these Eerie Stones, it'll be enough to buy Pickled Greens for several lifetimes..."

Those Great Achiever must remain calm even if Mount Tai collapses before them, and remain unperturbed even if the Yellow River bursts its banks.

Is this a necessary condition for Great Achiever?

"No."

Chen Fan shook his head and couldn't help but laugh, "But this makes you look like someone who can accomplish great things."

"It just looks and sounds useless..."

"Of course it works; if it looks exactly like the real thing, it'll be perfect."

He stood up, carrying his bowl of porridge, and looked at the Crocodile perched on the City Wall, carefully nibbling on Octopus tentacle with a look of pure enjoyment. He called out, "Hey, eat faster! After we finish, we're going to that place you mentioned to find the Mountain-Skeleton Embryo."

"I'll grill you two more if I can find them."

"And let's get a headshot while we're at it."

"Roar!"

After letting out a whimper to indicate that it understood, the Crocodile lay down on the ground, its two thick, powerful front paws grabbing the Octopus tentacles. It swallowed the ends of the tentacles in its hands in one gulp, and then looked with lingering satisfaction at the two remaining roasted Octopus tentacles in the Porcelain Crock.

After thinking about it, I decided not to eat anymore.

Instead, it carried the Porcelain Crock its mouth, hiding it deep within the Camp, intending to eat it later.

They lay prone outside the city once more.

Let the raindrops drip onto my body, and close my eyes to rest.

Chen Fan was the only one who enjoyed his lunch.

The others were somewhat distracted, glancing at the Canyon every now and then, as if they could see Zhou Mo Triumphant Return at any moment.

"Found it."

Chen Fan put down his chopsticks and smiled, "Now I can eat in peace."

"Young Master, did you foresee this as well?"

"No, I heard it."

The Meat Strange Parent-Child Fruit is still very useful.

In some ways, he felt it was even better than a "Message Talisman," as it didn't require taking out the talisman; they could communicate directly through their thoughts.

Soon-

Through the Canyon Passage, Zhou Mo and Big Fish slowly returned on two Skeleton Horses, pulling Handcart behind them with four large boxes on Handcart.

Chen Fan stood outside the city, opened one of the boxes, and was greeted by a dazzling array of Eerie Stone.

Then they opened the remaining boxes.

Three of the boxes were filled with Eerie Stone, but this time they weren't all Level-2 Eerie Stone. Instead, they were mainly Level-2 Eerie Stone with Level-1 Eerie Stone as a supplement. The remaining box contained a large pile of miscellaneous Ghost Material.

It contained similar items to those in Thousand Throats's boxes.

One of the Mountain-Skeleton Embryo is missing.

"Alright, take it back."

He glanced at Wang Kui beside him, smiled, and waved his hand. Then he looked at Zhou Mo and said, "Come with me. We might be going to a rather dangerous place. How well have you mastered your 'Water-Cutting Saber Art Technique'?"

"Ah?"

Zhou Mo's smile froze on the spot, his throat bobbing slightly. "Not even a fraction... Station Master, um, you... didn't you just give it to me yesterday afternoon...?"

"Can't you use any of it at all?"

"I can't use it..."

"Never mind."

"Since there are no Strange Entities appearing in broad Daytime, there shouldn't be any dangerous places."

Chen Fan didn't say much, but simply turned over and sat on the Crocodile's back, gesturing for Zhou Mo to sit on top as well. He patted the Crocodile's head and instructed, "If we encounter danger, lead us away immediately."

The Crocodile did not react.

It was as if they felt they didn't need to answer at all.

Isn't that obvious?

It's an expert at escaping.

"Then... let's go!"

The words had barely left his mouth.

The Crocodile beneath him, with its Dark Green, heavy body, instantly transformed into a flesh-colored lightning bolt that hurtled along the ground. Its four giant claws scrambled at the ground, each strike sending shards of rock flying. In the blink of an eye, it charged into the Canyon.

The heavy, drum-like footsteps echoed throughout the Canyon.

On the broad back.

Chen Fan crouched down, gripping the protruding scales tightly, silently feeling the swaying beneath him. The scenery on both sides was beautiful: the Canyon rushing past quickly, and birds occasionally piercing the heavy rain.

But he wasn't interested in watching.

We need to hurry.

If you get thrown out, the chances of survival are probably slim.

The speed is getting faster and faster.

The blurred rock walls on both sides quickly disappeared, Crocodile made a graceful drift at the Canyon exit, then turned around and ran wildly towards the mountaintop along the mountain path it used to follow.

"Was it found on the Seaside?"

Inside the Camp, the Crippled Monkey tentatively looked at the Big Fish.

"Uh-huh."

Big Fish nodded. "Crippled Monkey, how did you know?"

"It really was found on the Seaside."

"It's exactly the same as what Young Master calculated with his fingers." The monkey said thoughtfully, "Could it be that Young Master also has this skill?"

"Oh, right--"

"Where did you get the Handcart you were pulling when you came back? I didn't see you taking Handcart when you went out."

"When we went out to collect supplies yesterday, Weiwei led us back. Handcart we took were left at a nearby Unmanned Outpost, and we just went there to Unmanned Outpost them."

In the time it takes for Incense Stick to burn.

Chen Fan dismounted from the Crocodile and stood atop the mountain, looking down at his surroundings. He was currently on the Mountain Ridge at the very top of the mountain.

Weiwei's lair is some distance from here.

It was also some distance from his Camp.

The mountain wasn't very big, but there was a relatively flat section along its Mountain Ridge. They were currently at the end of the Mountain Ridge, and from there, they could clearly see the Jiangbei Wasteland shrouded in rain and mist.

If the Rainy Season ends and the weather is nice again.

It is estimated that the entire flat Jiangbei Wasteland can be seen.

There are few trees around.

There are only scattered trees, not a forest.

The Crocodile placed him in front of a boulder that blended into the mountainside. A hole had been carved into the boulder, pointing diagonally into the ground, which was the entrance to a Cave.

"Here it is..."

Chen Fan frowned as he looked at the Cave entrance in front of him. A feeling of extreme familiarity instantly welled up in his mind. He gently stroked the Cave entrance, where there were obvious marks left by heavy claws that had carved out the Cave.

The paw print was about twice as big as the one Weiwei had.

The opening is also wider.

"Hey, did you dig this up before?" He turned to look at the Crocodile behind him.

The Crocodile shook its head.

It pawed at the ground, then looked up and whimpered.

"Understood."

Chen Fan narrowed his eyes slightly, his expression gradually becoming serious. "You mean this place was dug by your parents, but they haven't come back for a long time, right?"

Standing to the side, Zhou Mo glanced blankly at the dog-pawed paw prints on the ground, then recalled the Crocodile's movements, but he simply couldn't connect the Crocodile's actions with the words he had just heard.

Has anyone come near here before?

Chen Fan asked again.

The Crocodile nodded, then shook its head.

Zhou Mo pondered the meaning of this action, wondering whether someone was approaching or not.

You mean someone came close?

"But you sensed them and chased them away, right?"

The Crocodile nodded.

Has Strange Entities come near?

The Crocodile nodded and then shook its head again.

"You mean, there used to be, but recently there haven't been any Strange Entities near us, right?"

The Crocodile nodded.

When was the last time Strange Entities approached?

"A year ago?"

The Crocodile nodded and patted the ground with its front paws.

"Understood."

Chen Fan let out a soft breath, a complex look flashing in his eyes. "Now it seems everything is clear; this Cave was Weiwei's parents' old lair."

"But its parents have been gone for a long time, and I don't know why they didn't take Weiwei with them when they left."

"After that, although Weiwei had its own new home, it always protected its parents' old nest, not letting anyone get close. The aura left there made even ordinary Strange Entities dare not approach."

"The last time Strange Entities approached was a year ago."

"And exactly one year ago was the time when Big Fish Village was destroyed."

"Weiwei's lair is right on the edge of the Sinkhole cliff."

"A group of intelligent, Strange Entities attempted to lure Weiwei away by breaking into this place, and then fell to the Sinkhole Floor to attack the village of the Big Fish."

"Since that's the case..."

He narrowed his eyes and continued his analysis.

"This group of Strange Entities is clearly under command, not Subordinate of the Wraith King. The Wraith King has obviously sent people to Nameless Mountain for the first time, so they are very likely Subordinate of another unknown Wraith King."

"Natural Eerie Fire Zone."

"An ordinary village."

"What's the point of going to all this trouble? Unless there's something down there, did you get it?"

"They probably didn't get it."

"That night, the Big Fish unleashed its power, killing all the Strange Entities."

"That is to say, one"

"There should be treasures inside this Cave and below the Natural Eerie Fire Zone."

"The treasure that the unknown Wraith King was plotting was clearly not the 'Mountain-Skeleton Embryo,' but something beneath the Natural Eerie Fire Zone..."

Let's go.

After pondering for a moment, Chen Fan looked at Zhou Mo beside him and said softly, "The situation is quite clear now. Weiwei, lead the way, let's go down and take a look."

Zhou Mo followed behind without expression, uttering no questions.

He felt his name was good.

Just keep quiet.

He really wanted to know how the Station Master could understand the Crocodile's rudimentary yet conflicting body language. If a Crocodile were to shake its head and nod at him, he would simply think that the Crocodile was having an epileptic seizure.

The Cave was extremely bright.

Every step, the walls are inlaid with Pebble that emit a Yellow Grade light, just like in Weiwei Cave. Even the size and spacing of the "food storage room" are exactly the same as in Weiwei Cave.

The only difference.

This Cave is quite wide.

"Weiwei."

Chen Fan, following behind the Crocodile, suddenly laughed, "Have you never seen your parents since you opened your eyes?"

The Crocodile lying at the very front of the Cave didn't turn around, but only whimpered softly.

The spacing between the Pebble embedded in the wall is exactly the same as the spacing between the Pebble in the Weiwei Cave.

This is sufficient to illustrate the point.

Weiwei is completely imitating what she's been doing.

This near-one-to-one imitation often occurs when a child has never met their parents and doesn't know how to survive in an unfamiliar environment. That sense of insecurity is terrifying for a small child, so they imitate everything their parents leave behind. Actually, he had some doubts when he first saw the Weiwei nest, since the entrance to that Cave was slightly higher than the ground.

This design.

This is to prevent rainwater from flowing back into the Cave.

But when he first arrived at the mountain, he discovered that all the rainwater that fell on it would turn into mist and disappear, unlike in the Wasteland where rainwater would seep into Wasteland crevices.

Unless the rain is exceptionally heavy, temporary flooding is unlikely.

Floods are even less likely to occur.

In this situation, there is absolutely no need to design the entrance to be raised, as rainwater simply cannot flow back into the Cave.

Certainly.

Rainwater during the Rainy Season is special; rainwater from the Dry Season is not absorbed and there is still a risk of backflow. He guessed that this might be the reason.

Looking back now, when Weiwei was digging her nest, she didn't think about any design at all.

A one-to-one replica of the Cave that the parents created.

"Station Master."

"Is something wrong?"

Sitting next to Chen Fan, Zhou Mo glanced nervously behind him and whispered.

The passageway was quite bright.

Nothing unusual.

But...

It was so deep; they sat on the back of the Crocodile and climbed for a full half hour.

Weiwei's pace wasn't too fast; he seemed a bit cautious, much slower than his ascent, but still much faster than running. The passage was extremely long.

He even felt that this depth had long exceeded the ground level.

They are crawling deep underground, heading towards even deeper places.

"Let's wait and see."

Chen Fan didn't reply, but just sat on the Crocodile's back, letting Weiwei carry him deeper into the earth. He could roughly guess why this guy had moved, since it took him so long to get home every time he went out.

That was really tiring.

After eating, I ran until I was hungry again before I even got to bed.

However, judging from its careful manner, as if afraid of shaking down even a speck of soil, it is clear that it cherishes the nest left by its parents, which is probably Weiwei's only source of emotional support.

And Weiwei was able to bring him here.

In a sense, she also regarded him as a second family member besides her parents.

Actually...

This little guy is just a Little Croc that was abandoned when it was a cub.

We passed another food storage room.

He looked again, and sure enough, it was empty again.

Along the way, he saw many food storage rooms, all of them empty. He seriously doubted how many Strange Entities corpses would be needed to fill all these food storage rooms if Weiwei's parents had stayed here before.

At least one-tenth of the Strange Entities in the entire Jiangbei Wasteland must die.

It needs to feel just right.

Just then -

Suddenly, the passage opened up before them, revealing a huge Cave at the end, where the Crocodile slowly came to a stop.

We've finally arrived.

This is the deepest part of the passage.

P. S.: Typos will be corrected later. Please vote with monthly tickets.