"Young Master, My Name Is Crippled Monkey."

Agony exploded from the Depths of the Soul, and the icy air stung his lungs.

When he opened his eyes, he saw neither a hospital's stark white ceiling nor the chaotic crowd after a car accident, but an endless expanse of deathly still, grayish brown!

A murky sky. Cracked earth.

A few scattered stalks of blackened grass pointed skyward in twisted shapes. The wind howled across the Wasteland, stirring up dry dust and filling the air with a wilderness smell of death and rust.

"Where... where am I?"

Chen Fan stared at the unfamiliar surroundings and struggled to sit up. Instinctively, he reached into his pocket for a cigarette, only to discover that his old clothes were gone. In their place was a rough gray cloth outfit that chafed his skin, and there were certainly no cigarettes in its pockets.

Had I transmigrated?

The possibility slowly took shape in his mind.

He could feel how weak his body was, along with a few sharp pains. But before he had closed his eyes, an eight-wheel dump truck running a red light had run him over. His injuries could not possibly have been this minor.

Just then—

A trembling voice, choked with tears, reached his ears. "Young Master... you're finally awake!"

At the sound of the voice beside him,

he instinctively turned his head. Only then did he realize that he was not alone in this boundless Wasteland. There was also a skeletal young servant dressed in cloth, a crude wooden hut, and a fiercely burning bonfire.

An instant later!

A savage pain struck, and countless fragments of memory were forcibly crammed into his mind like an enema, knocking him unconscious again.

When he woke again, the servant had moved him onto a plank bed inside the crude wooden hut, and he now understood his situation.

He had transmigrated.

The original owner of this body had also been named Chen Fan. Even his appearance and physique were identical, as though he were another version of himself in a parallel world.

In this world, countless bizarre monsters appeared after nightfall to take human lives. This had been happening for hundreds of years, and people called it "Eternal Night."

Only by staying near an "Eerie Fire" could people ensure their safety.

An Eerie Fire was a specially constructed bonfire.

To travel safely across the Wasteland, people had to find a "Station" before dark. Only Stations had Eerie Fires.

Creating an Eerie Fire was no simple task. Its base was too heavy to carry around, and once the fire went out, the base would automatically break. Keeping an Eerie Fire burning required a constant supply of "eerie stones."

And so—

Across the Wasteland outside the cities, various families had established numerous Stations to protect passing caravans and travelers, charging them a corresponding fee.

The place where he now stood was a Station owned by the Chen Family.

But...

He had been sent here as an act of persecution. Despite being a Young Master of the Chen Family, he had been assigned the extremely dangerous job of guarding a Station in the Wasteland. Before he left, they had not given him a single eerie stone.

That meant!

The moment this Eerie Fire went out would be the moment he died.

The body's former owner had been unable to withstand the pressure. Overwhelmed by rage and distress, he had died on the spot, giving Chen Fan the chance at another life.

And the servant beside him was his attendant.

"Young Master."

The skeletal servant knelt before the bed, his cheeks streaked with tears. In a hoarse voice, he said, "You must be exhausted after such a long journey, Young Master. I'll keep watch tonight. Please get some sleep."

"..."

Chen Fan struggled out of bed and pushed open the hut's door to look at the bonfire outside. According to his memories, three eerie stones were currently buried beneath this Eerie Fire. In other words, it could burn for three more days at most.

Three days later, this Eerie Fire would go out.

That was also the countdown to his death. How could he possibly sleep under these circumstances?

Out in the wilderness, the only way to obtain eerie stones was to kill Strange Entities and dig the stones out of their bodies.

But...

He was weak and unarmed. How could he possibly kill Strange Entities?

After standing in a daze for a long while,

he finally said softly, "You didn't have to come with me."

Before those scoundrels sent him here, they had offered his attendant a handsome reward to stay behind. They wanted him to experience the despair of dying alone in the wilderness during Eternal Night, surrounded by fear and loneliness.

But this fellow had come anyway.

Without even a moment's hesitation.

"Wherever you go, Young Master, I go."

"Wherever you die, Young Master, I die."

Although the skeletal man behind him was afraid, he gritted his teeth and said firmly, "Without you, Young Master, I would have been nothing but a pile of bones long ago."

"..."

Chen Fan fell silent for a moment. "All this time, I've forgotten to ask your name."

He had no memory of this fellow's name.

When the core members of the Chen Family had chosen their Subordinates, everyone else had taken all the strong, sturdy men, leaving only this skeletal fellow. The body's former owner had always regarded him as a disgrace.

He had not even wanted to speak to him, much less ask his name.

To have such a loyal Subordinate despite treating him that way—the former owner had truly been lucky.

"Crippled Monkey."

"Young Master, my name is Crippled Monkey."

Crippled Monkey lowered his head, his voice barely louder than a mosquito's buzz as he spoke with a trace of shame. "I'm an orphan. I didn't have a name. Steward Zhou said I was a cripple and as skinny as a monkey, so he named me Crippled Monkey."

Chen Fan glanced at Crippled Monkey's right leg. It did indeed seem a little lame.

"All right."

He nodded and glanced around the hut. "Since we're here, our first priority is to stay alive. Go outside and see if any travelers are passing by. It's almost dark, and they'll need a Station to stop at too. If you see anyone, shout and call them over."

"The Eerie Fire will last three days at most."

"We need to earn some eerie stones."

"And—"

He walked up to Crippled Monkey and patted his shoulder, speaking softly and calmly. "If I'm lucky enough to make a comeback someday, I won't forget you. But if I die, then that's our fate. We'll have to accept it."

Crippled Monkey froze for a moment, an unusual gleam flashing in his eyes. Much of the fear he had felt upon arriving at the Station faded. Straightening his back as much as he could, he shouted, "Yes!"

Then he hurried out of the hut.

He went to look for passing travelers.

Outside the hut.

Crippled Monkey looked around. The Wasteland stretched endlessly, without a single traveler in sight. There was a small dirt hill nearby; standing on it would give him a better view. But...

He hesitated slightly.

It was almost dark. If he failed to get back before nightfall, he would likely lose his life.

But soon,

he stopped hesitating and immediately ran as hard as he could toward the nearby hill.

Though he was disabled and of humble birth,

But he could keenly sense that the Young Master's demeanor now was completely different from how he had been back at the family estate. The difference was like night and day.

He had a bold suspicion.

The Young Master knew that he was being targeted at every turn within the family and had no room to act. So he had deliberately arranged to be sent somewhere beyond the family's easy supervision, where he could finally unleash his abilities—until one day, he would fight his way back and reclaim everything that should have been his!

The Young Master's foresight instantly revived his spirits, like a drink of sweet nectar.

And he, Crippled Monkey,

would do everything he could to help the Young Master return to the Chen Family!

He would make sure those people never looked down on the Young Master again!

How fast could a cripple run?

Yet a Flame seemed to be kindling in his heart, driving him to run faster and faster. He even ignored the growing pain in his right leg. All he wanted was to reach that hill ahead as quickly as possible!