Only after Crippled Monkey left the Wooden Hut did Chen Fan rise to inspect its contents.
He had sent Crippled Monkey out to drum up business on the off chance it might work. Deep down, he knew it was useless. It was almost dark, and travelers on the nearby Wasteland would already have found stations to stay at.
This station had actually lasted quite a while.
Perhaps the previous Station Master had left some eerie stones behind. But even after turning the entire Wooden Hut upside down, he failed to find a single stray stone.
The Wooden Hut was incredibly bare.
A Wooden Bed.
Enough dry rations and water to feed two people for three or four days, a table, and a chair. There was nothing else.
He truly had nothing left to fall back on.
"..."
Chen Fan sat silently in the chair for a long time before making up his mind. He had noticed a small rise nearby, which would offer a better view. Once the sun rose tomorrow, he would go there to drum up business. Perhaps he could attract some passing travelers.
That approach might upset the nearby stations.
But the Chen Family was no minor family. Its name should be enough to intimidate them. If it wasn't, there was nothing he could do. He was practically at death's door. If he still insisted on worrying about every consequence, he might as well kill himself.
Just then—
A sudden pang of dread gripped him.
He instinctively pushed open the Wooden Hut's door and looked into the distance. Sure enough... dense darkness was sweeping in from the horizon at incredible speed, devouring the dusk like a bloodthirsty monster.
In this world, night did not fall through a gradual transition from light to dark.
The change was sudden.
Like pouring a jar of ink over white paper.
And once darkness fell, countless strange entities would appear within it.
"Crippled Monkey!"
Seeing this for the first time, his expression shifted, and he instinctively wanted to call Crippled Monkey inside. But Crippled Monkey was nowhere outside the hut. Only after scanning the surroundings did he spot him, stumbling across the wilderness toward the Wooden Hut!
He was a full hundred meters away.
But Crippled Monkey was lame, after all, and he seemed to be injured as well. He moved painfully slowly. At this rate, there was no way he could reach the Wooden Hut before darkness swallowed him.
Behind Crippled Monkey walked a middle-aged man in Green Robe, his hands clasped behind his back. He followed just one step behind at an unhurried pace, a faint hint of amusement in his eyes, as though he had no fear whatsoever of the dense darkness about to sweep over them.
"Whew..."
Chen Fan drew a deep breath. Grim-faced, he assessed his physical condition and estimated how much time remained. Then, without the slightest hesitation, he charged out of the Wooden Hut and sprinted toward Crippled Monkey!
The instant he moved a few meters away from the Wooden Hut—
That lingering terror surged into his heart. He could even smell the thick stench of blood in the air and feel an elusive, hair-raising sensation at his back!
Driven by fear—
He ran even faster than usual. When he reached Crippled Monkey, there was no time to say a word. He immediately hoisted him over his shoulder. Fortunately, Crippled Monkey was thin. It was a strain, but he could manage.
"Fuck!"
Chen Fan let out an angry roar, as if venting his emotions—or fighting back against his fear of the unknown. He instinctively turned his head to glance at the dense darkness sweeping rapidly across the horizon. With no attention to spare for the traveler Crippled Monkey had brought back, he lowered his head and sprinted toward the Wooden Hut with Crippled Monkey on his shoulder!
One step...
Two steps...
He had never felt a hundred meters could be so far.
At last!
The instant he distinctly felt the almost tangible darkness brush across his back, he plunged into the "Gold Grade circle." His body toppled uncontrollably to the ground. He struggled to rise, gasping for breath as he stared at everything before him with terror in his eyes.
Darkness had completely engulfed the station.
The light radiating from the Eerie Fire enveloped the entire Wooden Hut like a transparent Gold Grade Chicken eggshell, forming a Gold Grade circle on the ground.
Outside the circle—
Lay darkness so dense that visibility was zero. There was no moonlight, no clouds to be seen. Only unnerving sounds drifted out from time to time, along with deathly pale, razor-sharp claws that occasionally flashed through the gloom.
Eternal Night... had descended.
Only then—
Did he notice that the middle-aged man in Green Robe who had been following Crippled Monkey was now standing inside the golden circle, watching the two of them with a half-smile.
"Whew..."
Chen Fan drew a deep breath. The moment he had seen Crippled Monkey outside the Safehouse, he had known that Crippled Monkey must have risked his life to drum up business on the rise. The view there was good enough, but now was not the time to discuss it. He stood and composed himself before addressing the man in Green Robe in a low voice.
"This is Station 37 of the North River Chen Family."
"Anyone outside the Chen Family must pay one eerie stone to stay the night. Members of the Chen Family or its allies must present a North River Chen Family Passage Token."
He could tell that the man before him was no ordinary person.
"How nice."
The man in Green Robe took an eerie stone from inside his robes and flicked it into Chen Fan's arms, smiling. "Seeing you two reminds me of the days when I struggled to get ahead. Once upon a time, I fought just as hard as you do, risking my life for a single eerie stone."
"Does your station only have one room?"
"Yes."
Chen Fan nodded. "This is an ordinary station."
The man nodded and said nothing more. He simply turned, entered the Wooden Hut, and shut the door.
Only after the man went inside did Chen Fan force down the excitement swelling within him. He could clearly feel his heart pounding wildly. It wasn't just because he had earned an eerie stone. More importantly...
His cheat had arrived!
The moment the man flicked that eerie stone to him, he felt a warm current rush through his body, forming an ancient-looking Bronze Panel deep in his mind.
- "You have obtained one eerie stone." "Endless Night Lord Panel activated." "You can spend eerie stones to upgrade, construct, and enhance various buildings within your domain." "Buildings currently within your domain..." "Level-1 Eerie Fire": safe area diameter: 10 meters. Upgrade cost: 10 eerie stones. "Currently available for construction: 5 basic buildings, 1 special building..." "Level-1 Beast-Trap Snare": can inflict some damage on low-level strange entities. Construction cost: 2 eerie stones. -
"Whew..."
Chen Fan gripped the eerie stone tightly and stared into the dense darkness beyond the circle of light, gulping cold air into his lungs. He looked quite bedraggled, his body covered in dry grass, but his eyes blazed with light!
He knew he now possessed the key to surviving in this world.
But...
It was only a key. How long he could actually survive depended on how he used it!
Then—
With barely any hesitation, he walked over to the Eerie Fire. Three eerie stones rested quietly within the flames.
Two were still completely intact.
The other was somewhat dim.
Under normal circumstances, these three eerie stones would be enough to let him survive three nights on the Wasteland.
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