A miniature hut. Nice.

"Nice."

Chen Fan said nothing more and handed the Vellum to Zhou Mo. "Keeping a record is good, too. If we survive the rainy season, this will be the finest medal proving our resilience. How did you sleep last night?"

During the latter half of the night, once the danger had mostly passed...

He had sent Zhou Mo, Qi Chong, and all their men inside to sleep, preparing them for the tasks ahead after dawn.

"I slept very well. I'm full of energy and ready to carry out orders at any time."

"Good."

Chen Fan took the Ghosthide Map from inside his clothes and pointed to several marked locations. "Nearly every Station in the wasteland was wiped out last night, with no survivors. Only two Stations made it through."

"One was ours, Jiangbei Chen Family Station No. 37."

"The other Station is nine kilometers from us in a straight line."

"Your task today is to take your men to that Station, bring back whatever resources you can carry, and bring its people here."

"They were lucky enough to survive last night, which means fortune was on their side. But luck won't protect them forever during the rainy season."

"We need to band together. Every extra person means more strength."

"Understood."

Zhou Mo nodded firmly in acceptance, then took out his own Ghosthide Map and looked at the fortunate station. If he remembered correctly, it was Qiuhe Wang Family Station No. 16.

He had met its Station Master a few times, but they had little contact beyond that.

"Traveling in this Torrential Rain won't be easy. Your safety takes priority. If you encounter anything you can't control, abandon the mission immediately and return to Camp."

After giving that reminder, Chen Fan turned to Qi Chong, who had been roused from sleep and was hurriedly getting dressed.

"Qi Chong."

He stood and looked at Qi Chong seriously. "Your task is to visit these nearby Stations that were destroyed last night and bring back any usable supplies. There's no fixed quota. Visit as many as you think you can manage."

"But remember to keep turning the hourglass over."

"Once you've turned it over eight times, return to Camp immediately, wherever you are."

"Yes!" Qi Chong finished dressing in a flurry, forced his bleary eyes open, and answered loudly.

The deadliest thing about the wasteland's rainy season was that the sky offered no way to tell the time.

The rain never stopped.

If they failed to return to Camp before the deadline, all that awaited them was... the arrival of Eternal Night.

An hourglass was one way to keep track of time in the wasteland.

Each time the sand ran out, half a double-hour had passed. After eight consecutive turns, fewer than two double-hours remained before dark. At that point, they had to return to Camp immediately.

A section of the City Wall slowly sank into the ground.

After hastily eating a few mouthfuls of dry rations, Zhou Mo and Qi Chong took their Ghosthide Maps and led their men out of Camp into the Torrential Rain, gradually disappearing into the mist, step by step.

Out in the wasteland...

No Station stocked raincoats, Bamboo Hats, or any other rain gear.

After all...

Rain fell in this wasteland only during the rainy season, so such things were useless the rest of the year. And during the rainy season, they were completely useless anyway...

"Once you're finished here, go get some sleep."

Chen Fan called out to Wang Kui and the others, who were dissecting the corpses of strange entities on the barren ground outside the walls. Then he walked over to Crippled Monkey, who was carefully straightening seedlings beside the Farmland. The meatworm wraith tide had swept across it last night.

It had done considerable damage.

"Young Master."

Crippled Monkey spoke with a pained expression. "Of the seventeen monkey head mushroom seedlings, seven were trampled to death. Of the twelve Eerie Stone Vein seedlings, four were trampled to death."

"We lost quite a bit."

"It's fine. This is much better than I expected."

Chen Fan looked rueful.

"It's already a blessing that so many survived. With the way things were last night, I thought the whole plot would be uprooted. All right, you should head inside and rest, too. I'll take inventory, then get some sleep myself."

"Young Master, do you remember that seed I found in the Wooden Hut and planted in the Farmland?"

"Of course. What, did it sprout?"

"It just sprouted!"

Crippled Monkey excitedly pointed to several flower buds in a corner of the Farmland. They had just emerged from the soil and were barely larger than sesame seeds. "It's a flower! At this rate, it won't be long before it blooms."

"Oh?"

Somewhat surprised, Chen Fan crouched beside the Farmland and examined the little brown buds on a newly sprouted shoot in the corner. He had assumed it was a moldy wheat seed or something similar. He never expected it to be a flower seed, let alone one that would actually sprout.

That's some impressive vitality!

After all, the monkey head mushroom and Eerie Stone Vein seeds had only sprouted successfully because they were special seeds dropped by strange entities. For an ordinary crop to survive a Torrential Rain like this was no small feat.

"All right."

Chen Fan smiled and patted Crippled Monkey on the shoulder. "Go inside, eat something, and sleep. There'll be more work to do when you wake up this afternoon."

"As you say, Young Master."

Holding the Godslaying Spear in his arms, Crippled Monkey offered no further objections and headed toward the Wooden Hut inside the walls.

By then...

Wang Kui and the others had finished dissecting all the corpses outside the walls. They had obtained forty-one eerie stones, no exotic treasures, and a fair amount of ghost material.

The corpses would remain outside the walls until they woke up. He sent the men inside to sleep as well.

Then he began taking stock of the Camp's assets alone.

He had originally carried four eerie stones. Adding the 484 dropped by the meatworm wraiths and these forty-one brought the total to 529. There was also one used eerie stone—the one he had first pried out of an Arrow Tower. After dawn, he had put it back into the recess in that tower.

"529 eerie stones..."

Standing beside the Farmland in the heavy rain, Chen Fan gazed at the endless overcast sky in the distance. After a long, dazed moment, he suddenly chuckled.

Heaven was fair.

Along with danger, it brought opportunity.

Without last night's meatworm wraith tide, it would have taken him a long time to save up 529 eerie stones.

An ordinary Station Master's monthly salary was only ten eerie stones.

This was nearly five years of a Station Master's income.

It was roughly a third of everything Wang Kui had earned in his thirteen years with the Wang Family.

Only then did he gather his thoughts and look down at the three exotic treasures in his hands. All had dropped last night. There was no hurry to use them; he could wait until he woke up. After an entire night of frayed nerves, his mind was growing foggy.

Decisions made in such a state were rarely sound.

He would deal with them after sleeping.

Just as he was about to turn back toward the Wooden Hut, he caught another glimpse of the flower buds swaying gently in the downpour. After hesitating for a while, he picked up a few suitable scraps of broken board beside the Wooden Hut inside the walls, then returned to the Farmland and built a crude little wooden shelter over the budding plant.

It was only about the size of a palm.

A miniature hut.

Nice.

Satisfied, Chen Fan stood and returned to the Wooden Hut, stripping off his soaked hemp clothes. He glanced at Crippled Monkey, who was already asleep with the Spear in his arms, then smiled and lay down on a nearby bed, gradually drifting off himself.

He had survived another night.

The rainy season had its benefits, too. At least it kept all sorts of unsavory characters from bothering him, giving him plenty of time to build up his strength.

For instance...

After dawn, when word reached the Chen Family in Northbank City that Jiangbei Chen Family Station No. 37 was still stubbornly holding on, things there were probably going to get lively.

When someone who was supposed to die refused to do so, certain people were bound to squirm.