"A debt too great for words."

Dawn broke.

Daylight came with astonishing speed. The tide-like darkness rapidly receded, and within seconds, the pitch-black sky gave way to the brilliant colors of sunrise.

That night.

Chen Fan had jolted awake several times. This was his first night's sleep since crossing into this world, and between his anxiety, his tangled emotions, and the rustling sounds in the darkness, he had barely slept well at all.

The instant dawn broke, Chen Fan woke fully. The ring of light had faded, and the Wooden Hut once again blended into the Wasteland. Only the Bonfire still burned in lonely silence.

Out on the Wasteland.

A dead Strange Entity lay quietly on the Beast Trap. It resembled a Monkey and looked quite small.

Without lingering, he strode onto the Wasteland and stuffed the Strange Entity, along with the Beast Trap, into the haystack behind the Wooden Hut. He planned to dissect it for its eerie stone after his guest left, rather than reveal too much.

An hour later.

The Green Robe middle-aged man finally woke up. He walked leisurely through the hut, then stood outside and looked at Chen Fan, who remained where he was. Waving the map in his hand, he smiled and said, "There's another station nearby with better accommodations than yours. It also charges just one eerie stone, but I still chose yours yesterday. Do you know why?"

Without waiting for Chen Fan to reply, he stretched.

"Seeing that subordinate of yours desperately trying to drum up business yesterday struck a chord with me. It wasn't until I arrived at your station that I understood."

"This used to be an abandoned station. Few travelers passed through here—almost none, really."

"Now it's suddenly been lit again. If your Family assigned you here, you must be quite an outcast among them. They probably didn't even give you any supplies. You need eerie stones to keep the Eerie Fire burning so you can stay alive."

"I felt a little charitable."

"I wanted to help you, just as I desperately wished someone would help me when my own Family ostracized and targeted me."

"But I don't want to help you too much, either. Nobody helped me back then, so why should you get help?"

"So—"

"I won't give you even one extra eerie stone. You haven't earned it. I can only answer one question. You may ask it now."

He looked at the young man before him with a faint, ambiguous smile.

He had already pieced together the young man's background in his mind. Neither this youth nor his scrawny subordinate was a Cultivator. After repeatedly being targeted by their Family, they had been dumped in this godforsaken place to await death.

And this place had long since been abandoned.

Its "Eerie Fire" had gone out.

Yet it had lit up again on the map, meaning another "Eerie Fire" had been built. Building one cost around fifty eerie stones. There was no need to spend so much just to send an ordinary Family member to his death.

That meant the young man before him likely had some status or powerful connections, making it difficult to kill him openly without provoking criticism. Perhaps... he was the family head's illegitimate son.

So they had resorted to this method.

A faint flicker of anger passed through his eyes. He saw his former self in this young man. He wanted to help him, as though helping the person he had once been, but he didn't want to help too much. No one had lent him a hand back then.

That strange internal conflict irritated him.

He could already guess what the young man would ask.

It would be something like how to leave this Wasteland. Or, seeing his charitable mood, the young man might simply ask to borrow some eerie stones and promise to repay him generously someday.

If the young man asked such a pointless question, his charity would vanish in an instant, and he would leave without looking back.

"Thank you for your guidance, senior."

With a solemn expression, Chen Fan cupped his fist in thanks and said in a low voice, "Anyone who can travel the Wasteland alone must be extraordinary. This is my first time setting foot in the Wasteland. I'd like to know what I can do to improve my chances of surviving out here."

"..."

The Green Robe middle-aged man fell silent for a moment, then looked at Chen Fan and suddenly laughed. "You're just like I was back then. You've got a fire bottled up inside you. I like that."

"In that case, I can tell you a few things."

"If a traveler wants to enter your station, the rule in the Wasteland is that they must pay their eerie stone first."

"There's a type of Strange Entity called an 'Impostor Ghost.' It resembles a human and possesses a degree of intelligence."

"It can move about before eternal night has fully descended. It'll ask whether it can enter your station and say it'll pay the eerie stone afterward. You must refuse, because it cannot enter your station without your permission. This kind of Strange Entity poses relatively little danger."

"Last night, you collected my eerie stone only after I entered. That was the wrong way to do it."

"Still, you couldn't have stopped me. Your station is extremely crude and has no defensive facilities whatsoever. It can't stand against a Cultivator."

"In the Wasteland."

"Every Station Master's life is bound to the 'Eerie Fire.' No one attacks a Station Master, because once the Station Master dies, the Eerie Fire goes out too. But you still need some basic offensive structures. Aside from fighting Strange Entities, you need them to secure your authority within the station."

"And another thing!"

"The Eerie Fire doesn't guarantee safety. Apart from the truly weak ones, most Strange Entities merely dislike the 'Eerie Fire.' It's not that they genuinely can't approach it. When a strange tide breaks out, or under certain special circumstances, those Strange Entities will swallow this station in an instant."

"You need a 'City Wall' to ensure complete safety."

"Based on those two points."

"If you want to survive long enough in this Wasteland, you need a fully enclosed ring of City Wall and one basic offensive structure. Both are common and fairly simple. Just about every Builder knows how to make them. The proprietor of the nearby North River Market is a level-two Builder. He can build them for you."

"But structures like these can't be transported. The Builder has to come here to build them, and that will cost quite a few eerie stones."

"As for how you'll obtain those eerie stones, that's none of my concern."

"I've already helped you enough."

The Green Robe man suddenly shook his head and laughed, realizing he couldn't keep talking. He had only intended to answer one question, but the other party had asked something so broad that he couldn't help following the topic and saying a little more.

He pulled a map from inside his robe and tossed it into Chen Fan's arms.

"This is a Ghosthide Map of the surrounding area. It updates the status of every 'Eerie Fire' in the Wasteland in real time."

"In three months, I'll pass through this Wasteland again."

"When that time comes, I'll make a point of stopping at this station. If you're still alive then, I won't mind truly helping you once."

With that.

The Green Robe middle-aged man left without lingering. With his hands clasped behind his back, he strode steadily toward a low dirt slope nearby. His feet seemed to move extremely slowly, yet he actually traveled at tremendous speed, creating an eerie sense of contradiction.

"Senior!"

Clutching the hide map, Chen Fan looked at the man's retreating back and shouted, "Words can't express my gratitude! May I have your name? I'll repay you someday!"

The man didn't answer. He merely waved a hand without looking back.

His figure gradually vanished into the Wasteland.

"Phew..."

Chen Fan lowered his gaze to the hide map in his hands and murmured, "That senior certainly does as he pleases..."

This information was extremely valuable and would help him immensely!

Before his death, the body's previous owner had been too caught up in his misery and resentment toward his Family. He hadn't left behind a single fucking memory of any of this crucial information.