"We parted in last year's rain; now the rain has passed, and a year has gone."

As for why the seed Crippled Monkey had picked up back then had not displayed a panel...

He had a vague idea why.

All seed-type exotic treasures came wrapped in something like a thin membrane. But that seed had been a lone seed, with no membrane around it at all. Perhaps that was why no panel had appeared.

"Pretty lucky, actually."

Chen Fan narrowed his eyes slightly. Green-grade seed-type exotic treasures often had special growing requirements. The Flesh Wraith Parent-Child Seed, for instance, needed to be watered with wraith blood every two hours.

Yet without knowing anything about the Human-Blood Wraith Flowers' growing requirements, he had somehow managed to grow them by sheer accident. Luck was on his side.

It seemed his luck in this life was pretty good.

There were tens of millions of hardworking people in the world, yet fewer than one in ten thousand made a name for themselves.

Those who failed did not lack ability. They simply had bad luck.

Luck alone could not bring success, but it was one of the essential conditions for it.

Next...

Using two wooden sticks, he picked up the Flowers at the edge of winter, then spread the Wraith Hide flat on the wasteland. With a gentle squeeze, blood-red liquid dripped little by little down the stem and onto the hide.

Before long, no more liquid came out. The once-vibrant Flowers instantly withered, losing all life.

Chen Fan crouched beside the Farmland, staring intently at the Wraith Hide. After the Flowers' liquid landed on it, lines of writing slowly appeared across its surface.

"We parted in last year's Rain; now the Rain has passed, and a year has gone."

"At the cold pool's bottom, white bones steeped in the midnight moon."

"Beneath embroidered robes, dark tresses tangled through nine autumns' mist."

"I tore my skin to make your armor, cut my soul into silk to wrap fresh scars."

"Then umbrella ribs rang through heaven and earth; a strange tide rose across the Wasteland, forming ranks."

"It was my old beloved, treading through the Rain; we met as strangers, faces white as snow."

"Though Rain eats away my beauty a thousand times, all my life I wait for you alone."

The exotic treasure's panel changed as well.

"Exotic treasure name": Wraith Hide.

"Exotic treasure grade": Green.

"Exotic treasure effect": A special piece of Wraith Hide, crafted personally by a High-Ranking Strange Entity. Kept against the chest, it can block a lethal attack.

"..."

Chen Fan gazed at the lines that had appeared on the Wraith Hide in his hands. After a long, expressionless silence, he let out a soft sigh. Suddenly, his head hurt. Actually... he had not sunk all that much into this Station. Maybe he should just move out sooner rather than later.

The poem was not particularly hard to understand.

Its general meaning was this.

The Female Wraith he had killed had possessed considerable intelligence. During last year's Rain season, she had met a Male Wraith, and they had fallen for each other. After they parted at the end of the Rain season, she had torn off a piece of her own skin and used it, along with other methods, to craft this exotic treasure.

A defensive exotic treasure.

And that Male Wraith...

"Then umbrella ribs rang through heaven and earth; a strange tide rose across the Wasteland, forming ranks."

That sounded like a Wraith King, no question.

Not only powerful, but backed by a great force.

This woman had been waiting in the Wasteland for that Male Wraith all along. Perhaps this Rain season, he would bring an army to take her as his bride. But the Female Wraith... had already died at Chen Fan's hands.

When that happened...

When that happened...

Chen Fan turned toward the Warehouse. He had stripped off the Female Wraith's skin and stored it in the garage. A Le was good with a knife and had removed it almost intact. Could he hand over the whole skin? Sewn onto another female wraith, it might still be usable.

Intelligent strange entities were extremely rare.

And of all the strange entities he knew of, this Female Wraith was the only one capable of crafting exotic treasures.

If the Wraith King did not care about her at all, he might escape this disaster. But with her looks and abilities, she was both a presentable companion and someone who could craft exotic treasures for him. No matter how Chen Fan looked at it, she hardly seemed like someone he would not care about...

He was screwed.

"You lovesick Female Wraith. If you wanted to wait for your dream man during the Rain season, why couldn't you just find a corner and quietly hole up there?"

"Why did you have to keep coming after me?"

"Well, look at things now."

"You've left me a whole pile of trouble."

"Was one dead subordinate really worth charging into my Camp to fight me to the death?"

Chen Fan rubbed his temples, his head aching. The Wraith King would most likely return to the Wasteland during the Rain season. With both formidable strength and powerful forces, he was not an enemy Chen Fan could face without thorough preparations. At the very least, the Camp's current defenses were nowhere near enough.

Still...

The other party might not know where he was. There had been no witnesses, after all. Right, in that case...

Right, my fucking ass!

His was the only Camp in the entire Wasteland, as conspicuous as the sun in the dead of night. Unless that Wraith King was an idiot, the first thing he would do upon reaching the Wasteland was come looking for him!

Forget it!

He would meet whatever came his way.

He took a deep breath and steadied himself before looking toward the Warehouse again. The Female Wraith had crafted an exotic treasure like this from just one piece of her skin. He still had an entire intact skin stored in his Warehouse.

Once he found an Artifact Refiner, perhaps that skin could be made into a complete suit of soft armor for him.

He casually tucked the Wraith Hide inside his Hemp Robe, close against his chest.

It felt warm.

Quite comfortable, too.

When he was young in his previous life, a girl had once knitted him a scarf, keeping his heart warm all winter.

He had never expected that in this world, a Female Wraith would use her own skin to make him Heartguard Armor. It was rather romantic.

How thoughtful.

Inside the Camp.

Chen Fan stood atop the City Wall within the Breeding Farm, looking down at the Doppelganger Wraiths below as they shrieked and bared their teeth in the torrential Rain.

The wall was five meters high.

These Impostors had not tried climbing it by forming a human ladder. He did not know whether the idea had never occurred to them or whether they simply had no time to think. Ever since he had abducted these Doppelganger Wraiths, they had been mating indiscriminately, day and night, without stopping.

There had been a line in the Female Wraith's poem.

"Though Rain eats away my beauty a thousand times, all my life I wait for you alone."

Eats away.

That was hardly a pleasant phrase.

Perhaps...

The Rain season was painful for strange entities, too?

Did the Rain fall on them like sulfur, causing such unbearable pain that they went on crazed rampages during the Rain season?

Just then—

A Le, standing beside him, reported, "Station Master, no major enemies came to the Camp last night, so I ran a few experiments. I found that young strange entities don't have eerie stones inside them. The stones only form once they've grown."

"And this rainwater might contain some special energy."

"When I sheltered a few Doppelganger Wraiths from the Rain with a Wooden Board, they immediately stopped mating and began snarling savagely at me, preparing to attack."

"But the moment I removed the Wooden Board, they went right back to mating."

"Mm."

Chen Fan nodded lightly. "Good work."

Aside from obtaining more eerie stones, his main reason for raising these Doppelganger Wraiths was to learn more about strange entities. Only by knowing himself and his enemy could he win every battle.

From what he had seen so far...

The Rain season had an enormous influence on strange entities, but its effects differed from one kind to another.

For Doppelganger Wraiths, it meant uncontrollable mating.

For Meatworm Wraiths, it meant the uncontrollable migration of their entire population.

For the Female Wraith, it meant pain like sulfuric acid eating away at her flesh.

Perhaps...

That was also why the Female Wraith had made herself a sedan chair.