Chapter Summaries

Chen Fan welcomed Wang Kui and the others to Station No. 37 and gathered them inside the new hut as Eternal Night approached. As they shared their wishes and pasts, Chen Fan considered how each man might help build his faction.

• Wang Kui arrived at Station No. 37 with the group and felt reassured that he had chosen to follow Chen Fan.
• Chen Fan assigned Wang Kui to organize men to build a partition in the hut the next day.
• Chen Fan invited everyone to share their wishes, and Wang Kui said he hoped to save Eerie Stone, marry, and have a son.
• Zhou Mo introduced himself as a Level-Two Cultivator who had served the Wang Family and pledged to follow Chen Fan.
• Wang Mazi shared his wish to travel farther, while Qi Chong said he hoped to build a cenotaph for his mother.
• As the men talked through the approaching Eternal Night, Chen Fan considered assigning them roles in his future Camp.

Chen Fan and the Camp’s residents faced the first wave of strange entities during Eternal Night, and the Level-2 Arrow Towers killed the attackers before they could breach the City Wall. Chen Fan stayed wary, suspecting that a powerful entity behind the eerie laughter was still lurking in the darkness.

• Chen Fan sensed Eternal Night approaching, changed into wet clothes, and led the Camp’s residents to defend the City Wall.
• Rustling, scraping, laughter, and sobbing in the darkness frightened the defenders before dozens of tall, bamboo-thin strange entities charged the Camp.
• The two Level-2 Arrow Towers killed the strange entities, and Chen Fan spotted a white-glowing exotic treasure among the corpses.
• Wang Kui said the Camp could withstand twice as many attackers, but Chen Fan warned himself that the laughter suggested a stronger entity remained nearby.

Chen Fan sent Little Qiu to retrieve an exotic treasure from a fallen Strange Entity, but a fresh attack forced Little Qiu to flee across the Camp. Little Qiu escaped by luring two Strange Entities into traps and returned alive with the treasure as Chen Fan shouted at him to get back inside.

• After the Strange Entities stopped charging, Chen Fan spotted an exotic treasure near a corpse and weighed the danger of retrieving it.
• Crippled Monkey and Little Qiu volunteered to fetch the treasure, and Chen Fan chose Little Qiu and opened a section of the City Wall.
• Little Qiu grabbed the treasure, but a new attack rushed him from behind as Chen Fan and the others tried to warn him.
• Little Qiu dodged the Strange Entities, ran toward the Farmland, and leapt over the Ground Spikes Traps while Chen Fan ordered the gate closed.
• Two Mantisman-like Strange Entities stepped onto the traps and died, and Little Qiu celebrated with the treasure as Chen Fan cursed at him to return inside.

Little Qiu returned with the Building Blueprint after risking his life to draw the pursuing Strange Entities away from the Camp, and Chen Fan built a Watchtower. Its expanded view revealed a migrating horde and a group of hostile Strange Entities led by apparent chiefs and a major chief waiting outside the Camp, leaving Chen Fan to prepare to upgrade his Arrow Towers.

• Little Qiu reached the City Wall with the Building Blueprint and explained that he had run toward the Farmland to keep the Strange Entities from breaching the Camp, even if it cost him his life.
• Chen Fan praised Little Qiu, accepted the blueprint, and recognized that his willingness to sacrifice himself had moved the people on the wall.
• Chen Fan crushed the White Grade Building Blueprint and spent 10 eerie stones to build a Watchtower that revealed the area within 50 meters of the Camp.
• Chen Fan saw hundreds of Strange Entities migrating through the darkness and a group of about a hundred gathered around a blood-red sedan chair near the Camp.
• Chen Fan identified two larger Strange Entities as likely minor chiefs and suspected the figure in the sedan chair had come seeking revenge for a subordinate he had killed.
• Chen Fan concluded that his two Level 2 Arrow Towers could not stop the waiting enemies and decided he needed to upgrade them to Level 3.

Chen Fan upgraded both Level 2 Arrow Towers to Level 3, choosing greater single-target damage for one and Arrow Rain Storm for the other. When a tide of self-detonating Meatworm Wraiths surged toward the Camp, the active skill nearly wiped out its first wave, while the remaining creatures rolled past and continued into the eternal night.

• Chen Fan spent five eerie stones to upgrade an Arrow Tower and chose the fire-element path to increase its damage.
• Crippled Monkey warned Chen Fan that a strange tide was charging toward the Camp, and Zhou Mo identified the approaching creatures as corrosive, self-detonating Meatworm Wraiths.
• Chen Fan saw the Female Wraith and her followers withdraw into the Gray Fog, then upgraded his other Arrow Tower and chose Arrow Rain Storm.
• The first Meatworm Wraith entered the Camp and screamed upon sensing the Eerie Fire as more of the tide followed.
• A Level 3 Arrow Tower unleashed Arrow Rain Storm, nearly destroying the first wave of Meatworm Wraiths, while a few survivors rolled through the Camp and into the eternal night.

As the Meatworm Wraith tide overwhelmed the Camp’s defenses, Chen Fan and his group ran short of Eerie Stones and faced near-certain death. Zhou Mo sacrificed himself to retrieve more stones, leaving the others with a chance to keep fighting.

• Chen Fan repeatedly activated Arrow Rain Storm, killing Meatworm Wraiths as the swarm poured through the Camp and the group’s Eerie Stones dwindled.
• The survivors realized the tide was passing through the Camp rather than targeting it, but the Meatworm Wraiths still threatened to destroy them.
• Chen Fan suggested hiding underground, but Wang Kui explained that Builders could not create Eerie Fire in Eternal Night.
• Little Qiu offered to run outside the wall and bring back Eerie Stones, accepting that he would not survive the attempt.
• Zhou Mo gave Little Qiu his Great Knife, jumped over the wall during an Arrow Rain Storm opening, gathered Eerie Stones, and threw the sack back over the wall before waiting for the swarm to kill him.

After the Meatworm Wraiths were swept away by a change in the wind, Chen Fan explained how the strange tide moved and promised Zhou Mo support in exchange for protecting the Camp. With the danger gone, Chen Fan sent Crippled Monkey and two others to collect Eerie Stones and Exotic Treasures.

• Zhou Mo stood outside the walls expecting to die, but the wind shifted and carried the Meatworm Wraiths away before they could attack him.
• Chen Fan explained that the Meatworm Wraiths followed the wind and that the change in direction had forced the strange tide to withdraw.
• Chen Fan returned Zhou Mo’s saber and promised to provide Eerie Stones for his Cultivation if Zhou Mo protected the Camp.
• Wang Kui teased Zhou Mo about his pose, while Crippled Monkey praised his bravery.
• Chen Fan told Crippled Monkey to lead two men outside the walls and collect the Eerie Stones and Exotic Treasures.

Chen Fan survived a meatworm wraith tide and tried to lure the Female Wraith into his Camp, but she saw through the trap and withdrew. At dawn, Zhou Mo recorded the night’s survival in his diary as the rainy season continued.

• Chen Fan saw that most Stations on the Ghosthide Map had gone dark, while Crippled Monkey brought back 484 eerie stones and three exotic treasures.
• Chen Fan held back from strengthening the Camp, planning to lure the Female Wraith inside before raising the defenses.
• Nearly a hundred strange entities returned with the sedan chair, but the Female Wraith refused to attack even when Little Qiu went outside the wall as bait.
• The strange entities retreated into the Eternal Night, and none approached the Camp again before dawn.
• Zhou Mo wrote about surviving the meatworm wraith tide and marked two of the rainy season’s thirty days as passed before Chen Fan read his diary.

After surviving the meatworm wraith tide, Chen Fan sent Zhou Mo to recruit the survivors at Qiuhe Wang Family Station No. 16 and Qi Chong to salvage supplies from nearby destroyed Stations. He counted the Camp’s gains, sheltered a newly sprouted flower, and went to sleep, expecting the Chen Family in Northbank City to react to his survival.

• Chen Fan ordered Zhou Mo to bring the survivors and supplies from Qiuhe Wang Family Station No. 16 back to Camp, and warned him to abandon the mission if necessary.
• Chen Fan sent Qi Chong to salvage usable supplies from destroyed Stations and return after turning his hourglass eight times.
• Crippled Monkey reported that the meatworm wraith tide had killed several seedlings, then showed Chen Fan a flower seed that had sprouted in the Farmland.
• Wang Kui and the others recovered forty-one eerie stones, bringing Chen Fan’s total to 529, along with three exotic treasures.
• Chen Fan built a small shelter over the flower buds, went to sleep, and anticipated that the Chen Family in Northbank City would react to Jiangbei Chen Family Station No. 37 surviving.

The North River Chen Family learned that Station 37, where Chen Fan had been exiled, was one of only two Wasteland Stations to survive the early rainy season. The Family Head called an emergency meeting and asked Chen Quan, the heir who had sent Chen Fan there, to explain his thoughts.

• Attendant Liu used five Level-2 Eerie Stones to build a phantom Arrow Tower, impressing his servant with his growing skill as a Builder.
• Chen Quan arrived at the emergency meeting and noticed that Attendant Liu had not been invited.
• The Family Head revealed that Chen Fan had been sent to Station 37 with his servant Crippled Monkey and only three eerie stones.
• Chen Quan began to defend the decision as following the Family's rules, but the Family Head interrupted him.
• The Family Head reported that Station 37 and Station 16 were the only Wasteland Stations to survive the first three days of the rainy season, then asked Chen Quan to give his thoughts.

The Chen Family Head and the elders discussed Chen Fan's survival at Station 37 and considered whether he had found a Builder Inheritance left by his late mother. Attendant Liu interrupted before they could reveal their suspicions, while Chen Quan secretly took comfort in the early rainy season.

• The First Grand Elder and the other elders attributed Chen Fan's survival to luck, and Chen Quan suggested rescuing his older brother.
• The Chen Family Head recalled that his late wife had once hidden at Station 37 and asked Chen Quan whether he had sent Chen Fan there.
• The elders argued that Chen Fan could not have become a Builder through an inheritance, while the Chen Family Head privately suspected an unknown treasure might have changed the rules.
• Attendant Liu entered the Council Hall, and the Chen Family Head concealed the discussion as the elders hid the Ghosthide Map.
• After the meeting ended, Chen Quan remained behind, trembling before deciding that the early rainy season was in his favor.

Zhou Mo found Old Chen and his subordinate dead by suicide at Station 16, then took their belongings. Back at his own camp, Chen Fan discovered that a Sealed Copper Pipe blueprint let him add a copper pipe module to structures, and he began testing the discovery.

• Zhou Mo and his subordinate reached Station 16 and found that it had no defensive structures.
• Zhou Mo entered Old Chen's hut and found Old Chen and his subordinate hanging from the rafters.
• Zhou Mo ordered his subordinate to collect crops and took the dead men’s valuables, clothes, and hemp rope.
• Chen Fan checked the rapidly growing crops and examined the exotic treasures he had collected.
• Chen Fan used the Sealed Copper Pipe blueprint to unlock building modules and attached a copper pipe to the Eerie Fire.
• Chen Fan spent twenty eerie stones to build a twenty-meter copper pipe and prepared to test it on the camp’s structures.

Chen Fan discovered that copper pipes connected to the Eerie Fire extended his Camp’s safety zone, then used the new Building Module to link and customize buildings. Zhou Mo returned with grim news: every person at Qiuhe Wang Family Station No. 16 had died by suicide, leaving Chen Fan’s Station as the only one in the Wasteland.

• Chen Fan extended a copper pipe beyond the Camp and discovered that the Eerie Fire carried the safety zone along it.
• Chen Fan tested different pipe widths and configurations, confirming that pipes of different sizes joined seamlessly and that he could customize the Building Module freely.
• Chen Fan connected the Arrow Towers to the Eerie Fire so they could draw on its eerie stones, then built a rain-fed boiler and a pipe-based heating system for his house.
• Chen Fan planned to use Ground Spikes Traps as pistons for a future circulating heating system and admired how the copper pipes linked his Camp’s buildings.
• Zhou Mo and his subordinate returned, and after Crippled Monkey verified they were not Impostors, Zhou Mo told Chen Fan that everyone at Qiuhe Wang Family Station No. 16 had hanged themselves, leaving their Station as the only one in the Wasteland.

Chen Fan repaired Camp’s damaged City Wall, expanded its defenses with ten upgraded Arrow Towers, and built a Sacrificial Tower. As eternal night fell, he watched the Gray Fog and revealed a new bulge in Camp’s safety zone.

• Zhou Mo returned with forty-eight Eerie Stones and other supplies, and Chen Fan sent him to rest.
• Chen Fan used one Eerie Stone to repair the damaged section of the City Wall.
• Chen Fan spent Eerie Stones to build and upgrade ten Arrow Towers, connect them to the Eerie Fire, and reserve fuel for them.
• Chen Fan built a Sacrificial Tower that could turn Strange Entity corpses into Special Resources.
• Eternal night descended, and Crippled Monkey noticed a bulge in Camp’s safety zone as Chen Fan ordered everyone to stay alert.

Chen Fan assigned Qi Chong and A Le to manage the Camp’s newly fruitful Farmland and future livestock after Qi Chong lost a Ghosthide Map on an expedition. A Le helped Qi Chong embrace the work, and the two looked forward to rising in rank as the Camp grew.

• After a peaceful night watch, Chen Fan noticed the first crops had ripened and assigned Qi Chong to harvest them while Zhou Mo led a safer trip to nearby ruined Stations for resources.
• Chen Fan reassured Qi Chong, who had lost a Ghosthide Map and returned empty-handed, and put him in charge of the Farmland.
• Chen Fan appointed A Le, a former pig farmer, to manage animal husbandry once the Camp acquired livestock, and asked him to help Qi Chong for now.
• While harvesting, Qi Chong told A Le he felt disappointed to be farming again, but A Le argued that working for Chen Fan could lead to greater success than their old jobs.
• Qi Chong regained his enthusiasm for farming, and he and A Le joked that their work would bring glory to their family.

Chen Fan inspected two exotic treasures, harvested the Camp’s crops, and upgraded the Farmland to Level 2. He arranged for Qi Chong and A Le to tend the communication seeds, then went to address the heating system’s remaining problem.

• Chen Fan identified a Great Knife exotic treasure and a Flesh Wraith Parent-Child Seed, planning to give the knife to Zhou Mo and plant the seeds for long-distance communication.
• Qi Chong reported that the Camp had harvested ten Monkey Head Mushrooms and eighty eerie stones, and Chen Fan distributed the mushrooms among the residents.
• Chen Fan asked Qi Chong and A Le to take turns watering the seeds with wraith blood and using strange entity corpses as fertilizer.
• Chen Fan spent ten eerie stones to upgrade the Farmland to Level 2, making its soil black and more fertile.
• Chen Fan headed to an empty patch of ground after noting that the hot water in the Copper Pipes needed to be replaced manually when it cooled.

Chen Fan built a piston-powered 2.0 Heating System that used Ground Spikes to move rainwater through the Camp’s boiler and pipes. After explaining the invention and giving Zhou Mo a Great Knife exotic treasure, Chen Fan left the others to prepare for nightfall.

• Chen Fan modified Ground Spikes into a piston structure and connected it to the Camp’s boiler and copper pipes to create a continuous heating system.
• Crippled Monkey and the others marveled at Chen Fan’s invention, while Wang Mazi realized Chen Fan’s abilities went beyond his inherited Builder skills.
• Chen Fan explained that the system could recycle wastewater after the rainy season by adding a buffer device and connecting the drainage pipe to the piston.
• Zhou Mo returned with a good haul, and Chen Fan gave him the Great Knife exotic treasure before heading inside to rest.
• Crippled Monkey told Zhou Mo that the piston was part of Chen Fan’s secret new field, mechanics, but Zhou Mo admitted he understood none of the explanation.

Chen Fan sought a way to reach distant abandoned Stations and recover their eerie stones, then devised a vehicle powered by upgraded Beast Trap Ground Spikes. The Camp began gathering materials for his prototype before Eternal Night, while the vehicle’s success remained uncertain.

• Zhou Mo reported that the Camp had recovered 218 eerie stones from two destroyed Stations, but the remaining abandoned Stations were too far away to reach on foot in a day.
• Zhou Mo told Chen Fan that he had approached a strange egg on the Wasteland, so Chen Fan sent him out into the rain to wash away any scent that might attract Strange Entities.
• Chen Fan assessed the Camp’s resources and decided he needed to recover the eerie stones in distant ruins to fund the City Wall upgrades.
• Chen Fan upgraded a Beast Trap and experimented with Copper Pipes, devising a crude engine that used Ground Spikes to drive a piston.
• Chen Fan ordered the Camp to prepare materials for a vehicle, and Wang Mazi, Qi Chong, Zhou Mo, and Crippled Monkey began dismantling wood and processing Entity remains for its parts.

Chen Fan’s Camp tested a crude, hand-powered cart that could travel nearly as fast as a horse. That night, the Female Wraith led a much larger attack and used Meatworm Wraiths as bombs against the Camp’s walls.

• Chen Fan and the Camp’s residents built a Plank Cart powered by a Ground-Spike Engine, and Zhou Mo tested it by driving beyond the Camp and back.
• Chen Fan told Zhou Mo to let Qi Chong and his partner test the Cart before he used it to visit nearby Stations.
• After night fell, Chen Fan saw the Female Wraith arrive with over three hundred strange entities and nearly a hundred captured Meatworm Wraiths.
• The Female Wraith launched a full assault, and Bamboo Pole Entities hurled Meatworm Wraiths at the City Wall while the Arrow Towers shot many of them down.
• Chen Fan realized the attackers were using the Meatworm Wraiths as hand grenades, corroding the City Wall with their ghostly green liquid.

Chen Fan and the others survived a fierce assault by strange entities, but the Female Wraith used her sedan chair to enter the Camp and reveal herself. She stood naked before the defenders atop the City Wall as the chapter ended.

• Bamboo Pole Entities hurled Meatworm Wraiths at the City Wall and sent Mantis Entities over it while hordes of creatures charged the Camp.
• The Level-3 Arrow Towers killed the High-Grade Bamboo Pole Entity and cleared the attackers inside and outside the wall.
• Crippled Monkey blocked a Mantis Entity's ambush, and an Arrow Tower bolt killed it; the battle ended with the defenders unharmed.
• Chen Fan watched the Female Wraith retreat, but she sent her sedan chair and its Bamboo Pole Entity carriers charging into the Camp.
• The sedan chair exploded, killing the carriers, and the Female Wraith appeared before Chen Fan and the others atop the City Wall.