Chapter Summaries

Chen Fan and the convoy reached a Village inside the Mountain, where the strange terrain prompted them to wonder whether the Mountain and the Wasteland’s Rifts had been made by a powerful blow. They learned Zhou Mo had accidentally smashed Big Fish’s father’s grave, then built a simple camp in the Village as Eternal Night fell.

• The convoy crossed a rain-soaked Canyon and reached a Village surrounded by steep cliffs as Eternal Night approached.
• Zhou Mo struck a mound with a Hammer, and the group noticed that its shape resembled the Canyon and the crater-like Village terrain.
• The group speculated that a powerful cultivator had struck the Mountain and created the Wasteland’s Rifts, but Chen Fan urged them not to jump to conclusions.
• Big Fish revealed that the mound was his father’s grave and that he had made graves there for the group’s dead; Zhou Mo apologized and repaired the crater.
• Chen Fan led the group into the Village, where they built a simple Blockhouse under the protection of the Natural Eerie Fire Zone as darkness fell.

Chen Fan and his companions survived a night at the New Camp while a huge Strange Entity watched from outside, and they found dozens of Strange Entity corpses beneath the cliffs at dawn. On the way back to the Old Camp to finish connecting the Camps, Chen Fan told Crippled Monkey he wanted to build a faction based on ability and loyalty, not bloodline, and urged him to become a powerful Cultivator.

• Chen Fan guarded the New Camp with a Ghostlight Lantern while a huge Strange Entity watched from outside but never attacked.
• At dawn, Crippled Monkey showed Chen Fan seventy or eighty Strange Entity corpses at the foot of the cliffs, and Big Fish explained that such falls happened during the rainy season.
• Chen Fan ordered Crippled Monkey to return with him to the Old Camp and told the others to clear the corpses and flatten the village houses.
• On the Three-Wheeler, Crippled Monkey asked whether Chen Fan would establish a Family, and Chen Fan said he wanted a faction open to capable, loyal people regardless of bloodline.
• Chen Fan told Crippled Monkey he trusted him completely and wanted him to train with Zhou Mo and become a powerful Cultivator, encouraging Crippled Monkey to believe in himself.

Chen Fan connected the Copper Pipe route through the Canyon and began excavating a mountain cave for his Rear Base with a Level-5 Cannon Tower. He built a City Wall at the cave entrance and set ten more Cannon Towers to continue blasting into the mountain.

• Chen Fan checked the Old Camp, where Monkey-Head Entities had attacked, and decided to leave the corpses for Zhou Mo and the others to collect later.
• Chen Fan laid Copper Pipe from the end of the previous route through the Canyon and into the Village.
• Chen Fan upgraded the Blockhouse's Level-3 Arrow Tower to a Level-5 Cannon Tower and used it to blast a shallow cave into the mountain.
• Chen Fan built a City Wall at the cave entrance, which conformed to the mountain despite the uneven opening.
• Chen Fan placed ten Level-5 Cannon Towers on the City Wall and ordered them to resume blasting into the cave.

Chen Fan expanded the Rear Base and prepared for the enormous creature that had watched him through the night. He spotted it in the Deep Pit, but it fled into the Canyon Passage when the area lit up.

• Chen Fan and the others spent the day clearing rubble, and he installed the Clearwind Formation and Mountain-Skeleton Embryo to secure and improve the Cave.
• Chen Fan found that the Vehicle Workshop would not fit inside the Cave, then let the exhausted workers sleep while he kept watch.
• Chen Fan laid Copper Pipes across the Deep Pit and built five Watchtowers to reveal any threat approaching the Rear Base.
• At Eternal Night, Chen Fan heard Strange Entities fall from the cliff, then activated the Copper Pipes when he heard something massive moving.
• Chen Fan saw a huge crocodile-like monster pick up a Strange Entity's corpse; startled by the sudden light, it dropped the corpse and fled into the Canyon Passage.

Chen Fan settled into the Cave, investigated the crocodile-like Mountain God, and learned that the transplanted Flesh Wraith Parent-Child Seeds had ripened early. As night fell, Zhou Mo began marking the Eternal Night Calendar and asked how many nights had passed since the rainy season ended.

• Big Fish told Chen Fan that villagers called the fast, crocodile-like creature the Mountain God and said it appeared on the Mountain during the morning.
• Big Fish revealed that his Night Watcher ability, Clairaudience, let him hear sounds from ten thousand meters away, though he could not control it.
• Chen Fan ordered the Level-5 Cannon Tower to destroy the temporary hut and extend the Cave, then dug an Eerie Stone from the crocodile's abandoned prey.
• Qi Chong told Chen Fan that the Flesh Wraith Parent-Child Seeds had ripened early, producing 12 pairs of fruit that could enable telepathic communication.
• Zhou Mo found the Eternal Night Calendar and began carving on it, asking Wang Kui how many nights had passed since the rainy season ended.

Chen Fan kept watch through the ninth night of the Rainy Season and let a timid crocodile eat the strange entities it had brought to the Canyon Hollow. After surviving the night, the group began the final day of clearing new ground for the Rear Base.

• Zhou Mo recounted the group's eight nights of survival while Chen Fan built a temporary Wooden Hut and prepared to keep watch.
• Chen Fan watched the rainy night from the City Wall, considering the Cave's progress and where to excavate a separate Cave for the vehicle factory.
• A crocodile returned with a strange entity's corpse, roared at Chen Fan, then ate more than thirty corpses when he made no move to attack.
• The crocodile left, and Chen Fan concluded it was powerful, timid, and able to hold an unusually large amount in its stomach.
• The group survived the ninth night, and the Cannon Tower began the final day of clearing new ground for the Rear Base.

Chen Fan and the others finished excavating a secure Cave to serve as their Rear Base, then began outfitting it with an Eerie Fire and essential buildings. The Camp’s safe zone expanded to cover the entire Canyon Hollow, and the Cave started to feel like home.

• Crippled Monkey and the others finished excavating the Cave, while the Mountain-Skeleton Embryo helped stabilize it and clear rubble.
• Chen Fan counted the Camp’s resources and found it had 16,492 eerie stones remaining after the Cannon Towers’ excavation work.
• Chen Fan built and upgraded an Eerie Fire inside a sealed recess, raising it to level 5 and expanding the safe zone to cover the Canyon Hollow.
• Chen Fan built resting houses and a monitored warehouse, then added Level-2 Farmland, a Sacrificial Tower, and a Level-1 Altar to the Cave.
• The Cave gradually filled with buildings and amenities, becoming a more comfortable home for the Camp.

Chen Fan upgraded the City Wall at the Cave entrance to Level 3, gaining a counterattack effect and choosing blood-absorbing Vein Patterns for every section. He left the wall stronger and safer, while Wang Kui began his new job as Warehouse keeper.

• Chen Fan appointed Wang Kui Warehouse keeper and told him to move the supplies and prepare a hot meal for the Camp.
• Chen Fan spent 1,050 Eerie Stones to upgrade the twenty-one-meter City Wall to Level 2 and chose the Thorn Counterarmor transformation, which reflected some enemy attack force.
• Chen Fan spent another 10,500 Eerie Stones to upgrade every section of the City Wall to Level 3, using up the Eerie Stones Wang Kui had been moving.
• Chen Fan found no further qualitative transformations and chose Wraith Blood Vein Patterns for all twenty-one sections of the City Wall.

Chen Fan held a housewarming feast in the newly built Camp before a giant crocodile arrived to devour the Strange Entities that had fallen into the Canyon Hollow. He tried feeding it an Eerie Stone, and the crocodile approached the City Wall, staring at him with confusion and anger.

• Chen Fan and the others celebrated the completion of the Camp with a hot meal on the City Wall.
• Corpses of Strange Entities tumbled into the Canyon Hollow, and Zhou Mo suspected the crocodile had brought them.
• The crocodile cautiously entered the Camp and swallowed most of the corpses while watching Chen Fan.
• Chen Fan threw an Eerie Stone toward the crocodile, explaining that it likely hunted Strange Entities for the stones inside them.
• After fleeing briefly, the crocodile returned, ate the remaining corpses, and crept toward the Eerie Stone near the City Wall.
• The crocodile sniffed the stone and stared at Chen Fan from close range, its expression confused and angry.

Chen Fan discovered that the enormous crocodile rejected eerie stones but eagerly ate cooked meat, so he fed it every strange entity corpse at the Camp. After it left, hundreds of strange entities fell from the cliff, and the crocodile returned beneath the City Wall, waiting for another meal.

• Chen Fan threw a Level-2 Eerie Stone at the crocodile, which cried and began to leave until he called it back and offered it a chicken drumstick.
• Chen Fan ordered Qi Chong to roast the Camp’s collected strange entity corpses, and the crocodile ate them all before heading into the darkness.
• Wang Kui, Zhou Mo, Wang Mazi, and Crippled Monkey speculated about the crocodile’s nature and why it had reacted badly to eerie stones.
• Chen Fan told everyone to rest because the City Wall had reached level 3, but hundreds of strange entities then fell from the cliff.
• The crocodile returned to its spot beneath the City Wall, opened its mouth, and eagerly waited for Chen Fan to feed it again.

Chen Fan spent the night feeding a crocodile 127 Strange Entity corpses and counted the Camp’s new resources and Exotic Treasures afterward. The crocodile returned with a stone gift, then tried to lead Chen Fan to its lair so he could choose a toy.

• Chen Fan opened the City Wall gate so Crippled Monkey and the others could bring Strange Entity corpses to roast for the waiting crocodile.
• The crocodile ate 127 corpses overnight, then left as Zhou Mo reported how much it had consumed.
• Chen Fan counted the Camp’s Eerie Stone and discovered a Skywake Cannon and a Sunflower Seed among the Exotic Treasures.
• Chen Fan planned to fortify the Canyon Passage and went to rest, but the crocodile returned with an emerald Cape Stone.
• The crocodile offered the Cape Stone to Chen Fan, then dug a hole in the cliff and beckoned him toward its lair to choose a toy.

Chen Fan had the Crocodile excavate a second cave and installed a Vehicle Workshop there, then used it to produce a Skeleton Horse. He admired the horse’s ferocious appearance and wanted to ride it across the Wasteland.

• Chen Fan asked the Crocodile to dig a large cave into the Left Wing cliff, and it worked through the night.
• Chen Fan emerged the next afternoon and found the new cave finished; he praised the exhausted Crocodile and named the cave Cave No. 2.
• Chen Fan built a Yellow Grade Vehicle Workshop in Cave No. 2, spending 1,000 Eerie Stones.
• Chen Fan inspected the workshop’s vehicle options and spent 100 Eerie Stones and several strange entity bones to craft a Skeleton Horse.
• The workshop delivered a metallic, Eerie-Fire-lit Skeleton Horse, and Chen Fan eagerly admired it.

Chen Fan rode his new Skeleton Horse to the Seaside, then began laying Copper Pipe and planning defenses for the Canyon Passage. He built five fortified Unmanned Outposts across the Wasteland, expecting them to generate resources once eternal night fell.

• Chen Fan rode the Skeleton Horse through the Canyon Passage to the Seaside, then returned to Camp and inspected the horse's eerie-stone power supply.
• Chen Fan crafted a second Skeleton Horse and told Zhou Mo to learn to ride it and collect resources from fallen outposts.
• Chen Fan planned a Canyon Passage defense called the Meat Grinder, with Cannon Towers, hidden City Walls, and Eerie Fire, and considered using Crocodile to dig tunnels.
• Chen Fan activated the Copper Pipe in the Canyon Passage and discovered that the Camp's Clearwind Formation made his Skeleton Horse faster.
• Chen Fan laid Copper Pipe across the Wasteland and built five fortified Unmanned Outposts, spending 800 eerie stones.

Chen Fan returned to the Camp, tested the crocodile’s ability to dig a passage to a marked spot high on the Canyon wall, and began expanding the Camp’s defenses. He outlined a plan to use elevated Cannon Towers and inactive Eerie Fires to create a powerful defense called the Meat Grinder.

• Chen Fan returned to the Camp, where Zhou Mo reported finding around three hundred Strange Entity corpses at the Old Camp and handed them over for processing.
• Chen Fan ordered the crocodile to dig a passage from Cave No. 1 to a shallow crater high on the rock face, and it reached the marked opening with surprising accuracy.
• Chen Fan explained that the Canyon’s cliff faces could hold enough Cannon Towers to overcome the limited firepower that had contributed to the Old Camp’s destruction.
• Chen Fan built a Level-5 Cannon Tower and a concealed Level-2 City Wall at the high opening, then connected the tower to the Level-5 Eerie Fire with Copper Pipe.
• Chen Fan told Zhou Mo that additional Eerie Fires could extend the Camp’s boundary upward and named his planned defensive layout the Meat Grinder.

Chen Fan accompanied the Crocodile to its mountain lair after it ran out of liquid for digging. While the Crocodile showed him its stocked underground home and collection of toys, Chen Fan spotted several glowing exotic treasures among them.

• Chen Fan had the Crocodile spray green liquid into the pits he had prepared, but it ran out and asked to return home to replenish its supply.
• Chen Fan rode on the Crocodile's back up the mountain and looked down at Zhou Mo and the others in the Sinkhole.
• The Crocodile led Chen Fan through its underground lair, showing him several storerooms filled with preserved Anomaly corpses.
• The Crocodile showed Chen Fan its bed and its pile of collected toys, and Chen Fan froze when he noticed several glowing exotic treasures among them.

Chen Fan traded roasted corpses for Crocodile’s exotic treasures and discovered that its cesspit contained thousands of eerie stones. After the camp’s workers collected the first batch, Crocodile uncovered another buried pit, leaving everyone eager to mine more.

• Chen Fan accepted five exotic treasures from Crocodile, promising it five hundred roasted corpses in return.
• Chen Fan persuaded Crocodile to let him take the eerie stones from its cesspit, and Crocodile agreed to transport other dirt but refused to carry feces in its stomach.
• Chen Fan returned to camp and led Zhou Mo and the others to collect the eerie stones, while Crocodile watched from the rain.
• Chen Fan’s group filled five chests with 4,492 eerie stones from the first cesspit.
• Crocodile uncovered a second, long-buried cesspit, and Zhou Mo and the others rushed over to collect more stones.

After returning from the second dung pit, Chen Fan upgraded one of his Stone Houses into a Life Workshop and discovered it could craft everyday items, including permission-granting Tokens. He crafted a Token and learned it could let its bound holder use permissions he assigned on buildings under his name.

• Chen Fan and the others finished excavating the second dung pit and returned to the Camp with their haul of eerie stones.
• Qi Chong stayed behind to praise the Sunflower Seed in the Level-2 Farmland, determined to grow it properly.
• Chen Fan counted 12,975 eerie stones and upgraded his Wooden Hut to Level 4, choosing the Life Workshop path.
• Chen Fan inspected the Life Workshop's crafting options and followed its procedure to make a Token from strange entity bones and his blood.
• Chen Fan learned the Token could grant its bound holder permissions he assigned for buildings under his name.

Chen Fan upgraded the Altar and expanded the camp’s defenses before settling in for the night. Little Qiu presented him with a bone Rocking Chair he had made and was put in charge of the Life Workshop.

• Chen Fan gave Crippled Monkey a Token that let him pass through the Level-3 City Wall of Cave No. 1 and ordered the Life Workshop’s belongings moved into a new Wooden Hut.
• Chen Fan upgraded the Altar to Level 2, choosing to keep Holy Water potent outside the Altar for one month, then upgraded it to Level 3 and enhanced its healing effect.
• Chen Fan built a Level-2 City Wall at the entrance to Cave No. 2 and chose to have it blend into the surrounding scenery.
• As night fell, the camp’s residents tended their tasks while Crippled Monkey cleaned meat from the Crocodile’s teeth and the Crocodile waited to be fed.
• Little Qiu gave Chen Fan a bone Rocking Chair he had crafted using skills learned from his blacksmith father, and Chen Fan made him responsible for the Life Workshop.

Chen Fan slept peacefully in his Camp while Zhou Mo saw him as the wall protecting them from the darkness. Elsewhere, Northbank City's leader accepted that the city might fall, and a would-be Wraith King dispatched forces to Jiangbei after Thousand Throats died, then hesitated over a dangerous search for a Mountain-Skeleton Embryo.

• Chen Fan drifted to sleep in his Rocking Chair, and Zhou Mo watched over him in awe.
• The Wild Wolf Gang Leader refused to blame the North River Chen Family and ordered the gang to keep defending Northbank City while sparing his brothers' lives if another disaster came.
• A Cloaked man discovered that Thousand Throats' life stone had shattered, threatening his plan to become a Wraith King during the Rain season.
• The Cloaked man ordered Millennium to investigate Thousand Throats' death and ordered Thousand Lakes to search Nameless Mountain for a Mountain-Skeleton Embryo.
• Thousand Lakes warned that Nameless Mountain was forbidden because That One had once demonstrated overwhelming power there, leaving the Cloaked man uncertain.

Chen Fan fortified the Sinkhole with Cannon Towers before heading out to establish more Unmanned Outposts. In Jiangnan, the Jiangbei Old Devil refused a woman’s marriage offer because he planned to attend an old enemy’s birthday celebration and kill his Family.

• The Jiangbei Old Devil decided the One would not return and ordered his subordinates to cross the Dead Sea, find the Mountain-Skeleton Embryo, and land on Nameless Mountain.
• Chen Fan installed Level-5 Cannon Towers at Crocodile’s seventeen openings in the cliffs, creating an eighteen-tower defense network around the Sinkhole.
• Chen Fan noted that the Camp had only 2,135 Eerie Stones left, then rode out to establish Unmanned Outposts while Zhou Mo and Big Fish collected supplies.
• In Jiangnan, a woman offered the Jiangbei Old Devil marriage and control of her fortified City, but he refused.
• The Jiangbei Old Devil said he would go to Jiangbei for an old enemy’s birthday celebration in a little over two months and kill the enemy’s Family.