Eternal Night Falls, Ghost Creatures Rampage!

"Be that as it may, we still shouldn't leave an opening for gossip." The youth shook his head slowly and said softly, "The rainy night has arrived ahead of schedule, so there's a strong likelihood that ghost tides will rampage. From here on, our primary focus is simply how to survive this rainy season. You and I..." Before he could finish speaking, a servant hurried over from the distance and whispered into his ear. "Young Master, the three great families of Jiangbei City are gathering to discuss how to deal with the rainy season. The master wants you to join the council." "Understood." The youth's expression remained calm and unruffled, yet as he rose to his feet, the corners of his mouth could not help curving slightly upward. He was clearly being groomed as the heir. Sooner or later, he would sit in the seat of the Chen family Patriarch. As for Chen Fan... By now, he was likely waiting for death in despair out in the wasteland. An irrelevant nobody, no longer worth paying any mind. *** When the Eternal Night descended, ghost creatures ran rampant. Only near places with ghost fire could safety be preserved. However— Certain areas naturally formed "natural ghost fire zones." There, safety could be maintained every day without needing to feed ghost stones into the flames. These zones varied in size, and over time, they had grown into human settlements. Jiangbei City was situated within a natural ghost fire zone that occupied a substantial area. For precisely that reason, relying on its natural geographical advantage, it had been able to rebuild and develop rapidly even after being nearly wiped out thirty-seven years ago. Otherwise, for such a massive city, merely maintaining the ghost fire each day would consume an astronomical amount of ghost stones—an expense no faction could afford. No one knew how natural ghost fire zones were formed, nor did anyone know if they might suddenly fail one day. Yet so far, no one had ever heard of a natural ghost fire zone abruptly losing its power. *** The wasteland. Jiangbei Chen family Outpost No. 37. Chen Fan stood in the torrential rain, looking at the group standing outside the camp's safe zone. There were seven people in total, all brought over by Wang Kui from neighboring outposts. At that moment, Quehou was conducting body searches on each of them one by one, confiscating voice transmission talismans and other means of external communication, while placing a ghost stone in each person's palm to prevent pseudo-humans from slipping in among them. Just then— "Stationmaster Chen." A middle-aged man in hemp clothes holding a long saber spoke, his voice trembling slightly as he looked at Chen Fan standing in the pouring rain. "Stationmaster Wang gave me the general rundown. From now on, our lives are in your hands. If we truly make it through this rainy season alive, my life belongs to you, Stationmaster Chen!" "If you tell me to go east, I'll never go west!" He had originally been a stationmaster of the Qiuhe Wang family. The moment he learned that the rainy season had arrived early and that his clan could not send a team to retrieve him, overwhelming despair had flooded his mind. A stationmaster was an occupation where one lived on the edge of a blade. He knew all too well what this meant. Just as he was preparing to cut his own throat, he heard Wang Kui shouting his name outside. Half-doubting, he had followed along. Even if it turned out to be a lie, he would accept it; after all, this was the only straw he had found to grasp. Only upon arriving at this camp and seeing the two arrow towers standing in the rain did a glimmer of hope finally kindle in his heart. Perhaps... perhaps they truly could survive, even if that hope was exceedingly slim. "..." Chen Fan walked calmly over to the middle-aged man with the long saber. Along the man's neck, two shallow gashes were still faintly visible, the seeping blood already diluted by the downpour. These were hesitation wounds. Very few people could bring a blade to their own throat with clean, decisive resolve; anyone genuinely capable of that possessed first-rate psychological fortitude. When one hesitated and could not quite bring oneself to finish the job, such hesitation wounds were left behind. "It seems if Wang Kui had arrived even a step later, you wouldn't be standing here." "Stationmaster Chen," the middle-aged man rasped, his face full of bitterness and a slight tremor in his voice. "You work in this line of business too, so you know as well as I do that even if you walk out into the dark after night falls, you won't die instantly. But that feeling of waiting for death in despair in the dark—almost nobody can endure it." "If I truly have to die, I'd rather die by my own blade than wait to die in despair." "Everyone!" Chen Fan turned toward the others, choosing not to dwell on the middle-aged man's words. His gaze swept over each face as he said in a raspy voice, "You all belong to the three great factions, so you've likely heard my name to varying degrees." "I am Chen Fan." "I am the heir to the Jiangbei Chen family. My birth mother was a Level 4 architect. Over these past years, internal clan strife left me constantly targeted from all sides, until I was sent here to this abandoned outpost to be a stationmaster." "At this point, I'll be blunt. Before she died, my birth mother left me an architect inheritance. I deliberately kept away from the clan's informants to secretly build up my strength here." "These two Level 2 arrow towers are my handiwork." "From here on—" "As long as you follow my commands, what I, Chen Fan, can promise is to do everything in my power to keep every single one of you alive through the rainy season." "Once the rainy season ends, whether you stay or leave, I will not stop you." The six men exchanged glances, then retrieved bundles from their cloaks one after another, set them on the ground, and said in raspy, firm voices, "We are entirely at your command, Stationmaster!" "Good!" Chen Fan glanced at the ghost-skin map, turned to Wang Kui beside him, and issued another order: "Time is running out. We can't reach any outposts further away. Two nearby outposts were destroyed last night." "You and Xiao Qiu pick two more men and split up to head to those two abandoned outposts. Bring back everything useful you can find. There might still be some ghost stone reserves left inside." "Understood." *** After Wang Kui left, four men remained where they stood. All of them were grown men—there were no women stationed at outposts—and all four hailed from other outposts. Among the group, not a single one was a traveler; as it happened, no travelers had passed through or stayed at the outpost over the past two days. This was largely because the outposts in this area were quite remote, so very few people ever passed by. "..." Chen Fan turned to look at the wooden cabin behind him. He found that the identity of the Chen family's illegitimate son and the name of his never-before-seen birth mother were quite useful. In this world, with those two things backing him up, gaining an initial foundation of trust was substantially easier. The outpost business on the wasteland was a monopoly. Almost all outposts were established by the three great families, with none set up by rogue cultivators; only a rare few were laid down by factions from Pingcheng. "Stationmaster." A pockmarked man behind him hurried over through the heavy rain and asked, "Is there anything we can do?" He was the stationmaster of Jiangbei Chen family Outpost No. 36, who had also been abandoned on the wasteland when the rainy season arrived ahead of schedule. During a break back at the clan, he had once caught a glimpse of Chen Fan from a distance. At that time, Chen Fan had walked with his head lowered the entire way, appearing exceptionally timid and self-abased, completely unlike his current bearing. Back then, the man had even sighed over how the legitimate eldest son of the first wife could have fallen so low as to be worse off than a servant. Looking back now, it was clear that it had all been a disguise—a façade to preserve himself and wait for the right moment to rise. He had known it all along: people from these great clans had more schemes and cunning than anyone else. Not a single one of them was ever truly simple. However... In this rainy season where they were practically waiting to die, a young master with an architect inheritance, who had endured in hiding waiting for his ascent, had become his only hope of survival. He swore it! In all the world, no one right now wished for Chen Fan's rise to succeed more than he did! "..." Chen Fan stood in the downpour, turned his head slightly toward the pockmarked middle-aged man beside him, and said softly and calmly, "I know who you are. The stationmaster of Jiangbei Chen family Outpost No. 36, nicknamed Wang Mazi." "Take the other three men and dismantle this wooden cabin as fast as you can before night falls." A trace of disbelief flashed in Wang Mazi's eyes, but he quickly nodded and called out to the men behind him to begin work. He didn't even ask why they were tearing down the only wooden cabin that could keep out the wind and rain. He swore it! He had never had any dealings with Chen Fan; he had only heard stories about him in clan gossip and caught that one distant glimpse when he returned to the clan last time, during which Chen Fan hadn't even looked up. Yet Chen Fan knew his name, and even knew which outpost he was stationed at. This was proof enough that during his period of patient forbearance, while Chen Fan appeared resigned to his fate and waiting for death without contention, he had secretly done an immense amount of groundwork. He had thoroughly investigated even an utterly inconspicuous stationmaster like him. Such profound calculation and scheming... filled him with awe and dread! Yet at the same time, that faint, feeble sliver of hope in his chest grew a little stronger. Perhaps... Following Chen Fan, they truly could survive the rainy season.