Feeding

The Ghost Blood Patterns on the wall looked like a mischievous child's casual doodles. A faint regularity could be discerned, but at a glance, they seemed utterly chaotic. Dark red in color, they appeared as though carved by a craftsman using a beveled blade dipped in red clay. ... The cave was gradually taking shape, and tonight they could finally get a peaceful night's sleep. "Food's up!" Zhou Mo strode up toward the wall with a wide grin, carrying a platter. Quehou and several others climbed the wall as well, each bearing various dishes. The meal was hardly lavish. Qi Chong had fried up a few hot dishes and warmed some flatbreads, but compared to the dry rations they had gnawed on over the past few days, it was already a vast improvement. Eternal Night descended, dense darkness blanketing the entire wilderness. Inside the cave, the level-5 ghost fire cast light across the canyon basin, carving out an oasis of peace amidst a chaotic world. "..." Sitting atop the wall, Chen Fan gazed out at the light beyond. He picked up a bite of hot food with his chopsticks, popped it into his mouth, and took a bite of the warm, soft flatbread in his hand. Listening to Zhou Mo and the others clinking cups and chatting behind him, he offered a quiet smile without speaking. No matter how remarkable someone was, most of life consisted of dull, mundane moments; only a handful of highlights defined a person's life. And right now was one of those highlights for him. The Earth Dragon Migration had basically succeeded. In his new camp, he was eating his first hot meal, hosting a housewarming banquet attended by no outside guests. Zhou Mo and the others were drinking. Chen Fan didn't care for alcohol, but he enjoyed watching others drink. He thoroughly savored this moment. He felt that this housewarming meal served as a reward for all his hard work over the past few days. On a rainy season wilderness where no one else had survived, he had built a haven capable of sheltering everyone from scratch. That was quite impressive, wasn't it? At least, he thought so. Night fell. Yet tonight, with the canyon basin fully illuminated by the ghost fire, their field of vision was much broader. Fear lessened; a sense of peace deepened. Just then— *Thud!* A dark shape plummeted heavily from the cliff, crashing into the canyon basin. The harmonious, festive clinking of cups shattered instantly as everyone reflexively turned toward the sound. And that sound seemed to flip a switch. More dark shapes rained down like dumplings into boiling water, pattering relentlessly from the cliff into the basin. Tonight, with ghost fire illuminating the entire canyon floor, they could see what was happening much more clearly: corpse after corpse of ghost creatures slammed into the ground from the darkness. A full twenty or thirty of them. Motionless. As dead as could be. "That crocodile is back?" Zhou Mo muttered. "Darkness has barely fallen, and it's already itching for dinner?" They had learned from the stationmaster that over the past few nights, an enormous crocodile had been coming down into the canyon basin to forage. "..." Chen Fan watched calmly, his expression untroubled. Over the past few days, he had grown accustomed to sharing the space with this crocodile. What was more, he now had a level-3 wall; he truly doubted the beast could even make a dent in it. He glanced toward the stacks of copper pipes arranged in the natural ghost fire zone. For the past two days, they had been excavating the cave and had not ventured out on field assignments. The pipes hadn't been laid according to the initial schedule, but daily quotas couldn't be wasted. He had crafted every single one and piled them in the natural ghost fire zone outside the cave, planning to lay them once the excavation was finished. Going by past patterns, the crocodile would appear in about the time it took to burn an incense stick. Sure enough. An incense stick later, there was movement at the boundary where the camp met the darkness. A massive reptilian foreclaw cautiously probed out from the dark, gently patting forward and back against the ground illuminated by ghost fire, as if bewildered why a spot shrouded in pitch-black last night was so bright tonight. After testing the ground for a while, its body finally crawled into the camp area. Eyes the size of lanterns stared straight at Chen Fan standing upon the wall. Man and crocodile were locked in a standoff once more. After dozens of breaths, the crocodile finally began to move, crawling forward cautiously on all fours toward the ghost creature corpses that had fallen from the cliff. "..." Chen Fan's tightly pursed lips twitched slightly as he tried his best to hold back laughter, not wanting the creature to think it was being mocked. In two lifetimes, this was the first time he had ever seen a crocodile crawl sideways like a crab. The sight was genuinely comical. Perhaps sensing Chen Fan's amusement, the crocodile abruptly froze, its eyes fixing directly on him. Once again, they fell into a standoff. Only after several dozen more breaths did it resume moving, finally reaching the corpses. One eye stayed locked on Chen Fan. The other eye swivelled rapidly to locate the bodies, and it began wolfing them down in swift succession, swallowing them whole without chewing, just like a python. ... Once the crocodile had nearly devoured all the corpses, Chen Fan retrieved a ghost stone from his robes and tossed it vigorously over the wall. It rolled across the ground, coming to a stop some twenty-odd meters away. He felt this crocodile possessed considerable intelligence; it didn't seem like an ordinary ghost creature, nor did it appear hostile. Perhaps they could coexist peacefully. Yet this sudden movement clearly gave the crocodile a fright. Without even swallowing the remaining two corpses, it wheeled around and bolted frantically toward the canyon passage. The ground shook and the hills trembled. "So fast..." Standing nearby, Zhou Mo rose and stared in a daze at the receding silhouette. "Who would've thought such a massive thing could move that fast? Uh, Stationmaster, why did you throw a ghost stone at it...?" "Feeding it." "Uh, do crocodiles eat ghost stones?" "Nine chances out of ten." Chen Fan shook his head, unbothered by the beast's flight. The creature was simply too timid; after a few more feedings, it would probably get used to it. He explained to Zhou Mo, "Qianhou, one of the ghost king's four headmen, carried five chests. Inside were numerous ghost materials and two large chests of ghost stones. That proves ghost stones are valuable to ghost creatures as well. During the rainy season, ghost creatures flee frantically, likely because intelligent ghost creatures hunt en masse during this time. When it eats those corpses, it's not after their meat, but the ghost stones inside them." "Makes sense." Zhou Mo nodded in enlightenment. Just then— Having fled into the dark night, the crocodile noticed no further commotion and crept cautiously back into the camp boundaries. Crouched at the edge of the camp, it raised its lantern-sized eyes and peered directly at Chen Fan. A hint of confusion seemed to linger in its pupils. Then it tilted its head to look at the few solitary corpses beneath the cliff. After a moment's hesitation, it scurried down to the cliff base, swallowed the remaining two corpses whole, and then crept on its belly toward the wall. As it crawled, it kept a wary eye on Chen Fan, its gaze tinged with faint anticipation. Before long, it reached the ghost stone Chen Fan had thrown. Its massive snout drew close to the tiny ghost stone and sniffed. Then it raised its head to look at Chen Fan again. This time, the confusion in its eyes was even thicker—intertwined with a flicker of anger. At this point, the crocodile was only about twenty meters from the wall. It was also the first time everyone had observed this beast from such close range.