Did You Go Make Yourself Throw Up?

"…" The corner of Chen Fan's mouth twitched slightly. He took a deep breath, buried his face in his hand, and remained silent for a long while before finally saying in a raspy voice, "Nobody sleeps tonight. I'll open the gate. Go haul back all the ghost creature corpses, light the fires, and roast meat!" "Understood." The section of the wall farthest from the crocodile slowly sank into the ground. Pulling their handcarts, Quehou and the others kept a wary, cautious eye fixed on the crocodile sprawled beneath the rampart as they crept toward the edge of the cliff. Standing atop the wall, Chen Fan held the eerie green lantern ready in his hand. If the crocodile made any sudden, violent move, he would deliver a lethal blow. Yet… The crocodile showed no intention of attacking whatsoever. Instead, it lay quietly beneath the wall, extraordinarily obedient and full of anticipation, keeping its jaws wide open as it waited patiently. "Doesn't your jaw get tired?" Chen Fan rubbed his own chin. Seeing the creature keep its mouth open for so long was making his own jaw feel stiff and numb. Then, gazing down at the beast sprawled below the wall, he encouraged it with a straight face: "If you want tasty food in the future, you have to bring your own ingredients just like today, all right? "Roasting meat shrinks it down, though. "Even though there are a few hundred ghost creature corpses here, they won't amount to much once cooked. You know that, right?" Sprawled beneath the wall, the crocodile beat its tail against the ground at a faster tempo, its massive eyes brimming with joy and anticipation. … Dawn broke. Sporting dark circles under his eyes, Zhou Mo swayed unsteadily atop the wall, barely able to keep his footing. Watching the crocodile finally depart, turning back every three paces as if reluctant to leave, he asked in a trembling voice, "Stationmaster… "It ate a hundred and twenty-seven ghost creature corpses in a single night… "And that only seemed to barely fill its belly." "…" Chen Fan said nothing, silently watching the retreating form of the crocodile. Its belly bulged, looking as though it had overeaten, and it crawled at a far slower pace. After a long pause, he said softly, "All right, everyone go to bed." According to the original plan, a good night's rest was supposed to follow the housewarming feast. Instead, they had spent the entire night slaving away. Truth be told, there was no culinary technique to speak of. At first, they had tossed in a bit of seasoning, but later, with salt running low, they stopped adding spices altogether and simply roasted the meat over the open flame. Even so, the crocodile had devoured every bite with immense relish. Ghost creature corpses could not be eaten by humans; doing so was fatal. Only a creature like this could gorge on them without the slightest consequence. Once Quehou and the others had all returned to the wooden cabins to sleep, Chen Fan began taking stock of the camp's current resources. Last night, they had obtained over six hundred ghost stones. Added to what remained after constructing the level-3 wall, the camp currently held 4,755 ghost stones. Roasting meat was time-consuming work, and with their shortage of hands, producing 127 roasted carcasses had already consumed an entire night's labor. The remaining ghost creature corpses had been collected to serve as fertilizer for the farmland and offerings for the Sacrificial Tower. "Not bad at all." Looking at the two exotic treasures in his hand, Chen Fan suddenly chuckled. If this fellow brought its own ingredients every day at mealtime like today, he would be more than happy to do the processing for a fee. Still, this served as a wake-up call. The camp was facing a severe manpower shortage. Once the rainy season ended, they had to recruit more people as soon as possible, or many tasks could not be handled at once. For instance, Zhou Mo hadn't gone out into the wild to scavenge resources from fallen outposts for days. — [Exotic Treasure Name]: Sky-Awakening Cannon [Exotic Treasure Grade]: White [Exotic Treasure Effect]: Single-use exotic treasure. Upon activation, instantly disperses the darkness across a vast area, lasting for ten breaths. — This was one of the two exotic treasures. Essentially a flare. Its value was difficult to estimate. If he were forced to spend ghost stones to buy one, he would gladly pay a hundred ghost stones for it. In perilous times, clearly knowing one's situation was vital—at least one could die knowing what killed them. As for the other exotic treasure… — [Exotic Treasure Name]: Sunflower Seed [Exotic Treasure Grade]: Green [Exotic Treasure Effect]: Must be planted in 'Level-2 Farmland'. Maturation period: 7 days. Ingesting it upon maturity increases one's cultivation. [Planting Conditions]: Emotion-responsive plant. The more praise and encouragement it hears during its growth, the greater the yield and the higher the quality upon maturity. — An experience pill that directly boosted cultivation—a genuine treasure. The seed was encased in a transparent film. He would hand it over to Qi Chong once the man woke up. Having sorted through all this, Chen Fan turned his gaze to the canyon passage directly opposite the wall. His next plan was to construct a wall at the mouth of the canyon passage. At present, the canyon they occupied was a natural fortress. It sat at the bottom of the cliff. Few ghost creatures could drop out of the blue from the top of the cliff into the canyon. As long as they didn't encounter the horde that had destroyed Da Yu's village, there wouldn't be much trouble. The sole route leading in was this canyon passage. He needed to set up defenses at the mouth of that passage. However, all that could wait until he woke up. He had to get some sleep now; he was utterly exhausted… Just then— A faint rumbling shook the ground from the canyon passage. The crocodile had actually come running back! Its previously bulging belly was visibly flattened. Hurrying back to its old spot beneath the wall, it opened its jaws once more in waiting, a clear hint of yearning in its eyes. "…" Standing atop the wall, Chen Fan fell silent with an expressionless face for a moment before rasping, "Did you go make yourself throw up?" Soon, however, he noticed something resting inside the crocodile's mouth… Was that an oddly shaped stone? It looked somewhat like a starfish. Yet it was far larger than any starfish, entirely emerald green, and rather striking. Realization slowly dawned on him, and he asked hesitantly, "Is that your toy? Do you want to give it to me?" Whether the crocodile understood or not, it used its tongue, pressed flat against its lower jaw, to nudge the starfish-shaped stone outward. Then it crawled backward a few paces, bobbing its flat head up and down as though waiting for Chen Fan to take the stone. Seeing that Chen Fan made no move for quite some time, it crawled forward a few steps again, swallowed the stone back into its belly, and scampered over to the cliffside on the other side. Using its foreclaws, it scratched wildly at the rock wall, swiftly gouging out a hollow. Then it pointed its head repeatedly toward the canyon passage. With its back turned toward Chen Fan, it swung its tail back and forth without stopping. "…" Watching this scene, Chen Fan wore a slightly peculiar expression. This time, he understood. The creature had returned specifically to thank him, bringing its favorite toy as a gift. Yet, having perhaps sensed that he didn't care for that present, it now wanted to take him back to its lair so he could pick out a toy for himself. The sight stirred something faint within him. In truth, he didn't mind having a cooperative arrangement with the crocodile—after all, he gained exotic treasures and ghost stones from it. But the crocodile clearly had no concept of a transactional partnership. It only knew that it had eaten delicious food all night, and now wanted to offer its finest possessions to a friend as a token of friendship. "This fellow…" He couldn't help but chuckle, his eyes landing on the hollow the crocodile had gouged into the cliff. The rock here was exceptionally tough. Even with a level-5 cannon tower, he would have had to blast it for half a day, yet this crocodile had scraped out a hollow with its claws in no time at all.