This monkey-headed ghost was still alive.
Its maw was visibly wrenched open in a roar, yet not a whisper of sound emerged, its agitation plain to see.
Looking up at Chen Fan, it gaped its bloody maw, baring a mouthful of fangs in a silent, threatening howl.
It struggled with all its might, but could not break free at all.
Each claw swipe left a trail of black mist in the air.
*Schlick!*
At Chen Fan's side, Quehou had already thrust his spear forward without missing a beat. The strike hit the monkey-headed ghost dead in the mouth. He swiftly yanked it back and stabbed again. Soon, the creature stopped breathing and slumped where it lay.
"Nicely done."
Chen Fan let out a long sigh of relief. For now, things were going smoothly. Tonight, he might even harvest ten ghost stones or more!
This was a very good start.
Tomorrow, he could use these ghost stones to craft more bear traps. If he kept snowballing like this, he would quickly escape his current predicament of scarce resources.
The knife had been too short originally, making it easy to get injured. So they had dismantled a wooden pole from the cabin, tied the knife to the end, and fashioned a crude spear. The results were quite good.
"Harvest the corpse," Chen Fan commanded as he cast the bear trap back into the dark night.
The ghost stone dug out right now could be used to craft another bear trap. Even though he had no spare hemp rope left, throwing it out into the night still allowed for one more catch before dawn. Even the smallest mosquito leg was meat—and this was hardly mosquito meat.
Over the hours that followed, Chen Fan kept his eyes fixed on the lengths of rope like an avid angler, his mind turning over subsequent plans.
Manpower was a major problem.
So far, he only had Quehou. One pair of hands was simply not enough; if he had one or two more people, they could be braiding hemp rope for him right now.
Soon—
A ghost stone was dug from the head of that monkey-headed ghost and placed quietly on the ground. Just then, another hemp rope began to twitch. Chen Fan leaped up from his chair at once and hauled hard on the line.
Another monkey-headed ghost caught in a bear trap was dragged into the camp.
Quehou, waiting in anticipation, drove his spear forward once more.
With repeated coordination, a tacit rhythm had formed between them.
Another ghost stone secured. Only this time, an extra item dropped as well. After the monkey-headed ghost died, a clump of something glowing with white light was regurgitated from its mouth, resembling a handful of gravel.
"Young Master!"
Quehou's eyes lit up. "A ghost material dropped! After killing a ghost creature, pieces of some corpses can form ghost materials. For example, a ghost-skin map is crafted by an artifact refiner using the scalp of a human-skin ghost. The private school teacher taught us that in class."
"Only..."
"This doesn't look like ghost material. After all, none of the other monkey-headed ghosts dropped anything, and monkey-headed ghosts don't produce ghost materials. This looks more like an... exotic treasure!"
"An exotic treasure?"
"It should be an exotic treasure. An extremely small number of ghost creatures carry special exotic treasures that drop upon death—things like building blueprints. Their values vary, but they're all treasures that can only be obtained by chance when slaying ghost creatures; they can't be crafted by human hands.
"However, one has to go to the market and find an appraiser to know what it actually is."
"..."
Chen Fan said nothing. He picked up the cluster of gravel-like granules from the ground. Encased in a nearly transparent membrane, it looked like fish roe. Before his eyes, a panel slowly popped up:
—
[Exotic Treasure Name]: Monkey-Head Mushroom Seeds
[Exotic Treasure Rank]: White
[Exotic Treasure Effect]: Must be planted in "Farmland." Growth cycle is three days. Consuming them after maturity enhances physical fitness.
—
He nodded thoughtfully. Seeds.
Did this really require an appraiser?
Wasn't it laid out clear as day right on the panel?
He had a rough grasp of this world now. Whether building blueprints or exotic treasures, he could view the panel directly. The natives of this world, however, couldn't see the interface, which made the whole process exceedingly convoluted.
If that was the case...
Perhaps he could go sweep the stalls at Jiangbei Market. He could read the panels of every exotic treasure—far more straightforward than any appraiser. He might even score a few bargains.
"I know what this is."
Chen Fan tucked the cluster of seeds into his robe. Taking the ghost stone Quehou had excavated from the creature, he found he had just enough to make two. He immediately crafted another bear trap, tossed it into the darkness, and said, "Back to work first."
...
Time slipped away bit by bit.
Suddenly, the thick, viscous darkness receded rapidly around them. Eternal Night ended, and the morning sun bathed the world once more.
Dawn had broken.
"Phew..."
Chen Fan let out a long breath and rubbed his stinging eyes. After working through the entire night, he was somewhat exhausted. He couldn't fathom how those die-hard anglers managed to sit fishing night after night; it was truly hard manual labor.
Yet beneath his tired gaze lay an irrepressible glint of a smile.
Last night's haul had been exceedingly bountiful.
A total of thirty-seven monkey-headed ghosts slain!
Two of the ghost stones had been reinvested into a bear trap, leaving him with thirty-five ghost stones in hand.
Current total camp assets:
Five bear traps and thirty-five ghost stones.
"Go get some sleep first."
Chen Fan waved a hand, gesturing for Quehou to head into the cabin to rest. He didn't invest in more bear traps right away, mainly because he wasn't sure if there were only so many monkey-headed ghosts in the vicinity. The first half of the night had yielded a bumper harvest, with catches taking the bait at regular intervals.
By the second half of the night, however, catches grew scarce.
It took a long time between bites.
He suspected there might only be so many monkey-headed ghosts in the immediate area, or perhaps ghost creatures simply preferred roaming in the earlier hours.
"..."
Right at that moment—
His brow suddenly knitted. Looking outside the safe house, he saw a solitary bear trap sitting on the wasteland, and tangled in the jaws was a tuft of white monkey fur.
By now, he was thoroughly familiar with this fur.
It belonged to a monkey-headed ghost.
Only... this had clearly been shed during an escape. Regular monkey-headed ghosts couldn't break free from a bear trap, unless...
He walked forward to retrieve the bear trap and picked up the tuft of monkey fur, rolling it between his fingers.
It was stiffer than the fur of ordinary monkey-headed ghosts.
Could it be... the leader of this pack?
Had it sensed the slaughter of so many of its kind last night and come to investigate? And if so, wouldn't it return tonight?
"..."
At that thought, his eyes narrowed slightly. The green-robed man had made it quite clear upon leaving: except for the weakest ghost creatures, most simply loathed ghost fire and avoided getting too close, but that did not mean they couldn't approach. If his suspicion was correct, tonight might bring grave peril!
He had to prepare in advance.
He had originally planned to construct a plot of farmland to grow monkey-head mushrooms, but that plan had to be shelved for now. Weathering tonight's crisis took precedence.
He turned his gaze toward one of the basic buildings on the Eternal Night Lord panel:
Level 1 Arrow Tower.
Deals a certain amount of damage to low-level ghost creatures. Requires 10 ghost stones to build.
This was the one!
He set ten ghost stones on the ground, slowly closed his eyes, and confirmed construction in the panel with a thought.
Chapter 8