Winter Is a Fine Season for Killing

"Besides, a man only lives once. If the people who ought to be killed aren't dead yet, hiding away in peace is meaningless." Without waiting for the woman to answer, the blue-robed man went on speaking to himself. "You can't defeat them." Seeing that the man was completely unmoved, panic began to creep into her voice. A hint of pleading and helplessness showed in her eyes as she reached out to clutch the hem of his robe. "Stay here, please? If you go back, you'll die." "A man never says he can't." "Whether I can win or not, I'll only know once I fight." The blue-robed man shook his head with a chuckle. "I came this time to say goodbye. Not many people have treated me well in this life, but you're one of them." "Then why can't you forget the past and cherish someone who treats you well?" The woman grew frantic. She had a faint premonition that parting today would mean parting forever. The man froze slightly. Soon, however, the malice surging from the depths of his eyes snapped him back to his senses. He chuckled softly and moved her hand aside. "If the past were so easy to forget, the future wouldn't be worth looking forward to." "It'll all be forgotten anyway." "Still, you remind me of a kid I once met. What he went through was a bit like when I was young." "A shame, though..." "A shame about what?" "A shame the rainy season arrived early in Jiangbei. In all likelihood, that little fellow was too deep in the wasteland to pull out in time." "His luck was bad. He died in the rainy season before he could get his revenge." "My luck is better than his. I have a score to settle." "I'm coming with you." "Hmm?" The man raised an eyebrow at the determined woman. "You be Old Demon Jiangbei, and I'll be Little Demon Jiangnan." "You?" The man laughed. "Don't you people of Jiangnan look down on Jiangbei the most? You say Jiangbei doesn't even have a decent walled city, that when the rainy season comes, all they can do is wait around to die." "I want to follow you. Jiangnan without you would be just as dull." The woman looked up, her gaze fixed unwaveringly on the man. "..." The man looked far off toward Jiangbei. After a long silence, he rasped, "All right. I'll take you." "Winter is a fine season for killing." ... Jiangbei Wasteland. Nameless Mountain. It was said that this mountain had a name long ago, but over time it gradually came to be known simply as Nameless Mountain. Too much time had passed, and no historical records remained—only folklore circulating among the common folk. Not many had ever lived on this mountain. The last group to inhabit it had been Da Yu's former village. Inside the sinkhole. Chen Fan had returned from deploying outposts outside. He had set up five more, consuming eight hundred ghost stones, leaving 1,335 ghost stones in the camp. "Da Yu." Swaying gently in the rocking chair set upon the wall, he looked toward Da Yu, who stood nearby staring blankly at the crocodile, and asked with a smile, "You've been spacing out staring at Weiwei these past few days. Something on your mind?" Weiwei. That was the name he had given the crocodile. During their previous interactions, he had always called out "Hey," and the crocodile had gradually taken the sound as its call name, so he simply dubbed it Weiwei. Da Yu sat beside him with her arms wrapped around her knees. After a long silence, she could not help murmuring, "Stationmaster, Weiwei is very gentle and never harms anyone. It's timid too—it doesn't even actively attack ghost creatures." "It only chases ghost creatures off the cliff to hunt them." "But..." "Why did Weiwei drive those powerful ghost creatures off the cliff that day? Maybe... my father didn't have to die..." "..." The smile on Chen Fan's face gradually stiffened, and the rocking chair slowed to a stop. Frowning slightly, he glanced toward Weiwei lying in the cave. He had been so busy these days that this possibility hadn't even crossed his mind. From that angle... Was Weiwei technically Da Yu's father's killer? He didn't want this kind of melodramatic trouble cropping up in the camp. It would ruin camp harmony. At present, he already regarded Weiwei as a member of the camp—a fantastic helper for digging tunnels. After thinking it over for a long while, he shook his head and dismissed the suspicion. "This shouldn't have anything to do with Weiwei. It only chases ghost creatures off the cliff for food, and creatures capable of surviving a drop of several hundred meters certainly wouldn't be on its menu. What's more, didn't you say back then that those ghost creatures landed directly in the natural ghost fire zone?" "Yes." "Then that proves it. The natural ghost fire zone is in the center of the sinkhole. If something just falls off the cliff, it won't land right in the ghost fire zone. Only by leaping actively from the cliff's edge could one possibly reach it." "That makes sense." Da Yu tilted her head, thought about it for a moment, and accepted the answer. Then she realized she had been daydreaming there for quite a while and quickly stood up. "Stationmaster, I'll go get back to work." "Go ahead." After Da Yu left, Chen Fan looked at the sleeping Weiwei, frowning in silence. He hadn't just fabricated an excuse to deceive Da Yu; he genuinely believed his reasoning held merit. Yet the matter served as a reminder. He could not let his guard down. Since it had happened once, it could happen a second time. He had to be fully prepared. He looked down at the ghost-skin map in his hands. This was a special item—neither an exotic treasure dropped by a ghost creature nor a spirit treasure forged by human hands. Its effect was simple. Upon creation, it mapped out the rough terrain contours of a region, and all illuminated ghost fires within that area would appear in real time on the map, including natural ghost fire zones. However, smaller natural ghost fire zones did not show up. For instance, the natural ghost fire zone inside the sinkhole was not on the map; only a single point of light appeared there, cast by his tier-5 ghost fire. Travelers across the wasteland holding a ghost-skin map could clearly judge where the nearest shelter for the night lay. It was the equivalent of a compass in the desert. Across the Jiangbei Wasteland on the ghost-skin map, not a single natural ghost fire zone was visible. Only two could be seen in the surrounding region: Jiangbei City to the east of the wasteland and Pingcheng to the west, the two larger natural ghost fire zones nearby. Right now, only two ghost fires burned across the wasteland. One was the ghost fire at the old camp. The other was the tier-5 ghost fire behind him. A moment later, he tucked the ghost-skin map back into his robes, leaned back in the rocking chair, and closed his eyes to ponder his next steps. ... Dusk fell. Lying in the rocking chair, Chen Fan asked casually, "Where are you? It's getting dark." An instant later, a voice sounded in his mind. "Stationmaster, I'm past the old camp, clearing ghost creature corpses near the unmanned outpost by the canyon. There are quite a few, so it's a bit hard to haul them all back." "..." Chen Fan glanced at the crocodile digging in the cave. Pausing for a second, he walked down the stone stairs of the wall and entered Zhou Mo's wooden cabin. He picked up Zhou Mo's quilt cover, walked over to the crocodile, and waved it tentatively before its snout. "Weiwei, go find him and help him haul the ghost creature corpses back. I'll roast meat for you tonight." The crocodile leaned in, gave the sheet a sniff, and then, brimming with anticipation, crawled down to the base of the wall. It turned back toward Chen Fan to signal for the gate to be opened, clearly unable to wait for tonight's roast meat.