"Not bad."
Chen Fan didn't say much and handed the parchment to Zhou Mo, "It's good to keep a record. If we survive the rainy season, this will be the best proof of our resilience. How did you sleep last night?"
After the danger was over in the latter half of the night, he had Zhou Mo, Qi Chong, and their respective subordinates all go inside to sleep, all for the sake of today's plan after daybreak.
"Slept well. Now I'm full of energy and ready for the mission anytime."
"Good."
Chen Fan produced the Eerie-hide map from his bosom, pointed to several marked spots on the map, and instructed, "Last night, almost all the stations in the wilderness were wiped out. None but two stations made it through the night."
"One is our station, the Rivernorth Chen Clan's Station 37."
"The other station is nine kilometers away in a straight line."
"Your mission today is to head to that station with your man, bring back portable resources as well as the people from that station to our station."
"They managed to survive last night; luck is with them. But in the rainy season, luck won't protect them forever."
"We need to band together for warmth. Every additional person means an extra bit of strength."
"Understood."
Zhou Mo nodded solemnly and took out his own Eerie-hide map, looking toward that lucky station. If he remembered correctly, that station seemed to be the Ravine Wang Clan's Station 16.
He had met the station master a few times but hadn't had much interaction.
"Traveling in the heavy rain is difficult, so protecting yourself is the top priority. If you encounter any uncontrollable situation, abandon the mission immediately and return to camp."
After giving this instruction, Chen Fan turned his attention to Qi Chong, who had been startled awake and was quickly getting dressed.
"Qi Chong."
He stood up and looked at Qi Chong, saying seriously, "Your mission is to go to these nearby stations that were destroyed last night and bring back their usable resources. There's no specific task; go to as many stations as you think you can."
"But remember to keep flipping the hourglass."
"When the hourglass has been flipped eight times, no matter where you are, return to camp immediately."
"Yes!" Qi Chong hastily finished dressing, rubbed his sleepy eyes, and replied loudly.
In the wilderness rainy season, the deadliest thing was losing the concept of time because of the unreadable sky.
If you didn't return to camp within the set time, the only thing waiting for you was… Perpetual Night.
The hourglass was a way to measure time in the wilderness.
When the sand ran out, it meant half a shichen (1 shichen equals 2 hours) had passed. After flipping it eight times, there's less than two shichen left before nightfall. At that point, it's time to return to camp immediately.
…
A section of the city wall slowly retracted into the ground.
After a quick bite of rations, Zhou Mo and Qi Chong, holding their Eerie-hide maps, led their people out of the camp, braving the heavy rain, and gradually disappeared into the mist, leaving footprints behind.
In the wilderness, no station had waterproof garments like raincoats or rain hats.
After all…
Rain only fell continuously during the rainy season in this wilderness. There's no need for them the rest of the time. And during the rainy season, such things were completely useless…
"Once you're done here, go to sleep."
Chen Fan called out to Wang Kui and the others, who were dissecting Eerie Creature corpses outside the city wall, before walking toward Crippled Monkey, who was carefully straightening seedlings by the farmland. The Flesh-Worm Ghost Eerie Tide had swept over the farmland last night, taking a great toll.
"Young Master."
Crippled Monkey spoke with a pained expression, "Seven of the seventeen Monkey-Head Mushroom seedlings were trampled to death, and four of the twelve Eerie Stone vein seedlings were destroyed."
"That's quite a loss."
"It's fine. It's better than expected."
Chen Fan sighed with emotion.
"Having this many left is already pretty good. With how intense it was last night, I thought the entire farmland would be uprooted. Alright, you should head back inside and rest soon. I'll finish taking inventory and then get some sleep, too."
"Young Master, do you remember that seed I found in the wooden hut and planted in the farmland?"
"Of course. Did it sprout?"
"It just sprouted!"
Crippled Monkey excitedly pointed to a few flower buds, no bigger than sesame seeds, that had just emerged from the soil in a corner of the farmland, "They're flowers. It won't be long before they bloom."
"Oh?"
A surprised Chen Fan crouched by the farmland, studying the brown flower buds on the new grass in the corner. He had initially thought it was something like moldy wheat seeds, but it turned out to be flower seeds, and they had actually grown.
Their vitality was impressive!
After all, the "Monkey-Head Mushroom" and "Eerie Stone vein" seeds were able to sprout because they were special seeds dropped by Eerie Creatures. If ordinary crops survived in such a downpour, that was truly remarkable.
"Alright."
Chen Fan patted Crippled Monkey's shoulder with a smile, "Go back inside, eat something, and sleep. There's still work to do when you wake up in the afternoon."
"As you say, Young Master."
Crippled Monkey, clutching the God-Slaying Spear, didn't refuse and headed toward the wooden hut inside the city wall.
By this time, Wang Kui and the others had finished dissecting all the Eerie Creature corpses outside the city wall, collecting 41 Eerie Stones, no Extraordinary Treasures, and salvaging a fair amount of Eerie Materials.
The corpses were left outside the city wall for now, to be dealt with after they woke up. Chen Fan told the others to go inside and sleep as well, while he started taking inventory of the camp's assets.
He originally had 4 Eerie Stones on him. Adding the 484 dropped by the Flesh-Worm Ghosts and the 41 collected now, that made a total of 529 Eerie Stones. There was also one half-used Eerie Stone—the one gouged from an Archery Tower, which he had put back into the recess after daybreak.
"529 Eerie Stones…"
Chen Fan stood by the farmland, looking out at the overcast sky in the distance as the heavy rain fell. After a moment of dazed thought, he suddenly chuckled.
Heaven is fair.
It brings you crises, but it also brings opportunities.
If it weren't for last night's Flesh-Worm Ghost Eerie Tide, it would have taken him a long time to gather 529 Eerie Stones.
An ordinary station master's monthly salary is only 10 Eerie Stones.
That's nearly five years' worth of income for a station master.
About a third of Wang Kui's total income over 13 years with the Wang family.
He then snapped out of his thoughts and looked down at the three Extraordinary Treasures in his hand, all dropped last night. He wasn't in a hurry to use them. His nerves had been on edge all night, and his mind was starting to feel fuzzy.
This was a state where poor decisions were to be expected.
Better to wait until he had had a sound sleep.
Just as he was about to turn and head back to the wooden hut, he caught sight of the swaying flower bud in the heavy rain from the corner of his eye. After hesitating for a moment, he picked up a few broken wooden planks from beside the hut and walked over to the farmland to build a simple little shelter for the flower bud.
It was only about the size of a palm.
A miniature shed.
Not bad.
Satisfied, Chen Fan stood up and walked back to the cabin. He took off his soaked hemp clothes, glanced at Crippled Monkey, who had fallen asleep with the spear in his arms, smiled, and lay down on the bed beside him, gradually drifting off to sleep.
He had survived another night.
The rainy season had its advantages, at least allowing him to avoid many troublesome disturbances and giving him plenty of time to develop.
For example…
After daybreak, when news spread that the Rivernorth Chen Clan's Station 37 was still standing strong, things should be quite lively over at the Rivernorth City Chen Clan.
When the person who was supposed to die didn't, it always made some people feel restless.