That creature, which vanished in the blink of an eye into the canyon, resembled a crocodile.
A reptile.
But it was much larger than an ordinary crocodile. At first glance, it looked like a tank, with short but sturdy limbs, a long and powerful tail, and a body covered in brown scales.
It was immense in size and had an astonishing speed.
If it had charged directly at him, he doubted the city wall could have held.
"..."
Chen Fan glanced down at the dim green lantern in his hand. He hadn't even had time to activate it before the creature rushed out of the canyon. It was the fastest creature he had seen so far, several times faster than a Monkey-Head Ghost.
Just then—
He heard a sound behind him.
Dayu had woken up at some point, climbed the steps onto the city wall, and stood beside him, hesitantly asking, "Station Master, was there a huge crocodile-like thing that came by just now?"
Since Dayu had voluntarily revealed that she was disguised as a man, she had taken off her disguise, her voice turning feminine.
But she still didn't talk much, just quietly did her work.
What she called him had also reverted to "Station Master."
"How did you know?"
Chen Fan turned to look at Dayu standing beside him, dressed in linen clothes with her arms crossed. He remembered that last time he hadn't asked her how she had overheard his conversation with Qi Chong ten thousand meters away.
"The villagers call it the Mountain God."
Dayu sniffed and recalled, "In the past, villagers encountered it when they went up the mountain. It's quite large and, when startled, would run wildly. The commotion from its running was enormous, as if the earth was trembling and the mountains swaying."
"Up the mountain?"
Chen Fan's brows suddenly furrowed. He paused for a moment before continuing, "You mean this crocodile appears during the day too?"
"Mhm."
"Near dusk?"
"No. It was only seen twice, both times in the morning. Villagers don't go up the mountain near dusk. It seems very timid; every time it encounters people, it shies."
"The first time they encountered it, the villagers called it a Mountain Ghost."
"Later, they found it didn't harm people, so they started calling it the Mountain God."
"..."
Chen Fan fell silent and didn't speak further.
Appearing during the day.
That meant it was unlikely to be an Eerie Creature. So far, the only Eerie Creature he had encountered that could move during the day was the Pseudo-Human Ghost, which could be active around dusk. The remaining Eerie Creatures were unseen during the day; he didn't know where they hid.
It also couldn't be ruled out that it was a type of Eerie Creature that could move around during the day.
"How did you hear Qi Chong and me talking last time?"
"It's a special ability of the Night Watchers." Dayu tightened her clothes around her. "I have keen ears and can hear sounds from ten thousand meters away, but this ability is erratic. Sometimes I can hear, sometimes I can't."
"That day, I happened to hear."
"A useful ability."
Chen Fan nodded slightly. "Go get some more sleep. There's work to do tomorrow."
...
The latter half of the night.
No more thumping sounds were heard, which meant no more Eerie Creatures fell off the cliff.
And that crocodile didn't return.
This place was indeed relatively safe.
Before long, dawn broke.
Chen Fan, who had switched shifts with Zhou Mo during the latter half of the night, stretched lazily and walked out of the temporary wooden hut in the cave. He looked toward Crippled Monkey and the others, busy not far away. With the recent move, there had been a lot to do these past few days, and he hadn't slept much.
Once everything had settled down in the future, he could sleep in comfortably.
A lot of supplies had been transported from the old camp.
They hadn't had time to stow them away yet.
"Keep going!"
At his command, the Level 5 Cannon Towers began bombarding from the city wall again, instantly shattering the temporary small hut and, undiminished in power, blasting into the depths of the cave, further expanding it.
...
Outside the cave, Chen Fan stood at the bottom of the cliff, looking at the corpse left behind by the fleeing crocodile from last night. The corpse showed penetrating holes, giving an idea of how powerful the crocodile's bite force was.
At least so far, he hadn't encountered an Eerie Creature with physical strength surpassing this crocodile.
With such strength, its first reaction upon encountering an enemy was to flee?
He shook his head and didn't dwell on it further.
He just squatted down to dig out the Eerie Stone from the corpse, then handed the corpse over to Qi Chong, who was busy working in the farmland not far away.
They had created a makeshift patch of farmland within the natural Eerie Fire zone.
It was used for transplanting the crops from the old camp.
"How are things going?"
Chen Fan walked over and looked at the batch of sickly Eerie Flesh Mother-Child Seeds. These were green-grade seeds, the most valuable among this batch of crops.
"Not great."
Qi Chong shook his head, pointing at the cluster of Eerie Flesh Mother-Child Seeds in the farmland. "These past few days, the planting requirements haven't been met. Those Eerie Flesh Mother-Child Seeds surviving the Mourning Specter Eerie Tide have all died."
"But there's some good news."
"They matured early."
"The other crops were successfully transplanted."
Chen Fan took the fruits Qi Chong handed him. One large, one small, growing from the same stem. They looked like cherries, bright red.
Extraordinary Treasure Name:* Eerie Flesh Mother-Child Fruits (Early Ripening).
Extraordinary Treasure Grade: Green.
Extraordinary Treasure Effect: There are Mother and Child fruits. If two people each swallow one, they can communicate telepathically within fifty kilometers. The effect lasts for seven days.
"..."
Chen Fan weighed the Eerie Flesh Mother-Child Fruits in his hand. If fully matured, the effect could last a month. But he didn't say much about it; instead, he looked toward the farmland. "How many pairs?"
"12 pairs."
"Collect and store them properly. After the warehouse is built, put them in storage."
"Understood."
Qi Chong nodded firmly at first, but then hesitated and said, "When I worked for the 'Sky-Flattening Chamber of Commerce' before, I knew that the raw material for Communication Talismans was the Eerie Flesh Mother-Child Fruits. If we had an Artificer, we could use this as raw material to make our own Communication Talismans."
"That way, the effective distance and duration would greatly increase."
"We'll have one."
Chen Fan patted Qi Chong on the shoulder, then walked toward the city wall at the cave entrance.
...
When people are busy, time always seems to pass quickly.
The day soon wrapped up.
There was only a pot of tea's time(15 minutes) left before the Perpetual Night descended.
Wang Kui and the others sat exhausted on the city wall, eating dry rations and drinking hot water to fill their stomachs. Developing new lands was always tiring.
"Hey."
Among the group, leaning against the city wall, Zhou Mo, with a dry flatbread in his mouth, suddenly laughed as he looked at everyone. He pulled out a wooden plank from under him, then picked up his blade and began carving on the plank, mumbling.
"When packing up to leave the old camp, I found this in the ruins of the wooden hut."
"The Perpetual Night Calendar."
"Last night was too exhausting; I forgot to mark it."
"Guess how many nights of the rainy season have passed?"
"Seven nights?" Wang Kui, a canteen filled with hot water in his lap, rolled it left and right to warm his hands, sounding uncertain. "No, it doesn't seem that long; maybe five nights?"