Quietude settled down here in the bunkhouse, and everyone fell asleep.
The Level 3 wall at the cave entrance allowed them to sleep especially peacefully.
Perhaps even those in Rivernorth City didn't have a slumber as sound as they did. After all, although Rivernorth City had more people, its walls were only Level 1. If luck had been against them, Rivernorth City might have already fallen.
...
Almost everyone in the camp had drifted off.
Yet Chen Fan was taking stock of today's harvest in the Level 1 warehouse.
An irrepressible smile spread across his face.
Especially when he stood at the entrance of the Mustard-seed Room, those Eerie Stones floating in the air pleased him greatly to see—he felt like a farmer seeing a bountiful harvest.
"Station Master."
Wang Kui reported from behind, with a bamboo scroll from the Archive Room in hand.
"Last night, Qian Fu, one of the four bosses under the Eerie King, perished with his troops. We have confiscated four chests from him."
"One of the chests held all sorts of Eerie materials, and I have already sorted them all out. The remaining three chests were filled with Eerie Stones, totaling exactly 17,000."
"A round number, huh."
Chen Fan looked at the Eerie Stones in midair, giving rapid nods, his eyes smiling.
This Eerie King was such a nice guy.
His wife, Qiu Kui, had gifted him a heart-protecting armor.
His subordinates had delivered Eerie Stones to him with such eagerness.
As far as he knew, there was another boss under his command named Qian Xi, who must have reached the wasteland from the southern desert by now. But he had no idea how much Qian Xi knew about the events here and whether he would strike tonight.
This fellow must have taken quite a batch of Eerie Stones with him. After all, since the Eerie King had had Qian Fu carry a year's worth of accumulated Eerie Stones, he must have ordered Qian Xi the same.
If this guy didn't attack tonight, he would have to find a way to lure the other party over from the wasteland.
Not just for those Eerie Stones, but also because the Eerie King had two more bosses left. If he could defeat them one by one before the Eerie King arrived, he wouldn't fear even if the Eerie King came to him.
"Did we finish counting the Eerie Stones we brought back from the mountain this afternoon? Quite a number of them, right?"
Chen Fan turned to look at Wang Kui.
"Reporting, Station Master, the counting has been finished." Wang Kui glanced at the scroll in his hand and continued, "A total of 36,726."
"That many?"
Chen Fan's pupils contracted a little as he watched the Eerie Stones in the air.
As they dug, they could tell there were lots of Eerie Stones in that deep pit, but they hadn't expected there to be so many.
"How many Eerie Stones does the camp currently have in total?"
"A total of 56,570 Eerie Stones." Wang Kui responded while removing a notebook from his pocket and continued,
"During last night's battle against Qian Fu, the Altar consumed a total of 437 Eerie Stones to mend the city wall and the Canon Towers."
"Repairing the Level 3 wall accounted for most of it. After all, it's a Level 3 wall."
"All 18 Canon Towers of the Meat Grinder were activated. Together with those ten on the wall, they used up 217 Eerie Stones."
"Last night's battle consumed a total of 654 Eerie Stones."
"We reaped a lot from this battle."
"Hmm."
Chen Fan offered a slight nod. Not only had he put Wang Kui in charge of the warehouse, but he had also granted him access to the consumption of numerous buildings. This way, Wang Kui could help compile the data, saving trouble for Chen Fan.
Of course, this was also a critical privilege. Should this set of data leak, other forces could easily deduce a lot from it.
In a way, it represented sheer trust.
"Profit is certain." Chen Fan remained unruffled and continued, "On the wasteland, as long as you survive an Eerie Tide, you definitely won't lose out."
"In recent days, how much has the Eerie Fire consumed every day?"
Many buildings were now connected to the Eerie Fire, such as the warehouse, the Spirit Nurturing Pavilion, and the unmanned outposts out on the wasteland.
These buildings demanded Eerie Stones as fuel every day. He hadn't kept track of these numbers.
"The warehouse currently consumes about 11 Eerie Stones per day. Originally, it was one, not that many. But after warehousing the Snow Lotus you gave, Station Master, it has increased by 10 Eerie Stones per day to sustain the lotus's storage environment."
"That much?"
Chen Fan furrowed his brows and walked down the corridor to the Natural Treasure Room at the end, then pushed the door open and peeked inside.
He saw a floating emerald-green bubble. Within the membrane was icy air and snowflakes. It looked like a frozen womb or something.
At the heart of the bubble was a Snow Lotus.
It was the Snow Lotus he had brought back—a special type of Natural Treasure.
"..."
Chen Fan stared at the Snow Lotus in silence for a while, then turned to Wang Kui. "I understand. Go on."
Although he had no use for this Snow Lotus temporarily, and it cost 10 Eerie Stones daily, he certainly wouldn't just throw it away. A Natural Treasure, especially a green-grade one, was worth at least 5,000 Eerie Stones.
After the rainy season ended, he would reach out to other forces and obtain more information. Whether to use the Snow Lotus himself or to trade it, he wouldn't lose out.
"The remaining buildings with daily consumption are the unmanned outposts. We currently have ten of them. Their total nightly consumption averages about 100."
"But the returns are substantial, too."
"These unmanned outposts yield about 700 Eerie Stones per day on average."
"Not bad."
Chen Fan gave a light nod. This return rate was promising. It meant recouping the investment in a few days and profiting effortlessly from then on. But to him, who had inherited the legacy of the crocodile's parents, this source of Eerie Stones was somewhat slow.
"No need to report in too much detail. Give me the overall data."
"Understood. Currently, the camp's fixed daily consumption, when not under Eerie Tide attack, totals about 120 Eerie Stones."
"Hmm."
From outside the Mustard-seed Room, Chen Fan watched the Eerie Stones wrapped in emerald-green mist in the air and patted Wang Kui on the shoulder. "You've worked hard. Get some rest early."
Then he walked out of the warehouse alone.
Rainy season countdown: 16 days remaining.