Chapter 14: Chapter 14: "It Moved, It Moved!
"..."
Chen Fan ignored Lame Monkey’s excitement. Instead, he looked at the Ghost Fire before him, preparing to bind it with his blood. He glanced down at his thumb, then his pinky, and after a moment’s hesitation, stuck his index finger into his mouth. He scraped a bit of blood from his gums and offered it to the Ghost Fire.
’I guess that counts as binding it with blood.’
And with that, this area became his base.
It had been several days since he’d transmigrated, and he still wasn’t fully acclimated. He hadn’t been sleeping well, and on top of that, his gums were bleeding.
"We’re not going back tonight."
He pulled the Beast Traps out of the cart and tossed them on the ground. As he started getting busy, he said, "We’re working here tonight."
’Although I suspect the Ghost Objects are constantly on the move in the darkness, and that you can’t just clear out an entire area, that’s just a theory. Practice is the only way to find the truth. I’ll see how things go tonight.’
This place definitely wasn’t as safe as his main base, but normally, based on experience, there shouldn’t be any overly powerful Ghost Objects in this Wilderness. They wouldn’t charge the Ghost Fire. The Great Ghost that had attacked the Ghost Fire the other night was a special case—it was simply revenge for him killing its young.
"Understood!"
Lame Monkey’s eyes gleamed as he nodded excitedly. He began setting up the various Beast Traps around the camp, getting busy. Despite his limp, Lame Monkey was surprisingly efficient.
To be precise, in this world, there were very few people who weren’t efficient.
The inefficient ones were all dead...
In a world where you could die at any moment, it was hard to live a pampered life.
...
"Haaa..."
Chen Fan squatted in the Wilderness, gazing at the cracked, brown wasteland in the distance. He shifted his rear, finding a comfortable position to relieve himself. The wind was strong today, and it stung where it hit his skin.
The weather was gradually turning colder; winter was approaching.
Before he left, he had given the Arrow Towers a command: issue a warning shot to any creature entering the camp. If it refused to leave, shoot to kill.
He wasn’t worried about his base being raided.
With two Level 2 Arrow Towers standing guard, who could possibly raid his home?
A while later.
He carefully plucked a handful of weeds from the side. After making sure there were no fuzzy little thorns, he began to wipe himself, then washed up with some water.
The conditions were a bit primitive.
But it was acceptable.
He wasn’t a big fan of using grass to wipe, mainly because of a childhood incident involving stinging nettles that had left him with considerable psychological trauma.
...
Night fell.
The moment the sun set, a darkness so thick it was absolute swept in from the horizon, shrouding the entire world.
Not a single speck of light could be seen.
The only light came from the Ghost Fire nearby.
This hastily made camp had no structures besides the Ghost Fire—not even a simple Wooden House, not even a place to take shelter from the wind.
’This won’t do.’
Chen Fan curled up on the ground, his face slightly pale.
The Ghost Fire at the main base was out of Ghost Stones. Before leaving, he had added one Ghost Stone to it. Creating the new camp’s Ghost Fire had consumed three Ghost Stones, and he’d added another one as fuel.
Now, he only had three Ghost Stones left in his pocket.
Honestly, he really didn’t want to spend two Ghost Stones to build a Wooden House—it was too extravagant. But for some reason, the temperature had plummeted tonight, and the wind was howling. If he stayed out in this all night, he was fairly certain he’d get hypothermia.
And freeze to death.
Even if he didn’t get hypothermia, he would definitely fall gravely ill. Catching a cold in the Wilderness... there was no place to get treatment.
As for the Ghost Fire, it had no temperature at all. It wasn’t a real flame and provided no warmth.
Nearby, Lame Monkey, clutching his Long Spear, was also trembling uncontrollably.
It was simply too cold tonight.
"..."
Chen Fan grit his teeth. These three Ghost Stones were his last margin for error. The Ghost Fire at the main base only had enough fuel for one night. He really didn’t want to use up this final safety net.
Just then—
"DRIP."
A single, ice-cold drop of rain landed on the back of his hand.
He froze for a second, looking up at the inky blackness above. He held out his palm to feel it. It was raining, and... it was coming down hard.
In the blink of an eye, the droplets turned into a downpour, and it was only getting heavier.
This time, he no longer hesitated. He immediately took out two Ghost Stones and tossed them into the air. The phantom image of a Wooden House, formed from white lines, quickly appeared in the air. Under the influence of a milky-white liquid, it rapidly solidified and settled in the camp.
"Lame Monkey, get in the house!"
Chen Fan yelled as he ducked into the Wooden House, looking at Lame Monkey, who was still outside in the rain, tightly gripping his Long Spear and staring at the hemp ropes on the ground.
He had been hesitating before.
’Maybe I can just tough it out.’
There was no need to hesitate now.
If it had just been the dropping temperature and strong winds, there might have been a chance they wouldn’t get hypothermia. But with the addition of a torrential downpour and no shelter from the rain, the two of them would have definitely frozen to death here tonight.
There was no time to worry about margins for error.
The priority was surviving the night without freezing to death.
If...
If they didn’t catch anything tonight, then this entire endeavor would end in failure.
Chen Fan stood at the entrance of the Wooden House, looking at the hemp ropes in the camp, which remained motionless in the downpour. He sighed silently. It couldn’t be said that his decision tonight was wrong; after all, he was just experimenting.
It was just that his margin for error was too low.
A single failure had all but completely used it up.
"Young Master..."
Lame Monkey stood to the side, clutching his Long Spear, at a complete loss. The night’s events had been completely beyond his expectations. He wanted to do something, but he couldn’t help at all, which left him with a profound sense of powerlessness.
"It’s fine."
Chen Fan shook his head and said softly, "We’ll find a way. If worst comes to worst, I’ll swallow my pride and go find Station Chief Wang tomorrow."
’Actually, if I could just get to the Jiangbei Marketplace, I could use my low-cost Ghost Fire to quickly amass a great fortune. The only problem is, I don’t currently have the power to protect that wealth. If I went, I’d most likely be forcibly captured and kept by someone.’
Just then—
"It moved! It moved!"
Lame Monkey’s excited voice suddenly rang in his ears. Chen Fan instinctively looked toward the sound and saw one of the hemp ropes on the ground shaking violently. It meant the Beast Trap at the end of that rope had caught its prey.
Chen Fan’s face lit up with joy. Before he could even react, the other four hemp ropes all began to shake violently as well.
In one go, five prey had stepped into the traps almost simultaneously!
"Quick!"
His voice urgent and excited, Chen Fan charged into the downpour. He no longer cared about getting soaked. He quickly grabbed one of the hemp ropes and gave it a sharp pull, dragging a Beast Trap into the camp. Clamped in the trap was an extremely bizarre Ghost Object.
It looked like an oversized silkworm pupa.
It was extremely fat, about the size of a human infant—plump and rather unsettling.
Its mouthparts were even more disgusting, taking up nine-tenths of its head.
He didn’t have time to examine the Ghost Object’s appearance in detail.
Lame Monkey, who had also charged into the rain, was already leaping through the air, his Long Spear raised high for a downward strike.
Aiming straight for the head, he pierced it in one blow!
Clean and decisive!
