"I feel like it’s been about six nights?"

Wang Mazi scratched his head. "Probably not as long as seven nights."

"It’s the eighth night."

Zhou Mo placed the Wooden Board back under him and, with a sigh, continued to take large bites of the dry biscuit in his hand. "My little brother, Er Gou, who’d been with me for so long... he died to a Fake Human Ghost before the fifth night fell."

"On the sixth night, we ran into a Mourning Ghost."

"On the seventh night, we moved here and spent the night in a Natural Ghost Fire Zone."

"On the eighth night, we spent the night in the new cave the leader dug out."

"If we get through tonight safely, that’ll make it nine nights."

"The rainy season usually lasts about thirty days, which means we’ve already made it a third of the way through. In all of Jiangbei City’s history, what we’ve done is unprecedented. No one’s ever done it before, and no one’s likely to do it again."

"Jiangbei City has a history?" Wang Kui arched an eyebrow.

"Tsk."

Zhou Mo couldn’t help but laugh at that. "Even though the city’s been wiped out a few times, some fragments of information get passed down. That’s just how people are. Even when you know you probably won’t live long, you still want to write something down, to let those who come after know what you went through."

"Like how you enjoy writing in your diary?"

"Exactly."

Zhou Mo pulled his diary from his coat, writing in it as he chewed on his dry biscuit. "A man’s got to have a hobby, right? Otherwise, life’s just too dull. Besides, if it weren’t for people like us, the methods for creating Ghost Fire would never have been passed down."

"The version that got out was the complicated one."

Wang Kui glanced at the back of Chen Fan, who was building a temporary Wooden House inside the cave for the night, and whispered, "I remember the recipe for Ghost Fire that’s been passed down requires a lot of different materials. But the leader didn’t use any of that stuff when he made it."

"We’re lucky to have it at all."

Zhou Mo closed his diary and tucked it back into his coat. "For a city built on a Natural Ghost Fire Zone, those materials are easy enough to gather. It just adds a barrier to entry, that’s all. After all, those people wanted to use it to earn some Ghost Stones. They’d never let a more refined recipe get out easily."

Just then—

Chen Fan climbed onto the City Wall.

He looked over at the others, who were busy talking, and said casually, "Still chatting, I see."

"Leader."

Zhou Mo and the others hurriedly stood up.

"Alright, go down and sleep. I’m on watch tonight."

"There’s no heating for now, so it’s a bit cold."

"Wear some extra layers to bed. Just bear with it for a few days. Once the cave is fully excavated, we can start putting up some basic structures."

"Understood!"

...

"..."

The cave soon fell silent. Zhou Mo and the others had all gone to sleep in the temporary Wooden House, leaving Chen Fan to sit alone on the City Wall, gazing out at the rainy night beyond the cave.

Tonight was the ninth night of the rainy season.

He was more aware of this number than anyone else.

’The others might have been born into a world that was already like this. They don’t want to die, but the environment they’ve lived in for so long has made them much more accepting of death. I’m different. I’d really rather not die.’

’I want to do everything I can to survive this rainy season.’

’If I can’t, well, there’s nothing to be done about it.’

’We dug another twenty-seven meters into the cave today. One more day of digging tomorrow, and it should be deep enough for our current needs. We can slowly expand it more after that.’

’As for the Vehicle Workshop...’

’I don’t plan on putting it in this cave. I’m going to dig another one out of the cliff on the left and place that massive structure there.’

Time always flew by when his mind was wandering.

Or perhaps...

...it was hard for anyone not to let their mind wander in a place like this.

"THUD."

The abrupt sound of something heavy falling from the cliff snapped him out of his reverie. It was followed by the sound of more heavy objects falling, one after another.

Chen Fan was instantly alert, his eyes locked on the darkness beyond the City Wall.

’Based on the last two times...’

’...that crocodile should be here soon.’

And sure enough.

About half an hour later, he once again heard a rustling sound through the rainy night. The crocodile had returned to the Deep Pit in the canyon.

He now strongly suspected the crocodile had driven those Ghost Objects off the cliff. Most Ghost Objects may not have been intelligent, but they wouldn’t just jump to their deaths. The strange thing was, the crocodile was clearly strong enough to hunt them directly. Why resort to this method?

The next moment!

The Copper Pipe lit up, and the Sentry Tower activated.

The entire Deep Pit of the canyon was laid bare, the darkness replaced by a gray fog.

At the bottom of the cliff, he saw the crocodile again, carefully holding a Ghost Corpse in its jaws. This time, however, it didn’t flee immediately. Perhaps it was just too hungry.

It opened its mouth, dropping the Ghost Corpse.

It turned its head toward Chen Fan, its lantern-sized pupils a mixture of fear and anger. Forcing down its terror, it opened its massive jaws and let out a great roar into the rainy night.

"ROAR!!"

The sound was so immense it nearly drowned out the storm.

It sounded quite impressive.

But... 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

...its trembling limbs and the way its tail kept thrashing against the ground betrayed its anxiety. It was clearly putting on a brave face.

’I bet if I make the slightest move, it’ll run for it,’ he thought.

"..."

Chen Fan remained silent, saying nothing. He slowly set the Glowing Green Lantern down beside him and simply watched.

The standoff lasted for several moments.

The crocodile seemed to realize Chen Fan had no intention of attacking. It tentatively swallowed one Ghost Corpse whole. Seeing that Chen Fan still didn’t react, it began to wolf down the rest, rapidly consuming all thirty-odd Ghost Corpses.

It looked up at Chen Fan again.

It then glanced up at Chen Fan one last time before disappearing quickly down the canyon passage without a backward glance. It didn’t run as fast this time, nor did it make as much of a commotion. But as it ran, its tail swayed from side to side, tapping against the ground.

He could have sworn he saw joy and happiness in the wagging of its tail.

It was as if it was celebrating finally getting a full meal.

Long after the crocodile disappeared.

Chen Fan finally murmured in a daze, "Does it have a bag of holding for a stomach?"

The crocodile was large, but only a few times bigger than a normal one. There was no way its stomach could hold over thirty Ghost Corpses...

After three nights of observation.

He had a general understanding of the crocodile now.

’It’s probably not a Ghost Object. It’s powerful but extremely timid. And now, add one more thing to the list: its stomach can hold an incredible amount.’

’And...’

’Its intelligence probably isn’t that high either.’

’If it’s herding Ghost Objects off the cliff, why specifically herd them to the Deep Pit? A fall from anywhere along the canyon walls would be just as fatal.’

...

The rest of the night passed quietly.

There were no other disturbances.

When the darkness faded, they had successfully survived the ninth night of the rainy season. Twenty days remained until it was over.

"Get to work!"

The sound of the Wooden House being blasted apart by a cannon marked the start of a new day of construction.

Today was also the last day of this phase of construction.

After today.

The basic framework of their rear base would be complete.