Tonight was the third night since the rainy season arrived.
Chen Fan, along with Crippled Monkey and a few others, stood guard on the city wall, ready to face the night's dangers. Zhou Mo and the others, who had been busy during the day, were ordered by him to sleep early.
However...
They kept watch all night until the day broke.
...
Chen Fan frowned slightly, watching the darkness recede like a tide. The night had passed.
Dawn had come.
Last night could even be described as uneventful.
There was no Eerie Tide of Flesh Worm Ghosts, no female Eerie Creature in a sedan chair, not even a passing Eerie Creature. The camp was quiet, with not a sound around.
That should be a good thing.
But...
Having too many Eerie Creatures was overwhelming, but having too few was also a problem. He had just built ten new Archery Towers to prepare for the Eerie Creature attacks during the rainy season, yet he didn't see a single Eerie Creature last night. Where did they all go?
He obtained Eerie Stones mainly from killing Eerie Creatures.
If he couldn't even see a single Eerie Creature, how was he supposed to get Eerie Stones?
He narrowed his eyes and thought for a while before turning to Crippled Monkey and the others, who had accompanied him on the wall through the rainy night. "Alright, it's dawn. Everyone, tidy up and go back to sleep."
This didn't make sense.
The rainy season shouldn't be this calm.
When something unusual happens, there must be a reason. Tonight, he must be fully prepared.
Just then—
He looked outside the city walls at the farmland and suddenly smiled. Under the first rays of sunlight, the seedlings in the fields grew rapidly, bearing abundant fruit—round and plump, a delightful sight.
The first batch of crops had matured. Time to harvest!
"Station Master."
Zhou Mo, full of energy, jogged up the steps to the city wall. "We've slept enough. What's the mission for today?"
Chen Fan glanced at Zhou Mo and Qi Chong standing behind him.
"Qi Chong, don't head out today."
"Later, harvest all the fruits from the farmland."
"Zhou Mo, today you're responsible for bringing back resources from the nearby destroyed stations. The closer ones have mostly been cleared by Wang Kui and the others early on. The remaining stations are farther away. Don't be greedy—safety first."
"Understood!"
In high spirits, Zhou Mo shouted with a wide grin in the heavy rain.
"Station Master... I..."
Qi Chong, standing nearby, flashed a look of shame and embarrassment, lowering his head. "I..."
"Don't worry."
Chen Fan shook his head, smiling as he patted Qi Chong's shoulder. "There's also plenty to do inside the camp. Contributing to the camp is just as valuable as performing an outside assignment."
Yesterday, Qi Chong had been sent out on this mission.
However...
He didn't bring back a single Eerie Stone.
After leaving the camp with the Eerie-hide map, Qi Chong lost his grip on it, and the wind blew it away. He became completely lost, wandering in the storm all day.
Just before the Perpetual Night arrived, he luckily found his way back to the camp.
He was fortunate enough to have survived under the circumstances.
Eerie-hide maps were non-renewable resources for the camp. Including the one in his possession, the camp only had five. Qi Chong had lost one, leaving only four. Chen Fan didn't dare send Qi Chong out again.
He didn't want him to lose another map or two more people to die.
That would be a huge loss.
"I..."
Qi Chong's lips trembled, but he couldn't find the words. He just hung his head, not daring to meet Chen Fan's gaze.
"Then I'll head out, Station Master?" Zhou Mo chuckled beside him.
"Go ahead."
...
Crippled Monkey and the others had already gone to sleep.
Chen Fan stood by the farmland, watching Qi Chong roll up his pants and busily picking fruit in the field. He couldn't help but think—this guy was actually quite skilled at farm work. He casually asked, "Used to farm?"
"Yeah."
Qi Chong wiped the rain from his face and quickly stood upright to respond. "After the Perpetual Night arrived, farming became troublesome. Eerie Creatures don't destroy the fields, but farmers have to travel back and forth between the city and the fields outside, which takes a lot of time."
"Many chambers of commerce set up farms in large natural safe zones. Before joining the Wild Wolf Gang, I worked on a farm owned by the 'Sky-Flattening Chamber of Commerce' in Rivernorth City."
"All ordinary crops over there."
"Never grew anything like this."
"Good."
Chen Fan nodded with a smile. "From now on, you'll be in charge of this farmland."
He then turned his gaze to the man behind Qi Chong. "Your friend works pretty efficiently, too. What's his name?"
"Station Master."
The rough-looking man replied in a deep voice, "I'm A'le. I used to work with Brother Qi on a farm, raising pigs. Later, I left the farm to join Brother Qi."
"Raise pigs?"
"Mhm."
"Great."
Chen Fan couldn't help but laugh this time. These two brothers—one farming, the other raising livestock—by quite a stroke of luck, had all found their way to him.
"You'll be in charge of livestock in the camp. There's nothing for you to raise for now, so help your Brother Qi with farming. When we have livestock later, you'll take over."
"I'll follow your orders, Station Master."
"Put these fruits and the Eerie Materials cut out yesterday in that wooden hut over there."
"Got it."
He took out two Eerie Stones and built a hut outside the city walls to serve as a warehouse.
Last night, they killed quite a few Mantis Eerie Creatures.
Their mantis arms were Eerie Materials that could be used for forging.
He didn't need them for now, but he could collect them for later use.
It would take a while to finish harvesting everything. Chen Fan didn't wait any longer and turned to head toward the cabin, planning to sleep first.
He pushed the door open.
Under the "1.0 Heating System," the room was extremely warm, with no hint of cold. It was still a bit damp, but much less so.
Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed the "Rainy Season Countdown" on the wall, with another X marked on it. He smiled but didn't say anything.
Zhou Mo must have marked it before leaving.
This guy... indeed had a sense of ritual.
...
"Brother Qi."
In the camp's farmland, A'le carefully picked the rain-soaked fruits while saying in a muffled voice, "We didn't complete the mission yesterday and even lost the Eerie-hide map. Did the Station Master start on you this morning? I saw you talking on the city wall when I woke up, but I didn't dare go up."
"No."
Qi Chong shook his head. "But I probably won't be assigned an outside assignment anymore. You heard it earlier—the Station Master told me to take charge of this farmland from now on."
"Isn't that good? I think farming is much safer than heading out. We almost didn't make it back yesterday. Besides, Brother Qi, you're good at farming."
"But back then, I joined the Wild Wolf Gang right because I thought of farming as unpromising. Now I'm farming again. Didn't you also think raising pigs wasn't promising, so you came to join me?"
Qi Chong sighed helplessly. He truly wanted to make something of himself. Otherwise, he wouldn't have become a station master—it wasn't a safe job. But he realized... maybe he just wasn't cut out for it.
"No."
A'le shook his head. "I never thought raising pigs wasn't promising. Raising pigs is a skilled job. The pigs I raised were always the heaviest at slaughter, and the piglet survival rate was the highest. With this skill, I'd never go hungry anywhere."
"It's just that after you left, Brother Qi, I had no one to talk to. I felt lonely, so I came to find you."
"And besides, farming now is different from farming before."
"Who was your boss back then, Brother Qi?"
"A supervisor at a farm under the Sky-Flattening Chamber of Commerce."
"And now?"
"An Architect..."
"What you do isn't important; who you do it with is."
A'le continued working while saying in a muffled voice, "Following the right person gets one promoted, doing the right thing gets one rich. Follow the right person and do the right thing—that's how you get promoted and rich."
"..."
Qi Chong froze in place, staring blankly at A'le, who was busily working. It took him a moment to snap out of it. Suddenly, all the thoughts in his mind cleared, as if a light had been turned on. He felt a surge of energy, more than he'd ever had for farming in his life. He bantered with a grin,
"You rascal..."
"Don't you think, if the camp can make it through the rainy season and the farmland keeps expanding, my position might end up being way bigger than a Wild Wolf Gang station master?"
"Definitely way, way bigger."
"Then won't you have a big position too?"
"Haha."
Seeing that Brother Qi had come around, A'le showed a good-natured, broad smile.