I build a shelter in the eternal night.

Chapter 18: Eternal Night Descends, Monsters Run Rampant!
"That being said, we should still try to avoid giving others cause for criticism."

The boy slowly shook his head and said softly, "With the rainy night arriving early, there's a high probability of a raging monster tide. The focus now is on how to get through this rainy season, for you and me."

The words have not yet fallen.

A servant strode over from a distance and whispered in his ear.

"Young Master, the three major families of Jiangbei City have gathered to discuss how to deal with the rainy season. The Master wants you to go and discuss it with them."

"understood."

The boy's face remained expressionless, but as he stood up, the corners of his mouth couldn't help but turn up slightly.

This clearly indicates that he is being groomed as a successor.

He will eventually sit in the position of head of the Chen family.

As for Chen Fan
He should be lying in the wilderness, waiting to die in despair, an insignificant person, no longer worth our attention.

As eternal night descends, strange creatures run rampant. Only by approaching the location of the eerie fire can one ensure safety.

but--

Some areas will form natural "ghost fire zones" where people can stay safe without having to put in ghost stones every day. These areas vary in size and have gradually become human settlements.

"Jiangbei City" is located in a natural fire zone that covers a considerable area.

This is why, thanks to its natural geographical advantages, even though it was almost destroyed 37 years ago, it was able to quickly and rapidly rebuild itself.

Otherwise, such a large city would consume a lot of strange stones every day just to maintain the strange fire, and no force could afford to maintain it.

No one knows how the natural fire zone is formed, nor does anyone know if it will suddenly stop working one day.

But so far.

I have never heard of any natural fire zone suddenly malfunctioning.

wilderness.

"Jiangbei Chenjia No. 37" station.

Chen Fan was standing in the pouring rain, looking at a group of seven people standing outside the safe zone of the camp. They were all people that Wang Kui had brought from a nearby station.

At this moment, the lame monkey was conducting a close inspection of each person, confiscating communication talismans and other means of communication with the outside world, and placing a strange stone in the palm of each person to prevent imposters from infiltrating.

at this time--

"Station Chief Chen."

A middle-aged man dressed in hemp clothing, carrying a long knife, looked at Chen Fan, who was standing in the pouring rain, with a slightly trembling voice: "Station Chief Wang has roughly told me about the situation. From now on, our lives are in your hands. If we can really survive the rainy season, my life will belong to you, Station Chief Chen!"

"You tell me to go east, I will never go west!"

He was originally a station chief of the "Hills and Valleys Royal Family" when he learned that the rainy season had arrived early and that his clan was unable to provide assistance.

Utter despair instantly filled his mind.

The station manager's job was a dangerous one, and he knew all too well what that meant. Just as he was about to commit suicide, he heard Wang Kui shouting his name outside. Half-believing, half-doubting, he followed.

Even if it was fake, he accepted it, after all, it was the only straw he could find.

It wasn't until I arrived at the camp and saw the two arrow towers standing in the rain that a glimmer of hope finally ignited in my heart. Perhaps, perhaps, I really could survive, even though that hope was very slim.

"."

Chen Fan walked calmly to the middle-aged man carrying a long knife. Two shallow wounds could still be seen on the man's neck, the blood that had seeped out had been diluted by the heavy rain.

This is a trial cut.

Very few people can commit suicide with a knife and decisively cut themselves. Those who can do so have top-notch mental fortitude.

This kind of trial cut occurs when one hesitates and cannot bring themselves to do it.

"It seems that if Wang Kui had arrived even a moment later, you wouldn't be standing here."

"Station Chief Chen."

The middle-aged man said in a trembling voice with a bitter expression, "You're in our line of work too. You know that even if you walk into the darkness after nightfall, you won't die immediately, but not many people can bear the feeling of waiting to die in despair in the dark."

"If I really have to die, I would rather die by my own hand than wait for death in despair."

"Everyone!" Chen Fan looked at the remaining people, ignoring the middle-aged man's words, and instead swept his voice across each of their faces, saying, "You are all from the three major powers, so you should have heard of my name to some extent."

"My name is Chen Fan."

"I am the heir of the Chen family in Jiangbei. My birth mother is a level 4 architect. Over the years, I have been targeted by the family due to internal disputes, until I came here to become a station manager at a previously abandoned site."

"Now that things have come to this, let me put it bluntly: my birth mother left me an architectural legacy before she died, and I deliberately stayed away from the clan's spies to secretly accumulate power."

"These two level 2 arrow towers were made by me."

"Next-"

"As long as you follow my orders, all I, Chen Fan, can do is try my best to keep you all alive and get through the rainy season."

"After the rainy season, I will not stop you from leaving or staying."

The six men exchanged glances, then pulled out packages from their pockets and placed them on the ground, saying hoarsely, "We'll do whatever the stationmaster commands!"

"it is good!"

Chen Fan glanced at the map of the ghost skin, then looked at Wang Kui beside him and ordered again, "Time is of the essence. We can't go to any more distant stations. Two stations nearby were destroyed last night."

"You and Xiao Qiu pick two more people to go to these two abandoned sites and bring back anything usable. There might be some strange stones stored in these two sites."

"Yes."

After Wang Kui left.

There were four people left at the station, all of them men. There were no women at the station; these four were from other stations.

None of the six people were pedestrians, and coincidentally, no pedestrians had passed by or stayed overnight at the station in the past two days.

The main reason is that the stations in this area are indeed somewhat remote, and not many people pass by.

"."

Chen Fan turned around and looked at the wooden house behind him. He found that his identity as the illegitimate son of the Chen family and the title of his birth mother whom he had never met were quite useful. In this world, with these two things as backing, it was much easier to gain initial trust.

The business of the stations in the wasteland is monopolized. Almost all the stations are set up by the three major families. There are no stations set up by individual people. Only a few stations are set up by the forces from "Pingcheng".

"Stationmaster."

A man with a pockmarked face stood in the pouring rain behind them and quickly stepped forward to ask, "Is there anything we can do for you?"

He was the station manager of the Chenjia No. 36 station in Jiangbei, and was abandoned in the wilderness when the rainy season came early.

During his holiday trip back to his clan's home, he had caught a glimpse of Chen Fan from afar. At that time, Chen Fan walked with his head down, looking extremely weak and self-conscious, a stark contrast to his current demeanor. He had even lamented that a perfectly respectable eldest son of the first wife had been reduced to a position worse than that of a servant.

Now it seems.

Everything was a disguise, a pretense to protect oneself and seize an opportunity to rise to power.

He knew that these big families were all cunning and scheming, and none of them were honest and upright.

but
In this rainy season where death seems imminent, a young master with an architectural heritage, who has been lying low and waiting to rise, has become his only hope for survival.

He swears!
No one in the entire world wanted Chen Fan to succeed more than him at this moment!

"."

Standing in the pouring rain, Chen Fan turned his head to look at the middle-aged man with a pockmarked face beside him and said calmly in a low voice, "I know you. You are the station manager of the Chen family's No. 36 station in Jiangbei. Your nickname is Wang Mazi (Pockmarked Wang)."

"Take the other three and dismantle this wooden house as quickly as possible before nightfall."

A look of disbelief flashed across Wang Mazi's eyes before he hurriedly nodded and called to the people behind him to get to work. He didn't even ask why they were tearing down the only wooden house that could provide shelter from the rain and wind.

He swears!
He had no connection with Chen Fan, only having heard stories about him in gossip and a glimpse of him from afar when he returned to his clan's village, where Chen Fan didn't even look up.

But Chen Fan knew his name and even which station he was at.

This is enough to show that while Chen Fan was in a period of forbearance and dormancy, seemingly resigned to his fate and waiting to die, he had actually done a lot of work in secret, even investigating him thoroughly, including the station chief who was completely insignificant in the family.

This level of cunning horrified him!

But at the same time, the faint hope in his heart grew a little stronger.

perhaps
Following Chen Fan, you really can survive the rainy season.

(End of this chapter)