The Lord of Glimmer plants the sun in the eternal night.

After returning to Snow Eagle Ridge, Jiang Chuan quickly set up the traps.

His eyes gleamed with anticipation, for on the snow ahead lay four level 1 iron animal traps bound with hemp ropes.

With these, we can harvest at least 10 flints tonight.

Then tomorrow they'll use these flints to modify weapons so they can damage the monsters. If they keep doing this, they'll soon be able to escape their resource-scarce situation.

However, later on, manpower became a major problem.

So far, there are only him and his sister-in-law at Snow Eagle Ridge, which is a bit short-handed. If there were one or two more people, they could set up more traps.

Thinking of this, he looked at Ye Xuan sitting next to him.

With the firelight flickering, Jiang Chuan observed Ye Xuan's pretty face carefully for the first time.

Her delicate willow-leaf eyebrows were captivating, her almond-shaped eyes reflected the firelight like the moon reflected in autumn water, and her slightly flushed cheeks were like peach blossoms. Her whole being exuded an irresistible charm.

I don't know how such a beautiful woman appeared in the wilderness, and how she was rescued and brought home by my older brother.

"Sister-in-law, let's team up tonight, it'll make the work easier."

"Mm." Ye Xuan nodded slightly, feeling a little embarrassed by Jiang Chuan's gaze.

"Sister-in-law."

Jiang Chuan had unknowingly moved closer to him.

"What's wrong, Ah Shui?"

You smell so good.

"Ah Shui, I... I'm still in pain."

"..."

"Master..."

Just as Jiang Chuan was savoring the details, a soft cry suddenly came from outside the territory, the voice dry and hoarse.

The two looked closely and saw a middle-aged woman kneeling outside the territory, wearing tattered clothes and a burlap headscarf, her face etched with the weariness and vicissitudes of a long journey.

"Sir, please take us in for the night. My daughter and I were robbed on the way."

It's getting dark soon.

"Please, sir, have mercy! Let me stay the night, otherwise... otherwise..."

Behind the woman was a graceful little girl, about sixteen or seventeen years old, clinging tightly to her mother's clothes, her eyes filled with fear of the approaching night, looking extremely pitiful.

"Ah Shui, how about..." Upon hearing this, Ye Xuan also showed a sympathetic expression and murmured.

Jiang Chuan looked at the mother and daughter in silence.

After nightfall, people can only ensure their safety by staying near a fire spring; this is a truth known to everyone.

But this raises a question.

If someone or a caravan is traveling a long distance and wants to ensure their safety, what should they do?

Besides having a flint, the other thing is to find a place to stay before nightfall.

There are 'stations' in the wilderness, 'patrol teams' in the mountains and forests, and 'lighthouses' in the rivers and lakes.

Only places like these rest stops will accept strangers.

In places like villages, people are very resistant to outsiders.

These outposts could guarantee the safety of passing caravans and pedestrians, but they required charging corresponding fees, which was common knowledge.

only...

The main duty of the patrol team and the lighthouse is to keep watch, and to know where people might come to stay temporarily in such remote places.

"I think..."

Jiang Chuan glanced at the deep darkness that was about to engulf the sky, then fixed his gaze on the feet of the mother and daughter.

He immediately drew his bow and nocked an arrow, gripping the bowstring firmly with three fingers.

call out--

The sound of something cutting through the air rang out.

Within ten paces, the arrows are both accurate and swift.

In the blink of an eye, the arrow pierced the woman's skull.

Blood spurted out.

He then nocked another arrow, aimed at the little girl who was starting to run away when she realized something was wrong, and hit her right in the back.

The movements were crisp and efficient.

Ye Xuan was completely stunned by this scene, and stood there dumbfounded, not knowing what to say next.

"I think they're ghosts," Jiang Chuan finished speaking.

As soon as he finished speaking, the bodies of the mother and daughter on the snow rapidly shrank after death, transforming into a grotesque creature about the size of a mole, resembling a dead infant—utterly terrifying.

Just then, Jiang Chuan suddenly heard a roar that sounded like a tiger's roar, but the sound was like crying and complaining, and it was not as loud and masculine as the king of beasts.

But this made his head suddenly tighten, and he felt his scalp tingle, and a chill rose from the soles of his feet and spread throughout his body.

"It seems... we've gotten ourselves into trouble with something terrible." Jiang Chuan felt uneasy.

"Ah Shui, Ah Shui!" A soft, soulful voice came to Jiang Chuan's ears, bringing him back to his senses.

"What's wrong? Don't scare me!"

"fine."

Jiang Chuan shook his head, gradually calming down.

Seeing that Ye Xuan showed no abnormalities, he immediately felt relieved.

Although I don't know what kind of weird thing I've messed with, it seems that all the other party can do right now is bark.

Today I also talked with Brother Liu about some things related to monsters. As far as he knows, each type of monster that reaches a certain level has its own territory. In addition, they are very averse to fire spring light, so they don't usually roam around freely.

But on the fifteenth of each month, these strange creatures would begin to wreak havoc, a phenomenon known as "the Night Parade of a Hundred Strange Creatures".

There are still three days until the "Night Parade of a Hundred Ghosts," and I am safe.

"call!"

Jiang Chuan breathed a long sigh of relief.

So, taking advantage of the time he still had, he quickly stepped forward and used fire tongs to clamp the two strange creatures into the area illuminated by the firelight.

As always, the strange creature reacts violently when it encounters firelight.

Soon, it turned into two clumps of nightmare fuel, along with a wisp of pale, dry hair.

"I remember now!"

Just as Jiang Chuan was about to step forward to check, Ye Xuan spoke up and told him:

"This mother and daughter may be 'Changgui,' a kind of humanoid ghost that can move before nightfall and possesses a certain degree of intelligence."

"These strange creatures can enter the 'site' with a person's consent."

"But in the wilderness, the danger level of these strange creatures is actually relatively low, because ordinary weapons can also harm them."

"However, I've heard that if you die from this kind of monster, you'll become a vengeful ghost."

Thinking about this, Ye Xuan felt a little scared.

However, when she thought about how easily Jiang Chuan had killed them, a look of admiration appeared in her eyes.

"Ah Shui, you're so clever! You saw through their trick at a glance!"

"You can see it if you observe carefully," Jiang Chuan smiled and continued to explain, "They're too fake."

"In this freezing weather, they're dressed so lightly and still wandering around outside. Even if they're not ghosts, they'll freeze to death."

"Also, judging from their clothes and accents, some of them seem to be from the next village, but Brother Liu told me today that there was a big problem in that village and a lot of people died."

"Most importantly, if they were really human, they wouldn't have been able to get to our patrol post. The post stationed ahead would have taken them in long ago."

Jiang Chuan shook his head, not mentioning that their Snow Eagle Ridge was the furthest outpost in this area.

He knew exactly what kind of people the patrol team were.

Haha, mother and daughter?

The drop rate for mothers and daughters is much higher.

He came closer; last night he killed seven moles and only got one old silver coin as a reward.

Today is only the beginning; they killed their parents and already started losing fur.

Anything that remains in the firelight must have been useful.

Jiang Chuan threw the nightmare fuel into the fire spring, then picked up the strand of hair and examined it carefully.

"Um?"

The research manual in my mind vibrated slightly, transmitting relevant information.

A wisp of hair from an unknown, mysterious creature can be used for [Tools] research.

...

"Um?"

Looking at the brief information, Jiang Chuan discovered the key point.

This is a wisp of hair from an unknown, eerie creature, not the hair of a ghost.

His mind raced, and suddenly a certain idiom came to mind: "to act as an accomplice to a tyrant."

Combined with the low growl that suddenly rang in his ears earlier, could he have been cursed by some kind of tiger or tiger-shaped monster?

Looking at the dry hair in his palm, Jiang Chuan felt a little worried.

Could this strange creature be a white tiger?