The Monkey-Head Ghost was still alive.
It was opening its mouth to roar, but not a single sound could be heard, thrashing about in utter agitation.
Raising its head toward Chen Fan, it gaped a maw full of fangs, as though snarling a silent threat.
It struggled violently, yet was unable to break free.
Every swipe of its claws left a trail of black energy in the air.
Schlick!
From the side, Crippled Monkey thrust his spear out at once, accurately striking the ghost's mouth, then swiftly withdrawing and stabbing again. Soon, the Monkey-Head Ghost lay dead on the ground.
"Well done."
Chen Fan let out a long sigh of relief. For now, things seemed to be going smoothly. Tonight, he might harvest more than ten Eerie Stones!
This was a good start.
Tomorrow, he would use these Eerie Stones to craft more Animal Traps. As it snowballed along the way, he would soon escape the current predicament of scarce resources.
The previous small knife had been too short.
Using it risked getting hurt.
So, he had taken a stick from the wooden hut and bound the small knife to one end to make a crude spear, which worked quite well.
"Dig it out."
Chen Fan tossed the Animal Trap back into the darkness and gave the order.
The Eerie Stones dug out could be used to craft more "Animal Traps." Though he had no extra hemp rope left, tossing it into the darkness tonight would allow for one more use. Even a small gain was better than nothing, and this was certainly no trivial gain.
In the time that followed, Chen Fan kept his eyes on those hemp ropes, like an angler, constantly turning over in his mind the next steps of his plan.
Manpower was a major issue.
So far, he only had Crippled Monkey as his helper. It was insufficient; if he had had one or two more people, they could have helped weave hemp ropes right now.
Soon—
A Eerie Stone was dug from the "Monkey-Head Ghost's" skull, lying quietly on the ground. Just then, another hemp rope jerked. Chen Fan immediately sprang from his chair, yanking the rope with all his might.
Another Monkey-Head Ghost, caught in an Animal Trap, was pulled into the station.
The waiting Crippled Monkey thrust his spear once more.
The two of them were beginning to work with some coordination.
Another Eerie Stone was gained. This time, however, an additional item dropped. After the Monkey-Head Ghost died, a glowing, sand-like lump was spat from its mouth.
"Young master!"
Crippled Monkey's eyes lit up. "A 'Eerie Material' has dropped! After killing certain ghosts, their body parts may become 'Eerie Materials.' For example, the 'Ghost Skin Map' is fashioned from a Human-skin Ghost's scalp by an Artificer."
"The teacher at the private school mentioned it."
"But..."
"This doesn't look like an Eerie Material. After all, the other Monkey-Head Ghosts didn't drop this. It seems more like an 'Extraordinary Treasure'...!"
"Extraordinary Treasure?"
"It must be an Extraordinary Treasure. A small number of ghosts carry special Extraordinary Treasures. Killing them yields these treasures, like building blueprints, of varying value. They can only be obtained from killing ghosts, not to be crafted by hand."
"But you'd need to go look for an Appraiser at the marketplace to know exactly what it is."
"..."
Chen Fan said nothing. He picked up the sand-like lump on the ground, wrapped in a translucent membrane and resembling fish roe. A panel popped up before him.
Extraordinary Treasure Name:* Monkey Head Mushroom Seeds.
Extraordinary Treasure Grade: White.
Extraordinary Treasure Effect: Must be planted in 'farmland.' The maturity cycle is three days. After maturity, consuming it enhances physical fitness.
He nodded thoughtfully. Seeds.
Would any Appraiser be needed?
Wasn't the description on the panel perfectly clear?
He was beginning to understand this world. Whether it was building blueprints or Extraordinary Treasures, he could view their panels. But the natives of this world couldn't, thus complicating things.
If that was the case...
Perhaps he could go to the "Rivernorth Marketplace" and do some shopping. He could see the panels of all Extraordinary Treasures—wasn't that much more direct than enlisting the service of an Appraiser? He might even stumble upon a bargain.
"I know what this is."
Chen Fan tucked the cluster of seeds into his robe, took the Eerie Stone Crippled Monkey had dug from the Monkey-Head Ghost. Combined with what he had, that made two, so he crafted another Animal Trap and tossed it into the darkness. "Let's get back to work."
...
Time slowly passed.
Suddenly, the thick, ink-like darkness around them rapidly receded. The Perpetual Night ended, and the morning sun once again bathed the entire world.
Dawn had broken.
Phew...
Chen Fan let out a long breath, rubbing his tired eyes. Busy all night, he felt rather weary. He didn't know how those anglers managed to fish all night—it was physically demanding work.
Yet, in his exhausted eyes, a hint of a smile could barely be contained.
Last night's harvest had been rich.
A total of thirty-seven Monkey-Head Ghosts had been killed!
Two of the Eerie Stones had been invested in crafting "Animal Traps," leaving thirty-five Eerie Stones in hand.
The station's current total assets:
Five Animal Traps and thirty-five Eerie Stones.
"You go rest first."
Chen Fan waved his hand, signaling Crippled Monkey to go inside and sleep. He didn't continue investing in "Animal Traps," mainly because he wasn't sure if there were only this many Monkey-Head Ghosts nearby. The first half of the night had been fruitful, with catches coming frequently.
But the latter half of the night had crashed down.
It took a long time to catch just one.
He suspected that perhaps there were only this many Monkey-Head Ghosts nearby, or maybe ghosts were simply more active in the first half of the night.
"..."
Just then—
He suddenly frowned, looking outside the safe zone. A lone Animal Trap sat on the wasteland, and caught in it was a strand of white monkey hair.
By now, he was all too familiar with this hair.
It was the hair of a Monkey-Head Ghost.
But... it was clearly shed as the creature broke free. Monkey-Head Ghosts couldn't break free from an Animal Trap, unless...
He walked over, retrieved the trap, and picked up the strand of monkey hair, rubbing it between his fingers.
It felt stiffer than the hair of an ordinary Monkey-Head Ghost.
Could it be... the leader of this pack of Monkey-Head Ghosts?
Had it come to investigate last night after its kind had suffered heavy losses here? Would it return tonight?
"..."
Thinking of this, he narrowed his eyes slightly. The man in the blue robe had made it clear when he left: aside from some weaker ghosts, most ghosts merely disliked ghost fire and avoided it, but they weren't unable to approach. If his guess was correct, a great crisis might be expected tonight!
He had to prepare in advance.
He had originally planned to build a farmland to plant the monkey head mushrooms, but it had to be put aside for now. Surviving tonight's crisis came first.
He turned his gaze to one of the basic structures on the Perpetual Night Lord panel.
Level 1 Archery Tower.
It could deal a certain amount of damage to low-level ghosts. Constructing it required ten Eerie Stones.
This was it!
He placed ten Eerie Stones on the ground, slowly closed his eyes, and confirmed the construction in the panel with a thought.