I Build a Shelter in the Eternal Night

An excruciating pain exploded from the depths of his soul. The icy air stung his lungs.

He opened his eyes. What greeted him wasn’t the stark white ceiling of a hospital, nor the chaos of a crowd after a car crash, but an endless, deathly silent, grayish-brown expanse!

A murky sky, a fissured land.

A few scattered, blackened weeds pointed toward the sky in twisted shapes. A fierce wind wailed across the Wilderness, kicking up dry dust and filling the air with a smell of decay and rust.

"Where... Where am I?"

Chen Fan stared at the unfamiliar scene, struggling to sit up. He subconsciously reached for a cigarette in his pocket, only to find his original clothes gone. In their place was a coarse, scratchy gray cloth garment, its pockets utterly devoid of cigarettes.

’Transmigration?’

The thought slowly surfaced in his mind.

He could feel that his body was extremely weak and aching, but he remembered being run over by a heavy-duty truck that blew through a red light. His injuries couldn’t possibly be this minor.

Just then—

A trembling voice, choked with sobs, sounded by his ear. "Young Master... you’re finally awake!"

Hearing the voice,

He instinctively turned his head. Only then did he notice that on this endless Wilderness, besides himself, there was a gaunt, similarly dressed young attendant, a crude Wooden House, and a brightly burning Campfire.

The next moment!

A violent, piercing pain shot through him as countless memory fragments were forcibly crammed into his mind like an enema, causing him to pass out once more.

...

When he came to again, the young attendant from before had moved him onto a plank bed inside the crude Wooden House. He finally understood his situation.

He had transmigrated.

The original owner of this body was also named Chen Fan. Even their appearance and physique were identical, like a parallel-world version of himself.

In this world, when night fell, countless bizarre monsters would appear and claim human lives. This phenomenon, which had persisted for hundreds of years, was known as the ’Eternal Night’.

Only by staying near a ’Ghost Fire’ could one ensure their safety.

A Ghost Fire was a specially made Campfire.

To travel safely through the Wilderness, one had to find a ’station’ before dark. Only stations possessed a ’Ghost Fire’.

Creating a ’Ghost Fire’ was no simple task. Its base was extremely cumbersome and couldn’t be carried. Moreover, if the fire went out, the base would automatically be destroyed. To keep a Ghost Fire burning, one had to continuously feed it ’Ghost Stones’.

Therefore—

On the Wilderness outside the cities, various families had established numerous ’stations.’ They provided safety for passing caravans and travelers in exchange for a fee.

The place he was at now was one such station, belonging to the Chen Family.

However...

He had been sent here as a form of persecution. Despite his status as a young master of the Chen Family, he had been assigned the extremely dangerous job of guarding a station in the Wilderness. To make matters worse, they hadn’t given him a single Ghost Stone before he left.

This meant one thing!

The day this Ghost Fire died would be the day he died.

The body’s previous owner couldn’t handle the pressure. He’d died on the spot from a fit of sheer terror and rage, giving Chen Fan the chance to live again.

And this young attendant was his personal follower.

"Young Master."

The gaunt young attendant, kneeling by the bed with a tear-streaked face, said hoarsely, "We’ve traveled so long... you must be exhausted, Young Master. I’ll stand watch. You get some sleep."

"..."

Chen Fan struggled out of bed, pushed open the door of the Wooden House, and stared at the Campfire outside. According to his new memories, there were three Ghost Stones buried at the base of this Ghost Fire. That meant it would burn for three more days, at most.

In three days, the Ghost Fire would be extinguished.

’It’s a countdown to my death. How can I possibly sleep under these circumstances?’

Out here in the wilds, the only way to get Ghost Stones was to kill Ghost Objects and dig the stones out of their bodies.

However...

’I’m weak and unarmed. How am I supposed to kill a Ghost Object?’

After a long, dazed moment,

He spoke softly. "You shouldn’t have come."

’Those bastards who’d sent him here had offered his attendant a hefty reward not to follow, all so that Chen Fan would die alone in the terrifying, desolate night, consumed by fear and despair.’

’But the kid came anyway.’

’Without a moment’s hesitation.’

"I go where the Young Master goes."

"I’ll die where the Young Master dies."

Though fear was plain on his face, the gaunt man behind him gritted his teeth and said with determination, "Without you, Young Master, I’d just be a pile of bones by now."

"..."

Chen Fan fell silent for a moment. "I just realized, I never asked for your name."

’He couldn’t find the attendant’s name in his memories.’

’When the core members of the Chen Family were choosing their retainers, all the strong and able-bodied ones were snatched up, leaving only this scrawny boy. The original Chen Fan had always considered him a disgrace.’

’He’d barely spoken to the boy, let alone asked for his name.’

’To have earned such loyalty despite that treatment... the original Chen Fan was damn lucky.’

"Lame Monkey."

"Young Master, I’m called Lame Monkey."

Lame Monkey lowered his head, his voice barely a whisper, full of shame. "I’m an orphan. I didn’t have a name. Housekeeper Zhou said I was a cripple and as skinny as a monkey, so he started calling me Lame Monkey."

Chen Fan glanced at Lame Monkey’s right leg. It did indeed have a limp.

"Alright."

He nodded, his gaze sweeping around the hut. "Since you’re here, our first priority is survival. Go outside and see if you can spot any travelers. It’s getting dark, and they’ll need a station for the night. If you see anyone, shout and call them over."

"The Ghost Fire will only last three more days."

"We need to earn some Ghost Stones."

"And—"

He walked over to Lame Monkey, clapped him on the shoulder, and said softly, his voice calm, "If, by some miracle, I manage to make a comeback one day, I won’t forget you. But if I die... well, that’s just our fate. We’ll have to accept it."

Lame Monkey froze for a second, a strange light glinting in his eyes. Much of the fear he’d felt upon arriving at the station seemed to vanish. He straightened his back as much as he could and yelled, "Yes, sir!"

Then he scrambled out of the Wooden House.

To look for any passing travelers.

...

Outside the Wooden House,

Lame Monkey scanned the surroundings. The Wilderness stretched out endlessly, with not a single traveler in sight. In the distance, there was a small hill. He could see farther if he stood on top of it, but...

He hesitated.

It was already getting dark. If he didn’t make it back before nightfall, he’d be dead.

But soon,

The hesitation didn’t last. He immediately started running with all his might toward the hill in the distance.

’He might be a cripple from a humble background,’

’but he could keenly sense that the Young Master’s demeanor now was completely different from how he’d been back at the family estate. It was like night and day.’

’He had a bold theory.’

’The Young Master knew he was being targeted at every turn within the family, that he couldn’t show his true abilities there. So, he had intentionally gotten himself assigned to this remote outpost, a place the family couldn’t easily control! Here, in this new world, he would finally be free to build his own power, until one day he could storm back to the family and take back everything that was rightfully his!’

The Young Master’s brilliant foresight was like a revitalizing tonic, filling him with renewed vigor.

And he, Lame Monkey,

had to do everything in his power to help the Young Master return to the Chen Family!

He would make those people stop looking down on the Young Master!

How fast could a cripple run?

But right now, a fire was burning in his heart. It pushed him to run faster and faster, so fast that he ignored the stabbing pain that began to flare up in his right leg. All he wanted was to reach that hill as quickly as humanly possible!