Chapter 4: "A Debt Too Great for Thanks"
????Dawn broke.
??It ca swiftly—darkness retreating like a receding tide. In re seconds, the pitch-black night dissolved, replaced by a riot of color as the morning sun spilled across the sky.
??Last night—
??Chen Fan had been roused from sleep again and again. It was his first night in this world since transmigrating, and the tangle of anxiety, unfamiliar emotions, and the constant whisper of movent in the dark left him restless. Sleep slipped through his fingers like water.
??The mont daylight arrived, Chen Fan snapped fully awake. The protective circle had faded, and his wooden hut once more blended into the bleak expanse of the wasteland. Only the Ghostfire still burned, solitary and stubborn against the gloom.
??Out on the wasteland, a dead Ghostbeast lay caught in a trap—a monkey-like creature, small and wiry. Without hesitation, Chen Fan strode out, scooped up both the beast and the trap, and stuffed the lot into the haystack behind his hut. He’d dissect it for Ghoststones later, once his guest had left. No need to reveal too much, too soon.
??...
??An hour passed.
??Inside, the middle-aged man in the blue robe finally awoke. He strolled from the hut with unhurried ease, then stepped outside, glancing at Chen Fan, who stood waiting. Waving the map in his hand, the man grinned, “There’s another waystation nearby, far better than yours. It also only costs one Ghoststone, yet I still chose yours. Do you know why?”
??He didn’t wait for a reply, stretching languidly before continuing.
??“It was seeing you last night—how desperately you tried to draw in custors. It struck a chord with . When I arrived, I understood why.”
??“This place was an abandoned waystation. Hardly anyone passes by—almost no one at all.”
??“Now it’s suddenly lit up again. For you to be assigned here by your clan, you must have been pushed out, probably given no supplies at all. You need Ghoststones to keep your Ghostfire burning—just to survive.”
??“A bit of pity, I suppose.”
??“I wanted to help. Back when I was ostracized by my own clan, I desperately wished soone would lend
a hand.”
??“But I don’t want to help too much, because no one ever helped . Why should you get what I never did?”
??“So—”
??“I won’t give you a single extra Ghoststone. That’s not yours to have. But I’ll answer one question—just one. Ask whatever you want.”
??He looked at Chen Fan, half-smiling, half not.
??He’d already pieced together the boy’s story in his mind: a clan outcast, not a Practitioner, sent to this godforsaken place along with that scrawny underling to quietly wait for death.
??This was a station long abandoned.
??The Ghostfire had gone out.
??But now, it was relit on the map—which ant soone had rebuilt the Ghostfire. That cost at least fifty Ghoststones. No one would spend that just to send a nobody to die. So this boy likely had so background—maybe an illegitimate child of the clan head, the kind of person you couldn’t just kill openly without causing trouble.
??A flicker of anger crossed the man’s eyes. In this boy, he saw himself from years ago. He wanted to help, to do for Chen Fan what no one had done for him. But he couldn’t bring himself to do too much. No one had ever lifted a finger for him, after all.
??The contradiction gnawed at him, leaving him irritable.
??He could already guess what Chen Fan would ask—how to leave the wasteland, maybe, or perhaps he’d try to borrow Ghoststones, promising to repay the debt soday.
??If the boy asked sothing pointless, the man’s fleeting goodwill would vanish, and he’d leave without a backward glance.
??“Thank you for your guidance, Senior.”
??Chen Fan cupped his fists, his face solemn. “A person like you, able to cross the wasteland alone, must be extraordinary. This is my first ti out here. I want to know—what should I do to survive longer in the wild?”
??...
??The blue-robed man was silent for a mont, then suddenly burst out laughing. “You’re just like I was—angry at the world, unwilling to bow your head. I like that.”
??“In that case, let
give you so advice.”
??“If a traveler wants to enter your waystation, the rule is clear: they must pay a Ghoststone up front. There’s a type of Ghostbeast called the False Man-Ghost—humanoid, sowhat intelligent.”
??“They can move before the Eternal Night fully descends. They’ll ask to enter, promising to pay after. You must refuse. Unless you give permission, they can’t co in. They’re not too dangerous.”
??“Last night, you let
in first, collected the Ghoststone after. That’s a mistake.”
??“But you couldn’t stop
anyway. Your station is too crude—no defenses at all. You couldn’t keep out a Practitioner even if you tried.”
??“Out here—”
??“Every station master’s life is tied to their Ghostfire. No one will attack a station master, because if you die, the Ghostfire goes out. But you still need so basic attack structures—not just to fend off Ghostbeasts, but to shore up your authority within the station.”
??“And another thing!”
??“Ghostfire isn’t absolute protection. Weak Ghostbeasts might avoid it, but most just dislike it—they’re not truly repelled. During a Ghost Tide or other unusual event, they’ll swarm your station in an instant.”
??“You need walls—a proper city wall—to be truly safe.”
??“So, to survive out here for any length of ti, you’ll need a solid, enclosing wall and at least one basic attack structure. Both are simple, pretty common—any Builder can create them. The head of Jiangbei Market nearby is a Level 2 Builder; he can build them for you.”
??“But these are permanent structures—the Builder has to co in person, and it’ll cost you a fair few Ghoststones.”
??“As for how to get those Ghoststones—well, that’s your problem, not mine.”
??“I’ve helped you enough.”
??He shook his head, laughing at himself. He’d ant to answer only one question, but the boy’s open-ended query had drawn him out far more than he intended.
??He pulled a map from his robe and tossed it to Chen Fan.
??“This is a Ghostskin Map of the area. It updates in real-ti, showing the status of every Ghostfire on the wasteland.”
??“In three months, I’ll be passing through again.”
??“If you’re still alive then, I won’t mind helping you for real.”
??With that, the blue-robed man didn’t linger. Hands clasped behind his back, he strode toward a low, distant hill. His pace looked slow, but sohow, he covered ground with uncanny speed—a strange, almost supernatural contrast.
??“Senior!”
??Chen Fan clutched the leather map, calling after the man’s retreating figure, his voice ringing out across the plain. “A debt too great for thanks! May I have your na, so I can repay you one day?”
??The man didn’t reply, only waved a hand without looking back.
??His silhouette soon vanished into the wasteland.
??Chen Fan let out a long breath.
??He looked down at the leather map in his hands, murmuring, “That senior really does as he pleases...”
??But the information he’d provided was invaluable—a trendous help.
??His predecessor in this body had been too consud by bitterness and pain within the clan, never bothering to rember any of these crucial survival details.
??Not a single damn thing.
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