Chapter 33: Wherever the Pipes Reach, His Domain Follows!
????Chen Fan connected the twenty-ter-long Copper Pipe to the segnt already linked with the Ghostfire, running it straight through the base of the Wall and out beyond the Camp’s periter.
??The pipe extended a full ter past the outer edge.
??The mont he finished—
??—cold, white flas from the Ghostfire surged through the new Copper Pipe, suffusing it with a spectral glow.
??What he saw next nearly stole his breath.
??The area around the section of Copper Pipe that stretched beyond the Camp—had beco a Safe Zone!
??“...”
??Chen Fan’s breath caught. He stared at the “Copper Pipe” module on his System Panel, and after a long, stunned pause, he couldn’t help but burst out laughing. “Good. Good! This is incredible!”
??This “Copper Pipe” could actually expand the reach of the Safe Zone!
??Wherever the Ghostfire flowed through the Copper Pipe, that land beca his domain.
??A thousand architectural possibilities exploded in his mind at once.
??For example—
??Night roads!
??In this world, the very idea of traveling after dark simply didn’t exist. But with the Copper Pipe, he could build a road safe for passage even in the Eternal Night.
??If resources allowed, he could one day encircle the entire continent with Copper Pipes. The whole of Eternal Night—everywhere his eyes could see—would beco his territory!
??If the continent were a living body, then his Copper Pipes would be the capillaries running through its every limb.
??And this was only the most basic use of the “Copper Pipe.”
??...
??He crouched outside the Camp, gazing at the Copper Pipe lying across the cracked Wasteland. With a thought, the pipe transford back into a phantom outline, lines of light tracing its shape. At the end, a new “Double-Branch Triple Joint” appeared.
??It could link up to three Copper Pipes.
??This building module had a trendous advantage: even after solidifying, it could revert to its phantom state and be freely remodeled—without consuming any resources.
??Currently, this Copper Pipe was ten centiters wide.
??The Safe Zone around it stretched half a ter to each side—a total of one ter.
??He wanted to see if using a thicker pipe would expand the Safe Zone’s range.
??So, he crafted a one-ter-wide Copper Pipe and connected it to one of the triple joint’s ports. The other two ports remained sealed, as they weren’t attached to anything.
??He was, in a way, experinting.
??After all, connecting a ten-centiter pipe to a one-ter pipe wasn’t exactly straightforward.
??It was like trying to drive a big rig—
??—when all the parts were different sizes.
??But—
??When in doubt, trust the System Panel.
??As the phantom outlines of the two pipes slowly rged, their mismatched sizes fused together seamlessly, without a single weld mark—as if they’d always been one.
??At the sa ti—
??The one-ter-wide Copper Pipe still only generated a Safe Zone of half a ter on each side—a total of one ter.
??But factoring in the physical width of the pipe, the Safe Zone protruding from the Camp was now two ters wide.
??“Whew...”
??Chen Fan let out a slow breath, straightened up, and, with a thought, sank the Copper Pipe into the ground. It vanished beneath the Wasteland, leaving no trace.
??Even Crippled Monkey and the others had no idea what he was really building—only that he was working on sothing they’d never seen before.
??After all, Crippled Monkey and the others could only see the true boundaries of the Camp’s Safe Zone after Eternal Night fell and the Ghostfire’s Protective Circle spread out.
??He was the master of this Camp.
??Naturally, he was the first to sense every change within it.
??“What a treasure!”
??Chen Fan grinned again. If ordinary buildings were like the number 1—fixed and inflexible (an Arrow Tower was three ters tall, and that was that; you couldn’t make it shorter or taller)—then this building module was like 0.1—utterly customizable.
??Width, length, joints, straight, curved, serpentine—he could shape it all, and it didn’t cost any extra Ghoststones. On their own, these modules had no inherent value.
??But they could be applied to any building.
??Which ant—
??He could use them to create all sorts of custom sizes—1.8, 2.7, 3.1 ters—perfectly tailored to his Camp. His control and flexibility over the entire settlent soared. The possibilities were endless!
??...
??Chen Fan didn’t bother with the first Copper Pipe anymore—it was just a prototype. He needed to test how the pipes interacted with other buildings.
??For the next half hour—
??He was busier than ever.
??He used Copper Pipes to link every building together, searching for any possible synergy. After burning through forty-seven Ghoststones on experints, he finally stood atop the Wall, surveying his Camp with a broad, satisfied grin.
??Hands on his hips, eyes full of pride.
??This was his territory.
??Even the cold rain now seed like celebratory champagne in his eyes.
??First, he connected both Arrow Towers to the Ghostfire using Copper Pipes.
??Arrow Towers burned through Ghoststones when activated, but refilling them every ti was a pain—especially when unleashing the Arrow Rain Storm skill, which required a reload after every use. Even if the reload was fast, there was still a delay.
??And as the number of Arrow Towers grew, he’d be running himself ragged.
??But once they were all connected—
??All Arrow Towers would automatically draw their Ghoststone fuel from the Ghostfire, sparing him the hassle of manual reloads. Even if he needed to trigger Arrow Rain Storm multiple tis in quick succession, there’d be no downti.
??From single-shot to full-auto.
??Whenever an Arrow Tower fired, a Ghoststone would shatter in the Ghostfire, sending power through the Copper Pipe to the tower.
??While he was at it...
??He built another Copper Pipe: one end connected to the boiler on the stove inside his cabin, the other to the roof. Rainwater would flow down the pipe into the boiler, where it would be boiled.
??Then he built yet another pipe.
??One end attached to the boiler, the other snaked through the walls and under the floorboards.
??The boiling water would circulate through the pipes, keeping the cabin warm.
??He dubbed it the “Heating System 1.0.”
??He’d just tested it inside.
??The place was toasty—
??—not a trace of last night’s damp chill.
??The “Heating System 1.0” was nearly perfect, save for one flaw: there was no pressure source. Hot water didn’t flow well through the winding Copper Pipes, and without a circulating pump (which this world didn’t have), the heat wouldn’t last long.
??But where there’s a will, there’s a way.
??He already had a plan.
??Known Fact 1: Groundspike traps trigger when they sense weight.
??Known Fact 2: Triggering a Groundspike trap doesn’t consu Ghoststones.
??Conclusion:
??This was a reusable, resource-free power source—a “piston,” in effect.
??They’d last a long ti before wearing out.
??So, he planned to use these pistons to create an auto-circulating heating system.
??But that would be “Heating System 2.0”—
??—for now, he had other things to do. The current system required manual work: when the cabin got chilly, he’d disconnect the pipe, dump the water, and refill it.
??A bit of a hassle.
??But good enough for now.
??...
??The flexibility of these building modules was astonishing—though they couldn’t be upgraded, and there was no upgrade option.
??“This is what a Builder should be capable of...”
??Standing atop the Wall, Chen Fan looked down at his Camp, eyes brimming with satisfaction. Before, the Camp had plenty of structures, but it always felt stiff and lifeless. With the addition of Copper Pipes—
??—it was as if veins now connected every building, linking them all together.
??Only now did he feel like the Camp was truly alive.
??For the first ti, it felt like an extension of his own body.
??...
??Once everything was done, Chen Fan cheerfully descended from the Wall, heading toward the section battered by last night’s Flesh Maggot Ghost attack.
??The self-destructing Ghostbeasts had damaged that part of the Wall.
??It wasn’t too serious—nothing structural.
??Just then—
??Zhou Mo led his n through the pounding rain to the Camp’s outskirts and called out, “Station Master, we’re back!”
??Crippled Monkey hurried forward, tested them to confirm they weren’t impostors, then brought them to Chen Fan.
??“Station Master.”
??“We were a bit late—everyone at Qiuhe Wang Clan’s Waystation No. 16 hanged themselves last night.”
??“By the ti we got there, the bodies were cold.”
??“There’s only one Waystation left in the entire Wasteland... and it’s ours.”
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