Chapter 34: “Man Proposes, Heaven Disposes. I’ve Done All I Can.”
????“Mm.”
??Chen Fan regarded Zhou Mo, who stood before him, weary and soaked from the storm. Zhou Mo’s face, already carved with hardship, was now flushed red from the biting wind and rain, his lips tinged with blue—a clear sign he was at his limit.
??Anyone else would have collapsed after enduring such weather for so long.
??Especially with the relentless pressure of making it back to Camp before nightfall.
??After a pause, Chen Fan spoke softly.
??“A sha, truly.”
??“You’ve done well—running back and forth in this weather. Go inside, change into sothing dry, and warm yourself by the fire.”
??“It’s nothing.”
??Zhou Mo shook his head, pulling a burlap pouch from his coat and nodding to the subordinate behind him. “All the Ghoststones from that Camp are here—forty-eight in total. He helped
gather them. Everything else of value, I loaded onto the cart and brought back. It should all be of use.”
??“Good.”
??Chen Fan smiled as he took the pouch.
??He understood the real ssage behind Zhou Mo’s words.
??“Go get so rest.”
??...
??One hour until nightfall.
??Ti was running out.
??Chen Fan made his way alone to the section of the Wall that had been damaged by the Flesh Maggot Ghosts the previous night. The green, viscous fluid left by their explosions had pitted the stone, leaving fist-sized holes scattered across the three-ter-thick Wall.
??But this level of damage was trivial.
??After all, only a handful of those creatures had made it through.
??The next mont—
??Within the Camp, the Wall shimred, transforming into a translucent schematic woven from white lines. In this ghostly projection, Chen Fan could clearly see several broken strands in the damaged section—each one marking a spot in need of repair.
??—
??[Repair Cost: 1 Ghoststone.]
??—
??“Not a bad price.”
??Chen Fan fished a Ghoststone from his pocket and crushed it. The stone dissolved into a milky liquid, which slowly flowed into the projected outline before him. The severed white lines began to knit themselves back together, visibly nding at astonishing speed.
??A few breaths later—
??The phantom schematic solidified, and the Wall before him was whole once more—restored to its original state.
??“I wonder how other Builders repair their Walls.”
??Chen Fan glanced at the darkening sky, murmuring to himself. For him, with the System Panel, repairs were as effortless as breathing. But what about those Builders who couldn’t see the Panel? How did they manage?
??Surely, they weren’t rebuilding entire sections from scratch every ti.
??He knew for a fact that Jiangbei City was a natural Ghostfire Zone—massive in scale, with its three major factions joining forces to encircle the entire city with a Wall far larger than his own. If there were no way to repair the Wall, the cost of maintenance would be unimaginable.
??He didn’t dwell on it.
??Instead, he checked his Ghoststone reserves.
??Five hundred and eight Ghoststones.
??A considerable amount, but nowhere near enough to upgrade the entire Wall to Level 2—the upgrade would require 1,600 Ghoststones. Still, it was more than sufficient to bolster the Camp’s defenses.
??There were currently two Level 3 Arrow Towers on the Wall.
??Formidable, but still not enough.
??Constructing a Level 1 Arrow Tower cost 10 Ghoststones each.
??Chen Fan spent 100 Ghoststones to build ten Level 1 Arrow Towers, arranging them neatly in the notches behind the Wall’s battlents.
??All ten were made entirely of wood—fragile, and far from powerful.
??He then spent another 200 Ghoststones, upgrading all ten towers to Level 2.
??As the Ghoststones dissolved into milky liquid, the towers began to transform, as if coming alive—wooden fras swelling and fusing with stone, their structures growing sturdier. When the Upgrade Path appeared, he selected the sa option for each:
??[Enhance Ballista Power.]
??He then used 26 Ghoststones to forge a 26-ter-long Copper Pipe, linking the ten Arrow Towers to the central Ghostfire at the heart of the Camp.
??He had already connected the two Level 3 Arrow Towers to the Ghostfire, so now he only needed to run the Copper Pipe along the Wall, connecting the new towers in sequence.
??The shortest route, the most efficient use of resources.
??In the next mont—
??The Copper Pipe beneath each Arrow Tower base glowed white, then swiftly rged into the Wall itself.
??Chen Fan placed 50 Ghoststones into the Ghostfire as reserves.
??Enough to supply the daily consumption—and to power the Arrow Towers as well.
??With that—
??The Camp’s defenses had taken a qualitative leap.
??...
??Chen Fan stood atop the Wall, gazing at the line of Arrow Towers bristling above the battlents. He allowed himself a faint, satisfied smile. With this, the Camp’s safety had reached a whole new level.
??Only then did he look out at the horizon, speaking softly:
??“Man proposes, heaven disposes. I’ve done all I can.”
??“The rest... is up to the heavens.”
??He knew that even with all these reinforcents, if the Camp faced a full Ghostbeast Swarm of Flesh Maggot Ghosts, it still might not hold.
??After all his efforts, he had 132 Ghoststones left.
??He turned his gaze to a building on the System Panel—the one he’d never had enough Ghoststones to construct. Now, with so to spare, he could finally build it.
??The Sacrificial Tower.
??[Can be used to obtain Special Resources. Construction requires 20 Ghoststones.]
??He crushed 20 Ghoststones.
??A ghostly outline appeared before him—a miniature pagoda, barely a ter tall, ford from radiant white lines. Seven tiers, exquisitely wrought.
??The entire tower was made of bluestone, its eaves edged in dark red.
??He placed it beside the wooden hut.
??The Camp’s Wall ford a ten-ter-diater circle, leaving only a cramped space inside. Now, with the hut, Ghostfire, Watchtower, and Sacrificial Tower all squeezed in, it was getting a little crowded.
??But there was no choice—expanding the Wall would demand even more Ghoststones.
??For now, this would suffice. Adjustnts could wait for another day.
??Chen Fan regarded the tiny Sacrificial Tower before him. A System Panel appeared in the air:
??—
??[Sacrifice the corpses of Ghostbeasts to obtain Special Resources.]
??[The stronger and more nurous the corpses, the greater the value of the Special Resources obtained.]
??[This building cannot be upgraded.]
??—
??“Sacrifice, hmm?”
??Chen Fan nodded thoughtfully. Not a bad effect. Up until now, all the Ghostbeast corpses from recent battles had been buried in the Farmland as fertilizer—but that was becoming unmanageable.
??With the Sacrificial Tower, he finally had a way to handle the surplus.
??He made no further moves.
??Instead, he waited quietly for the Eternal Night to fall.
??...
??An hour later—
??That familiar, oppressive darkness crept in from the horizon, flooding the world like a tidal wave.
??The protective barrier—like an eggshell—enveloped the Camp once more.
??“Huh?”
??Crippled Monkey, crouched behind the battlents, was the first to notice sothing strange. The Safe Zone, normally a perfect circle, now bulged outward in one place. He blinked in confusion. “What the...?”
??“What’s up?”
??Chen Fan chuckled softly, gazing into the Gray Mist beyond the Camp and patiently awaiting the night’s Ghostbeast attack.
??That bulge outside the Safe Zone—that was his latest masterpiece!
??An inconspicuous little protrusion, but the starting point for all his wild architectural dreams yet to co.
??“...Why’s there a bump out there?”
??“...”
??Chen Fan shot Crippled Monkey a look, then turned away, face impassive. “Eyes open. Stay alert.”
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