City Wall

"..."

Chen Fan glanced at Wang Mazi's departing back, then took the bag Crippled Monkey handed him. Inside were all the Eerie Stones those people had just turned in. Of all the Chen Family station chiefs, Wang Mazi was the only one he knew.

In his memories, the former owner of this body had once been deeply grateful to Wang Mazi. That was because he had accidentally overheard Wang Mazi say, "The young master is actually quite pitiful too." The former owner had felt gratitude because of that and had specifically asked around for information about Wang Mazi.

Grateful?

He weighed the bag in his hand and merely chuckled without saying a word.

The six men had fairly modest means. There were 176 Eerie Stones in the bag altogether.

Added to the 200 Eerie Stones he already had, that made 376 Eerie Stones in total.

That exceeded the 320 Eerie Stones required to build a City Wall. Before nightfall, he could build one and make tonight a little safer.

Only—

Wang Kui alone had contributed 137 Eerie Stones, while the six of them combined had only contributed 176. He did not know whether their family fortunes truly could not compare with Wang Kui's, or whether they had kept a little nest egg for themselves.

He did not say anything more.

He merely looked toward the City Wall blueprint on the panel.

Building this structure only required Eerie Stones. No other additional materials were needed.

"Whew."

Standing amid the torrential rain, Chen Fan slowly closed his eyes.

The next moment—

Several hundred Eerie Stones floated into the air and shattered one after another with a series of crackles. Milky-white liquid formed a galaxy in midair.

With the Eerie Fire at its center, a ring-shaped phantom City Wall formed from white lines suddenly rose from the ground. As the milky-white liquid flowed into the phantom, it began to solidify and take shape.

The wind was still blowing.

The rain was still falling.

Yet a ring-shaped City Wall had abruptly appeared, firmly protecting the Eerie Fire within it. It was made from enormous blocks of stone.

Five meters high, three meters wide.

One could smell its weighty, ancient simplicity just from its appearance.

It was quite sturdy.

This was the structure that had consumed the most resources he had built so far: a Stone Wall!

The ring-shaped Stone Wall had an inner diameter of ten meters, exactly matching the size of a Level-1 Eerie Fire Safety Zone.

There was no city gate; every seam was sealed tight.

Or rather, it had concealed gates. He could use his mind to lower any section of the City Wall into the ground, opening a passage for entry and exit. This ensured there were no weak points while still allowing people to come and go freely.

And—

On the inside of the City Wall, there were four stone stairways leading up to its top.

"..."

Chen Fan climbed the stone steps alone and walked onto the City Wall. The solid sensation beneath his feet made him quite satisfied.

The top of the City Wall was three meters wide.

Wide at the bottom and narrow at the top.

The wall top was not pointed, but instead left a solid runway about two meters wide.

On the outer side of the runway stood a breast-high battlement wall, while on the inner side there were even sheltered alcoves where people could rest.

"Not bad."

After a while.

Standing atop the City Wall and looking down over the entire camp, Chen Fan suddenly smiled. Both hands resting on the battlement wall, he looked toward the Farmland outside. This was his first time overlooking the camp from this angle.

The Eerie Fire was now Level 2, and the Safety Zone had a diameter of twenty meters.

The reason he had built a City Wall with a diameter of only ten meters was initially simply because he lacked the resources to protect the entire camp. But now, it seemed that by a strange twist of fate, he had made the right choice.

If the City Wall had been built right along the camp's edge, he would have had almost no outward field of view.

When Strange Entities attacked, they would be right at the city gates.

But now... he had ample visibility. The instant Strange Entities charged into the camp, he could see them from atop the City Wall. There was still some distance between the camp's edge and the wall, and that distance gave them enough time to react.

The helpless choice born of insufficient resources had instead become a rather correct decision.

And—

He looked toward the panel for the "City Wall" structure.

To upgrade this ring of City Wall to Level 2 would require 1,600 Eerie Stones. He definitely could not afford that for now.

The City Wall was already taller than the Arrow Towers.

That meant the Arrow Towers could not attack structures outside the City Wall.

However, the City Wall had several reserved slots that could be used to install various defensive structures. He could directly place the two Arrow Towers beside the camp's Eerie Fire onto the City Wall.

No additional resources were needed.

He only needed a thought.

The next moment!

The two Level-2 Arrow Towers beside the camp's Eerie Fire suddenly turned into milky-white light and slowly dissipated. Immediately afterward, an Arrow Tower phantom appeared at both the southern and northern sections of the City Wall, gradually solidifying.

In the blink of an eye.

The two Level-2 Arrow Towers inside the camp had been placed atop the City Wall.

For him, who could directly see the structure panels, this was an exceedingly simple matter. But for native Builders, it was sheer fantasy, something utterly impossible to accomplish.

There were 56 Eerie Stones left.

Chen Fan looked at the Farmland outside the City Wall and sighed. The plot was five meters long and five meters wide. If they squeezed it in, it could barely fit inside the City Wall.

But there was no way to relocate it.

He could only hope there would not be too many Strange Entities tonight. His crops still needed two days to mature, and he did not want the Farmland destroyed before the fruit had even ripened.

"..."

Wang Mazi, who was dismantling the Wooden Hut, stared dazedly at Chen Fan's back atop the City Wall. In the pouring rain, Chen Fan's back remained straight as a ramrod. He had not spoken one unnecessary word, yet Wang Mazi seemed to see countless emotions in that silhouette.

After swallowing with difficulty, Wang Mazi looked at the several-meter-high, incomparably solid Stone Wall and took a deep breath before calling loudly to the men beside him.

"Pack the bedding and everything else into the porcelain jars and seal them up. Be careful not to let any water get in."

"Station Chief Qi, you need to speed things up on your end too."

Station Chief Qi.

Of the three station chiefs Wang Kui had brought back, he was the last one.

This Wooden Hut was quite crude and not difficult to dismantle. The main concern was keeping the bedding and similar items from getting soaked.

"Got it!"

After Station Chief Qi nodded crisply in agreement, he efficiently rolled up his sleeves and began dismantling the hut in the rain. His eyes brimmed with drive and hope. The instant this City Wall rose, a glimmer of hope had appeared in everyone's eyes.

A hope of surviving.

This was a Builder!

Builders were people every faction was willing to pay a huge price to fight over. As long as they had a certain amount of resources, they could create miracles!

Any faction that wanted to rise needed a Builder. A faction without a Builder was nothing but duckweed without roots, liable to vanish without a trace at any moment.

And now—

Chen Fan had already walked out of the City Wall and placed one Beast Trap beside the Farmland. He wanted to protect his Farmland as much as possible.

"Little sprouts."

He squatted beside the Farmland and looked at the tender seedlings that had broken through the soil. Muttering softly, he said, "You must work hard to survive. This little rain definitely can't knock you down, right?"

The seeds had already sprouted.

They looked fairly sturdy and had not been blown into disarray by the fierce wind and rain.

But they probably would not be able to withstand the impact of the Strange Tide.

(End of Chapter)