When Soldiers Come, Generals Block; When Water Comes, Earth Dams

If this group could all be trained successfully, the camp's core framework would finally begin to take shape.

This late-night talk was not only meant to let everyone get acquainted with one another.

There was another important purpose.

It was to gauge these people's character and abilities.

So far, things looked good. Everyone had something they were good at.

As for him.

He was good at discovering what others were good at.

Just as everyone was chatting enthusiastically, the voices suddenly stopped, and the room fell deathly quiet.

A wave of palpitations instantly surged into everyone's hearts.

Chen Fan rose and walked to the entrance of the Wooden Hut. He pushed open the door and looked toward the darkness rapidly sweeping in from the distant horizon. "It's here," he said softly.

Then, without the slightest hesitation, he quickly took off his dry clothes, changed into the still-damp, dripping hemp garments by the door, grabbed a spear from the nearby weapon rack, and walked into the heavy rain.

Even after they had moved the resources from the other stations into the camp,

there were still not many clothes.

Changing before going out ensured there would always be a dry set of clothes inside. Otherwise, wearing damp clothes all the time would leave them covered in rashes.

Crippled Monkey was the first to react.

He swiftly changed clothes, gripped the Godslaying Spear in his hand, and limped into the rainy night, staying close behind Chen Fan. There were simply too many people in the camp now. Though everyone appeared to have submitted to the young master,

people's hearts were separated by their bellies, and many things were impossible to predict.

He had to remain at the young master's side at all times, lest someone strike at him from the shadows.

The others also quickly changed and rushed into the rainy night.

On the City Wall.

Chen Fan and the others stood behind the battlements with all manner of weapons in hand, facing the torrential rain as they looked beyond the camp.

Eternal Night descended, and darkness completely swallowed the entire camp.

Above them and all around them was unfathomably deep darkness.

Only the glow cast by the Eerie Fire covered the entire camp like an eggshell.

These weapons had all been brought by the other station leaders when they defected. They were ordinary weapons, capable of harming low-level Strange Entities, but they would be of little use against high-level ones.

Weapons like the Exotic Treasure Crippled Monkey held could also be quite effective against high-level Strange Entities.

"Rustle, rustle, rustle."

Waves of faint rustling sounded from the darkness outside the camp, like a tide of insects passing through. They could not see through the darkness, but the sounds reached them with perfect clarity.

The sheer number alone was enough to fill them with fear.

Zhou Mo instinctively held his breath and clenched the hilt of his blade, terrified that even the slightest sound would draw the Strange Entities from the darkness into the camp.

Screech.

A harsh, piercing sound suddenly rang out from the darkness, like fingernails repeatedly scraping across rust-covered sheet iron, sharp enough to grate on the ears.

"..."

Chen Fan frowned slightly and involuntarily tightened his grip on his spear. Tonight was far too different from the previous nights. There had never been such a huge commotion before. He had originally been somewhat confident, but now even he did not know whether they could hold out.

The next moment—

A burst of laughter suddenly came from the darkness.

The voice was incredibly high-pitched.

There was not the slightest hint of joy in that laughter, only the madness of avenging a great grievance and destroying everything. Mixed with the faint rustle of rain, it sent a chill crawling up everyone's backs. Wang Kui's legs were already trembling, his face on the verge of tears.

Though they had not seen a single Strange Entity, their minds were already under immense pressure.

Immediately after,

the high-pitched laughter that had swept through everything like a raging storm abruptly became deep and low. Intermittent sobbing lingered by their ears. The crying was not loud, yet it struck straight at their souls.

The laughter became increasingly shrill, like countless female ghosts laughing over one another, surging into the camp like a tsunami. Just as everyone's minds were nearly pushed to their limits,

the laughter abruptly ceased.

Then they saw dozens of Strange Entities charge out of the darkness and into the camp, baring their fangs and brandishing their claws as they rushed toward the City Wall. They were humanoid Strange Entities, incredibly tall—more than three meters tall—and thin as bamboo poles.

Their arms were extremely long, nearly reaching their ankles.

Their sharp, elongated fingers flashed with a ghastly white gleam.

They were Strange Entities none of them had ever seen before.

At the same time—

The two nearest Level-2 Arrow Towers atop the City Wall turned their ballistae in unison, aiming at the dozens of Strange Entities that had rushed into the camp. As the ballistae atop the towers jolted violently,

a bolt nearly as thick as a baby's forearm became a black streak, cutting through the rain. With the force of thunder and a shrill whistle, it shot from the string.

"Whoosh!"

The bolt pierced straight through the chest of the Strange Entity charging at the front, pinning it firmly to the ground. The bamboo-pole-like Strange Entity merely twitched a few times before falling still.

Bolt after bolt shot forth.

Before long, all twenty-odd Strange Entities had been killed. Only one managed to reach the foot of the City Wall, but even its full-force swipe failed to leave so much as a white mark on the Stone Wall.

"Whew."

Seeing this,

Chen Fan let out a relieved breath. Only now did the heart he had kept tightly strung loosen slightly. He pulled his hand from his chest and looked down at the twenty-odd Strange Entity corpses in the camp with a smile. He had even spotted an item glowing white beside one of them.

That was an Exotic Treasure.

An Exotic Treasure had finally dropped again.

After crafting all the traps and Wooden Huts during the day, he had three Eerie Stones left.

While Wang Kui had gone to the two abandoned stations to retrieve supplies, he had also brought back 127 Eerie Stones. These Eerie Stones had originally been the entire fortunes of the others, but once their stations had been breached, the stones became ownerless property.

It had all fallen into Chen Fan's lap.

He now had 130 Eerie Stones in total.

He had not used these 130 Eerie Stones immediately, saving them as emergency resources.

If there were too many Strange Entities later and the two Arrow Towers could not handle them, he would build more Arrow Towers. If powerful Strange Entities appeared and Level-2 Arrow Towers had trouble dealing with them, he would use these Eerie Stones to upgrade the Arrow Towers to Level 3.

He had room to advance and retreat.

When soldiers came, generals would block; when water came, earth would dam.

Only then could he handle everything with ease.

The Farmland was on the left. This batch of Strange Entities had ignored the Farmland entirely, so they naturally had not triggered the five Ground Spikes traps at its front. Tonight's primary task was ensuring the camp's safety, while the secondary task was ensuring the Farmland's safety.

When this wave of Strange Entities had all been slaughtered beneath the City Wall by the Arrow Towers,

everyone finally lowered the hearts that had nearly leapt into their throats. Then they gradually grew excited. The camp seemed... seemed very safe!

"Station Leader!"

Wang Kui leaned excitedly over the battlement and looked at the Strange Entity corpses below. "From the looks of it, even if the number of Strange Entities doubled, we could still hold them off."

He had originally addressed Chen Fan as young master, but Chen Fan had told them to simply call him Station Leader. Young master was unsuitable.

So he had changed how he addressed him.

"..."

Chen Fan narrowed his eyes slightly as he looked into the depths of the darkness. Though the City Wall and Arrow Towers seemed highly effective, he did not let down his guard. He knew clearly that this was merely an appetizer.

If nothing else,

that eerie laughter had definitely not come from those bamboo-pole-like Strange Entities. That meant there was still a powerful Strange Entity lurking in the darkness, eyeing the camp like a tiger watching its prey and ready to charge in at any moment.

(End of Chapter)