Heaven's Gift Refused Brings Calamity

Less than two hours remained before Eternal Night descended.

Inside the camp's wooden hut.

Zhou Mo stood inside, reporting, "Stationmaster, today's haul was pretty good. We made a run through two destroyed stations in one go and brought back 218 Eerie Stones. Both stations had quite a few Eerie Stones inside."

"The stationmasters probably pinched pennies and couldn't bear to spend them while alive, only for us to benefit from them after their deaths."

"We also brought back plenty of food and other useful resources."

"However."

"There aren't many nearby stations left. The remaining stations are all quite far away, so we might not be able to make a round trip within a day."

"..."

Chen Fan sat in his chair, gazing at the Ghosthide Map hanging on the wall, his eyes narrowing slightly.

That was indeed a problem.

After all, their legs could only carry them so far.

The Rainy Season had arrived early. Aside from the stations around the Wasteland that had managed to evacuate in time, none of the remaining stations had escaped in time. They had all been destroyed out in the wilderness, and those ruined stations often contained plenty of neglected Eerie Stones and resources they desperately needed.

This was all unclaimed wealth bestowed by heaven.

As the ancients said.

If heaven offered it and one refused to take it, one would instead suffer the blame.

There were nearly thirty abandoned stations. Even if each held only a hundred Eerie Stones, that would add up to three thousand Eerie Stones—a rather staggering fortune, enough to upgrade his City Wall to Level 2.

He was truly tempted.

But—

Their lack of mobility was also a difficult problem to solve.

Their travel speed was limited to begin with, and with the Rainy Season upon them, travel had become even more difficult. Unless... they had some means of transportation.

The most common means of transportation in this world were horses, camels, and the like.

They were the main means of transport for merchant guilds.

Or there was that man in green robes he had encountered. As an advanced Cultivator who had mastered the corresponding cultivation technique, he could cover dozens of meters in a single step, looking exceptionally carefree.

He possessed neither.

"There's no rush."

After pondering for a while, Chen Fan said softly, "First, empty out the resources from the nearby abandoned stations. As for the distant ones, I'll think of something. Has anything unusual happened in the Wasteland? Is it any different from outside the Rainy Season?"

"There actually is something."

Zhou Mo said somewhat puzzledly, "On the way back to camp, I saw an egg, about the size of an ostrich egg. Its shell looked soft, and it was just lying there all alone in the Wasteland."

"I figured there were no living creatures in the Wasteland. What kind of animal could lay an egg there?"

"I had just walked over to take a look."

"When that egg suddenly cracked open, spilling out a pile of foul-smelling egg fluid."

"..."

Chen Fan remained expressionless and silent for a long while before saying softly, "Go outside and get rained on a little longer."

"That egg may have belonged to a Strange Entity. I can't smell anything on you, but I don't know whether Strange Entities can. Let the rain wash away as much of your scent as possible, so you don't bring disaster to the camp."

As soon as he finished speaking.

Zhou Mo's expression changed slightly. He instantly realized the severity of the problem and, not daring to delay any longer, quickly left the wooden hut.

After Zhou Mo left.

Chen Fan began taking stock of the camp's existing resources.

They were not short on food, water, or similar resources for the time being.

They had 367 usable Eerie Stones, not counting the ones placed inside the Eerie Fire.

There were another 50 Eerie Stones in the Eerie Fire, reserved for daily maintenance and replenishing the Arrow Tower's consumption.

At present, the camp's entire Safety Zone had a diameter of twenty meters.

The core City Wall had a diameter of ten meters. The core area was small, but a smaller area also meant less expense to build the City Wall. Thus, he had placed many of the core buildings within the City Wall, while non-core buildings were placed outside it.

His plan afterward was to expand the camp's overall area.

While upgrading the entire existing City Wall to Level 2.

Then construct another ring of City Wall around the outside of the camp. That way, they would have two layers of protection. The first layer would protect the ordinary buildings, and if it fell, they could retreat into the core area.

Only.

His current resources were not enough to support that plan for now.

Obtaining Eerie Stones by killing Strange Entities was somewhat unreliable. He first needed to secure all the Eerie Stones from those destroyed stations in the wilderness.

Transportation.

"..."

An idea gradually surfaced in Chen Fan's mind, though it felt like its chance of success was somewhat low. The principle behind his 2.0 heating system was actually extremely simple. People in this world had simply never considered things from that direction, which was why they found it miraculous.

In essence, it merely used "wooden spikes" as Pistons triggered by pressure.

After thinking for a few breaths.

He took out two Eerie Stones and crafted another Beast Trap, then spent ten Eerie Stones to upgrade it to Level 2. This time, he chose the upgrade, "Ground Spikes retract faster."

He also crafted a Copper Pipe one meter thick.

He placed the Copper Pipe over the Ground Spikes.

Then he crafted another, thinner Copper Pipe, stood on the table, and repeatedly stabbed it against the "Ground Spikes" at the bottom of the thick Copper Pipe.

Every stab activated the Ground Spikes once.

And the Copper Pipe striking the Ground Spikes would be launched upward.

Releasing a burst of force.

Yes.

He was going to build a vehicle.

The core principle resembled an internal combustion engine. The difference was that instead of an internal combustion engine's "explosion of the fuel-air mixture" pushing a piston, he would use "Ground Spike" activation to push the piston.

An extremely crude "Ground Spike" engine had taken shape.

All he needed was a vehicle chassis, a "main drive shaft," and mechanisms such as gears and wheels, to convert the piston's reciprocating linear motion into rotational motion.

Then he could create an extremely crude means of transportation. It was hard to say how fast it would be, given the limitations of the Ground Spikes' triggering force and reset speed.

Gears?

This was a damn fantasy world. Where was he supposed to find something like gears? Besides, making gears required fairly sturdy, wear-resistant material, and his camp currently had no such material at all. Copper Pipe was not particularly durable; it was merely a construction module.

Wait—

His expression gradually turned strange.

Wasn't there still a pile of Mantis Entity material, "Mantis Arms," stacked in the warehouse?

He had tried them before. They were quite sturdy.

Give it a try?

Give it a try!

Chen Fan immediately jumped down from the table, picked up the thick Copper Pipe and Ground Spikes from the floor, and headed outside. If the experiment succeeded, all the resources in those destroyed stations around the Wasteland would be his.

That was at least several thousand Eerie Stones in income!

A little over an hour remained before Eternal Night.

There was still plenty of time.

After receiving the order, everyone in the camp began bustling about.

Chen Fan first spent another two Eerie Stones to build a brand-new Wooden Hut. Wang Mazi led his men in tearing apart the hut with a clatter, salvaging as many intact wooden boards as possible, then trimming and assembling them.

Qi Chong led his men in digging through the Farmland for a long while before excavating the Monkey-Head Entity buried at the deepest point and skinning it.

Zhou Mo likewise squatted beside the Farmland, one hand holding the blueprint given by the Stationmaster as he stared at it with a headache, the other gripping a Great Knife as he began chopping and dismantling the bones before him.

This was the corpse of a Bamboo Pole Entity.

Its whole body was long and thin.

Its bones were likewise slender and hard, making them perfect as drive shafts.

Crippled Monkey had attended a private school for several years and had a relatively nimble mind. Holding the blueprint, he went around inspecting everything one by one and constantly making adjustments.

(End of Chapter)