Chapter 39: “You can fucking do that?”

"The ancestors really weren't wrong."

"There's strength in numbers."

There was only the time it took an incense stick to burn before Eternal Night descended.

Outside the camp, amid the cold rain, Chen Fan looked at the extremely crude, ramshackle "little cart" before him and let out a long, emotional breath. Once everyone in the camp got moving, this world's first cart had been born in about two hours.

The bones of a Bamboo Pole Entity formed the transmission shaft framework.

Several fairly flat wooden planks had been nailed together to form the vehicle's body.

There was no chassis, no windows.

Just a solitary, thick wooden board, around thirty centimeters thick.

Set into the center of the board was a sturdy Copper Pipe about twenty centimeters tall, most of it shaved away and fitted flush into the board. At the bottom of the pipe sat a Ground Spikes trap wrapped in monkey hide, serving as a "Ground Spikes engine" and the power source.

Besides that—

There were several gears carved from Mantis Blades, installed beneath the board and linked through the transmission shaft to four wheels. The wheels were made of wood, their exteriors wrapped in Monkey-Head Entity hide.

And in the center of the board, directly above the "engine," there was a slimmer Copper Pipe serving as the control lever.

As long as someone kept pressing that Copper Pipe down by hand, the Ground Spikes would activate.

The transmission shaft would convert the thrust generated by the Ground Spikes through the gears into rotational motion for the wheels, pushing the wooden board forward.

But.

"..."

Chen Fan's mouth twitched slightly. It was simply too crude. At present, they had no idea how fast it could go, and he absolutely could not guarantee its durability. It might fall apart the moment it started, or it might work normally only to break down halfway after leaving the camp.

"Zhou Mo, give it a try."

"I'll do it!"

There was not a shred of fear in Zhou Mo's eyes. Instead, he eagerly jumped onto the wooden board and, under the watchful eyes of Crippled Monkey and the others, slowly gripped the slender Copper Pipe the station chief had named the "control lever."

Then he stabbed it down hard.

At once!

The Ground Spikes activated.

The thrust traveled all the way along the transmission shaft to the gears, driving the wheels into rotation.

The vehicle moved.

Zhou Mo's eyes lit up. Feeling the Ground Spikes beneath him rapidly spring back, he drove the slender Copper Pipe in his hand downward again. The thrust once more traveled along the transmission shaft to the wheels, sending them spinning rapidly.

Once, twice, three times.

The wheels gradually began to spin faster.

That extremely crude wooden-plank cart quickly sped out of the camp and raced toward the Wasteland beyond. The wooden wheels wrapped in Monkey-Head Entity hide adapted quite well to the Wasteland's terrain.

"Ohoho!!"

Everyone gradually turned to look at Zhou Mo's disappearing back as they listened to his excited roar from afar.

"It's that fast!?"

Disbelief flashed through Crippled Monkey's eyes as he muttered, "That's much faster than an ordinary camel. It's nearly as fast as a horse, and it doesn't even tire you out."

"Actually, it's still a little tiring."

Chen Fan sighed helplessly. The control lever had to be manually driven into the Ground Spikes again and again. It was physical labor. At any rate, he could not manage many thrusts himself.

Just then—

Zhou Mo's terrified roar came from the rainy distance. "Station chief, how do I stop?!"

There was only half an incense stick's time before Eternal Night descended. If he ran too far at a time like this, he could only find somewhere to wait for death.

"Let go!"

"It's still moving after I let go!"

"Wait a while after letting go."

The wooden-plank cart gradually came to a stop, and Zhou Mo's roar sounded through the rain again. "Station chief, how do I turn around?"

"Jump down, lift the cart, and move it around until it faces the camp."

Braking relied entirely on releasing the throttle.

Steering relied entirely on manually moving the cart.

There was no helping it.

With such crude conditions, this was all they could do.

Not long after.

Zhou Mo, standing on the board, excitedly steered the cart back toward the camp. But he misjudged it; even though he had released the control lever in advance, the vehicle still shot past the camp again under its momentum.

Only after Zhou Mo, panting heavily, hoisted the entire cart onto his shoulder and carried it back to the camp did he look at Chen Fan with an excited face. "Station chief!"

"With this thing, I can go to farther stations and bring back more Eerie Stones and resources!"

"You're pretty strong too."

Chen Fan glanced at Zhou Mo. "This is only a first-generation prototype. Over the next few days, have Qi Chong and the other one drive this thing around nearby a few times while they farm during the day and see whether anything goes wrong."

"You'll keep going to the nearby stations these next few days."

"I'll give it to you after the testing is done."

"So it doesn't fall apart halfway through your trip and leave you unable to return."

Still.

Only Zhou Mo could use this thing. No one else truly had Zhou Mo's kind of strength.

Once they ran out of strength, the engine would stall.

When there was time later, they could optimize it and see if they could make it automatic, without requiring human labor.

"Alright!"

"It's almost dark. Those who should sleep, sleep. Those who should go up on the City Wall, go up. Dismissed."

Half an incense stick later.

Endless darkness swept in once more, shrouding the entire world. Only the light cast by Eerie Fire formed a Safety Zone, enveloping the camp within it.

On the City Wall.

Chen Fan stood inside the crude rain shelter Qi Chong had built on the wall that day. Feeling the cool night wind and fine threads of rain, he looked toward the gray mist outside the camp, wondering whether tonight would be as calm as last night.

"They're here!"

Almost the instant night fell, Chen Fan saw one Strange Entity after another gradually emerge from the gray mist.

There were Monkey-Head Entities.

There were Bamboo Pole Entities.

There were also Mantis Entities.

And their familiar old friend: the female wraith seated in a sedan chair carried by four Bamboo Pole Entities.

It was still this same group—oh no, still this same batch of wraiths!

But compared with last time, there were far more Strange Entities. There had only been nearly a hundred last time, but tonight, there were over three hundred at a glance. They surrounded the camp from every direction, prepared to attack at any moment.

Clearly.

The reason last night had been so calm was most likely because the female wraith had intercepted all the Strange Entities passing through nearby.

Huh?

Why were there also nearly a hundred Meatworm Wraiths tied up and thrown onto the ground, constantly struggling before the mass of Strange Entities?

Had the Strange Entities started fighting among themselves?

"Everything's ready."

Chen Fan turned to look at the ten Level-2 Arrow Towers and two Level-3 Arrow Towers installed on the City Wall, relaxing slightly. They should be able to hold. He still had over three hundred Eerie Stones; if things went wrong, he could raise the camp's strength again at any time!

That female wraith clearly possessed a certain degree of intelligence. Perhaps she believed the reason for her previous failure was that she had sent out her subordinates in scattered waves, dispersing her forces. That was why the Strange Entities had only just gathered near the camp this time.

Accompanied by a burst of ear-piercing, crazed laughter, they launched their full assault.

There was no probing, no feint.

Three-meter-tall Bamboo Pole Entities strode out of the gray mist toward the camp, their speed constantly increasing. The instant they charged into the camp, they casually grabbed the Meatworm Wraiths beside them and hurled them with all their strength at the City Wall inside the camp.

Several Arrow Towers on the City Wall immediately activated.

Crossbow bolts struck the Meatworm Wraiths tracing parabolic arcs through the air with perfect accuracy.

They exploded into blossoms of ghostly green flame in midair.

But some slipped through the net, smashing heavily and directly against the City Wall. The instant their ghostly green liquid burst open, the wall began to corrode. Before long, the struck areas became pitted and scarred.

They were using the Meatworm Wraiths as grenades.

And damn.

It worked pretty well.

"Fuck!"

Chen Fan crouched low behind the battlements, poking his head out to watch the explosions erupting in the air beyond the wall. He could not help but curse angrily.

"You can fucking play it like this too?"

He finally knew what that female wraith had been doing last night!

So she had been following the Meatworm Wraith Tide and kidnapping a batch of Meatworm Wraiths to use as grenades.

(End of Chapter)