"I'll name this defensive layout the Meat Grinder."

"It's time to go back."

Chen Fan stood alone on the Wasteland, glanced around, mounted his horse, and rode back to the Camp at full speed along the Copper Pipe.

The Copper Pipe is in the open position.

The "Gentle Clearwind Formation" within the Camp area made his movements on the Wasteland extremely smooth, like driving on Highway.

Just returned to Camp.

They happened to run into Zhou Mo, who was riding Skeleton Horse and pulling several Handcart, who had just returned to the Camp.

"Station Master."

Upon seeing Chen Fan return, Zhou Mo immediately went to greet him, somewhat excitedly saying, "There's Copper Pipe connecting here to the Old Camp, making the journey much faster than before. Plus, I saw quite a few Strange Entities corpses at the Old Camp."

"In the past few days, many Strange Entities have attacked the Old Camp."

"The Strange Entities are still rampant during the Rainy Season."

"There were approximately three hundred Strange Entities corpses, but none of them were particularly Strange Entities, nor were there any Exotic Treasure or anything like that."

"Um."

Chen Fan nodded and chuckled, "Just leave the body to Wang Kui to handle."

The Camp now has a complete procedure for handling corpses.

The Eerie Stone was dug out and placed in the Warehouse.

All usable Ghost Material from the corpses were removed, the blood was drained and placed in containers, some corpses were buried in Farmland, some were sent to the Sacrificial Tower, and some were roasted. Apart from the lack of manpower, the whole process was fine.

Inside the Camp.

Chen Fan was taking stock of the Camp's assets. Today, five Unmanned Outpost were built, and there were currently 3,155 Eerie Stone remaining in the Camp.

There aren't many Eerie Stone left.

Let's see how the Unmanned Outpost fared tomorrow.

As for now.

He controlled the Level-5 Cannon Tower standing on the Blockhouse outside the City Wall, aiming at a point about thirty meters above the ground on the top of the City Wall, and blasted a shallow crater.

"Hello."

After doing all this, he looked at the Crocodile waiting to be fed. The Crocodile seemed to have taken "feed" as its name. Every time he called "feed, "the Crocodile would look at him and waddle over to him on the ground, quietly lying down next to the mound of earth.

"Could you go into Cave One and dig a passage inside leading to that shallow pit?"

Just as he was about to use his body language to explain in more detail, he saw the Crocodile look up at the shallow pit high on the rock wall, open its mouth, and a thin stream of Green Grade liquid hit the pit straight and accurately. Then it quickly climbed to the outside of the City Wall of Cave No. 1 and looked back at him, indicating that he should open the City Wall.

"Did you really understand or are you just pretending? Don't try to confuse me."

Chen Fan hesitated for a moment before concealing the City Wall and letting the Crocodile enter Cave No. 1.

About the time it takes for Incense Stick to burn.

"Bang."

Suddenly, a Crocodile's head popped out of a shallow pit in the rock wall above the City Wall, thirty meters above the ground, and quickly disappeared again. Then, the Crocodile ran quickly out of the Cave to him, slapping its tail to show off.

The entrance to Cave No. 1 is located 30 meters above the ground.

Chen Fan led Zhou Mo and the others here along the passage.

"Oh my god..."

Wang Kui cautiously peered out of the cave entrance, lying prone on the ground, and looked down at the bottom of the Canyon. After a quick glance, he pulled his head back in, saying, "This is too high. If I fall, it'll probably hurt."

"..."

Chen Fan didn't approach the cave entrance, afraid of falling in. He stood at the back, peering down into the Canyon, his eyes full of satisfaction. That guy's efficiency was even higher than he had imagined. Compared to a major project like digging a main Cave, this smaller-scale tunnel was even faster.

"How did that Crocodile pinpoint the Station Master mark you gave it?"

King Mazi scratched the back of his head, his face full of confusion.

"It must be based on that saliva." Zhou Mo answered King Mazi's question before turning to Chen Fan: "But Station Master, is it really necessary for us to place a Cannon Tower at such a high place?"

"I feel our Camp is safe enough now."

Of course.

Chen Fan turned his head to look at Zhou Mo: "Do you remember how the Old Camp was destroyed?"

"The City Wall aren't high enough; they can't withstand the lantern attacks from the leader of the Funeral Wraith Chief."

"No."

Chen Fan shook his head. "That's part of the reason. The main reason is that the number of Arrow Tower that can be placed on the City Wall is limited. The City Wall is only so big, and the number of Arrow Tower you can place is limited. If the firepower is sufficient, even if the Funeral Wraith Chief can split, it will be instantly killed after reaching the split limit."

"A fall into a pit, a gain in your wit."

We must not repeat the same mistakes.

"Our current defenses are indeed high enough, but defenses can never completely protect us. Even the best defenses will eventually be worn down. What we need to do is, after we withstand the enemy's first wave of attacks, crush them with firepower."

"The bottom of this Canyon has natural Cliff Face on all four sides."

"These are all excellent Cannon Tower placement locations."

"As long as we place enough Cannon Tower around the Cliff Face and high up the rock walls of the Canyon Passage, this place will be Impenetrable Fortress, and no one will be able to breach it."

He finished speaking.

He used a White Mourning Lantern and 480 Eerie Stone to build a Level-5 Cannon Tower at the cave entrance. He then used the few Copper Pipe he had left over from the day to lay them along the inside of the passage, connecting them to Level-5 Eerie Fire to provide energy for the Cannon Tower.

Another 60 Eerie Stone were used to build a one-meter-long Level-2 City Wall at the cave entrance, which perfectly covered the entrance.

The upgrade path for the Level-2 City Wall was chosen to perfectly blend it with the surrounding scenery.

Chen Fan and the others returned to the bottom of the Canyon.

Looking up at the opening thirty meters above the ground, there was no flaw visible from the outside; the City Wall and the rock face were completely integrated.

The moment the City Wall is breached, this hidden high Cannon Tower will unleash a torrent of fire.

"Station Master..."

Zhou Mo stared blankly at the scene before him. "The Camp range provided by the Eerie Fire is only fifty meters at most. If we place Cannon Tower above fifty meters, we won't be able to attack the Strange Entities that have entered the Camp's range."

The Camp provided by the Eerie Fire has height restrictions.

Fifty meters.

However, almost no one cares about this data, since it's rarely used.

"That's easy."

Chen Fan calmly said in a low voice, "By building another Eerie Fire fifty meters above the ground, we can extend the height by another 50 meters. Repeating this operation can extend the height of the Camp's area indefinitely. These Eerie Fire are not activated under normal circumstances; they will only be activated when a major enemy is encountered."

"The cost of starting it up once would be very high..."

Zhou Mo hesitated.

This means that once these Eerie Fire are activated, they will all become one-time structures. According to the Station Master's plan, a large number of Cannon Tower will be deployed throughout the Canyon Passage, including the four Cliff Face at the bottom of the Canyon. At least 100 Eerie Fire will be needed, which will consume about 6,000 Eerie Stone based on the prices in North River Market.

This is the cost of Level-1 Eerie Fire. The Camp area provided by Level-1 Eerie Fire is definitely not enough to support this plan. At least Level 2 or Level-3 Eerie Fire is needed, and the cost of the Eerie Fire alone is astronomical.

"The cost will be a bit higher."

Chen Fan smiled and said, "But these Eerie Fire are not usually activated. Once activated, it means we've reached a life-or-death moment. I've named this deployment 'Meat Grinder'."

"The moment the Meat Grinder starts, if we lose, it doesn't matter how big the cost is."

"If we win."

"An enemy that warrants our 'Meat Grinder' will surely bring us a great reward."

Moreover...

With the Endless Night Lord Panel, he only needs 3 Eerie Stone to build a basic Eerie Fire.

For him.

The cost wasn't particularly high.