City Wall

"..."

Chen Fan glanced at Wang Mazi's retreating back and took the bag Crippled Monkey handed him. It contained all the eerie stones those men had just turned over. Of all the Chen Family's Station Masters, Wang Mazi was the only one he knew.

In his memories, his predecessor had been deeply grateful to Wang Mazi. He had once overheard Wang Mazi say that the Young Master was actually quite pitiful, and that alone had earned his gratitude. He had even made a point of asking around about Wang Mazi.

Gratitude?

He hefted the bag in his hand and chuckled without a word.

These six men had modest reserves. There were 176 eerie stones in the bag.

Together with the 200 eerie stones he already had, that made 376.

That exceeded the 320 eerie stones needed to build the City Wall. He could put up a wall before nightfall and make tonight a little safer.

But...

Wang Kui alone had contributed 137 eerie stones, while these six combined had only contributed 176. He wondered whether their reserves really were that much smaller than Wang Kui's, or whether they had kept something back for themselves.

He said nothing more.

He simply looked at the City Wall blueprint on the panel.

Constructing this building only required eerie stones, with no other materials needed.

"Whew..."

Standing in the pouring Rain, Chen Fan slowly closed his eyes.

The next moment—

Hundreds of eerie stones floated into the air and shattered one after another with a barrage of cracks. Milky-White Grade liquid formed a river of stars in midair.

Centered on the Eerie Fire, the outline of a circular wall made of White Grade lines suddenly rose from the ground. As the milky-White Grade liquid flowed into it, the phantom wall began to solidify.

The wind still blew.

The Rain still fell.

But a circular wall had suddenly appeared, enclosing the Eerie Fire securely within its massive stone blocks.

Five meters tall and three meters wide.

Its appearance alone conveyed a sense of weight and ancient solidity.

It looked sturdy.

This was the most costly building he had constructed yet—the Stone Wall!

The circular Stone Wall had an inner diameter of ten meters, exactly the size of a Level-1 Eerie Fire's safety zone.

There was no gate, leaving the wall seamlessly sealed.

Or rather, it had concealed gates. With a thought, he could lower any section of the wall into the ground to create a passage. This ensured there were no weak points without hindering entry or exit.

And—

There were four Stone Steps along the inside of the wall, leading up to the top.

"..."

Chen Fan climbed the Stone Steps alone. The solid feel beneath his feet left him quite satisfied.

The top of the wall was three meters wide.

It was broader at the bottom and narrower at the top.

Rather than rising to a narrow peak, the wall had a solid walkway about two meters wide along its top.

Chest-high Parapet lined the outer edge of the walkway, and there were even Troop Shelter Caves on the inner side where people could rest.

"Pretty good."

A while later.

Standing atop the wall and looking down over the entire Camp, Chen Fan suddenly smiled. He rested both hands on the Parapet and gazed at the Farmland outside the wall. This was the first time he had viewed the Camp from this angle.

The Eerie Fire was now a Level 2 Eerie Fire, with a safety zone twenty meters in diameter.

He had built a wall only ten meters in diameter simply because he lacked the resources to enclose the entire Camp. Now, though, it seemed he had stumbled into the right choice.

If he had built the wall right along the Camp's boundary, he would have had almost no view of the outside.

The moment Strange Entities attacked, they would be right at the foot of the wall.

But now.

He had a clear view. As soon as Strange Entities entered the Camp, he could see them from atop the wall. There were still ten meters between the Camp's boundary and the wall, giving them enough time to react.

A compromise forced by a lack of resources had turned out to be a sound decision.

And—

He looked at the panel for the "City Wall" building.

Upgrading this ring of walls to Level 2 would cost 1,600 eerie stones. He certainly could not afford that for now.

The wall was already taller than the Arrow Towers.

That meant the Arrow Towers could no longer attack buildings outside the wall.

However, the City Wall had several built-in slots for defensive structures. He could move the two Arrow Towers beside the camp's Eerie Fire directly onto the wall.

No additional resources were required.

All it took was a thought.

The next instant!

The two Level 2 Arrow Towers beside the Camp's Eerie Fire suddenly dissolved into milky-White Grade light. Then the phantom outlines of two Arrow Towers appeared on the north and south sections of the wall and gradually solidified.

In the blink of an eye.

He had relocated the Camp's two Level 2 Arrow Towers onto the wall.

For him, with his ability to view building panels directly, this was incredibly simple. For native Builders, however, it would have been utterly inconceivable—something they could never accomplish.

He had 56 eerie stones left.

Chen Fan looked at the patch of Farmland outside the wall and sighed softly. It was five meters long and five meters wide. With a little squeezing, it could just about fit inside the wall.

But this was something he could not relocate.

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 ripened.

"..."

Wang Mazi, who was dismantling the Wooden Hut, stared dazedly at Chen Fan's back atop the wall. Even in the Torrential Rain, Chen Fan stood perfectly straight. He had not said another word, yet Wang Mazi felt as though he could see so many emotions in that lone figure.

He swallowed with difficulty, then drew a deep breath as he looked at the exceptionally thick Stone Wall towering several meters high. Only then did he turn to his men and call out.

"Pack the bedding and everything into the Porcelain Crocks and seal them. Be careful not to let any water in."

"Station Chief Qi, you need to pick up the pace over there too."

Station Chief Qi.

He was the last of the three Station Masters Wang Kui had brought back.

The Wooden Hut was crude and easy enough to dismantle. The main concern was keeping the bedding and other belongings dry.

"You got it!"

Station Chief Qi nodded briskly, rolled up his sleeves, and began taking the hut apart in the pouring Rain. His eyes were filled with vigor and hope. The instant that wall had risen, a glimmer of hope had appeared in everyone's eyes.

A glimmer of hope that they could survive.

This was what a Builder could do!

These were the Builders every faction was willing to pay dearly to secure. With sufficient resources, they could create miracles!

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

Meanwhile—

Chen Fan had already stepped outside the wall and placed one of the Beast Traps beside the Farmland. He wanted to protect his crops as best he could.

"Little seedlings..."

Crouching beside the Farmland, he gazed at the tender shoots that had broken through the soil and murmured, "You have to do your best to survive. A little Rain like this can't possibly knock you down, right?"

The seeds had already sprouted.

They looked fairly sturdy and had not been battered into disarray by the fierce wind and Rain.

But they probably would not withstand the onslaught of a Strange Tide.