Chapter 20: Chapter 20: Earth Spike
He looked at the Level 1 Beast Trap before him.
There were currently five Beast Traps in the camp. He had earned quite a few Ghost Stones with them over the past few days, and it only cost two Ghost Stones to build one.
Upgrading a Beast Trap to Level 2 wasn’t expensive either, requiring only ten Ghost Stones.
He decided to see what it could do.
The next moment.
The ten Ghost Stones on the ground instantly shattered, turning into a milky-white liquid that flowed into the Beast Trap beside the Farmland. A panel slowly materialized before him.
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「Beast Trap upgraded to Level 2, becoming ’Earth Spike’. Must be placed in a fixed location, cannot be moved at will, can be triggered multiple times.」
「Please select an Upgrade Direction.」
「1: Blends in with the surrounding environment, making it extremely concealed and difficult to detect.」
「2: Increased power.」
「3: Increased Earth Spike retraction speed.」
-
The original Beast Trap had transformed into the phantom image of a square Earth Spike structure, one meter long and one meter wide, awaiting his placement.
He chose the second Upgrade Direction.
He then placed it directly in front of the Farmland.
It looked rather conspicuous.
On the cracked, desolate ground, there was a square patch of empty land dotted with dozens of neat holes, looking like the heart of a tree bored through by woodworms. He picked up a Ghost Corpse nearby—one that Lame Monkey hadn’t buried in the Farmland yet—and tossed it on top of the holes.
The next moment!
"CLICK!"
With a soft sound, dozens of thick, hard, black Wooden Spikes shot out from the ground like striking vipers, moving at a speed almost imperceptible to the naked eye. They instantly pierced through the Ghost Corpse.
Its power was on a completely different level than the Beast Trap.
Only then did the hard Wooden Spikes begin to slowly retract. After a few breaths, they disappeared back into the holes. The next time something stepped on it, it would trigger again!
This made up for a major flaw of the Beast Trap: its inability to be triggered repeatedly.
Its power had also increased significantly.
"Not bad."
Chen Fan nodded with slight satisfaction. ’Cheap, effective, and it runs for free. It doesn’t need Ghost Stones to power it. As long as it doesn’t break, I can use it indefinitely.’
If he had chosen the third Upgrade Direction, the Earth Spike’s retraction speed would have been faster, allowing it to trigger more frequently.
’But for a trap like the Earth Spike, the most important thing is the ability to kill in one hit.’ He believed it was crucial to instantly eliminate any Ghost Object that stepped on it.
’No matter how fast it is, it’s useless if it’s not powerful enough.’
...
He still had 46 Ghost Stones left.
Standing by the Farmland, Chen Fan rose and looked toward the gradually darkening horizon, his eyes narrowing slightly. In his construction panel, there was a building called the "Sacrificial Tower," which required 20 Ghost Stones to build.
Its effect was described rather vaguely.
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「Level 1 Sacrificial Tower」: Can be used to obtain special resources. Cost to build: 20 Ghost Stones.
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He definitely wasn’t planning on holding onto too many Ghost Stones tonight. He was debating whether to build more Earth Spikes or to construct the Sacrificial Tower. The former would provide the greatest immediate boost to the camp’s defenses.
The latter, based on its description alone, was most likely related to the mid-to-late stages of the camp’s development. The special resources it provided probably wouldn’t be useful in the short term. Besides, those resources wouldn’t be given to him for free; he’d probably have to trade Ghost Stones for them.
It was basically a Gold-devouring Beast of a building.
After a long moment.
He took out 40 Ghost Stones and upgraded all four remaining Beast Traps to Level 2. He chose the second Upgrade Direction for all of them and placed them in a neat row on the side of the Farmland closest to the camp’s edge.
The Farmland was five meters wide.
One Earth Spike was one meter wide, so five Earth Spikes were five meters wide.
They fit perfectly with the Farmland.
The arrangement was remarkably neat and orderly, the kind of setup that would satisfy a perfectionist.
"Much better."
Chen Fan looked at his masterpiece with satisfaction. ’With these five Earth Spikes, my Farmland should be reasonably well-protected. The Arrow Towers on the City Wall can handle the rest of the Ghost Objects.’ In the end, he decided to put the Sacrificial Tower out of his mind.
’Survive tonight first.’
’As long as I survive, I’ll have plenty of time to figure out what the Sacrificial Tower is. If I don’t make it through the night, it doesn’t matter how amazing it is.’
Besides, he felt that the Farmland was more important than the Arrow Towers right now. Once the Ghost Ore Vein Seed matured, he would receive a windfall of Ghost Stones. He just didn’t know how many. Perhaps there would be a small surprise.
"Everything is ready. Now, bring on the storm!"
He looked up at the horizon. This was the most he could do. As long as tonight’s Ghost Tide didn’t kill him right away, he could use the Ghost Stones dropped by the Ghost Objects to strengthen his camp even more, raising its limits once again!
It was an opportunity.
And also a crisis.
Everything depended on whether he could survive the night.
Just then—
"Young Master!"
Lame Monkey’s voice came from the City Wall. He was leaning over the battlements, shouting, "The Wooden House has been completely dismantled!"
"Good."
Chen Fan turned and walked toward the City Wall. As he approached, the section of wall in front of him suddenly retracted into the ground. He stepped inside and looked at Wang Mazi and the others standing in the heavy rain. In a corner, there was a neat pile of wood and several ceramic vats filled with bedding.
He took two Ghost Stones from his clothes and tossed them into the air.
The next moment.
The phantom image of a Wooden House slowly materialized in the middle of the camp. As the milky-white liquid from the melted Ghost Stones flowed into it, a sturdy and impressive Wooden House settled firmly onto the ground.
It was clearly a cut above the previous, crude Wooden House.
The weather was getting colder.
And the rain was pouring down.
The old Wooden House couldn’t even block the wind, let alone the rain. These two Ghost Stones were a necessary expense.
He walked into the Wooden House, took another Ghost Stone from his clothes, and inserted it into a recess at the entrance. Only then did he look at Wang Mazi and the others outside. "Come on in. The rain is heavy. Get everything sorted before dark."
"There’s a fire inside. Go warm yourselves up so you don’t catch a cold."
When Wang Kui had brought these six people back to the site, he had also brought back many daily necessities like clothes and food. These items now needed to be sorted, but Chen Fan didn’t have to worry about such things; Lame Monkey could handle all the arrangements perfectly.
"Yes, sir!"
Wang Mazi nodded emphatically before quickly calling to the others to take the things out of the ceramic vats and tidy up the house.
...
"Faster!"
「In the wilderness」 On their way, Wang Kui and Xiaoyu happened to run into the site leader from the Hill and Valley Royal Family. The man was dressed in linen clothes, carried a long blade, and was sprinting through the rain with his subordinates.
"It’s getting dark! If we don’t get back now, it’ll be too late!"
Wang Kui yelled at the top of his lungs against the downpour. They had been sent out to collect supplies from surrounding abandoned sites, and now, with their mission complete, they were heading back.
Normally, visibility in the wilderness was excellent, but in the heavy rain, it had become extremely poor. Without the Ghost Map, they would surely get lost.
"It’s just ahead."
Wang Kui glanced at the Ghost Map in his hand, panting as he sprinted with all his might. But... the next moment, he skidded to a sudden halt, a look of bewilderment in his eyes as he stared ahead.
He looked at the Ghost Map again.
’I didn’t take a wrong turn.’
’This is the Jiangbei Chen Family’s Site No. 37.’
’But... when did that City Wall get here?’
’I’m sure there wasn’t anything like this in the camp before I left, right?’
