Chapter 33: Chapter 33: Wherever He Goes, It Is His Territory
He connected this 20-meter Copper Pipe to the one already connected to the Ghost Fire, running it through the base of the City Wall.
It extended all the way outside the camp.
Sticking out for a length of one meter.
The next moment—
Once he finished the construction, the Copper Pipe solidified, and the cold, white flame from the Ghost Fire flowed into it.
And then he witnessed an incredibly shocking sight.
The area around the one-meter section of Copper Pipe extending outside the camp had actually become a safe zone!
"..."
Chen Fan’s breath hitched. He stared at the "Copper Pipe" building module on his Lord panel, and after a long moment, he couldn’t help but burst into laughter. "Good, good, this is great!"
This "Copper Pipe" could actually extend the range of the safe zone!
The Ghost Fire would flow along the Copper Pipe, and wherever it went, that would be his territory!
In that instant, his mind was flooded with wild architectural ideas!
For example...
Night roads!
Traveling at night was impossible in this world, but with the Copper Pipes, he could build a road that was passable during the eternal night.
When he had enough resources in the future, he could even encircle the entire continent with Copper Pipes. The whole Eternal Night Continent, as far as the eye could see, would be his domain!
If the Eternal Night Continent were a body,
then his Copper Pipes would be the capillaries spreading throughout it.
And this was just one extremely basic use for the "Copper Pipe".
...
He squatted outside the camp, looking at the "Copper Pipe" lying on the cracked Wilderness. With a thought, the pipe once again turned into a "wireframe" composed of lines, and a "two-pipe, three-way connector" appeared at its end.
It could connect three Copper Pipes.
This building module had a huge advantage: even after solidifying, it could return to its wireframe state to be freely modified without consuming any resources.
Right now, this Copper Pipe was 10 centimeters wide.
The safe zone around this Copper Pipe was half a meter on each side, for a total of one meter.
He wanted to see if adding a thicker pipe would change the range of the safe zone.
He immediately built another 1-meter-wide Copper Pipe and connected it to one of the ports. The other two ports remained sealed as they weren’t connected to anything.
He was, in fact, experimenting.
After all, connecting a 10-centimeter pipe to a 1-meter pipe should be somewhat difficult.
Talk about a mismatch.
The sizes were completely different.
But—
When in doubt, leave it to the panel.
As the two pipe wireframes slowly merged, the pipes of two completely different sizes fused together seamlessly, with no trace of a weld, as if they were made that way from the start.
At the same time.
The safe zone on both sides of this one-meter "Copper Pipe" was still half a meter each, for a total of one meter.
But including the footprint of the "Copper Pipe" itself, this section of safe zone protruding from the camp could be up to 2 meters wide.
"Phew..."
Chen Fan let out a light breath and stood up. With a thought, the Copper Pipe sank into the ground, burying itself beneath the desolate earth, leaving no trace.
Even Lame Monkey and the others had no idea what was happening. They only knew he seemed to be building something they had never seen before.
After all, Lame Monkey and his men could only see the actual range of the camp’s safe zone after the eternal night fell and the Ghost Fire’s halo of light spread out.
He was the master of this camp.
Naturally, he would be the first to know of any changes to it.
"Good stuff!"
Chen Fan grinned again. If an ordinary building was the number 1, with no freedom of choice—for example, if an Arrow Tower was over 3 meters tall, then it could only be built to that height, no shorter or taller—
It was fixed.
Then this building module was a 0.1, completely open to DIY.
Its width, length, connectors, whether it was straight, curved, or serpentine—all of it could be freely customized without consuming extra Ghost Stones. On its own, the building module was worthless.
But the building module could be applied to all buildings.
This meant—
He could use it to create a multitude of "1.8s," "2.7s," and "3.1s"—buildings with extreme freedom that perfectly suited his camp. His control and flexibility over the entire camp would be greater, giving him far more strategic options!
...
Chen Fan ignored the Copper Pipe for now. It was just an experimental piece. He needed to go test if the Copper Pipes had any synergies with other buildings.
For the next half-hour,
he was extremely busy.
He continuously connected various buildings with Copper Pipes, searching for any possible synergies. After using up 47 Ghost Stones to build pipes for all sorts of experiments, he finally stood on the City Wall, looking down at the camp within, a satisfied grin spreading across his face.
With his hands on his hips, his eyes were filled with pride.
This was his domain.
The once-chilly rainwater now looked like champagne at a victory celebration.
First, he connected the "two Arrow Towers" to the "Ghost Fire" using Copper Pipes.
Activating an Arrow Tower consumed Ghost Stones, but reloading them one by one was too troublesome. This was especially true when activating the Active Skill "Arrow Rain Storm," which required a reload after each use. Even if the reload time was extremely short, it was still a limitation.
What’s more,
as the number of Arrow Towers increased in the future, he wouldn’t be able to keep up.
But after connecting them,
the consumption of all Arrow Towers would prioritize the Ghost Stones within the "Ghost Fire," saving him the trouble of reloading them one by one. And if a special situation required using the "Arrow Rain Storm" skill multiple times in a row, there would be no delay.
It went from single-shot loading to fully automatic.
When an Arrow Tower activated, the Ghost Stones would shatter inside the "Ghost Fire," and their energy would be transmitted to the tower through the Copper Pipe.
While he was at it...
He also built a Copper Pipe with one end connected to the boiler on the stove inside the Wooden House and the other end leading to the roof. Rainwater would flow down the pipe into the boiler to be heated until boiling.
He built another Copper Pipe.
One end connected to the boiler, the other to the inside of the Wooden House’s surrounding walls and beneath the floor.
The boiling water would flow into the pipes, keeping the house warm.
He named it the "Heating System 1.0".
He had gone inside to check it a moment ago.
The inside was extremely warm.
The damp, cold feeling from last night was completely gone.
Although the "Heating System 1.0" was nearly perfect, it had one small flaw: no pressure source. The hot water struggled to flow through the winding, undulating Copper Pipes. Without proper flow, the temperature wouldn’t hold for long, and this world didn’t have anything like a circulation pump.
But where there’s a will, there’s a way.
He already had a plan.
Known Fact 1: Earth Spike traps are triggered by weight.
Known Fact 2: Triggering an Earth Spike trap does not consume Ghost Stones.
Conclusion:
This was a multi-triggerable, zero-resource... "Power Source," or what could be understood as a "Piston."
It would only wear out and shatter after a very long period of use.
So, he planned to use this Piston to build a heating system that could automatically circulate hot water.
However, that was his planned "Heating System 2.0."
Tonight, he had to focus on other things. For now, the hot water in "Heating System 1.0" had to be replaced manually. When the temperature dropped, he had to disconnect the Copper Pipe, drain it, and refill it.
It was relatively troublesome.
But it was good enough for now.
...
The building module offered extremely high freedom, but it couldn’t be upgraded; there was no upgrade option.
"Now *this* is what it means to be an Architect..."
Standing on the City Wall, Chen Fan looked down at the camp, his eyes filled with satisfaction. The original camp had several buildings, but he’d always felt there was a certain rigidity to it. But now, with the addition of the "Copper Pipes"...
...they were like blood vessels, connecting all the buildings.
Now, he finally felt that the entire camp had been truly activated.
He finally felt like it was an extension of his own body.
...
After finishing all this, Chen Fan cheerfully walked down from the City Wall, preparing to head to the damaged section that had been attacked by the Meat Worm Ghost last night.
The Meat Worm Ghost’s self-destruction had indeed caused a certain amount of damage to that section of the City Wall.
However, it wasn’t serious and hadn’t affected the foundation.
Just then—
Zhou Mo and his subordinate appeared outside the camp, walking through the downpour. Looking at the people inside, he called out loudly, "Station Chief, we’re back."
Lame Monkey quickly went forward. After testing them to confirm they weren’t impostors, he brought the two to Chen Fan.
"Station Chief."
"We were a step too late. Everyone at the Hill and Valley Royal Family’s Station 16 hanged themselves last night."
"Their bodies were already cold when we arrived."
"In the entire Wilderness... we’re the only station left..."
