Chapter 54: Chapter 54: "Outrageous, Outrageous!!
The Arrow Towers on the City Wall began to roar.
Shaft after shaft of Crossbow Arrows sliced through the curtain of rain, accurately hitting the Mourning Ghosts that stepped into the camp’s perimeter.
They fell.
They rose.
They split.
The Mourning Ghosts constantly split, their numbers multiplying. More and more Mourning Ghosts were walking into the camp from the gray mist outside.
They weren’t fast, but their appearance was unsettling. That, combined with their sheer numbers and utter silence—save for the sound of dripping rain—created an intensely oppressive atmosphere.
...
"..."
Chen Fan’s brow suddenly furrowed. Standing on the City Wall, he looked out beyond the camp. Mourning Ghosts were arriving from all directions, gradually filling the entire area. He had a feeling his two plots of Farmland might not survive the night.
’If only the camp were surrounded by mountains on three sides, I’d only need to build one wall. The pressure would be so much lower.’
But that was obviously impossible.
Big Fish’s village had been destroyed by Ghost Objects that leaped down from the cliffs on all four sides.
Like wrathful kings descending from the sky.
The next moment—
A white light flashed from the top of the Level 3 Arrow Tower beside him. Arrow Rain Storm activated. A sky full of Crossbow Arrows shot high into the air before raining down like bamboo spikes, blanketing the entire area in front of the City Wall.
It cleared a wide-open space.
The Mourning Ghosts’ physical defense was low; a single Crossbow Arrow to a vital spot could kill one.
But their ability to split completely made up for this weakness.
THUD.
At that moment, a Mourning Ghost that had reached the front arrived at the base of the City Wall. Its face was deathly pale and completely expressionless as it lifted its white lantern and smashed it hard against the stone.
It lowered it, raised it, and swung again.
Just as it raised the lantern for a third time, a Crossbow Arrow pierced it between the eyes.
The moment it fell, the light from the white lantern in its hand completely dimmed, and it did not split.
Chen Fan leaned over the edge of the City Wall and looked down. The section that had been struck twice now had two palm-sized craters. It didn’t affect the wall’s foundation. The City Wall was a full three meters thick. ’They can knock all they want,’ he thought. ’It’ll take a lot more than that to destroy it.’
But...
As more and more Mourning Ghosts broke through the defensive line of arrow fire, they reached the base of the City Wall and began smashing their white lanterns against the bluestone. More and more craters appeared on the wall.
On all sides.
The camp was surrounded.
And looking further out...
The Mourning Ghosts were even lining up in the gray mist outside the camp. Due to their great numbers and slow pace, they didn’t push or shove but crowded together like cars in a traffic jam. In the eternal night beyond the mist, there were clearly even more of them.
...
’The difficulty’s really ramping up now.’
Chen Fan’s expression grew a little grim as he watched the horde of Mourning Ghosts outside the wall. There was good news, and there was bad news.
The good news: the Mourning Ghosts were quite well-behaved. They weren’t rushing or fighting, nor were they climbing over their companions’ heads to scale the wall. They were well-behaved ghosts.
The bad news: there were just too many of them, and the City Wall was being chipped away, bit by bit.
Fortunately, he had plenty of Ghost Stones saved up.
’845 Ghost Stones should be enough to get through the night.’
The next moment—
All four sides of the City Wall transformed into a spectral image of the structure, composed of white lines. Only he could see this.
-
_This repair requires 7 Ghost Stones._
-
’Repair.’
As the spectral image solidified again, the broken white lines reconnected one by one. The craters on the City Wall, which had been smashed out by the Mourning Ghosts, were instantly and rapidly restored.
He was starting to understand the logic behind the repairs.
The lighter the damage to the City Wall, the lower the repair cost.
The heavier the damage, the higher the repair cost.
Once the damage exceeded a certain point, the repair cost could even be higher than the cost of rebuilding it from scratch.
On the City Wall, Lame Monkey and the others tied weapons like Long Spears and Big Sabers to the ends of wooden poles, continually stabbing downward.
This type of Ghost Object was a low Level, so even Ordinary weapons could do some damage to them—though certainly not a one-hit kill like a Crossbow Arrow.
Chen Fan turned to look at the altar inside the camp, a structure used for healing injuries. ’The principle should be universal,’ he thought.
’I use Ghost Stones to repair the City Wall. Healing injuries also uses Ghost Stones. So, in theory, the altar should be able to repair the City Wall, right?’
’Theory established. Time to test it.’
The free quota for today was already used up.
As several Ghost Stones were crushed, spectral images of Copper Pipes appeared within the camp. They solidified as they touched the ground, neat and uniform like a factory assembly line, connecting the altar to the City Wall.
CLICK.
A faint, crisp sound was heard.
A milky-white fluid flowed out from the altar, traveling along the Copper Pipes all the way to the base of the City Wall.
THUD.
Below, a Mourning Ghost had just raised its white lantern and smashed it against the City Wall. A crater had barely appeared before it was rapidly repaired, before the ghost could even swing again.
"It worked!"
Standing on the City Wall, Chen Fan leaned out to watch the scene, a flash of excitement in his eyes. ’It actually worked! This means as long as the altar has enough Ghost Stones, my City Wall will repair itself automatically. No manual operation required.’
Moreover, he could sense that the altar’s consumption rate of Ghost Stones was even lower than the cost of manual repairs.
He created another Copper Pipe, this time connecting the altar to the Ghost Fire.
This way, the altar would consume the Ghost Stones from the Ghost Fire, and all he had to do was ensure the Ghost Fire had a sufficient supply. No more running back and forth.
He named it...
The "Automatic City Wall Repair System."
Unless a Ghost Object could demolish the City Wall in a single blow, as long as his Ghost Stones didn’t run out, he would be invincible.
Just then—
CRASH...
The sound of a collapsing wall echoed.
It was...
The wall of the "Breeding Ground" had collapsed.
The Fake Human Ghosts inside the Breeding Ground burst out like wild horses that had broken their reins, mixing in with the Mourning Ghosts and surging toward the City Wall.
’How could this be?’
Chen Fan’s brow furrowed tightly. He had just been about to extend the altar’s Copper Pipes to the Breeding Ground’s wall. ’Given the Mourning Ghosts’ attack strength, how could that wall have collapsed so quickly?’
Then, he understood why.
’A big one has arrived.’
Outside the camp’s gray mist, a stooped, ancient-looking Mourning Ghost stood holding a Glowing Green Lantern. Its eyes were vacant, and the other Mourning Ghosts gave it a wide berth, creating a small, empty space around it that made it stand out.
Before he could react, the Mourning Ghost raised its Glowing Green Lantern again.
An arm-thick beam of green light shot out, striking another section of the Breeding Ground’s wall with pinpoint accuracy. A Deep Pit instantly appeared in the three-meter-thick wall. Another beam of green light shot out, and that section of the wall slowly crumbled.
It was reduced to ruins.
"Unbelievable, just unbelievable!!"
Chen Fan’s face turned ugly, and his breathing grew rapid. He once again felt the despair of that night when the Meat Worms’ Ghost Tide had attacked. ’This thing... it can completely destroy a wall with just two beams of green light. Even with my automatic wall repair, I don’t have enough Ghost Stones to fix that kind of damage.’
He needed time to think.
But the creature’s Glowing Green Lantern didn’t need to think. Another beam of green light shot out, striking another of the Breeding Ground’s walls with pinpoint accuracy.
