Chapter 56: Chapter 56: "Go, let the darkness descend as scheduled.
"They’re here again!"
The shout made Chen Fan’s face fall. He whipped his head around to look outside the city, but a quick scan revealed no female ghosts. He then realized it was Big Fish, who was right behind him, calling out to him. Big Fish’s eyes were filled with terror, yet held an unyielding resolve.
He instantly understood what Big Fish was thinking.
"Don’t rush, don’t rush..."
Chen Fan instantly knew what Big Fish had in mind. He grabbed him and ran back toward the newly built City Wall. He had figured it out—he was the main target of these things. He couldn’t run anywhere else.
Otherwise, if the Arrow Towers were destroyed, there would be no City Defense Buildings left, even with the new City Wall.
"Activate it later. I don’t feel like I’ve lived long enough yet. If you activate it, I won’t survive either."
"Wait until I’m dead, then you can activate it."
BOOM!
Chen Fan ducked, hiding behind the battlements. The section of the wall where he had just been standing was completely obliterated by a pillar of light formed from sixteen intertwining, glowing green beams. After shattering the City Wall, the beam’s momentum carried it forward, smashing through the opposite wall as well.
Even the 「Sentry Tower」 was caught in the blast, crumbling into the ruins.
’I’m really going to die...’
He peeked his head out in despair, looking at the sixteen Mourning Ghost leaders outside the city. ’If they split into thirty-two, I’m definitely dead. How the fuck can you split like that? Are you some kind of earthworm?’
The Level 4 Arrow Fortress continued to emotionlessly fire its Crossbow Arrows.
"Huh?"
Just then, a Crossbow Arrow struck one of the Mourning Ghost leaders between the eyes, and it collapsed.
Fifteen remained.
But this time, it didn’t split. The remaining fifteen Mourning Ghost leaders, under the cover of the other Mourning Ghosts, began to quickly retreat away from the camp.
They were clearly preparing to withdraw.
’They’re running?’
Chen Fan was stunned for a moment, but he quickly realized what was happening. They had reached their splitting limit. From this point on, every one he killed would be a true death. A grin spread across his face, and he stood up straight, roaring in excitement.
"Trying to run?!"
"Now you fucking know how to run!?"
With a flick of his hand, he built another Level 4 Arrow Fortress and placed it on the City Wall.
「Arrow Rain Storm」 was activated repeatedly, without regard for the cost, clearing away the Mourning Ghosts using their bodies to shield the leaders.
The two Level 4 Arrow Fortresses began to pick them off with precision.
...
As the Mourning Ghost leaders began to flee, the Mourning Ghosts inside the camp didn’t retreat with them. Instead, they attacked the City Wall and other structures within the camp with even greater frenzy.
But right now, Chen Fan couldn’t be bothered with them.
These Mourning Ghost leaders had to die.
Otherwise, they would just recover their strength and come back tomorrow. His camp couldn’t withstand another assault like this.
BOOM!
BOOM!
As the Mourning Ghost leaders fled, they frantically raised their Glowing Green Lanterns, firing beams of green light at the City Wall.
One.
Two.
Three.
Under the cover of the arrow rain, the number of Mourning Ghost leaders continued to dwindle. Finally... the last leader took an arrow to the back of the head. It stumbled forward a few steps, out of control, before collapsing heavily onto the ground.
"Die!"
Chen Fan, peeking his head out from behind the battlements, watched the corpse of the last Mourning Ghost leader, which had almost reached the edge of the camp. He couldn’t help but pump his fist and shout in excitement.
Now it was time to deal with the small fry.
However, the next moment!
The instant the last Mourning Ghost leader died, all the Mourning Ghosts inside the camp froze in place. Their life force rapidly drained away, and they fell backward.
They were all dead.
As far as the eye could see, the camp, now a ruin fresh from the fires of war, was blanketed with the corpses of Mourning Ghosts.
...
No one slept that night.
Chen Fan and the others kept watch on the ruined City Wall all night. They didn’t venture out to dig for Ghost Stones, worried that another Ghost Tide might be lurking outside the camp. Something felt very wrong about tonight.
They didn’t try to repair the camp right away, either.
The damage to the camp was too severe; it needed to be rebuilt.
It was best to wait until dawn to start rebuilding. If another Ghost Tide attacked before then, it wouldn’t be too late to rebuild after that, either.
Finally!
The sky... brightened.
No one had slept the entire night, not even Zhou Mo and the others. The Wooden Houses inside the city had been destroyed, so there was nowhere to sleep anyway. They took turns napping while keeping watch until dawn.
"Hooo..."
The moment the endless night receded like an ebbing tide, Chen Fan finally straightened his back. He took a deep breath, exhaling all the anxiety and fear from the previous night, then pumped his fist and roared, "Time to get to work!"
Lame Monkey, Wang Mazi, and the others already had their tools ready. With excited shouts, they rushed out from the City Wall.
Time to dig for Ghost Stones.
Time to drain blood.
With the ground covered in Ghost Corpses, this was going to be a huge harvest!
"Wait..."
As the endless night faded, their vision returned.
Chen Fan looked outside the camp. Beyond its borders, a huge number of Mourning Ghost corpses lay scattered across the Wilderness—at least a thousand of them!!!
The scale of last night’s Ghost Tide had been immense.
Most of the Mourning Ghosts had died along with their leaders before they even had a chance to set foot in the camp.
He was stunned for a moment.
But then he couldn’t help but start laughing. His laughter grew louder and louder as he charged out from the City Wall into the pouring rain, striding toward the corpse of the Mourning Ghost leader. He even started humming a little tune, the damage to his camp already forgotten.
The value of all these Ghost Corpses was greater than his entire camp combined.
...
"Find the treasure, touch the treasure."
"Touch the treasure, find the treasure."
Chen Fan crouched by the main body of the Mourning Ghost leader, his face a mask of excited anticipation as he began patting it down. After the sixteen Mourning Ghosts had died, only this specific leader still held its Glowing Green Lantern; the other fifteen lanterns had already turned to dust.
This Glowing Green Lantern was an Exotic Treasure.
He didn’t check its panel.
He knew it had to be a great treasure, so he was intentionally saving it for last.
Some people like to eat the meat in their beef noodle soup first, while others prefer to eat the noodles first.
He was the type who liked to eat the noodles first.
The best things should be saved for last.
Normally, he left the job of collecting Exotic Treasures to Lame Monkey. But so many Ghost Objects had died today that it was doubtful whether Lame Monkey and the others could even finish dissecting all the corpses. It was a massive undertaking.
"Huh?"
Chen Fan pulled a Ghost Skin out of the corpse’s pocket. The material was somewhat similar to the Ghost Skin he’d gotten from the female ghost, but it wasn’t as thin and felt rougher.
There were words on the skin.
-
Qian Hou, hear my command!
I command you to lead your subordinates to the ’Jiangbei Wilderness’ and destroy every City Wall you see.
Pave the way for my descent.
At the end of the rainy season, I will travel to the Jiangbei Wilderness and use the blood of the living from two cities to ascend to Ghost King.
On the day of my ascension, I will take Qiu Kui as my bride.
Go now, and let the darkness arrive as scheduled.
As one of the four great leaders under my command, bring fear and despair to those weak ants hiding behind their City Walls!
-
"..."
Chen Fan stared at the Ghost Skin in his hand, his expression blank. After a long silence, he looked up in the direction of 「Jiangbei City」. ’So... if I hadn’t been here, this guy should have shown up at Jiangbei City last night, right?’
’So single-minded.’
’Your boss’s words were obviously just for show. What’s my tiny little camp got to do with you? You really took "destroy every City Wall you see" literally? You wouldn’t even spare my farm?’
’What a moron.’
’I wonder if Jiangbei City will give me a reward for saving them from a disaster?’
’I’m pretty short on cash right now.’
’Maybe I should just pack up and move.’
’Is it too late to move behind Jiangbei City...?’
...
PS: Extra Chapter for monthly tickets.
