Chapter 73: Chapter 73: Strike from High to Low, Smash the Idiots
Chen Fan swung himself onto the horse, and the Skeleton Horse Saddle automatically molded to his form. He had never ridden a horse before, but the moment he was on, he felt a connection to the Skeleton Horse.
It was as natural as moving his own limbs.
"Hah!"
No reins, no whip.
He leaned forward, and the Skeleton Horse charged. In the blink of an eye, it shot out of Cave No. 2, becoming a blue meteor skimming across the ground, leaving a brief trail of fire in its wake.
It was even faster than he’d imagined—much faster than the tricycle he had cobbled together by hand.
...
The moment he charged into the canyon pass, the world seemed to narrow around him.
The thousand-meter-long rock walls on either side were sheer and straight.
The wind howled in his ears.
The whistling of the wind grew sharp and focused, colliding and layering with the thunderous beat of hooves. Mixed with the rain, it slapped hard against his face, and the faint, stinging pain made him feel utterly exhilarated.
He couldn’t help but let out another shout.
"Hah."
’I need a whip.’
The thought suddenly popped into his head. Even though he didn’t need a whip to control the Skeleton Horse, right now he wanted the motion of cracking one to vent his feelings.
The scenery on either side blurred into a streak.
Until a clear point of light appeared straight ahead—the exit of the canyon pass.
It was also the foot of Nameless Mountain.
The moment he burst out of the canyon pass, he saw a large pile of gravel and soil at its mouth. ’All the earth from the crocodile digging out Cave No. 2 must have been dumped here.’
This area was coastal.
The sea was directly in front of the canyon pass.
It wasn’t far, only about a thousand meters away.
A short while later.
"Whoa—!"
Chen Fan rode to the seashore, where the horse reared up, the cold white flames in its eye sockets flickering like a shriek tearing through the rain. He pulled it to a halt at the edge of a cluster of reefs.
There was no sandy beach nearby.
Below him was a stretch of jagged reefs jutting out from the shore; the nearest stretch of sand was hundreds of meters away.
Massive waves rolled in one after another from the misty distance, crashing heavily against the reefs and sending up plumes of spray.
He stood there on the highest reef, alone with his horse, soaked to the bone. As he gazed out into the depths of the sea, he suddenly began to laugh.
’I’ve been here for several days.’
’This is my first time at the ocean.’
’I don’t know what’s on the other side of the sea.’
’But it doesn’t matter.’
’Whatever’s over there, I’ll go see it for myself.’
A moment later.
He turned and rode the Skeleton Horse back toward the camp. Through the rain and mist, he could vaguely make out the mountain’s silhouette; it wasn’t particularly tall. He followed the canyon pass back to the camp and swung himself off the horse.
He sized up the Skeleton Horse with satisfaction.
’Good speed.’
’It’s a comfortable ride, too. Nothing digs into you.’
There was a groove in its back formed from bone. Opening it revealed a Ghost Stone seated inside, which provided its power. Once a Ghost Stone was depleted, it could be replaced with a new one. He wasn’t sure yet how long a single Ghost Stone would last.
He hadn’t noticed any significant drain on the Ghost Stone after his short ride.
"Not bad at all."
Chen Fan spent another 100 Ghost Stones to craft a second Skeleton Horse. He called over Zhou Mo and instructed, "There’s still some time before dark. Get familiar with this horse today, then go check the old camp for anything we can salvage. Starting tomorrow, continue bringing back resources from the fallen outposts in the wilderness."
"No problem!"
Zhou Mo, who could hardly wait, rubbed his hands together, his eyes filled with excitement as he stared at the Skeleton Horse. For someone who had fantasized about roaming the world, sword in hand, since he was a boy, this Skeleton Horse was the perfect embodiment of his childhood dreams of a hero’s mount.
...
There were still about four hours until nightfall.
He planned to finish laying out the Copper Pipes he had accumulated over the last few days.
"..."
Chen Fan stood in the camp, gazing at the straight canyon pass. While riding out earlier, the towering rock walls on either side had given him an idea.
The canyon was a thousand meters long and about fifty meters wide.
If the Ghost King led his army to attack at the end of the rainy season, or if anyone else came looking for trouble, the only way into his camp was through this canyon pass.
’As the saying goes, with the high ground, you can crush anyone below. It’d be a turkey shoot.’
’So...’
’I’ll set up multiple turrets high up on the canyon walls for a crossfire. Then I’ll build a City Wall at both the entrance and exit of the pass, hidden underground during normal times.’
’When the enemy advances deep into the canyon...’
’...the turrets will activate, and the City Walls will rise.’
’I’ll seal the gates and slaughter them.’
He would call this defensive setup the "Meat Grinder."
There were two main challenges to this plan.
The first was how to dig the tunnels.
To build turret platforms on the canyon walls, he first had to excavate tunnels high up on the rock face. Furthermore, these tunnels needed to connect back to the camp from inside the mountain itself so he could lay the Copper Pipes. It was a nearly impossible engineering feat.
Using the turrets to blast open large, crude caverns would work.
But using them for precise excavation was asking too much.
That’s why he’d never even considered this plan before.
But now...
Chen Fan glanced at the crocodile lying near the base of the City Wall, its mouth wide open, obediently waiting to be fed. ’Don’t I have an engineering-grade crocodile now? The thing’s a master tunneler. I’ll test it first and see if it can handle such a complex job.’
The second challenge was that the turrets could only attack creatures that entered the camp’s official range. So, how could he extend that range to include the canyon pass?
He had already thought of a solution for this as well.
He would embed a large number of Ghost Fires into the inner rock walls. They would remain dormant, but when enemies entered the canyon pass, he could activate them all at once via the Copper Pipes. This would incorporate the entire canyon into the camp’s domain.
Then he could unleash a barrage of covering fire.
As for now...
Chen Fan swung himself onto his horse and activated the Copper Pipe he had previously laid in the canyon pass. Instantly, a long, straight path through the canyon became part of the camp’s domain. Within his domain, he could move the Copper Pipe at will.
He first had to lay out all these Copper Pipes, creating a network for the unmanned outposts according to his earlier plan.
"Huh?"
The moment the Copper Pipe activated...
Chen Fan noticed his mount’s speed increased significantly. A cool breeze swept along the path. The Skeleton Horse was actually benefiting from the Clear Wind Array’s buff while inside the camp’s domain, making it even faster.
Before long, nearly all the Copper Pipes he had accumulated over the past three days were laid out.
...
"Hoo..."
Chen Fan stood alone in the Wilderness, letting out a soft breath as he looked at the unmanned outpost he had just finished building.
He had laid a few extra loops of Copper Pipe here, like a knot in a rope, to form a small camp zone.
He had built four-meter-long sections of Level 1 City Wall to form a square bunker.
On top of the City Walls, he had also built four Level 2 Arrow Towers.
There were no other structures.
Total cost: 160 Ghost Stones.
The Level 2 Arrow Towers were enough to handle common Ghost Objects. Against a powerful Ghost, however, this City Wall wouldn’t hold.
He had built five such unmanned outposts in one go that afternoon, for a total cost of 800 Ghost Stones. Connected by the Copper Pipes, they spread out across the Wilderness like nodes on a spiderweb.
Once the Eternal Night descended...
these unmanned outposts, like giant Beast Traps, would bring him a steady stream of rewards.
He wouldn’t even be upset if they were overrun.
