Chapter 103 - 94: Active Skill: Gale Inhalation
Chapter 103: Chapter 94: Active Skill: Gale Inhalation
He had 16 days left.
In 16 days, he would have to face two major crises simultaneously.
One crisis was the possible arrival of the Ghost King. The other was the contact he would have with other factions after the rainy season ended.
After the rainy season, a winter lasting several months would begin.
The temperature would be extremely low, and few caravans or travelers would be wandering the Wilderness. Following the patterns of previous years, this was the time when the various factions and even Jiangbei City would be focused on rebuilding. They would all be repairing their damaged cities and walls, with no time or energy to venture out for trade.
Because almost no one crossed the Wilderness in winter, the major families wouldn’t set up outposts there either. Only after winter passed, in the spring of the following year, would this stretch of Wilderness become lively again.
His goal was to have a seat at the table as soon as the rainy season ended.
Killing Ghost Objects to earn Ghost Stones was the name of the game during the rainy season. After it ended, Ghost Objects would be much harder to kill, so he would need other methods to earn Ghost Stones.
Chen Fan considered his next steps as he walked into the Meat Grinder Passage and resumed setting up cannon towers.
Over the past few days, Hey Hey had dug out many more pits inside the Meat Grinder Passage.
One tower, two towers, three towers.
A single cannon tower cost 480 Ghost Stones, and a Level 2 City Wall to conceal the opening cost 60 Ghost Stones, for a total of 540 Ghost Stones.
This was the price for a single Node in his Meat Grinder defense plan.
He wanted to turn his rear base into a web of firepower so dense that not even a mosquito could fly through. Even if the Ghost King came, he could riddle it with holes.
After building 20 cannon towers in one go, he had spent 10,800 Ghost Stones. In return, there were now a total of 38 cannon towers on the cliffs surrounding the Celestial Pit.
If an enemy were to invade and step deep into the Celestial Pit, these 38 cannon towers embedded in the surrounding rock walls would form an extremely tight web of fire from different angles and heights, delivering suppressive fire with no blind spots.
Most importantly, it would be difficult for the enemy to even fight back.
’That should do it.’
After finishing all this, Chen Fan walked along the City Wall, looking out at the Ghost Fire-shrouded Celestial Pit.
’The Meat Grinder defenses inside the Celestial Pit are more or less complete. Thirty-eight towers should be enough.’
’Next, I should consider the defenses for the canyon.’
’I’ll deal with that after daybreak.’
He looked toward the canyon passage. A long, straight, two-meter-wide path of Ghost Fire extended out from there.
That was the camp’s perimeter, extended by the Copper Pipes laid on the ground.
The camp was rather quiet at the moment. Only the occasional THUMPING sound could be heard—the sound of Hey Hey still digging its tunnels.
The task he had given Hey Hey tonight was to dig tunnels to the canyon, reaching both sides of it. He planned to set up cannon towers on the canyon’s sides during the day.
Everyone in the camp was asleep. He stood on the City Wall, staring out blankly for a while before letting out a soft sigh. He then walked back to his room, ready to sleep.
’This world is just too awful.’
’I have no ambition to rule or conquer. I just want to live a little longer in this world—to survive. And if I can live a little more comfortably, all the better.’
He was different from Wang Mazi. Wang Mazi had been a merchant and was very curious about the outside world. He, on the other hand, wasn’t really curious about it at all.
’Just think how dangerous the outside world is. There are people out there who can smash a crater into a mountain with a single hammer blow.’
’I just want to stay quietly in Jiangbei, build my own absolutely safe rear base, and live out the rest of my days.’
...
「Soon, day broke.」
The darkness that had enveloped the entire Wilderness receded as usual, and the camp was once again filled with a noisy clamor.
"Nice work."
Early in the morning, Zhou Mo and the others went out to collect the previous day’s gains from the unmanned outposts. Chen Fan, however, walked out from the City Wall and went to the junction of the Celestial Pit and the canyon. He looked up at the holes Hey Hey had dug the day before on the canyon’s rock faces.
There were six holes in total.
The efficiency was a little slower than usual. But then again, digging from the Meat Grinder Passage, all the way along the rock walls of the Celestial Pit, and then over to this section of the canyon was no small feat. The workload was actually much greater than normal.
This area was already outside the camp’s perimeter.
City Defense Buildings could only attack enemies within the camp’s perimeter. Placing the cannon towers here, they could be activated via the Copper Pipes, but they could only attack enemies within the camp perimeter provided by the pipes.
So, what he needed to do was set up Meat Grinder Stage Two.
"..."
He quickly returned to the camp, ascended through the Meat Grinder Passage, and arrived at the locations of the six pits on either side of the canyon.
Standing at the edge of an opening, he looked down at the canyon below.
’This is an excellent position, about forty meters above the ground. There are only two ways into the Celestial Pit: one through the canyon, and the other from the top of the pit.’
’And for anyone entering the Celestial Pit through the canyon, this is the best attack position.’
He spent 3,240 Ghost Stones to place one Level 5 Cannon Tower in each of the six openings Hey Hey had dug the previous night.
The cannon towers had a fairly wide angle of depression. However, they would have trouble hitting targets directly at the base of the sheer cliffs. By placing three on each side, he could ensure complete coverage with no blind spots.
After finishing all that, he connected the six cannon towers to the Ghost Fire using the Copper Pipes.
Now, as long as the Copper Pipes were active, the six cannon towers could be unleashed at any moment. The only problem was that they couldn’t hit anyone yet. One more step was needed to make it perfect.
Chen Fan left the camp again, went into the canyon passage, and looked up at the openings on both sides.