Chapter 108 - 96: Meat Worms’ Ghost Tide
Chapter 108: Chapter 96: Meat Worms’ Ghost Tide
The past few days had been quiet—no big hauls, no major expenses. The camp still had over 32,000 Ghost Stones, which definitely wasn’t enough for Meat Grinder Stage Two. He was now desperately pleading for a Ghost Tide to strike. He had everything ready. ’Hurry up and get here, Ghost Tide! If you don’t show up soon, I’m going to go broke!’
"Ghost Stones, come to me! Ghost Stones, come to me!"
"Bring the Ghost Stones, bring the Ghost Stones!"
Chen Fan sat on the City Wall, holding a porcelain bowl in both hands, muttering under his breath as he sipped the bone broth.
The weather was getting cold, the temperature dropping lower and lower. As he sat on the City Wall, his hands were turning red from the chill.
The bowl of bone broth warmed him from the inside.
Zhou Mo had procured a few strips of cured meat from an abandoned station, which was a real treasure. They couldn’t bear to use it all up in a stir-fry, so they cut off a little to make soup, which would last them much longer.
Just then,
a sudden commotion came from the canyon pass.
Chen Fan paused, momentarily stunned. He quickly set his porcelain bowl aside, placed his hands on the parapet, and stood up to look toward the canyon pass.
A glimmer of anticipation shone in his eyes. ’Is a Ghost Object attacking?’
’I’m completely ready. Let the Ghost Objects come, and let them be ferocious!’
’Could it be Qianxi coming to our doorstep?’
’That’s a lot of them.’
Chen Fan stared intently at the canyon pass, his expression growing serious. He hadn’t yet seen a single Ghost Object appear at the far end of the canyon, but he could feel the altar’s energy consumption suddenly spike, then drop to zero. That could only mean there was nothing left for it to repair.
His unmanned outposts in the wild were under attack. The altar’s repair speed for the City Walls couldn’t keep up with the rate of destruction.
He had set up another ten unmanned outposts over the past few days.
Now, three of those outposts had already been swiftly destroyed.
The next moment,
dozens of chubby, limbless balls of flesh, each about the size of a human toddler, appeared within the camp’s perimeter.
The surfaces of the flesh balls were covered with several palm-sized human faces, each one twisted in agony. They rushed out of the canyon and into the Celestial Pit, ramming straight into the Level 3 City Wall beneath him and exploding into puddles of green, viscous liquid.
...
Chen Fan was stunned for a moment, but he quickly realized what was happening. The Ghost Tide that had destroyed his unmanned outposts was none other than an old acquaintance: the Meat Worms’ Ghost Tide.
"Excellent!"
He broke into a grin. If it had been any other Ghost Tide of this magnitude, he might have been worried. But if it was a Meat Worms’ Ghost Tide, there was no need to worry at all.
These Ghost Objects were limbless and couldn’t move on their own; they relied entirely on the wind to drift about, going wherever it took them.
Back at his old camp, the greatest crisis he had ever faced was an attack from a Meat Worms’ Ghost Tide. At that time, his City Wall was only a Level 1 City Wall.
He didn’t have an altar back then, so there was no way to repair the City Wall. He could only rely on his Arrow Towers to kill the Meat Worm Ghosts, but some inevitably slipped through and crashed into the wall, putting him in grave danger.
But things were different now.
The mountains surrounding the Celestial Pit were extremely hard. The minimal explosive damage from the Meat Worms’ Ghost Tide could hardly harm the surrounding rock faces.
Furthermore, he now stood upon a Level 3 City Wall, with an altar constantly repairing it.
In other words, no matter how numerous the Meat Worms’ Ghost Tide was, they posed no real threat to him. On the contrary, they were just delivering Ghost Stones to his door.
It was just that...
This time, the number of Meat Worm Ghosts seemed much smaller than before. After another moment, only a few dozen had drifted down the canyon and into the Celestial Pit—a paltry amount.
...
Chen Fan’s brow furrowed. He quickly grabbed a charcoal pencil from nearby and began drawing on the ground of the City Wall’s walkway. First, he marked the locations of his unmanned outposts. Then, based on the sequence of their destruction and the direction of the wind outside, he roughly determined the Meat Worms’ Ghost Tide’s path for the night.
’Are they heading toward Ping City?’
He looked at the large arrows he had drawn on the ground. According to this path, the Meat Worms’ Ghost Tide was headed in the direction of Ping City tonight.
They would pass by the outside of Nameless Mountain.
They wouldn’t rush into his main territory. Only a few scattered Meat Worm Ghosts were being sucked into the canyon and drawn into the Celestial Pit.
’This won’t do...’
Chen Fan leaned over to look down the canyon pass, muttering dazedly, "Ping City definitely can’t handle a prize this big. Just let me have it. How many Ghost Stones would that be? It might even drop an Exotic Treasure or two."
He looked down at the rough map he had drawn, marking two more recently destroyed outposts. The main army of Meat Worm Ghosts was now officially approaching Nameless Mountain. If he didn’t act soon, they would sweep past it and head for Ping City.
Just then—
he suddenly thought of something.
He turned to look at the Wind Tower behind him, which stood tall like the hilt of a sword. Taking a deep breath, he muttered, "I hope your Gale Inhalation is strong enough."
The next moment!
Cold, white flames surged from the Level 5 Ghost Fire inside the camp, rushing through Copper Pipes to the first Ghost Fire installed within the canyon.
BOOM.
The Level 3 Ghost Fire, buried underground, ignited.
The darkness within a 50-meter radius was instantly dispelled, and the pale yellow glow of the Ghost Fire enveloped the area.
Immediately after,
one, two, three.
The twenty Ghost Fires buried underground within the canyon were rapidly lit in succession. The canyon, once completely shrouded in darkness, was now brightly illuminated, all shadows banished.
Viewed from above,
one could clearly see the illuminated area of Ghost Fire. It formed a shape like a hammer or a "T," embedded within the mountainside against the endless darkness.
Cave No. 1 faced the canyon directly.
Standing on the City Wall, Chen Fan could now faintly make out, through the rain and mist, the main Meat Worms’ Ghost Tide being swept past the canyon entrance by the wind, as well as the few scattered Meat Worm Ghosts tumbling into the canyon.
"Heh."
Seeing this, Chen Fan couldn’t help but grin.
"The tide comes at my command; today you’ll learn who I really am."
"Alright, everyone."
"It’s been a few days. Still remember me?"
"Unlimited Ghost Stone supply, full power activation!"
The next instant!
The Level 2 Wind Tower, positioned behind the City Wall, activated.
The two Wind-Resistant Pearls set in the eye sockets of the Copper Eagle at the top of the tower lit up instantly, emitting a strange, ghostly blue light. The countless holes embedded in the tower’s surface began to whine.
The air in front of the Wind Tower began to be violently pulled.
It formed a massive, distorted, funnel-shaped current of air that was visible to the naked eye!
All the dust on the ground was swept up into the swirling vortex.
The powerful suction forcibly pulled the Meat Worms’ Ghost Tide passing the canyon entrance, dragging it into the canyon and toward the Celestial Pit.
"Ptooey!"
Chen Fan wiped the rain from his face and struggled to open his eyes, trying to see if the Meat Worms’ Ghost Tide outside was being pulled in. However, visibility was dropping rapidly as even the rain was being sucked into the cave.
He couldn’t see a thing.
But then,
through the mist of rain, he saw vast numbers of Meat Worm Ghosts. Some were tumbling along the ground, but most were swept up by the air current, flying straight toward him.
"Nice job, Windy!"
Chen Fan grinned excitedly at the sight. Without a moment’s hesitation, he leaped off the City Wall and quickly constructed another 20-meter-wide Level 2 City Wall behind the Wind Tower.
It connected to the cave ceiling, sealing the entire opening completely.
He then connected Copper Pipes to both the Wind Tower and this new Level 2 City Wall.
...
The Wind Tower was located behind the Level 3 City Wall at the cave’s entrance.
The Level 3 City Wall couldn’t be retracted into the ground, or else the incoming Meat Worms’ Ghost Tide would immediately destroy the camp. But it also couldn’t connect to the cave ceiling to enter the "Full-Closed Turtle Shell Defense" mode, because that would prevent the air current from the Wind Tower, positioned behind it, from reaching the canyon.
Therefore, there had to be a gap between the top of the Level 3 City Wall and the cave ceiling to ensure the Wind Tower could function properly.
But this also created a problem: a significant number of Meat Worm Ghosts might be sucked directly through the gap and into the cave, posing a great danger to the people and structures inside.
Therefore—
the solution was to temporarily erect a Level 2 City Wall behind the Wind Tower. This would wall off both the Wind Tower and the Level 3 City Wall, allowing the tower to operate properly while also guaranteeing the safety of the camp and its inhabitants.