Chapter 110 - 97: Ghost Eye Cannon Tower
Chapter 110: Chapter 97: Ghost Eye Cannon Tower
The battle was already over.
Yet this thing was still gurgling, frantically sucking up blood.
The Meat Worm Ghosts had no Ghost Blood in their bodies.
Only a viscous green liquid.
He didn’t think it was blood.
But the Ghost Blood Pattern clearly disagreed. A massive amount of the viscous green liquid flowed to the base of the City Wall and was rapidly absorbed by the pattern.
He wasn’t sure if it was a trick of the light.
But he vaguely felt that the Ghost Blood Pattern had changed from its original dark red to a slightly greenish hue.
Finally—
After a full stick of incense had burned...
The Ghost Blood Pattern dimmed once more, thoroughly sated this time.
"Not bad."
Chen Fan stood outside the cave’s City Wall, a satisfied expression on his face as he scanned the area. The Ghost Blood Pattern had absorbed so much "blood" this time that the wall’s strength would surely increase significantly. Plus, it made cleaning up the battlefield much easier for them.
It was much cleaner.
Countless fleshy skins, covered in human faces, were piled up outside the cave. The Meat Worm Ghosts had no bones or flesh—just a sack of skin filled with green liquid.
After the green liquid was absorbed, only the fleshy skins covered in human faces remained.
They were full of wrinkles and looked utterly grotesque.
They looked even more grotesque under the dark sky.
More of the skins hung from the rock walls, swaying in the wind.
There was no need for dissection.
The Ghost Stones had simply rolled out onto the ground, mixed in with the fleshy skins like ordinary rocks, carpeting the entire canyon.
The sight reminded Chen Fan of a poem from his past life, which he subconsciously altered and recited in a low voice.
"One by one and another one, two and three and four and five."
"Six and seven and eight and nine, flying into the cave, they disappear from sight."
He never understood this poem before.
Now, he did.
Faced with so many Ghost Stones, only the simplest numbers could perfectly express how he felt!
"Hah..."
Chen Fan took a deep breath and waved his hand. "Alright, everyone! Get to work! Bring all the Ghost Stones back!"
Lame Monkey, Zhou Mo, and the others, unable to contain their excitement any longer, had already charged out carrying boxes.
Although it was a rainy night...
...twenty Ghost Fires illuminated the canyon brightly. The Meat Worms’ Ghost Tide had just passed, so it was impossible for any other Ghost Objects to be nearby. There was almost no danger in collecting the Ghost Stones now.
Even if a Ghost Object did appear...
...the Meat Grinder was on standby, ready to activate at a moment’s notice.
...
...
Chen Fan stood on the City Wall at the cave entrance, grinning as he watched the group below rapidly gathering Ghost Stones.
’The Gale Inhalation skill isn’t suitable for quickly picking up spoils of war.’
’The wind force is a bit too strong.’
’Ghost Stones aren’t that durable.’
’If not for the fleshy skins cushioning them, the suction would have smashed the stones against the wall. This kind of work still needs to be done by hand.’
’I really don’t have enough manpower.’
Once the rainy season was over, he would have to find a good group of people to recruit.
But wages were an issue.
He stood on the City Wall, pondering the matter. After the rainy season, he would definitely have to pay Zhou Mo and the others, and any new recruits would need wages too.
No one works for free.
It was a simple truth. During the rainy season, he was providing shelter. After the rainy season, it would all come down to benefits. Although Zhou Mo had said his life belonged to him, if Chen Fan didn’t give him a single Ghost Stone, wouldn’t that just be forcing Zhou Mo to become corrupt?
To put it bluntly, these were all grown men who had been cooped up for a month during the rainy season. They needed to have some money in their pockets for a trip to the brothel, right?
The camp needed manpower.
More people meant a higher payroll.
He didn’t want to spend too much on wages; he had other uses for his money.
So—
He planned to attract people to his camp with low wages and high benefits. The pay would be slightly lower than the average offered by other factions, but he would provide food and lodging, as well as great opportunities for advancement.
As for high benefits, he had the Yunling Pavilion!
’This should be very attractive to certain Cultivators, right?’
He could also offer Martial Arts like the Broken Water Sword Technique, making it available for study to anyone who worked for him for three full months.
Zhou Mo had been drawn to the Wang Family by a copy of the Gale Saber Technique, working as a station master for three years just for a chance to study it. His own Broken Water Sword Technique was of a higher grade, so it should be an even stronger draw.
"Mmm."
Chen Fan nodded in satisfaction.
This way, he could gather a group of people to work for him at a relatively low cost.
Of course.
People recruited like this definitely wouldn’t be very loyal at first. They wouldn’t be the type to live and die with the camp.
But he didn’t need that level of loyalty...
As long as they did their jobs, it was fine.
Besides.
During the rainy season, Jiangbei City and Ping City might have already fallen, leaving their populations destroyed. There would be a huge number of homeless and starving people. Finding some with good character among them shouldn’t be a problem.
「An hour later.」
The battlefield was finally more or less cleared.
A kilometer-long canyon.
Was not easy to clean up.
The main issue was that they couldn’t use horses.
One wrong step from a hoof could shatter a Ghost Stone.
Lame Monkey limped his way up the City Wall and handed over two Exotic Treasures. "Young Master, we only found two Exotic Treasures. The rest are all Ghost Stones. We haven’t finished counting the stones yet; they’re not all in the warehouse."
Now that they had the Warehouse...
...they no longer needed to manually count the Ghost Stones.
Once all the Ghost Stones were stored, the ledgers in the Warehouse’s Archives Room would automatically display detailed information, such as how many stones were deposited and by whom. It was perfectly accurate, with no chance of miscounts.
There were very few Exotic Treasures this time.
It was almost all Ghost Stones.
"Mm, let me see."
Chen Fan, sitting in his rocking chair, smiled and took the Exotic Treasures. It didn’t matter that there were so few. What he needed most right now were Ghost Stones to complete the construction of his Meat Grinder Stage Two!
Then, he would just wait for the Ghost King’s arrival and the end of the rainy season.
-
「Exotic Treasure Name」: Ghost Eye.
「Exotic Treasure Level」: Green.
「Exotic Treasure Effect」: An essential upgrade material for raising an Arrow Tower to a Level 6 Cannon Tower. Holding this Exotic Treasure grants the user ten meters of visibility in the dark after the eternal night has fallen.
-
"Hmm..."
Chen Fan looked thoughtfully at the Exotic Treasure in his hand. It was a material-type item.
He remembered the Ghost Eye.
To upgrade an Arrow Tower to a Level 5 Cannon Tower, it required 300 Ghost Stones and one of several types of materials. Two of those options were the Mourning Lantern and the Ghost Eye.
He had been using Mourning Lanterns to build Level 5 Cannon Towers these past few days.
In addition to that...
...he had a Green Level Mourning Lantern that could be used to build a Level 6 Cannon Tower. However, this Exotic Treasure could also be activated to fire a powerful beam of light at enemies. Each use would damage it, and it would shatter after five activations.
’I was thinking of using it four times before using it for the upgrade.’
He just hadn’t had a chance to use it.
’In that case, I’ll see what a Level 6 Cannon Tower built with a Ghost Eye is like.’
Upgrading to a Level 6 Cannon Tower required meeting the following two conditions.
-
「1: Consume 2,000 Ghost Stones.」
「2: Consume one of the following: Green Level Mourning Lantern x1, Green Level Ghost Eye x1, Green Level Octagonal Snail x1...」
-
"Damn, that’s expensive..."
Chen Fan pursed his lips. He hoped its power would be worth the cost.
Without much hesitation...
...after consuming 2,000 Ghost Stones and the green Ghost Eye in his hand, a panel popped up in front of him as usual.
-
「Arrow Tower upgraded to Level 6, becoming a ’Ghost Eye Cannon Tower.’ Must be placed in a fixed position and cannot be moved freely. Power increased.」
「Please select an Upgrade Direction.」
「1: Increase fire rate.」
「2: Increase power.」
「3: Can Mutate: Mutation direction is unknown.」
-
...
A slightly odd expression appeared on Chen Fan’s face as he glanced at his palm. ’Has my luck been this good recently?’ He had just gotten the "Gale Inhalation" mutation for his Wind Tower the other day.
Although he hadn’t thought of a use for it at the time...
...it had proven incredibly useful today.
This experience told him one thing even more clearly.
Whenever a mutation option appears, just choose it without thinking. Even if he got a bad random outcome that ruined the structure, it would only be a waste of a few Ghost Stones. But if he got something useful, it would be a true game-changer!
"Hah..."
He took a deep breath and, without the slightest hesitation, turned, went downstairs, and strode into the Wooden House.
Bathe!
Change clothes!
Burn incense!
Sincerity is key!
Only by treating it with seriousness—as all things have a spirit—would the Ghost Eye Cannon Tower sense his earnestness and grant him the reward he desired.
"Burn incense" was just a figure of speech.
There was no actual incense in the camp, only a stalk of Heaven-Asking Incense.
"I need to buy some incense after the rainy season ends."
Chen Fan muttered to himself while bathing. Otherwise, the ritual just wouldn’t feel complete.