"..."
Chen Fan stood in place, gazing at the bustling construction site ahead.
The city wall section on either end had retracted into the ground so that rocks, dirt, and other debris could spill out. Zhou Mo and the others were busy dealing with them, but the sheer volume of work was rather overwhelming.
The few of them were clearly struggling to keep up.
They lacked proper tools, and there were not enough hands on deck.
At present, it seemed.
It would take at least three days for the home base he envisioned to take shape.
...
And so.
After a full day of hard work, with about half an hour left before darkness fell.
The Cannon Towers ceased their bombardment.
"Hoo..."
On the city wall at the cave entrance, Chen Fan let out a soft breath, looking inside. After a day of relentless bombardment, the interior of the cave was now about ten meters high and thirteen meters deep, with the cave's height exceeding that of the city wall.
Narrow at the entrance, wider inside.
Occasionally, clumps of earth dropped from the cave ceiling.
The ground was also a mess.
"Station Master..."
Zhou Mo gasped for breath as he sat on the ground, his voice hoarse. "The outside is pretty much done. We'll have to clean up the rest tomorrow."
They lacked the manpower and means to transport the mud and rubble away. So, the only thing they could do was let it slide through the gaps on either side of the city wall, doing their best to level it as much as possible.
They hadn't even leveled the ground inside the cave.
The plan for the home base was ambitious.
But with only a few people, carrying it out was exhausting.
Behind them, Pockmark Wang, Qi Chong, and the others were also panting heavily, out of breath. They had indeed been pushed to their limits these past few days.
"Take your time, we'll handle it tomorrow."
"Good work, everyone."
Chen Fan created an Eerie Fire and placed it in the greatest depths of the cave. He then put both the "Breeze Formation" formation disk and the "Mountain Embryo Corpse"—these two Extraordinary Treasures—into the Eerie Fire, and connected the already laid copper pipes from the canyon to this Eerie Fire.
The next moment—
The Breeze Formation was activated first.
A faintly visible breeze swirled around the camp. One could vaguely feel a slight chill at the ankles, and, as if pushed by someone from behind, walked much faster.
Even standing on the city wall, he could feel the breeze sweeping past his ankles.
Chen Fan took a few steps on the city wall to test it; the speed was indeed much faster than usual. It felt quite marvelous, somewhat like those flat escalators in airports—each step covered twice the distance.
It also had a dust-clearing effect.
Each day, it consumed 1 Eerie Stone, with consumption increasing as the camp expanded.
Right at that moment!
"Crack... crack."
Bleached and thick bones extended from the Eerie Fire he had placed deep in there, drilling into the ground and swiftly spreading through the mountain. The cave ceiling, which had been collapsing just moments before, instantly became sturdy. Not even a single pebble fell anymore.
No more risk of collapse.
Only after placing these two Extraordinary Treasures in the Eerie Fire could the home base camp barely be considered decent.
As for structures like the farmland and Sacrificial Tower, he hadn't placed them yet.
At the very least, the cave floor needed to be leveled before constructing buildings. Moreover, the current cave was still too small, far from meeting his vision for the home base. It required a few more days of work.
He then attempted to create the "Vehicle Workshop," the new yellow-grade building he had recently obtained.
The illusory shape that should have been made up of white lines was now framed by red hatch marks.
This building covered too large an area.
It was roughly one and a half times the area of the current cave. The cave simply couldn't accommodate it. The only alternative was to place it out in the village. There was enough space there, but that wouldn't align with his vision for the home base. In case of an enemy attack, the Vehicle Workshop would be the first to be destroyed.
However.
Although the home base had just barely taken shape, the key defenses were mostly in place.
"Get a good night's sleep."
Chen Fan smiled lightly as he looked at Crippled Monkey and the others. "I took a nap this afternoon. I'll keep watch tonight."
The others didn't refuse.
They went down the wall to the temporary hut built inside the cave and practically fell asleep as soon as their heads hit the bedding.
They had been exhausted for the past few days.
Too tired to even stand up.
When people are that worn out, they can think of nothing but sleep.
...
Soon.
Soft snoring could be heard from within the wooden hut.
Chen Fan walked out of the cave alone and looked up at his surroundings.
The deep pit at the base of the cliff was quite large.
A perfect square.
Roughly several hundred meters wide.
The natural Eerie Fire zone covered only a small area at the center of the deep pit.
The others were all asleep.
After glancing around, he began laying more copper pipes. He hadn't used up today's free quota. Starting from the cave, he continuously laid pipes outward in all directions. This time, laying pipes wasn't about building roads.
It was about expanding the camp's range.
Last night, a big guy had watched him intently all night.
It was highly likely to return tonight.
Tonight, the moment he heard any movement, he would activate the copper pipes, extending the camp's range to include the creature and eliminating this threat with the Cannon Towers.
No one can tolerate a threat in one's own backyard.
But...
The copper pipes could be at most one meter wide. When activated, the half-meter area on either side would become part of the camp. That added up to 2 meters wide, enough for a road.
However, to cover the entire pit and incorporate it all into the camp would require an astronomical number of copper pipes.
A rough estimate suggested a need for about 200,000 meters of copper pipes.
His daily free quota was only 10,000 meters, and he had less than 3,000 meters left today.
So—
He extended the copper pipes from the cave entrance into the pit, like branches spreading out from a tree.
This wouldn't incorporate all of the pit into the camp, but it would allow him to illuminate parts of the area after dark. As long as the creature appeared within these camp extensions, the Cannon Towers could fire.
He also created five watchtowers, scattering them across the pit and connecting them to the copper pipes.
When activated, the watchtowers provided a 50-meter line of sight outside the camp. Although they only offered vision, and the Cannon Towers couldn't attack, he could still activate the green Mourning Lantern in his hand.
He had to deal with this unknown creature first to secure the home base.
...
After finishing the work.
The Perpetual Night descended as scheduled.
Chen Fan, holding the green Mourning Lantern, sat quietly on the city wall at the cave entrance. The wall was embedded in the mountain, so he was sheltered from the rain. He looked up at the mountain overhead and waited.
After some time.
"Thud, thud, thud..."
The familiar sound came again—the noise of Eerie Creatures falling from the cliff into the pit.
"It's coming."
He quickly gathered his focus. It had happened just like this last night.
Sure enough, after several consecutive sounds of Eerie Creatures falling from the cliff, it quieted down for a stick of incense's time(about half an hour). Then, he heard a rustling sound in the rain again—the sound of something massive moving through the rain.
One, two, three...
Chen Fan suppressed his impatience and silently counted the seconds in his mind. When he was done counting, he abruptly activated the copper pipes.
Cold white flames raced from the Eerie Fire in the cave into the copper pipes, lighting up all the watchtowers along the way.
The next moment!
The pit, originally shrouded in the Perpetual Night, was instantly illuminated.
Branches emitting a golden-yellow light were crisscrossed all over the pit. The lit watchtowers instantly dispelled the Perpetual Night at the bottom of the pit, transforming it into gray mist.
He saw it.
In the gray mist, he saw a massive, crocodile-like monster. It was cautiously clamping an Eerie Creature corpse in its jaws at the base of the cliff, preparing to retreat. But the sudden illumination of the pit clearly startled it.
The crocodile quickly dropped the corpse that was already in its mouth and fled in panic into the canyon.
In the blink of an eye, it vanished from sight.
As it ran, the tremendous noise echoed repeatedly within the canyon.
"..."
Chen Fan stood expressionless on the city wall, remaining silent. Only now did he realize what kind of creature had been observing him last night. And it also occurred to him that it had been cautious enough last night and tonight. The sounds he had heard were already the result of the creature tiptoeing as much as possible.
When it began to run, the sound was deafening, reverberating within the canyon, the echoes lingering for a long time.