The Wall

"…" Chen Fan glanced at Wang Mazi's departing figure, then took the pouch handed over by Quehou. Inside were all the ghost stones those few men had just turned over. Among all the Chen family stationmasters, Wang Mazi was the only one he recognized. In his memories, his predecessor had once been deeply grateful to this Wang Mazi. It was because his predecessor had once overheard Wang Mazi say that the young master was actually quite pitiful. From that single remark, his predecessor had felt profound gratitude and had deliberately looked into Wang Mazi's background. Gratitude? Chen Fan weighed the pouch in his hand, chuckling softly without a word. Those six men possessed only modest savings; the pouch contained a total of 176 ghost stones. Combined with the 200 ghost stones he already had, that brought his total to 376. This exceeded the 320 ghost stones required to construct the wall. Before night fell, he could erect a defensive wall to make tonight significantly safer. Only… Wang Kui alone had contributed 137 ghost stones, while all six of these men together had offered only 176. It was hard to say whether their fortunes were genuinely far leaner than Wang Kui's, or if they had held something back for themselves. Chen Fan said nothing more. He merely looked toward the wall blueprint on his interface. To construct this fortification, only ghost stones were consumed—no other materials were required. "Phew…" Standing in the torrential downpour, Chen Fan slowly closed his eyes. The next instant— Hundreds of ghost stones hovered in midair, shattering in rapid, crackling succession as their milky-white liquid coalesced into a radiant river across the sky. With the ghost fire at its center, a circular phantom wall made of glowing white lines abruptly rose from the ground. As the milky-white liquid poured into the outline, the phantom wall began to solidify and take tangible form. The wind continued to howl. The rain continued to pour. Yet an abrupt circular wall had already enclosed the ghost fire, securely protecting it within. It was composed of massive stone blocks, standing five meters high and three meters thick. A single glance conveyed its imposing, ancient heaviness. It was remarkably sturdy. This was the most resource-intensive structure he had built yet: the stone wall! With an inner diameter of ten meters, this circular stone wall encompassed an area that precisely matched the safe zone of a Level 1 ghost fire. It was seamlessly sealed without a gate. Or rather, it possessed a concealed gate: with a mere thought, he could retract any section of the wall into the ground to open a passage, ensuring there were no structural weak points while still allowing unhindered movement. Furthermore— Along the inner face of the wall were four sets of stone steps leading directly to the top. "…" Chen Fan climbed the stone steps alone. The solid, unyielding sensation beneath his feet filled him with immense satisfaction. The top of the wall was three meters wide, broader at the base and narrower at the summit. The top was not pointed; instead, it left a sturdy walkway about two meters wide. Along the outer edge stood a chest-high parapet, and the inner side even featured alcoves where defenders could rest. "Not bad at all." After a long moment, Chen Fan looked down over the entire campsite from atop the wall and suddenly smiled. Resting his hands on the parapet, he gazed out at the farmland beyond the barrier. This was the first time he had looked down upon the camp from such a vantage point. The ghost fire was now Level 2, possessing a safe zone twenty meters in diameter. The only reason he had built a wall with a diameter of merely ten meters was that he originally lacked the resources to enclose the entire camp. But looking at it now, that accidental constraint had led to the right choice. Had the wall been built right along the outer perimeter of the camp, he would have had virtually no line of sight beyond it. A charge of ghost creatures would have brought them directly to the base of the wall. Now, however, he had ample visibility. The moment ghost creatures breached the camp's edge, he would spot them from atop the wall. The ten meters between the camp's perimeter and the wall would give them plenty of time to react. A helpless compromise born of limited resources had turned out to be an exceptionally sound tactical decision. And then— He pulled up the interface for the Wall. Upgrading this entire ring of wall to Level 2 required 1,600 ghost stones, an expense he certainly could not afford for now. The wall's height now exceeded that of the arrow towers. As a result, the arrow towers were unable to target anything beyond the wall. However, the Wall came with several designated building slots that could accommodate various defensive structures. With a thought, he could transfer the two arrow towers beside the ghost fire directly onto the wall. It cost no additional resources. All it took was a flick of his mind. The very next moment! The two Level 2 arrow towers beside the ghost fire dissolved into gentle, milky-white light. Immediately after, the phantom outlines of two arrow towers appeared at the northern and southern points of the wall, rapidly solidifying. In the blink of an eye, the two Level 2 arrow towers had been relocated onto the wall. For someone like Chen Fan, who could directly interact with the building interface, this was child's play. But to a native architect, it was utter fantasy—something entirely impossible to achieve. Fifty-six ghost stones remained. Chen Fan looked toward the farmland outside the wall and let out a soft sigh. That plot was five meters long and five meters wide; at a pinch, it might have squeezed inside the wall. Unfortunately, there was no way to relocate it. He could only hope the ghost creatures tonight would not be too numerous. His crops still had two days before they matured, and he had no desire to see his farmland destroyed before harvesting a single fruit. *** "…" As he dismantled the wooden cabin, Wang Mazi stared in a daze at Chen Fan's silhouette atop the wall. In the pouring rain, the youth stood ramrod straight without uttering a superfluous word, yet Wang Mazi felt as if he could read a tempest of resolve in that solitary back. His throat bobbed with difficulty. Looking up at the massive, meters-high stone wall, he drew a deep breath before calling out to the subordinates beside him. "Pack the bedding and supplies into the ceramic jars and seal them tight! Be careful not to let any water in!" "Stationmaster Qi, you need to pick up the pace on your end as well!" Stationmaster Qi was the last of the three stationmasters Wang Kui had brought back. The wooden cabin was crude, so taking it down was not difficult. The main concern was keeping items like the bedding from getting soaked. "Right away!" Stationmaster Qi agreed briskly, rolling up his sleeves without hesitation as he worked through the rain to dismantle the cabin. His eyes brimmed with vigor and hope. The instant that wall had risen, a spark of hope had ignited in everyone's eyes. A glimmer of hope to survive. This was an architect! An architect, whom every major faction was willing to pay any price to recruit. Provided they had sufficient resources, they could perform miracles! Any faction aspiring to rise inevitably required an architect. Without one, a faction was nothing more than rootless duckweed, liable to vanish without a trace at any moment. *** Meanwhile, Chen Fan had already stepped outside the wall to place one of the bear traps beside the farmland, determined to protect his crops as best he could. "Little sprouts…" Squatting beside the field, he murmured as he gazed at the tender shoots breaking through the soil, "You have to hang in there and live. A little rain like this won't break you, right?" The seeds had already sprouted. They looked fairly sturdy, not battered into ruin by the torrential storm. Even so, they would likely never withstand the direct onslaught of a ghost tide.