Ground Spikes

He looked toward the Level 1 bear trap before him. At present, the camp had a total of five bear traps. Over the past few days, he had earned a considerable number of ghost stones thanks to them, and crafting a single bear trap cost merely two ghost stones. Upgrading a bear trap to Level 2 was not expensive either, costing just ten ghost stones. He intended to test out the effect. Immediately after, Ten ghost stones on the ground shattered in an instant, turning into a milky-white liquid that flowed into the bear trap beside the farmland, and an interface panel slowly floated into view before his eyes. — [Bear Trap upgraded to Level 2, becoming "Ground Spikes." Must be installed in a fixed location; cannot be moved at will. Can be triggered multiple times.] [Please select an upgrade path.] [1: Blends in with surrounding environment, highly concealed, extremely difficult to detect.] [2: Enhanced power.] [3: Accelerated spike retraction speed.] — The original bear trap before him had already transformed into a phantom projection of a square ground spike structure, one meter long and one meter wide, awaiting his placement. He selected the second upgrade path. He then placed it directly in front of the farmland. It looked rather conspicuous. On the cracked wasteland, within a square patch of open ground, dozens of neat, orderly holes were distributed across the surface, looking just like the core of a tree drilled through by wood-boring insects. He picked up the corpse of a ghost creature that Quehou had not yet buried in the farmland and tossed it over the holes. The very next moment— *Clack!* With a crisp sound, dozens of pitch-black, thick, hard wooden spikes thrust violently out from beneath the ground like striking vipers, moving at a speed imperceptible to the naked eye, piercing through the ghost creature's corpse in an instant. Its power was more than a tier above that of the bear trap. Only then did the thick wooden spikes begin to retract slowly. After several breaths, they withdrew entirely back into the holes. When stepped on again, they would trigger once more! This made up for a major flaw of the bear trap—namely, the inability to trigger repeatedly. Its power had also increased substantially. "Not bad." Chen Fan nodded with slight satisfaction. It was cheap and practical, and above all, it was free of running costs. It required no ghost stones to provide energy; so long as it was not wrecked, it could be used indefinitely. If he had chosen the third upgrade path, the retraction speed would have been even faster, allowing it to trigger more frequently. However, he felt that for a trap like ground spikes, the most essential attribute was lethal one-hit power; being able to instantly kill whatever ghost creature stepped onto it was what truly mattered. No matter how fast it was, if it lacked sufficient force, it would all be in vain. ... He still had forty-six ghost stones left. Standing beside the farmland, Chen Fan rose, lifted his head, and gazed toward the distant horizon as it gradually darkened. His eyes narrowed slightly. In his construction panel, there was a structure called the "Sacrificial Tower," which required twenty ghost stones to craft. Its description was rather vague. — [Level 1 Sacrificial Tower]: Can acquire special resources. Crafting cost: 20 ghost stones. — Tonight, he certainly had no intention of keeping too many ghost stones on hand. He debated whether to craft a few more Ground Spikes or build the Sacrificial Tower. The former would maximize the immediate strength of the camp. As for the latter, going by the description, it was almost certainly tied to the mid-to-late stages of the camp. Those acquired special resources most likely would not be needed in the short term, and they probably would not be given away for free either; he might well have to trade ghost stones for them. It was practically a bottomless money sink of a building. After a long moment, He took out forty ghost stones and upgraded the remaining four bear traps to Level 2, choosing the second upgrade path for all of them. He arranged them neatly in a row along the side of the farmland nearest the edge of the camp. The farmland was five meters wide. Each ground spike trap was one meter wide, so five of them spanned five meters. They matched the width of the farmland perfectly. It looked neat and harmonious, the kind of layout that could cure obsessive-compulsive disorder. "That's much better." Chen Fan looked at his masterpiece with satisfaction. With these five sets of ground spikes in place, his farmland should be reasonably well protected. For any ghost creatures that slipped past, there were still the arrow towers atop the wall. In the end, he decided to put the Sacrificial Tower out of his mind. Surviving tonight came first. As long as he survived, he would have plenty of time to figure out what the Sacrificial Tower was. If he didn't make it through the night, then no matter how incredible the tower was, it would have nothing to do with him. What was more, He felt that for him right now, this farmland was more important than the arrow towers. Once the Ghost Stone Mineral Vein Seed matured, it would yield a payout of ghost stones. He didn't know the exact amount, but there might be a pleasant surprise. "Everything is in place; all we need is the east wind!" He looked up toward the sky. This was the absolute limit of what he could do. As long as tonight's ghost tide did not kill him right at the start, he could use the ghost stones dropped by tonight's ghost creatures to strengthen the camp once more, raising its upper limit even further! It was an opportunity. It was also a crisis. Everything depended on whether he could hold out tonight. Right at that moment— "Young Master!" Quehou's voice drifted down from the wall. Quehou was leaning over the parapet, shouting down at him, "The wooden cabin has been completely dismantled!" "Good." Chen Fan turned and walked toward the wall. As he drew near, the section of wall before him suddenly sank into the ground. He stepped inside and looked toward Wang Mazi and the others in the heavy rain, as well as a neat pile of lumber in the corner and several ceramic jars packed with bedding. Reaching into his robes, he pulled out two ghost stones and tossed them into the air. Immediately after, The translucent projection of a wooden cabin slowly materialized in the middle of the camp. As the milky-white liquid from the melted ghost stones flowed into it, a solid, dignified wooden cabin settled firmly onto the ground. Compared to the original crude wooden cabin, it was noticeably several tiers higher in quality. The weather was growing colder and colder. And it was pouring rain. The former cabin couldn't even keep out the wind, let alone shield against the rain. These two ghost stones were an unavoidable expense. He stepped inside the wooden cabin, reached into his robes again, and slotted another ghost stone into the recess at the entrance. Only then did he look outside at Wang Mazi and the others. "All of you, come inside. The rain is heavy out there; get yourselves settled before dark. "There's a fire inside. Go warm up so you don't catch a cold." When Wang Kui brought the six men back to the outpost, he had also brought along a fair amount of clothing, food, and other everyday necessities. At this moment, those items also needed to be sorted, though he did not need to worry about such matters; Quehou was fully capable of organizing everything neatly. "Understood!" Wang Mazi nodded heavily, then hurriedly called the others to unpack the items from the ceramic jars and tidy up the room. ... "Hurry!" Out on the wasteland, midway through their journey, Wang Kui and Xiao Qiu happened to cross paths with that stationmaster from the Qiuhe Wang family, who was clad in hemp garments and sprinting through the rain with a long saber in hand, leading his subordinates. "It's almost dark! If we don't get back soon, it'll be too late!" Wang Kui yelled at the top of his lungs against the downpour. The men had been sent out to collect supplies from the surrounding abandoned outposts and were now on their return journey after completing the task. Visibility on the wasteland was normally very high, but in the heavy rain, it had dropped to an extreme low. Without a ghost-skin map, one would surely lose their way. "It's right up ahead." Wang Kui glanced at the ghost-skin map in his hand, panting as he sprinted with all his might. Yet... the very next moment, his body suddenly ground to a dead halt, his eyes staring blankly at what lay before him. He looked down again at the ghost-skin map in his hand. They hadn't taken a wrong turn. This was indeed Jiangbei Chen Family Outpost No. 37. Only... where had that wall come from? He was certain there had been no such thing in the camp before he left!