Sentry Tower

"On it!" Xiao Qiu scrambled up from the farmland and sprinted toward the opened gate, stumbling and crawling as fast as his limbs could carry him. This time, no ghost creatures breached the camp. ... When Xiao Qiu, caked in mud and gasping for breath, made it back behind the wall and climbed the stone steps, he found everyone staring at him. Their eyes held an overwhelming tangle of emotions—admiration, respect, and something more... It was a look he had never seen in his entire life. Never once had he experienced a moment like this. Involuntarily, he puffed out his chest, held up the object glowing with white light in his hand, and grinned at Chen Fan. "Stationmaster, I got it!" "Well done." High on the wall in the rainy night, Chen Fan took the exotic treasure from Xiao Qiu's hand, his expression complicated. "Why did you think to run toward the farmland just now instead of heading for the wall?" "There wasn't enough time." Xiao Qiu only felt his throat burning raw, unsure whether it was from shouting at the top of his lungs earlier. Now that he had caught his breath, his legs felt like jelly, utterly devoid of strength. "The creatures were faster than me and closer. If I had run toward the wall, I never would've made it. "And even if they hadn't caught me, it definitely would've led to the wall being breached. "Brother Wang has treated me well, and you took me in during the rainy season, Stationmaster. Everyone's fighting hard to survive this season. I didn't want to get everyone killed because of me. If someone had to die, it was better that it was just me. "Besides, I figured with the arrow towers, the number of ghost creatures was bound to keep dropping. As long as I charged toward the traps and held out a little longer, maybe we could pull through this crisis." "..." Chen Fan said nothing more. Taking the exotic treasure from Xiao Qiu's hand, he stepped forward and patted his shoulder. "Your name is Xiao Qiu, right? You made a decisive call. You did very well this time." In truth, the scenario Xiao Qiu described—where the wall fell and everyone died—would never have happened. If time had run out, Chen Fan would simply have shut the gate. Only... He had not expected Xiao Qiu to handle it so flawlessly. His quick decision-making, and above all, that self-sacrificing spirit—truth be told, very few people in that situation would have resisted running toward the wall purely out of concern for the others. Chen Fan was certain he could never have done it himself. He could sharply sense that because of Xiao Qiu's actions, a different emotion had clearly taken root in everyone's hearts. It was the outward sign of people being deeply moved; if another crisis arose next time, perhaps others would make the same choice. Humans were social creatures. Emotions were contagious. For the moment, no more ghost creatures were rushing into the camp. Chen Fan narrowed his eyes slightly and peered out into the darkness of the rainy night. He felt that earlier attack might not have been a coincidence. Could it really have been such a fluke that the moment Xiao Qiu left the wall and reached the edge of the camp, the creatures in the night launched their assault? Furthermore... This wave of ghost creatures had been mantis-like and blisteringly fast, quicker even than the bamboo-thin ones from the first wave. They were clearly unsuited for storming walls, but built for pursuit. By contrast, those bamboo-thin ghost creatures, towering at just over three meters tall, were far more suited to attacking a wall. He strongly suspected that the creature outside that had let out the eerie laughter at the very beginning possessed some measure of intelligence, could see the camp's defenses, and stood ready to mount a siege at any moment. Still, its intelligence was probably limited—or at least the creatures under its control lacked much wit. Otherwise, they wouldn't have charged straight into the traps. "..." He lowered his head to gaze at the exotic treasure in his hand, his eyes narrowing slightly. It was a sheet of ghost skin as thin as a cicada's wing, with a texture somewhat reminiscent of the ghost-skin map. Drawn across the skin in crimson lines was a structure. A structure resembling an arrow tower. Only taller. And narrower. It was a building blueprint—an exceptionally rare exotic treasure. Among the myriad exotic treasures, building blueprints were unquestionably among the scarcest, and this was the very first blueprint he had acquired. — [Exotic Treasure Name]: Building Blueprint [Exotic Treasure Grade]: White [Exotic Treasure Effect]: Can be used to build a Sentry Tower. The Sentry Tower provides a 50-meter field of vision beyond the camp. — Without a shred of hesitation, he crushed the blueprint in his hand. Unlike ordinary architects, he had no need to study it; the instant he crushed the blueprint, a new constructible structure—"Sentry Tower"—appeared deep within his mind on the Eternal Night Lord panel, requiring only 10 ghost stones to build. He still had 130 ghost stones remaining. The next instant— A ten-meter-tall, exceedingly narrow spectral tower formed of countless white lines materialized in midair. As the ten ghost stones in his palm shattered and dissolved into a milky-white liquid that flowed into it, the spectral tower gradually solidified, taking shape beside the wooden cabin inside the perimeter. Its base was merely one meter wide. Broad at the base, it tapered as it rose. Embedded at the very peak was an object resembling a luminous pearl. The moment this Sentry Tower fully solidified, Chen Fan's vision expanded dramatically. Originally, everything beyond the camp's boundary was pitch black, a soul-chilling abyss. But now, the area within fifty meters of the perimeter had shifted from pitch-black to a pale, misty gray. Beyond fifty meters, dense darkness still held sway. Through the pale gray mist, he could clearly see hundreds of ghost creatures traveling in packs, swiftly bypassing their camp and heading deeper into the darkness, like a great animal migration. They swept past in a flash, difficult to make out clearly. Yet... Four bamboo ghosts were carrying a blood-red sedan chair. They had not joined the great migration, standing motionless thirty meters from the camp, flanked by a ring of a hundred ghost creatures. Three types in all. Bamboo ghosts and mantis ghosts—names he had coined himself—along with the monkey-headed ghosts he had encountered initially. The monkey-headed ghosts were the fewest in number. Among this gathered horde, one bamboo ghost and one mantis ghost were noticeably larger than the rest of their kind. "..." Chen Fan drew a deep breath. Standing upon the wall, he looked out at the gray mist beyond the ghost fire. The sentry tower had provided him with vastly more information; to him, a fifty-meter field of view was nothing short of invaluable. He finally understood what was happening. In all likelihood, those two larger ghost creatures were sub-leaders. The monkey-headed ghosts were fewest because he had already slain so many of them, and the reason there was no monkey-headed sub-leader was that he had already killed it. In death, it had even yielded two exotic treasures: the Ghost Stone Mineral Vein Seed and the God-Slaying Spear. The entity inside the sedan chair was almost certainly the one that had laughed earlier, coming to seek vengeance after discovering its underling had perished. Fortunately... A flicker of relief brushed Chen Fan's heart. The sentry tower gave him a clear picture of just how many ghost creatures were passing by his camp. If that entire horde had charged recklessly into his camp, he would have been dead without a doubt! There was no way he could have held the line. Only this particular retinue was lingering outside the camp, poised to strike; the other ghost creatures had ignored the camp's existence as they passed, seemingly in a frantic hurry on their way. Two Level 2 arrow towers definitely wouldn't be enough. Back then, the two Level 2 arrow towers hadn't even been able to kill the monkey-headed sub-leader outright, allowing it to flee dozens of meters outside the camp before bleeding to death. Now, there were two such sub-leaders, along with a far more formidable boss. Level 2 arrow towers wouldn't cut it. He had to have Level 3 arrow towers. Fortunately, he had saved enough ghost stones to upgrade them.