To Refuse Heaven's Gifts Is to Invite Misfortune

Less than two shichen remained before the fall of the Eternal Night. Inside the camp's wooden cabin, Zhou Mo stood and gave his report: "Stationmaster, today's haul was pretty good. I covered two destroyed outposts in one go and brought back 218 ghost stones. Those two outposts had quite a few ghost stones left in them." "Their stationmasters must have pinched pennies while alive, reluctant to spend them, only for it all to benefit us after they died." "I also brought back plenty of food and other useful resources." "Though..." "There aren't many outposts left close to us. The remaining ones are all farther away, and making a round trip in a single day might be impossible." "..." Sitting in his chair, Chen Fan gazed at the ghost-skin map hanging on the wall, his eyes narrowing slightly. That truly was a problem. Foot travel had its limits, after all. Because the rainy season had arrived early, aside from the outposts around the wilderness periphery that managed to withdraw in time, none of the rest had made it. Every last one was destroyed across the wasteland, and those ruined outposts often held unclaimed ghost stones along with urgently needed supplies. This was a godsend of ownerless wealth. As the ancients said: To refuse Heaven's gifts is to invite misfortune. Nearly thirty abandoned outposts in all. Even if each outpost held only a hundred ghost stones, that would still total three thousand ghost stones—a staggering sum of wealth, plenty to upgrade the wall to Level 2. He was thoroughly tempted. But— The limits of traveling on foot remained a thorny obstacle. Walking was already limited, and with the rainy season upon them, travel was doubly difficult. Unless... they had transportation. In this world, the most common means of transportation were horses, camels, and the like. The primary transport of merchant caravans. Or perhaps like that green-robed man he had encountered—a high-level cultivator versed in suitable movement techniques who could cover dozens of meters in a single stride, dashing and unhindered. He had neither. "There's no rush on this," Chen Fan pondered for a moment before speaking softly. "First, haul away all the resources from the nearby abandoned outposts. As for the distant ones, I'll figure something out. Was there anything unusual out on the wasteland? Any difference from before the rainy season?" "Actually, there was one thing." Zhou Mo said with a puzzled expression, "On my way back to camp, I saw an egg about the size of an ostrich egg. The shell looked soft, and it was just lying all alone out in the wasteland." "I figured there aren't even living creatures out there, so what kind of animal could lay an egg?" "Just as I stepped forward to inspect it," "the egg suddenly broke open, oozing a foul-smelling yolk." "..." Chen Fan fell silent, his face blank. After a long while, he said quietly, "Go stand outside in the rain a bit longer." "That egg might belong to a ghost creature. I can't smell anything on you, but I can't be sure whether ghost creatures can. Soak in the rain as long as possible to wash away the scent, so you don't bring disaster upon the camp." At those words, Zhou Mo's expression shifted slightly. Instantly realizing the gravity of the matter, he dared not delay for a moment and quickly exited the wooden cabin. After Zhou Mo left, Chen Fan began taking inventory of the camp's existing resources. For now, resources like food and water were not lacking. He had 367 available ghost stones, not counting those placed within the ghost fire. There were another fifty ghost stones inside the ghost fire, used for daily maintenance and replenishing the arrow tower's consumption. Currently, the camp's safe zone spanned twenty meters in diameter. The core area enclosed by the wall was ten meters in diameter. The core area was relatively small, but a smaller footprint also meant fewer resources spent building the wall. Consequently, he had placed many critical structures inside the wall, while non-core structures were situated outside. His subsequent plan was to expand the camp's overall area while upgrading the entire existing wall to Level 2. He would then construct a second perimeter wall around the outer edge of the camp. That would give him two rings of defenses: the first barrier protecting standard buildings, and if it fell, everyone could retreat into the core area. Only... His current resources were not yet enough to support such an ambitious plan. Relying on killing ghost creatures for ghost stones was somewhat unpredictable; he needed to get his hands on all the ghost stones inside those destroyed outposts across the wasteland first. Transportation... "..." An idea gradually surfaced in Chen Fan's mind, though the likelihood of success seemed rather low. The principle behind his Heating System 2.0 was actually exceedingly simple; people in this world found it miraculous simply because they had never thought along those lines. Fundamentally, it was nothing more than treating the wooden spikes as pressure-triggered pistons. After a few moments of thought, he pulled out two ghost stones to craft another bear trap, then expended ten ghost stones to upgrade it to Level 2. This time, he chose the upgrade path: "Accelerated ground spike retraction." Next, he crafted a copper pipe one meter thick. He set the copper pipe over the ground spikes. Then he crafted a narrower copper pipe, stood on the table, and repeatedly jabbed downward at the ground spikes at the bottom of the thick copper pipe. With every thrust, the ground spikes were triggered once. And the copper pipe striking the spikes was propelled upward, bursting with thrusting power. Yes. He was going to build a vehicle. The core principle was similar to an internal combustion engine, with the sole difference being that instead of an explosive fuel-air mixture driving the piston, triggered ground spikes drove it. An exceedingly crude "ground-spike engine" was thus born. As long as he added a chassis, a primary driveshaft, and an assembly of gears and wheels to convert the piston's reciprocating linear motion into rotational motion, he could assemble an utterly rudimentary vehicle. What sort of speed it might achieve was hard to say, limited as it would be by the triggering force and reset speed of the ground spikes. Gears? This was a damned fantasy world. Where was he supposed to find gears? What was more, fashioning gears required sturdy, wear-resistant materials, which his camp presently lacked entirely. The copper pipes were hardly durable enough, being merely building modules. Wait— His expression turned strange. Wasn't there a pile of ghost material from mantis ghosts sitting in the warehouse—namely, mantis arms? He had tested those things; they were plenty tough. Give it a shot? Give it a shot! Chen Fan promptly hopped off the table, scooped up the thick copper pipe and the ground spikes from the floor, and marched outside. If the experiment succeeded, all the resources from those ruined outposts across the wasteland would be his. That meant at least thousands of ghost stones pouring in! ... A little over a shichen remained before the Eternal Night. There was still ample time. Upon receiving their orders, everyone in the camp sprang into motion. First, Chen Fan spent another two ghost stones to construct a brand-new wooden cabin. Wang Mazi led his men in tearing it down with a clatter of splintering wood, salvaging neat planks wherever possible before trimming and fitting them together. Qi Chong and his men dug in the farmland for quite some time before unearthing the monkey head ghost buried at the very bottom so they could skin it. Zhou Mo crouched by the edge of the farmland as well, staring with a throbbing headache at the blueprint given by the stationmaster while holding his Broadsword to split and carve up the bones before him. This was the corpse of a bamboo pole ghost. Long and slender throughout. Its bones were equally slender and rigid, making them perfect for a driveshaft. Quehou, having attended a few years of private school, possessed a relatively sharp mind; holding the blueprint, he checked each workstation one by one, offering constant adjustments.