"You Can Fucking Do That?!"

"The ancestors were really right." "There truly is strength in numbers." Only the time it took an incense stick to burn remained before the fall of the Eternal Night. On the camp's perimeter, amidst the drizzling rain, Chen Fan looked at the exceedingly crude, battered... "cart" before him and let out a long, emotional sigh. Once everyone in the camp had set to work, the world's very first cart had come into being in just about one shichen. The bones of a bamboo pole ghost served as the framework for the drive shaft. Several fairly flat wooden planks had been nailed together to form the vehicle's body. There was no cab, no windows. Just a single, thick plank of wood, roughly thirty centimeters thick. Embedded in the center of the plank was a thick copper pipe roughly twenty centimeters high, with a large section shaved away, sunken flush into the middle of the wood. At the bottom of the copper pipe sat a ground spikes trap wrapped in monkey hide, serving as a "ground spikes engine" to act as the power source. Besides that— Several gears carved from mantis blades were mounted beneath the plank, connected by the drive shaft to four wooden wheels wrapped in the hide of monkey head ghosts. In the center of the plank, directly above the "engine," a relatively slender copper pipe served as the control lever. As long as one repeatedly pressed down on this copper pipe by hand, the ground spikes would trigger. The drive shaft would take the thrust generated by triggering the ground spikes and convert it through the gears into the rotation of the wheels, propelling the wooden plank forward. However... "..." The corner of Chen Fan's mouth twitched slightly. It was truly far too crude. For now, its speed was a complete unknown, and its sturdiness was entirely unguaranteed. It might fall apart the moment it started, or run fine at first only to collapse halfway after leaving camp. "Zhou Mo, give it a try." "I'm on it!" ... Not a trace of fear showed in Zhou Mo's eyes; instead, he hopped onto the plank with eager anticipation. Under the watchful eyes of Quehou and the others, he slowly took hold of the slender copper pipe that the stationmaster called the "control lever." He drove it downward with force. Instantly! The ground spikes activated. The thrust traveled along the drive shaft to the gears, setting the wheels in motion. The vehicle... moved. Zhou Mo's eyes lit up. Feeling the ground spikes quickly spring back beneath him, he shoved the slender copper pipe downward once more. Thrust surged through the drive shaft to the wheels again, spinning them faster. Once, twice, three times. The rotation of the wheels gradually picked up speed. The exceedingly crude wooden cart swiftly rolled out of the camp, speeding into the wasteland beyond. The wooden wheels wrapped in monkey head ghost fur adapted quite well to the wasteland's terrain. "Woohoo!!" The others watched Zhou Mo's disappearing figure as his excited whoops carried back from the distance. "It's that fast?!" Disbelief flashed across Quehou's eyes as he muttered, "That's way faster than a regular camel. It's almost keeping up with a horse! And... it doesn't tire you out." "Actually, it's still pretty tiring." Chen Fan sighed helplessly. That lever had to be plunged down against the ground spikes repeatedly by hand. It was pure manual labor; he knew he couldn't keep it up for many thrusts himself. Just then— A panicked shout from Zhou Mo carried back through the drizzling rain: "Stationmaster, how do I stop?!" Only half an incense stick of time remained before the Eternal Night fell. Running too far at this hour was practically asking to find a spot and wait to die. "Let go!" "I let go, but it's still running!" "Wait a moment after letting go!" The wooden cart gradually coasted to a halt. Through the rain, Zhou Mo's shout echoed back again: "Stationmaster, how do I turn around?!" "Jump off, pick up the cart, and aim it back toward the camp!" Braking depended entirely on letting off the throttle. Steering depended entirely on lifting the vehicle by hand. There was no helping it. Given their primitive conditions, this was the best they could manage. Before long, Zhou Mo, standing on the plank, drove the wooden cart back into the camp in high spirits. However, misjudging the distance, the vehicle's momentum carried it right back out of camp even though he had released the control lever ahead of time. Only after Zhou Mo huffed and puffed his way back into camp with the entire cart hoisted onto his shoulder did he turn an excited grin toward Chen Fan. "Stationmaster!" "With this, I can reach outposts further away and bring back more ghost stones and resources!" "You've got plenty of strength, that's for sure." Chen Fan glanced at Zhou Mo. "This is just a first-generation prototype. Over the next few days, while Qi Chong and the other guy are farming during the day, have them drive this around nearby for a few laps to see if any problems crop up." "Stick to the nearby outposts for the next few days." "I'll hand it over to you after testing is complete." "Lest it falls apart halfway out and leaves you stranded." To be fair, Zhou Mo was the only one who could use this contraption anyway; no one else had his raw muscle. The moment one ran out of strength, the engine would stall. When he had time later, he would optimize it and see if he could automate the process so it didn't rely on human labor. "All right!" "It's getting dark. Those who need to sleep, go sleep. Those on wall watch, get up on the wall. Dismissed." ... Half an incense stick later. Boundless darkness surged forth once more, blanketing the entire world. Only the light radiating from the ghost fire formed a safe zone that enveloped the entire camp. Atop the wall. Chen Fan stood in the crude rain shelter Qi Chong had erected on the wall earlier that day. Feeling the cool night breeze and the fine drizzle, he looked toward the gray mist beyond the camp, wondering if tonight would be as calm as last night. "They're here!" Almost the moment night descended, Chen Fan saw ghost creatures gradually emerging from the gray mist. There were monkey head ghosts. Bamboo pole ghosts. Mantis ghosts. And a familiar old friend—the female ghost seated upon a sedan chair carried by four bamboo pole ghosts. It was the same crowd—no, the same ghosts! However, there were far more ghost creatures than last time. Last time there had only been around a hundred, but tonight a sweeping glance revealed at least three hundred, surrounding the camp from all directions and poised to strike at any moment. Clearly, the reason last night had been so peaceful was most likely because any passing ghost creatures had been intercepted by this female ghost. Wait. Why were there nearly a hundred flesh worm ghosts bound and thrown on the ground, squirming helplessly before the mob of ghost creatures? Infighting among ghost creatures? "Get ready, everyone." Chen Fan turned toward the ten Tier 2 arrow towers and two Tier 3 arrow towers stationed along the wall, letting out a slight breath of relief. They should be able to hold out. He still had over three hundred ghost stones left, so if things went awry, he could upgrade the camp's defenses at any moment! That female ghost clearly possessed some intelligence. Perhaps she felt her previous defeat was due to sending her forces in piecemeal waves, dispersing her strength; thus, the moment her ghost creatures gathered near the camp, she launched an all-out assault accompanied by a burst of shrill, maniacal laughter. No probing, no feints. Bamboo pole ghosts over three meters tall strode from the gray mist toward the camp, rapidly picking up speed. The moment they surged toward the camp, they scooped up the flesh worm ghosts beside them and hurled them at the camp's walls with all their might. Several arrow towers on the wall activated immediately. Crossbow bolts struck with pinpoint accuracy, intercepting the arcing flesh worm ghosts midair. They detonated into bursts of eerie green flames across the sky. Yet a few slipped through, smashing violently against the face of the wall. The instant the eerie green fluid splattered, the wall began to corrode, pitting and scarring the impacted areas in moments. They were literally using flesh worm ghosts as hand grenades. And damn it all... It actually worked pretty well. "Fuck!" Chen Fan ducked low behind the battlements, poking his head out to watch the chain of midair explosions outside the wall, and couldn't help cursing aloud. "You can fucking do that?!" He finally understood what that female ghost had been up to last night! Turns out she had tailed the flesh worm ghost tide just to abduct a batch of them to use as grenades!