Go Forth, Let Darkness Descend as Scheduled

"Again?!" Chen Fan's expression changed drastically at the sound. He whipped his head toward the exterior of the camp, scanning the area, but saw no sign of any female ghost. Only then did he realize it was Da Yu, following right behind, who was calling out to him. Da Yu's eyes were filled with dread, yet burned with an abnormal resolve. He instantly understood what Da Yu was thinking. "Don't rush, don't rush..." Chen Fan pulled Da Yu along, turning around to sprint back up onto the newly constructed wall. He could tell that he was the primary target of these creatures; he couldn't run elsewhere. Otherwise, once the arrow towers were destroyed, even if a new wall was erected, there would be no defensive fortifications left. "Hold off on activating it. I don't think I've lived enough yet, and if you trigger it, I won't survive either." "Wait until I'm dead before you activate it!" *Boom!* Chen Fan ducked and buried himself behind the parapet. The section of wall where he had just stood was obliterated entirely. It was a pillar of light formed by sixteen merged beams of eerie green light; while smashing through the wall, its momentum carried through to shatter the wall directly opposite. Even the sentry tower was caught in the blast, splintering and collapsing into the rubble. "We're really going to die..." In near despair, he poked his head out and looked toward the sixteen mourning ghost leaders outside the camp. If they split again into thirty-two, it would be certain death. *How the fuck can you split like that? Are you a damned earthworm or something?!* The Level 4 arrow fort continued to fire its heavy bolts without emotion. "Eh?" Right then, a bolt took one of the mourning ghost leaders right between the brows, sending it crashing down. Fifteen remained. Yet this time, it did not split. Under the cover of the lesser mourning ghosts, the remaining fifteen leaders hastily retreated toward the perimeter of the camp. They were clearly pulling back. "They're running?" Chen Fan froze for a moment, but quickly realized: the enemy had reached their splitting limit! At this stage, killing one meant it was dead for good. A grin instantly broke across his face. Straightening up, he roared with excitement: "You want to run?!" "Now you fucking know to run?!" With a flick of his wrist, he constructed another Level 4 arrow fort on the wall. Arrow Rain Storm was activated repeatedly at all costs, sweeping away the mourning ghosts shielding the leaders with their bodies. Two Level 4 arrow forts began picking them off with lethal precision. ... As the mourning ghost leaders fled, the mourning ghosts inside the camp did not retreat. Instead, they attacked the walls and other structures within the camp with even greater frenzy. Chen Fan couldn't care less about that right now. Those mourning ghost leaders had to die. Otherwise, if they rested, recovered, and returned tomorrow, his camp wouldn't survive another round of this havoc. *Boom!* *Boom!* As the mourning ghost leaders fled, they flailed about in panic, raising their eerie green lanterns to fire green beams into the walls. One down. Two down. Three down. Under the relentless rain of arrows, the number of mourning ghost leaders steadily dwindled. Finally... a bolt struck the back of the last leader's head. Its body stumbled forward out of control for several paces before crashing heavily onto the ground. "Die!" Poking his head out from behind the parapet, Chen Fan looked at the corpse of the final leader near the camp's outer boundary and pumped his fist, shouting in triumph. Next came the small fry. However, in the very next instant! The moment the last leader died, every mourning ghost in the camp stiffened simultaneously, their life rapidly draining away as they collapsed backward. They were all dead. Looking across the area, the camp—freshly battered and reduced to ruins—was carpeted with the corpses of mourning ghosts. ... No one slept that night. Chen Fan and the others stood guard on the ruined wall until dawn, not daring to venture out to harvest ghost stones lest another ghost tide lurk outside the camp. Something felt very wrong tonight. Nor did he immediately repair the camp. The damage was too severe; it required a complete rebuild. It was best to wait until daylight to take stock before reconstructing. If another ghost tide struck in the meantime, it wouldn't be too late to rebuild then. Finally! Dawn... broke. No one had rested through the night. Even Zhou Mo and his group hadn't slept; with the wooden cabins inside the camp demolished, there was nowhere to sleep anyway. They took turns dozing off briefly while keeping watch until sunrise. "Phew..." The moment the Eternal Night receded like an ebbing tide, Chen Fan finally straightened his back. He drew a deep breath, exhaling all the anxiety and fear from the previous night, before pumping his fist and shouting, "Get to work!" Quehou, Wang Mazi, and the others had their tools ready. With excited shouts, they rushed out past the walls. Those who needed to dig ghost stones dug ghost stones. Those who needed to drain blood drained blood. With ghost creature corpses blanketing the ground, this was going to be a massive harvest! "Wait..." As the Eternal Night lifted and visibility returned, Chen Fan looked beyond the camp. Out on the wilderness lay an immense number of mourning ghost corpses—easily over a thousand! The ghost tide from last night had been on a staggering scale. Even more mourning ghosts had perished the moment their leaders died, before they could even step foot into the camp. He stared blankly for a second. Then he burst into laughter, his chuckles growing louder and louder. Braving the pouring rain, he rushed out past the wall and strode toward the body of the mourning ghost leader, even humming a little tune under his breath. The camp's losses were completely cast from his mind. His entire camp combined wasn't worth as much as this pile of carcasses. ... "Looting treasures, touch the loot. Touch the treasures, loot and loot." Squatting beside the corpse of the mourning ghost leader's true body, Chen Fan eagerly began searching it with high expectations. After the sixteen mourning ghost leaders died, only this original one still held an eerie green lantern; the other fifteen had disintegrated into dust. This eerie green lantern was an exotic treasure. He didn't inspect its panel yet. He knew it had to be a phenomenal prize, so he deliberately saved it for last. When eating beef noodles, some people liked to eat the meat first, while others preferred the noodles first. He was the type to eat the noodles first. The best things were meant to be savored at the very end. Usually, looting exotic treasures was left to Quehou, but so many ghost creatures had died today that it was doubtful whether Quehou and the others could finish dissecting all the corpses. It was a massive undertaking. "Eh?" From the corpse's pocket, Chen Fan pulled out a piece of ghost skin. Its texture was somewhat similar to the one obtained from the female ghost, though not quite as thin and noticeably coarser. There was writing on the skin. - 「Hear my command, Qianhou!」 「You are ordered to lead your subordinates to the 'Jiangbei Wasteland' and destroy every wall you lay eyes upon.」 「Pave the way for my descent.」 「At the close of the rainy season, I shall journey to the Jiangbei Wasteland and use the blood of the living beings from both cities to ascend to Ghost King.」 「And on the day of my ascension, I shall take Qiu Kui as my bride.」 「Go forth, let darkness descend as scheduled.」 「As one of the four great leaders under my command, bring terror and despair to those feeble ants cowering behind their walls!」 - "..." Chen Fan stared blankly at the ghost skin in his hands, silent for a long time. Then he looked up in the direction of Jiangbei City. So... if he hadn't been here, normally speaking, this bastard was supposed to show up at Jiangbei City last night, right? *Talk about stubborn and literal-minded.* *Your boss was obviously just talking big! What did my tiny little camp ever do to you for you to take 'destroy every wall you see' so literally? You didn't even spare my breeding farm!* *Are you a complete meathead or what?* He wondered: since he had averted a catastrophe for Jiangbei City, could they give him a reward? He was pretty strapped for cash right now. Maybe he should just move. Was it too late to pack up and relocate behind Jiangbei City...?