I Build a Shelter in the Eternal Night

"Mm."

Chen Fan looked at the travel-worn Zhou Mo before him. His already weathered face was now flushed red from the storm, and his lips had a bluish tint. He was clearly not in good shape.

A normal person wouldn’t be able to withstand rushing around in a storm for so long.

Not to mention the psychological pressure of having to rush back to the camp before dark.

He paused for a moment before speaking softly.

"A pity."

"You’ve had a rough journey. Go inside, change into some dry clothes, and warm up by the fire."

"It was nothing."

Zhou Mo shook his head, pulled a linen pouch from his clothes, and gestured to his subordinate. "All the Ghost Stones from that camp are here—48 in total. He helped me collect them. I’ve loaded everything else of value onto this cart and brought it back. It should all be useful."

"Good."

Chen Fan smiled and took the pouch.

He naturally understood the meaning behind Zhou Mo’s words.

"Go get some rest."

...

There was still one hour until nightfall.

Time was tight.

Chen Fan walked alone to the section of the City Wall that had been damaged by the Meat Worm Ghosts the previous night. The viscous green liquid left behind by their explosions had corroded parts of the wall, leaving many fist-sized holes.

The wall was three meters thick.

This level of damage had almost no effect on the City Wall, all things considered.

After all, these were just a few that slipped through, and their numbers weren’t too high.

The next moment—

The camp’s City Wall suddenly dissolved into a spectral blueprint composed of white lines of light. In the section before him, he could clearly see that several of the white lines were broken and needed repair.

-

[This repair requires 1 Ghost Stone.]

-

’The price isn’t too steep.’

Chen Fan took a Ghost Stone from his clothes and crushed it. The stone turned into a milky-white liquid that slowly flowed into the spectral blueprint. The broken white lines began to rapidly mend, a change visible to the naked eye.

A few moments later, the spectral blueprint solidified once more.

The City Wall before him was restored, completely intact and as good as new.

’I wonder how other Architects repair their City Walls.’

Chen Fan murmured to himself as he glanced at the darkening sky. He could repair the City Wall so easily because he had his panel. ’How do other Architects, the ones without panels, manage it?’

’They can’t possibly build a whole new section every time it gets damaged, right?’

He knew that Jiangbei City was a natural Ghost Fire Zone of considerable size. The three major factions within it had joined forces to build a wall enclosing the entire city, a structure on a much grander scale than his own.

Without a way to repair their wall, the maintenance costs would be astronomical.

He didn’t dwell on it and began to count his Ghost Stones.

He had 508 in total.

It was a considerable sum, but it definitely wasn’t enough to upgrade the City Wall to Level 2, which required 1,600 Ghost Stones. However, it was enough to significantly bolster the camp’s defenses again.

The City Wall currently had two Level 3 Arrow Towers.

Their power was sufficient, but there weren’t enough of them.

Building a Level 1 Arrow Tower required 10 Ghost Stones.

He first spent 100 Ghost Stones to build ten Level 1 Arrow Towers, slotting them all neatly into the sockets behind the City Wall’s crenelations.

These ten Arrow Towers were made entirely of wood and looked rather fragile.

Their firepower was also lacking.

He then spent another 200 Ghost Stones to upgrade all ten Arrow Towers to Level 2.

As the Ghost Stones turned into milky-white liquid, the Arrow Towers began to transform. They seemed to grow as if alive, morphing into a mixed wood-and-stone structure. The towers themselves became significantly sturdier, and from the Upgrade Directions that popped up, he chose [Enhanced Crossbow Power] for all of them.

He then spent another 26 Ghost Stones to forge a 26-meter-long Copper Pipe, connecting these ten Arrow Towers to the Ghost Fire at the camp’s center.

He had already connected the two existing Level 3 Arrow Towers to the camp’s Ghost Fire.

Therefore, he only needed to extend the Copper Pipe from the original two towers, running it along the City Wall to connect to the ten new ones in sequence.

This was the shortest distance and the most resource-efficient route.

The next moment!

The Copper Pipes connected beneath the bases of the ten Arrow Towers on the City Wall glowed with a white light before quickly sinking and disappearing into the wall itself.

He placed 50 Ghost Stones into the Ghost Fire as a reserve.

This would cover the Ghost Fire’s daily consumption and provide energy for the Arrow Towers.

And with that—

the entire camp’s defenses had undergone a qualitative improvement.

...

"..."

Standing on the City Wall, Chen Fan looked at the rows of Arrow Towers and smiled in satisfaction. The camp’s security had been drastically improved once again.

He then gazed toward the distant horizon and murmured softly,

"Man can only do his part. I’ve done all I can."

"The rest is up to fate."

Although the camp’s security was greatly improved, it still wouldn’t be able to withstand a direct assault from a Meat Worms’ Ghost Tide.

After all this work, he had 131 Ghost Stones remaining.

He looked at a building on his Lord panel that he had yet to construct. He now had more than enough Ghost Stones to build it.

[Sacrificial Tower].

[Obtain special resources. Cost to build: 20 Ghost Stones.]

After 20 Ghost Stones shattered,

a spectral blueprint of the Sacrificial Tower appeared before him. It was only about a meter tall—an exquisite and compact seven-story pagoda.

It was made entirely of bluestone, with its eaves accented in a deep, inky red.

He placed it next to the Wooden House.

The circular City Wall enclosing the camp had a diameter of ten meters, so the interior space wasn’t very large. With a Wooden House, the Ghost Fire, and a Sentry Tower already in place, the remaining area was getting cramped.

But there was no helping it. Any larger, and the cost of the City Wall would have skyrocketed.

’This will have to do for now,’ he thought. ’I can make adjustments later on.’

Chen Fan looked at the compact Sacrificial Tower, and a panel slowly materialized before him.

-

[Sacrifice Ghost Corpses to obtain special resources.]

[The stronger and more numerous the sacrificed Ghost Corpses, the more valuable the resources obtained.]

[This building cannot be upgraded.]

-

’So that’s what the "Sacrificial" part means...’

Chen Fan nodded thoughtfully. ’This Building Effect is pretty good.’ The Ghost Corpses from the last few days had all been buried in the Farmland. While they served as fertilizer, the supply was becoming excessive.

The Sacrificial Tower provided an excellent way to dispose of future Ghost Corpses.

With nothing left to do, he quietly waited for the eternal night to fall.

...

「One hour later.」

A familiar, heavy darkness appeared on the horizon, enveloping the entire world like a tide.

The eggshell-like halo of light once again enveloped the camp.

"Huh?"

Lame Monkey, perched behind the crenelations, was the first to notice something was off. The camp’s normally circular safe zone now had a sudden bulge extending outward. A look of confusion crossed his face. "What the..."

"What do you think?"

Chen Fan chuckled, his gaze fixed on the gray fog beyond the camp as he patiently waited for the night’s Ghost Objects to arrive.

It was his latest masterpiece: a safe-zone overflow.

This inconspicuous bulge would be the starting point for many of his wild architectural plans in the future.

"...Why’d it grow a dick-tip?"

"..."

Chen Fan shot Lame Monkey a look before turning away, his expression flat. "Stay alert."