Chapter 24: "Watchtower"
“Got it!”
Xiao Qiu scrambled up from the Farmland, caked in mud from head to toe, and sprinted for the open city gate, nearly tripping over himself in his haste. This time, not a single Ghostbeast managed to slip into the Camp.
…
By the time Xiao Qiu—filthy, breathless, and shaking—hauled himself back through the Wall and up the stone steps, he found every eye fixed on him. Their gazes were tangled mixtures of admiration, respect, and something else he couldn’t quite name.
A look he had never seen in his entire life.
For the first time, Xiao Qiu straightened his back and puffed out his chest. He held up the White Grade item in his hand, its faint glow shimmering in the rain, and grinned as he handed it to Chen Fan. “Station Master, I got it.”
“Well done.”
On the rain-soaked Wall, Chen Fan accepted the Unique Treasure, his expression unreadable. “Why did you run toward the Farmland instead of back inside the Wall?”
“There wasn’t enough time.”
Xiao Qiu’s voice was hoarse, maybe from all the shouting, and now that the adrenaline had faded, his legs felt like jelly. “The Ghostbeast was faster than me, and it was closer, too. If I’d run for the Wall, I never would have made it. Even if it didn’t catch me, it would’ve forced its way in and broken through.”
“Brother Wang’s always treated me well, and you took me in during the Rainy Season, Station Master. Everyone’s doing their best to survive—I didn’t want to be the reason people died. If someone had to die, it might as well be me.”
“And besides, now that the Arrow Towers are up, there have to be fewer Ghostbeasts. I figured if I could just make it to the trap and hold out, maybe I could buy enough time for everyone to make it through.”
“…”
Chen Fan didn’t say much more. He took the Unique Treasure from Xiao Qiu and clapped him on the shoulder. “Your name’s Xiao Qiu, right? You made the call fast—and it was the right one. You did well.”
The truth was—
The disaster Xiao Qiu feared—the Wall falling, everyone dying—wouldn’t have come to pass. If time had run out, Chen Fan would have simply closed the gate.
Still…
He hadn’t expected Xiao Qiu to handle things so perfectly. That decisiveness, that willingness to sacrifice himself for the group—if he was honest, Chen Fan wasn’t sure he could have done the same. Most people couldn’t.
He could feel it: after Xiao Qiu’s actions, a new emotion had taken root in everyone’s hearts. It was visible, almost tangible—a kind of inspiration. Maybe next time, when crisis struck, someone else would make the same choice.
Humans are social creatures.
And emotion is contagious.
For now, no more Ghostbeasts were breaking into the Camp. Chen Fan narrowed his eyes at the darkness beyond, the rain blurring the world outside the Wall. He couldn’t shake the feeling that what had just happened wasn’t a coincidence. Was it really just luck that the Ghostbeasts attacked right after Xiao Qiu left the Wall and reached the Camp’s edge?
Besides…
This wave of Ghostbeasts—Mantis Men, with their blade-like arms—were much faster than the previous batch of Bamboo Ghostbeasts. Clearly, the Mantis Men were built for pursuit, not siege.
The Bamboo Ghostbeasts, towering over three meters, were far more suited to storming the walls.
He had a strong suspicion that the Ghostbeast who’d started it all with that eerie laugh possessed some degree of intelligence—and could observe the Camp’s defenses, waiting for the right moment to strike.
But if there was intelligence, it wasn’t much. Or perhaps the Ghostbeasts were being controlled, and their intelligence was limited.
Otherwise, they wouldn’t have blundered straight into the traps.
…
He looked down at the Unique Treasure in his hand, eyes narrowing. It was a piece of Ghostskin, thin as a cicada’s wing, its texture eerily similar to the Ghostskin Map. Etched on its surface in blood-red lines was the schematic of a building.
A structure reminiscent of an Arrow Tower.
But taller.
Narrower.
It was a Building blueprint—an exceptionally rare Unique Treasure. Among all Unique Treasures, Building blueprints were among the rarest. This was the first one he’d ever obtained.
—
[Unique Treasure Name]: Building blueprint
[Grade]: White Grade
[Effect]: Allows the construction of a Watchtower. The Watchtower provides a 50-meter field of view beyond the Camp.
—
He didn’t hesitate for a second.
Crushing the Building blueprint in his hand, he ignored the ritual observation required by ordinary Builders. As soon as the blueprint shattered, a new build option bloomed deep within his mind, on the Eternal Night Lord Panel: “Watchtower.” Construction required only 10 Ghoststones.
He still had 130 left.
The next moment—
A translucent tower, ten meters tall and composed of countless white lines, appeared above the ground, hovering in the air. As he poured ten Ghoststones into his palm, they dissolved into a milky fluid and streamed into the spectral tower, which began to solidify beside the wooden huts inside the Wall.
Its base was barely a meter wide.
Wide at the bottom, narrowing sharply as it rose.
At the very peak, a luminous orb glowed—a giant night pearl.
The instant the Watchtower solidified, his vision expanded. The darkness within the Camp—once absolute, as suffocating as the abyss—receded. Now, in a fifty-meter ring beyond the Camp’s edge, the pitch black faded to a pale gray.
Beyond fifty meters, the shadows remained impenetrable.
He could see it clearly: hundreds of Ghostbeasts were surging past the Camp, heading deeper into the darkness en masse, like some kind of animal migration.
It happened in a flash—he couldn’t catch every detail.
But—
Four Bamboo Ghostbeasts carried a blood-red palanquin, standing their ground thirty meters from the Camp, surrounded by a hundred more Ghostbeasts.
Three types in total.
Bamboo Ghostbeasts, Mantis Men—
He’d named them himself—and the third type, Monkey-Head Ghostbeasts, the ones he’d first encountered, though there were far fewer of them.
Among the horde, one Bamboo Ghostbeast and one Mantis Man stood out, each much larger than their kin.
“…”
Chen Fan took a deep breath, standing atop the Wall, gazing into the gray mist beyond the Ghostfire. The Watchtower was a game-changer—a fifty-meter field of view was invaluable.
Now, he finally understood what was happening.
As he’d suspected, those two oversized Ghostbeasts were likely lieutenants. The reason there were so few Monkey-Head Ghostbeasts was because he’d killed so many. The Monkey-Heads didn’t have a lieutenant anymore—he’d slain theirs, and it had dropped both the Ghoststone Vein Seed and the Godslayer Spear.
The thing in the palanquin—it had to be the one that laughed at the beginning. It must have come for revenge after realizing its minions had been wiped out.
Thank the heavens—
A wave of relief swept through Chen Fan. With the Watchtower, he could finally see just how many Ghostbeasts were passing by the Camp. If they all decided to attack, he’d be finished—no way could he hold out.
He was only alive because most of the Ghostbeasts ignored the Camp, intent on their own mysterious migration. Only the group around the palanquin lingered, watching, waiting.
Two Level 2 Arrow Towers wouldn’t be enough.
Last time, even with two Level 2 Arrow Towers, he hadn’t managed to kill the Monkey-Head lieutenant on the spot. It had escaped, only bleeding out after getting dozens of meters away. Now there were two lieutenants—and an even stronger leader in the palanquin.
Level 2 Arrow Towers wouldn’t suffice.
He’d need Level 3 Arrow Towers.
Fortunately, he’d saved enough Ghoststones for the upgrade.