"Again?"
Chen Fan's face immediately changed as he heard the voice. He quickly looked outside, scanning around but not seeing any female Eerie Creature. It was only then that he realized it was Dayu calling from behind. Her eyes were filled with fear and also solid resolve.
Chen Fan instantly understood what Dayu was thinking.
"Take it easy, take it easy..."
Aware of this, Chen Fan pulled Dayu along and turned to run towards the newly built city wall. He could tell that these Mourning Specter bosses' primary target was him; he couldn't flee to other places.
If the Archery Towers were destroyed, even with the new city walls, there would be no defense structures left.
"Activate yourself later. I feel like I haven't had my fill of life yet. If you activate, I won't survive either."
"Don't activate until I'm dead."
"Boom!"
Chen Fan crouched down, hiding behind the parapet. The section of wall where he had just stood had been blasted apart. It was a mixture of sixteen dark green light beams. After shattering the city wall, it, undiminished in power, ripped a hole through the opposite wall.
Even the Watchtower had been caught in the explosion, crumbling into the ruins.
"I'm really gonna die..."
In despair, he poked his head out, looking towards the sixteen Mourning Specter bosses outside the city. If they split into thirty-two, that would seal his doom. How the hell can you split like that? Are you a damn earthworm?
The Level 4 Archery Fort continued firing its crossbow bolts.
"Huh?"
At that moment.
One Mourning Specter boss was hit in the forehead by a bolt and fell.
Fifteen remained.
But this time, they didn't continue to replicate themselves. The remaining fifteen Mourning Specter bosses were on their retreat out of the camp, protected by other Mourning Specters.
They were obviously preparing to withdraw.
"They're running?"
Chen Fan was momentarily stunned, but he quickly realized: they had reached their self-replicating limit. From this point on, any that got killed would now be dead. He immediately grinned, stood up straight, and shouted excitedly.
"Thinking of running?!"
"Now you fucking know to run!?"
He immediately created another Level 4 Archery Fort and placed it on the city wall, unleashing Arrow Storm at all costs, picking off the ordinary Mourning Specters who were using their bodies to shield the bosses.
The two Level 4 Archery Forts began sniping at the bosses.
...
As the Mourning Specter bosses began to flee, the ordinary Mourning Specters not only didn't flee, but instead attacked the camp even more maniacally.
But at this moment, Chen Fan couldn't care about that.
These Mourning Specter bosses had to die.
Otherwise, if they recuperated and came back tomorrow, his camp couldn't withstand that kind of devastation.
"Boom!"
"Boom!"
The Mourning Specter bosses fled while panickedly raising their dark green lanterns, firing beams of dark green light towards the city walls.
One.
Two.
Three.
Under the downpour of arrows, the Mourning Specter bosses had been steadily killed off. Finally... the last Mourning Specter boss was hit in the back of the head, staggered forward a few steps, and fell heavily to the ground.
"Die!"
Chen Fan, who had poked his head out from behind the parapet, looked at the corpse of the last Mourning Specter boss, which had almost reached the edge of the camp. He couldn't help but throw a fist pump and shout excitedly.
Next, it was time to deal with these small fries.
However, the next moment!
The instant the last Mourning Specter boss died, all the Mourning Specters inside the camp simultaneously froze in place. Their life force rapidly drained away as they toppled backwards.
They were all dead.
Looking around.
The war-torn camp was full of ruins and littered with the corpses of Mourning Specters.
...
A sleepless night.
Chen Fan and the others stood guard on the walls all night. They didn't go out to dig for Eerie Stones, lest more Eerie Tides were biding their time outside. Tonight felt not quite right.
They didn't immediately start repairing the camp.
The camp was damaged too severely; it needed to be rebuilt.
It was best to wait until dawn to start the rebuilding process. If more Eerie Tides attacked in the meantime, they could rebuild then.
Finally!
The sky... lit up.
No one slept that night, including Zhou Mo and the others. The wooden hut inside the wall had been destroyed, leaving nowhere to sleep anyway. They just took turns napping and keeping watch until dawn.
"Hah..."
When the Perpetual Night dissipated like a receding tide, Chen Fan finally straightened his back, took a deep breath, exhaling all the unease and fear from the previous night, then pumped his fist and roared, "Let's get to work!"
Crippled Monkey, Pockmark Wang, and the others had already retrieved their tools. Shouting excitedly, they rushed out of the city walls.
Some dug for Eerie Stones, some collected Eerie Blood.
The ground was covered in Eerie Creature corpses. This would be a bountiful harvest!
"Wait..."
With the retreat of the Perpetual Night, their vision was restored.
Chen Fan looked out across the wilderness outside the camp, where a huge number of Mourning Specter corpses were scattered, numbering in the thousands!!!
Last night's Eerie Tide was so massive.
Many more Mourning Specters had died along with their boss before they could even enter the camp.
He was momentarily stunned.
But then he couldn't help but laugh. His laughter grew louder and louder as he, braving the rainstorm, charged out of the city wall for the corpses of the Mourning Specter bosses. He even started humming a little tune, the camp's losses already cast aside.
The entirety of his camp wasn't worth as much as this batch of Eerie Creature corpses.
...
Chen Fan crouched beside the Mourning Specter boss's original body, his face full of excitement and anticipation as he started rummaging all over it. After the sixteen Mourning Specter bosses died, only this one still held the dark green lantern. The other fifteen lanterns had turned to dust.
This dark green lantern was an Extraordinary Treasure.
He didn't look at its stats panel.
He knew it was definitely a huge treasure, so he deliberately saved it for last.
Some people like to eat the beef in beef noodle soup first; others like to eat the noodles first.
He was the type who liked to eat the noodles first.
The best things should be saved for last.
Normally, the job of collecting Extraordinary Treasures was given to Crippled Monkey, but today, there were too many Eerie Creature corpses. It wasn't even certain if Crippled Monkey and the others could finish dissecting all today; that was a huge undertaking.
"Huh?"
Chen Fan pulled a piece of Eerie Hide from the corpse's pocket. The texture was somewhat similar to the Eerie Hide obtained from the female Eerie Creature, but not as thin, and rougher.
There was writing on it.
"Qian Hou, heed my command!
"You are ordered to lead your subordinates to the 'Rivernorth Wasteland' and destroy all city walls you see.
"Pave the way for this Lord's arrival.
"This Lord will journey to the Rivernorth Wasteland as the rainy season ends. There, I shall ascend to Eerie King bathed in the blood of the two cities.
"And on the day of my ascension, I shall wed Qiu Kui.
"Go. Let the darkness descend as scheduled.
"As one of the four bosses under this Lord's command, bring fear and despair to those weak ants hiding behind their city walls!"
"..."
Chen Fan studied the Eerie Hide in front of him, his expression blank, in silence for a long time, then gazed in the direction of Rivernorth City. So... if not for him, normally speaking, this guy should have attacked Rivernorth City last night, right?
You're a little bit narrow-minded, aren't you?
Your boss's words were obviously just grandstanding. Why would my little camp matter to you? "Destroy all city walls you see."? You couldn't even let my little farm go?
What a reckless fool.
I wonder if, since I helped Rivernorth City avert a disaster, they'll give me some reward?
I'm pretty short on money right now.
Maybe I should just move out.
Is it too late to move behind Rivernorth City now...