Chen Fan had lost all heartache over the camp's destruction. Standing there, he couldn't help but keep grinning. He suddenly realized he had misunderstood the Eerie Creatures.
The Eerie Creatures were actually all good people.
They had Eerie Stones in their heads, their blood could water plants, their corpses could serve as fertilizer and be sacrificed, their skin and bones could be used as Eerie Materials, and they even dropped an occasional Extraordinary Treasure.
Weren't they treasures from head to toe?
These weren't Eerie Creatures; they were clearly walking, natural treasures.
It was just in the rainy season that they would charge the Eerie Fire.
The only regret was that the lives of these ordinary Mourning Specters and the Mourning Specter boss were bound. At the time, many Mourning Specters hadn't rushed into the camp yet and hadn't split. With the death of the Mourning Specter boss, those Mourning Specters outside the camp died without replicating themselves.
What a pity.
"Young Master, you..."
Crippled Monkey, beside him, looked toward his Young Master, bewildered. The Young Master's camp was developing better and better, but the Young Master's mental state seemed to be getting more and more off. After working so hard for so long to build the camp, only to have it destroyed by Eerie Creatures and be forced to relocate, how could the Young Master laugh so happily?
"I'm fine."
Chen Fan chuckled, turning to gaze at Crippled Monkey. "Go down and give the orders. Tell everyone to pack up and prepare to move out. Load the remaining 13 Mourning Specter boss corpses and 20 ordinary Eerie Creature corpses onto the carts."
...
One shichen (two hours) later.
The four newly built 「tricycles」 were lined up outside the camp, each trailing several flat carts behind them.
The flat carts were piled with resources.
There was food, clothing, several large captured chests, salvaged plants from the farmland, and so on.
They had taken almost everything they could.
It looked like four rudimentary trains parked on the wasteland, ready to depart at any moment.
The previous tricycle carrying the Archery Fort was destroyed by the Mourning Specters last night.
"Goodbye."
Chen Fan stood on the wasteland, surveying the camp before him, feeling a sudden surge of emotion.
"Chen Clan Station 37."
This was where his story began.
To be precise.
The first thing he saw upon transmigrating here was this place. The so-called Rivernorth City and others were all from memories. Only this place was where he had stayed. At this moment, he felt somewhat reluctant to leave.
Before leaving.
He repaired all the gaps in the camp's wall, ensuring it was tightly sealed. On the wall remained two level 4 Archery Forts and four level 2 Archery Towers.
He also left 100 Eerie Stones in the camp's Eerie Fire.
To ensure the ongoing operation of the Archery Towers and that the Eerie Fire wouldn't die out.
Although a level 4 Eerie Fire was valuable, it wouldn't hurt much to lose it. It was just that this level 4 Eerie Fire had got a qualitative change in an upgrade direction...
「3: Qualitative Change: cost of each construction within the camp reduced by 1 Eerie Stone. This effect can be used 10,000 times per day and is only effective during the rainy season (Rare).」
This couldn't be taken away.
And this upgrade direction was a great help to him. He definitely couldn't abandon it just like that.
As long as he kept this Eerie Fire burning, he could still use this effect. But the prerequisite was that it only took effect within the camp's range. Therefore, after establishing a home base, he needed to return here as soon as possible, connecting this place with the base via copper pipes so that he could leverage it from the base as well.
This would be his first unmanned outpost.
Fortunately, they were leaving early.
Otherwise, the more resources they put into this camp in the future, the harder it would be to move. Staying in such a place with enemies from all sides indeed offered no sense of security.
"Phew.."
Chen Fan let out a long sigh, allowing the cool rain to beat on his shoulders. He climbed onto a nearby tricycle, gripped the control lever with one hand, held the Eerie-hide map with another, and looked ahead into the thick fog. A surge of grandeur welled up in his heart. With a wave of his hand, he laughed and said,
"Set off to our new home!"
"Alright!"
Crippled Monkey, standing behind Chen Fan, seeing his Young Master in a good mood, also grinned and rapidly triggered the Spike Trap, setting the tricycle into motion and trundling into the depths of the fog.
Heavily laden, their speed wasn't fast.
The four tricycles moved in a single file like a bolt.
The lead-gray curtain of rain rendered the camp behind them into a blurred ink-wash painting.
That familiar Archery Tower was reduced to a dim outline in the rainy mist, like an old friend bowing his head to see them off.
The convoy was fading into the rain and mist.
Faintly, Zhou Mo's voice could be heard in the rain, laced with anticipation and excitement for the future.
"Station Master!"
"You see, since we're moving to a new home, should we give the new home a name? Otherwise, 'Chen Clan Station 37' sounds like it's not your territory, Station Master, but the Chen Clan's territory."
"Reasonable. So, what name do you have in mind?"
"How about Chen Clan Station 1?"
"Isn't that still the Chen Clan's?"
This was Wang Kui's displeased scolding voice.
"What are you talking about? Isn't the Station Master surnamed Chen? So what if it's the Chen Clan? Can't the Station Master establish his own family? Isn't the Wasteland Chen Clan more impressive than the Rivernorth Chen Clan?"
"True. Is it too late for me to change my surname now? I think Chen Kui sounds better than Wang Kui."
"Then I'll be Pockmark Chen."
"I'll be Chen Mo."
The voices sounded more and more distant; Only the pitter-patter of raindrops remained echoing on the wasteland.
This once lively camp, together with the nostalgia and the anticipation for the future, melted into the endless damp and silence between heaven and earth.
In the end.
Only the rain remained.
...
A day of arduous travel.
Finally, when there was only an incense stick's time(about 30 minutes) before Perpetual Night descended.
The convoy arrived at Dayu's old village, this 「Natural Eerie Fire Zone」 that didn't even appear on the Eerie-hide map. They were now at the northernmost edge of the wasteland, bordering the sea.
"..."
Chen Fan, holding the dark green lantern, jumped off the tricycle. There wasn't enough time for them to build a camp. They could only construct basic buildings. They would mainly rely on the emerald-green lantern for defense.
When he had first arrived in this world.
Suffering from a lack of transportation, he had handcrafted the tricycle.
The comfort was terrible, with no shock absorption at all. He felt like his bones were about to fall apart along the way. But fortunately, he would have proper vehicles from now on, no longer needing to handcraft tricycles.
Standing in the rain, he studied the village, gradually being enveloped by the night, and instinctively took a deep breath, as a trace of awe crossed his eyes.
This was indeed a magnificent creation of nature.
He had seen mountain villages before. When he traveled to Yunnan, Guizhou, and Sichuan(three mountainous provinces in southwestern China) in his previous life, the stunning spectacle of mountain after mountain etched an unforgettable impression on him.
But this place was different.
To be precise, there was only one mountain, not four mountains at all. At the top of the mountain, the Creator had chiseled out a deep well. At the bottom of the well was the village.
The mountain faces surrounding the village weren't slopes but perfectly vertical cliffs.
The rock walls, smooth as if polished, were a cold, hard iron-gray color in the rain.
And right in front of him was a narrow canyon leading from outside the mountain straight into the village.
Compared to the mountain, it was"narrow", but actually it was a full thirty to fifty meters wide.
Looking through the canyon, one could faintly see the dilapidated houses of the village at the pit's base and the surrounding cliffs. The village was far wider than the canyon.
If one had to give a precise description, it should be a three-dimensional "凹" (concave) character.
Faintly, he could hear the sound of ocean waves beating against the pebble beach, mixed with the sound of the rain.
The canyon opened onto the sea.
The great mountain backed against the wasteland.
When they reached this great mountain, they circled its base before arriving at the entrance of this canyon facing the sea.
...
Chen Fan smiled.
This would be a perfect home base.
There was no place better than this.
"Continue!"
The convoy continued forward, heading towards the village at the end of the canyon. The canyon was a full kilometer long, pencil-straight, without a single curve.
If the sun were shining brightly.
Looking up, one could still see a slit of a gap.