"..."
Chen Fan studied the description of the Qualitative Change, his face deadpan. The Cannon Tower was supposed to have a certain attack range, but neither he knew about it, nor did he care.
After all, Cannon Towers could only take care of enemies within camp range.
And, in most cases, a camp wouldn't be too large for a Cannon Tower to cover, so that wasn't a concern.
But—
It was too much if the attack range got slashed to one meter.
Could it even hit anyone?
Even if a three-meter-tall Eerie Creature came to the base of the city wall, the Tower couldn't reach it...
Range insufficient.
No matter how greatly increased the power, it didn't seem enough to compensate for it.
"..."
After a moment of silence, he decided to test it first, before this Level 6 Eerie-Eye Cannon Tower was activated immediately.
The next moment—
The vertical Eerie-Eye popped wide!
The dark vortex began spinning at an increasingly furious pace. It no longer fired light beams or bolts, but emitted a dark brown ray. It didn't flash, which distinguished it from a beam of light!
A Level-5 Cannon Tower fired an intermittent beam, lasting about one second before pausing, then fired the next beam.
But this dark brown ray continued uninterrupted.
And it could freely swivel.
It was imaginable how it would burn ceaselessly into the enemy. The "Eerie-Eye Cannon Tower" could hardly handle a swarm of Eerie Creatures, lacking "chain attack" capabilities, but it would be terribly effective against a powerful individual.
Yet...
This dark brown ray was one mere meter long, despite the overwhelming aura it exuded.
"Hmm..."
Chen Fan landed a thoughtful gaze on the Eerie-Eye Cannon Tower. The attack range was short, but the power was formidable.
Take the Eerie King as the hypothetical enemy. Under what circumstances would the Eerie King come within arrow shot of the Eerie-Eye Cannon Tower?
"..."
His expression gradually grew strange until he caught sight of Wang Kui, who was busy moving goods down below the city wall.
"Wang Kui."
"Is the Eerie-skin peeled from Qiu Kui still in the warehouse?"
"Yes."
Wang Kui answered almost without thinking. He had been taking stock of the warehouse daily, knowing like the back of his hand what was inside. This was the very moment he had been awaiting.
"It is well-kept in the 'Vitality Room.' A'le skinned it personally; his knife work was excellent, almost no damage."
"Mm."
With no more words, Chen Fan offered a nod, then waved Wang Kui off.
This way, perhaps the Eerie King could be lured close to the Eerie-Eye Cannon Tower.
Intelligent Eerie Creatures were certainly tricky.
But that also made them vulnerable.
Love was arguably a person's greatest weakness.
Like a man's family jewels.
Once in grip, they'd be powerless.
"So, what's the point of falling in love?"
He sighed with emotion, then continued picturing the scenario: As the other party remained mired in turbulent emotions, he set off the Storm Suction with the Wind Tower. The Storm Suction couldn't sweep up heavy objects, but if the opponent was caught off guard, it might work.
He was used to hypothesizing various emergencies and finding solutions, so that when the real thing came, he wouldn't be at a loss.
Things like "staying composed even if a mountain crumbles before your eyes" are bullshit.
It could only be the case when you stay unaffected.
Even sages are no exception.
But if you imagine enough emergencies, when that day truly comes, you may be able to remain unruffled—not from being calm, but because that is what has already played out countless times in your mind.
...
Thus passed the first half of the night.
When the latter half arrived,
Crippled Monkey and the others had all fallen asleep, exhausted from the day's labor.
After the "Spirit Nurturing Pavilion" had been built, rarely had anyone entered. In recent days, only he had gone in to cultivate.
There simply wasn't time.
Even Zhou Mo had only gone in initially to master the Water-Severing Blade Technique, and hadn't had time since.
Chen Fan came to Warehouse No. 1.
At the doorway of the "Mustard-seed Room," he watched the mound of Eerie Stones suspended in the air, wrapped in emerald-green mist, and smiled.
Eerie Stones?
No, there are none of them.
What he saw instead was a canyon strewn with countless corpses following the activation of the Phase Two Meat Grinder.
"Station Master."
From the side, Wang Kui, holding a ledger, reported in high spirits, "Currently, the camp has 92,022 Eerie Stones. This Flesh Worm Ghost Eerie Tide brought us tens of thousands of Eerie Stones, equivalent to over a dozen of Heyhey's latrine pits."
"This batch of Eerie Stones can buy us several Chambers of Commerce like Sky-Flattening."
"It's said the owner of the Sky-Flattening Chamber of Commerce is from Riversouth. Back then, with 5,000 Eerie Stones, he established the Chamber of Commerce, which now monopolizes several industries in Rivernorth City."
"But that's not a large Chamber of Commerce."
"Only a powerhouse like the 'Rivernorth Chamber of Commerce' makes money hand over fist."
"Rivernorth Chamber of Commerce?"
With a thoughtful look, Chen Fan recalled something about the Rivernorth Chamber of Commerce, but not much.
"Tell me more."
He knew little what a Chamber of Commerce was like.
"Uh..."
"Station Master, why not ask Pockmark Wang about this? Before joining the Rivernorth Chen Clan, he had been a traveling merchant. He knows more than I do."
"Go fetch him."