Chapter 374 - 170: "Uncle Liu! I, Shao Qiu, I’m Fucking Back!

Chapter 374: Chapter 170: "Uncle Liu! I, Shao Qiu, I’m Fucking Back!

Soon, the sound of soft snores filled the room.

Chen Fan slept soundly, and for the first time in a long while, he dreamed. He wasn’t a man who dreamed often. He dreamed that two and a half years from now, the Jiangbei Defense Line would be utterly destroyed by a Ghost Tide surging from the ocean floor.

Jiangbei had fallen.

Countless lives were lost. The Mortal Realm was the first to be annihilated. Just before he died, he saw Big Fish self-destruct.

Cold Flame erupted amidst the Ghost Tide, vaporizing every Ghost Object in a massive area, but the cleared space was quickly swamped by the endless horde once more.

He watched it all unfold, powerless and filled with bitter resentment.

He was out of options.

Just as he was about to be submerged by the Ghost Tide...

A chill wafted over him.

Chen Fan jolted awake. He walked out of his room and stood atop the City Wall of Cave No. 1, gazing at the faded darkness and the sun now hanging high in the sky. He had slept all the way until mid-morning.

"Pah, pah, pah."

"Dreams are the opposite of reality,"

he mumbled to himself.

Last night’s dream had been too inauspicious. With the four-year deadline steadily approaching, he was growing tense. This wasn’t a video game; there were no do-overs after a single failure.

If he couldn’t clear the game on his first try, he wouldn’t get another chance.

Based on the Ghost Tides experienced on the Ancient Battlefield, the defensive line he’d built with Level 5 City Walls should be able to hold—as long as his reserves of Ghost Stone ammunition didn’t run out. But... after so many years, who knew if this new Ghost Tide had grown stronger.

After all, even the No. 7 Defense Line, built entirely of Level 6 City Walls, had been breached during the recent rainy season and had nearly fallen completely.

’I need to be more prepared.’

’My preparations still aren’t thorough enough.’

...

After washing up and quickly eating breakfast, Chen Fan headed to the Port to continue his work on the Jiangbei Defense Line. Perhaps it was because, despite the nightmare, all the tension he’d been feeling lately had been spent in the dream.

He was in surprisingly good spirits today.

He didn’t even feel tired.

He cheerfully greeted the Mortal Realm Members he passed, then stood atop the Jiangbei Defense Line’s City Wall, gazing out at the sea and running through his calculations.

He had been away for over three months.

During that time, he had laid High-speed Rail tracks across the Guanxi Plain and the Guandong Plain and had also finished constructing the Signal Towers. Meanwhile, mining operations on the New Continent had continued unabated.

The High-speed Rail tracks didn’t consume many Ghost Stones.

The Mortal Realm’s Warehouse count had now risen to thirty.

Each one was filled to the brim.

The Mortal Realm’s current reserve of Ghost Stones was 940 million.

A rather staggering number.

Chen Fan was happy on one hand, but worried on the other. The Ghost Stones on the New Continent would be depleted one day. Even though there were still many discovered Ancient Battlefields left to be mined, the day would come when they were all empty. If the Mortal Realm didn’t have other sources of income by then, it wouldn’t even be able to sustain the Ghost Stone consumption from its defensive cannons.

The Four Areas Jiangbei and the Two Areas of Guanxi combined simply didn’t have enough Ghost Stones to offer.

’I have to find a new source of income before the New Continent is mined dry.’

The No. 7 Defense Line.

It was 97 kilometers long. Building such a defense line required at least a billion Ghost Stones, and that was a conservative estimate. He didn’t know exactly how much more the Eternal Night Hall spent on building their walls compared to him, but it certainly wasn’t a small amount.

And that didn’t even include the costs of daily maintenance and cannon ammunition.

The Jiangbei Defense Line was 170 kilometers long—170,000 meters.

According to his plan,

one Max Level Godslaying Cannon every twenty meters meant he would need to install 8,500 of them, costing a total of 321 million Ghost Stones. Of course, the actual cost wouldn’t be quite that high.

After all, the Rainy Season Defense Line had been incorporated into the Jiangbei Defense Line. When it was built, it also had one Max Level Godslaying Cannon every 20 meters, and 740 of them were already in place.

He only needed to build another 7,760 Godslaying Cannons, which would only require another 290 million Ghost Stones.

The Godslaying Cannon was actually an extremely cost-effective weapon.

It didn’t require any Heavenly and Earthly Treasures to upgrade, only Ghost Stones. To get a single Godslaying Cannon to Max Level cost a mere 37,800 Ghost Stones.

At that level, it could pose a threat to a Ghost King.

And with the splash damage from the Celestial Dao Blessing Effect, it was also incredibly powerful against "minions."

But...

the problem was that the Jiangbei Defense Line was simply too long. A full 170-kilometer stretch had to be defended, which dramatically increased the number of Godslaying Cannons required.

He had only managed to build a few yesterday.

To finish the entire project, he needed to add a lot of support structures.

However—

today, he didn’t plan to ride his Skeleton Horse along the City Wall while he worked. He had thought of a new, easier method.

...

「A stick of incense later.」

Chen Fan stood on the Flying Ship Deck, hovering dozens of meters in the air. Looking down, he had a clear view of the City Wall ahead.

His Jiangbei Defense Line was 30 meters tall.

The next moment!

The entire 170-kilometer-long Jiangbei Defense Line let out a simultaneous RUMBLE. It uprooted itself from the ground and began to advance slowly, like a colossal version of the snake from the classic video game.

It moved past him endlessly.

He, in turn, took this opportunity to build a series of City Defense Buildings—Godslaying Cannons, Anti-Aircraft Cannons, Soul-Devouring Sculptures, Ghost Fire emitters, Copper Pipes, and more—at the spots pre-marked by the Logistics Pavilion.

He didn’t have to move himself anymore.

The City Wall was moving for him.

"This is so much easier,"

Chen Fan grinned as he looked down at the slowly moving City Wall below, munching on a piece of braised meat he held in his hand. ’Sure enough,’ he thought, ’it’s always easier when you’re the one standing still.’