Chapter 387 - 172: "He... Why Doesn’t He Run?

Chapter 387: Chapter 172: "He... Why Doesn’t He Run?

"Stop staring, everyone disperse!"

Noticing the scene, Elder Qi quickly waved his hands, gesturing for everyone to disperse. It was clear he held great authority at the No. 7 Defense Line—at his command, the area was soon empty.

Then, Elder Qi explained, a little embarrassed.

"Please don’t take offense, sir. They rarely get to see important people. It’s the first time a great personage has personally visited the No. 7 Defense Line, so it’s a bit of a novelty for them."

"A great personage?"

Chen Fan suddenly laughed, repeating the three words in a low voice. ’When did I, Chen Fan, become a great personage?’

’Great enough?’

’No, not yet.’

’Only when I can completely control my own fate, my own life and death, will I truly be a great personage. As it is, there are people—or rather, Ghosts—who would rather I not live.’

’I’ll have to completely annihilate the Ghost Race before I can be worthy of that title.’

"Bring my horse."

He said softly.

The moment he spoke, someone brought a Skeleton Horse to his side.

Chen Fan said nothing more. He vaulted onto the horse and began to gallop along the City Wall, placing an altar at set intervals.

He also laid down a series of Copper Pipes.

These Copper Pipes were embedded into the City Wall. By connecting to the altars, they could be used to repair damaged sections of the wall. It was an extremely inconspicuous bit of architecture, yet it drastically increased the City Wall’s regeneration speed.

He also connected the turrets one by one to the Ghost Fire.

This eliminated the need to manually load Ghost Stones.

In essence, he had upgraded the original semi-automatic system to be fully automatic.

...

「Three days later.」

Chen Fan stood by the Mortal Realm High-speed Rail, looking exhausted. Elder Qi, along with the core members of the No. 7 Defense Line, had come to see him off.

In those three days.

Chen Fan had completely overhauled the No. 7 Defense Line. With his modifications, it would be virtually impossible for the line to fall again, even if faced with a Ghost Tide on the same scale as the one during the last rainy season.

The help he had provided was immeasurable.

He had solved the No. 7 Defense Line’s problems at their very root.

"Sir."

Elder Qi’s eyes were red-rimmed, and his voice trembled. "I don’t know how to thank you, but I want you to know, sir, that you have saved the lives of all 670,000 members of the No. 7 Defense Line."

"You saved the Guandong Plain, and the millions of people who still survive there."

"..."

Chen Fan stood in the Wilderness, gazing toward the No. 7 Defense Line. For three days, he had tirelessly worked along its length, meeting many people. Now, as he was about to leave...

Innumerable people stood at the foot of the City Wall, their eyes following him as he left.

As far as the eye could see, the base of the City Wall was packed with people. Every face wore a mask of apathy—the kind born from having grown numb to life and death—yet a glimmer of hope now flickered in their eyes.

Everyone here was a dead man walking.

But now, it was as if they had come back to life.

After a moment’s pause, he spoke softly.

"I’ve observed that the main turrets on the No. 7 Defense Line are Sword Rain Towers. Ghost Objects killed by them leave behind almost perfectly intact corpses."

"How do you normally handle the Ghost Corpses?"

The No. 7 Defense Line generates a considerable number of Ghost Corpses each day.

"We skin them, debone them, and dig out the Ghost Stones."

Although Elder Qi didn’t know why the man before him was asking about this, he answered immediately. "Some Ghost Skins and Ghost Bones can be used as Ghost Materials for Artifact Refining, Alchemy, or construction."

"In the past, these materials would be sold along with the Ghost Corpses to the various factions in the Guandong Plain. They would then handle sales to the Guanxi Plain."

"But now—"

"After the No. 7 Defense Line fell during the last rainy season, less than thirty percent of the population of the Guandong Plain survived. The remaining factions all fled, and now, no merchant caravans come here anymore. We still keep the Ghost Skins and Ghost Bones, but we’ve been throwing the Ghost Corpses away."

"Good."

Chen Fan gave a slight nod. "In the coming days, several High-speed Rail trains will be running back and forth between the Guandong Plain and my faction’s territory. Your job will be to load these Ghost Skins, Ghost Bones, and the Ghost Corpses onto the trains."

"In return, I will pay you with Ghost Stones."

"As for the exact price, someone will come to coordinate with you after I return. The price won’t be too high—we’re actually quite short on Ghost Stones ourselves—but I won’t let you take a loss."

"No, no..."

Hearing this, Elder Qi frantically waved his hands in refusal. "Sir, there’s no need! You already sent us a thousand Soul-Devouring Sculptures, which was an immense help to the No. 7 Defense Line. And now, for you, a faction leader, to personally come..."

His voice trailed off.

Elder Qi suddenly froze. He seemed to have misspoken.

"Elder Qi."

Chen Fan suddenly laughed. "I never said I was the one in charge."

"This..."

Elder Qi gave a wry, helpless smile. "Sir, your bearing and your every word and deed hardly seem like those of an Architect from your faction. Besides, an Architect wouldn’t dare to unilaterally approve a trade of this magnitude."

"But... regardless."

"Sir, please, just take the Ghost Corpses. We threw the old ones away because they were useless, but with the rainy season upon us, there will be no shortage of them. From now on, we will move all the Ghost Corpses we collect onto the High-speed Rail."

"And we won’t take a single Ghost Stone for them."

"You’ve already helped us so much. Now that we have a chance to repay you, how could we possibly accept Ghost Stones?"

He had been with Chen Fan the entire time. He knew all too well the aura of a true leader—the air of someone who makes decisions, not someone who first has to think about reporting to their superiors.

Chen Fan smiled but said nothing more. He simply turned and walked toward the High-speed Rail.

"Then it’s settled."

"Just have your people make the arrangements."

"You’ll get your Ghost Stones, just not too many. I’m off."