Chapter 388 - 172: "Why... Doesn’t He Run?

Chapter 388: Chapter 172: "Why... Doesn’t He Run?

Over the past three days.

He had expanded the High-speed Rail on the Guandong Plain, ensuring the tracks had multiple branches leading to various areas along the ninety-seven-kilometer-long No. 7 Defense Line. This would allow for the most efficient collection of Ghost Corpses.

This was the very reason the Mortal Realm High-speed Rail was built.

Without the High-speed Rail, relying on vehicles like horse-drawn carriages, Skeleton Horses, or Flying Ships to transport millions—or even tens of millions—of Ghost Corpses to the Mortal Realm would have been a monumental undertaking.

The Mortal Realm currently possessed one hundred fully-equipped Flying Ships.

That might sound like a lot.

They even had Jiezimai Rooms inside.

But for this kind of work, the profit from a single trip might not even cover the cost of the Ghost Stones needed for the Flying Ship’s round trip.

Another advantage of the Mortal Realm High-speed Rail was that it was extremely cost-effective, with almost no energy consumption.

Cheap and durable. Those two qualities are always a killer combination. Add "easy to use" to the mix, and you’ve got a god-tier item.

The High-speed Rail slowly started up.

It soon disappeared from view.

Chen Fan was gone, his departure swift and decisive.

Elder Qi, however, remained where he stood. Only after the High-speed Rail had vanished over the horizon did he murmur, "These people... they’ve truly given it their all."

He could tell that these people were not from the Guanxi Plain.

First, their accents were different.

Second, at its speed, the High-speed Rail wouldn’t take long to travel from the Guanxi Plain to the Guandong Plain. Yet when it arrived, the train was caked in dust. That, combined with the exhaustion in their eyes as they disembarked, clearly indicated they had been traveling for a very long time.

And for a vehicle as fast as the High-speed Rail to have traveled for that long, they must have come from an extremely remote area.

In other words,

even if the No. 7 Defense Line fell, it likely wouldn’t have much of an impact on them.

And yet, despite that, they had sent reinforcements. Their leader had even come to the No. 7 Defense Line in person before the rainy season to strengthen the defenses.

There was no greater kindness than this.

A favor greater than this is called a grudge.

"Pass on my orders."

Elder Qi took a deep breath, looking at the people behind him in a daze. "From now on, when you harvest the Ghost Stones, do your best to keep the bodies intact. Collect every single Ghost Corpse."

"We can finally do something to help. Don’t mess this up."

He looked at the people behind him.

The eyes of these core members of the No. 7 Defense Line were filled with smiles, chasing away the gloom of days past.

Evidently,

having the Soul-Devouring Sculpture and a reinforced No. 7 Defense Line made everyone brim with confidence. This year’s rainy season would be no problem at all.

Best of all, they now had a stable trade route, giving them an additional source of Ghost Stones for the future.

Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.

This trade route was the ’teaching them to fish’.

Things were looking up for the No. 7 Defense Line.

Naturally, they were overjoyed.

Elder Qi smiled at the sight. He turned his head to the east, his expression growing distant as he murmured, "I wonder how things are on the Eternal Night Frontline. The rainy season is almost here again. I wonder if the frontline will hold this year."

The Eternal Night Frontline only ever fell during the rainy season.

During the rainy season, the Ghost Tide’s offensive would become incredibly fierce, nearly impossible to resist. If the Eternal Night Defense Line could survive the rainy season without falling, it would usher in a year-long period of safety. Until the next rainy season, it was virtually impregnable.

This also meant

that once the rainy season began,

every defense line on the Eternal Night Continent would face immense pressure from truly terrifying Ghost Tides.

...

「Eternal Night Calendar, Year 380, October 31st.」

「Near dusk.」

The Mortal Realm High-speed Rail, returning from the Guandong Plain, was speeding across the Jiangbei Wilderness, heading straight toward Nameless Mountain.

Outside the window, a soft rain pattered against the train car.

A slight chill permeated the cabin.

It was raining.

This year’s rainy season had arrived.

No one knew how the rainy season formed or what its precise effects were, only that different Ghost Objects would undergo unique transformations within it.

For example, the Meat Worm Ghost, which only ever tumbles with the wind, could only be seen during the rainy season.

Take the Fake Human Ghost, for instance. Once the rainy season began, it would lose all reason and begin to reproduce relentlessly.

But one thing was clear.

Once the rainy season arrived, the number of Ghost Objects would skyrocket, and they would become exceptionally violent.

It was as if the world itself had given the Ghost Tide a buff.

’What about a buff for humans?’

Chen Fan sat by the window, gazing at the vast stretches of black clouds over the Jiangbei Wilderness as his thoughts drifted. ’There doesn’t seem to be a summer, autumn, or winter that gives humanity its own special buff.’

’Something like construction costs being halved for humans when summer arrives.’

’It doesn’t sound fair at all, does it?’

As the High-speed Rail penetrated deeper into the Wilderness, the black clouds over the Jiangbei Wilderness began to thicken, sink, and roil at a speed visible to the naked eye, as if the Firmament itself were slowly collapsing.

The clouds were rapidly shifting from gray to pure black.

Faint flashes of lightning could be seen within them, but the accompanying thunder never came.

The gentle rain began to fall.

The transition was abrupt, without any warning.

One moment, it was a gentle drizzle; the next, the sky seemed to tear asunder. A suddenly roaring gale swept across the Jiangbei Wilderness, gathering countless threads of rain into furious white whips that lashed against the land and the High-speed Rail.

In an instant,

the downpour was upon them.

The gentle patter outside the train car instantly transformed into the all-consuming roar of the deluge. The landscape of the Wilderness became a complete blur. Nameless Mountain, once faintly visible, now dissolved from view like a drop of ink spreading in water.

Inside the car, an intensely dense drumming began to echo. It was the sound of the rain hammering against the train’s outer shell.