..."
Chen Fan remained silent for a long time before heaving a sigh. He turned his head toward the gray mist outside the camp and murmured, "This world is too dangerous, and the camp's defenses are still too weak..."
Besides Eerie Creatures, these troublesome cultivators weren't easy to deal with either.
Everyone had told him that cultivators were weak. Even a Level 2 cultivator could be instantly killed by a Level 1 Archery Tower. A cultivator amounted to little against an Architect's structures.
But...
That only applied to ordinary cultivators like Zhou Mo.
Special cultivators like "Night Watcher" wielded a truly terrifying power.
He was essentially a human-shaped nuclear bomb.
Ready to detonate at any moment.
After a long while.
Chen Fan looked back at Dayu. "So, you can control yourself from being activated now."
"Mm."
Dayu nodded again. "Each time I get activated, I become more familiar with a Night Watcher's abilities and can use them more freely."
"Station Master."
"I've decided to make this place my third home."
"If the camp faces a crisis, I will activate myself."
"Don't." Chen Fan sighed softly. "Your first two homes didn't end well."
"I'll leave the camp, lure the Eerie Creatures away, and then activate."
"Just focus on your work. Stop thinking about activating all the time. You don't have many years left to live, yet you keep talking about activating."
"The value of a Night Watcher lies in activation. A Night Watcher who doesn't activate himself has no value."
"Enough."
He cut Dayu off. Things had become clear, and he finally understood why Dayu seemed so childlike in temperament—having lived less than five or six years in total.
She was indeed no different from a child.
And he finally knew where the fear and pain in Dayu's eyes came from.
Destroying her own village with her own hands must have been agonizing.
The last one to do something like that was probably someone like Itachi Uchiha...
"Go back and rest. Continue following Zhou Mo on field duty tomorrow and work hard."
"Okay."
Having perhaps never spoken about these things to anyone before, Dayu seemed noticeably more relaxed afterward. Looking up at Chen Fan, she said seriously,
"I will protect you."
"A Night Watcher is born to guard."
...
"..."
Chen Fan watched Dayu's receding figure and scratched his head. He had forgotten to ask how Dayu overheard his conversation with Qi Chong. They were out there in the wasteland at the time, with no one else around.
Forget it, he'd ask tomorrow.
This little girl... really seemed like a suicide bomber.
He finally understood why the little girl said she could only look backward.
Indeed.
It made sense. Even without activating herself, she only had 18 years left to live.
Without activating herself, she had no combat power, yet activating again meant death.
Some kind of inborn curse, wasn't it? That kind of self-deprecation really wasn't unfounded.
Crippled Monkey and the others also climbed onto the city wall, looking toward Dayu's departing figure. Although they hadn't heard the conversation, they did see Dayu's untied, jet-black long hair and noted that she and the Station Master had indeed talked for quite a while.
"Station Master, he..."
"Is a girl." Chen Fan didn't mention anything about the Night Watcher. "Her family is all dead. She's the only one left."
"Oh."
Crippled Monkey and the others nodded in sudden understanding, though they didn't show much pity. In this world, many people had lost their entire families; they were pretty much in the same boat.
Just then—
A familiar rustling sound came from outside the camp.
It was Eerie Creatures' movement noises.
"They're here!"
Chen Fan felt a slight thrill of excitement as he looked toward the gray mist outside the camp. Judging from the commotion, there must be over a hundred Eerie Creatures. Finally, he could get a decent meal. He urgently needed a lot of Eerie Stones to build up the camp, and killing Eerie Creatures was the fastest way to obtain them.
However...
The next moment, his smile froze.
Just outside the camp's gray mist, over a dozen men and women in white robes, looking deathly pale, were slowly walking toward the camp. As they shuffled along, their feet constantly scraped against the ground, producing that rustling sound.
Humanoid.
Like Pseudo-Human Ghosts, but he remembered that Pseudo-Human Ghosts never entered the camp at night.
Each of these 'Pseudo-Human Ghosts' carried a white lantern with a red candle inside, as if attending a funeral.
The scene was quite eerie.
More and more lantern-carrying 'Pseudo-Human Ghosts' stepped from the darkness into the gray mist, slowly closing in. Their exact numbers were unknown, seemingly endless.
"Do you know about them?"
He turned to Crippled Monkey and the others.
They glanced at each other and shook their heads. "They look like Pseudo-Human Ghosts, but Pseudo-Human Ghosts don't carry lanterns. They aren't common Eerie Creatures on the wasteland, but every rainy season, there are always unfamiliar Eerie Creatures."
"Then let's call them Mourning Spectre."
Chen Fan gave this unknown type of Eerie Creature a name. He disliked unknown Eerie Creatures; it meant he didn't know their methods, leaving little room for error. If it were Monkey-Head Ghosts, he'd be very happy.
Just then.
One of the Mourning Spectres at the front had already stepped into the camp.
"Whoosh!"
As the Eerie Fire instantly blazed up inside the camp, energy traveled through copper pipes into the Archery Towers on the city wall. All Archery Towers were activated immediately. A crossbow bolt shot out, slicing through the rainy night, accurately hitting the forehead of this Mourning Spectre.
The Mourning Spectre wobbled on the spot, blood spurted, and it fell over.
"Is that all they are worth?"
Chen Fan frowned. That bolt was fired from the mere Level 2 Archery Tower on the Eerie Creature Farm. If they were only this strong, no matter how many Mourning Spectres came, they'd just be delivering Eerie Stones.
But...
He still didn't know the purpose of that white lantern.
It couldn't just be a decoration.
The next moment—
The fallen Mourning Spectre suddenly began to convulse, writhe, and split. When it stood up again, it had become two Mourning Spectres.
Splitting upon death.
He instantly understood the Mourning Spectre's ability.
But...
Of the two Doppelgängers, only one carried the lantern. The second Doppelgänger did not. It seemed the lantern's ability was duplicating the owner. With this duplication, the lantern visibly dimmed.
Crossbow bolts shot out again.
Both Mourning Spectres collapsed.
The Doppelgänger lay there motionless. But the lantern-carrying Mourning Spectre, upon death, broke up into two more Mourning Spectres. The lantern dimmed a bit more.
"I see."
"I hope Doppelgängers also have Eerie Stones inside."
Chen Fan took a deep breath and looked at the increasing number of Mourning Spectres stepping into the camp. All Archery Towers were activated in unison. He shouted at the top of his lungs. "Stand ready!"
Tonight would likely be a tough battle.
Fortunately, he had enough Archery Towers and Eerie Stones. Moreover, these Mourning Spectres didn't seem capable of quickly breaching the wall.
On the surface, they seemed easier to deal with than the Flesh Worm Ghost Eerie Tide.
Maybe he could get a full meal.
Of course, if he couldn't hold out, the other side would get the meal.
Someone would always get to eat their fill.