I Build a Shelter in the Eternal Night

"..."

Chen Fan gazed at the "Port" option among the buildable structures on his Eternal Night Lord panel.

This Port was one of the Building Blueprints that had dropped when he killed a Ghost King during the rainy season. It was perfect for his current needs.

Night had already fallen.

’I’ll head to the coast and build it after sunrise tomorrow.’

...

「The next morning.」

The night passed quickly. After waking up, the people of the Mortal Realm lined up on the back of the Giant Turtle inside the Celestial Pit. Once everyone was aboard, the turtle, which was dozens of meters wide, slowly and leisurely started moving toward Mortal City.

This was a new buildable Vehicle option that had appeared when the Vehicle Workshop was upgraded to Level 5.

It had a high load capacity.

But it was slow.

It was great for use as a "shuttle," as it could carry a large number of people.

Meanwhile, Chen Fan began laying Copper Pipes in a straight line toward the coast. He had stored a large quantity of them in the Warehouse during the rainy season. His original plan had been to build a highway between Ping City and Jiangbei City to turn a profit.

But plans change.

His own development seemed to have progressed a bit too quickly.

He no longer cared for such petty cash.

Besides, Ping City had already been destroyed in the rainy season.

The straight-line distance from the Nameless Mountain to the sea was only a thousand meters, but the side of the mountain facing the coast was a sheer cliff. To build the Port, he had to move further to the side, laying over three thousand meters of Copper Pipe before he finally stood on the shore.

The area was a sandy beach.

The sand was incredibly soft, making it an impossible location to build a port under normal circumstances. He wasn’t worried, though. He knew that as long as the system allowed the Port to be built, it would function properly.

The Copper Pipe was buried underground.

Chen Fan stood by the sea, gazing toward the endless horizon.

As far as the eye could see, there was nothing but the ocean.

The salty, fishy sea breeze washed over him.

The next moment—

A spectral outline of the Port, formed from white lines, slowly materialized by the sea. A white liquid, transformed from 1,000 Ghost Stones, shot all the way from the Mortal Realm through the Copper Pipe and poured into the ghostly image.

As long as he was within his camp’s range, he could freely draw upon the Ghost Stones in his Warehouse.

This location was connected via the Copper Pipe, placing it within his camp’s effective range.

As the spectral image gradually solidified, the Port’s construction was officially complete.

"..."

Chen Fan stared at the Port before him, slightly stunned. Those 1,000 Ghost Stones were truly worth it. Thousands of giant logs and stone blocks had formed a fortress-like port along the coast.

The entire Port was long and rectangular.

It had multiple berths of varying sizes to accommodate different types of ships.

Just as the Port was completed, the ground faintly trembled. A Giant Turtle slowly approached him from behind, a Sea Ship secured to its shell.

Vehicles produced by the Vehicle Workshop appeared directly at its entrance. The Mortal Realm was several thousand meters away from here, and a Sea Ship obviously couldn’t travel on land.

Moving it here would have been a major problem.

Manpower alone wouldn’t have been enough.

Even though Qi Yue and Shao Qiu were both Martial Kings with superhuman strength, expecting the two of them to move the Sea Ship here was asking too much.

A ship’s weight is no small matter.

This was where the Giant Turtle proved its worth.

Without the Giant Turtle, it would have been nearly impossible to transport the Sea Ship to the shore.

The Giant Turtle’s shell was a full thirty meters wide.

The Sea Ship was nearly twenty meters wide, taking up almost the entire surface of the shell. It was even longer than the Giant Turtle itself, a true behemoth.

Also on the Giant Turtle’s back were Shao Qiu and Qi Yue, their faces flushed as they held the Sea Ship steady.

Alongside them was Hey Hey, who was using all its strength.

The two of them and the alligator had worked together to haul the Sea Ship onto the Giant Turtle’s back. Of course, Hey Hey had done most of the heavy lifting. The gator certainly wasn’t eating for free; it had plenty of muscle to show for it.

...

"Careful now, this way to the water."

"One, two, three, release!"

Soon—

The Sea Ship slid into the ocean, sending up massive splashes.

"..."

Chen Fan stood watching the Sea Ship, now docked in a berth at the Port. It was built entirely from Iron Wood, which looked like wood but was much sturdier.

Its durability was equivalent to a Level 1 City Wall.

On the decks on either side of the Sea Ship,

three Level 4 Cannon Towers were installed.

A Level 5 Cannon Tower was mounted at the bow and another at the stern.

There was also a Ghost Fire inside the ship cabin.

It was essentially a rudimentary Mobile Camp. Its defenses were certainly no match for the Mortal Realm, but compared to an ordinary outpost, its defensive Level was vastly superior.

Most outposts didn’t even have a City Wall.

Compared to a mere Vehicle,

this thing was more like a tool of war.

If he built a few more, he would have a fleet.

"Let’s go."

Chen Fan glanced at Lame Monkey beside him, not lingering any longer before heading back. He planned to leave the Sea Ship at the Port tonight to see if it could withstand the attacks of Ghost Objects. After that, he would gather his people and see what lay in the depths of the ocean.

In a game, this would be called "exploring the map."

It was a very common in-game activity.

But this wasn’t a game; this was reality.

That meant he needed to be extremely cautious. People could die.

Shao Qiu and Qi Yue followed behind, riding the Giant Turtle back to the Mortal Realm. He had built three Sea Ships in total, and there were still two more to move.

...

「Mortal Realm, within the camp.」

Chen Fan sat in his room, looking at Wang Mazi, whom he had summoned. He didn’t speak, simply pouring Wang Mazi a cup of tea and gesturing for him to sit before slowly speaking.

"You’ve been the Pavilion Master of the Commerce Pavilion for some time now. How do you feel about it?"

"I feel..."

Wang Mazi scratched the back of his head and said in a low voice, "It feels... different from what I imagined. I thought the Commerce Pavilion would involve going out on business, but it turns out everyone just comes to us. There aren’t many opportunities to travel far."