Chapter 19: The Enemy

“Ah!” Liu Zhi was somewhat skeptical of Mand’s words. It was true that Mand had come to suppress the Phantom Light Netherworld Rift, but there was no reason for him to be right on the most dangerous front line. Wasn’t it said that all the enemies in the southern swamp realm were being held back by that player wearing white baboon skin?

Sensing Liu Zhi’s disbelief, Mand pointed toward the eastern sky. “Lord of the city, look over there.”

Following Mand’s direction, Liu Zhi was somewhat surprised. Unlike the misty Netherworld they had encountered in the game before, the Phantom Light Netherworld lacked such dense fog. In its wilderness, there were luminous, jellyfish-like entities drifting up and down.

Liu Zhi knew these were similar to spores, a hallmark of the Phantom Light Netherworld. These luminous entities differed from ordinary ghosts, though Liu Zhi did not yet understand their origin or how they functioned. One thing was certain: any normal spirit coming into contact with these glowing forms would become corrupted and eventually lose its true nature.

This was precisely why the three major realms all uniformly rejected the Phantom Light Netherworld.

Had it been a normal Netherworld, the three realms aligned with the undead might have merged peacefully.

But Mand wasn’t referring to this. Instead, his gaze was fixed on the eastern sky. Liu Zhi noticed that intermittently there appeared a twisted human face in the heavens, as if some powerful undead was trying to break through from that point in space to enter the Phantom Light Netherworld.

Recalling the situation at that location in the real world, Liu Zhi couldn’t help but sigh.

“I didn’t expect things to have gotten this severe.”

Indeed, the distorted face in the sky belonged to the souls of twenty workers who had perished near Golden Scissors Street. It was clear they had been affected by the Phantom Light Netherworld, transformed into its ghosts. At this moment, they were attempting to tear through the spatial barrier to enter the Netherworld.

Seeing the situation before him, Liu Zhi’s expression grew grave.

“I need to handle this matter. Mand, roughly how long before that fellow can break through the spatial barrier into the Netherworld if we do nothing?”

“Judging by his current condition, we have about three weeks. So if you can’t deal with it directly, we’ll need to stockpile troops in that time.”

“What kind of troops do you need? Any ideas?”

“That mass grave site you have is interesting, but it’s not enough. The only formed units under your command are those bizarre troops transformed from ceremonial skeletons. However, those are the least likely to be useful in the short term, since I noticed you don’t have any hawks.”

This remark made Liu Zhi a little embarrassed. Mand was right: neither the golden skeletons nor the skeleton archers under his command had undergone systematic training. They were all forcibly trained through weapons or other means.

To train these undead into a proper fighting force required constant combat and coordination, which was impossible to achieve in a short time.

The only troops Liu Zhi could realistically deploy were the ceremonial skeletons, which could be transformed into fledgling eagle warriors, thus forming a combat unit.

But the problem was, they were all stuck at the final stage of becoming fledgling eagle warriors. In this world, there were no eagles or similar flying birds. Without the ability to kill an eagle and craft a set of leather armor from its hide, they could not complete their transformation.

Thus, they remained skeletons with some combat ability, but not true fledgling eagle warriors.

And this problem was one Liu Zhi could not solve in the foreseeable future.

“It seems the solution must come from the real world. Mand, keep an eye on the situation outside for me. If anything happens, notify me immediately. I will go out and find a way to deal with that fellow.”

Mand nodded. “Protecting this city is my duty. Don’t worry, if we can’t hold them off, I will seek reinforcements. But…”

Mand pointed outside the city walls. Liu Zhi noticed that some skeletons had appeared there at some unknown time.

Unlike the skeletons inside the city, these ones had patches of purple or black substances stuck to their heads or chests. These substances looked like clay or putty, yet Liu Zhi could discern blinking eyes upon them.

“If your skeleton archers were competent, they should be able to shoot those patches off the skeletons with a single arrow from here. But your archers are useless—they can reach the enemy, but if they can’t hit vital points, what good are they?”

Liu Zhi smiled awkwardly. “Alright, I understand. I’ll handle this matter myself.”

Mand nodded and began patrolling the city walls. Liu Zhi observed that Mand was far more familiar with the defenses than he was. He knew where the weaknesses lay, which blind spots existed in their defenses, and how to assign the right personnel.

Liu Zhi followed Mand on a circuit and saw that Mand’s arrangements were orderly, far better than his own. He then retreated to a quiet spot to contemplate the two situations he had just witnessed.

Earlier, while on the walls, Mand had mentioned that the old castle guards not only used moats but also stocked them with piranhas or man-eating crocodiles to prevent enemies from sneaking across underwater.

Liu Zhi’s moat was somewhat special but still required similar treatment. Otherwise, the enemy could simply pile up corpses to fill it in over time.

So Liu Zhi considered whether to introduce some creatures into the moat. While piranhas were out of the question, carnivorous spiders could be an option. Moreover, Liu Zhi could treat these spiders as a primary species within another Netherworld ecological niche.

That would solve two problems at once.

From there, his thoughts extended to his final troop training method. He could train carrion-eater wolves—creatures that required wolf or dog corpses as training material.

But what if he used living wolves or dogs instead?

After all, the Netherworld ecosystem only allowed these creatures to live among the Netherworld flora; it did not force them to feed on it. This way, Liu Zhi could obtain a powerful, fast-response auxiliary force.

Having reached this conclusion, Liu Zhi stood up. “Alright, I have a plan. I’ll go back and handle it. I aim to resolve most of these issues within three weeks. You continue managing things here. If you lack suitable personnel—oh, how could I have forgotten this…”