Firefly gave her sword a half-hearted swing: "So… we don't need to fight?"
Pei Guang: "No! You're useful. Right now, maybe not for fighting, but the real battle comes next. Our job is protecting Chadwick. This is just the first wave, the appetizer. The main event hasn't started yet. The enemies will definitely keep coming in waves. The trash cans are strong, but they probably can't hold out forever. In the later waves, it'll come down to us."
From Pei Guang's experience, these kinds of defense missions always ramped up in difficulty.
If you used summons to defend, the first half, or even the first two-thirds, were fine. But the last few waves usually required the player themselves.
Pei Guang figured he had to plan ahead for those final waves.
Sparkle, however, was looking at him with excitement: "Really? We… can play together with you?"
She still looked like a girl, but her excitement was impossible to hide now.
Pei Guang: "Of course~ but do you really think of yourself as my companion?"
Sparkle clenched her fists and nodded hard: "Of course~ I'm your best partner~"
But very quickly, she realized what she'd said, lowered her head, and nervously stared at her toes.
Pei Guang patted her shoulder: "Don't be shy, and don't be nervous. Relax—I've kept some backup measures in place. No one's going to hurt you."
Firefly, holding the weapon Pei Guang had given her, spoke calmly: "If that's the case… then we'll do whatever you arrange."
Pei Guang: "No problem! I've got an idea. Let's set up traps and defense towers, with Chadwick as the center."
Firefly: "Wait… defense towers?"
Pei Guang nodded: "Yeah! If we're defending, we need towers. On top of that, we need to plan how to respond to enemies, how to control the field, all of it. These trash cans are just buying us time."
He was thinking much further ahead.
He didn't believe the trash cans alone could win. He hadn't used that many garbage bags: if it were before the reinforcement, when he had tons of garbage bags to burn, he could've just coasted through.
But now, with only about a hundred bags' worth of an army, once enemy numbers swelled, things would get tricky.
Setting up defenses before it got tricky: that was what really mattered.
But the thought of defense towers gave Pei Guang a headache: "The problem is, I don't know how to make towers. I really wish I had some defensive weapons!"
He frowned, because although he had some blueprints and materials, it didn't feel like enough.
What if the enemy sent thousands, tens of thousands, even millions?
Or worse, what if Pathstriders came? Against powerful Pathstriders, Pei Guang didn't feel confident at all. And this was their turf: with their domain's bonus effects, things didn't feel stable.
Sure, as a player, Pei Guang messed around every day—but every time, he always had a safety net.
Without one, it wasn't called messing around. It was called asking to die.
But just as Pei Guang was trying to figure out what to do, Chadwick, who had been silent all this time, turned to him: "You need… automatic weapons that can hold off enemies? Can you make them?"
Chadwick's words made Pei Guang, Firefly, and Sparkle all look his way.
Hearing the question, Pei Guang nodded at once: "As long as I've got the blueprints, I can make basically anything. Materials… I should have enough, I think?"
He sounded a little uncertain, but it wasn't a big issue. Even if it was high-level gear, he could always salvage and break down the weapons he'd looted from the Xianzhou Luofu for parts.
Looking at Pei Guang, recalling his instincts and decisiveness, his flawless body and firm choices, Chadwick thought deeply for a long moment before speaking: "I still remember some things that might help you. If you can craft them, they can hold the enemy back."
Pei Guang's eyes lit up: "Oh? Old man, are you about to share some usable blueprints with me?"
Chadwick nodded: "If you can build them… they may help block these people. But child, if I give you these… will you use them for evil?"
Pei Guang answered him seriously: "I don't know. But what I do know is, whatever I do, I always think it through first, and act only when I've decided my goal."
His answer left Chadwick in deep thought. After a long silence, he finally spoke: "I can give you some things. But I don't know how to pass them to you…"
Pei Guang rubbed his chin: "Just touch me, maybe?"
Chadwick nodded and reached out to touch him.
The moment he did, Chadwick's expression grew heavy. It felt like a voice was asking him: what knowledge do you want to share with the young man before you?
He hadn't known Pei Guang long, but he knew he had no choice. Since he had the chance here, he decided to entrust his research to the young man before him.
He only shared his most basic research, none of the later results. Those had long ago been fully seized by the Company using special means, so he wasn't sure if what he had left would be useful.
But he had no choice. If he let this chance pass, he had no idea how long it would be before he met another Genius Society member again—no idea how long before he could finally be free.
Pei Guang noticed that his tech tree now had a new branch. At the same time, a few system prompts appeared.
[ Genius Society #79 has shared Basic Technology Applications with the player. Congratulations, player, for unlocking a new Tech Tree. ]
Looking at the newly shared tree, Pei Guang was stunned. Because the amount of stuff was… a bit too much.
He didn't understand technology, but according to the descriptions, Chadwick had handed over the entire foundation of his specialized field.
But most of it was blacked out, because Pei Guang lacked the basic tech framework.
Yes, Earth might have been developing, but Earth's system of science and technology only overlapped in part with Chadwick's, and overall was completely different.
Still, among all those blacked-out nodes, three defensive weapons were lit.
[ Orbital Tower: Can strike targets within a certain range using an orbital cannon. Exact power depends on the defense device's level. ]
[ Imaginary Blast Tower: Can trigger an Imaginary explosion within a certain range, dealing large-scale blast damage. Attack cooldown: 30 seconds. ]
[ Auto Turret: Once charged, can rapidly attack targets within range. Charge time: 10 seconds, duration: 30 seconds. ]
Seeing the three new defense towers, Pei Guang was overjoyed—until he noticed the required materials. His expression immediately grew awkward.
Even if he added up all the materials he carried, he could only make twelve towers. Twelve towers… didn't feel very safe.
As Pei Guang was pondering what to do, the giant trash can returned: the first wave of enemies had already been defeated, and the giant can had captured every enemy it could carry.
Looking at the prisoners, Pei Guang immediately started looting.
And sure enough he actually found something.
After searching just three corpses, he managed to pull out the parts needed for those towers.
Looking at the results, Pei Guang couldn't help but complain: "Figures… whatever dungeon you're in, it always drops the dungeon's crafting materials. Now it's dropping tower parts for me, huh? Fine by me."
In any case, having the materials meant he could build more towers, and more towers meant resisting more enemies.