Chapter 40: Barely a Qualified Teammate.

"Not for now."

Chen Jiang waved his hand, cutting off Xu Kun's scattered train of thought. With the correct decisions made in the previous stages, combined with two abandoned defense lines now entirely dedicated to planting sunflowers, they only needed to wait patiently to accumulate a massive amount of sunlight.

The only regret at this moment was that the hidden task for this instance was unknown. Since they did not know what it was, there was no way to speak of completing it.

"Wait!"

Suddenly, a flash of inspiration hit Xu Kun. "Brother Jiang, I have a good idea. Perhaps we could dig up all the Peashooters and rely entirely on you to kill the zombies with your playing cards. That way, we could save up even more sunlight, right?"

"..."

Chen Jiang scanned Xu Kun with an expressionless face, said nothing, and simply sat cross-legged on the spot, closing his eyes to rest.

"Uh... did I say something wrong...?"

"What do you think?"

Ya She looked at Xu Kun, feeling speechless. "Do you think Brother Jiang is a robot? Those techniques take a lot of effort, not to mention that the zombies in the later stages are becoming increasingly powerful..."

...

Soon, more than an hour of waiting passed. While reaping a bountiful harvest of sunlight, the fourth wave of attacks was about to arrive.

With a total of 1,200 sunflowers, they could generate 120,000 points of sunlight every 15 minutes. In just one hour, 480,000 points of sunlight had been credited to their account.

Before the fourth wave began, Chen Jiang redistributed the plants on his line. He first dug up all the Peashooters—a task handled instantly via the interface without needing manual labor.

He then spent 29,400 sunlight points to plant 98 Repeater Peashooters at the front.

On the 299th tile, he planted a Torchwood.

On the 300th tile, he planted a Wall-nut for defense.

A perfect setup.

Ya She, Xu Kun, and the others followed suit, setting up their defenses in a similar fashion.

Dark clouds pressed down upon the horizon. The sea surged. Countless pale arms pierced through the surface of the water once more as waves of zombies swarmed toward the Gobi desert. This time, there were no Buckethead Zombies; instead, they were exclusively "Screen Door Zombies," interspersed with a large number of "Conehead Zombies."

Compared to Buckethead Zombies, Screen Door Zombies possessed significantly higher defense, while the Conehead Zombies could inflict more damage to the plants.

However...

Under the barrage of Repeater Peashooters, each pea bullet passed through the Torchwood, igniting into flames as they struck the zombie horde. Even with the increased number and strength of the enemies, they remained fragile and easily shattered.

It was at this moment that Chen Jiang discovered a disadvantage to planting too many Peashooters.

One of the side tasks was: "Personally kill 1 Conehead Zombie, reward 300 Paradise Coins."

He could barely manage to finish the task by using his playing cards to strike down a Conehead Zombie before the Peashooters could finish it off. But for Ya She and the others, it was difficult; those zombies barely took a few steps onto the Gobi before falling in unison, not even reaching the Wall-nuts.

"Dig them up!"

After a brief moment of hesitation, Chen Jiang gave the order.

Without the slightest delay, Xu Kun and Ya She immediately cleared all the Peashooters on their lines. Without the obstruction of the peas, the zombies rushed toward their lines like wolves into a flock of sheep.

The poor Wall-nuts didn't even last five seconds before being devoured completely. The Torchwoods behind them didn't even last two.

"Hoo..."

Standing on his line, Ya She took a deep breath. His wrist flickered, and a dagger appeared in his palm. He looked at the several zombies lunging toward him. These Screen Door Zombies were not only tougher than the bucket-headed ones, but they were also faster. They were no longer moving at a sluggish pace.

Rotten claws tore through the air, and murky eyes were locked onto his throat.

The next moment, Ya She stepped back with his left foot, his body tilting slightly backward. The claws of the zombie on his right grazed the tip of his nose, shearing off a lock of hair. His eyes were incredibly determined, showing no trace of fear or panic.

He used the momentum to spin, flipping the dagger in his fingers and gripping it in reverse. The blade shone with the cold light of a crescent moon.

"Squelch!"

He thrust the dagger diagonally from bottom to top. The tip pierced precisely through the neck of the Conehead Zombie, entering through the lower jaw and easily shattering the brainstem.

Black blood sprayed along the blood groove. He pulled the blade out, kicked the corpse away, and moved quickly. After expertly spinning the dagger in his palm, he tapped the panel to replant the Repeater Peashooters, and a barrage of peas once again blocked the path of the zombies.

He did not have Brother Jiang's talent.

His primary role was as Brother Jiang's partner, responsible for crafting magic props and ensuring Brother Jiang's safety. Close-quarters combat was his major, taught by Master Gu, and it was Brother Jiang's elective.

But frustratingly, his major was only about as good as Brother Jiang's elective.

...

On the other side, Xu Kun was not as graceful. He tried his best to suppress the fear of facing the seemingly infinite horde. He also pulled out a dagger, wanting to emulate Ya She and deliver a fatal blow to a Conehead Zombie within the crowd.

However, perhaps due to a lack of strength, although he successfully stabbed the Conehead Zombie in the neck, it did not die. With more zombies swarming in, he had no choice but to drop the knife and retreat.

Then, a flash of inspiration hit him.

He began to retreat strategically, luring the zombies while rapidly planting Wall-nuts. By the time he retreated to the 257th tile, the zombie horde had been segmented by the Wall-nuts.

The severely wounded Conehead Zombie that was originally in the middle of the horde was now isolated from the main group, facing Xu Kun alone.

Xu Kun quickly planted another Wall-nut, uprooted it, and held it in his arms. With a roar, he leaped into the air and smashed it down onto the wounded Conehead Zombie!

In a one-on-one situation, the pressure vanished instantly!

After smashing it several times, the Conehead Zombie finally met its end.

With that, all three had completed their side tasks, successfully earning 900 Paradise Coins.

...

Standing on his own line, Chen Jiang watched the entire process in silence. He could have easily helped the two complete their side tasks, for instance by using his cards to severely wound a Conehead Zombie beforehand.

But he wanted to see Xu Kun's ability to adapt on the fly.

It seemed pretty good.

Though, he was a bit conservative; he only dared to go for the kill when it was an almost guaranteed one-on-one victory.

Chen Jiang silently labeled Xu Kun as "conservative and steady" in his mind. However, his ability to utilize external conditions was excellent—he maximized every resource at his disposal, a classic merchant's mindset.

The fact that he didn't beg for help meant he wasn't just a freeloader; he had his own ideas.

Not bad. Barely qualified as a teammate.

Although this move wasted a lot of sunlight, it didn't matter. Sunlight points were useless; trading them for Paradise Coins was the most cost-effective deal imaginable.

Before long, the fourth wave of zombies had been wiped out. Their combat power had long since surpassed the timeline; they were simply on a different level.