While the people outside waited, Pei Guang, who had entered Chadwick's dream, witnessed the entire course of Chadwick's life.
Pei Guang couldn't easily judge Chadwick's life, but as a member of the Genius Society, he considered him qualified: the destructive power of the Imaginary Implosion Pulse that Chadwick had developed was simply staggering.
If one compared it to Earth, this was the man who had personally studied nuclear bombs.
How should he put it? In terms of story, the old man's experience was something that did earn Pei Guang's respect as a player. But right now, Pei Guang only cared about the reward after clearing the mission.
Imaginary numbers, pulses, implosions… none of that really interested him now.
Pei Guang watched Chadwick's life, while at the same time, Chadwick himself realized he seemed to have entered a strange room.
No, rather than a room, it was more like… a laboratory?
Chadwick realized he was seeing someone else's memory—experiencing someone else's memory.
He felt himself joining a faction called the Earth Federation, and its commander looked strangely familiar: so familiar, yet he couldn't quite recall who it was.
In the dream, the universe he was in was a dangerous one: Zergs devouring everything like the Propagation Swarm, mechanical crises resembling the wars of the Emperor, and even invaders from higher-dimensional worlds.
It was still a perilous universe, yet in the dream, his commander led the Earth Federation to resist crisis after crisis.
In the dream, he was entrusted with great responsibility. Over years of research, he fulfilled the commander's orders, using his talents to create weapons powerful enough to annihilate entire star systems.
At that moment, Chadwick felt the dream accelerate.
The weapon he had developed was revealed to the entire universe. Countless beings witnessed his talent, and all were shocked by this void-like weapon.
He saw his weapon destroy countless planets and kill innumerable lives. At that moment, he felt a familiar but far more intense pain.
He saw his weapon become a deterrent. Weak civilizations survived under its shadow, while stronger ones did not dare to act recklessly because of it.
The universe remained cold, but it was sustained by a fragile yet lasting peace.
He saw his weapon, one that could terrify an entire star system, cast aside by his commander.
For some reason, the world had inexhaustible resources: so many that the universe itself could explode.
He saw many things, but among all these memories, what he saw most was his commander, who, through wisdom and the joint effort of countless beings, unified the galaxy, then the universe—until the universe itself perished.
This commander never used his weapon to harm innocent lives. Instead, he used it to destroy countless great threats to the galaxy, resolving crisis after crisis.
Even when the universe was destroyed, this commander still attempted to lead all life to escape this dimension together, to survive in a higher one.
And amid these memories, Chadwick also heard some words that were both amusing and slightly terrifying.
"Start coloring!"
"Blowing up the whole universe makes anyone go '~', just tweak the code a bit. This time let's try for a higher difficulty: how about world prosperity and development?"
"Forget it, this run I'll slack off. This weapon is pretty handy. Ten thousand per star system."
"Let me test the data: Star-Eater vs Imaginary energy… which is stronger? Hm? Why's my CPU fried?"
Compared to the Aeons, this commander still had human desires, and was even more unrestrained. Yet within countless dreams, Chadwick saw a possibility.
A moment, or a year? Ten thousand years? Forever?
When he awoke in that instant, in his memories he saw Pei Guang finding him, saving him.
Looking at the medicine Pei Guang gave him, he knew he could finally be free.
Chadwick didn't know how much time had passed, but when he opened his eyes for the last time, he saw a familiar figure.
"Commander?"
Chadwick's call left Pei Guang a little confused inside his consciousness world: "Commander? I'm not a commander right now. Even if this is a first run, I should only be Earth's commander, not the Company's commander, right?"
Pei Guang had seen Chadwick's memories.
Throughout his life, Chadwick had dealt the most with the IPC, and even his most powerful weapon had been developed under the Company's influence.
Pei Guang was indeed interested in that weapon, but only mildly so.
In a universe where the highest combat power were the Aeons, instead of researching how to blow up a galaxy, he felt it would be better to study how to become an Aeon.
Going by game logic, no matter how lofty gods or demons were set up to be, there was always a chance for players to reach out and touch that power.
Even if, from a background perspective, one couldn't become an Aeon, Pei Guang still thought reaching the strength of an Emanator was possible.
He even considered what it would be like if everyone on the Express became some sort of Emanator for fun: for example, having March 7th, who always seemed silly, be an Emanator of Erudition.
In any game, you played according to its logic. Although he had a home, Pei Guang's main focus was on the Express.
So while he found the weapon interesting, that was as far as it went.
For Chadwick, it had been a long life of experience, but for Pei Guang, he had simply watched that life unfold, found him in a sealed room, and given him the medicine Screwllum had entrusted to him.
Pei Guang didn't really know what Chadwick had gone through—he just felt a little emotional when he heard Chadwick call him "commander."
Hearing his question, Chadwick turned his head. His aged face carried a faint smile. "Seeing your appearance reminds me of a commander. That commander…"
Recalling everything he'd seen in those memories, he smiled. "I… have a question. How do you plan to play this run?"
That question stunned Pei Guang. "Old man! Don't just break the fourth wall like that! But for the first run, I still plan to play it seriously. After all, in many games, only the first run can unlock the true perfect ending. Once I clear the first run perfectly, I'll consider the others."
Pei Guang's words made Chadwick think of some of the things he'd seen in the dream.
Chadwick took a deep breath, and when he lifted his head again, he was smiling. "My research: do you want it?"
Pei Guang shook his head. "No. I just want my reward. I did your task, so it's not too much to ask for some reward, right? Don't tell me your research is the final reward, because that's useless to me. But if that's what the reward turns out to be, I won't complain."
This wasn't just nonsense from Pei Guang.
Based on the memories, Chadwick's research was basically nuclear-bomb level: one strike to wipe out an entire region!
But no matter how destructive, it still wasn't on the level of the Aetherophasic Engine. Besides, what player didn't know how to destroy things?
If he was going to get technology, it should be something multifunctional, like the Star Destroyer.
Or at least a mining rig.
Pure destructive power… at this stage, it wasn't tempting to him.
In terms of raw destruction, Pei Guang figured the final branches of his own tech tree weren't bad, so there was no need to cling to Chadwick's work.
Though if that's what the reward ended up being, he wouldn't mind. It just wouldn't help much with clearing Penacony, so his interest was low.
Hearing Pei Guang's response actually made Chadwick pause, before smiling again. "Very well, very well. In that case, take whatever you like from this room. I no longer need it. Whatever you find useful, it's yours."
"Really?"
"Really." Chadwick sighed.
He didn't know what expression he should wear. To think that, in his final moments, the person who helped him, the one who could change this world, had no interest in his life's work…
Getting a clear answer, Pei Guang wasted no time. He didn't hold back at all, sweeping everything in the room into his storage space.
But when he came across a box, he paused. Instead of storing it, he opened it directly.
Inside the box, he found a set of six transparent jars of varying sizes, each looking like glass.
When Chadwick saw Pei Guang's eyes light up at the sight, he was confused. In fact, Pei Guang wasn't just excited: he almost jumped for joy.
Chadwick couldn't understand why these jars were valued more than his research, but the result gave him a strange kind of happiness.
For Pei Guang, though, it was obvious: because what he had just pulled out of that box was something truly useful.
[Mysterious Fire Cupping Jars: Effects vary depending on the type of flame used, the place of application, and the ingredients mixed.]
[Note: Using the fire jars on a beautiful back may trigger unexpected effects.]
The moment he saw the jars and the note, several perfect backs popped into Pei Guang's mind.
At first, those backs were just something to admire.
But now, with the jars in his hands, Pei Guang suddenly had a bold idea. Along with it, a long list of names came to mind.
At that moment, March 7th, Fu Xuan, Acheron and Sparkle all felt a sudden sense of dread.
Even Black Swan, who had been happily munching on popcorn and watching from the sidelines, suddenly felt uneasy.