Chapter 117: Diminishing Rewards

When Wang Ling and Hassan recounted their infiltration of the Zombie City and how, just before Dr. Edgar could board his Zombie Robot, they had used high-powered plant cards like Ice-shrooms and Jalapeños to thrillingly take down the final boss, everyone was filled with awe.

No one doubted this account, as the Zombie Robot was simply too powerful. In their subconscious, they could not believe that Wang Ling could have killed the Doctor while he was inside the machine; this current version of events fit perfectly with their perceptions.

In reality, had it not been for the "Fairy Qi Discharge"—a powerful B-rank skill from the Intermediate Zone—which possessed internal explosive properties that shattered the internal control system, Wang Ling never would have been able to deal with the steel-clad Zombie Robot. One had to realize that its outer metal shell could even withstand C4 explosives.

However, killing Dr. Edgar before he boarded the machine seemed too easy, so Wang Ling told them that before meeting the Doctor, they had been ambushed by a powerful monster, a Raging Gargantuar, and had fought a fierce battle.

With the help of the Blood-Veined Dragon and his summoned units, they had barely managed to defeat the Raging Gargantuar, which allowed them to infiltrate the Zombie City it guarded and kill the unsuspecting Doctor. To bolster the credibility of his story, Wang Ling even shared the item "Raging Blood" for them to see.

As for the other two who knew the truth, Blue Moon and Crazy Dave: Blue Moon naturally would not expose her master's lie, and as for Dave, upon returning to Plant Town, he immediately went back to his own house.

Under the soothing melody of Hatsune’s "Levan Polkka," the severely wounded group recovered slightly, and realizing that Wang Ling had no intention of killing them, Caslo and the others breathed a sigh of relief. They did not immediately return to the Dream Space, as they still had some reward points to spend.

Caslo said, "About an hour after you left, a massive wave of zombies attacked. While we were holding them off, Singer and three other Dreamers launched an attack on the plants. In a very short time, they destroyed more than half of them. Later, after we fought them for about fifteen minutes, news came of Dr. Edgar's death, and the opposing Dreamers were erased. However, Singer had an anti-erasure item, so he didn't die and was teleported back to the space directly."

After this brief explanation, the group headed to Crazy Dave’s shop to purchase items. However, except for Wang Ling, no one else had many reward points; they could barely afford gardening gloves, and those with a little extra could only buy a few seeds for low-level plants.

Having spent all their reward points, Caslo, Cai Qing, and Su Na immediately returned to the Dream Space. After all, their injuries could only be fully recovered upon returning to the Dream Space, and only there could they truly feel at ease.

As for the elderly Hassan, because he had accepted the optional mission to save Dave, he was entitled to any item from the shop except for mini-scenario cards. He chose the Imitator card, worth 30,000 reward points, and then immediately returned to the space. Before leaving, however, he and Wang Ling added each other as friends, allowing them to contact one another should they find themselves in the same sector of the Dream Space.

Now, Wang Ling was the only Dreamer left in this plot world.

He currently possessed over 110,000 reward points and one opportunity to select an item. After brief contemplation, he did not make a selection yet. Instead, he took his four Kung Fu Masters and the Blood-Veined Dragon and rushed outside of Plant Town.

Due to the retreat of the zombie army, the density of zombies outside had decreased. After a great deal of effort—and even summoning the three Dark Fighters to assist once his badge skill cooldown had ended—he finally managed to grind his reward points to 120,000 by nearly eight o'clock the next morning.

It is worth noting that during the battles, Blue Moon also leveled up. Now all four Kung Fu Masters were Level 2, which meant, of course, that the summoning cost for each of them would become 200 currency points.

Panting, Wang Ling returned to Dave’s place and began his selections. The first item to redeem was, naturally, the Zen Garden.

"Zen Garden: A rare and precious item, a mini-scenario card. By planting a plant in the garden, whenever the owner completes a standard main quest, they will harvest a card for that plant, which can then be used to summon it."

Accompanying the Zen Garden was the Cob Cannon card. In fact, Wang Ling had desperately ground for reward points specifically to redeem this card, which was priced at 20,000 points.

"Cob Cannon Card: A combat plant card. When used, it summons a Cob Cannon with 300 health. Every 35 seconds, the Cob Cannon can launch a corn missile with an effective range of 250 meters and an explosion radius of 3 meters. Before firing, the user controls the landing point with their gaze. When the corn missile explodes, it deals 1,800 damage to zombie-type creatures and 90 base damage to non-zombie creatures."

These two redemptions nearly wiped out his reward points, leaving him unable to even afford gardening gloves. After some thought, Wang Ling spent his remaining few hundred points on a card slot to store his plant cards.

As for the reward for the optional mission of rescuing Dave, Wang Ling also chose the Imitator. After all, it was the most expensive item aside from the Zen Garden; even the Mushroom Garden and Aquarium mini-scenario cards were the same price, so he could not pass it up.

"Imitator: A card-type item. When used, it can replicate any weapon or equipment of E-rank or D-rank, excluding Seven-Colored Dream equipment. The replica possesses the same abilities as the original but cannot inherit upgrade levels; it will only be Level 1."

With this, everything in the *Plants vs. Zombies* world was concluded. Wang Ling totted up his gains; the harvest from this world was truly bountiful. All items included: the Bronze Shining Key dropped by Dr. Edgar, the Raging Blood dropped by the Raging Gargantuar, the redeemed Zen Garden card, the Imitator card, the card slot, a pitchfork, three bucket helmets looted from zombies, and a zombie newspaper.

As for plant cards, he had: Peashooter, Sunflower, Sun-shroom, Chomper, Wall-nut, Lily Pad, Cherry Bomb, Doom-shroom, Ice-shroom, Hypno-shroom, Jalapeño, and Cob Cannon.

Beyond these, killing the Whirlwind team and the Chrysanthemum and Blade team had earned him a massive amount of reward points.

Another incredibly important gain was the powerful Blood-Veined Dragon. Thinking back, Wang Ling felt he understood why the Plant Town side had been at such a disadvantage. Beyond their own strength, the Whirlwind team had hidden this Blood-Veined Dragon, giving them an overall strength that absolutely surpassed the Chrysanthemum and Blade team.

As for his own strength, combined with seven summoned units, the helicopter mold, and high-level equipment like the Heart of Peach and the Golden-Red Mask, he was definitely superior to that Corpse Eater, Singer. As for the elderly Hassan, possessing a powerful AK, his strength was also clearly above that of the average Dreamer.

When the Dream Space issued missions, if not interfered with by other factors, the opposing sides were generally symmetrical. If the Dreamers on the Plant Town side were stronger, then the "momentum" would be weakened. If the three members of the Whirlwind team hadn't died early, Plant Town would not have been at such a clear disadvantage. With the armed helicopter, the Blood-Veined Dragon, the AK, and a fully unleashed Wang Ling, they could have crushed the opposing Dreamers.

Regardless, it could be said that this world was a massive harvest! However, Wang Ling soon discovered an unfortunate fact: with his original items already taking up some space in his storage bag, the remaining slots were simply not enough to hold all these items.

He put all the plant cards into the box-shaped card slot, which he carried on his person. The Zen Garden card, the Imitator card, and the zombie newspaper were also carried on him—items equipped or carried on one's person did not need to occupy space in the storage bag, but they could not exceed certain limits, much like the regulations for carry-on luggage on an airplane.

Wang Ling considered for a moment, equipped the three Dark Fighters with the three bucket helmets, and threw away the pitchfork, which occupied a slot in his storage bag and could not be carried on his person. Only then could he barely manage to bring all his other items back.

Equipped with the ridiculous bucket helmets, the three Dark Fighters finally had weapons and armor: daggers, hand axes, iron hammers, and three bucket helmets.

After handling everything, he recalled all his summoned units. Then, with a flash of light, Wang Ling was teleported back to his familiar private room...

Under the light of the main brain's sub-unit, Wang Ling waited silently for his mission evaluation.

"You have successfully experienced the *Plants vs. Zombies* world scenario. The mission completion status is now being evaluated:"

"World: *Plants vs. Zombies*"
"Scenario: *Plants vs. Zombies* (Android Version)"
"Difficulty: E-rank"
"Completion Evaluation: D"
"Mission Rewards:"
"One E-rank difficulty clearance chest: Black Iron Chest"
"Currency Points: 13,000 (Mission 1: 1,000 points; Mission 2: 1,000 points; Mission 3: 2,000 points; Optional Mission: 2,000 points. Extra kill of Raging Gargantuar: 2,000 points; Extra kill of Dr. Edgar: 5,000 points.)"
"Attribute Points: 4 (Base reward 3 points; +1 point for D-rank completion.)"
"Skill Points: 2 (Base reward 1 point; +1 point for D-rank completion.)"

"Rewards have been issued. The clearance Black Iron Chest has appeared in your private room. Furthermore, because Dr. Edgar, the leader of the zombie forces in the *Plants vs. Zombies* world, has died, you will no longer enter this world in future main quests."

"Why is it only a D? That's impossible! I killed the final boss of this world; even if it wasn't the highest 'X', it should at least be an 'S'! In the Mario world, I didn't even kill Bowser and still got an 'S' evaluation. This isn't scientific!" Wang Ling immediately shouted.

"If you wish to query the reason, please pay 1,000 currency points," the main brain's sub-unit replied emotionlessly.