Chapter 131: Tregear Got Even Angrier

Tregear was having a mental breakdown.

As he stared at over a million tons of highly sophisticated, all-too-familiar equipment—hidden beneath a holographic camouflage shroud—unloaded on the coastline ten kilometers away from the laboratory, he turned to the Captain. The Captain merely smiled, clutching his coffee mug, while Pega tucked himself away into the Captain’s shadow.

That was nearly a million tons of equipment. A million tons! A single piece of gear weighed as much as several Tregears put together. He looked at the Captain, and the Captain looked back with an innocent expression.

*What are you looking at me for? Do you expect me, a weak, pitiful, and helpless human, to move them?*

*So, am I supposed to move them?!*

Tregear felt as though the man before him must be suffering from some serious mental affliction. Did he really expect him to move them? How could he possibly manage? Even with psychic powers—no, psychic powers were merely a weaker substitute for his own physical strength. If Tregear could lift about twenty thousand tons with his physical body, his psychic powers could "lift" even less.

What could twenty thousand tons accomplish? That would barely cover some connectors, cables, and support frames. As for the main equipment units, even if disassembled, each piece started at a minimum of one hundred thousand tons.

"After they unloaded, they didn't happen to stay and help move them inside?"

"They were delivered by fully automated cargo ships, and the unloading was automated, too... They don't have programming that allows them to assist with storage after unloading."

The Captain sipped his coffee, still smiling.

In Tregear’s eyes, however, deep within that smile lurked a hint of guilt. He didn't know what this man was plotting again, so he simply asked, "Then how do you intend to move this equipment inside? Are you just going to leave it out here in the open?"

"Actually, there is an anti-gravity platform." The Captain gestured toward a square slab twenty meters high and ten meters wide sitting to the side—a device commonly used in the Land of Light for moving heavy objects.

"But the power consumption exceeds the current capacity of this island. It won't run, the voltage isn't nearly enough, and the power expansion project won't be completed until the day after tomorrow." The Captain lowered his head to take a sip of coffee before continuing, "The power expansion on the island itself is finished, but for the part on the mainland, I’ve already pushed for progress. Three engineering teams are working around the clock in twenty-four-hour shifts, but it still won't be done until the day after tomorrow."

Under normal circumstances, the approval process alone for a power expansion would take two months, and construction would take another two. The Captain was certain that no one could slack off under his supervision, because following his instructions was a pleasant experience—and who could refuse happiness, right? Completing the island's power expansion in just one week was the absolute limit of human capability.

So, for these two days, the equipment would just sit here catching the sea breeze?

Aside from providing camouflage, hiding the shape and energy signature, the shroud offered no protection whatsoever. It was essentially a thin veil, and one with excellent breathability at that.

Tregear looked at the Taiga Spark development and experimental equipment—devices he had personally designed and even manufactured—and couldn't help but worry. These machines were, in reality, not very durable. This was a common flaw in equipment produced in the Land of Light.

Due to the unique planetary characteristics of the Land of Light, equipment rarely needed to consider dust or moisture resistance. Thus, things that worked perfectly on their home planet experienced a cliff-like drop in lifespan once they left home. Scientists at the Technology Bureau would joke that this was actually a protective measure to prevent accidental leaks of their technology; even if an enemy stole the equipment, it wouldn't take long before the hardware failed.

Tregear only began focusing on dust and moisture resistance after he left the Land of Light. Back then, he and his little Snark were living in seclusion on the planet Kuchiora—a heavily polluted world where acidic rain fell daily and radioactive winds blew. If you wanted to create any product on that planet without accounting for dust and water, it would be rusted beyond use before you even finished making it.

Therefore, the equipment before him was work from his past, designed without any protection against dust, water, or corrosion. For every day it sat here, its lifespan would be slashed by at least ten or twenty years. During the time Tregear had been away from the Land of Light, these devices had been sealed and well-preserved; every connector had been as shiny as if it had just been oiled. But considering the corrosive nature of the sea breeze here... for every day they sat, that luster would fade with the rising and setting of the sun, and before long, they would lose their finish entirely.

Tregear snarled, "Call Zero and Fuma over. Isn't Titas here, too?"

"Zero and Titas are on an emergency mission; they left Earth early this morning... Ayure is here, but I sent him to the hospital today to deal with that kick you gave him."

"Hmph. If it weren't for that kick, he wouldn't be walking to the hospital—he'd be lying on a gurney being pushed in."

Tregear sneered, calculating in his mind that Fuma’s slender frame didn't look like that of a qualified laborer capable of hauling twenty-thousand-ton objects; he was probably even worse at it than he was.

Watching Captain Serizawa’s completely unbothered demeanor, a wave of schadenfreude washed over Tregear: *I’ll just leave the equipment there and see what you do.* Let’s see if you can still drink your coffee so calmly then!

As Tregear indulged in these internal fantasies, feeling lighter than air and happier than he had ever been, he realized he had already reverted to his giant form, carefully placing every piece of equipment and every part he could move into the temporary laboratory that had been left vacant specifically for this purpose.

The roof of the laboratory was detachable. Tregear had already gingerly removed it and set it aside to make room for the equipment. As he arranged the gear, clearing space for the items he truly couldn't move, he was already mapping out the laboratory’s layout in his mind, even designing the power routing as he went.

Once he finished all of this, Tregear felt even angrier.

Captain Serizawa chose that exact moment to hand a hot drink to Tregear. "I didn't do anything to you; it was you who was genuinely worried about that equipment, wasn't it? Thank you for your hard work. Try this—it wasn't made with powdered milk tea."

It was a cup of milk tea overflowing with sweetness, but Tregear remained unmoved. He took the tea, still fuming.