Matrix Survival: One random treasure chest per day

Chapter 481 Clearing the Area! (5K)

"It seems I'll have to take action myself."

Li Zheng led Miriel out of the volcano and reunited with Lu Li and Xiao Ying, who had stayed on the edge.

As Li Zheng passed by Lu Li, he tossed his head and said, "Let's go."

"Where are you going?" Lu Li asked, seeing Li Zheng walking straight towards the player group, in the exact opposite direction from the starting point legion. "You're going the wrong way!"

"That's right."

Li Zheng kept walking, raised his hand and waved, saying, "Let's go show these people what the world's diversity is all about."

At this moment, in Bai Xiaosheng's live broadcast room, the audience was still immersed in the shock of Li Zheng's one-hit kill of Sephiroth.

After he finished speaking, a comment appeared on the screen amidst the otherwise calm scene.

"What the hell is this world's unevenness... Am I one of those uneven ones?"

This comment was like a pebble thrown into a lake, and the popularity of the comments gradually recovered.

"Difference +1"

"Don't run, take me with you!"

"Holy crap, I was still reeling from the shock of Li Zheng instantly killing a BOSS, what kind of trouble is he up to now?"

"Didn't I say? Prepare to clear the area."

"Hehe... Li Zheng, mwah... my Li Zheng... hehe... Li Zheng, mwah... my Li Zheng..."

"Oh no, this one is even more heavyweight. Li Zheng's move of instantly killing the BOSS has left the kid dumbfounded."

Players watching the live stream from outside the venue visited other live stream rooms and figured out what was going on before the players in the event were.

Although they didn't personally experience being chased by the Bosses, Bai Xiaosheng's viewers could still appreciate the Bosses' power from the scenes in other live streams where the main focus was on other locations, where only white light could be seen and no other colors could be seen.

That's not some kind of boss!
They are clearly ruthless killing machines!
It was through those comparisons that these people became even clearer about just how terrifying Li Zheng's strength was, being able to kill a boss in a single encounter.

Not only were the live stream chat messages filled with numerous words related to Li Zheng and the Lava Mountain venue, but the world chat channel was also flooded with them, attracting more streamers to switch their screens to that location.

More and more players are paying attention to the chaotic battles in the Lava Mountain arena. Its unique art style makes people almost think they have entered the wrong room at first glance.

"This is absolutely insane! Everyone else is playing battle royale, and here they're playing PVP?"

"I heard that this scene was caused by Li Zheng. I really don't know what he's thinking. Shouldn't he be gathering players from other legions to take down the other five bosses?"

"Stop making baseless accusations, okay? I just came from Bai Xiaosheng's side. Li Zheng only blew up a volcano. The fight among the others had nothing to do with Li Zheng."

"...? You blew up a volcano?? What kind of nonsense is that?"

"Was that just empty boasting? Exploding a volcano? Did Li Zheng throw an east wind into it?"

"Arrogant hype? I saw it all with my own eyes!"

"Then tell me, how did he blow it up?"

"Uh... I don't know the specifics. I just saw him snap his fingers at the volcano, and then it exploded. The lava shot up really high, blotting out the sky. It was incredibly spectacular."

"Snapping fingers? It's obviously fake, no authentication needed."

"Tch, believe it or not."

"I couldn't post comments for a while, but now I can't help but ask everyone, if human primal urges are just physiological hormones, then what is the meaning of our existence, and where will we go in the future?"

"We're not going to discuss the meaning of life or the future, but can you at least pull up your pants before you talk?"

"..."

"You might really have to help me this time."

"What? Did the zipper get stuck in the eggshell?"

"...Um. Please help me think of a solution, it hurts so much."

Li Zheng is currently unaware of the various circumstances surrounding him, and he's practically going on a killing spree.

The players throughout the Lava Mountain arena could never have imagined that while they had evaded the bosses set up by the terminal, they would ultimately be unable to escape the cleansing by Li Zheng, who was also a player.

The big, black guy wielding a spiked club was a force to be reckoned with. From the moment he started the riot until now, he hadn't been able to defeat a single opponent. The menacing spiked club in his hands was as light as a light stick used for cheering at a concert. Every time he swung it, he could knock several skinny players away.

It's truly a case of people flying away when they try to block someone, and walls collapsing when they try to block someone.

The entire vehicle, a black tank, rampaged through the crowd, leaving a trail of carnage in its wake.

Besides sheer strength, the big black guy also has a variety of defensive methods.

From shields to melee attacks to energy shields to ranged attacks, and a full range of defensive genetic abilities, this person possessed it all, standing firm amidst the attacks of everyone around him, charging left and right.

"His defense is too high! But he's slow! Use crowd control! Control his movement!"

Someone noticed the big black man's weakness and shouted loudly.

"I come!"

A person jumped out from the opposite side, threw a few seeds onto the ground in front of him, and held his hands outstretched, with a faint green light shimmering in his palms.

'Paralyzing Vines - Entangling!'

Poof! ~
Two wrist-thick, dark green vines sprouted from the ground where the seeds had fallen, growing wildly at a visible speed, and in the blink of an eye, they became two writhing 'giant pythons'.

Under his control, the two vines became incredibly agile, twisting and writhing within the crowd as they rapidly approached the large, dark-skinned man.

Seeing this, the surrounding players quickly increased their firepower on the big black guy, forcing him to stay in place and defend.

The vines then took the opportunity to approach and entangle his ankles.

呲!
The moment the vines wrapped around the ankle, the dark green bark broke open, and countless fine needles, like hairs, emerged and pierced the defensive layer of the large black ankle's wrist.

"Now!"

The player controlling the vines looked exhausted and yelled at those around him, urging them to increase their damage output and send the opponent off the field first.

Suddenly, gunfire erupted all around, and a barrage of attacks rained down on the big black man.

It took nearly ten seconds of concentrated fire to turn him into a white flash.

Just then, a thin figure covered in gray and white linen suddenly appeared from the side and floated past the player who was controlling the plants like a ghost.

The next moment, the player controlling the plant covered his neck in disbelief, his eyes wide with disbelief, and turned into white light in resentment.

Before flying away, he glanced in the direction the gray-white figure had disappeared. It turned out to be another player with dark skin, clearly of the same race as the big black guy who had just been focused down and killed. They were likely from the same legion.

"There's one more here!"

Someone noticed the skin tone hidden under the rag and attacked it without saying a word.

Unbeknownst to anyone, sparks, as dazzling as fireworks, appeared all around them.

"Huh? What is this?"

During a lull in the attack, someone waved their hand, mistaking it for the muzzle flash of their gun. They wondered why the sparks hadn't dissipated, assuming there were some special rules governing the lava mountain region.

Immediately afterwards, the sparks not only didn't get blown away, but instead grew brighter and brighter.

"How……"

"boom!"

After a brief delay, the sparks exploded in front of him!

boom! boom! boom!
Like a chain reaction, countless sparks floating among the crowd were detonated at the same time, and a large amount of white light rose from the smoke and dust of the spark explosion, flew into the sky, and disappeared.

"..."

Xiao Muran sat in the leather chair. The sudden increase in white light made him realize that his performance was likely to catch up and surpass his colleagues in other venues.

but……

I clearly had a chance of winning the title of outstanding employee.

Why do I feel no sense of accomplishment at all?

Is it because the script didn't go as planned?

Never mind, as long as the result is good, that's all that matters.

Xiao waved his hand, creating an invisible barrier in front of him. He then adjusted the leather chair to reclining mode, adopting the 'lost dream' posture and lying completely flat.

"Tsk~ Tsk~ Sizzle~"

He was sucking on the straw with a loud smacking sound.

More and more sparks floated in the chaotic crowd, and more and more players were eliminated. A pitted and empty space appeared in the center of the arena, like a whole pancake that had suddenly been bitten in the middle.

"There's something wrong with Mars, everyone be careful!" someone shouted. "Are there any water-type gene users? Let's fight them!"

As he called out, a few sparks slowly floated to his front, emitting a bright light.

"Luxury Crab Gift~"

"Boom! Boom!"

A cold, merciless explosion rang out, and another blank area appeared. No one noticed that two inconspicuous Chinese faces had slipped into the air among the flying players, followed by two strange pets.

A light red, semi-transparent film wrapped around them, which extended from a pet and could withstand most ranged attacks.

"This is too strong!"

Lu Li looked down at the players below who were being blasted into white light, and a look of pity appeared on his face.

Although these people will not actually be blown up, according to the members of the Origin Legion who were cleared out by the Boss in other areas, they will recover completely the moment they turn into white light and return to the transfer space, no matter how serious their injuries are.

Even the torn clothes were repaired, as if they had experienced a time rewind; the rules were quite peculiar.

but……

The pain of dying in an explosion is real, and even after returning to the transit space, it will linger for a while, causing immense suffering.

"well enough."

Faced with Lu Li's praise, Li Zheng calmly waved his arm, and a flash of blood light appeared. More than ten players who were approaching turned into white light and disappeared into the horizon.

"Actually, it's not that I'm too strong, but that they're too weak."

Controlling the Bloodthirsty Demon Blade to reap the harvest in the sky, and then using 'Fire Attachment' in combination with 'Explosion' ability to clear the ground, in less than three minutes, the number of players sent out by Li Zheng had exceeded one thousand!

If it weren't for the special fish that could restore genetic power that he harvested from the endless ocean, Li Zheng would never have been able to maintain such a high intensity of gene expression.

With his mouth stuffed full, Li Zheng muttered as he sent the players away in white light, "Did you hear what that guy down there shouted?"

"I heard that. I told the water-type player to put out the sparks." As a sniper specialist, Lu Li's sniper rifle was definitely a deadly weapon here.

However, the materials consumed by each bullet also created a huge shortage, so he did not leave with Fengshan from the beginning, because consuming too many materials in this event would be a completely unprofitable thing.

At this moment, he could only follow Li Zheng around listlessly, holding a diamond-grade spear upside down in his hand, hoping to go down and practice his skills sometime.

After all, he had practiced diligently for so many days and had at least mastered a close-combat gun technique.

"I think I understand now. You're releasing explosions so recklessly because you think all the water-type players have gone to the Endless Ocean and no one can control you?" Lu Li felt he had nothing better to do, so he made conversation with Li Zheng.

"That's the main reason."

Li Zheng continued working, replying, "You don't have water-based abilities, so you might not have a deep enough understanding of it. In fact, in the lava mountain environment, water-based abilities are suppressed very severely. If you force them to be used, they may only have less than half the original power."

"On the contrary, fire-type abilities have been given an epic boost here. Otherwise, do you really think I'm that powerful, capable of instantly killing a large number of players?"

Li Zheng noticed this when the small icebergs were forming in the endless ocean. At the time, he just found it strange and didn't think much of it.

Only after guessing the terminal's intention did he realize that the strengthening and suppression of different gene abilities under different environments were all preparations for the activities to come.

"Eh?"

Lu Li was slightly taken aback, then realized something: "That's not right. If we follow the theory of elemental relationships, then the bosses released in each arena would actually be facing attacks of the same element?"

Attacks of the same element will be much less effective when they hit a creature that is proficient in the same element.

Therefore, each different lineage has its own defensive gene capabilities.

"This is the insidious aspect of the terminal's activities."

Li Zheng said, "Players are unaware at the beginning. When they enter the event, they will definitely choose the direction and venue they are good at. When the true colors are revealed, even if these abilities are partially enhanced, it is actually the same as not enhancing them when hitting the same type of boss."

"Then why..." Lu Li wanted to ask why the terminal had to create a field characteristic with opposing attributes.

"Because this feature was designed from the very beginning to allow players to attack each other."

Li Zheng spoke calmly, his gaze sweeping over the seemingly endless group of players below, and he sighed.

I never realized it before, but now that I've seen it with my own eyes, I'm amazed at how many people are in the Matrix.

The crowd was thronging, like a bunch of big black maggots; as soon as one person left, another squeezed in.

If this continues, he'll eat all the fish, and we probably won't be able to clear the area.

Lu Li thought for a moment and said, "I think I understand. You mean that the terminal initially thought too badly about human nature, assuming that with so many people crowding into an event, there might be some fighting or other behaviors."

"It doesn't take many people to fight. As long as one person discovers that this event can send people back to the transit space by attacking each other, then even if we don't want to fight, we will be forced to fight."

Sending other legions back to the transit space can disrupt their point-gaining rhythm, even if you don't get the catch they've made.

On the surface, it seems to be a lose-lose situation.

However, from the perspective of inherently evil human nature, there are special fishing rewards in this event that can enhance the strength of players. Based on the idea that others becoming stronger means I becoming weaker... sending others away is the best course of action.

Otherwise, once the fishing competition ends and everyone else has become stronger, if you're unlucky and don't get any special catches, won't you fall far behind in progress?
"The terminal's mistake was that it shouldn't have told the players in the first place that this event wouldn't endanger their lives. Otherwise, these guys wouldn't need any external provocation; they would have already blown their brains out."

Li Zheng swallowed the fish in his mouth, then took out some more and took a bite of sashimi. While chewing, he said to Lu Li, "But then again, if the terminal hadn't given that notification, the number of people participating in this event would have been at least half as many as it is now!"

After all, there are definitely quite a few players who think "life is everything".

Compared to the obvious dangers, they would rather give up the opportunity to profit from the activity than risk their own lives.

Wasn't this the same as the last 'hunt for mutants' event?
Knowing that the mutants were far stronger than the current players, almost everyone gave up on the event.

Knowing that the road ahead would lead to certain death, they still chose to move forward.

Players with this kind of awareness are ultimately a minority.

"Ok?"

Li Zheng suddenly paused in his chewing, and a look of surprise appeared in his eyes as he looked down.

Players nearing the entrance suddenly abandoned their attacks and turned to run towards the portal, wanting to return to their respective legions' transit space.

"Did they receive a notification from the legion to return and assemble?" Li Zheng wondered, speculating on the reason for this situation.

Behind him, a hint of relief appeared in Miriel's eyes.

That's good. This owner isn't completely hopeless; he still uses his brain when needed.

It would be even better if one could consider things more comprehensively when thinking.

Lu Li squinted and retorted, "I think it's more than just a legion notification, isn't it?"

In such a chaotic scene, how could a mere legion notice possibly bring people back?

Lu Li felt it was unrealistic.

It must have been those players who returned to the transit space who exposed the existence in the Lava Mountains that could instantly kill them.

Although they haven't yet discovered who that being is.

However, considering the information sent by other legion members, it's not hard to guess that the boss in the Lava Mountains is causing trouble.

Only a handful of players knew that the boss in the Lava Mountains was killed by Li Zheng before it even appeared...

"This is not okay."

Li Zheng's expression darkened slightly: "If they escape and regroup to launch another attack on this place, I might not be able to stop them."

In the lava mountains, Li Zheng is the only god here!

But his genetic power will eventually run out.

Using mental energy to stimulate cells can temporarily replenish them, but that method has too many limitations, and frequent use will have a great impact on him.

In severe cases, it can even completely render him unable to fight.

"Should we have Zhan Zhouzhou lead people in and take control of the teleportation portal?"

Li Zheng frowned and pondered for a moment, then felt that it was unlikely to be feasible.

Human strength has its limits. No matter how superhuman Zhan Zhouzhou's swordsmanship is, he can only kill a batch of players before he runs out of strength.

"Never mind, let them be."

Li Zheng considered several options and finally realized that it was almost impossible to wipe out all the players here and make them all 'freeze' for half an hour, so he had no choice but to slow down the attack frequency.

On the one hand, it can conserve genetic energy.

On the other hand, it prevents players from stopping their retreat.

Li Zheng only needs players who fight each other; otherwise, it would be better to let them escape back, thus achieving another level of clearing out the field.

(End of this chapter)