Matrix Survival: One random treasure chest per day

Chapter 488 Excellent people are naturally attracted to each other, just like me and all of you readers!
This is so damn bad, there's nothing left to complain about.

I thought it would be emptied out, but instead it was filled up.

That's outrageous.

"Didn't your previous owners ever think of dismantling you?" Li Zheng frowned. How stupid must the players who obtained the Bloodthirsty Demon Blade have been?

Why isn't this simple, convenient, and effective threat method being used?
"Well...maybe." The Bloodthirsty Demon Blade changed the subject, "Perhaps they aren't as clever as you, Master."

is it?

Li Zheng looked suspicious and subconsciously sensed something was wrong. So many lingering thoughts, at least tens of thousands of lives, hadn't a single smart one emerged from them?

Li Zheng did not agree with this statement.

"You know I don't like being toyed with, even if you're just a knife." Li Zheng's voice turned cold.

'Why does Master care about these things?' The Bloodthirsty Demon Blade feigned ignorance: 'Master, as long as you know that Blade won't harm you, you'll be awake.'

'Besides, Dao Dao has killed so many powerful enemies for its master; hasn't it done its utmost?'

They're even playing the emotional card.

But its appearance only fueled Li Zheng's suspicions: "Could it be... that the outer city doesn't have a decomposition function?"

'！！！！'

The Bloodthirsty Demon Blade trembled almost imperceptibly, then instantly regained its composure: 'This… Blade doesn't know.'

The demonic blade's instantaneous transformation did not escape Li Zheng's eyes, and his expression immediately became subtle.

It seems I guessed right. The outer city no longer has the decomposition function, so the reason why the Bloodthirsty Demon Blade acted cowardly in my hands was actually because it was planning to turn against me once it reached the outer city.
As the saying goes, where there is oppression, there is resistance.

Within the matrix, the Bloodthirsty Demon Blade oppressed him, attempting to possess his body, but he successfully resisted, reversing his status and taking control.

Although the Bloodthirsty Demon Blade has not been mistreated in my hands, I have actually helped it regain some of its former power.

But can you really expect a spoiled brat to change his ways in just a few days?
That's too simplistic!
So the Bloodthirsty Demon Blade's current docile demeanor is all an act; he's just waiting to turn on me once I get to the outer city!

Li Zheng's expression remained unchanged. Instead, he nodded knowingly and said, "That's right. If it weren't for you, I wouldn't have been able to deal with those mutants and this pseudo-king-level life form."

"In that case, thank you for your hard work."

Li Zheng's unusual words of gratitude caught the Bloodthirsty Demon Blade off guard. After stammering for a while, he finally managed to say, "Actually, it wasn't that hard..."

At that moment, it felt that this owner was much better than the previous ones.

A pang of pity appeared in its mind. Once they reached the outer city, it would make his death less painful, as a way of repaying the kindness he had shown it.

"By the way, there's something I've always wanted to ask you." Li Zheng asked with a puzzled look, as if he had suddenly remembered something: "How were you put into the box in the first place?"

'box?'

The thoughts transmitted by the Bloodthirsty Demon Blade showed a clear hint of surprise: 'You mean, what trapped me back then was actually a box?'

Good heavens, even the terms "master" and "Dao Dao" (the knife) are gone.

That reveals one's true nature.

Li Zheng pretended not to notice the change in his expression, nodded matter-of-factly, and then asked, "What? You didn't know?"

"I don't know. I was in a daze, and when I woke up, I was in a dark, cramped place. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't break through the walls." The Bloodthirsty Demon Blade, unsuspecting, recounted its past: "Later, as time went on, my power diminished, and I almost lost my consciousness. Luckily, my master appeared in time and released the blade."

'So, the master is Dao Dao's savior, how could Dao Dao harm the master?'

Such innocent words might have been believed by someone else.

Unfortunately, Li Zheng was already wary of it, and only listened to half of what it said.

"As long as you follow me closely, you'll have plenty of Twisted Magic Crystals from now on, and I guarantee you'll recover to your peak strength as soon as possible," Li Zheng assured him, patting his chest.

"Really?!" The Bloodthirsty Demon Blade trembled with excitement. "Then I thank you in advance, Master!"

whispering sound!
Once we reach the outer city, won't the sea be wide enough for fish to leap and the sky for birds to fly freely?

By then, I won't be able to get any Twisted Magic Crystals myself, so why would I need you?
"No need to thank me, I'll be relying on you to put in more effort in battles in the future," Li Zheng said with a smile.

"That's what Dao Dao should do!" the Bloodthirsty Demon Blade declared emphatically.

"That's good. By the way!" Li Zheng then asked it, "The Heaven and Earth One Slash requires a lot of energy as a supply, so why didn't you draw my life force with that slash in the first place?"

In the battle against the humpback whale, the Bloodthirsty Demon Blade launched two attacks.

The first attack was clearly much more powerful than the second.

But that time, it did not absorb its own life force.

Why did it take the second cut to hollow himself out?

"That's because the energy used in the first strike was accumulated from absorbing the Twisted Magic Crystal." The Bloodthirsty Demon Blade, perhaps believing Li Zheng was near death, explained without reservation: "After all, that energy wasn't enough for each strike to reach the critical point of regaining its strength, so it was drawn out and used first."

"Oh?"

Li Zheng's heart skipped a beat: "Did the time rewind just now affect the energy you used?"

'No. '

Bloodthirsty Demon Blade: 'Once it's used, it's used. The rewind mentioned by the master should only affect you players; it has no effect on external things.'

This means that if Li Zheng were to use the "Heaven and Earth One Slash" again, he would not have two chances to strike.

"Master should be grateful that the rewind just now helped clear away the lingering resentment, otherwise, if he couldn't withstand the interference of the lingering resentment, the consequences would be very serious!" Thirsty Blood Demon Blade gave a special reminder.

It felt a little regretful, not expecting the backtracking effect provided by the terminal to be so powerful, even clearing away lingering resentment completely.

Otherwise, I wouldn't have needed to wait until I got to the outer city; I could have killed Li Zheng right now!
Upon hearing this, Li Zheng recalled the state he had been in when attacked by the lingering resentment not long ago, and his face turned even paler.

It was an attack targeting the spiritual level. Each lingering thought was an individual entity, chaotic yet sharing the same goal.

That would tear Li Zheng's 'soul' apart.

As countless lingering thoughts assailed him, Li Zheng felt as if his soul was being devoured and torn apart by countless ants, as if they were trying to pull and cut his consciousness into countless pieces.

He had a gut feeling that if he hadn't used that move during the event, he might not have been able to withstand that attack.

Once unable to resist, the 'soul' is torn apart, and one's consciousness instantly falls into chaos, turning into an unconscious walking corpse.

Li Zheng couldn't tell whether his death was due to exhaustion of his vital energy or to being torn apart by countless spirits on a spiritual level.

However, because of this, Li Zheng found that he could use the "Heaven and Earth One Slash" skill with peace of mind during the event, without any worries.

The only downside is that there is a 30-minute cooldown period after each use.

At this time, under the organization of Xiao Siyuan and others, the members of the starting point transferred from the lava mountains to the endless ocean through the transit space.

During this time, some people who were familiar with Li Zheng, such as Wang Chaoran and Chen Xiangrong, would raise their hands to signal to him.

At these times, Li Zheng would nod slightly in response, just like a veteran cadre.

The transfer process lasted about seven minutes, after which the transfer area fell silent again.

Zhan Zhouzhou brought Miriel and the other pets to the transfer space. From a distance, she couldn't help but complain, "Your pets are too outrageous! It's only been a short time, and they're already rehydrating."

"Replenishing water is one thing, but the amount needed at once is astonishing. In less than ten minutes, it used up all two hundred liters of water that we had collectively saved!" Faced with Zhan Zhouzhou's questioning, Li Zheng remained silent for a long time before slowly saying, "Why... why didn't you bring them to the transfer space?"

"Uh……"

Zhan Zhouzhou was stunned, and it took her a while to react: "You're right!"

Since the transit space doesn't have the same high temperature as the lava mountains, Red Poli doesn't need to replenish water as frequently.

"Wait a minute, if you knew that, why did you leave them in my care in the first place?" Zhan Zhouzhou's reaction finally got to the point: "Why didn't you just leave them here when you went to the Endless Ocean?"

"..."

Li Zheng was suddenly embarrassed because he hadn't expected this move at first.

Zhan Zhouzhou glanced at his expression and understood what was going on. She took out a small, fist-sized, bright red octopus from the capsule and said, "We were lucky just now. One of our friends caught a special catch. See if this will work for you."

Special catch?

It wasn't long between your journey to the Endless Ocean and your transfer to the starting point, was it?
And aren't all the people at the starting point gathered at the entrance?

How do you still have time to go fishing?

Take it and take a look.

Hey!
The stats are pretty good!

Deep Red Octopus
5 level

Special catches
Effect: Can slightly enhance the environmental adaptability of fire-type genes, increasing their power in any environment.

Note: This item is only valid during fishing competitions.

"It works well. You said you caught it by fishing?" Li Zheng asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Hmm… how should I put it…” Zhan Zhouzhou pointed to the deep red octopus and said, “Take a close look at the belly of the octopus.”

"fish maw?"

Li Zheng turned the octopus over a few times and found a tiny pinhole on its round belly. He was immediately shocked: "This is!!!"

"Yes, it was caught by Fengshan."

When Zhan Zhouzhou talked about this, he had to admit he was impressed: "Just now, Lao Xiao went over to tell us that we needed to move. Feng Shan happened to be passing by a volcano, so he took out his fishing rod, cast it in, and cast a line."

"The fishhook was pulled up in the lava in less than a second, who knew it would hit something like this."

Upon hearing this, Li Zheng imagined the scene: a certain idiot inexplicably cast his fishing rod into the 'ditch' and ended up catching a fish?
That's roughly the scene.

The onlookers must have been stunned...

"Fengshan's luck... sometimes it's just unbelievable!"

Li Zheng's feelings at this moment were indescribable. He was extremely envious of Feng Shan's lucky physique, which always seemed to bring unexpected surprises.

In some ways, it's more like a cheat code than a treasure chest system; it's absolutely outrageous.

"Doesn't he also have fire-type gene abilities? Why didn't he keep them for himself, but instead had you give them to me?" Li Zheng remembered that Feng Shan had a fire-type burst ability.

Although the effect of 'burst' looks more like a genetic ability that enhances one's own physique, its essence is still fire-type, as can be seen from the effect of the Crimson Octopus.

"He said his overall strength is not as good as yours, so it's more suitable for you to use him than for him," Zhan Zhouzhou explained on behalf of Feng Shan.

This kid actually has such a broad perspective?

I can't tell...

Li Zheng was truly impressed by Feng Shan today: "Where is he?"

"He went to find his wife, didn't he?" Zhan Zhouzhou rolled her eyes. "You transferred his wife away. As Yan Guang's girlfriend, shouldn't he be worried?"

"Oh, right! That kid's in trouble." Zhan Zhouzhou suddenly revealed a gloating expression, suppressing a laugh as she said, "Not long after you transferred Yan Guang away, another little girl came from Kunlun. She's quite pretty... I mean, prettier than Yan Guang."

"And then?" Li Zheng had already realized something; he had heard a little about Yu Xiaoyu's situation.

"Then?"

Zhan Zhouzhou couldn't help but chuckle, seemingly lost in thought: "I reckon someone's about to go through a hellish ordeal."

"When Fengshan saw Yu Xiaoyu, he looked like he had seen a ghost. He was so scared that he almost jumped into the lava to hide."

This scene sounds so familiar, doesn't it?
Li Zheng stroked his smooth chin. Feng Shan's reaction was exactly the same when Yan Guang had been pursuing him relentlessly...

This guy reacts this way to any girl who likes him. Is it some kind of special flirting technique, or is he just instinctively trying to avoid her?

"It's not quite a battleground. Yu Xiaoyu, Yan Guang, and Feng Shan explored together for a few days before, and they all know the relationship between them."

Although Li Zheng does not advocate polygamy, if all three parties tacitly agree to this relationship, then it is their own family matter and outsiders have no right to interfere.

Li Zheng had heard his landlord tell him a true story before.

In a small county town near Nanjing, two girls both fell in love with the same guy. Ironically, the guy also fell for both girls at the same time.

After some back-and-forth probing, the three of them understood their own dilemmas and calmed down for a while.

Until one day, the three of them got together and discussed it.

Got it!
Let the three of us live together!

But since it was a small county town, they were afraid of gossip, so they agreed to leave their hometown and go to Nanjing to work.

At first, none of the three had any savings and could only afford to rent a place to live in Nanjing.

That's right... the landlord of the three people renting the room is the same person as Li Zheng's landlord.

Then, things took a magical turn.

The three men were all chefs. The man had studied cooking before and loved to experiment. He was a skilled cook and worked in the kitchen of a star-rated hotel.

The two girls were both good-looking and worked at the front desk and lobby of the same hotel branch.

After several years of hard work, the three of them saved up nearly 500,000 yuan and opened a restaurant together.

Because of the training sessions at a five-star hotel, the restaurant quickly gained popularity and a good reputation.

I heard that in less than six months, the initial investment in opening the store was fully recovered, and there was even some money left over.

Later, business got better and better, and more and more branches were opened.

In less than ten years, they opened eight more branches in Nanjing!
When Li Zheng heard this story, he even went out of his way to eat at that restaurant, and luckily, he happened to meet the owner. The owner and his wife were living happily together and had even had several children.

But Li Zheng heard that the three of them didn't have a wedding or get a marriage certificate, and the child's household registration...DDDD.

The biggest takeaway for Li Zheng from this incident is that outstanding people are naturally attracted to each other.

The reason I've been single since birth is absolutely because the girl who's good enough for me hasn't been born yet!
……

P.S. I've been busy moving back to my hometown lately, so updates might be a bit disrupted. I'll also need to adjust to the different lifestyle once I'm back...

Ugh……

(End of this chapter)