Matrix Survival: One random treasure chest per day

Chapter 623 The First Filial Son in History—Fengshan

"This... is too cruel! It's really too cruel!"

On the world channel, players who witnessed Li Zheng's live stream were dumbfounded and discussed: "They say that many ants can kill an elephant. At first, we thought Li Zheng was an elephant who would eventually be bitten to death by the 'ants' of the six legions. We never expected that he was not an elephant, but a giant dragon!"

What can an ant do, no matter how many there are, in front of a dragon?

"Right now, I just want some peace and quiet. I really doubt if Li Zheng entered the Matrix world with us. How could he be so strong?"

"Li Zheng is invincible! Li Zheng is my god!"

"I think there must have been a mistake when the terminal classified nationalities. Li is a common surname in our Great Han Republic, and Li Zheng should be a member of our Great Han Republic!"

"You've got me laughing. Li Zheng isn't even dead yet, and your thieving nature is already showing?"

Amidst the commotion outside, Li Zheng stood quietly before the corpse, observing it intently.

The corpse felt uneasy being stared at by such a tangible gaze. It cautiously opened its eyes a crack, only to find Li Zheng standing right in front of it, before quickly closing them again.

"Kim Byung-hwan, weren't you fearless?" Lee Jung sneered, "What are you doing?"

When his act of feigning death was exposed, Kim Byung-hwan awkwardly sat up and pushed the half-corpse off him: "I...I wasn't faking death, I was just tired and wanted to lie down and rest for a while."

"Heh." Li Zheng was amused by his shameless words. "I have two pieces of news to tell you, one good and one bad. Which one do you want to hear first?"

"Listen carefully!" A glimmer of hope rose in Kim Byung-hwan's eyes. He hoped the good news was that Lee Jung was willing to let him go.

"Well, the good news is, you're not the only one pretending to be dead. Someone else is sharing your embarrassment." Li Zheng said, casually waving his hand. The blood on the ground, which hadn't cooled down yet, froze into ice, splitting into countless tiny needles that flew out with a whoosh.

The blood-red ice needles seemed to have eyes, automatically locking onto certain intact 'corpses' in the pile of corpses and piercing their brows. With a slight tremor from the 'corpse,' they were ultimately just corpses.

"Now for the bad news." After killing the others who were pretending to be dead, Li Zheng grinned menacingly. "Playing dead won't save you from this fate. Not a single one of your six legions will be left alive today!"

"Can't you really make an exception?" Jin Binghuan said bitterly, "I wasn't involved in the whole Qidian Legion being hunted down!"

“Kim Byung-hwan, Kim Byung-hwan, how long have you followed Sung Chun-pu? How come you still haven’t grasped a single truth?” Lee Jung shook his head and sighed, “From the moment you began to enjoy the benefits of being a sadist, you were no longer innocent.”

Kim Byung-hwan was utterly despondent: "Then what's the point of saying anything more? Just do it."

“Our relationship isn’t exactly great, but we have met once. I’ll give you a chance to make a move against me and die with some dignity.” Li Zheng stood with his hands behind his back: “You’d better unleash your strongest attack, otherwise it will be too undignified.”

"Good!" Kim Byung-hwan's eyes changed, his fighting spirit soaring: "I learned martial arts from the master of the Fierce Tiger Dojo. After I mastered the skills, I beat up my master. I have challenged many masters in the country. They were defeated by me, but they were too proud to admit that my boxing style was only good for beating women. Today, I will show the world what this boxing style is all about!"

"Come on." Li Zheng didn't make any extra movements, putting his hands behind his back.

"Wait!" Just as Kim Byung-hwan was about to make a move, Miriel spoke up from behind Lee Jung: "I'll be your opponent."

Kim Byung-hwan was taken aback, then his face turned furious: "Lee Jung, are you humiliating me?"

"What a joke! You think you're worthy of my humiliation?" Li Zheng laughed mockingly. "Mirel wants to be your opponent; that's her own wish, and I didn't interfere."

Kim Byung-hwan gritted his teeth in fury: "Fine!"

With his feet slightly apart and his broad hands slightly clenched, Kim Byung-hwan's demeanor became like that of a fierce tiger hiding within him, ready to devour anyone who might harm him.

Snapped!
With a stomp of his foot, Kim Byung-hwan charged forward, throwing a punch at Miriel's face.

Miriel remained calm, raised her hand, and swung her long whip towards Kim Byung-hwan.

With his forward momentum slightly halted, Kim Byung-hwan abruptly changed direction, attempting to dodge the sweeping whip.

However, Miriel flipped her wrist, and the soft whip moved as if it were her own arm, changing direction mid-air and continuing to lash out.

Just before his punch was about to hit Miriel, the whip wrapped around Kim Byung-hwan.

"Nothing special." With one hand, he pulled back, tightening the whip. Kim Byung-hwan's body twisted and deformed, and finally, with a roar of unwilling anger, he exploded with a "poof," leaving only his skeleton covered in flesh and blood standing there.

Li Zheng watched the whole thing, mentally simulating Kim Byung-hwan's punches, then erased them all after a moment.

"I thought it was some amazing martial art, but it's all unnecessary and a waste of my time."

Shaking his head dismissively, without giving Kim Byung-hwan's corpse another glance, Li Zheng turned around, and with a gentle flap of his wings, he took to the air and flew away.

Miriel followed closely behind, her clothes clinging to her body and revealing her beautiful figure.

"Misaka, take your men and clean up the battlefield. Collect all the identity cards."

Of course, Li Zheng wouldn't handle the tens of thousands of identity cards himself. Since the people Misaka Tsuchiemon brought were idle, he let them go in and do some more work.

"Hey!" Misaka Tsuchimon blurted out a Japanese phrase without thinking, then raised his hand and slapped himself hard across the face: "Damn it, I've lived in Japan for over twenty years, and this stupid habit is really hard to break."

Li Zheng looked at him strangely: "Aren't you just a typical mud-covered person?"

A strange light flashed in Misaka Tsuchimon's eyes: "I only have blood from that place, but I don't approve of that country from the bottom of my heart. Especially after I came into contact with some real history and learned about the shameless things that country did, I am even more ashamed!"

Li Zheng's expression shifted: "You can't say things like that carelessly. You should take them and get back to work."

"It's nothing, we'll just chat privately for a bit." Misaka Tsuchiemon turned around and called over a tall man: "Cao Cao, could you please take the brothers and clean up the battlefield? Thank you for your hard work."

"It's alright, just you wait and see!" Cao Cao said in a perfect Beijing accent.

Li Zheng was surprised: "You have Chinese people in your army?"

"Haha!" Cao Cao laughed twice, took off his mask and hat, revealing brown hair, blue eyes, and pale skin: "Didn't expect that, did you? I'm a foreigner!"

Li Zheng was greatly surprised: "Wow, that accent is so pure, I couldn't even tell the difference even with your face covered. Are you a mixed-race person who grew up in China?"

"No, that's not it." Cao Cao waved his hand. "I'll take the brothers to get busy first. If you're interested, I'll talk to you in detail later."

Cao Cao led his men to clean up the battlefield, rummaging through the piles of corpses to retrieve the identity cards, wiping them clean of blood, and carefully putting them away.

Li Zheng looked at the group of people and asked Misaka, "Where did you find these experts?"

“There are plenty of people around the world who are obsessed with Chinese culture, as well as some madmen who complain about their country’s actions. Since the day I signed the agreement with you, Major Liu has provided me with a lot of space-time travel devices, which makes it easier for me to travel between different channels.” Misaka Tsuchiemon told Li Zheng about his experiences during this period and how he had won over the current legion.

If we're talking about who has visited the most channels in the Matrix, Misaka Tsuchimuro can confidently say: "Who else but me?"

With Liu Qishao's help, he had visited at least a hundred different channels. In each channel, he would observe the chat information and find players who might share his interests, then chat with them privately one by one.

Those who joined would recommend a few friends or acquaintances, and gradually, the prototype of a small legion was born.

“You might not believe it, but Misaka Tsuchimon pointed to two figures in the distance and said, “Those two, yes, the two shorter ones, they were actually members I recruited from Genesis during the fishing tournament last time. They’ll have to remember this favor for the rest of their lives. If I hadn’t recruited them back then, there would be two more corpses piled up here today.”

Looking at the two men, Li Zheng had a vague recollection of them. He had indeed seen Misaka Tsuchimuro at the fishing competition. At the time, he was lurking around in a corner with two other people, apparently trying to poach talent.

"I never expected you could poach people from Genesis."

Misaka Tsuchimon gently shook his head: "There's nothing strange about it. If you knew where they were from, you would understand."

"Oh?" Li Zheng turned to look at Misaka Tsuchimon: "It's not Fubuki Island, is it?"

“It’s Radiation Island.” Misaka Tsuchimon said in a low voice, “When that nuclear leak happened, they were working out of town. When they heard the news and rushed back, they found that their family members had been ravaged by radiation and were no longer human.” “I don’t know if you’ve heard of it, but there’s a laboratory in Japan that specializes in studying the series of changes that occur in the human body after radiation.”

"To be honest, at first I didn't believe that the Dutch would do such an inhumane thing. People who have been exposed to nuclear radiation are already suffering a lot. Instead of trying to treat the victims, they are using them for experiments. People are all made of flesh and blood. How could they do such a dehumanizing thing?"

"But later, I heard from my dad that there really was a secret laboratory in Muddy Country, and it was built near Radiation Island!"

Misaka Tsuchimon said meaningfully, "Laboratory, nuclear power plant, nuclear leak, radiation experiment—if you think about these keywords together carefully, isn't it quite subtle?"

Upon hearing this, Li Zheng turned off the live stream: "You mean... that nuclear leak might not have been an accident?"

"Who knows?" Misaka Tsuchimon said ambiguously, "At least it is an undeniable fact that they took advantage of the victims to conduct human experiments. It was from that day that I realized that some people have no heart. Perhaps many things in history have really been distorted."

"Later, I investigated the doubts in the history of the Muddy Kingdom through various channels, and my worldview was completely shattered."

"Few countries in the world would do something so shameless as to enshrine war criminals in shrines, yet they take it for granted and even call them heroes."

"How disgusting!"

Misaka Tsuchiemon felt disgusted. Recalling the information he had found, he felt nauseous when compared to what Muddy Country had done.

"On the contrary, while verifying that information, I began to delve deeper into Chinese culture, and then I became fascinated..." Misaka Tsuchiemon seemed a little embarrassed as she said this: "Um, I've always wanted to ask you Chinese a question."

Li Zheng: "Go ahead and ask."

Misaka Tsuchimon took a deep breath: "Are Nuwa and Fuxi really siblings? Why are there so many versions of the myths and legends I've found? One version says that Nuwa created humans from clay, while another version says that Nuwa and Fuxi gave birth to humans together..."

Li Zheng: "???"

Good heavens, I thought you were going to ask some profound questions, but instead you suddenly started talking to me about myths and legends, what the heck?

"And another thing, in Journey to the West, does Erlang Shen have seventy-two transformations or seventy-three transformations? Some people say that one of his transformations was eaten by Sun Wukong, so he can't transform anymore. Is that true?" Misaka Tsuchiemon seemed to have turned on some strange switch. He said he would ask one question, but he kept asking several questions in a row, and none of them were serious questions.

Li Zheng rolled his eyes: "I don't know either. I didn't write those things you're talking about. How about I introduce you to someone and you can try to find him?"

"Who?"

“A web novel author, whose pen name is Yue Luo Hong Ying,” Li Zheng said in a serious tone.

"..." Misaka Tsuchiemon was silent for a few seconds: "Boss, you're joking, right?"

Looking for answers from online novel authors?
Did I make a mistake?
Li Zheng said angrily, "You were the one who joked with me first."

What the hell is wrong with your brain? Why are you curious about this kind of thing? It's all mythology!
What are myths and legends?
Isn't it just like online novels, all fictional stories?

Just like the millions of gods in your Muddy Kingdom's legends, they're all made up from folk tales!

Different people use similar themes to create different stories, and when these stories are passed down to the modern era, several versions inevitably appear.

By the way, if your Muddy Country really had a million gods, they would have sunk that tiny island by now!

“Yeah! I also think a million gods is too exaggerated!” Misaka Tsuchiemon nodded in deep agreement.

Li Zheng sighed, thinking that the kid's thought process had gone astray after taking a turn, and there was no way to bring him back to the right track.

For a moment, he had no desire to continue communicating with Misaka Tsuchimuro.

Fortunately, Fengshan finally woke up at this moment, and the first thing he said when he opened his eyes was: "Yan Guang, get out of the way!"

Then, he seemed to realize something, and his expression slowly changed from anxious to dejected, exuding an air of dejection.

Li Zheng looked at Feng Shan, wanting to say a few words of comfort, but he didn't know where to begin.

He could understand Fengshan's feelings. Yan Guang was not only Fengshan's girlfriend, but also a friend of Li Zheng and others.

Not long ago, we were chatting and joking in a group chat, but now we're separated by death.

The image of that wild girl who had pulled Fengshan in public and said, "Come on, come inside with me!" seemed to still be in their minds. But when they wanted to say a few words to Yan Guang as before, they realized that she was really gone.

I felt a sense of loss and emptiness, wanting to change something, yet feeling so powerless.

“Son, I know you’re not feeling well.” Feng Qiwu didn’t want Feng Shan to continue to sink into despair, so she tried to persuade him, “But you have to pull yourself together. Yan Guang risked her life to save you. If she knew this in the afterlife, she wouldn’t be happy either.”

“I understand all these principles,” Feng Shan said in a hoarse voice. “You don’t need to persuade me.”

“Father Feng, Xiao Feng is just feeling down. He should be able to get through this on his own after a while,” Li Zheng said. “Feng Shan is stronger than most people. I believe he won’t give up like this.”

“This…” Feng Qiwu sighed again, and said with a sigh, “It’s a pity we’re in a lousy place like the Matrix. If we hadn’t come to this godforsaken place and something had happened to my daughter-in-law Yan Guang, I would have found an expert to clone her using her cells, even if it meant breaking the law!”

Li Zheng, who was looking at Feng Shan, suddenly turned to Feng Qiwu upon hearing this: "What did you just say? Cloning?"

“Yes.” Feng Qiwu didn’t know why Li Zheng’s reaction was so strong. He thought Li Zheng was questioning whether he could do it. He said proudly, “Don’t look at me as just an ordinary old man. Back in the day, I was a big shot in the army. I held a high position.”

"If it weren't for Fengshan's mother disliking me always staying in the army, and only seeing me a few times a year, I wouldn't have been discharged and gone home."

With Feng Qiwu's connections, it's not impossible to create a person using cloning technology at any cost, but the obstacles are enormous.

Li Zheng didn't hear what Feng Qiwu said next and was stunned for a moment: "Can the dead be resurrected through cloning technology...?"

"Theoretically, it is possible."

Misaka Tsuchimon suddenly spoke up: "As long as the target being cloned does not die of natural causes, the cells in the body will not die immediately. As long as the active cells are extracted before that, there is a chance to clone a person."

However, the cloned person has no memory, it's a blank slate, essentially a completely new individual.

Upon hearing this, Li Zheng turned to look at him: "Is it really feasible? Has there ever been a precedent in the world?"

“Uh…” Misaka Tsuchimon hesitated awkwardly for a few seconds: “So it’s theoretically feasible, because currently no country in the world has such technology. All successful cloning examples are limited to cells taken from living bodies. As for whether the dead can be ‘resurrected’ through this method, it is still unknown.”

“If it’s just a lack of technological means, perhaps…” Li Zheng grabbed Feng Shan’s shoulder and asked urgently, “Where is Yan Guang’s body?”

“In…in my capsule residence.” Fengshan answered mechanically, caught off guard.

"Great!" Li Zheng urged, "Quick! Give me her body, maybe it will work!"

"You...you mean?" Feng Shan finally realized what Li Zheng meant, his expression becoming agitated: "You have a way to clone Yan Guang?"

"I don't know if it will work, but this is the only hope, the hope that you can see Yan Guang again!" Li Zheng didn't dare to make a guarantee, after all, Yan Guang had been dead for several days, and no one knew if there were still any cells in her body that were still active.

He had no idea whether the dead could actually be resurrected through cloning technology.

But since there is hope, we can only try it first, and leave the outcome to fate.

“If…if it can be successful…” Fengshan released a transparent coffin from the capsule residence, and Yan Guang’s body was placed inside, quiet as if he were just sleeping.

He stroked the coffin, his eyes filled with deep affection as he looked at Yan Guang: "Old Li, if you can really bring her back to life, from now on, I will call you Dad, just like Lu Li! You will be my real father!"

"???" Feng Qiwu was furious and kicked Feng Shan from behind, knocking him to the ground: "Fuck your mother, I'm your real father!"

(End of this chapter)