Matrix Survival: One random treasure chest per day

Chapter 642 The Realm of Sin (Part 2)
“Now I understand what rule number four means.” Li Zheng said to Miriel, “Are you in good shape? Should I release the capsule so you can get used to it? I’ll be right back.”

After hearing this, Miriel thought about it carefully and said, "I... I'll stay here so as not to hold you back."

She's barely capable of fighting right now, and if she forces herself to follow Li Zheng, she'll only become a burden.

"Okay, then wait for me here." Li Zheng released the capsule residence and instructed, "Don't open the door for anyone until I get back."

“I’m not a child, I know what I’m doing.” Miriel opened the door, turned around and said with the earnestness of a young wife instructing her husband who was about to leave on a long journey: “Be careful on your way.”

"I will." Li Zheng lifted her cloak, kissed her hard, and whispered in her ear, "Wait for me to come back."

"Um, you...you should go now." Miriel's breathing became heavy from his kiss, her eyes glazed over. "I can't hold on much longer."

"Bye-Bye."

Li Zheng quickly draped the cloak back over Miriel, waved goodbye, and left.

Watching Li Zheng leave until he was out of sight, Miriel entered her capsule residence, struggling to resist the desires aroused by her surroundings and trying to temper her will.

She is not young and has a strong will, but she has been too indulgent lately, which has led to her becoming lax.

Today, stimulated by the environment of the Sinful Domain, I realized that my willpower had fallen to such a low level, and I secretly resolved to temper it back.

Otherwise, Li Zheng wouldn't have been able to leave just now; she wouldn't have let him go for at least another three hours.

"Hey..."

Miriel sat on the edge of the bed, feeling that the air was filled with Li Zheng's scent. Unable to control herself, she rubbed her legs together and let out soft moans.

……

"Those two guys were caught off guard the moment their minds were clouded by evil thoughts. The rate of infection and transformation was much faster than in the outer city. It must be due to the environment."

Li Zheng looked at the gathering point that was nearby and followed the path provided by the Eye of Preys. He quickly found the two infected people among a group of buildings.

A mere momentary lapse in concentration can allow evil energy to invade and transform one into an infected being. Given this speed, it's understandable that the Optimist Clan wouldn't purify the magic crystals here.

Every member of the Optimistic Clan is a treasure and must be cherished and cared for by the outer city. If even a few are infected by some accident, it will be a huge loss and will slow down the speed at which the outer city residents absorb magic crystal energy.

It's important to understand that the entire population of the Optimus Tribe is just a drop in the ocean compared to the total number of residents in the outer city. There's no comparison. Even if the current number of Optimus Tribe members were increased tenfold, it still wouldn't be enough to meet the needs of the outer city.

“Every rule is based on lessons learned through blood and tears, which means that similar things have happened before, and the losses were very heavy.” Li Zheng quietly followed behind the two infected people, trying his best to conceal his presence and not making any rash moves.

Since being infected, the environment of the Sin Domain has been unable to affect the infected, allowing them to move freely and easily, comparable to Li Zheng's current state.

The road was deserted, and no sound came from the various buildings along the roadside, but Li Zheng could sense a powerful aura emanating from them.

These residents possessed unparalleled spiritual strength, surpassing even Miriel in terms of physical qualities.

"No wonder Miriel couldn't walk more than a few steps, but they were able to settle down here."

Presumably, the people here have absorbed a lot of magic crystal energy, and each of them is quite powerful.

"Perhaps Miriel's breakthrough came too early. We should have waited until she absorbed some magic crystal energy and further purified her mental power before condensing the node. Only then could we have laid a solid foundation."

Li Zheng followed the two infected individuals, thinking as he went.

Judging from the behavior of the residents of the outer city, Li Zheng believes that after he announces the method of spiritual energy condensation nodes, the entire outer city will experience a significant improvement.

The players on Water Blue Star are less experienced and have a harder time competing with them. They might not be able to hold onto Block 4 and will be overtaken by others, eventually being relegated to a remote block.

"However, announcing the node aggregation method will greatly contribute to the outer city. Perhaps by then, the ranking of Water Blue Star will rise instead of fall, and it may firmly occupy the dominant position of the first block."

As for whether they can hold out, that's not Li Zheng's concern; it depends on whether the players on Water Blue Star can prove themselves.

He is like the first generation of wealthy people, who started from scratch and left a rich fortune to those who came after him. Whether the second and third generations of wealthy people can maintain it depends on their performance.

"what?"

Li Zheng paused, and the two infected ahead seemed to have noticed him. They quickened their pace, disappeared into the gaps in the building, and vanished in the blink of an eye.

"What are these two trying to do? Aren't infected people supposed to be confused and only act on instinct?"

His spiritual power was released, transforming into a vast net that instantly enveloped a five-kilometer radius around Li Zheng.

Within this five-kilometer radius, every detail is clearly visible, even the dents on the surface of distant towers can be seen clearly.

From a mental perspective, the two infected sneaked up to a wooden house, paused for a few seconds, and then one of them went up and knocked on the door.

Before long, the door of the wooden house was opened halfway, and a face cautiously peeked out from inside, covered by a hood, making it impossible to tell which race it belonged to.

After a few words of negotiation, one of the infected suddenly removed the disguise from his body, revealing his true form.

Whether it was due to a mutation in their bodies after being infected, or whether this is how this race naturally looks, their appearance is extremely bizarre.

This person has a horse's face, with half a sheep's horn and half a cow's horn on his head. One side is bald, while the other side is covered with thick hair. The sides of the two half-horns are covered with various styles of animal ears, roughly counting no less than fifty!

His eyes were also strange; he had three eyes, arranged in a triangular pattern on his forehead.

The three eyes are of different sizes, and the pupils are strangely arranged in concentric rings, like the growth rings of a tree after it has been cut down.

In addition, their ears, noses, mouths, and beards all exhibit characteristics of different races.

Moreover, each of their facial features is asymmetrical, and the left side of their face is missing a piece, deeply sunken.

In Li Zheng's opinion, such a face was as ugly as could be.

Strangely, the owner of the cabin was instantly disarmed by its appearance and, in a daze, let the two infected inside.

"The evil aura has intensified even further." Li Zheng frowned slightly as he witnessed all of this. "Are these two infected beings seeking out those with weaker willpower to spread the infection?"

Even without the Eye of Preys, Li Zheng could tell that the cabin owner was normal at first. Only after the infected person removed his cloak and revealed his true face did he seem to be bewitched and let the two people into the cabin.

Li Zheng quietly crept up to the vicinity of the wooden house and lay in ambush.

Before long, the door of the wooden house was opened, and dozens of hands and feet of different races stretched out from the doorway.

Once he was completely outside, Li Zhengcai saw that all those densely packed hands and feet were actually growing on one person's body. When he looked at them with his naked eyes, he found that what he saw with his naked eyes was completely different from what he observed with his mental power.

To his naked eye, the infected creature looked exactly like Zhan Zhouzhou!
Those countless superfluous organs seemed to exist as if they didn't exist at all!
“I see. The first three rules must be countermeasures against the environment of the Sin Domain.” Li Zheng closed his eyes, locked onto the other party with his mental power, and secretly speculated: “'Observation' and 'appearance' will amplify the influence of the rules of the color domain on people. Only by completely concealing the voice and appearance, eliminating all fantasies caused by observing other people’s appearance, can the influence of the environment be minimized.”

"The reason why these two infected individuals mutated so many limbs and organs is to satisfy the aesthetics of different races, thereby amplifying the influence of the color gamut to the most ideal state."

"But... why is it Zhan Zhouzhou I see?"

It would be reasonable for me to have seen Miriel, right?
However, Li Zheng had no time to think about it. The number of infected people over there had increased from two to three, and the evil aura surging around them had become much stronger. Obviously, the more infected people there were, the stronger each individual became.

With this boost, the infected seemed to have gained confidence and no longer intended to seek out weaker targets as before. Instead, they went directly to the building next door and knocked on the door.

We can't let them continue to infect, otherwise the entire cluster might fall!

Li Zheng shouted angrily, "An infected person has appeared in the cluster area! Everyone stay indoors!"

The sound, carried by spiritual power, penetrated the buildings and reached everyone's ears.

The warning instantly triggered a response from the surrounding area, with dozens of buildings opening their doors a crack as people peered out to check the situation.

These were all individuals confident in their abilities, each possessing considerable strength. Upon first glance, they were astonished that the three infected creatures had withstood the invasion of evil energy.

However, the next moment, everyone shrank back into their dwellings, the doors were tightly shut, their expressions changed drastically, and they struggled to resist the evil spirit that was clinging to their spirits like a leech.

The evil energy, amplified by the environment, became incredibly ferocious and could not be expelled in a short time.

The three infected creatures noticed Li Zheng's presence and pounced on him without warning. Saliva dripped from their large mouths, filled with sharp teeth, and emitted a strange, fishy stench, like the smell of seafood left out for too long.

"The speed... is a bit slow?" Li Zheng found it strange. The residents of the outer city who could enter the Sin Domain not only had strong mental strength, but also excellent physical fitness.

After becoming infected, he seemed to be affected, and his speed and strength were far less than he had imagined, at most only at the Star-level, close to the King level.

Faced with such weak infected, Li Zheng didn't even bother to take out his weapon. Using the palm techniques and movement skills he had learned from the bear-men and rat-men, he crushed the three infected in just a few rounds.

"So weak."

Li Zheng shook his head in disappointment: "Aside from influencing the target with negative emotions, it has almost no lethality. I didn't even have to exert any force before you all fell down."

He thought he could finally warm up, but it turned out that the intensity of the battle was so low that he didn't even have time to loosen up his muscles before it was over.

"I wonder if these infected creatures possess magic crystals?"

Li Zheng crouched down to examine it, but found nothing similar. Instead, he obtained two inscription cards.

"Only two?"

He looked at the inscription card in his hand, lost in thought.

The fact that there are only two Inscription Cards among the three infected individuals suggests that one of them is either a pet or a follower, or not a resident of the outer city, but rather comes from the wilderness.

Li Zheng searched again but found no more clues or anything resembling a follower's identification, so he gave up.

He used his mental energy to cleanse the area around the corpse, erasing all the remaining evil energy. Then, he extended a bright flame from his fingertip and placed it on the rotting flesh to begin burning it.

The grease remaining inside the body gradually became an accelerant, and the fire slowly grew larger, filling the air with a burnt smell.

Just then, Li Zheng sensed several even more powerful auras rapidly approaching from all directions.

He turned his head and looked around, checking each person carefully; they were all normal people and had not been infected.

There were five people in total, all dressed in camouflage clothing, making it impossible to see their faces or distinguish their races. Unlike the others, they each wore an exquisite badge on their chest.

Upon looking up, the Eye of Preys quickly provided information:

Even when setting up settlements in chaotic areas, it still requires people to maintain order.

Although they lack terminal certification, these individuals' authority in the area is already recognized by every resident who comes here. The badges they wear on their chests serve no special purpose; they are merely symbols of identification.

If you have been treated unfairly in the Sinful Realm, you can seek their help to seek justice.

[This assumes you can find them alive.]

In addition to this information, the Eye of Preers also exposed all the information about the five people's identities and strengths, presenting everything from their races to their strength ratings to Li Zheng.

If it weren't for the fact that Old Pu didn't have any strange or unusual hobbies, perhaps even the color of what these people wore in their underwear would have been exposed.

Now, as Li Zheng's strength increases, especially after Xu poured all his vast spiritual power into him, Lao Pu's ability to detect information has been greatly enhanced.

Not long ago, Li Zheng had Lao Pu investigate the essence of the matrix, which led to the discovery that the matrix was actually a man-made object.

Even though it hadn't been long, the appearance of the terminal still made him think of these things...

The last time Li Zheng failed to gather information about Yakumo, Yoran, the doctor, and others, he asked the Eye of Preers, who replied that Li Zheng's strength had just increased and the Eye had not yet adapted.

When I met the blacksmith ten days ago, he was once again vague and unclear.

Old Pu finally laid his cards on the table: "[Some people are far more cunning than you think. If I try to forcefully probe their information, there's a high chance they'll discover it. So it's not that I, Old Pu, can't do it, it's that I shouldn't!]"

At this moment, all the information about the five people Li was facing had been discovered, indicating that their overall strength was inferior to that of Yakumo and his group.

They can probably only rank within the top 1,000 in each block.

Having such strength is enough to make them stand out from the crowd, after all, unless it is a ghost town, the population of a block is at least in the trillions.

To break into the top 1,000 with such a large pool of applicants is already quite an achievement.

Li Zheng believed he could escape unscathed from the top 100, or even the top 50, thanks to the mental energy left to him by Xu.

Without such powerful mental strength as a backing, anyone ranked in the top 100 million in the neighborhood could easily manipulate him.

After observing the burning corpse for a while, one of them took out a device about the size of a handheld computer, examined the area for a moment, and after receiving feedback, exclaimed in surprise, "The evil thoughts have all disappeared!"

He then pointed the device at the corpse: "If it weren't for the traces of evil thoughts remaining in the corpse, I would have almost thought that three normal residents had just died."

Upon hearing this, the other four were also shocked and looked at Li Zheng: "How did you do that?"

Li Zheng then realized that he might have gone a bit too far.

After killing the infected, he noticed some lingering evil energy around him and, fearing something might happen, he deliberately took action to eliminate it.

Among the five who arrived, one was an optimist, the weakest of them all. He had been carried here by someone carrying him under their arm, clearly indicating that he didn't even have a flying device.

The purpose of bringing him here was simple: to deal with the evil aura left behind after the infected were killed.

In this respect, they, the optimists, are experts.

Li Zheng hesitated for two seconds: "My name is Le Jia. I am a half-breed of the Le Tian clan. This is my first time in the Sin Domain. I happened to run into these infected creatures and killed them while I was at it."

Optimists.

Mixed-race.

Upon hearing these two keywords, the four understood immediately. For the Optimistic Clan, dealing with a trace of residual evil energy was easier than flipping their palms.

However, the optimistic member among the five secretly narrowed his eyes and looked at Li Zheng with a strange gaze, but did not say anything.

Although magic crystal shops cannot be set up in the Sinful Realm, there are concerns that if too many magic crystals are handled, the Optimistic Clan will not be able to sustain themselves and will be infected.

However, just in case, each Sin Domain has a number of Optimists stationed in shifts, in case of an infected invasion, so that they can deal with it as soon as possible.

This time, it was Leveda's turn to be stationed in the Fourth Sin Domain. He thought that, as usual, he only needed to stay in the Sin Domain for ten days and then he could return to the outer city.

Unexpectedly, with only one day left in his term, he encountered an invasion of infected individuals, a phenomenon rarely seen in previous years.

When I arrived at the scene, I met a mixed-race person who called himself Le Jia, an optimist.

He doesn't know if others believe it or not, but he certainly doesn't.

Because he knew Le Jia. It was Le Weida who brought Le Jia back to the outer city from the wilderness, and even the name Le Jia was given by Le Weida.

Therefore, Le Weida knew exactly how capable Le Jia was. The person in front of him could be any resident of the outer city, but it definitely could not be Le Jia.

However, the fact that the other party knew about Le Jia's existence and some of her information meant that the two knew each other. Therefore, although Le Weida saw through Li Zheng's nonsense, he did not expose him and planned to wait until he returned to the outer city a day later to ask Le Jia what was going on.

"So you're from the Lotte Clan." The man who came with Le Weida breathed a sigh of relief and pointed to the person next to him, saying, "This person is also from the Lotte Clan. You two should get to know each other and become closer in the future."

Li Zheng already knew that one of the people present was an optimist, so he took the opportunity to greet him: "Hello, senior, I am Le Jia. I used to work at the Magic Crystal Store in Block Seven."

"Hmm." Le Weida responded casually, then emphasized as he introduced himself, "My name is Le Weida."

Li Zheng, without suspecting anything, quickly replied, "So it's Senior Weida, nice to meet you."

Seeing that he didn't react to his name, Le Weida's sneer grew even stronger.

Hiding their true intentions and using a false identity must mean they have ulterior motives!
(End of this chapter)