Matrix Survival: One random treasure chest per day

Chapter 651 Give Him a Chance to Change His Ways
Even if all that remains of the Celestial Dragons is their fighting spirit, their combat abilities are still formidable once manifested.

The twisted creatures that charged in were all smashed into mangled pieces, indistinguishable as individual parts, merging together and stretching for kilometers across the ground.

After the outer city residents who had stepped out of the golden light's range lost their fighting spirit blessing, they stood still, resisting the evil thoughts of the sinful domain, without moving, like killing gods standing amidst mountains of corpses and seas of blood, their bodies covered in blood.

Nato attempted to seize the Twisted Magic Crystal, but ultimately his plan backfired.

Just as he was about to reach the area of ​​twisted, mangled flesh, a figure flashed and blocked his way: "I heard you wanted to take on ten of us by yourself?"

Nato hurriedly stopped, and at that moment, those people unanimously broke free from the influence of evil thoughts, regained their senses, and exuded an astonishing fighting spirit!
"How about I give you a chance?" Another figure appeared in front of Nato at lightning speed: "Choose ten people from among us at random. If you can withstand the attack of ten people for three minutes without being defeated, you will receive half of the Twisted Magic Crystal share that each of the ten people you choose should receive. How about it?"

"This is a good method." A third person descended from the sky, with several pieces of flesh and entrails from the twisted creatures hanging on his body, looking murderous: "In order to earn more twisted magic crystals, he will definitely choose the ten strongest people among us, otherwise wouldn't that diminish his reputation?"

"I second that." A fourth person appeared silently nearby, listless and ghostly: "I believe I've personally slain quite a few twisted creatures, could you choose me?"

Then came the fifth person, the sixth person, the seventh person...

In the blink of an eye, Nato was surrounded by people, all expressing their willingness to play with him and see if he could really take on ten men at once.

"There's no need for you to intervene."

The last person slowly walked to the middle of the crowd. His aura was ordinary, and there was nothing unusual about him. He seemed like an ordinary person: "Let him take my punch. If he can still stand, what's wrong with giving him a hundred magic crystals?"

boom!
As soon as he finished speaking, blue energy swirled around his body. Then, with a sudden jolt, the blue energy shot into the sky, transforming into the illusion of a three-headed giant tiger!

Each of the three giant tigers had long fangs sticking out from its head, making it extremely ferocious and terrifying.

Upon seeing this illusion, Na Tuo's pupils contracted sharply, becoming as small as needles, his heart filled with shock and fear: "It's actually the Biao tribe!"

The Biao tribe is one of the more unique ethnic groups in the outer city. They have a very small population, less than a thousand people, and do not have a fixed territory. Instead, they are distributed throughout all the neighborhoods.

However, the biggest commonality is that every member of the Biao tribe can rank among the top fifty in the neighborhood in terms of combat strength!
The small population is not because they are like optimists and have problems with reproduction.

Instead, every member of the Biao tribe is extremely warlike and skilled in battle. Regardless of age or gender, they all like to challenge their own limits. They often accept missions and go to the wilderness, but they may not be able to return because the difficulty is too high or the opponent is too strong.

Of course, the fact that the Biao people are few in the outer city does not mean that the Biao people as a whole are not many.

Among the Wilderness Bloodbath, there are at least hundreds of thousands of Biao tribesmen, whose existence stems from historical issues caused by duels and challenges between them when they were still players.

The most distinctive feature of the Biao ethnic group is their current technique of "weather freezing".

Only the most powerful members of the Biao tribe can conjure illusions behind them; the stronger they are, the larger the illusions become.

Judging from the size of the illusion behind him, what Nato kicked could no longer be considered a steel plate, but a titanium alloy plate.

Seeing that Nato did not react for a long time, the Biao tribesman said calmly, "If you don't speak, then I will take it as your agreement. Get ready, I'm about to make my move."

After speaking, he slightly parted his legs, placed one hand in front of him and the other on his waist, assuming a posture of gathering strength.

Behind him, the illusion of three ferocious tigers also stirred, lying in wait as if it were about to erupt and injure someone at any moment.

"Gulu."

Nato panicked. He wasn't confident he could withstand a full-force punch from such a powerful Biao tribesman. He took a few steps back and forced himself to remain calm, saying, "Since...since your Biao tribe wants to take the Twisted Magic Crystal this time, why shouldn't I give it to you?"

After saying that, he took off running and returned to the golden area in the blink of an eye. He rushed further away without stopping, and with a speed that seemed to leave everyone in the dust, he wanted to escape back to the outer city.

He had barely escaped when he failed to see the Biao tribesman's momentum vanish and the illusion behind him collapse with a deafening roar.

Otherwise, he would have known that this Biao tribesman was not nearly as powerful as he appeared, but was just a hollow shell.

"Hmph, cowardly scoundrels, scared away by the slightest appearance." The Biao tribesman sneered, then suddenly bent over and spat out several mouthfuls of blood. His breath was weak, and he said with a bitter laugh, "I was careless. I got a little carried away during the battle and was injured by a few twisted creatures. Can someone help me up? My legs are weak."

The surrounding crowd then realized that it wasn't that this Biao tribesman was weak, but that he was injured.

Immediately, someone stepped forward to help you up: "Why don't you go back to the Heavenly Dragon Clan to rest first? After the battlefield is cleaned up, just tell us how many twisted creatures you killed, and we'll send you the Twisted Magic Crystals."

We were all comrades who had fought in the same war, so we had a mutual respect and appreciation for each other, and our conversations were naturally straightforward.

“Alright.” The Biao tribesman did not refuse and nodded in agreement.

The person supporting him called out to the others, "I'll take him back to rest first. Let's not be coy. Everyone knows how many twisted creatures we've killed. We'll only take what we're entitled to, and the rest..."

He glanced at Li Zheng not far away: "Give it to the person who should take it."

Everyone understood what he meant, and no one openly opposed him. They all turned around and went to dig for the Twisted Magic Crystal.

They worked together seamlessly, not digging everything up and storing it in their storage space, but instead piling it all up on the open ground, waiting to be distributed together.

This scene surprised those hiding in the golden light zone even more than the battle scene just now. They couldn't understand why, when everyone came here to obtain purple magic crystals, so many purple magic crystals were left there, those who had the ability and opportunity to line their own pockets did not do so.

However, that is the reality. Apart from speaking together and sharing a common hatred earlier, these people hardly communicate anymore.

But it was as if they had a telepathic connection, doing the same things in perfect unison.

It's like suddenly becoming a kindred spirit with the same values, a close friend.

The Biao tribesman, helped up to Li Zheng, stopped, and said in a low voice, "I've had a few encounters with Na Tuo before. Although he's arrogant and domineering, he's definitely not a brainless idiot. The reason he did what he did just now must have been instructed by someone behind the scenes. You need to be careful; they might be targeting you."

"Targeting me?" Li Zheng's heart skipped a beat. He turned around and scanned the golden area, discovering that besides Na Tuo, several other people were also missing, including the one who had kindly stopped him earlier.

Recalling what he had seen before about someone seemingly attracting twisted creatures to impact the golden light zone, Li Zheng nodded thoughtfully: "I understand, thank you for reminding me."

The Biao tribesman didn't say anything more, coughed weakly twice, and was helped into the golden area.

As soon as he entered, he collapsed to the ground, coughing up blood.

However, he could relax mentally and took out his medication to begin treating his injuries.

Lifting the clothing covering his face, the person helping him saw the injuries on the Biao tribesman's body and exclaimed in surprise, "These don't seem to be fresh injuries, do they?"

“Of course not,” the Biao tribesman said. “If I hadn’t been injured before, those twisted creatures wouldn’t have been able to hit me even if they had turned the world upside down. This battle was just an aggravation of my old injuries.”

Seeing the man's flesh torn open and a gaping hole in his abdomen, as if someone had gouged it out with their bare hands, exposing his internal organs, he clicked his tongue and said, "Your injury... it's been there for at least half a year. You've actually survived for half a year with such an injury and can still engage in high-intensity combat... you really... have a death wish?"

"Hahaha!" the Biao tribesman laughed loudly. "Who wouldn't value their life? But the Biao tribe is born warlike. From the day we are born and can run, we are destined to fight to the death. Cough...cough cough..."

He aggravated his injury, coughed a few times, and became weaker: "Do you know who hurt me?"

"Also... a member of the Biao tribe?" the man supporting him asked cautiously.

“My brother.” The Biao tribesman caught his breath and said, “This was my own brother who hit me, but I didn’t lose anything because he died. I killed him.”

Upon hearing this, the man's pupils constricted sharply, exactly as when he saw the illusion behind the Biao tribesman. He jumped back a step and whispered, "You are not a resident of the outer city, you are a Wilderness Bloodthirsty One!"

Only the bloodthirsty would recklessly attack their own kind. The strong grow stronger, and only the most powerful are entitled to live and obtain more resources.

"What?" the Biao man asked with a playful smile, "Scared?"

"I...I...I...I..." The man stammered, "We are...comrades-in-arms! What...what am I afraid of you for? Heh...hehe, you're really good at...joking."

“It’s normal for you outsiders to be prejudiced against us,” the Biao tribesman said with a nonchalant smile. “I used to believe in the law of the jungle in the wilderness, and I killed all my brothers and sisters because I was worried they would take my resources. But what happened today made me suddenly realize that my previous actions… no, I should say the actions of the outsiders and the wilderness were too extreme.”

On one hand, there is extreme order, yet undercurrents are brewing. On the other hand, there is extreme chaos, resulting in a complete collapse of social order.

If the terminal hadn't been constantly absorbing new races, perhaps the wilderness would have been wiped out long ago.

The Biao tribesman looked out of the golden light, his gaze falling on Li Zheng, his eyes filled with undisguised admiration: "This man has taught me a lesson. A true man is born into this world with principles of right and wrong. The strong never lay their swords on the weak, but only confront the stronger."

"He was able to face Nato head-on despite knowing he was outmatched, buying us time to recover. For that alone, I think highly of him," the man supporting him nodded and said.

“Look, we’re kindred spirits, so you don’t need to stay so far away from me,” the Biao tribesman laughed. “I’m not going to eat you.”

The man then realized that he was facing a notorious and ruthless bandit, a ruthless killer who killed without blinking an eye. He had truly gone mad, actually resonating with him.

"Um... I'll go see if there's anything I can help with over there." He took off running out of the golden zone, his mental pressure suddenly increasing as he resisted the malice surging in from all directions once again.

Even though he was mentally exhausted, he felt that... the outside of the golden light was much safer than the inside.

Li Zheng walked through the rotten flesh of the twisted creatures, trying to recall how many twisted creatures he had personally killed. After thinking it over, he only remembered that he had been fighting so intently, focused on experiencing that feeling of martial arts enlightenment, that he hadn't even noticed how many he had killed.

Therefore, he could only take it as it came, carrying as many magic crystals as he could.

He had already thrown away the dozen or so white magic crystals he had collected along the way, and replaced them with more valuable purple magic crystals. His coat pockets were bulging with no less than fifty crystals, and then he couldn't fit any more in.

"I regret it, I really regret it!" Li Zheng dug out one purple magic crystal after another, muttering to himself, "I should have left Miriel in the outer city and let her enter the Sin Domain alone, otherwise I wouldn't have left the capsule there for her to use, which is why I'm now looking at so many purple magic crystals and can't take them with me..."

At first, I just wanted to come and see for myself and broaden my horizons, but I never expected to benefit so much that I couldn't even imagine it.

With so many purple magic crystals, he could get at least two hundred. Once he absorbed all the energy inside, he could cut up the empty shells and make a fortune.

Li Zheng felt as if his heart was bleeding.

There were a total of 37 people involved in the battle. Xiahou Fei had already taken all his spoils and returned to the Golden Light Zone. Only 36 people, including Li Zheng, had not yet received their spoils.

With over thirty people working together, they worked very quickly, and in just a few minutes, they dug out all the twisted magic crystals and piled them up like a small mountain.

A rough estimate suggests there are at least a thousand!
At least one-third of them were killed by the spirits manifested by the Celestial Dragons, and had nothing to do with other people.

Li Zheng sighed as he brought over the last few purple magic crystals and threw them all into the small mountain he had piled up.

At this moment, the person in charge of counting announced the numbers: "A total of one thousand two hundred and twenty-one magic crystals, of which... there are ten white magic crystals and one red magic crystal."

He glanced at Li Zheng: "They were all brought out by this... Guide."

The guide?
When Li Zheng heard this title, he glanced at them, not understanding why these people would give themselves such a title.

However, he didn't ask; the person counting the items started calculating each person's contribution one by one.

Each person states the number of twisted creatures they have killed, and then the others corroborate their statements. After all, during a battle, there are always people nearby who have a general idea of ​​how many of the creatures killed by those around them.

No one made false reports. After everyone had finished distributing the items, there were still more than 600 twisted magic crystals left, of which more than 150 were too big for Li Zheng to fit in his bag.

Excluding Li Zheng's share, everyone stared at the remaining four hundred-plus magic crystals, perplexed and unsure how to distribute them.

After all, those were the spoils of war of the Heavenly Dragon Clan, and were considered unclaimed property.

“I have a suggestion, and we’ll all vote on whether to accept it or not,” the person counting the items said. “If it weren’t for the Guide taking the lead, we wouldn’t have had the courage to join this battle. So I think these Twisted Magic Crystals of the Celestial Dragon Clan should belong to the Guide.”

This suggestion is unfair to others, because a large portion of them were killed by others in collusion with the Celestial Dragons, they just didn't get the final blow.

It would be really unreasonable to give it all to Li Zheng. Even Li Zheng himself felt embarrassed to take it and repeatedly refused: "No, no, let's split it equally."

“No, it’s not fair to you to divide it equally.” Someone said, “This distribution must be fair, otherwise, if similar things happen again in the future, it will inevitably cause conflicts.”

Li Zheng understood this principle. He smiled wryly and patted the bundle made of his coat: "Even if you give it to me, I can't take it with me."

It's impossible to take off your pants to store these twisted magic crystals, right?

If word gets out, will he even survive?
Someone looked at Li Zheng, then suddenly their eyes narrowed: "Are you a wilderness dweller?"

The moment the term "wild man" was uttered, everyone's gaze towards Li Zheng changed, some even finding it hard to believe.

“Only those born in the wilderness could possibly lack storage space…” These people looked at Li Zheng with very complicated feelings. They never expected that they, as outsiders, would awaken their long-dormant fighting spirit under the leadership of a wilderness dweller.

After all, Li Zheng was able to reach the Golden Light Zone. With that kind of strength, it's impossible that he couldn't afford a storage item. The only explanation is that he's a wilderness dweller and lacks the means to purchase storage items.

The people from the outer city, while fearing the wilderness dwellers, also held them in contempt, believing them to be uneducated and like a group of savage animals.

Li Zheng was taken aback and explained, "I am an outer city player. I left my storage space in the gathering area in front for my followers to live in, and I didn't bring it with me."

"So that's how it is." Everyone breathed a sigh of relief and nodded in agreement.

“In that case, you don’t need to worry about this. We can help you carry the extra Twisted Magic Crystals and deliver them to the entrance of your storage space,” someone suggested. “The problem we need to solve now is how to distribute them.”

The man beside him pondered for a while before speaking, "Why don't we let the guide take half, and the rest of us split the other half equally? That way, no one will be at a disadvantage."

After hearing this, everyone felt that although the allocation was not perfect, it was at least acceptable, and they all nodded: "Okay, it's settled then."

The group started counting the items, setting aside Li Zheng's half so that anyone going back could take it with them on their way.

Li Zheng reminded them from the side, "Those white magic crystals and red magic crystals are mine. Remember not to get them mixed up, lest you suffer losses if you include them in your calculations."

Actually, he was reluctant to part with those eleven twisted magic crystals, not worried that others would suffer a loss...

All the Twisted Magic Crystals were distributed, and many people returned home laden with spoils, overjoyed.

They returned to the golden zone together, immediately collapsed on the ground, all exhausted and needing a period of rest to recover.

Finally, the man who had helped the Biao tribesman offered to help Li Zheng bring back those twisted magic crystals and temporarily store them with him, before walking back to the Golden Light Zone with Li Zheng.

Now he had a legitimate reason to stay away from that Biao tribesman. He mustered his courage and handed over the twisted magic crystals that belonged to the other party, then quickly hid back next to Li Zheng, not daring to get any closer.

The Biao tribesman didn't care. He treated his old wounds on his own and closed his eyes to rest.

After resting for a few hours, those who were preparing to return to the outer city got up to leave. Li Zheng, with a helper, also left the Golden Light Zone.

As soon as they stepped out, the man eagerly said to Li Zheng, "Master Guide, do you know the true identity of that Biao tribesman? He is actually a wilderness man!"

Although no harsh words were explicitly said, the sense of rejection in the tone was quite obvious.

Li Zheng tilted his head and looked at him: "So what? What's wrong with being a wilderness person?"

"Haven't you ever been to the wilderness?" the man said. "The wilderness people are incredibly cruel. They take pleasure in torturing and killing their own kind. They're notoriously fierce and unreasonable!"

Li Zheng stopped and said seriously, "There are no laws in the wilderness, and many things are indistinguishable between right and wrong. No one can say that all wilderness people are wicked."

However, there is an old saying in our race: "A prodigal son who returns is more precious than gold."

He may have done many things that we would consider heinous, but that was caused by his circumstances, and we can't entirely blame him.

But now that he has shown remorse, we should give him a chance to reform.

(End of this chapter)