Matrix Survival: One random treasure chest per day

Chapter 654 The following offense
"Is this the attendant the Guide mentioned?"

Feng Yue sniffed the air nearby and smelled a sour and pungent odor: "Hmm, the smell of love."

Follower?

They're clearly lovers!

Feng Yue didn't dare show anything, and coughed awkwardly to the side, reminding him, "Master Guide, where is your storage space? Let me take the Twisted Magic Crystal to the door for you first."

Li Zheng then remembered there was a third wheel next to him, and whispered menacingly in Miriel's ear, "Wait until we get back, I'll show you what it means to be an insubordination!"

A sudden jolt of his presence made Miriel's heart flutter, her cheeks flush, and she rubbed her legs together impatiently. "Let's go back quickly! I can't wait any longer."

“Okay, let’s go!” Li Zheng put his arm around Miriel and turned to Feng Yue, saying, “Come with me.”

Returning along the same route, Li Zheng saw Aida Xi on the way. He was receiving a group of residents who had just arrived in the Sin Domain from the outer city. They were obviously all veterans, and the group chatted and laughed as they passed by.

Upon seeing Li Zheng and the others, Aida didn't recognize him, but simply nodded to them in a friendly manner.

Apart from that, there are very few people seen on the roads in the residential area.

Back at the entrance of the capsule residence, Li Zheng said, "This is it. Give me everything."

Feng Yue immediately took out all the twisted magic crystals stored here and returned them to Li Zheng without missing a single one: "My mission is complete. If you have time, Master Guide, you can come to the Gravity Research Institute in Block 375 to find me. I work there."

"The Gravity Research Institute?" Li Zheng looked at him with considerable surprise: "You're going down the research path?"

"I'm just an assistant." Feng Yue scratched the back of his head shyly. "I can't be considered a researcher. Rather than doing research, I'm more like being the one being researched."

"Being involved in scientific research..." Li Zheng's expression shifted: "Your speed is so fast, could it be that you are..."

“That’s right, I trained under super gravity.” Feng Yue said proudly, “I’m about to break the record left by my clan. After I die, my body will be made into a specimen and placed in an exhibition hall for people to admire!”

"???" Li Zheng was confused: "Is this something to be proud of?"

“Of course!” Feng Yue straightened his back and said, “Our Luo Gui clan used to be the slowest race in the entire outer city. But since we came into contact with the gravity amplification device, years of training have turned our lives around and made us one of the fastest races!”

"And now, our greatest goal as the Luo Gui clan is to become the race with the fastest movement speed in the entire outer city!"

The race with the fastest movement speed?
Why is this damn sense of honor so weird?

Li Zheng thought to himself, "If I remember correctly, there seem to be life forms in the outer city that are purely composed of energy. They must be very fast. The Luo Gui Clan probably has a very long way to go to break through their limits."

Seeing that Li Zheng remained silent, Feng Yue assumed he did not believe him and proudly said, "The record left by my clan's predecessors was that they could withstand a gravity amplification of 49.8 times. I am exceptionally talented and can already move freely in an environment with a gravity amplification of 49 times. I am about to challenge the record set by my predecessors."

He said with boundless longing, "I came to the Sinful Domain this time to obtain enough magic crystals to further enhance my strength. Once I successfully break the record, I will be recorded in the annals of the Luo Turtle Clan!"

This is perhaps the dream of every member of the Luo Gui clan. Although Li Zheng found this dream rather strange, he did not look down on it and encouraged him, "I believe you can do it!"

Feng Yue was full of confidence: "We must do it!"

Li Zheng threw all the magic crystals into the capsule residence, then bid farewell to Feng Yue and watched him leave through the portal.

“I never imagined that there would be someone as hardworking and ambitious as him outside of Block 50. I was blinded by my own narrow perspective before.” Li Zheng sighed, then turned and entered the capsule residence with Miriel, closing the door behind him.

hum!
An invisible wave spread out, setting up a mental barrier around the capsule dwelling to minimize the impact of the environment.

Three hours later, the mental barrier was finally removed, and Li Zheng and Miriel walked out with radiant faces.

"Come on, we've been out for so long, it's time to head back to the outer city."

After putting away their capsule accommodation, the two set off back home.

Two days have passed since he entered the Fourth Sin Domain, but he has only opened one low-grade silver treasure chest and obtained a wishing stone fragment the size of a fingernail.

There was another treasure chest that appeared on the way back. With Sang Biao and the other person beside him, Li Zheng didn't take it. He only took it out when he entered the capsule residence just now.

It was a platinum-level treasure chest, and inside were two wishing stone fragments, each the size of a fingernail.

Li Zheng was numb at this point and didn't want to remember how many fragments he had obtained.

Anyway, he tried to piece the pieces together, but found that most of them didn't match.

This indicates that the complete wishing stones are unimaginably large, and it's definitely impossible to collect them all in the short term.

Back in the outer city, District 4 was as quiet as ever, with only one intelligent humanoid guard in front of the portal.

Looking to the left, Li Zheng immediately spotted Zhan Zhouzhou sitting at the entrance of the Magic Crystal Shop, munching on some kind of snack that looked like sunflower seeds, looking utterly bored.

He had already taken off his disguise when he came out of the capsule residence. He led Miriel over and asked, "What's wrong with you now?"

"Don't bother me, I'm annoyed!" Zhan Zhouzhou said irritably, without looking up, her temper flaring.

Li Zheng looked at her carefully: "Have you hit a bottleneck?"

"How did you know... Oh, the Eye of Preys told you, right?" Zhan Zhouzhou reacted and nodded, "Indeed, I've been feeling a swelling between my eyebrows lately, a feeling of fullness, but I can't think of a way to resolve it, so much so that I haven't made any progress in my swordsmanship lately, and I've almost abandoned it."

"No progress..." Li Zheng scoffed, "I think you're not cultivating because you're upset, right? If you're going to be lazy, just be lazy, why make up excuses?"

"What do you mean by slacking off?" Zhan Zhouzhou's almond-shaped eyes widened, and she waved her hand impatiently: "I can't explain it to you, and you wouldn't understand anyway."

"Oh, then I won't bother with that." Li Zheng led Miriel into the magic crystal shop.

Upon seeing him, Le Jia immediately became nervous, and Zuo Li felt uneasy, wanting to escape from the place.

Helpless, Li Zheng tossed her two red magic crystals and said, "Wash these two red magic crystals clean for me."

He then took out the inscription card and transferred ten red crystal coins to her: "This is the handling fee. Since you are working here, I can't just leave you alone. Consider it me supporting your business."

Seeing that Le Jia wanted to decline, Li Zheng cut her off beforehand.

These two red magic crystals were obtained on the return trip. Since Li Zheng hunted the twisted creature alone, Sang Biao and Feng Yue did not receive any. Later, when he was cleaning the magic crystals, he kept these two for Le Jia's sake.

Le Jia picked up a pill and used his talent to erase the evil thoughts within it.

Li Zheng could see clearly from the side that while eliminating evil thoughts, Le Jia's mental strength received some kind of feedback, increasing by a negligible amount.

No wonder the evil intentions that try to erase the Twisted Magic Crystal are so dangerous, and so many optimists are willing to do it. It turns out it really does benefit them. I wasn't wrong before.

Zhan Zhouzhou turned her head curiously to look this way, and her gaze fell on the red magic crystal, and she couldn't look away.

She got up and ran over, staring at the red magic crystal, and asked, "What is this?"

After entering the outer city, Zhan Zhouzhou had been running around everywhere and hadn't gathered much information. Only Li Zheng had told her some important things.

“Twisted Magic Crystal, something that can purify spiritual energy.” Li Zheng looked at her with a half-smile: “Didn’t you say your brow was swollen? That means your spiritual energy has accumulated to a full state, and you can absorb the energy in the magic crystal to further purify it, making room in your spiritual world to accommodate more spiritual energy.”

"Is that so?" Zhan Zhouzhou was stunned for a moment: "Why didn't you say so sooner?"

Li Zheng feigned innocence: "You just said I don't understand anything and told me not to bother you."

"It was my fault." Zhan Zhouzhou immediately admitted her mistake, revealing a fawning smile: "Where did you get this thing?" "The Sin Domain, you can go there through the teleportation portal." Li Zheng advised honestly: "But I don't recommend you go now, because your mental strength is only mediocre in the outer city, and you won't last long there before you have to come back."

Now is not the time for Twisted Creatures to proliferate, and obtaining White Magic Crystals will require considerable effort. The environment of the Sin Domain is not very friendly to newcomers.

“But I have to go.” Zhan Zhouzhou put away her joking expression and said seriously, “This is an opportunity for me to continue to improve my strength.”

“I’ve prepared it for you.” Li Zheng took out the ten white magic crystals and handed them to Zhan Zhouzhou: “You can’t use high-quality magic crystal energy right now, so you can only use the lowest-grade white magic crystals to strengthen your energy. By the way, I want to use you to do an experiment to see if there is any difference in purifying your mental power with magic crystal energy first.”

"Shall we do an experiment?" Zhan Zhouzhou hesitated for less than a second before nodding immediately: "Okay, how do you want me to cooperate?"

Li Zheng was not surprised that Zhan Zhouzhou agreed to the request.

This girl is the type who's willing to push herself to the limit to improve her strength, as evidenced by how quickly she got used to a tenfold increase in gravity within just a few days.

Even a slight increase in gravity would be unbearable for most people living in such an environment for a long time, but Zhan Zhouzhou was able to force himself to quickly adapt to a living environment with a tenfold increase in gravity, which is an exaggeration.

“It’s simple. Didn’t I tell you to buy a house in Block 4 before?” Li Zheng said. “Take me there. I need a quiet environment to avoid you being affected during the process.”

"Follow me." Zhan Zhouzhou acted swiftly and decisively, knowing exactly how to continue improving, and didn't waste a single moment.

Li Zheng followed her out of the shop, walked a short distance to the right, and then turned into a small alley. They stopped in front of the first small door in the alley, and Zhan Zhouzhou took out the inscription card and opened the door.

The room is small, only twelve square meters, just right for one person if used solely for living.

The room was completely empty, devoid of any furniture. Li Zheng casually sat down cross-legged and said, "Don't rush to absorb the magic crystal energy. Come and sit down first, relax, and don't resist."

"Okay." Zhan Zhouzhou did as instructed, sitting opposite Li Zheng and trying her best to relax: "And then?"

Li Zheng: "Take a magic crystal in your hand, and when I let you absorb energy, start immediately."

Zhan Zhouzhou: "Absorb energy...how do I absorb it?"

Li Zheng frowned: "Don't you know how to use your mental power? Try concentrating your mind on the magic crystal."

Zhan Zhouzhou mobilized his mental energy to contact the magic crystal in his hand. He immediately felt that his mental energy seemed to have established a connection with the magic crystal in his hand. He was able to absorb its internal energy without any teacher, as if it came from instinct.

"Wait a minute, let me take a look at your mental world right now." Li Zheng stopped Zhan Zhouzhou from immediately absorbing the magic crystal, and then released his mental power to enter the other's mind, searching for the mental world that belonged to Zhan Zhouzhou.

Soon, Li Zheng sensed an obstacle and knew he had found the place.

He immediately intensified his efforts, preparing to break through the obstacles and enter.

However, Zhan Zhouzhou seemed to be subconsciously wary of him. Although she tried to restrain herself, the repulsion in her mental world was still very obvious.

"Bear with it." Li Zheng frowned slightly and reminded him, "I'm going to use some force. You might feel a little uncomfortable. Don't resist it, or your mental strength will easily be backfired and collapse."

Zhan Zhouzhou didn't speak, but simply nodded slightly to indicate that she was ready.

The next second, Li Zheng increased the intensity of his mental energy transmission and launched a fierce attack on that barrier.

With a pop, a huge, illusory figure appeared "before" Li Zheng.

"What a massive spiritual entity!" Li Zheng understood what Zhan Zhouzhou's spiritual world looked like with just one glance.

This is a room resembling a martial arts dojo, with many calligraphy and paintings by famous people hanging on the walls, all related to "sword".

One of the walls even has a calligraphy piece that almost covers the entire front wall!
The single character for "sword" was written with vigor and strength, its strokes flowing like dragons and snakes, each stroke ending like a sharp sword, exuding a sharp intent.

"The person who wrote this character must be a master of swordsmanship!" Li Zheng exclaimed sincerely.

Just then, Zhan Zhouzhou's voice came, asking curiously, "What did you see?"

Li Zheng described what he saw, and looking up, he found that Zhan Zhouzhou's spiritual body had grown so large that it had to curl up to stay in the dojo.

He was caught between Zhan Zhouzhou's spiritual body and the edge of the dojo.

"What you see is my family's dojo, which is used for teaching. The characters were written by my grandfather a few years ago. My father thought they looked nice, so he hung them in the dojo for the students to see," Zhan Zhouzhou explained.

Li Zheng praised highly: "You told me before that your father and grandfather's swordsmanship was quite good, and I thought you were bragging. But seeing this now, I know you weren't exaggerating. It's just a pity..."

He couldn't help but sigh: "The two elders are past the age limit for entering the matrix, otherwise we would have two great helpers in the future!"

Almost everyone in their small circle knew about the final battle, including Zhan Zhouzhou.

“Two old bones, how can they withstand any more torment?” Zhan Zhouzhou said, “It’s better for them to stay outside. If we lose, at least they won’t have to suffer like we did before they die.”

"I didn't realize you were so filial," Li Zheng said in surprise. "I rarely heard you mention your family. I thought you didn't care about them at all."

"What's the point of bringing them up? We can't go back anyway, and mentioning them will only cause more trouble." Zhan Zhouzhou didn't want to talk about this anymore and asked, "Can I absorb magic crystal energy now?"

"Alright, let's begin." Li Zheng waited intently, and soon wisps of pure white energy appeared on the walls of the dojo and merged into Zhan Zhouzhou's spiritual body.

After absorbing this energy, the spiritual entity did not continue to grow; instead, it gradually became smaller and smaller. However, the originally illusory and almost transparent spiritual entity also began to solidify.

"This seems to have a similar effect to when I received virtual guidance in the Dark Realm to train my mental strength. Both can improve the strength of mental strength from the side." Li Zheng observed carefully and thought to himself, "Zhan Zhouzhou is obsessed with swordsmanship and doesn't pay much attention to improving her mental strength. So her mental strength is much more ethereal than mine and Miriel's back then."

"Huh?" Zhan Zhouzhou exclaimed in surprise, "The swelling between my eyebrows is subsiding. This method actually works!"

"Nonsense, if it didn't work, would I be telling you?" Li Zheng immediately warned her, "Don't get distracted, I saw some energy being wasted!"

In the instant Zhan Zhouzhou was distracted, several strands of energy pierced through the dojo wall and disappeared without a trace.

Upon hearing Li Zheng's words, she immediately composed herself and focused on absorbing the magic crystal's energy.

Watching Zhan Zhouzhou's spiritual body slowly shrink, but its solidity increasing very slowly, Li Zheng thought to himself, "Fortunately, we stopped her and didn't let her go directly to the Sin Domain. The environment there is still a bit too dangerous for her."

Even though Miriel had condensed a mental energy node, she still found it difficult to adapt to the environment there. Strictly speaking, Zhan Zhouzhou's mental energy was much weaker than Miriel's. Li Zheng could already foresee what would happen if he went there.

After the first white magic crystal was completely absorbed, Zhan Zhouzhou's spiritual body shrank to less than one-tenth of its original size.

Zhan Zhouzhou felt good and was preparing to absorb the second Twisted Magic Crystal when Li Zheng stopped her: "Wait, is there anything unusual about your mental strength?"

Zhan Zhouzhou stopped, carefully sensed the sensation, and replied, "There's nothing strange about it."

"Oh, then let's continue," Li Zheng replied, and said no more.

One after another, the Twisted Magic Crystals were absorbed completely, and the spiritual body became more and more solid, reaching the proportion of a normal person.

After absorbing the last white magic crystal, Zhan Zhouzhou said, "This time I can feel that the white magic crystal has no effect on me anymore, and absorbing any more would be a complete waste."

"So fast?" Li Zheng looked at Zhan Zhouzhou's spiritual body. At this moment, her level of solidification was worlds apart from that of Miriel. He pondered, "Even if she absorbs ten more red magic crystals, it seems she can only reach Miriel's level."

He thought for a moment, then instead of immediately leaving the mental world, he said to Zhan Zhouzhou, "Let's proceed with the second experiment."

Li Zheng wanted to see what would happen after Zhan Zhouzhou absorbed ten white magic crystals in advance and then condensed her spiritual power node.

(End of this chapter)