Matrix Survival: One random treasure chest per day

Chapter 289 Yan Guang, in Danger! (Two Chapters Combined)

"We're at their mercy, like fish on a chopping board. No matter what the end's purpose is, we can only accept it passively." Li Zheng shook his head inwardly and stopped thinking about it.

Feng Shan never thought that much about it and said nonchalantly, "I think you guys are just bored and have nothing better to do. You're always thinking about things you don't understand. Whatever the purpose of this activity at the terminal, the rewards are real."

"You're so generous! Every time I use up shells and energy, it's all real!" Yan Guang rolled her eyes at him. "If we keep fighting like this, the rewards I get might not even be enough to make up for the resources I use."

That's the downside of playing on the technology or modification side: you have to use a lot of materials in every battle.

This is one of the reasons why Li Zheng chose to learn close combat skills instead of using the simple and easy-to-use guns and cannons.

However, it cannot be said that there are no benefits from the technology side.

At least the safety is relatively high. As long as you stand at a distance and use strong firepower to take down the opponent, your own safety is fully guaranteed.

Moreover, among weapons of the same rank, guns and cannons are more powerful than melee weapons.

“Speaking of rewards…” Zhan Zhouzhou took out the identity card she had finally obtained and handed it to Yan Guang. “We can’t let you suffer a loss. This is the identity card that the terminal gave me after I delivered the final blow. You can use it to fuse with other things, consider it a way to recover your losses.”

Upon seeing this, Li Zheng said with a strange expression, "Don't have high hopes that this thing can yield anything good. It's very likely that after merging, it will only expand the living space."

As far as he knew, all the Radiation Island members who were imprisoned had not been able to explore normally since the day the Matrix game began.

If these mutants hadn't been so resilient after being infected by nuclear radiation, they might not have survived to this day.

Let alone getting anything good from these identity cards, even getting a soda can would be considered "frugal" for this Radiation Island member.

Yan Guang hesitated for a moment, then took the identity card and said, "It's better than nothing. Otherwise, after the event, my losses will be greater than yours, and I'll feel a bit unbalanced."

He immediately ordered the fusion.

A moment later, the ID card disappeared, and Yan Guang's face darkened: "It really is empty!"

"See what I told you?" Li Zheng shrugged.

"Let's go, let's go!" Yan Guang took out his tickets, preparing to leave the event instance. Before leaving, he asked, "Are we going to play again today?"

She's running low on ammunition, materials, and energy. If a few more battles are fought, it might be difficult to continue the exploration normally.

Li Zheng opened the world channel. During this time, there were no announcements from other teams about killing mutants, and they were still far ahead by two points.

After thinking for a while, Li Zheng said, "Number 39 and Number 38 are probably very close in strength. Let's fight a few more to widen the gap, and then rest."

"No need to rush," Zhan Zhouzhou suggested. "Let's go back and rest for ten minutes first, so we can be in the best condition for the event and avoid any mishaps."

Ten minutes isn't enough to restore much of the original genetic energy.

But combat isn't just about consuming genetic energy; it also involves a lot of physical strength.

If one maintains a high-intensity combat state for an extended period, exhaustion is likely to occur.

Besides...

When Li Zheng saw Zhan Zhouzhou clutching her lower abdomen, he understood the true meaning of the so-called "restoration".

"Let's go back first, I've been wanting to use the restroom for a while now." Yan Guang couldn't wait to leave.

"See you later." Fengshan and Lin Fengjiao then left.

Just as Li Zheng was about to leave, Zhan Zhouzhou stopped him. She took out the thermos that Li Zheng had given her before and said, "Warm it up for me."

This was a simple matter; Li Zheng took it and activated the fire-type attachment, heating it up in no time.

Handing the water bottle back, Li Zheng hesitated before saying, "Just now... it was also to deal with the mutants as quickly as possible. If there was any offense, it was purely unintentional."

"I know." Zhan Zhouzhou placed the water bottle on her lower abdomen, her brows relaxed, and she reached out to touch Li Zheng's chest twice: "We're even now."

It's impossible to even things out now. Zhan Zhouzhou did this simply to show his attitude and tell Li Zheng not to overthink it.

Li Zheng understood the meaning behind this, activated the "ticket," and left with a mysterious declaration.

I had just left the instance when my private chat started buzzing again.

Upon opening it, it was still Tang Qianzang.

There was only one question: to understand the situation of mutant number thirty-nine.

"Boss Li is amazing! He even took down Mutant Number Thirty-Nine!" Tang Qianzang praised him first before getting to the point: "Can you tell me about the process? How strong was Experiment Number Thirty-Nine?"

"It's alright, nothing special," Li Zheng replied vaguely.

Tang Qiancang immediately understood and presented a gold-grade power core: "This is just a small token of my appreciation, consider it a congratulatory gift for Boss Li for killing the mutant and taking the lead over other players."

"They're quite savvy." Li Zheng was satisfied and briefly recounted the general process.

Finally, Tang Qianzang asked, seemingly out of nowhere, "The thirty-ninth test subject that Boss Li killed was completely unharmed?"

"Yeah, what's wrong?" Li Zheng asked, puzzled.

"Oh, it's nothing, just asking." After sending this message, Tang Qiancang reported everything Li Zheng had said.

At the same time, Yu Xiaoyu was also pestering Feng Shan to explain to her the battle process of killing the thirty-ninth mutant.

Soon, Kunlun also received an "exaggerated" version of the "strategy guide," which emphasized how brave, fearless, and courageous Fengshan was, like a god descended to earth, handsome and dashing.

After obtaining this "intelligence," Kunlun formed a temporary team to extract the useful information and conduct targeted discussions.

In just five minutes, they had analyzed every detail of the battle as if they had witnessed it firsthand.

"Absolutely brilliant! Absolutely brilliant!" exclaimed a player named Liu Qishao in the group. "This kind of seamless teamwork would definitely be ace-level in the military!"

Someone said, "Isn't Major Liu praising them a bit too much? There are plenty of people in the army who can do this kind of cooperation, and they can even do better under the same conditions."

Another person chimed in, "That's right! Putting everything else aside, everyone in our 'Hidden Dragon Army' is just as strong as them. Forming a team to enter the dungeon and kill Subject Thirty-Nine shouldn't be too difficult, right?"

Liu Qishao laughed and said, "Look, you've all compared the 'Hidden Dragon Army' to them. Doesn't that prove the point?"

The two were speechless for a moment. The Hidden Dragon Army members were composed of special talents that Kunlun had discovered in the Matrix, and each of them had considerable strength.

It is truly commendable that Li Zheng and his comrades, as "unaffiliated soldiers," could achieve this level of accomplishment.

After a while, a man named Zhang Guorui asked, "Major Liu, why didn't we send the Hidden Dragon Army directly to the operation site? Instead, we sent so many ordinary soldiers, which caused some unnecessary casualties?"

“Unnecessary casualties? You can just read out Wu Sihai’s ID number.” Liu Qishao said, “Comrade Wu Sihai was arrogant and acted on his own initiative, challenging the third mutant, which resulted in the sacrifice of four soldiers. That was unexpected.”

Liu Qishao asked, "Besides Wu Sihai's team, were there any other casualties?"

“No, that’s true.” Zhang Guorui replied honestly. “That’s right then.” Liu Qishao said, “The Art of War says: Know yourself and know your enemy, and you will never be defeated! Did you think the soldiers we deployed in the early stages were just there to collect kill points?”

"Wrong! I sent them to gather intelligence, especially on the strength of each mutant."

"Only by thoroughly investigating the intelligence can we minimize casualties among our soldiers."

"Just wait, the second batch of soldiers will be back soon, and then... that's when Kunlun will reap the kill points."

"The second batch?" Zhang Guorui's heart skipped a beat. How come he didn't know that a second batch of soldiers had been sent out to carry out the mission?
Just then, someone in the discussion group spoke up: "Major, the soldiers who went to the location of Mutant Number Thirty-Eight have returned!"

……

After Li Zheng finished his rest and they communicated, he activated the ticket again and teleported to cell number thirty-eight.

Upon entering, Fengshan skillfully fired a flare, then said with a pained expression, "I only have seven left. Once they're used up, they're gone. I don't even have the blueprints to make flares."

The flares and signal guns were finished products that Fengshan discovered during his exploration, so there were no blueprints for them.

He also looked in the trading hall, but the models didn't match, and the results were completely different.

After all, the set he had was a gold-level item, which couldn't be compared to ordinary flares.

Li Zheng drew his sword from its sheath, unconcerned: "I'll find you a reusable lighting prop later as compensation."

“Hey, that’s great.” Feng Shan’s worry turned to joy. “If you could give me the mysterious declaration, that would be even better.”

Li Zheng glanced at him: "Not enough farts to eat?"

At this moment, Zhan Zhouzhou stared in the direction of mutant number thirty-eight and suddenly said in a surprised and uncertain voice: "Strange, this mutant is a bit different."

"What's wrong?" Li Zheng asked.

"Look for yourself." Zhan Zhouzhou pointed forward with her chin, revealing her beautiful neck with very delicate skin. It was obvious that she, like Li Zheng, washed her body every day.

Li Zheng looked in that direction and saw that the 38th mutant was named "Tanaka Shinji," and was also a nuclear radiation infected person.

However, it has an additional attribute: "slightly weak".

[Its main body seems to have suffered some damage recently, and until it fully recovers, it will affect the strength of its true projection.]

"The main body has been damaged?" Li Zheng was slightly taken aback, but then he understood what was going on.

The description of "real projection" mentions that damage is reflected back to the main body after the battle ends.

"Damage" is not limited to "fatal wounds". As long as it has caused effective damage to the real projection, it will be reflected back to its original body.

"Does that mean someone came before and hurt Tanaka Shinji, but failed to kill it?" Li Zheng then thought of Number Thirty-Nine, whose attributes did not contain a similar indication.

Li Zheng estimated that it was probably because No. 39 had a stronger self-healing ability, and the injuries they suffered had already healed when they entered the area.

"So, the difficulty of the event seems to have been... reduced somewhat in a roundabout way?" Only now did Li Zheng realize that the event organized by the terminal was actually quite interesting.

This challenge mode is less stable and has become more competitive.

Some players can even exploit time differences, unleashing their full power within thirty seconds and then escaping before the mutants kill them.

By making several trips back and forth and consuming more exploration opportunities, you may be able to kill the mutant and gain kill points.

This mode gives even players with slightly lower skill levels a chance to win and obtain extraordinary rewards.

……

"The strength of Mutant Number Thirty-Eight has indeed decreased after the previous attack, but its appearance is intact and indistinguishable." In the Kunlun discussion group, Liu Qishao was already making plans in his mind while receiving reports from others.

To secure final victory in the event, kill points must not be spread out; instead, they should be concentrated on one or two teams.

After careful consideration, Liu Qishao ordered: "Have the Hidden Dragon Army's First Squad prepare for battle and go to attack the thirty-eighth mutant, and quickly accumulate kill points!"

"Yes!" Someone received the order and relayed it.

……

"No matter what, this is only a good thing for us." Li Zheng didn't know who had hurt Tanaka Shinji, but since he had run into them, why wouldn't he take advantage of the situation?
"Let's go side by side!"

At a command, three engaged in close combat, while two provided ranged fire support, and the great battle resumed.

As we all know, people's physical constitutions are different.

Some people, in a state of extreme anger, can penetrate a 100-meter-thick steel plate.

Some people, when extremely angry, can only eat two large bowls of rice.

Shinji Tanaka's infected form resembled an adult-sized, fleshy mantis, with his arms bent forward and hooked back, his ten fingers clasped together to form two incredibly sharp scythes.

A fleshy lump the size of a soccer ball has appeared on the back of my neck, near my cervical spine. It jiggles with every movement, and it's a bit nauseating.

The joints of both lower limbs are reversed, with the knees pointing backward, resembling a bow.

At first glance, Li Zheng knew that Shinji Tanaka was skilled in speed and slashing.

When facing such an enemy, the most dangerous are not the front-line players, but the ranged attackers who provide fire support from behind.

Li Zheng, Zhan Zhouzhou, and Feng Shan charged towards Tanaka Shinji together with fierce momentum.

咻咻咻～
The silent energy blast passed between Li Zheng and the other two, hitting Tanaka Shinji first.

In pain, Tanaka Shinji's insect-like, cold eyes looked at the location of Lin Fengjiao and Yan Guang, instinctively reminding it to deal with the two of them first.

With his legs slightly bent and his body lightly springing, Tanaka Shinji bypassed Li Zheng and the other two, attacking from the flank to the rear.

"Stop it!" Feng Shan, who was slightly weaker, had been following behind Li Zheng and the other person. Upon seeing this, he shouted a reminder.

"Know!"

Li Zheng responded, activated his aircraft, and turned sideways to chase after them, attempting to intercept them.

However, the moment he took off, the festering flesh on Tanaka Shinji's back tore apart, and three pairs of thin wings sprouted from it, allowing him to take flight as well, with his speed increasing dramatically once again.

This time, even Li Zheng couldn't catch up.

"That's fucking fast!"

Li Zheng watched helplessly as Tanaka Shinji bypassed the three of them and rushed towards Yan Guang and the others, his expression changing drastically.

(End of this chapter)