Matrix Survival: One random treasure chest per day

Chapter 434 Abyss Tavern (6,000 words)
Red Polly
Rank: Iron ~ Diamond
Description: The Poring race distinguishes gender by color, believing that light blue represents males and pink represents females.

In fact, they reproduce asexually, and each individual can produce new Poli.

Ability: Mimicry

Weakness: True strength depends on the transformation of the mimicry, and its upper limit is extremely difficult to increase.

Old Pu: The Porings are a peace-loving race, skilled in singing and dancing, and are considered neutral beings.

Red Poring is an elite variant of Pink Poring; there is a chance to transform into this form after successfully upgrading to elite level.

There's more good news: the individuals that split off from Red Poring are also Red Porings. Congratulations, you now have two Diamond-level Elite followers!

Two diamond-level elite lackeys are not bad...

But why do you two seem to have your own ideas?

Li Zheng watched speechlessly as two little girls made of bright red jelly fought around the sleeping Sakura. What the hell...

Grass sprouted!

The Red Poring on the left unleashed a barrage of strange punches at the Red Poring on the right, but the Red Poring on the right transformed into a smooth red shield, blocking the barrage of strange punches from the Red Poring on the left.

The red Polley on the right split its body in half, transforming into a sharp cone, and launched a counterattack against the red Polley on the left.

Red Polly on the left also split off a portion of its body, transforming it into a cone, to counter each attack...

The two little red Porings used their own methods, changing more than twenty different forms in just thirty seconds, and fought to a standstill.

“I’m telling you… you two are one, woman, no, I should say why make things difficult for yourself?” Li Zheng advised.

"Polly?" ×2
"Polly!" ×2
The two red Porings looked at Li Zheng at the same time, and then glared at each other.

The way it was acting was as if it was saying: Who was once one with her?

"Whether you two admit it or not, things have already gotten to this point, and it's probably impossible for you two to get back together." Li Zheng rolled his eyes and offered a terrible suggestion, "How about one of you leaves?"

If one is eliminated, the remaining one will not suffer the same troubles before the next split.

The question is... who's leaving?
"Polly!" The red Polly on the right gave Li Zheng a disdainful look, full of disgust.

"Poring Poring!" The red Poring on the left nodded repeatedly, agreeing with what the red Poring on the right had just said.

Then the two of them started communicating in the Poli language, which Li Zheng couldn't understand. They nodded as they talked, as if they had reached some kind of consensus.

After five minutes of intense discussion, the two red Porings finally reached an agreement, each wrapping around one of Sakura's legs and evenly covering half of her body and wings.

Li Zheng, watching from the side, was utterly exasperated. After all that, you two actually decided to split it equally?
Good job!
That's a really clever idea...

Clever my foot!
If you were willing to split it equally, why did you two fight in the first place?

Are you just bored out of your mind?
Oh, you two should be female ideologically.

That's fine.

Two red Porings wrapped Sakura up like she was wearing a red jelly armor, with only a circular opening on her face to allow her to breathe.

"Polly?"

The red Poring on the left extended a tentacle and nudged Sakura's chubby cheek, clearly unhappy that she was just lying there motionless.

Snapped!
The one on the right slapped away the tentacle on the left with a fierce look, making "poli poli" noises, as if protesting that the other had crossed the line.

The one on the left didn't care, pointed at Sakura's sleeping face, and made two "Poring" sounds.

Then both red Porings fell silent.

A moment later, parts of their bodies extended from the back of Sakura's head on both sides, pushing against the ground to stand Sakura up.

"Polly!" ×2
The twins high-fived Sakura behind her head in celebration, their actions perfectly in sync.

"Polly!" Left
"Polili!" (Right)
"Popoli!" Left
"Polypo!" Right
These two red Porings controlled Sakura, taking steps to the left and right, and actually formed a comfortable, self-propelled jelly eggshell bed!
With their help, Sakura can sleep soundly and keep up with Li Zheng's pace. There will be no more scenes of the little one sleeping soundly next to Li Zheng while he is fighting.

At least with their help, the little guy can sleep standing up...

At this moment, a rather bizarre scene appeared in front of Li Zheng.

The blood-striped black dragon, which was already a bit bloated, looked even more bloated after being wrapped around two red Porings. It took steps to the left and right, running faster and faster with shouts of "Poring! Poring!" and "Poring!", with two red Porings fluttering behind its head like twin ponytails.

Li Zheng rubbed his forehead, feeling incredibly envious.

Isn't this just a disguised sedan chair?

I, as the owner, don't even get this treatment, but my pet is enjoying it first.

"Sigh, whatever makes you happy." Li Zheng waved his hand helplessly. After all, he still needed to rely on Red Polly's special identity to deal with his white-name enemies.
We have no choice but to go along with them.

Looking at the sky, it was almost nighttime. Li Zheng glanced at the shattered mechanical limbs scattered on the ground, packed up his residence, took out the Star Pirate, entered the channel number 879, and randomly teleported back.

Having barely rested these past two days, Li Zheng, after dealing with the leaders of several legions, temporarily decided not to seek revenge on the other members of those legions.

There's plenty of time in the future.

Upon landing, I was randomly teleported to a forest terrain. I heard a few rustling sounds not far away, which seemed to be the sound of some creature crushing fallen leaves.

Looking in that direction, there were more than a dozen gray-furred forest wolves, surprisingly low in rank, with the leader being only a silver-level elite.

"Since random teleportation is not part of normal exploration, the level of the creatures or other dangers encountered is not within the limits of one's own strength?" Li Zheng grinned. "Eighteen silver-level puppies, just to play with you."

Before Li Zheng could even make a move, the lead wolf saw his face and was so frightened that its fur stood on end. It let out a whimper and turned to flee with its minions.

"what?"

This unusual situation piqued Li Zheng's curiosity. When did the creatures in the matrix become so cautious?

They ran away without even testing their strength?
Out of curiosity, Li Zheng stomped his foot on the ground and used his diamond-level physical abilities to keep up with the wolf pack.

The fallen leaves and branches piled up on the ground were kicked up and then carried several meters forward by the airflow from Li Zheng before slowly falling back down.

The wolves, though seemingly insignificant, may be forgotten by you, but they remember you perfectly.

[A husky that looks like a wolf, but is actually an energetic pet dog. Clearly, this is a husky that has infiltrated a wolf pack...]

Remember that little helper you missed out on before? Congratulations, you've reunited!

Several prompts flashed across Preys' Eye in succession. After reading them, Li Zheng abruptly stopped in his tracks.

"So that's what they were. No wonder they ran away when they saw me. They're still traumatized."

Li Zheng chuckled and shook his head, deciding not to continue the chase. Instead, he turned around, looked around, and headed in a particular direction.

The wolf king, who was running away with his tail between his legs, looked back in confusion and breathed a sigh of relief when he found that the terrifying two-legged creature had finally stopped chasing him.

"Woo~"

With a low whimper, it had no intention of going back to ambush its opponent. Leading its pack, it charged out of the forest without looking back and through an open metal door.

That was their hunting ground, home to hundreds of highly prolific Banyan Rabbits. They would only come with their pack of wolves when they were hungry, but this time they were forced to come earlier than usual.

Having escaped danger, the wolf pack dared not return to their forest territory for the time being. The wolf king then gave orders, allowing the pack to hunt freely, killing the sardine rabbits to fill their stomachs.

The wolf pack scattered upon receiving the order. The wolf king's gaze swept over one of the unusually cheerful spotted wolves. It didn't understand why this fellow wolf, who had joined later, seemed so eccentric.

Other forest wolves never toy with the harpy rabbits they catch; they simply bite them in the throat and give them a quick death.

This strange spotted wolf, however, often failed to catch rabbits, and even when it did manage to catch one, it would play tricks on it, causing the rabbit to escape.

Sometimes, when it fails to catch a rabbit on its own, it will run off to disturb other forest wolves, causing experienced hunters to fail in their hunts.

The Rongrong rabbit is very cunning. They have created many holes all over the grassland. If they fail to hunt, they will go into the hole and not come out for a long time.

Sometimes, when cornered, those rabbits will even leap out of their burrows and fight the wolves to the death!
These are also silver-level creatures, each half the size of a forest wolf. Their large, grass-grazing teeth show no mercy when they bite into flesh and bones.

The addition of the spotted wolves, along with the ruthless slaughter of them by the two-legged creatures last time, has led to an ecological imbalance between the wolf pack and the banyan rabbits.

If this continues, the wolf pack will soon be unable to defeat those seemingly harmless rabbits...

The wolf king lay on the ground, a gentle breeze blowing, bringing a touch of melancholy.

(To avoid trolls, the above thoughts are from an anthropomorphic perspective. In reality, the wolf king doesn't have such a high intelligence; maintaining ecological balance is simply an instinct of the wolf king.)
"Oh dear, this is the room I've been to before."

Li Zheng stroked the shallow fist mark left on a tree trunk. It was left when he first broke through his physical limits and excitedly practiced a round of "turtle fist" in the forest, using brute force.

Now, more than ten days later, Li Zheng returned here and found himself missing the past. Back then, he didn't have so many worries. He would occasionally trick Fengshan for fun and could be happy for half a day by using black iron-grade potions to earn some blood materials.

Now, I don't even care about Star-level beings anymore, and I'm no longer the noob I used to be who had to kill a few forest wolves and exploit the invincible bug in capsule dwellings.

Above that fist-shaped mark, Li Zheng clenched his fist and pressed it against the surface of the tree trunk. With a gentle push, his entire fist sank in.

After he stopped, there was a clearer fist mark on the tree trunk, and the edges were smoother. Compared to the previous one, it was like the difference between 1080P ultra-high definition Blu-ray and 360P standard definition.

At this moment, Li Zheng suddenly realized that when he left that shallow fist mark, he never seemed to have the thought that he would return here one day and leave a clearer mark.

Turning around, the place where the forest wolf carcass had been dismembered was somewhat messy, but the worthless remains scattered all over the ground had disappeared.

Not far from this place, two bulging mounds of earth have appeared out of nowhere.

[The wolf king, unable to bear seeing the remains of his kin exposed, led the pack to dig a pit, in which the remains of the forest wolves killed by the ferocious two-legged beasts were buried.]

A ferocious two-legged beast?

"Are you talking about me?" Li Zheng's face darkened for a moment. Was the use of the word "ruthless" inappropriate?

After all, he was only trying to save his own life at the time. If he hadn't fought back, wouldn't he have been the one to die?
Who will speak up for me? "Poli Poli~"

The two red Porings controlled Sakura as she wandered around. They were becoming increasingly adept at coordinating their actions, and they hardly affected each other at all.

"By the way, back then Sakura was just a tiny little thing, no bigger than the palm of your hand. Now she's grown into a Diamond-level leader." Li Zheng smiled.

Returning to this familiar place brought him a different feeling, much like returning to his alma mater as an adult. Scenes he had almost forgotten reappeared in his mind, as if they had just happened not long ago.

Although less than twenty days had passed, Li Zheng, who spent his days exploring, running dungeons, and teleporting around, felt as if half a year had gone by.

"Yes, I'll stay here tonight."

Li Zheng took out the capsule residence, but in his heart he was thinking about whether he should teleport randomly a few more times, maybe he could find the room where the rock ice giant was.

If you're lucky, you might be able to snatch the Rock Ice Giant leader again and get the second Rock Ice Flame.

He didn't think much of the Platinum-level abilities, but putting them in the Legion's inventory as a bonus for new players wasn't a bad idea.

Just as he was thinking this, a private message notification interrupted his thoughts.

“Lu Li? Why is he sending me a private message at this hour?” Li Zheng put away the capsule and casually opened the message.

"A special room, wanna come?"

The message was brief and contained no strange or unusual words, indicating that Lu Li was currently in a state of not yet showing symptoms.

“Come!” Li Zheng replied.

At the same time, he was a little puzzled. How could Lu Li still have exploration attempts at such a late hour?

"I'll pull you, just wait a moment."

After a moment, a portal opened in front of Li Zheng, summoning the Red Porings over. Li Zheng stepped through it.

……

Passing through the portal, Lu Li, carrying the large gun and looking pale, greeted Li Zheng: "We're here. Wait a moment, there are still a few people."

Li Zheng frowned and walked up to him: "How did you get this injury?"

As he spoke, he was secretly communicating with Old Pu, trying to understand the situation through Puerre's Eye.

Old Pu quickly identified the cause through the connection between the sub-body and displayed the details of Lu Li's injury.

After reading all the information, Li Zheng's expression turned strange.

This guy actually dared to fight Xiao?
Are you tired of living?

That guy was ridiculously strong; even I couldn't get the better of him.

Didn't Xiao get persuaded to go to channel 879?

Why did you go back to 995 again?

"It's nothing, I just had a relapse." Lu Li shook his head, seemingly unwilling to say more.

"Being attacked by players?" Li Zheng didn't want to reveal that he could monitor players with the Eye of Prey, so he casually asked a question.

“Not players.” Just as Lu Li was about to speak, three more people walked out of the portal behind him.

As soon as Ye Kai arrived, he shouted at the top of his lungs, "Nephew, what were you thinking? That's a wandering merchant, a special merchant from the Matrix. His strength is unfathomable, and you actually dared to shoot him?"

Another familiar voice followed closely: "Exactly, exactly. Do your family members know how reckless you are?"

When Li Zheng heard the voice, he turned around and saw that it was Wang Chaoran.

His inseparable best friend didn't come this time; the third player was a young man named Liu Jin.

“His family probably doesn’t know,” Li Zheng said to Wang Chaoran with a smile. “Long time no see. I was so busy taking care of Liu Qishao and the others that I neglected you.”

"Big guy!"

Wang Chaoran was first surprised, then jumped up with great joy: "Are you leading the team again this time?"

"Well, I guess so." Li Zheng nodded, checking their condition.

Since Wang Chaoran made his first fortune with Li Zheng, he has developed quite well, having unlocked two platinum-level genetic abilities. One earth-type ability is already at max level, and the other metal-type ability is currently at Lv5.

Both gene abilities are self-amplifying; the former increases strength, while the latter increases defense and attack power, thus complementing each other.

Liu Jin came over to greet him: "Hello, boss, we've met before."

"I remember you," Li Zheng said with a smile. "The anaconda meat tastes good, very delicious."

"That's because you're a great cook, sir." Liu Jin scratched the back of his head shyly.

“Ingredients are also crucial,” Li Zheng said. “By the way, I remember you have a blueprint for a blood qi suppression device. I’ll have Li Chun design a logo for you later, and you can make some for me. Tell me how many materials you used, and I’ll reimburse you.”

The Blood Suppression Device, also known as the Badge, is primarily designed to suppress the blood energy generated on a player due to being a red-named player.

However, due to its unique nature, players have developed additional uses for it, making it a symbol of status.

When Li Zheng created the Qidian Legion, he was thinking of asking Liu Jin to make some uniform-style uniforms for all members of the legion.

It's a shame we ran into each other here today; it saves Li Zheng the trouble of having to send him a private message later.

"It's my honor to be able to work for the big boss!" Liu Jin said excitedly, patting his chest.

"Then I'll have to trouble you." Li Zheng nodded, then turned to Ye Kai and asked, "You just said that Lu Li fought with the special merchant?"

“Isn’t that right?” Ye Kai sat in the mecha, giving a thumbs up: “Your son is the first person I’ve ever seen who dares to challenge and fight a special businessman.”

Haha, the first person? That's not necessarily true...

Li Zheng recalled what happened when he first met the octopus, his lips twitched twice, and he pointed at Lu Li and cursed, "What were you thinking? Huh? Xiao's strength is unfathomable. Even I almost fell into his hands. You're just a ranged squishy character. It's already a mercy that he didn't kill you."

"Stop yelling, stop yelling." Lu Li scratched his cheek, feeling frustrated. "Who could have imagined that I would have had an attack at that time? I had no choice!"

His illness is indeed a big problem; the timing and frequency of its attacks are unpredictable, and it's a miracle he's still alive.

Of course, the Eye of Preer that Li Zheng gave him also played a significant role, minimizing the risks that might be encountered during the exploration.

"As a doctor, Lao Xiao might know some famous psychiatrists. I'll talk to him later, and if we can find an expert, we'll try to cure you." Li Zheng felt that if Lu Li's illness wasn't cured, even with the Eye of Prey's assistance, it would eventually kill him.

"Let's talk about this later, let's finish the dungeon first." Lu Li seemed reluctant to discuss his illness, and waved to go open the special room.

The special room opened, revealing a pure black light screen behind the metal door. Li Zheng thought back for a moment and realized that he hadn't played any dungeons for several days. No wonder he always felt that something was missing in his life.

Lu Li, carrying a large gun, was the first to enter the light curtain. Li Zheng glanced back and saw that the two red Porings were very accommodating, following behind him with Sakura.

"I'll go second, you guys can do whatever you want." Li Zheng shrugged, winked at the Red Porings, and led them across the black membrane.

Upon entering the instance, the light suddenly dimmed, to the point where it was almost pitch black.

Lu Li, holding the sniper rifle, stared warily into the darkness in the distance, where a faint light shone, seemingly swaying gently with the air currents.

"Did you see anything?" Li Zheng asked as he went over.

Lu Li has two eye enhancement abilities. One is "Eagle Vision," which can increase his visual range and allow him to see farther than the average person.

This ability itself wasn't high-ranking, but he managed to upgrade it to diamond level, making it one of the more practical genetic abilities, which suited his sniper role very well.

Another eye enhancement is called "Night Walker," which automatically adjusts the eyes to ensure unobstructed vision in the absence of light or in low light conditions.

The "Nightwalker" can be used in conjunction with the "Eagle Vision," eliminating the need for lights at night. In some ways, nighttime is more suitable for Lu Li's exploration than daytime.

“A… wooden house, it looks like a tavern?” Lu Li answered somewhat uncertainly.

"Tavern?"

Li Zheng glanced at the dungeon progress, which displayed: [Fallen Abyss - Deep Layer].

"Oh, it's the Abyss of Fallen Gods?" Li Zheng chuckled. He had been worried that his Berserker Demon Avatar ability level was too low and had been too lazy to activate it lately, but today he ended up in the Abyss of Fallen Gods.

Ye Kai and the other two also entered the instance. His mech had been modified and had two searchlights, which, when turned on, could illuminate an area with a diameter of nearly 100 meters.

"You all wait here and don't wander around. I'll be right back." Li Zheng summoned the Bloodthirsty Demon Blade, unfurled his Demonic Thunder Wings, and flew towards the distant 'tavern'.

The dungeon space was very large with almost no obstructions. Li Zheng immediately activated the fifth speed boost and arrived near the tavern that Lu Li had mentioned in the blink of an eye.

It was indeed a tavern, about three stories high from the outside. A dim, yellow oil lamp hung at the entrance, and its flame flickered in the slightest breeze, as if it would go out with the slightest breath.

Beneath the oil lamp, a mottled iron rod protrudes from inside the wall, hanging a tattered, ancient dark blue cloth with a distorted character written on it in white paint.

Although I couldn't understand the characters, after staring at them for about five seconds, a concept would appear in my mind—"alcohol".

"So it really is a tavern. Is the main objective of this instance to conquer this tavern?" Li Zheng flew around the tavern a few times. Apart from the main entrance, there were no other entrances or exits.

There were hardly any windows; they were all covered with an opaque but translucent material, through which one could vaguely see figures moving about.

Yes, a human figure.

Li Zheng could see clearly that they were several reflections of humans from Earth, except that they seemed to be wearing some kind of decoration on their heads.

Just as he was about to go down into the tavern to check the situation, a pure black portal suddenly opened at the tavern entrance, and a huge dark red hand pierced through and grabbed the edge of the portal.

There will be another chapter in a while, but the word count is uncertain, depending on the progress.

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(End of this chapter)