Matrix Survival: One random treasure chest per day

Chapter 476 Let others have a way out...

"Speaking of which, what's the deal with these frogman brothers?"

"I don't know. It's all that bastard Bai Xiaosheng's fault. He switched the camera to look for pretty girls just now. It seems like he missed a good show?"

"Exactly, you bastard! You've ruined our audience's fun!"

Bai Xiaosheng stared at the comments, his face darkening as he cursed, "Pah! Wasn't it you guys who encouraged me to go out and look for pretty girls? You all couldn't forget those bikini-clad ladies on the beach after seeing them! Now look what happened! Not only did you not see any girls, you don't even know what happened to Li Zheng, and you still have the nerve to blame me! Let me tell you, I'm not taking the blame for this!"

Bai Xiaosheng had originally decided to focus the camera on Li Zheng, but the half hour that the group from Qidian had been fishing was too boring, so the audience suggested that he go to the beach and find those girls in bikinis to feast his eyes on.

Unexpectedly, after Li Zheng and his group caused a ruckus, the young ladies who had been pushed out by their respective legions to block the road not only dispersed, but were also dressed neatly and no longer a sight to behold. (Blocking the road can reduce competition, but it can't be done too obviously, or you'll get beaten up. However, with Li Zheng and his eccentric gang leading the way, showing no mercy to the ladies and making many people look foolish, the legions realized that blocking the road might not work, and the girls who had sacrificed their looks naturally had no reason to let others take advantage of them anymore.)
After searching around but not finding the scene they wanted, when they switched back, Li Zheng had already changed his fish basket on the beach and was heading to the second location.

Naturally, they would be completely unaware of what had happened before.

"Xiaobai, aren't you a special correspondent? Can you contact Li Zheng, or go in and give him an exclusive interview to ask what's going on?" someone asked in the live chat.

“This…” Bai Xiaosheng hesitated for a moment.

After the event started, the terminal cut off communication between players inside and outside the game. All players participating in the event could only enjoy the Legion Channel chat. They could not see or receive any other information sent from the outside world.

Bai Xiaosheng speculated that this so-called fishing activity must have a deeper purpose; otherwise, the terminal would not have gone to such lengths and made so many fuss.

Since the participants are organized by legion, there are currently no known examples of legion members outside the event being able to contact members within the event. Bai Xiaosheng estimates that it is highly unlikely that they will be able to contact them.

However, as a special temporary reporter invited by the terminal, Bai Xiaosheng has three opportunities to shuttle between events. These three shuttles are subject to the terminal's rules, which prohibit him from revealing any information about other legions to the event's members. He can only conduct some dialogues similar to "interviews".

Each interview is limited to three minutes.

"What's the rush? Li Zheng has already caught the frogmen. The whole story will be revealed soon. We just need to wait." After careful consideration, Bai Xiaosheng thought that wasting an interview opportunity over such a trivial matter was making a mountain out of a molehill.

At this moment, a player suddenly said in the chat: "Brothers, I just went out for a walk, and what happened was recorded by Hippo's live stream!"

Other viewers in the live chat urged, "Really? Hurry up and explain!"

Bai Xiaosheng also became interested and stared intently at the comments without saying a word.

"Actually, the hippo crew spent most of their time looking for interesting footage, so they only recorded a few small details. They don't know exactly what happened."

The person in the live chat tidied up a bit and then continued, "Here's what happened: when Li Zheng and his friends finished fishing and were about to leave, someone stabbed the fish basket they were using to put the fish in, and almost all of their catch was stolen."

"At the time, a few people at Qidian felt cheated by fishing gear merchants and bought counterfeit and shoddy goods. They were indignant and wanted to settle accounts, but Li Zheng suppressed them."

"Li Zheng picked up a fish basket and, after just one glance, determined that the incident was deliberate, but since the enemy was in the open while we were in the dark, we were unable to catch them in the act."

At this point, someone in the live chat couldn't hold back any longer and interjected, "Needless to say, the one paddling the fish basket was that frogman player, right?"

"It's definitely him, no doubt about it! Otherwise, Li Zheng wouldn't have deliberately fried him up along with the fish!"

"Now that you mention it, do you guys think back and remember what Li Zheng said before he fried the fish?"

"He said he discovered a special kind of fish that just wouldn't take the hook no matter what..."

"Holy crap! That's a double entendre!"

Bai Xiaosheng quickly spoke up to stop more comments from going off-topic: "Um, you guys can discuss it later. What about that guy? There must be more details later, right?"

"For example, if this frogman player succeeds once, he should theoretically flee immediately and not come looking for Li Zheng and the others again for at least a while. How come he's targeting them again so quickly?"

"That's where the interesting part comes in," the commenter continued, "Didn't they say that Li Zheng recognized it as man-made at a glance?"

"But he talked to his pet... oh, that little succubus pet, and suddenly changed his mind, saying that the fish baskets were defective, and even had a big argument with the fishing tackle merchant."

"The whole process was filmed by the hippo. The camera even gave a close-up of the frogman and his team leader. The team leader said that Li Zheng looked familiar!"

"Hilarious! He didn't even recognize Li Zheng!"

"He's the commander of the number one ranked legion, and his combat power is recognized as number one. How come he's so hard to recognize?"

Upon hearing this, Bai Xiaosheng pondered for a moment before asking, "Did that frogman follow Li Zheng immediately after he left, after witnessing Li Zheng's heated argument with the fishing gear merchant?"

"Ah, right, right, how did you know?" The person who posted the comment continued, "I heard from the viewers in Hippo's live stream that at first, the frogman didn't seem to want to go immediately, but after witnessing Li Zheng arguing with the fishing gear merchant, he changed his mind."

Bai Xiaosheng, being a master who had devised dirty tricks and indirectly caused the death of Banquan Longma, only needed to do a little reverse deduction to know the specific process.

He switched the camera to Miriel, who was still sitting on the edge of the island, holding a fishing rod and focusing on fishing. She had no interest in the frogman players that Li Zheng had caught. Occasionally, she would take a sip of soda and eat some grilled fish, which seemed to be the things that attracted her more.

Looking at the 'absent-minded' little succubus in the picture, Bai Xiaosheng laughed and said, "Li Zheng is indeed the player with the number one combat power. He can even get such a top-quality, high-intelligence pet! It's a pity... he is still a bit naive in terms of strategy, and his plan still has loopholes."

His nonsensical remarks left most of the audience completely bewildered.

Some longtime viewers, who knew his routines by heart, cursed, "You bastard, you're showing off again!"

"Everyone, ignore him, or he'll start asking us for gifts again!"

"Yeah, yeah, let's stifle him and not give him a chance to show off!"

Bai Xiaosheng glanced at the live stream comments, then slowly zoomed out until the screen covered important figures like Li Zheng, before leisurely saying, "Since you're all not interested in the hidden schemes in this matter, then forget it..."

"but……"

He grinned mischievously and said, "Let's make a bet. Let's bet on the first thing Li Zheng says to the frogman after he wakes up, shall we?"

Bet on the first sentence?

Isn't that simple?
"I bet! What will you say if you lose?" Someone in the live chat immediately agreed.

Bai Xiaosheng puffed out his chest and said proudly, "Lose? How could I possibly lose?"

"Stop talking nonsense. If you win, I'll give you a reward. If you lose, you have to wear women's clothes and dance a otaku dance for us brothers!"

"Ah...are we going to go this far?" Bai Xiaosheng hesitated for a moment before finally deciding, "Okay!"

Seeing that he agreed, the number and speed of comments scrolling across the screen more than doubled, containing all sorts of opinions. One person asked, "Who sent you?"

One comment on the screen said, "You're the one who tore up our fish basket, right?"

Someone else asked, "What's your name?"

In short, the audience let their imaginations run wild, simulating almost every possible thing Li Zheng could say.

Seeing this, Bai Xiaosheng's face grew increasingly grim, and finally he almost gritted his teeth as he said, "Are you trying to drive me to the brink of despair?"

"Haha!" The viewers in the live chat were laughing. All their options were blocked. They didn't believe that Bai Xiaosheng could turn the tide!
Get ready to dress up as a woman and dance like a hipster!
However, just when everyone thought Bai Xiaosheng was doomed to lose, Bai Xiaosheng's expression suddenly changed, and he spoke almost at the same time as Li Zheng, uttering three words.

"Are you awake?"

"..."

The live chat exploded instantly. "Does this even count as a sentence?"

Oh no, I've turned into a fish!
Only the spectator who knew about Li Zheng's argument with the fishing gear merchant fell into deep thought as he looked at the smug Bai Xiaosheng.

"Are you awake?"

The frogman slowly awoke, and the first thing he saw was a bald man with a face full of scars smiling at him and gently uttering those three words.

However, for some reason, when he saw the person's face clearly, a chill ran from the tips of his hair all the way to his heels, and his whole body involuntarily trembled.

"Li...Li Li Li...Gulp~ Li Zheng!?"

I grass!

What the hell did I mess with?
Previously, I couldn't see these people's faces clearly because of the refraction of light in the sea. Now that I can see them clearly, I realize how brave I am.

They actually stole from the head of the number one person in the matrix?

Finished!

Barbie is Q!
"You know me?" Li Zheng touched his face and smiled. "Since you know me, that makes things easier."

As he spoke, his expression suddenly changed, turning grim: "Tell me, who sent you to cause trouble for me?"

During his time in the Matrix, Li Zheng experienced various battles and was tempered by violent emotions, making his killing intent much stronger than that of ordinary people.

Suddenly, his expression changed. Even though he knew it was impossible to be killed by someone else during the event, the frogman player was so frightened by the aura emanating from Li Zheng that he was completely disoriented, stammering, "It's our guild leader... Oh no, it's me... No, it's our guild leader..."

Not only him, but also the more than forty members of Qidian were experiencing for the first time the aura that Li Zheng was deliberately radiating, and they involuntarily took half a step back.

"Speak properly!" Li Zheng squatted down and patted the frogman on the shoulder.

If there hadn't been too little space on the island, the frogman player would have rolled out instantly with just that one move.

"Following you was an order from our commander, but slashing the fish basket to steal the fish was my spur-of-the-moment idea; I wanted to curry favor with our commander," the frogman confessed in detail. "I... I really didn't know you were here. Otherwise, even if I had three thousand lives, I wouldn't have dared to do such a thing!"

The frogman player was on the verge of tears. He used to be a fan of Li Zheng and even wanted to join the Qidian Legion.

Unexpectedly, not only did the legion not receive any bonuses, but the very first target of this event turned out to be the starting point...

This is really a case of a dung beetle going into a toilet and encountering someone with diarrhea; if it can't finish eating, it has to take the food with it.

"Your commander ordered you to follow me, is it to get revenge for the sandstorm I stirred up back then?" Li Zheng asked knowingly.

"Well..." the frogman said awkwardly, "Actually, none of our legion's players were affected at the time. The reason I was asked to come along was simply because you guys were too high-profile, and I wanted to track your movements to trade with other legions."

“Previously, the various legions didn’t have enough points to buy yachts, and they hadn’t even paid off the points they had for buying fishing gear on credit. Even if those legions that wanted to retaliate against you wanted to catch up, they didn’t have enough means.”

"So... what our leader actually means is that after we find out your whereabouts, we'll sell you off once those people can afford the yacht. That way, we can also earn some points from other people."

Unexpectedly, the leader of the Zhanlang Legion was a business genius who even came up with and implemented a method of selling information.

"But I must say, your acting was superb." The frogman player said, on the verge of tears, "After that success, I was afraid of being discovered by you, so I didn't plan to do it a second time. I was thinking of selling you your approximate location and making as much money as I could."

"Who knew you would actually go and argue with the fishing tackle merchant? When I saw that the target was this kind of two hundred... uh... cough, I didn't think much of it and followed along."

Since the frogman player had already started confessing, he decided to tell all the details he needed to, hoping to get leniency from Li Zheng.

Since he cooperated so readily, Li Zheng certainly wouldn't let him down: "I'll give you two choices now. One: Go find your team leader and have him return the fish you stole last time, and I'll let it go. Two: Don't go back. This event doesn't allow killing, so we'll tie you up and whip you with a small leather whip every hour until the event ends."

As he spoke, Li Zheng took out several whips of different shapes from the capsule. They were all extremely ferocious weapons, and anyone who was whipped by them would definitely suffer.

"I choose one!" The frogman player swallowed hard and hurriedly said, "I choose one, give the fish back!"

Anyone with a brain knows which of these two choices to choose.

After all, the points belong to the legion, but the physical pain is your own, so why make things difficult for yourself?
"...Then let's go."

Li Zheng lifted the frogman up. He wasn't seriously injured to begin with; he had only been stunned and had already recovered.

"Are you going with us?"

Zhan Zhouzhou stopped Li Zheng.

"Ah."

Li Zheng said, "I happen to be going to the Lava Mountains anyway, so buying fish is just something I do on the side."

Li Zheng's purpose in going to the lava mountains is self-evident.

Zhan Zhouzhou's eyes twitched, and she grabbed Li Zhengdao: "You'd better calm down. Can't you leave others a way out?"

(End of this chapter)