Matrix Survival: One random treasure chest per day

Chapter 484 Word Game
"Wuhu~ Brothers, this is pretty impressive, isn't it!?"

When Zhou Shufen returned to the live broadcast room, she jumped up excitedly, tugged at her collar, looked at Li Zheng's autograph and kissed it, overjoyed: "See? Li Zheng's autograph!"

"Why only let him sign on one side, instead of letting him sign one word on each side?"

Zhou Shufen read a comment from the live stream, then tugged at her clean collar on the other side and replied, "No, no, this side is reserved for Jackson."

Jackson Wang is a member of a well-known boy band. He is handsome and has a fit physique.

Due to his handsome appearance and competent professional skills, he has a large number of fans and is very popular.

Zhou Shufen is his number one fan, and everyone in the live streaming circle knows this, including viewers who frequently watch Zhou Shufen's videos.

One viewer reminded her, "You've already entered the matrix, haven't you tried contacting Jackson Wang to fulfill your dream?"

Upon seeing this comment, Zhou Shufen calmed down and softly said, "Some people can only be admired from afar, never approached."

……

After a period of congestion, the entrance to the lava mountain range was finally cleared out, leaving only a large, quiet crater area besides all the members of the Origin Legion.

After Xiao Siyuan led everyone in, Li Zheng ordered his deputy leaders to surround the entrance portal to the Lava Mountains. Any player entering the area had to undergo rigorous verification and pay a substantial reward before being allowed to pass.

At first, some people didn't believe in the danger and launched an attack on the group from the starting point after passing through the portal. The attack caused a series of white lights to flash across the scene, instantly clearing out hundreds of people and almost allowing them to break through the defense line.

However, Zhan Zhouzhou then led Feng Shan and his wife to the front. The three expert players joined forces, with both melee and ranged attacks, and slaughtered a large number of people.

It took a full ten minutes for the portal to become quiet again.

At this point, the number of players who had been sent back by Zhan Zhouzhou and his team for the second time to experience the 'freeze' had already exceeded five figures!
The extremely brutal scenes thrilled all the viewers watching the live stream.

So terrifying.

"That's ruthless! Even if Qidian only had Zhan Zhouzhou, let alone Li Zheng, it would still be able to maintain the legion's number one position and prevent others from surpassing it, right?"

"Who says otherwise? I'm just waiting for the starting point to upgrade. A 10% extra reward every day is just too good to pass up."

"Then you're in for a long wait. I just checked, and even for Kunlun and Jiutian, which are ranked second and third, joining them won't be easy, let alone Qidian, which is ranked first!"

"I hadn't even noticed until now, but it seems like the top three legions on the leaderboard are all from our country, right? And five of them are in the top ten! Amazing!!"

"Sit down, sit down. It's just basic stuff. Don't you even look at how many people our country has? With such a large population, isn't it only natural that we have a higher chance of producing top experts than other countries?"

"Look! Speak of the devil and he appears! Isn't that Liu Qishao and Tang Qianzang?"

"Wow! Two of the top three legion commanders and a acting legion commander in the same frame? This lineup is simply dreamlike!"

"Look at those young men following behind Liu Qishao, that's Ma Long's team, who got second place in the mutant activity!"

"Haha! The people around Tang Qianzang are also quite famous. Together they are jokingly called the Journey to the West Team."

"With the leaders of the Second and Third Legions personally involved, do you think Li Zheng will give them face and allow them to enter the Lava Mountain arena without needing to accumulate points?"

"Probably? We're all on the same side, shouldn't we at least give each other that much face?"

"I think it's unlikely. Those two legions must have tens of thousands of people combined, right? Even if it's only 10,000, that's 100,000 points per hour!"

Just as everyone in the live chat was speculating, Li Zheng arrived at the teleportation portal from the rear of the Qidian Legion. Looking at Liu Qishao, Tang Qianzang, and the others, he said enthusiastically, "Hey, big patrons! Are you two taking people into the Lava Mountains?"

Liu Qi glanced at the encirclement of Qidian and said with dissatisfaction, "Hey Lao Li, we're all so familiar with each other, do we have to pay to get in?"

Tang Qianzang chimed in, "That's right, that's right. We're all family, why be so formal? Just let us in, okay? We'll just fish honestly and promise not to cause you any trouble."

"What do you two mean by that?"

Li Zheng remained enthusiastic and said with a smile, "As the saying goes, even brothers need to keep clear accounts. You two haven't forgotten how you informed our two legions at the beginning of the event, have you?"

Upon hearing this, Liu Qishao and the others all looked embarrassed.

Everyone originally thought this was just an entertainment event, and they all wanted to take advantage of their large numbers to regain the limelight they lost in the last mutant event.

Even if you don't get first place, your total score must be higher than the starting score.

As a result, having entered the competition later than others, they encountered numerous setbacks when searching for territory with the two legions.

Even if there's still some space around them, they'll still spare people to fill every inch of the area.

On an island in the endless ocean, Li Zheng personally went to ask for the other half of the sparsely populated area, but they refused, saying that the area was reserved for other members of the legion, which infuriated Li Zheng.

Unexpectedly, fortunes change, and soon it was their turn to come and beg Li Zheng for help.

"Brother was just trying to play a little joke on you, why are you taking it so seriously?" Liu Qishao explained with a forced laugh.

“Exactly, exactly, why take it so seriously?” Tang Qiancang nodded in agreement from the side.

Li Zheng and Liu Qishao turned to look at him together, and said disdainfully, "Are you a broken record?"

This guy is too slippery. He always waits for Liu Qi to speak first, then pretends to be serious from the sidelines. He has the typical slacker mentality.

After being rebuked by the two, Tang Qiancang awkwardly shut his mouth.

"Okay, don't think I'm being too serious. You all know the difficulties Qidian faces; we can't compete with large legions like yours in terms of manpower."

"We're not some big legion. Your legion has been number one on the Qidian legion rankings for days..."

"Shut up!" Li Zheng pointed at Tang Qianzang and shouted, silencing him and making him swallow back all the remaining flattering words.

It's true that Li Zheng is more responsive to gentle persuasion than force, but he doesn't take the bait from just anyone.

Tang Qianzang, that old fox, is nowhere near as charming as a girl like Zhou Shufen.

After glaring at Tang Qianzang, who was sulking and refusing to speak, Li Zheng continued, "It's not impossible for you to enter the Lava Mountains, but I have two options for you: a paid option and a free option. It's up to you to choose."

"Is there a free option?"

Liu Qishao's eyes lit up. Sure enough, it was easier to talk to him by waving the banner of compatriots. Old Li really fell for it!
"Of course, this is the second option we're offering because of your two families. If it were anyone else, they would just have to pay up!"

Li Zheng's lips curled up slightly. Anyone who knew him well would know from this smile that he was already thinking about making money again.

The adjutant behind Liu Qishao realized something was wrong and solemnly reminded him, "Major, we can't be careless! There's a saying, 'Free things are always the most expensive.' Let's choose the paid option!"

Liu Qishao leaned back slightly, understanding the same principle. After pondering for a moment, he asked, "Could you elaborate on these two plans?"

Liu Qishao ultimately decided to listen to Li Zheng's two proposals before making a choice.

"Simple!"

Li Zheng said with a smile, "As for this so-called fee scheme, I'll give your two legions a 10% discount, so each person can get in for 9 points per hour."

"What about the free option?" Tang Qiancang couldn't help but ask.

"The free option is even simpler."

Li Zheng laughed so hard his eyes almost disappeared: "The Lava Mountains are opening their doors wide to the Kunlun and Jiutian legions, not charging you a single point! You can bring as many people as you want, and stay as long as you want!"

"You can even bring in your subordinate small legions. As many people as you want, as long as you two vouch for them and they're all safe, I'll let them in!"

The two looked at each other in disbelief after hearing about the free offer. Was this for real?

"Of course, while enjoying the benefits, both legions will have to make a small sacrifice." Li Zheng's true intentions were beginning to emerge.

Liu Qi and Shao held their breath, thinking to themselves that there were indeed additional conditions!

Neither of them responded, waiting for Li Zheng to reveal the next part.

"I want Kunlun and Jiutian to join forces and spare no effort to help me hold off the Boss of the Endless Ocean for thirty seconds!" Li Zheng raised three fingers and stated his final condition with a resounding voice.

Hold off the boss of the endless ocean for thirty seconds!
Upon hearing this condition, Liu Qishao, Tang Qianzang, and everyone behind them all momentarily froze in their breath.

The subtext of Li Zheng's words was that he wanted to take the lead in pushing the boss!

Kunlun and Jiutian's mission was to be cannon fodder and die for him!

"no!"

Before Liu Qishao could speak, his adjutant behind him said decisively, "Our Kunlun warriors are willing to shed blood and tears, but there is no need for them to suffer such meaningless pain!"

No one will actually die in this event, but the pain of being shot into white light is real. The adjutant had experienced that feeling of being on the verge of life and death not long ago.

The pain is excruciating!

Once someone has experienced it, it's hard for them to muster the courage to go through it again.

This is why, even though most players know the Boss can be killed, they still choose to try negotiating with Li Zheng first.

They really don't want to experience 'death' again.

"Let's...discuss this."

"Please."

Liu Qishao did not make a decision on the spot. He turned around and pulled his emotionally agitated adjutant and the silent Tang Qianzang and others to a corner.

"Major, let's choose the first option. It's just points, the brothers can earn them back eventually, right?" The adjutant spoke first, almost pleading with Liu Qi.

"It's possible to earn it back."

Liu Qishao did not deny the adjutant's point of view, "But have you calculated that, in addition to the points that are about to be paid to Li Zheng, we also have bills that we need to pay off when we bought fishing gear from merchants at the beginning of the event?"

The fishing competition has only been going on for a little over an hour, but the actual fishing time was only the first half hour; the rest of the time was spent waiting in the transit space.

At the start of the event, all legions purchased a large amount of fishing gear on credit from the fishing tackle merchant in order to facilitate fishing, thus incurring a large debt of points.

Some temporarily created level 1 legions only have 500 members and don't owe many points. If they hadn't bought the expensive items that were released later, they might have been able to pay off their debts in the half hour they earned.

However, Kunlun and Jiutian were aiming to win from the start, so as soon as the fishing tackle merchant introduced expensive items, they invested almost all of their initial income into them.

If they don't compromise with Li Zheng, they will not only gain nothing by the end of the event, but they will also have to repay a large amount of props as debt, which would be a losing proposition.

"It's just points, right? With the points we pay Li Zheng later, brothers, if we work a little harder, we can pay it off in three hours at most, right?" the adjutant pleaded.

"Three hours..."

Liu Qishao said worriedly, "Who can guarantee that another Boss won't appear within these three hours?"

"Yes." Tang Qiancang nodded in agreement, "That's what the boss meant too. A boss was released on the terminal only half an hour after the event started. There are still more than twenty hours to go. Who knows how many waves of bosses are waiting for us?"

"Moreover, it seems that among the players, only Li Zheng is able to effectively damage the Boss and quickly kill it."

"If we try to defeat the boss ourselves, the difficulty will be much higher, and the sacrifices will be beyond our imagination."

"But... with Li Zheng around, what if another boss appears in the Lava Mountains? Can't he just kill the boss the moment it appears?" The adjutant thought that if he handed over the points to Li Zheng, then as the trading party, Li Zheng wouldn't have any problem ensuring the safety of his customers, right?
"You're still too young." Tang Qiancang remained silent. When Li Zheng unleashed the Boss and instantly killed the Boss, a group of Jiutian members happened to witness it from a short distance away and told him everything that had happened.

The lava mountains are what they are today, all thanks to Li Zheng.

As a 'businessman' with such a good way to make money, how could Li Zheng only do it once?
“Think about it carefully. Did Li Zheng ever say that the entire event would be effective once the paid option was selected?” Tang Qianzang reminded his adjutant. “On the contrary, when talking about the free option, Li Zheng deliberately mentioned phrases like ‘stay as long as you want.’ Do you think someone like Li Zheng would make such a promise without any basis?”

"This……"

The adjutant thought about it carefully and realized that Li Zheng's words were full of traps!
His face immediately turned ugly.

Normally, he would have seen through such a simple word trap at a glance.

However, this time it involved the physical and mental health of all the Kunlun warriors, and concern led to confusion, preventing us from recognizing the problem immediately.

"Nothing."

Tang Qiancang smiled mysteriously: "Success and failure both come from wordplay. I have a plan. If it goes smoothly, perhaps our two families can not only pay off our previous debts, but also make a fortune through Li Zheng."

"Oh?"

Upon hearing this, Liu Qishao moved closer to Tang Qianzang: "Tell me in detail!"

……

"Aren't you afraid that the promises you just made to them will lead them to other smaller legions using low-cost points?" Zhan Zhouzhou asked in a low voice next to Li Zheng.

"Hehe." Li Zheng remained calm, maintaining his smile, and looked at Liu Qi and the others, answering Zhan Zhouzhou's question in the legion channel: "If I didn't say that, why would they agree to help me defeat the Boss?"

(End of this chapter)