Matrix Survival: One random treasure chest per day

Chapter 491 Wife...hehe...my wife...

"So, you Penglai want to invite me to help you defeat that boss in the rainforest?"

Li Zheng put down his chopsticks and said to Liu Jiale, "You weren't there, so you might not know the full story."

"Don't be fooled by my success in killing two bosses in a short period of time. In reality, fighting a boss is a very risky game for me."

"First of all, my defense is far inferior to my attack power. If I hit the boss, I can kill him instantly, and if the boss hits me, I can also be killed instantly."

"Therefore you need to arrange for someone to protect my safety at all costs."

“At least 800 people died in Kunlun and Jiutian before I found an opportunity to launch an attack. You all saw the final result. My 30-minute freeze period had just ended.”

"To be honest, the feeling of death is much worse than I imagined."

Li Zheng smiled bitterly as he said this. If it weren't for the lingering resentment attacking him, the negative effects of the Heaven and Earth Slash wouldn't have been so unbearable for him.

"Secondly, do you think the people of Penglai can be as disciplined, orderly, and fearless as those of Kunlun and Jiutian?"

Li Zheng raised a seemingly unnecessary concern, but in fact, a very crucial point.

The question is, can this kind of disorganized army achieve the level of a professional army?
To put it bluntly, apart from Kunlun, the entire Matrix basically lacks legions composed entirely of military personnel; calling them a rabble wouldn't be an exaggeration. (The Bald Eagle was initially like that, but the addition of the Superpowered Squad made it less pure, and it has already been broken up by Shaw and his team, so it's not within the scope of this discussion.)
The most prominent characteristic of a mob is that they are unruly and disobedient!
Not every player who joins a legion is willing to obey the legion leader's orders. The reason they are so eager to join the top ten legions on the leaderboard is simply to take advantage of the daily bonuses.
Based on this, how much sacrifice do you expect them to make for the legion?

Don't get your hopes up!
Some people might even think that joining a legion is giving the legion face!

Why are Kunlun and Jiutian able to be fearless?

Because they had already formed an organization before the legion function was introduced, they had a strong sense of belonging to their respective legions.

What about Penglai?
It was just a temporary recruitment to form a legion after the legion function was released.

These people come from all over the world, and some are even from other countries.

How much sense of belonging can you expect them to have for Penglai?

What's the difference between sending them to be cannon fodder and sending them to their deaths in vain?
Although you won't actually die, you have to endure the pain that comes with the moment of 'death' yourself; no one else can help share it.

It's very real, and also very cruel.

But that's human nature, and it's also the biggest reason why Li Zheng initially sought cooperation with Liu Qishao and his group without considering other legions.

Your concerns are not unfounded.

Liu Jiale didn't speak, but Xu Ying, who was sitting next to him, slowly said, "But in my Penglai, I'm confident I can persuade eight hundred people to be cannon fodder."

A generous reward will surely attract brave men; as long as some benefits are offered, there will be no shortage of people willing to sacrifice themselves.

"Eight hundred men are not enough!"

Li Zheng shook his head decisively: "I have a general understanding of the environment of the Endless Ocean, so I had a certain prediction of the outcome when I made my move."

"But I've never been to the rainforest and know nothing about the environment there. I would need some time to observe the environment before I could go there."

"So... eight hundred people aren't enough!"

Moreover, how can eight hundred rabble compare to eight hundred well-trained soldiers?
The Kunlun 800 men were able to withstand the Boss's attacks for nearly ten seconds, and their attacks also caused some trouble for the Boss.

Penglai has brought out 800 people, but it's questionable whether they can withstand the Boss's attack for even five seconds. That's not even enough time for Li Zheng to observe the environment and formulate a plan of action.

"Isn't that enough?"

Liu Jiale seemed somewhat unconvinced: "The players who can join Penglai are at least Platinum level in terms of strength, and some of them are even Diamond level experts. Is the overall strength of such a team still inferior to that of Kunlun?"

Before coming, he had inquired and learned that the strongest individual among the people sent by Kunlun was only close to the diamond level.

Outside the event, there was a streamer from Penglai who could easily obtain a lot of information. When he found Li Chun, he kept asking where Li Zheng was, just to verify whether Li Zheng had really died together with the Boss.

In Liu Jiale's mind, Li Zheng's strength was unfathomable and beyond his comprehension.

But he was confident that the forces he had assembled would be stronger overall than those of Kunlun, who had the same number of men.

“Not enough.” Li Zheng still shook his head: “Old Liu, it’s not that I look down on your Penglai, but in fact, apart from Kunlun and Jiutian, I don’t believe any other legion in the entire matrix can do better than them with the same number of people.”

"If you want me to take action, the number of cannon fodder needs to be at least tripled, otherwise I don't want to waste half an hour."

After all, Kunlun not only has fearless warriors, but also many commanders who control the battlefield.

Their presence and their ability to command were one of the reasons why Kunlun was able to sustain itself for so long at a relatively low cost.

A good commander is worth a thousand troops; this is no joke.

A flock of sheep led by a lion may be just as powerful as a pride of lions led by a sheep.

Moreover, it's not certain whether Penglai or Kunlun is the stronger lion.

"three times?"

Xu Ying frowned, her brows furrowing into a deep frown: "You mean, you'd only be willing to help if at least 2,400 people were to act as vanguards?"

"Yes."

Li Zheng calmly said, "The more people, the better. The most important thing is that these people must be obedient. Once chaos breaks out, the effect will be greatly reduced, and the numbers will have to increase."

"Old Li, aren't you exaggerating a bit?"

Liu Jiale said anxiously, "Let alone two thousand four hundred people, even a thousand people might not be enough for us."

"How many people you can provide is a question for you to consider." Li Zheng looked directly into Liu Jiale's eyes: "Old Liu, I haven't mentioned compensation yet, which is already out of consideration for our past relationship."

"Otherwise, if I switch to another company here, I won't even bother discussing staffing with them before we've agreed on the compensation, you understand?"

Li Zheng's meaning was clear: he was only willing to waste his time and breath because he thought Liu Jiale had a relatively harmonious relationship with him in the past.

He could even help the other party for free this time without asking for any reward.

But he must ensure that this effort is worthwhile and not come up empty-handed.

After all, a 30-minute freeze period is quite difficult for him to endure.

"Two thousand four hundred people... that's too many. Even if we insist that members of the Penglai Legion participate, it will be difficult to gather that number." Liu Jiale looked at the long line of Qidian members waiting for Miriel to help cook lunch not far away, and tentatively asked, "Old Li, could your Qidian..."

"No way!" Li Zheng refused decisively before he could finish speaking.

The overall strength of the members at the starting point is arguably the weakest in the entire matrix. Sending them out would be like sending cannon fodder; even if they use all their skills, they might not be able to cause any trouble for those bosses.

Meaningless.

"Well... okay, let's think of another way."

Rejected, Liu Jiale stood up with a bitter face and said, "You guys eat slowly, Xu Ying and I are leaving first." Without waiting for Li Zheng and the others to stop her, she turned around and entered the teleportation portal to leave.

After the two left, Li Zheng picked up his chopsticks again, looked down, and was dumbfounded.

"Holy crap~ Are you guys being ridiculous? You've already devoured all ten dishes in just a few words?!"

To make it easier to entertain guests, Li Zheng used his privilege as the group leader to cut in line and have Miriel help him prepare ten dishes first.

I never expected that Zhan Zhouzhou, Xiao Siyuan, and Lin Fengjiao and her brother would be so powerful. I only had a few words with Liu Jiale and the others, and all that food was left was on the plate. They even slurped up the soup with other things.

No wonder no one interrupted earlier; they were all too busy talking!
Li Zheng picked up a plate that was so shiny it reflected light, and said with a mix of amusement and exasperation, "This is cleaner than the plate that Xiaoying licked. You guys are really something else."

Zhan Zhouzhou, quite unceremoniously cradling her slightly protruding belly, said with obvious satisfaction, "Actually, most of these plates were indeed licked clean by Xiaoying."

Xiao Siyuan picked his teeth with a toothpick and chimed in, "Miss Zhan is right... Eh? That stuff can't be eaten!"

Li Zheng turned his head and saw Xiao Siyuan snatch the sea urchin shell from Hong Boli's hand, and he was speechless.

After Sakura fell into a deep sleep, her diet consisted of being fed by the Red Poring that parasitized her, and she would simply chew unconsciously.

Unexpectedly, these two red Porings are like goofballs, even wanting Sakura to taste the saltiness of a sea urchin shell...

Sakura took a bite and missed, smacked her lips a few times, and then, whether she was full or not, closed her mouth and continued to snore.

"I've been wanting to ask this before, what's wrong with the little one?" Zhan Zhouzhou sat up straight and pointed at Xiaoying, asking, "Why has it been sleeping the whole time lately and hasn't woken up at all?"

"There was a slight mishap." Li Zheng asked the Red Porings to take Sakura aside to help her digest, and then explained the issue with Sakura's bloodline.

"So it has to stay asleep forever?" Xiao Siyuan thought for a moment and said, "How about you give me some of its blood later, and I'll study it and maybe find a solution."

"Need not."

Li Zheng said, "I already have a plan. Once we reach the outer city, we can go to the ancestral land of the Blood-Patterned Black Dragon and ask the older generation of black dragons for help. It's only a matter of time before it regains its senses."

"Oh, that's good." Xiao Siyuan didn't insist. He was just making a suggestion; he wasn't 100% sure he could figure it out himself.

"By the way," Li Zheng turned to Zhan Zhouzhou, "I didn't realize that your swordsmanship has improved so much without me even noticing."

He was referring to the trick Zhan Zhouzhou used to scare Xu Ying away; it was like something out of a fantasy novel, and it made him envious.

"Tch, it's just for show." Zhan Zhouzhou picked up a sea urchin shell dismissively, pinched a sharp spine between her fingers, and gently broke it off.

Snapped!
The spike broke off instantly.

Li Zheng: "..."

Is it this crispy?
He picked up a sea urchin shell and, mimicking Zhan Zhouzhou's movements, broke off a sharp spike with almost no effort.

It really is that crispy!

Not only Li Zheng, but even Xiao Siyuan and the others were bewildered.

When they saw Zhan Zhouzhou showing off before, they all took it seriously, and not one of them thought about how sturdy the sea urchin itself was.

"Why don't you try this one?"

Zhan Zhouzhou casually tossed Li Zheng a thin strand of hair that was barely visible to the naked eye; it was a hair that had been plucked from Lin Fengjiao's head.

However, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't do what Zhan Zhouzhou had done before, cutting off even a tiny fragment from the sea urchin shell.

"I do have real skills, but not as amazing as you imagine," Zhan Zhouzhou said calmly. "The reason I don't spar with her is mainly because there's no real benefit to it."

When she was learning martial arts, both her father and grandfather gave her advice.

Avoid fights that are pointless.

Winning brings no benefit, losing brings shame.

It's mainly the people from the Lost Exhibition family.

Upon hearing this, Li Zheng's face suddenly darkened: "Then what was the meaning of you constantly pestering me at the gym last time, wanting me to spar with you?"

"Oh, that time."

Zhan Zhouzhou waved her hand dismissively: "Back then, I thought you were still a bit annoyed with me, so I made up an excuse to beat you up."

Upon hearing this, Li Zheng's face darkened even more.

So, you, Lady Zhan, are actually quite petty!
"Why are you looking at me like that?" Zhan Zhouzhou said with dissatisfaction. "Didn't I give you some pointers on swordsmanship after I lost?"

"Oh? Then it's alright."

Her words made Li Zheng feel much better.

"Are you still eating? Should I ask Mirell to make some more dishes?" Li Zheng asked casually, only to suddenly realize that Feng Shan and his two companions were not among those present.

This is not in line with Fengshan's usual style.

"Huh? Where are Fengshan and the others?"

"There!" Xiao Siyuan raised his chin and pointed in a direction.

Li Zheng looked over and saw that, away from the crowd, Feng Shan, Yan Guang, and Yu Xiaoyu were gathered around a campfire, chatting about something.

"Tsk tsk tsk... What a chaotic scene~" Li Zheng sighed regretfully, realizing he couldn't watch the show.

"A chaotic scene?" Xiao Siyuan squinted and retorted, "That's what I thought at first too!"

"Uh... what do you mean?" Li Zheng was stunned for a moment. Could it be that things hadn't developed in the direction he had imagined?
Xiao Siyuan's face turned even uglier: "I don't know where Xiao Feng got such charm. Those two girls are so devoted to him. When they meet, they don't argue or fight. They even call each other 'sister' quite happily."

At this point, he angrily cursed, "In my more than thirty years of life, apart from my twelve paper doll wives, I have never enjoyed such treatment!"

"God is unfair!"

Li Zheng looked at him for a long time and couldn't help but say, "I think you should look for the reasons within yourself. Those twelve paper doll wives explain a lot of problems."

Zhan Zhouzhou murmured from the side, "How dare someone criticize others? Why don't they reflect on their own behavior?"

At that moment, Lu Li's expression suddenly changed. He hugged his sniper rifle and kissed it hard, his cheek rubbing against the barrel, drool dripping from his mouth: "Wife... hehe... my wife... hehe..."

Seeing this, Lin Longxuan grabbed Su Xiaoya's hand in alarm and moved to the side.

Lin Fengjiao glanced at Li Zheng, then lowered her head, seemingly lost in thought.

(End of this chapter)