Matrix Survival: One random treasure chest per day

Chapter 508 Li Zheng's Move

"Did anyone see clearly what happened? I'm completely confused."

"I'm totally confused! The clouds here are so thick, I can't see any details at all!"

"That's outrageous! How can these two be so stingy? They've even turned on first-person perspective muting, the live stream camera can't even keep up with their speed!"

"That's right, I could only barely see lightning flashing everywhere, and the eerie blood-red light on Li Zheng's knife."

"I don't know if it's just my imagination, but I think I saw something like sword energy emanating from Zhan Zhouzhou. Is that really something a human can do?"

"And the blade energy that Li Zheng has repeatedly unleashed... this world is getting more and more fantastical!"

"After seeing them fight, I felt like I was the only useless person in the whole world."

Zhou Shufen's live stream has become the most popular among all the special correspondents, with more than seven figures of players discussing Li Zheng and his companion's successful defeat of the Gray Feather Lightning Sculpture.

Most people are focused on whether humans can actually unleash 'sword energy' or 'blade aura', or whether Li Zheng and his group relied on some kind of genetic ability to launch such an attack.

Eighty percent of the people tend to favor the latter, otherwise this phenomenon cannot be scientifically proven to be feasible.

Until a player named "Malkin" commented that someone could do it, but the difficulty was beyond imagination.

"I think the blade aura that Li Zheng unleashed was due to the weapon, not his own strength. Without that blade, he might be considered one of the best players, but he would definitely not be the number one!"

"On the contrary, the female player Zhan Zhouzhou's continuous sword energy is entirely due to her own ability. She is a sword genius that the Dragon Kingdom has seen only once in thousands of years!"

This argument has drawn criticism from some of Li Zheng's fans, who countered: "According to your logic, if we disregard the difference in weaponry, Li Zheng is no better than Zhan Zhouzhou?"

"Although it might offend some people to say this, I have to say... it's really true."

Malkin spoke frankly in the live chat.

"Damn it, what do you know? Li Zheng's strength from twenty days ago until now is obvious to everyone. And you call him a second-rate player who relies on his weapon?"

"Exactly! They even said that Zhan Zhouzhou's sword energy was the real skill, but how are you sure Li Zheng can't do it?"

"Anyway, in my opinion, their attack methods are both quite fantastical, and I can't see much difference between them."

"Everyone, ignore him. I reckon he's just a brainless idiot who thinks he knows more than others, but is actually obsessed with fantasy novels and is trying to apply the fantasy worldview to reality."

"Haha, it's like an old lady getting into bed, it even made the old man laugh. Turns out she's just a clown trying to get attention!"

Faced with the ridicule from numerous players in the live chat, Malkin didn't seem angry at all. Instead, he calmly said, "You frogs in a well, you've never seen a real master. It's not your fault for making such remarks."

If he had kept quiet, things would have been fine, but the more he continued to chime in, the more people on the live stream mocked him.

"Oh my~ a real master, are you going to say next that our Dragon Kingdom is like in novels, with some hidden families and martial arts masters?"

"Has he really gone mad from reading too many novels?"

"Is it possible... he's referring to the world of an urban military novel?"

"Hahaha! Does that mean there's some kind of secret organization in China called the 'Dragon Group' or the 'Taoist Sect'?"

"The truth is, what he was talking about was actually a combination of the worldviews of the Crooked-Mouthed Dragon King, the Urban Asura, and the Divine Doctor Son-in-Law. It seems he reads quite a lot, but the scope of his knowledge is too narrow."

"Anyone who has spent a few years on a Chinese website would not say such nonsense."

"It's so pitiful that he's become like this at such a young age."

"I simply frowned and hid behind everyone!"

……

Seeing the increasingly outrageous comments on the screen, Zhou Shufen felt that if things continued like this, the situation might get out of control. She quickly came up with a topic to steer the conversation: "So, this Malkin... judging from the name, he should be a brother, right? From what you just said, is there really such a special, unknown group in China?"

"how could it be possible?"

"That's just a liar spouting nonsense, trying to get attention! Shufen, you actually believed him!"

Suddenly, many viewers appeared in the live chat trying to persuade her, treating everything Malkin said as a joke.

Malkin ignored those people and answered Zhou Shufen's question seriously: "There are indeed such people, but the number of them is not large. Most of them currently frequent various martial arts competitions."

As soon as he said that, the number of comments mocking him increased even more, almost filling the entire screen.

However, some observant viewers noticed that several different comments were mixed in, echoing Malkin's earlier words.

"Now that you mention it, I remember! I thought Zhan Zhouzhou looked familiar before. Turns out he's the one who won the international kendo championship a few years ago!"

"Holy crap! It was her?!"

"I've met Liu Jiale once before. He's a boxer from an underground boxing gym in the suburbs of Shanghai, active in underground boxing matches! It's said that he accidentally killed someone, but I only heard about this from others, so I don't know if it's true."

"Hehe, you know Lu Li from Qidian Legion, right? His brother is a renowned Sanda King in the country!"

……

After these comments were discovered, some people initially thought it was a group showing off, and then a burst of laughter erupted.

But gradually, they realized that these people were speaking with great conviction, and they quietly quieted down.

After that, the comments section unexpectedly turned into a small circle where people were chatting and building relationships, and the atmosphere became surprisingly harmonious.

Someone asked, "Brother Malkin, are you from Suzhou or the Ma family of the coal capital?"

"Gusu".

Malkin replied with two words.

"No wonder, my family is from Lucheng. Whenever we leave this godforsaken place, you're welcome to come to my house for seafood." The man said politely.

“I dare not go, I’m afraid of getting gout,” Malkin replied.

"Haha, eat a little less, it'll be fine."

"The Ma family of Suzhou?"

At this moment, another person appeared in the comments, seemingly knowing more about the family Malkin mentioned: "I heard that the younger generation of that family has declined in martial arts, almost all of them have abandoned the military for business, only the youngest child who was born hearing impaired is interested in this path, I wonder who you are..."

“I am that deaf man,” Malkin stated bluntly.

"I've admired you for a long time."

The person sent a comment, secretly shook their head, and felt a deep sense of regret.

Unfortunately, in addition to being born with hearing impairment, this person also has poor physical condition, meaning they have extremely poor aptitude and are not suitable for martial arts training.

Even if he was very interested in martial arts, and even if the Ma family of Suzhou was known as the living encyclopedia of martial arts in China, he was destined never to inherit the Ma family's authoritative position in the martial arts world.

If it weren't for this matrix change, the Ma family of Gusu might have been expelled from the martial arts world before long, and their family's collection of books would have been seized by those with ulterior motives.

Then several other people tried to get close to Malkin, and in just a few words, the two sides understood each other's backgrounds.

However, in public, their conversation was limited to trying to get closer to each other; they agreed to discuss more substantial matters in private.

In particular, the young disciple of the Ma family of Gusu, a living encyclopedia of martial arts, has received several private channel requests, most of which are from people who have some confusion about martial arts and want to ask for advice.

Zhou Shufen, the owner of the live stream, was completely dumbfounded.

She hadn't even figured out what was going on when suddenly her live stream room turned into someone else's chat room?

Moreover, these people all seemed so arrogant and convincing, but reason told Zhou Shufen that they were probably fake...

The education she received from childhood and the values ​​instilled in her by those around her all told her that there was no such thing as nonsense in this world.

If such a thing exists, it can only exist in movies, TV shows, novels, or comics.

But when these people appeared in front of her, she suddenly realized that the values ​​she had established... hadn't collapsed much.

After all, the Matrix incident had laid the groundwork for her, greatly enhancing her mental resilience.

If young people from all over the world have been drawn into places like the Matrix, then the existence of such groups in the world before this doesn't seem so unacceptable.

"This...big shot?" Zhou Shufen composed herself and carefully chose her words. She felt that calling the other party by their name directly might displease them. "You just said that Zhan Zhouzhou's ability to unleash sword energy was genuine, and that he was a sword genius that the Dragon Kingdom had only seen once in thousands of years. Does that mean that before the Matrix appeared, there were people on our Blue Star who could unleash something like sword energy?"

After accepting the premise that Malkin and others existed, Zhou Shufen's curiosity about this topic gradually grew.

Not only her, but other viewers in the live stream were also very curious about this.

If Zhan Zhouzhou can do it, maybe I can too?
Actually, some players were extremely regretful at this moment, almost getting the prize and ending up stabbing themselves in the process.

Um... they were players who entered Zhan Zhouzhou's live stream when she first took on apprentices, but later left without taking it seriously.

Let alone now, from the moment they were absent, they ruined what could have been a bright future.

Cutting off one's future is a choice.

"Hmm, I've never heard of such a person in modern times."

Malkin posted a comment: "But according to historical records, there was once such a brilliant and talented person in history, and many of you should have heard of his name."

"We've all heard of it?"

Zhou Shufen muttered to herself, "Could the famous person in history who used a sword be Li Bai?"

In unofficial histories and novels, isn't this poet also known as the "Sword Immortal"?

"Is the person the Malkin brothers are talking about the Sword God Gai Nie?" asked the player from Lucheng.

Malkin said, "That's right, it's him!"

Immediately afterwards, he posted another comment: "Unfortunately, the dynasty in which the Sword God Gai Nie lived was too far back, and there are not many relevant historical records about his life."

I only learned from certain sources that this person could pluck leaves into swords and use flying flowers to injure people, which led me to conclude that he was once a swordsmanship genius.

Perhaps he also possesses considerable skill in the art of concealed weapons.

No matter how skilled the Sword God Gai Nie was, Malkin had never witnessed it firsthand, and all his knowledge of this person remained in the realm of "hearsay".

Even the title of "Sword God" could be an embellishment bestowed upon him by others. Perhaps the real Gai Nie was just an ordinary swordsman.

However, Malkin personally witnessed Zhan Zhouzhou's ability to unleash sword energy. Before this, he had thoroughly read the books in the Ma family collection in Suzhou and had also met many senior martial artists who had practiced for sixty or seventy years, but he had never heard of anyone reaching such a level of martial arts skill.

If there weren't enough supporting data, Malkin would even believe that Zhan Zhouzhou's achievements in swordsmanship at this time had reached a level that was "unprecedented".

"Li Zheng and Zhan Zhouzhou can both launch similar attacks, but after careful observation, I did not see any particularly sophisticated swordsmanship when Li Zheng drew his sword."

Malkin was, after all, a young man. After others acknowledged his identity, he couldn't help but want to continue the initial topic to prove his professionalism.

"Judging from the traces of his movements, there is a bit of the influence of Yagyu Kendo from Japan. Yagyu Kendo is more suitable for slender swords and similar weapons, but it looks a bit out of place in Li Zheng's hands. He must have modified it himself."

"This alone is commendable! After all, what suits you best is the best, a principle that many martial arts practitioners haven't grasped."

Malkin surprisingly gave a positive assessment of Li Zheng on one aspect, proving that Li Zheng was not a good-for-nothing, but a highly skilled person with genuine abilities.

"Also, the way he held his knife when he charged forward just now showed some traces of spearmanship. I suspect that in addition to swordsmanship and knife skills, he also has some knowledge of spearmanship, staffmanship, and whipmanship..."

At this point in his commentary, Malkin suddenly frowned.

Li Zhengxue is so versatile, no wonder he can't compare to Zhan Zhouzhou in any single area. It seems my initial judgment was indeed biased.

"I take back what I said before about Li Zheng being inferior to Zhan Zhouzhou. This man's knowledge is quite diverse, but he is broad rather than deep."

"Moreover, he has mastered each skill, which is equally commendable in the path of martial arts."

His words made Li Zheng's fans feel much better, and when they looked at Malkin's speech again, they even felt that it was very profound and made a lot of sense.

"Hearing you say that, I do feel it's a bit of a pity." The young master from the aristocratic family in Lucheng spoke up at this moment: "Everyone's energy is limited. If Li Zheng could specialize in one thing, his achievements in martial arts might not be much weaker than Zhan Zhouzhou's."

"not necessarily!"

Someone else commented, "Judging from the fact that he incorporates traces of other martial arts when he uses a knife, I think he is only suited to a mixed approach. If he specializes in one thing, it will be difficult for him to achieve results."

“That’s right! That’s what I think too.” Another person immediately chimed in, “I’ve watched Li Zheng’s recent moves and noticed that he doesn’t follow any fixed pattern when he makes a move. Several times I’ve seen him subconsciously try to use his longsword to perform sword techniques, which is really an eyesore.”

This is the result of a lack of systematic training; there's no clear definition of each martial art style, and it's hard to imagine what he would become if he specialized in just one.

"Ultimately, it's because he didn't have a qualified master to guide him that he ended up in this situation." Malkin made his final judgment on Li Zheng: "Rather than calling him a martial arts genius, it's more accurate to call him a martial arts Frankenstein's monster."

I really don't know where he got so many different martial arts techniques, and somehow he managed to blend them together and forge his own path.

Such a muddle-headed fellow is neither a genius nor a fool.

It can only be considered as...

mediocre?

The word flashed through Malkin's mind, and he felt it was very fitting to describe Li Zheng.

At the same time, Li Zheng, who was defined as a 'mediocre talent' by the disciples of martial arts families, grabbed a gray feather he had just obtained after disassembling it and flew to Zhan Zhouzhou, who was hailed by everyone as a 'sword genius who is rare in thousands of years,' and handed it to him.

"Keep it safe, don't lose it."

Since it was agreed that he was retrieving this item for Zhan Zhouzhou, Li Zheng wouldn't keep it for himself.

"Thank you."

Zhan Zhouzhou weakly raised her hand and took the gray feather. She exuded a sense of listlessness, as if any player could take advantage of this moment to send her back to the transfer space.

Thirty consecutive sword strikes were a considerable burden for Zhan Zhouzhou. She was able to maintain her relatively dignified state thanks to the levitation thruster that Li Zheng had given her before.

This scene left the players outside speechless.

"Holy crap!? Wait a minute! Something doesn't seem right to me..."

"That's right! When we were killing the humpback whale and the tree spirit, Li Zheng fought the Boss to the death even when so many people were buying him time. How come he's completely unharmed this time?"

"Damn it! Brothers, we might have been tricked! Think about it carefully, what was the real reason Li Zheng died twice when he and the Boss died together?"

Only after this player's reminder did the viewers of the live stream realize with horror that Li Zheng's two deaths were both caused by his own knife draining his blood.

But in reality, he has plenty of ways to avoid this situation from happening.

so……

Were Li Zheng's two deaths intentional?

Some people, upon realizing this, find it somewhat perplexing.

What's his motive for doing this?

It couldn't possibly be because he has masochistic tendencies, could it?
Bai Xiaosheng, one of the members of the Nine Heavens Think Tank, watched this scene and also realized what was happening, his expression complicated.

He roughly guessed why Li Zheng did this.

This is to create a false impression for the people at the event.

The illusion that the boss in the arena is very difficult to kill.

He wanted to convey a message by sacrificing himself to take down the Boss—even the Matrix's undisputed number one fighter had to fight tooth and nail to kill the Boss with the protection of thousands of people. So, we, the obviously inferior legions, should stay out of it, or we'll just die for someone else.

At first, the scene of those bosses wreaking havoc when they appeared intimidated all the players, who thought that numbers were meaningless in the face of these bosses, and that sending more players would just be a waste of time and energy.

In fact, when the Boss first appeared, a small number of players organized themselves to launch a small-scale attack on these Bosses.

All of them ended in failure.

All the sites, except for the lava mountains, were cleared clean.

At the time, all players felt that these bosses were invincible.

They are certainly not someone they can defeat at this stage, and sending more people won't help.

Didn't you see that hundreds of millions of players have all been brought back after being wiped out?

However, after hearing that Li Zheng easily defeated the Lava Mountain Boss, some people had the idea that they could try it too.

The outcome is self-evident.

After that, these people attributed Li Zheng's killing of the boss in the Lava Mountain Range to him using a trick.

The subsequent punitive expedition in the endless ocean undoubtedly confirmed their suspicions.

Li Zheng must have used some unknown trickery to kill that boss in the Lava Mountain Range!

At this moment, Li Zheng's first 'death' dispelled the idea of ​​most legions to solo the boss, and they secretly sought reinforcements, wanting to unite and attack a certain place.

However, news soon followed.

Under the combined protection of the five legions, Li Zheng once again perished together with the Boss!

Upon hearing this news, the legions that had secretly united were instantly caught off guard.

How the hell is this playing?
Even with the combined efforts of the five legions, they couldn't protect Li Zheng. They don't even have a master like Li Zheng to hold their own. What are they going to use to fight the Boss?

However, another piece of news followed, bringing a glimmer of hope to some legions that were still unwilling to give up.

Kunlun and Jiutian, without Li Zheng's help, successfully defeated the Desert Oasis Boss!

However, after defeating the Boss, both legions suffered heavy losses, and someone else intervened and stole the prize.

It was at this point that some astute players deduced that the items obtained from the Boss's dismantling would definitely have many restrictions during the event.

Since we can't defeat the boss, it shouldn't be a problem to secretly steal one or two items from the boss while the other legions are short-handed, right?

What followed was the incident where the Nth Room, in conjunction with the Muddy Man, attacked the starting legion's squad stationed in the Lava Mountains.

If Zhan Zhouzhou and the others hadn't possessed a secret method that allowed them to see through disguises and directly identify others, they might have actually succeeded.

In their eyes, there was definitely a reason why Li Chun and the others stayed in the Lava Mountains.

The treasure that Li Zheng obtained from the Lava Mountains is likely stored on one of the people in the package, and cannot be taken away or transferred through the transit space.

Unexpectedly, the operation failed, and Li Zheng and his men killed most of their men.

The survivors actually walked into the transit space openly and honestly right in front of them!?

Now, not only were the unsuspecting groups like the Nth Room stunned, but even those from Kunlun, Jiutian, and Penglai who knew about the restrictions on the treasures were dumbfounded.

What methods did Qidian use to move things away from the lava mountains?
This one problem alone is enough to give them a headache for a while.

However, at this time another piece of news came out that Li Zheng summoned the top leaders of the Qidian Legion to the transit space, seemingly to discuss some plan.

Not long after, groups of Qidian members returned to the transit space with great enthusiasm, further confirming this. Moreover, some people said that they saw Qidian members appearing at fishing tackle merchants in the desert oasis and tropical rainforest, and that they had purchased some mysterious items.

These people always seem to be ahead of everyone else, possessing secret information unknown to others.

Reports indicate that people at Qidian are collecting limited-edition fishing gear.

However, almost all the legions scoffed at the news.

Who are you trying to fool?

Why would someone who's just starting out collect such useless stuff?

Don't you know that limited edition fishing gear is ridiculously expensive and you won't be able to take it out after the event ends?
Can you use your brain before spreading rumors?

Soon, another major piece of information was released.

Li Zheng and Zhan Zhouzhou teamed up and successfully defeated the Thundercloud Region Boss!

Most importantly, not only did they kill the Boss, but they themselves were completely unharmed!
This news was like a resounding slap in the face to those legions who dared not take action against the various bosses because Li Zheng had perished together with the Boss.

Those legion commanders seemed to hear Li Zheng mockingly say to them: "Are you all idiots? You've all been played like puppets by me!"

What a bully!
Don't forget that his plans seem simple; sometimes the simplest plans are the most effective...

(End of this chapter)