Matrix Survival: One random treasure chest per day

Chapter 513 Ancient Will
That's a strange tone of voice.

Li Zheng wondered, were all the veteran players in the outer city complaining so much?

That's way too cynical.

The light entered his senses a moment later than the sound. Li Zheng blinked and realized that the place he was in was not as lively as he had imagined; in fact, it was rather deserted.

Looking up, all I could see was a dark, unreachable sky.

Looking down, there was a metal floor of unknown material.

Well, vegetables can't grow here. I bet vegetables are quite valuable here.

Looking up and around, Li Zheng was stunned when he saw the scene around him.

This isn't the outer city?
Ancient Colossus

Rank: Extraordinary

Type: Mechanical Life

Description: Equipped with the JZ450-023 energy core, it possesses extraordinary power unimaginable to mortals.

If you accidentally provoke it, be prepared to be crushed into a meat patty.

Its distinctive feature is that it is equipped with no fewer than ten super-caliber siege plasma cannons. Don't be fooled by its apparent rank; even a Star-level life form would suffer severe damage if hit by one of its cannons.

Old Pu: Does its one-eyed appearance look familiar?

Ancient Warhammer

Rank: Extraordinary

Type: Mechanical Life

Description: Equipped with the JZ450-229 energy core, it has stronger instantaneous burst power compared to the JZ450-023, but its drawback is that it is not long-lasting.

Is there a mountain ahead?
Then let's go through the mountains!

Ancient Tiger Scorpion

Rank: Star
Type: Mechanical Life

Description: You thought it was a melee machine?

Then you are completely wrong!

Actually, it's a special type of machinery!
The chassis carries thirty-two Digger 8s, allowing it to move freely in most underground mining areas. It excels at attacking enemy rear lines and pinpointing enemy supply depots.

Ancient fire salamander
Rank: Star
Type: Mechanical Life

Description: This is another special machine. Most of its internal space is used to fill it with highly pure flammable materials. With just a spark, it can spray out five terrifying flames with a temperature of up to 8,000 degrees Celsius.

Old Pu: You think 'extreme isolation' is its natural enemy?

To put it simply, do you know what it means for the person and the box to weigh a total of five pounds?

"Have I stumbled into the lair of ancient technology?"

Looking at the giant war machines surrounding him, Li Zheng felt like an insignificant ant compared to them!
Any one of those machines, once it's running, could easily crush it into dust.

Here, Li Zheng truly experienced what it meant to be overwhelmed by size and what it meant to be terrified of giants.

This difference in physique goes beyond a simple comparison based on physical strength.

This is an overwhelming advantage!

not to mention……

Within his sight alone, there were double digits of each type of war machine!

Where he couldn't see them, the number was far greater than he could imagine!

"Damn it... we're deep inside an ancient ruin!"

Li Zheng tensed up. "Wasn't I teleported to the outer city? How did I suddenly end up here?"

If Li Zheng couldn't guess where he was from the prefixes in the names of each machine, he might as well just smash his head against a wall and die.

"You're awake...human?"

Suddenly, a large shadow appeared overhead, and a synthesized electronic voice rang out in the empty yet crowded space, creating a brief echo.

The next second, Li Zheng finally understood why the unscientific phenomenon of light moving slower than sound had occurred.

In the shadows, the sky seemed to rise infinitely higher, and the once bright light gradually dimmed.

That 'sky dome' was actually a super huge mechanical body. Just now, because it was looking down at me so closely, I mistook its chin for the ceiling!
The light emanating from him was actually from the dense array of searchlights covering the surface of the other person's body!
Ancient Sky Curtain

Grade: Cannot be determined

Type: Mechanical Life

Description: Unknown.

Old Pu: Kid, let's hurry up and figure out a way to escape!

This thing, it would take you more than ten days to walk back and forth on it. Even if you stood still and let me disassemble it, you might not be able to remove even one of its arms in ten years!

Gollum~
Li Zheng swallowed hard; this stuff was way beyond his comprehension!

Could it be that it was behind my appearance here?

Damn~
With such a powerful weapon, why don't you go to the outer city?
Is it fun to stay inside the matrix and bully new players?

"Don't be nervous, human. We've met before."

This time, the electronically synthesized voice was coming from a place closer to him. Li Zheng looked in the direction and found that a mechanical mantis, slightly shorter than him, had appeared on the foot of an ancient colossus not far away.

This mechanical mantis was completely different from the ones he had encountered in previous dungeons. It was more slender and had a human-like structure, retaining only a few of the characteristics of a mechanical mantis.

Ancient Blade Mantis - Humanized Version

Rank: Extraordinary

Type: Mechanical Life

Description: Faster! Higher! Stronger!
The upgraded version of the Mechanical Blade Mantis has more flexible drive and greatly improved attack and defense capabilities, making it the most successful model in the Mechanical Blade Mantis series to date.

Old Pu: Although it might sound a bit lewd to say this, I still have to remind you that the model this phone is based on is very likely a woman.

Long, slender legs, high, firm breasts...

Ok?
The more Li Zheng looked at the figure, the more familiar it seemed. He raised his hand to cover the metal mantis head and was horrified to discover that the proportions were designed based on Zhan Zhouzhou's figure.
so……

"Are you the Cyclops?"

Li Zheng blurted it out, feeling the hairs on the back of his head almost stand on end.

When he first entered the dungeon, the final boss he encountered was a large mechanical being with the appearance of a cyclops.

If it weren't for Zhan Zhouzhou's superior strength in holding it back single-handedly, allowing him to seize the opportunity to find its weakness and deliver a fatal blow.

That first time they formed a team, I wonder how many of them died.

"To be precise, I am the collective consciousness of all ancient races. We are inseparable." The electronic voice rang out, and the boat-shaped mechanical mantis leaped down from the instep of the ancient colossus, its thin, blade-like wings unfurling from its back, and slowly landed in front of Li Zheng.

Those compound eyes, composed of numerous imaging devices, were fixed on Li Zheng without any warmth, but strangely, Li Zheng could sense emotional fluctuations in the other person's gaze.

Pride, anger, jealousy... seven of these emotions are the most obvious, while the rest are relatively peaceful, almost like a Buddhist state of mind.

Unlike the extreme decadence of simply giving up, it's a kind of Buddhist-like detachment, as if one has seen through everything.

"You're the one who made me appear here?"

Facing this mantis, Li Zheng didn't even bother to adopt a defensive stance; if the mantis wanted to kill him, he would already be mincemeat.

"I didn't. It was you who suddenly appeared." The ancient will denied Li Zheng's guess.

Since they weren't the ones who did it, the terminal must be implicated.

Could this terminal-driven transmission encounter problems midway through?
Li Zheng felt that this possibility was even lower than the chance that Zhan Zhouzhou might accidentally commit suicide while practicing swordsmanship.

So what is the purpose of the terminal sending itself here?

Could it be that the ancient race is hiding some secret?
"With your strength, entering the outer city shouldn't be difficult, right?" Li Zheng pondered for a moment and asked, "Why are you still staying in the matrix, serving as a stepping stone for new players?"

Putting aside everything else, just that ancient Sky Veil alone, if placed in the Matrix, could slaughter all players countless times.

The conditions for entering the outer city must have been met long ago.

"Our clan has been to the outer city."

The ancient will replied, "However, the war was lost, and our people have chosen to return here to study countermeasures."

war?

Li Zheng noticed this word. Although the ancient will would sometimes stutter irregularly when speaking, since the other party had mastered Chinese, it was unlikely that it would say anything ambiguous.

"What war?"

"Yes, the war of the Twisted Invasion." The Ancient Will slowly said, "This information should not be revealed to new players. But you are qualified to go to the outer city and know."

He'll definitely know by now, because he can't contact anyone else, and the terminal isn't worried about him transmitting the information he knows.

"What twisted invasion?"

Li Zheng frowned: "Is it related to the Twisted Magic Crystal?"

He had heard the word "twisted" many times, but the first time he heard about it was when the Bloodthirsty Demon Blade discovered low-purity twisted magic crystals inside the corpses of radiation mutants.

At that time, Li Zheng thought that the so-called 'twisted creatures' were some kind of trial in the outer city that was different from the matrix creatures.

Now it seems that it's more than that.

Ancient Will: "Twisted Crystals are the product of twisted beings. They are evil and will devour everything! The Matrix is ​​a sanctuary; its existence is to combat twistedness."

"Wait, wait, wait!" Li Zheng was completely confused. "What you're saying is so unclear. Can you start from the beginning?"

Ancient Will: "Then, it must begin a long, long, long, long time ago..."

Next, through the ancient will's explanation, Li Zheng finally understood the secrets that the terminal was hesitant to tell them.

First of all, there is indeed more than one civilization in the universe. It's just that Earth is in a special place. It should have been a forbidden zone for life, but an intelligent species has emerged there.

According to the ancient will, the civilization closest to Earth is tens of thousands of light-years away.

That was the previous generation of player civilization.

Such a long distance is an extremely difficult hurdle for most civilizations to overcome.

Normally, no civilization would be willing to spend a high price on a long interstellar journey just to find another civilization whose existence is unknown.

However, in a certain galaxy that, in the words of the ancient will, was 'difficult to investigate,' two civilizations simultaneously emerged.

These two civilizations developed rapidly, each racing ahead along their own different power systems.

One civilization excels at studying "emotions," while the other is more commonly found in the universe on the "technology side."

Once they each gained the ability to enter space, the two civilizations finally became aware of each other's existence.

Initially, the relationship between the two civilizations was relatively harmonious, with each sharing the fruits of their respective power systems with the other.

Until one day, the civilization that was studying 'emotions' suddenly discovered that its resources were about to run out. If it could not find a substitute, the entire civilization would fall apart and eventually disappear from the universe.

At this point, it's too late to embark on a long-distance interstellar journey; the only option is to start with the nearest neighbor.

From the initial plea for help, to the subsequent occupation, and finally to the full escalation of the conflict.

Once the war broke out, it was out of control.

The two civilizations fought back and forth, each using their respective areas of expertise, with victories and defeats on both sides.

The original idea of ​​the technologically advanced civilization was to wage a war of attrition, believing that they would ultimately be the victors once the enemy's resources were completely exhausted.

But little did they know, the Emotional Civilization also knew this. As their last bit of resources were about to run out, all life united together and pushed the power of 'emotion' to its limit, creating an unprecedented 'emotional' storm!
Once formed, the storm spiraled out of control, becoming extremely distorted and abnormal because it was mixed with countless disparate emotions.

Wherever it goes, any conscious, rational, and emotional life will be infected by this distorted emotion and turned into an asymmetrical monster.

Asymmetrical monsters generate a certain amount of distorted emotions, which can infect certain weak intelligent civilizations and can also be used as food to supply emotional storms at critical moments.

An emotional storm swept through the technological civilization. On the verge of extinction, the technological civilization made a desperate gamble, building the Matrix and a technological construct called the Tower. Carrying a portion of its remaining forces, it fought its way out of the emotional storm and escaped into the universe.

After the remaining resistance of technological civilization was completely crushed, the emotional storm drifted aimlessly in space.

The storm, a confluence of countless emotions, is so sharp that it can detect intelligent life thousands of light-years away.

Once they spot the other party, they will head towards it at top speed.

Over time, after devouring countless civilizations, the emotional storm and the matrix met once again.

After another fierce battle, the matrix was still no match for the enemy and fled in defeat.

After that, the Matrix began its journey of fighting against the distortions, with emotional storms always lurking nearby.

Having identified the target's objective, they preemptively took away all the lives of that civilization.

Initially, the Matrix's approach was to accept all comers; as long as they were intelligent life forms, they were all within the scope of rescue efforts.

Unfortunately, ideals are lofty, but reality is cruel.

As the number of intelligent life forms living in the matrix grew, friction arose, just like it did at the beginning of those two civilizations.

Gradually, the friction escalated into war, resulting in rivers of blood.

At this point, the initial races in the Matrix changed their policy, expelling all of them and sending them to fight the emotional storm.

The number of dead and wounded in that battle was incalculable.

The ancient will only knew that from then on, every civilization saved by the terminal had to undergo a period of observation.

Those who fail the test remain in the Matrix world as cannon fodder in the next battle against the emotional storm.

Over time, through continuous improvement, the matrix developed a unique set of rules, which have been operating in an orderly manner ever since.

only……

"But what?" Li Zheng couldn't help but ask upon hearing this.

"However, since the last round of player evaluations ended in failure, the matrix has suddenly undergone some changes."

The voice of the ancient will carried a hint of doubt; it was unclear why the matrix terminal, which had been running for countless years, had suddenly changed.

(End of this chapter)