Matrix Survival: One random treasure chest per day

Chapter 515 Arrival at the Outer City, Yakumo Yoru

Rows of three-person-high mechanical machines operated smoothly, producing one boat-shaped mechanical mantis machine after another on the assembly line. Compared to these, the blueprints for the mechanical mantis machine production equipment that Li Zheng had obtained before seemed like children's toys.

"Here, come here."

Without turning back, the mechanical mantis walked straight to a device that resembled a human modification platform not far away. On the device lay a newly produced boat-shaped mantis, with dozens of laser beams scanning its body for final adjustments.

As I approached, the mantis had just finished its adjustments, and several thick mechanical arms appeared above its head, grabbing it and transporting it to a conveyor belt on the other side, sending it to another room.

"Lie down, get on."

The mechanical mantis stepped forward to adjust the equipment, and said to Li Zheng without turning his head.

"Gulp~ Are you sure the physical exam won't be dangerous?" Li Zheng looked at the equipment emitting laser beams around him and several sharp-tipped tools used to correct the parts of the mechanical mantis.

He had no doubt that if that thing were to pierce his body, it would instantly leave a bloody hole.

"Won't."

After the equipment was adjusted, the mechanical mantis turned its head 180 degrees and quietly looked at Li Zheng, its compound eyes gleaming coldly.

People are knives and servants, and I am fish and meat.

Die or die!

Li Zheng steeled his heart. Since he had almost no power to resist here anyway, worrying would be pointless. He might as well be reckless and gamble that the other party really wouldn't harm him.

With great effort, Li Zheng jumped onto the equipment, feeling like a pig waiting to be slaughtered, having willingly stepped onto the chopping block.

Lying down in the center of the equipment platform, feeling the hard, cold metal surface beneath him, Li Zheng took a tense breath.

Goodness, it looks even more like it!
"It might hurt a little, but you can bear with it."

At this moment, the mechanical mantis clicked several times on the control panel with lightning speed.

A hollow metal pipe suddenly appeared above Li Zheng's head, from which a wisp of light smoke billowed out.

Caught off guard, Li Zheng took two breaths and was horrified to find that his body was unable to move, and all his senses had become more acute.

In his current state, he could even count how many grams of dents the platform beneath him had been caused by the mechanical bodies he had previously tested!

"you……"

He wanted to utter a few angry words or say something to ease his unease, but as soon as he opened his mouth, the muscles in his face stiffened.

With his large mouth and wide-open eyes, Li Zheng now looks like a corpse with its eyes wide open in death.

"Don't worry, this is a necessary measure to prevent you from moving around during the examination and causing inaccurate data. It will not only not harm your body, but will also benefit you." The voice of the ancient will rang out from above, and the sentences suddenly became smooth, which was rather unusual to hear. "Consider it payment for your cooperation in obtaining research data for my clan."

Li Zheng opened his eyes wide, on the verge of tears.

You're so humane that you even paid me, I should thank you, right?
If I didn't know I couldn't beat you, I would have smashed your head off!
Before he could even finish his internal monologue, two mechanical arms came close to his temples from either side of his head.

The next second, a sharp needle protruded from the front of each robotic arm and cleanly pierced Li Zheng's brain.

Now Li Zheng finally understood what the other party meant by "a little pain".

What do you mean by "a little bit"?

This is like performing brain surgery on you without anesthesia, and incidentally giving you a wake-up call so that you can experience the sensation of your brain being turned upside down while you are in a state of extreme wakefulness!

The pain was excruciating, but I couldn't pass out...

This wasn't the most agonizing part. After the fine needle pierced the underside of his skull, Li Zheng could clearly sense something being released from the tip of the needle.

The substances roamed through his brain like countless ants crawling, causing him extreme discomfort.

The next moment, a sudden surge of anger welled up within him for no apparent reason. He wished he could move now and draw his sword to fight the ancient will to the death.

The worst that can happen is death!
Just then, the 'ants' that had been roaming in the brain seemed to have found their target area and gathered in one place.

After a moment, the anger in my heart strangely subsided quickly, as if someone had suddenly poured a bucket of cold water on my head, and I calmed down.

Before he could figure out what was going on, drowsiness washed over him, and Li Zheng felt a surge of emotion that he didn't want to move an inch even if the world was about to be destroyed.

Even the flow of thought seemed to momentarily stop, as if the person was very averse to thinking.

Destroy it quickly!
After that thought, Li Zheng went into a blackout.

When he came to his senses again, some of the 'ants' had actually separated and gone to another area of ​​his brain.

Isn't this just 'wrath' and 'sloth' from the Seven Deadly Sins?

Li Zheng realized that the ancient will wanted to use technology to stimulate his brain, making him actively generate seven emotions and collect data.

Before he could think for more than a few seconds, a scene suddenly appeared in his mind's eye: Feng Shan, Yan Guang, and Yu Xiaoyu sitting around a campfire, chatting and laughing.

Mudd!

Why? !
Why is it that someone with the surname Feng gets to live a life with women on both sides?

In what way is he better than me?

Li Zheng couldn't help but think, what merits does he, surnamed Feng, possess?

One of the girls had an extraordinary temperament, and the other was beautiful and came from a wealthy family. Why did they both fall for him?

Can't figure it out!
I really can't understand it!
The more you can't understand something, the more you'll think about it.

The more I think about it, the less I understand.

Then Li Zheng's thoughts went into a vicious cycle, shifting from envy to jealousy to hatred in less than five seconds.

Then, he suddenly came to his senses and thought, "Why would I envy him?"
wrong!

Is this jealousy?

The ants have been divided into three groups.

Damn it...

The ancient race really has a way of doing things; they can seamlessly switch between different emotions in a short period of time.
What's next?
As soon as the thought crossed his mind, images of teachers from educational films he had seen before flashed before Li Zheng's eyes. One after another, the white-clad figures rapidly switched before his eyes, finally settling on Zhan Zhouzhou.

c……

Seeing Zhan Zhouzhou posing and flirting there, Li Zheng felt extremely ashamed.

The fourth emotion is actually lust, but the question is why the final target is Zhan Zhouzhou?

That is why ah?

Could it be that I actually have inappropriate feelings for her?
It shouldn’t be!

Zhan Zhouzhou is very beautiful, but I should only have pure friendship with her...

Could it be that the saying "there is no such thing as pure friendship between men and women" is true, and that I am really a vulgar and filthy person?
Unlike the previous three emotions, Li Zheng subconsciously resisted the scene in front of him, trying to dispel it.

"Li Zheng, are you willing to help me?"

"Zhan Zhouzhou" said that familiar phrase shyly and coquettishly, her red lips trembling slightly, her cheeks flushed, like a ripe peach waiting to be picked.

"Help? I'll help your grandma's leg!"

Li Zheng roared inwardly, "We're friends! Li Zheng, you can't have any improper thoughts about her!"

Whether his resistance was truly effective or the target was simply too strong for him to resist, Zhan Zhouzhou's figure quickly dissipated into fragments, revealing another familiar face.

"Wow! Yui-sensei! I'm so happy to see you!"

Li Zheng's tense mind suddenly relaxed, and he instantly succumbed to it.

"Hehehe, Yua-sensei, Emi-sensei, Umi-tsubasa-sensei, Mama, Nene, Arina, Mana... Wow, Ayami and Ishihara, you guys have also entered the adult film industry?"

"Hehehehe... Come at me all at once, I can handle it!"

Just when Li Zheng thought he could take the opportunity to enjoy himself, the scene abruptly ended, and all the rouge in front of him turned into skeletons and scattered, instantly extinguishing the little flame in Li Zheng's heart.

"Nima!!!"

Li Zheng was furious. Before he could finish cursing in his mind, his craving for food surged up again.

Xiaolongbao, shumai, dumplings, lobster, abalone, black truffles, canned herring, black garlic...

Anything is fine as long as it's edible!

"Give me food!! Hurry up!! I want to eat!!"...

Gluttony ends in pride, and pride ends in greed.

Li Zheng experienced seven negative emotions in a short period of time. During this time, every time he experienced a different emotion, some of the 'ants' in his brain would separate out and occupy a certain area.

After experiencing all the emotional cycles seven times, Li Zhengyuan's wide eyes revealed a deep sense of despair.

Damn it... is this never going to end?!
Believe it or not, I'll go all out against you in a minute!

Just then, a sharp pain shot through my head, and the 'ants' scattered across the seven areas simultaneously emitted a strange frequency.

Seven different emotions surged in at the same time, merging with the despair Li Zheng had just experienced, generating a strange emotion similar to that that had appeared before.

At that very moment, Li Zheng felt an inexplicable burning heat in his palm. Pure energy reappeared, sweeping into his mind with overwhelming force, extinguishing the strange emotions that had just arisen.

However, the ants suddenly rioted, entangled with the pure energy, and tore off a piece, quickly retreating to the thin needle still inserted in their temples, disappearing with the captured energy.

Sizzle!
The needle was withdrawn, and the needle mark left behind quickly healed under Li Zheng's self-healing ability, leaving only a trace of blood to prove what had just happened.

"Success!"

A strange glint flashed in the mechanical mantis's eyes. A portal appeared at the edge of the metal platform, and Li Zheng, who was still in a frozen state, was shoved into it by the mechanical mantis like trash.

Miriel and the others were unaware of what was happening when they were lifted up by a mechanical arm that appeared behind them at some unknown time, following in Li Zheng's footsteps.

The moment the portal closed, the effects of the drug in Li Zheng's body began to wear off. He barely managed to turn his neck and glance back, only to meet the cold compound eyes of the mechanical mantis.

"Damn you, you're going to discard me after I've served my purpose, aren't you? You just wait!"

Li Zheng forcefully retracted his four fingers, sending out an international friendship gesture before the portal completely closed.

……

"Boom~"

Li Zheng was thrown out of the teleportation portal and landed on the hard bluestone ground with a thud. If he hadn't regained some control of his body during the teleportation, he would have landed face-first.

"How are you?" Miriel and the others followed closely behind, landed safely, and immediately ran over to help Li Zheng up.

Li Zheng tried it out, and apart from feeling a bit weak and limp, he was otherwise fine.

Not only was he unharmed, but his enhanced perception did not disappear as the drug's effects wore off; on the contrary, his senses became even clearer as the drug's effects diminished.

You can even clearly feel the movement of air on your face.

"Is this the outer city?"

Li Zheng tried to stand up straight and looked around. He had just heard a noisy commotion, and now he realized that the place he had come from was incredibly lively.

Behind them was a portal shimmering with pale purple light. About ten steps ahead was an open space. In front of the open space was a table that looked like a reception desk, and behind it sat two figures wearing hooded cloaks.

Looking into the distance, it is a bustling street, where all sorts of people with different appearances jostle each other and linger in the shops on both sides of the street.

Looking further into the distance, you can see that this city is actually built with metal and stone, and the horizon is filled with a steel jungle with countless high-rise buildings.

"Welcome to the outer city, newbie."

A hooded man stood up from behind the reception desk and slowly walked up to Li Zheng. He was able to speak fluent Chinese: "I am the receptionist in charge of portal number 902. You can call me Bayun. The big guy over there is called Yelan."

As Ye Lan stood up, Li Zheng felt the other person's gaze directed at him from behind the hood.

He looked at the two figures and for some reason felt that they looked familiar, as if he had seen them somewhere before.

"Don't be surprised, rookie, we have indeed met before." Yakumo spoke in a clear voice, and her movements revealed a slender figure faintly visible beneath the hood, undoubtedly a woman.

Judging from their physical appearance, they seem to be similar to humans on Earth, without any strange or unusual organs.

It's just unknown whether the appearance hidden under the hood is like that of the Purple Tree, with a skin color that seems strange to the Blue Star people, or whether it has some inconspicuous organs.

For example, having an extra eye or something.

Li Zheng opened his mouth, trying to say something, but failed; his tongue and vocal cords remained stiff, and he could not make a sound.

"It seems that something unpleasant happened to you before you came here."

Seeing that Li Zheng was not in a good mood, Yakumo immediately became enthusiastic and turned to the big guy Yelan, shouting, "Old Yelan, you stay here and keep watch, I'm going to go and finish my mission!"

Then he gestured to Li Zheng and said, "Come with me, I'll take you for a physical exam."

A medical checkup?!?!
Now, when Li Zheng hears this word, every cell in his body exudes resistance.

Please don't give me any more medical examinations! Just two minutes ago, I almost lost half my life because of a so-called medical examination!

"What? Don't you want to have a medical checkup?"

Yakumo seemed to understand Li Zheng's meaning, and his voice immediately turned colder: "It's fine if you don't have a physical examination. I'll take you to the registration office to register your information first. From now on, you'll be a member of the 902nd block of the outer city."

Li Zheng: "..."

Good guy!
The so-called physical examination is not a necessary procedure after coming to the outer city, is it?

Before you let that slip, were you thinking of going to earn some extra money?

You must be in cahoots with someone with medical expertise, trying to rip off us newbies with this so-called medical check-up, right?

So you're giving up so easily?

Why not try harder?
Maybe if you persist a little longer, I'll agree?
However, Yakumo did not force him. Instead, he led Li Zheng to a storefront that was taller than the surrounding buildings. A tacky sign hung above the door with words that Li Zheng could not understand.

"This is the new player registration area. Newcomers usually register their information here. Based on the information I have so far, you are the second player among this batch of newbies to arrive in the outer city."

With Miriel's help, Li Zheng barely managed to follow Yakumo into the store. Once inside, he realized that none of the buildings on this street seemed to have the 'space expansion' ability of capsule residences; whatever size they looked on the outside was exactly the size inside.

"After you register your information here, you also need to go over there to register your pets, followers, or attendants."

Yakumo pointed to a window not far away, where a female beastman with a rhinoceros head sat listlessly. The reason her gender could be identified was because her blood-red mouth was painted with light blue lip gloss.

"If you walk on the street with an unregistered pet or other living being, other people can capture or kill your pet at will without being held accountable."

Yakumo gave a warning and then switched to another window. This time, there was a long queue in front of the window, almost extending outside the door.

She pointed over there and said, "After registering your pets, you also need to go over there to temporarily surrender and register all the dangerous items you have on you. You can pick them up whenever you need them, but you'll have to pay some storage fees."

"Then, you will need to go there to register your property, but you only need to do so once the first time you come to the outer city, and you won't need to do it again after that."

"Finally, you need to go back to the window where you registered your personal information, and bring all the credentials to collect your exclusive inscription. From now on, all your actions in the outer city will be inseparable from the inscription."

"If you die somewhere in the future, we can also identify you through your unique inscription... or something."

"That's about it. Do you have any questions about what I just said?"

Li Zheng opened his mouth: "..."

The stiffness has not yet subsided.

"Okay, it seems there are no more questions."

Yakumo muttered something to himself, took out a card with a display screen, checked some information on it, and then left without saying a word, leaving Li Zheng behind.

"..."

Li Zheng looked down at Miriel, his face full of helplessness.

Miriel: "???"

Her little face was full of confusion, because she couldn't understand a single word of what Yakumo had just said due to the language barrier.

"Polly~ Polly!"

Only the Red Porings were there, excitedly looking around and making "Poring Poring" noises, as if they had never seen so many different races before.

With a wry smile, Li Zheng shook his head and gestured to Miriel to help him to the first window to register his personal information.

"Name……"

Perhaps because this year's players haven't flooded into the outer city yet, the staff member with deer antlers was listlessly going through the motions.

Strangely, they all spoke fluent Mandarin.

(End of this chapter)