Matrix Survival: One random treasure chest per day

Chapter 523 Property Rights Protection Law

The effect of intermediate culture medium is a 2.5-fold growth acceleration. If growth-inducing gland fluid is added during composting, will this effect be enhanced?

Even a slight increase of 0.25% would be worth it for Li Zheng.

“However… such a simple experiment should have been done by someone before, right?” Li Zheng carried the queen ant to the greenhouse entrance, removed the cold air barrier, and went over to give each of the three tiger-men brothers, who were staring blankly with their mouths wide open, a kick: “Hey, you can go out now.”

"What... just happened?" Kota muttered blankly.

"I think I saw a frost storm sweeping through the greenhouse?" Tiger Two was stunned for a second.
"The bugs...where are the bugs?" Tiger Three stared blankly for a moment.
Well, they're hopeless. These three idiots are completely terrified by Li Zheng's methods of dealing with the leaf-eating ants.

"It's truly a rare act of kindness in this cruel world that the three of you have grown up like this," Li Zheng muttered with narrowed eyes, then ignored them and turned to leave the greenhouse.

“Aneru Rishi?” Kanger immediately came over, still saying things that were difficult to understand.

Li Zheng: "..."

It's really inconvenient not having translation tools; we still have to rely on those three idiots to act as translators.

"Miriel, go and call those three idiots out. If they don't react, slap them all across the face." Li Zheng was too lazy to run anymore, so he asked the little succubus, who had been bored for a while, to run the errand for him.

"Alright!" Miriel stretched her wrists and stepped gracefully into the greenhouse.

With three crisp slaps mixed with suppressed screams, Miriel emerged easily from the greenhouse, pointed behind her, and said, "Done!"

Li Zheng looked towards the door and his face twitched.

Good heavens, I only asked Miriel to slap them, but Miriel actually whipped them.

Those purplish-black whip marks clearly showed that the force used was immense.

Whether it was just his imagination or not, Li Zheng felt that the three tiger-men brothers looked at him with a hint of awe, rather than the simple fear and dread they had shown before.

“Li Zhengzu…”

"Wait!" Li Zheng called out, frowning. "I thought you guys had misspoke and didn't pay attention. Let me reiterate, I come from a planet called Earth, my race is human, and my ethnicity is Han. If you must refer to me by race, you can call me Human or Han. Li Zheng is my name."

"Race...ethnicity...what is ethnicity?"

The three tiger brothers looked at each other, completely bewildered by what Li Zheng was saying.

Kota thought for a moment: "Perhaps... they are the kings among the human race, and to distinguish them, they are called a race?"

"But brother, wouldn't it be better to just call them royalty?" Tiger Three scratched his head, puzzled. "Why call them ethnic groups?"

Tiger Two's eyes darted around, and he jumped up and gave Tiger Three a hard flick on the head: "Idiot! That must be to show the idea of ​​human kings sharing joy with the people, and not wanting the common people to feel that they are superior, so they call it a nation!"

"Oh~"

Hu San rubbed the spot where he had been hit, and after thinking about it, he still felt it didn't make sense: "Then what about the Han people?"

"Uh……"

Even Tiger Two, who considered himself the smartest of the three brothers, couldn't figure it out. Without saying a word, he jumped up and flicked Tiger Three on the head: "Why do you have so many questions? Figure it out yourself!"

As soon as Tiger Two landed, Kota raised his hand and smacked him, saying with exasperation, "You still have the nerve to talk about Third Brother? The 'Han' in Han Chinese is obviously a posthumous title for human royalty, you idiot!"

Li Zheng: "..."

Listening to the three tiger-men brothers discussing and researching so seriously, he lost all interest in explaining.

Forget it, there's no point in arguing with these three obviously brainless idiots. Let's get down to business.

"You three, stop talking nonsense and act as my translators."

Interrupting the three tiger-men brothers' desire to continue the discussion, Li Zheng took out his exclusive inscription and said to Kanger, "Mission complete, let's settle the mission reward."

“This…” Kanger stared longingly at the queen ant in Li Zheng’s hand: “The terms we just discussed…”

"Oh, you said you'd leave me a few live leaf-eating ants, right?" Li Zheng waved the queen ant in his hand. "Didn't I say I'd think about it? Now I've thought it over, and I feel that leaving such dangerous things with you is not being responsible enough for an employer, so I'll keep them here for you."

"Huh?" Kanger was taken aback by Li Zheng's words, and a look of anger mixed with resentment crossed his face. "Then can we have the growth-promoting substance that the leaf-eating ants have been accumulating? That should be my personal property..."

"Yes, yes."

This time, Li Zheng did not refuse and simply placed the ten liters of stimulating gland fluid that he had just filled in in front of Kanger: "But before you take the stimulating gland fluid back, I will give you two choices."

1. Here's the fertility gland fluid for you. This task will be settled normally. We'll handle any future matters officially.

Second, give me the oxytocin fluid, but you will receive what you've always dreamed of in return.

"Something I've always dreamed of?"

Kanger's grandson, Basil, asked in bewilderment, "How did you know what my grandfather dreamed of?"

"Yes, how did you know... Could it be that!?" Kanger's eyes widened, the wrinkles on his ancient wooden face straightening with the movement. "You have a way to buy oxytocin at a low price?!"

"Oxygen stimulant? What's the point of that raw material?" Li Zheng shook his head: "I have something better!"

As he spoke, he took out 100 milliliters of intermediate culture medium from the capsule and handed it to Kanger, confident that the other would recognize what it was.

"Cultivation medium!"

As Li Zheng had expected, Kanger exclaimed in surprise, "And it's intermediate-grade culture medium! How is that possible? The factory that produced intermediate-grade culture medium was destroyed several years ago, and even the advanced nutrient solution factory had to switch to producing growth hormones because it lost its supply of basic materials. How could you possibly still have intermediate-grade culture medium here?"

“What do you mean by ‘trade secret’?” Li Zheng said with a friendly smile. “Make your choice, Kanger! The right to purchase the oxytocin gland fluid or the discounted intermediate culture medium?”

"You mean... huff huff..." Kanger's breathing quickened, and the surrounding air suddenly became much fresher. Several tender shoots sprouted from the surface of the originally old and frail Tengluo Clan member: "You mean, you're going to sell me the intermediate-grade culture medium at a low price?"

"Otherwise what? Am I supposed to be here teasing you with a cough?" Li Zheng's smile grew brighter and brighter because he had suddenly discovered something more valuable.

"How much?" Kanger asked impatiently, "How much are you willing to sell it to me for?"

If I could buy a culture medium without side effects, I could empty all the greenhouses myself and replace them with the most precious plants on the market.

At that time, Kanger will occupy more than 50% of the high-end goods market in the surrounding neighborhood!
The potential profits from this made him incredibly excited, even just thinking about it.

Li Zheng also thought of that, and he thought of even more than Kanger.

For example, one of the materials used to make intermediate culture medium is refined fertilizer, which requires all sorts of random things to ferment.

The most cost-effective option is animal excrement.

In the outer city, there may not be much else, but the amount of excrement from all sorts of creatures is absolutely outrageous!
As for oxytocin, which is abundant but limited in quantity...

The market price is a bit high, but given some time, Lao Pu should be able to figure out the ingredient list without much trouble. The only challenge is to make a growth stimulant using the same ingredients.

Alternatively, you can wait overnight and see if the treasure chest system will give you a blueprint for producing oxytocin.
Li Zheng never expected that simply accepting a private task would directly solve his urgent problem and bring him a way to make money.

"You said that the intermediate culture medium factory was destroyed, so there is no intermediate culture medium on the market anymore. The price can't be set too casually. I need to investigate the market first before I can tell you the accurate price."

Li Zheng did not make a decision on the spot, but he still gave Kanger hope: "Don't worry, no matter what the final investigation results are, I will sell it to you for 70% of that price."

"Seventy percent!" Even more new shoots sprouted on Kanger's body. "Deal!"

"Don't rush me, I haven't finished yet." Li Zheng waved his finger: "Selling you 70% of it definitely doesn't come without conditions. I need you to provide me with two greenhouses as my private residence and studio."

In return, I can forgo other markets for a certain period, and all intermediate culture media will be supplied exclusively to your botanical garden!

"No problem! Not just two greenhouses, you can have all three!" Kanger was overjoyed. He never expected that a private task he assigned would bring in the nutrient solution that all the botanical gardens wanted!
"Grandpa!" Basil tugged at Kanger from behind and whispered, "Have you forgotten about that?"

"What?" Kanger was taken aback for a moment, then remembered something and led Basil to a nearby place to discuss it.

Tiger Two quietly pricked up his ears and whispered something next to Kota's head.

A moment later, Kota relayed to Li Zheng: "That little wisteria tribesman is a real scoundrel. His grandfather had already agreed, but he actually reminded the old man about the property rights protection law, trying to suppress your conditions."

"Property Rights Protection Law?" Li Zheng asked in surprise, "What is that?"

“You’ve just entered the outer city, so there are many things you don’t understand yet.” Kota explained to Li Zheng: “The so-called intellectual property protection law is a regulation that the terminal established a long time ago. All blueprints or formulas belong to individuals when they are first created.”

This is also why that culture medium factory was able to monopolize the market.

However… in reality, the formulas for these things are no longer a secret. The same things are secretly sold on the black market, but since they lack intellectual property rights, they can't be made public.

"You mean..." Li Zheng understood what Kota was trying to say at this point, "I don't have the property rights, so what I sell can't be sold legally, and Kanger can report me for selling counterfeit goods at any time?"

"That's right! The Little Wisteria Clan means they're using property rights protection laws to threaten you, force you to lower your prices and all your terms, or they'll report you to the enforcement team."

Kota: "You are a newcomer to the outer city, without any powerful backing. If you are reported, all your illegal activities will be confiscated!"

"Oh?"

Li Zheng looked at him with some surprise: "Then why didn't you do the tip-off and instead told me what happened?"

Strictly speaking, we're not exactly friends, are we?
They could even be considered enemies.

"Hehe...it's my opinion." Tiger Two adjusted the translation equipment and leaned closer to say, "The three of us brothers want to get rid of our identity as robbers and bandits and follow you."

"You see, you've just arrived in the outer city, you must be short of errand runners. The three of us grew up in this neighborhood, we know many of the rules better than you, and we're easier to manage."

"Wait a minute..." Li Zheng paused slightly, "You guys aren't players?"

"Of course we are not..." Kota said shyly, "Strictly speaking, it took more than ten generations of our ancestors to become players. The rest of us were born in the outer city."

Tiger Two chimed in, "What player is as strong as us, only at the extraordinary level? We robbers mostly rob people from other districts who have the same identity as us, although we haven't succeeded many times..."

"What do you mean you haven't succeeded a few times?" Kota slapped him and yelled, "That's called not being skilled enough!"

"Yes, yes, I'm not familiar with the work." Tiger Two rubbed the spot where he had been hit, looking aggrieved.

Seeing that they were whispering without including him, Tiger Three came over with a goofy grin and shouted in a loud voice, "What are you guys talking about? Count me in!"

Fortunately, this simpleton had Chinese translation enabled the whole time, so Kanger and the others didn't understand what he was saying.

However, the commotion still caught the attention of the grandfather and grandson, and they came back together.

Kanger did indeed offer his opinion: "The intermediate culture medium you brought out is counterfeit and cannot be priced according to the official price. So when you are investigating the price, I hope you can bring Basil along."

As for giving you two greenhouses, that's not a problem; I can agree to that. However, what you do in the greenhouses must not jeopardize the safety and production of the botanical garden.

These two conditions were surprisingly reasonable and within Li Zheng's acceptable range. After hearing Kota's reminder, he was prepared for Kanger to make exorbitant demands.

“Okay, now that we’ve agreed on the terms, let’s settle the mission rewards first.” Li Zheng revealed his exclusive rune once again.

Two hundred white crystal coins may not seem like a large sum now, but one thing at a time, and Li Zheng cannot ignore this small amount of profit just because he can make a lot of money later.

"it is good."

Kanger transferred two hundred white crystal coins into Li Zheng's inscription, then pointed to the greenhouse where the leaf-eating ants had been dealt with and another one next to it, saying, "These two greenhouses are for you to use. If you want to clean things up, you'll have to do it yourselves, okay?"

"of course."

Li Zheng chuckled and patted Kota on the shoulder: "Didn't you want to follow me from now on? Now's the time to use you guys. Clean up the room for me."

"Leave it to us!" Tiger Two was overjoyed upon hearing this and patted his chest to assure them.

The three tiger brothers rushed into the greenhouse and started working hard, chopping up all the plants inside.

Li Zheng didn't waste any, so he had them all cut into powder and put into capsules for composting.

Next, he arranged for three tigermen to go out with Basil to conduct market research, while he and Miriel went into the greenhouse, set up the stove, and began preparing dinner for the day.

Kanger took this opportunity to go out and purchase a new batch of fruit trees; he needed to get the goods ready before the delivery date.

After Kanger left, Miriel busied herself at the stove: "Aren't you afraid that old tree man will expose you?"

"afraid."

Li Zheng shrugged, released a few wolves and huskies to get some fresh air, and fed them for the night.

While scattering feed, he said, "He's not that stupid. At least he won't expose me until that order is completed."

"And then what?" Miriel turned up the stove flame and started tossing the food in the pan. "Once he gets his money back, who knows if he won't have some crooked ideas?"

"We'll talk about the future later."

Li Zheng waved his hand: "Anyway, I'm just looking for a place to stay temporarily. Nobody can stop me when I want to leave."

“You’re quite confident,” Miriel shook her head.

“Of course, everything is under control!” Li Zheng picked up the queen leaf-eating ant that he had thrown in the corner, left Miriel to prepare dinner, and went to the greenhouse next door alone.

Now let's see if our guess is true.

(End of this chapter)