Matrix Survival: One random treasure chest per day

Chapter 611 Ugly Farmer! ?
“You are my most outstanding creation.” The terminal spoke in a gentle tone that sent chills down one’s spine.

Li Zheng took a deep breath: "What's your purpose in bringing me here this time?"

So many people participated in the mission, and Zhan Zhouzhou completed the same number of missions as him, yet he was the only one who was able to come to the central hub. Who would believe that there was no tampering by the terminal?
"There are indeed some questions I'd like to know," the terminal said. "But after seeing you in person, many of my doubts have been resolved. You've already met him, haven't you? And he's the one who gave you your mental power?"

“Him?” Li Zheng frowned. “You mean… Xu?”

"Humble? Hahaha..." The terminal seemed to have heard a funny joke, its face contorted with laughter: "He actually gave himself such a cringeworthy nickname?"

As he laughed, he exclaimed, "Yes, that's his style. After all, we're one, and I should understand him."

Li Zheng didn't speak, but just quietly looked at the face that appeared on the terminal. He didn't find even a trace of negative emotions related to words like violence, cruelty, or bloodlust in the other party's tone or expression. Instead, he felt that the terminal was more like a familiar old friend, kind and gentle.

"Now that you've met him, you should know about my relationship with him, right?" Terminal asked seriously after laughing for a while.

“Yes.” Li Zheng nodded: “Xu said that you were originally the same person, but you were separated later, one representing the positive and the other representing the negative.”

"Did he also say that I am negative and he is positive?" the terminal continued to ask with a playful tone.

Li Zheng nodded, indicating his agreement.

"Haha, I knew it, he's still the same old him." The terminal seemed to have expected this, and then said something that made Li Zheng question his existence: "If I told you that he lied to you, that I'm actually the positive one and he's the negative one, would you believe me?"

Having formed a preconceived notion, Li Zheng thought for a moment and gently shook his head: "I find it hard to believe what you're saying."

"Don't rush me, I have evidence to prove it." The terminal asked, "Do you think that if he represents the good side, a kind person would create a way to lure others into killing each other to collect the key to open that space?"

Without needing to say more, just this one sentence was enough to enlighten Li Zheng'an, making him understand many things.

When Xu told Li Zheng that he was experiencing positive emotions while the terminal was a collection of all negative emotions, Li Zheng felt a strong sense of unease.

At that time, he didn't think much about it, nor did he doubt whether what Xu said was true or false.

After all, Xu was focused on helping him improve his mental strength at that time, so it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that he was Li Zheng's teacher.

How could they possibly doubt the other party?

However, now that the terminal has pointed it out, Li Zheng belatedly realizes that... perhaps the terminal really does represent the positive side.

From the series of actions players take after entering the matrix, it's clear that the developers are trying their best to ensure the basic training benefits while reducing player mortality.

And the most crucial point is, if the terminal is truly a cruel entity, why would it have a setting for red-named bloodthirsty individuals?

Being covered in blood after committing murder is a clear reminder to others that this person is a dangerous individual, isn't it?

"There's something else you might not have considered, or you might not fully understand the crisis we need to face, and thus overlooked it," the terminal continued. "Having been in the Matrix for so long, you must have become aware of the existence of emotional storms, right?"

"I know." Li Zheng nodded silently.

"Then you must also know that an emotional storm is actually formed by the accumulation of countless negative emotions, which eventually undergo a qualitative change, right?"

"Yes."

"If what he says is true, and I am the one who is negative, then why haven't I chosen to join the emotional storm, but instead have been fighting against it for so many years, when I am completely dominated by negative emotions?"

At this moment, Li Zheng's thoughts truly began to waver.

That's right. According to Xu, since the terminal represents the evil side, why didn't it choose to embrace the emotional storm that is also composed of 'evil', but instead turned around and fought against 'evil'?
Only 'good' can be completely opposed to 'evil'!

"Also, let me show you something else, just to make it more convincing."

As soon as he finished speaking, Li Zheng noticed that the ground around him was being stirred up like building blocks, flipping over layer by layer and eventually forming things that looked like shelves.

There are so many shelves that you can't count them all at a glance; they're densely packed together.

Each shelf had at least one item on it.

Li Zheng walked over and looked at several shelves.

A transparent container with a high-tech feel, sealed at both ends with an alloy material, filled with an unknown red viscous liquid.

"This is mercury, not the mercury used in disinfectants, but the mercury that can be made into nuclear bombs." The terminal's face appeared on the electronic screen next to the shelf, explaining to Li Zheng: "In our world, mercury nuclear bombs were just a hoax, but here they have actually been developed. Just what you see right now, once detonated, could instantly destroy most of the outer city, and the resulting radiation could even spread to areas of the outer city and the Matrix, wiping out all the racial civilization we have worked so hard to preserve over the years!"

"To prevent that situation from happening, I immediately dispatched clones to wipe out all the personnel in that research lab. The red mercury that had already been produced was also contained in the central control, and it has not leaked out for more than three thousand years." "And this." The terminal image jumped to the shelf next to it, where there was an ordinary-looking metal rod with a strange sphere at the end.

"If I didn't tell you, could you imagine that this thing is actually a space-based weapon capable of destroying an entire civilization?"

"Given enough energy, it can blast through all known matter in the universe with a single shot!"

"Even neutron stars can't stop it!"

"Unfortunately, emotional storms are not included here, because emotional storms have no physical form."

"Next is this... an extremely dangerous 'meme'." The terminal image introduced each one to Li Zheng: "This 'meme' has an uncontrollable infectiousness. You can think of it as a viral pathogen. Once infected, regardless of race, as long as they are still bound by flesh and blood, even an insect will become extremely aggressive and lose their mind."

“This characteristic… doesn’t it sound just like the T-virus?” Li Zheng felt it was familiar and thought of a certain post-apocalyptic setting.

“Even stronger than that!” the terminal said. “The T-virus is no match for it at all, because the virus has serum and an antidote, offering hope of a cure before it fully takes effect. But the ‘meme’ has no antidote!”

Next, the terminal introduced Li Zheng to all sorts of dangerous things, most of which were strange and unusual, but they all had one thing in common.

That means if the restrictions on its use were lifted, a civilization could be destroyed in a short period of time!
“No wonder I didn’t find any weapons of mass destruction in the matrix or the outer city; they were all with you.” Li Zheng pondered for a long time.

The terminal explained: "Because the evil in human nature is uncontrollable, I contain anything that appears to prevent uncontrollable events from happening in the outside world."

The myriad races are already very fragile and cannot withstand too much turmoil. Even if some people die during the containment process, it is a last resort.

The only safest thing for the people who invented these things is to die.

Even if their memories are erased, there's no guarantee that something similar won't be reinvented someday.

"Okay." Li Zheng was beginning to accept the terminal's earlier statement. Perhaps the terminal had deceived him, and that it was the terminal that represented the 'good' side.

He turned his head, saw something familiar, pointed at it, and asked, "I can understand that those extremely dangerous things are contained, but why are the gene serums here too?"

"Because the dangers of gene serums are no less than those I just told you about." The terminal moved closer: "I know you obtained the method for making low-level gene serums through some channel, and I also know that you used gene serums to make up for some of the genetic defects of being a clone."

"But don't be fooled by appearances!"

"Low-level gene potions are indeed a positive benefit, providing considerable combat strength to the outer city for a long time back then."

"The ideal level for taking gene-enhancing drugs, like the level of mental strength, can only be lower than the initial level."

"Because at this time, the genes are in their most perfect state."

"Once the gene therapy exceeds the limit, the recipient will exhibit symptoms of loss of humanity and gradually become without any moral boundaries."

"It might even evolve into something very similar to those twisted creatures, which is extremely dangerous!"

Listening to the terminal's explanation, Li Zheng understood: "So those factories in the outer city that are frequently attacked and then disappear are actually orchestrated by you?"

He didn't ask why, given the gene-editing agents had such strong side effects, people could simply control the amount of drugs they ingested. That's utter nonsense.

How many people can resist the temptation of something that can enhance their strength and make them more powerful?

Especially in a place like the outer city, even if there is no immediate threat from external enemies, there are still wild beasts and bloodthirsty people in the wilderness as threats. You never know when you might die in some corner.

It's even less likely that they could resist the urge to become stronger and consciously refrain from using the over-limit drug.

“Only a small portion are,” the terminal said. “The majority of the rest are actually caused by competition in the outer city markets, and have nothing to do with me.”

"So, the nutrient solution factories that can accelerate plant growth actually disappeared because of market competition?" Li Zheng nodded thoughtfully.

"Uh, I was the one who destroyed that culture medium factory." The terminal looked embarrassed for a moment, then said, "Come with me."

He disappeared from the monitor and jumped to another shelf in the distance.

Li Zheng followed. Ever since he entered the central hub, the Eye of Preys had been feigning death for a long time, showing no reaction whatsoever.

"The culture medium factory you mentioned produced this thing." After Li Zheng arrived, the terminal's avatar disappeared, and the monitor displayed a different image.

The first figure that appeared among them was someone Li Zheng knew all too well.

Ugly farmer?!
(End of this chapter)