Matrix Survival: One random treasure chest per day

Chapter 656 The Heavenly Will Organization, The Shadow Controller

The dark shadow slowly rose up, eventually revealing itself as a completely black human figure.

Li Zheng glanced at the ground and saw that his shadow was still there, which meant that the guy had actually entered later and hadn't directly stolen his shadow. Only then did he feel relieved.

"I remember you guys could control targets with your shadows, right?" Li Zheng said coldly, "Why didn't it work this time?"

"Hehehe..." The figure chuckled sinisterly, "Your willpower far exceeds our expectations; we couldn't shake it. The woman next to you is even more terrifying; she was able to sense the abnormality the moment we made our move. However, I still advise you to surrender. You are outnumbered and outmatched; you can't defeat the Heavenly Will Organization."

"Surrender?" Li Zheng sized up the other party, a strange smile playing on his lips, tinged with sarcasm and indifference: "With your mere genetic creation?"

[Shadow Manipulators are artificially cultivated organisms, belonging to the category of genetic creations. They can control the body of a target by integrating their shadow into that target's body. If the target's willpower is stronger than theirs, they can detect the shadow's presence.]

Your mental strength is indeed strong, but your willpower is weak...

Incidentally, he has your genes... or rather, genes similar to yours, possibly acquired from another clone.

Another creation of genes. There are many creatures in the Matrix that have been modified through genetic technology. Sakura is one of them, having fused more than fifty genes, five of which are from alien races that were once players.

Compared to Sakura, the shadow controller in front of me is simply pathetic, with far less skill.

"It seems the reason this guy was able to blend into my shadow is because of the genes from his original body." Li Zheng thought to himself, "He disguised himself as someone with a similar aura through gene simulation, which is why he managed to fool me?"

The Shadow Controller flew into a rage: "You're nothing but a clone, what right do you have to look down on me?!"

“Just because I have this,” Li Zheng said, taking out an inscription card. “I have a player identity, and I’m also a recognized resident of the outer city. What are you?”

"You want to provoke me?" The Shadow Controller suddenly fell silent: "Wait."

Li Zheng shrugged indifferently: "Think what you want. With your strength... to be honest, without the strange talent of the Shadow Controller, you're nothing in my eyes."

"Heh..." The Shadow Controller sneered, "Is that so? You haven't even reached the advanced beginner level, where do you get the audacity to utter such arrogant words?"

Although he was a genetic creation, his strength was genuinely at the advanced level of the beginner stage, a small level stronger than Li Zheng. Based on past experience, when he merged with the other party's shadow, he was able to control the other party's body and forcibly lower the defenses of the mental world, thus allowing the evil thoughts in the sinful domain environment to take advantage of the situation and quickly transform him into an infected body.

This time, however, the target was truly extraordinary: someone with such strong willpower that they were able to detect the anomaly and strike in time to injure the shadow controller within.

The other one is even more unshakeable, but their external strength is not very high, and the outcome of a head-on confrontation is unpredictable.

"Although I'm very curious about how you manage to turn others into infected individuals, that's no longer important." Li Zheng took out a bottle of water and unscrewed it. A layer of ice crystals gradually spread from where his palm was, eventually turning into fine, hair-like ice needles that flew out of the bottle and circled around him.

In the blink of an eye, countless ice needles shimmered with a cold light, and even the surrounding temperature dropped considerably.

"Genetic abilities?" The Shadow Controller scoffed. "You're still using such low-level stuff?"

At this moment, the Shadow Controller that Zhan Zhouzhou stabbed suddenly shattered into countless fragments, which flowed across the ground and converged a short distance away, becoming whole again.

"What a pity, you were just a hair's breadth away from killing me. Oh ho ho ho..." This shadow controller seemed to be a woman, and somewhat morbid. Her tone of voice revealed a masochistic tendency, as if Zhan Zhouzhou's act of stabbing her had given her pleasure.

"This is just a lesson. Next time, I won't spare your life." Zhan Zhouzhou flicked his lightning-fast longsword, sending up a crackling arc of electricity.

"Is that so?" The female shadow controller extended a long, narrow, tentacle-like tongue, rolled it in the air, and said with a coquettish laugh, "Then I really can't wait."

"So eager to die?" Zhan Zhouzhou's fighting spirit soared, her tone grew even colder, and she brandished her longsword, launching it forward like an arrow released from a bow: "Then I'll grant your wish!"

The battle broke out instantly. Zhan Zhouzhou struck with a powerful attack, "Piercing Swallow," its momentum as strong as thunder and as overwhelming as an iceberg, making it hard for anyone to breathe.

"How terrifying~" The female shadow controller's body softened, writhing like a water snake: "I love it!"

Its body flipped and rolled, like elastic clay, towards Zhan Zhouzhou's right hand holding the sword.

"Open!" Zhan Zhouzhou exhaled and shouted, his feet stomping and shifting his position, his wrist flipping as he slashed horizontally with his sword.

While the two of them were fighting, Li Zheng wasn't idle either. He turned the direction of the countless ice needles around, their sharp tips facing the other shadow controller, ready to strike.

"My lord sent me here to test your strength, but the final result is so disappointing." The Shadow Controller slowly descended into the ground like melting ice cream: "I will take your head back; my lord should be very satisfied."

"You want to take my head?" Li Zheng raised his right hand, slowly clenched his fist, then suddenly flipped his palm and pressed down. A shower of ice needles fell like raindrops, all of them embedding themselves in the ground where the Shadow Controller had merged.

Tuk-tuk-tuk~
With a loud bang, the ice needles exploded into a sky full of flying ice mist, the blue and white ice crystals were quite beautiful.

"It's useless. Your attack is as laughable as tickling an itch." The Shadow Controller moved slowly, stepping out of the icy mist with incredible speed, and arrived in front of Li Zheng in the blink of an eye.

"Now, it's my turn!"

Teng!
The dark figure was dragged off the ground and pointed a finger at Li Zheng's forehead silently.

Li Zheng only saw that the finger tremble slightly, then lengthen and become slender, sharp as a sword, its edge fully revealed.

"Bring the blade!" he shouted, and the glass longsword appeared in his hand with a flip. He raised his hand and slashed sideways, aiming at the fingertip pointed at by the Shadow Controller.

boo~
It was as if he had only struck a wisp of smoke; Li Zheng felt no physical contact whatsoever, and was immediately startled.

"I told you, your attack is as laughable as tickling." The Shadow Controller's momentum did not diminish. One of his fingers was cut in two by the glass longsword, becoming even thinner and longer. It transformed from a rapier into two Emei daggers, splitting into two and stabbing at Li Zheng's eyes.

Li Zheng bent over and leaned back, then kicked upwards, striking the Shadow Controller, but still failed to hit the physical body, passing right through it.

But he also used this opportunity to roll backward several times, creating distance between himself and the shadow controller.

Suddenly, I felt a cool sensation on my forehead, followed by a warm liquid running down my face.

He raised his hand to wipe it, only to find that he still hadn't managed to dodge the two fingers' poke, and a cut had been made on his forehead.

"I have to say, you are much stronger than the Shadow Controllers I encountered a couple of days ago. Those guys couldn't even withstand my mental power and were killed in an instant." Li Zheng shook the blood off his hands. Although the wound on his forehead had not healed, the bleeding had stopped.

At their level, unless it's a serious injury like being disemboweled or having a limb severed, minor cuts and abrasions can be stopped and healed quickly, demonstrating amazing vitality.

"I am naturally different from those trash," the Shadow Controller said proudly. "Those trash are just consumables; there are as many as you need, and they can be discarded at any time. But I am the Lord's most successful creation, the most powerful Shadow Controller!"

He transformed back into a shadow and merged into the ground, closing in on Li Zheng: "Give up struggling. I want to kill you, and you can't resist."

"is it?"

Li Zheng smiled slightly, and a pair of wings made of azure lightning appeared behind him as he flew into the sky: "Now? How are you going to kill me?"

The Shadow Controller's methods are indeed bizarre; he can turn the real into the unreal, rendering ordinary physical attacks ineffective against him.

However, the drawbacks are also obvious. After turning into a shadow, he can only move on the surface of a physical object and cannot take off and fly.

But when Li Zheng looked down, he found that the shadow controller had vanished into thin air.

The next moment, a voice rang in his ear: "Tell me, how will I kill you?"

Danger struck from behind. Li Zheng rolled in mid-air, trying to shake off the Shadow Controller behind him, but the other party clung to him like a leech.

A dark shadow transformed into a sharp blade, silently approaching his neck, intending to decapitate him.

"Is it lightning?!" A realization dawned on Li Zheng. The lightning emitted by the Demon Thunder Wings would create shadows behind him, and the Shadow Controller was hiding in the shadows on his body!
Scatter!
Li Zheng decisively dispelled the power of the Demonic Thunder Wings, and the lightning completely disappeared.

At the same time, the dark blade that had been extended to his neck disappeared.

A dark shadow fell from beneath him and merged into the ground. The Shadow Controller leaned out halfway, looked up at the free-falling Li Zheng, turned around and transformed into a sharp spike, waiting for Li Zheng to stab himself to death.

"Is this underestimating my abilities?" Li Zheng unleashed all the mental power he could control, forcefully pushing himself from the side and causing himself to shift sideways a distance in the air.

He wasn't flying very high to begin with, and now he was practically touching the ground. After shifting sideways, the Shadow Controller didn't have time to sneak beneath him, and Li Zheng landed safely.

However, the moment Li Zheng touched the ground, a faint light emanating from somewhere in the Sin Domain formed a circular shadow beneath his feet. The Shadow Controller plunged into the ground, swam to his feet, and merged with his shadow. It quickly extended half of its body, and its arms transformed into sharp blades, wildly swinging out to stab Li Zheng's vitals.

Li Zheng used his skills to parry with his sword, but the distance was too close, and he couldn't wield the glass longsword effectively, making him clumsy and extremely uncomfortable. Unlike Zhan Zhouzhou, he didn't possess sophisticated techniques for fighting; even though he had learned some, it was only superficial.

What he does more is to absorb the strengths of various schools of thought and summarize the techniques that suit him.

The angle and force of each strike, and which muscles to use for maximum efficiency and minimal effort, are all techniques he has gradually refined bit by bit.

The Shadow Controller, on the other hand, acts purely on instinct, using his own advantages to launch attacks indiscriminately.

He can hit, wound, and kill others, while enemy attacks can only pass through his dancing body and cannot harm him.

On this basis, all skills seem to become less important.

However, if you get into a close and evenly matched battle, skill is the key to victory!

It's true that shadow controllers can switch between reality and illusion, but they can't control others through their shadows. When they have to fight in person, they need to switch from illusion to reality the instant their attack hits the enemy in order to kill them.

In that split second, the key to breaking the deadlock was revealed.

After a brief struggle, Li Zheng suddenly laughed and said, "So that's how it is. This is all it takes to hurt you, is that right?"

The Shadow Controller was taken aback, then mechanically extended both arms to attack Li Zheng.

Unexpectedly, Li Zheng did not block this time, but instead twisted his body and deliberately crashed into the two black shadow blades.

With two soft thuds, the sharp blade pierced flesh, but Li Zheng controlled it well, avoiding a fatal blow.

Just as the Shadow Controller was about to take the opportunity to cut Li Zheng in two, splitting him into three pieces, he suddenly felt a mocking gaze fixed on him.

He looked up, but what greeted him was not a gaze or a stare, but a long, gleaming glass sword.

puff!
The longsword slashed smoothly into the Shadow Controller's neck, the sharp blade cutting through two-thirds of the neck with unstoppable force, leaving only a bit of skin and flesh still attached.

Li Zheng raised his foot and kicked the Shadow Controller in the chest, sending him flying. The black shadow blade stuck in his body was also pulled out, and two sprays of blood spurted out.

"How is this possible?!" The Shadow Controller collapsed to the ground. He wasn't dead yet, but he was close to it.

He stared at Li Zheng, who was slowly walking towards him, his eyes wide with shock and confusion, as if he couldn't understand why he had suddenly been hacked to pieces like this.

“Genetic creation, huh…” Li Zheng took out some medicine and sprinkled it on the wound to accelerate the stopping of bleeding and the regeneration of flesh and blood. Then he squatted down in front of the Shadow Controller who was not quite dead yet: “Aren’t you quite unwilling? Want to know when I’ll see your weakness?”

The Shadow Controller glared at him, his neck split open, rendering him unable to speak, only able to utter meaningless sounds from the severed opening.

In the shadows, part of his body turned into shadow, and he circled behind Li Zheng, intending to take advantage of his carelessness to deliver a fatal blow.

"Hey...do you think I'll give you a chance?" Li Zheng suddenly laughed, raised his hand and sliced ​​the Shadow Controller horizontally open, revealing his internal organs, and a heart unlike any other in a human was still beating.

The Shadow Controller, now completely dead, could no longer maintain his Shadow Transformation ability and revealed his true form.

It was a humanoid life form with completely black skin and strange patterns on its body, much like the patterns on an integrated circuit.

Ultimately, these are nothing more than genetically engineered creations, still made of flesh and blood, only possessing a power that allows them to exist as shadows.

Since it is made of flesh and blood, it must have weaknesses. If those weaknesses are exploited, death is inevitable.

"Isn't this ability to transform into a shadow just a genetic ability?" Li Zheng spat and said disdainfully, "Your very survival ability is a genetic ability, yet you look down on genetic abilities as if you're superior. Have some shame!"

At this moment, Zhan Zhouzhou's voice came from the side: "You've managed to fight this far against such a weak guy. It seems I need to reassess your strength."

Li Zheng looked up and saw that Zhan Zhouzhou had already defeated her opponent and was standing not far away with her arms crossed, watching him.

"You're so fast?" Li Zheng scratched his head. "How come your opponent is so much weaker than mine?"

According to the evaluation given by the Eye of Preys, the two Shadow Controllers were not much different, and the female Shadow Controller also had the strength of the beginner to intermediate level. How come Zhan Zhouzhou fought so easily?
"Is it that difficult?" Zhan Zhouzhou said dismissively, "Just create a patch of light on the ground to cast a clear shadow, then fight them around that shadow. A weakling with no fighting skills can be easily killed in a few moves..."

"Wait a minute..." Li Zheng raised his hand: "But if we stand within the light's range, won't we also cast shadows beneath us, giving the other side a chance to get close?"

"You still don't understand." Zhan Zhouzhou shook her head: "What I want is for them to get close."

Li Zheng: "..."

Now he understood.

Zhan Zhouzhou is confident enough in her close combat skills, so she is eager for the enemy to engage in close combat with her, and fight around her strengths, which will naturally increase her chances of winning.

"But what are my strengths?" Li Zheng pondered.

Combat skills?
general.

If it weren't for the Bodhi tree that gave him a boost, in Zhan Zhouzhou's words, he would have been "second-rate."

Genetic capabilities?

It's all about diamond and platinum abilities, but even at max level, its power is just so-so.

Mental strength?
Very strong!

However, it requires a certain level of physical fitness to fully realize its advantages...

"Hmm, we need to find a way to improve our physical strength and free up more mental energy." Li Zheng nodded as he thought of this: "But it seems that there are no items in the outer city that can quickly improve physical strength above the beginner level, unless we open another super god-level treasure chest and get a marrow cleansing pill."

Well, this seems to be a dead end.

Are god-tier treasure chests really that easy to get?

This morning, after winning a platinum and a silver medal, I thought my luck would improve.

The results of it?
I opened a gold-level treasure chest, and what I got was a wishing stone fragment, about the size of one and a half fingernails.

If things continue like this, it's not as good as when we were in the Matrix. At least every treasure chest, no matter how low its grade, yielded some tangible reward, instead of some vague and unrealistic wishful thinking like wish stone fragments.

"What are you thinking about?" Zhan Zhouzhou called out, "Why are you daydreaming again?"

"Hmm...it's nothing." Li Zheng came back to his senses and asked, "How do you martial artists usually improve your physical strength?"

“It’s simple, just increase the pressure on yourself,” Zhan Zhouzhou said. “Didn’t I give you the Overweight Necklace? If you’ve adapted to ten times the gravity, find a way to increase the load on yourself. For example, I had Ye Kai and the others forge a set of soft metal armor for me before. It weighs over a hundred pounds. After the tenfold increase in gravity, the pressure on the body is definitely not just a mere hundred pounds.”

"I see." Li Zheng nodded thoughtfully.

He had already gotten used to the effects of the Overweight Necklace after taking the Marrow Cleansing Pill, and the mere tenfold increase had long lost its training value for him.

Only by continuing to increase the intensity of the increase can we put some pressure on him.

Perhaps I should take some time to visit the Gravity Research Institute; it's the only place in the outer city that specializes in researching gravity equipment.

"Speaking of which, how did you get involved with this kind of monster?" Zhan Zhouzhou asked, pointing at the two Shadow Controller corpses. "Besides being a clone of the terminal, what else is special about you? Why are so many people watching you now that you're in the outer city?"

Upon hearing this, Li Zheng could only manage a wry smile: "How was I supposed to know? I was initially hoping you could leave someone alive to help me ask, but you killed them even faster than I did..."

The pressure from the Shadow Controller above him was too great; there was no way he would hold back. Even before he died, that guy was still thinking about killing him back, so there was no way he could get anything out of him.

If we could find the organization behind it, Tianyi, we might be able to get more information.

So, I guess I'll have to find some time to go for a walk in the wilderness.

Things are getting worse...

(End of this chapter)