Matrix Survival: One random treasure chest per day

Li Zheng tried to put himself in the position of the virtual being and to imagine what he would do in that situation if he were the virtual being.

However, no matter how hard he thought about it, he couldn't come up with a way to escape.

"The one holding the lantern..." Li Zheng's heart stirred, recalling the lantern he used to enter and exit the Dark Realm. "Xu also contributed to the creation of this prop. Could he have left some hidden features in it to facilitate his escape?"

Li Zheng thought it over carefully and felt that the possibility was unlikely.

“The Lamp Bearer has existed for countless years. If Xu Neng could use this item to escape, he would have left long ago. There's no need to wait until now.” He shook his head, then asked, puzzled, “But if he didn't leave through the Lamp Bearer, then where did he go? And how did he escape?”

Perhaps, as Xu said, the answer will only be found when the two meet again.

It's impossible to understand now, at least not at the moment.

"As long as he is alive, we will meet again someday..."

Li Zheng put his mind at ease and said to Miriel, "I'm going to sleep now. Remember to wake me up tomorrow morning... By the way, Zhan Zhouzhou probably hasn't found a place to stay yet. Could you go out and help her look for one tomorrow?"

“Wouldn’t it be better to leave this to Feng Yue?” Mirell said. “He’s a local from the 375 block and knows this area better. He even helped us rent our house.”

“But we can’t keep bothering people,” Li Zheng said with his eyes closed. “It’s easy to owe them favors.”

Favors are things that can be big or small, and they are very difficult to repay.

“Okay, sure.” Miriel nodded in agreement.

The next morning, Li Zheng was woken up by Miriel, and breakfast was already prepared when he got up.

When he left, he took Sakura with him and headed to the Gravity Research Institute, while Miriel went out to find a place for Zhan Zhouzhou to rent long-term.

Upon arriving at the gravity research institute, just as Li Zheng had predicted, Zhan Zhouzhou had spent the night in the medical room and had already begun training in the gravity room she had rented.

It was Feng Yue who helped her adjust the gravity.

The Gravity Research Institute originally assigned another professor, but Roscal sent him away under the pretext of collecting more research data and replaced him with Feng Yue. This made it convenient for him to collect Zhan Zhouzhou's training data and compare it with Li Zheng's.

Rothcal was already in position. As soon as Li Zheng stepped into the gravity field, his voice came through the communicator: "Why are you wearing that shirt again?"

If the two hadn't been competing so intensely yesterday, he would have stopped them and asked Li Zheng to take off his combat uniform.

This resulted in him only collecting data changes from Zhan Zhouzhou during yesterday's competition, not from Li Zheng.

"Uh, I'm used to it, sorry." Li Zheng pulled out the collar of his combat uniform and put it into a capsule, and the data about him immediately began to change.

Roscal looked at the changed data, then compared it with Li Zheng's data from a full day of regular training, and said with delight, "I have good news. Your improvement yesterday was about 10% better than that of a full day of regular training. I suggest that you and your neighbor set aside some time each day for thorough combat training, without compromising safety. It will benefit both of you."

"Oh?" Li Zheng's expression shifted. "That is indeed good news, but we just had a match yesterday. Let's have regular training today and talk about it tomorrow."

“Alright,” Roscal replied, “Then I’ll increase the gravity. Get ready.”

“Sure.” Li Zheng didn’t take it seriously. Sixteen times gravity was easy for him, and he would only feel the strain at the limit of eighteen times gravity. “Let’s challenge 18.5 times gravity today. I’m almost completely used to 18 times gravity.”

The training process was tedious, but Li Zheng enjoyed it. He found it satisfying to feel himself getting stronger little by little.

Unfortunately, the 18.5x gravity challenge failed. Li Zhengming was already able to move freely in an 18x environment, but that 0.5x increase in gravity felt like a giant mountain pressing down on him, making him unable to move.

His bones were cracking and popping. If Professor Rothcal hadn't reacted quickly and lowered the gravity, Li Zheng would have been seriously injured again today. At noon, Miriel returned, and the two talked while Li Zheng rested. The house they found for Zhan Zhouzhou had been booked; it was quite far from the gravity research institute, almost near the factory area, requiring at least half an hour to travel round trip.

Zhan Zhouzhou didn't have any objections to this; as long as she had a place to stay, that was fine.

To express her gratitude, she agreed to practice with Li Zheng for two hours every other day as supplementary training.

The days that followed became increasingly dull.

For a full month, Li Zheng and Zhan Zhouzhou were immersed in training.

Li Zheng's maximum gravity increased to 19.5, while Zhan Zhouzhou rapidly increased to 15 times gravity after consuming two Marrow Cleansing Pills, showing rapid progress.

Roscal marveled more than once that the people of the Blue Planet seemed to be born specifically for high-gravity environments, and their adaptability was unprecedented.

Miriel had also adapted to the tenfold gravity environment, so Li Zheng simply rented a gravity room for her at the gravity research institute so she could train there.

After consuming four Marrow Cleansing Pills, her progress was not as astonishing as Li Zheng's and Zhan Zhouzhou's; she only increased her gravity to thirteen times within a month.

However, regarding the mental energy node, Miriel has successfully condensed a third one.

The cost was that Li Zheng's inventory was running low, and most of the Twisted Magic Crystals he had previously obtained were used up.

As the number of nodes increased, Miriel absorbed magic crystal energy at an increasingly faster rate.

At first, she could only absorb one-tenth of a near-purple-grade magic crystal per day.

Now, a near-purple-grade magic crystal is drained in just three days.

Zhan Zhouzhou also condensed two nodes, but not Li Zheng taught her. Instead, she learned the exact way to condense spiritual power nodes after Ma Long described it to her after returning from the Wrathful Sin Domain.

When Li Zheng heard about this while trying to teach her that day, he was amazed by her comprehension ability, saying it was simply outrageous.

As for Sakura...

Under Li Zheng's urging, the first spiritual energy node was finally formed.

Now I absorb magic crystal energy with Miriel every day, and sometimes I fall asleep after absorbing just a little bit.

Li Zheng couldn't say anything to her about this, so he could only pull her into the Dark Realm while she was asleep to continue her extra training.

In short, apart from the fact that the daily treasure chest still only yields a wishing stone, everything seems to be moving in a positive direction, and life hasn't been too turbulent.

On this day, Li Zheng just woke up and found that there was an extra message on his inscription card.

It was sent from the terminal.

"I need to talk to you. Come quickly."

This is quite rare; the terminal actually had time to proactively send him a message.

Li Zheng immediately replied, "What is it?"

Then, without any explanation, he was taken to the central hub by the terminal.