Matrix Survival: One random treasure chest per day

Chapter 806, Chapter Eighty-Five: Shadows
Miriel wasn't sure if her influence played a part in Li Zheng's decision, but Li Zheng always patiently explained things to her without ever showing any annoyance, so she knew that Li Zheng cared about her.

Suddenly, her expression changed: "Oh no, you drove Mudala away. If those twisted creatures come, won't I be in danger?"

She realized what was happening and asked, "Are you planning to abandon me again, under the guise of protecting me?"

Li Zheng smiled wryly: "Once my newly created move is activated, even I can't control it, so I can't protect you properly, therefore..."

"Just as I thought!" Miriel said dejectedly, "I know what's important. With my strength, if I insist on staying, I'll only be a burden to you. The places you go to will become more and more dangerous, and my strength can't keep up. I'll always be a burden to you."

She sighed deeply: "But I don't want to leave you. I want to stay by your side. I'm afraid you'll be lonely when the night is quiet."

Miriel has worked very hard to improve her skills. At the research institute, she trained as diligently as Zhan Zhouzhou.

Even after a long day of hard work, she would still muster the energy to help Li Zheng with household chores.

When Li Zheng was troubled and didn't want to talk, she would stay by his side without saying a word.

When Li Zheng has something happy to share, she will massage him while listening attentively.

When Li Zheng has questions he can't answer, she will offer some help and suggestions to the best of her ability.

"I will protect you..." Li Zheng said to comfort her, trying to reassure her.

Miriel shook her head and said, "I've thought about it seriously. When you go back this time, please help me get my status as an outer city resident. I'll stay at home and wait for you to come back. Sakura also needs someone to take care of her."

“I’m afraid that won’t work,” Li Zheng said. “The terminal is already accelerating the mass advancement of the Water Blue Star people. It is expected that the matrix will be cleared within two months. Before that, I will have the terminal send you back to the Abyss Succubus territory to prepare for leading them out of the Abyss.”

In the abyss, there are many kinds of demons, each ruling their own territory while also forming alliances and not interfering with each other.

Convincing the other demons to come out of the abyss would take a lot of effort, and Li Zheng couldn't leave the outer city, so he had to let Miriel handle the matter.

"So soon?" Miriel frowned, feeling a headache coming on as she thought about the complicated relationships between the demons in the abyss.

Moreover, the Abyss Demons are extremely sensitive to negative emotions, and she worried that those of her people would become the opposing camp after arriving in the Sin Domain.

"There's no rush," Li Zheng said. "We don't have much time to begin with, so going back early to make preparations will also help prevent problems from arising along the way."

“Okay.” Miriel suddenly said reluctantly, “Then will we not see each other for a long time?”

Li Zheng nodded silently: "So you need to get them out of the matrix as soon as possible, and you need to keep everyone in check so they don't advance to the wilderness and become bloodthirsty beings."

“I’ll do it as soon as possible.” Miriel opened the bathroom door and said to Li Zheng, “I want to take a shower, could you boil some water for me?”

Since the capsule residence is unusable in the outer city, Li Zheng has never bothered to add a heating function to the bathroom's water circulation system. If he wants to take a bath now, he has to act as a human boiler.

However, once you're in the restroom, some things become beyond your control.

Half an hour before the arrival of the twisted creatures, Li Zheng and his companion emerged from the bathroom, panting. At the entrance of their residence, Li Zheng gave Miriel a big kiss: "It's not far from here to the Golden Light Zone. You can train your willpower on the way back, so I won't see you off."

"Mmm." Miriel's eyes were glazed over from his kisses, and she nestled softly in Li Zheng's arms, reluctant to leave.

Li Zheng was afraid that Miriel would ask for a second chance, so he tried his best to persuade her to leave.

Watching Miriel fly away, Li Zheng withdrew his gaze and sat down on the ground against the outer wall of his capsule residence.

Several months later, Li Zheng finally experienced being alone again, but this time he had someone to care about.

When I'm alone, I always tend to think about all sorts of things.

Li Zheng recalled what happened when he first woke up in the Matrix, but he couldn't remember many of the details. "Sakura was really ugly back then... But since she was delivered to me by the terminal, wasn't he afraid I would ignore her or even kill her?"

It's important to understand that at the time, a piece of meat was an extremely precious food resource for Li Zheng, making it highly likely that he would do something like this.

"Hmm, putting myself in their shoes, the terminal probably thinks that with the Dreadbat meat of those guards around, I'll let Sakura, this little piece of meat, go."

Li Zheng grinned: "I wonder if the terminal anticipated that my weapon contains a deadly poison. The meat obtained from killing those terror bats is completely inedible. To fill my stomach, there's still a high chance I'll kill Sakura..."

But... it's precisely because he puts himself in others' shoes that he feels so at ease.

After all, we're essentially one person; the choices I make, he'll make the same choices, and vice versa.

Think of it another way: a pet delivered to your door can be taken anywhere in the Matrix.

Even if they were to kill her for food, they should have left one alive as a reserve food when they were really about to die. So it was impossible for Li Zheng to have killed Xiaoying on the spot.

Li Zheng sat alone, lost in thought.

Half an hour later, the group of twisted creatures finally arrived and began to devour the charred corpses, showing no concern that the charred remains affected the taste of the bodies.

"Let's begin."

Li Zheng carefully stored the capsule away and prepared a Peiyuan Pill on his person in advance so that he could take it unconsciously when he was extremely exhausted.

Although he wasn't sure if he would know how to use it at that time, he had to try to find out.

"It seems like there are even more than the last wave?"

Li Zheng didn't wear a disguise this time. He spread his Demon Thunder Wings and flew into the sky, drawing a conclusion with a casual glance.

The previous wave of twisted creatures numbered only two thousand, but this time there are over three thousand.

"It looks like... there's a commander behind them, adding troops to the battlefield?"

If a thousand are wiped out, send out two thousand; if two thousand are wiped out, send out three thousand, and so on, until the troops sent out can no longer be easily wiped out.

Those twisted creatures were covered in eyes, and they had already spotted Li Zheng in the air. Those countless eyes were filled with jealousy.

They seemed to be jealous of Li Zheng's different appearance from them, and also seemed to be jealous of Li Zheng's ability to fly.

Li Zheng looked down at them coldly, his pupils gradually losing focus.

With his subjective consciousness blocked, Li Zheng immediately seemed like a different person. He retracted his Demonic Thunder Wings and descended from the sky, plunging into the distorted swarm of creatures.

The Black Dragon Spear gleamed with a cold light as Li Zheng held it in his hand, splitting into nine mirror images that charged left and right.

Ice and flames rose once more, leaving holes and charred remains on the twisted creatures.

Every move was as precise as a machine, with absolutely no waste. If Li Zheng were in a conscious state, he would never be able to do that.

But ironically, even after he blocked out his consciousness, his body's instincts became incredibly powerful!
Li was slaughtering through the twisted creatures, yet he himself was almost completely untouched by blood; any drops that did get on him were blocked by his close-fitting combat suit.

One by one, the twisted creatures fell, and Li Zheng's gains gradually expanded.

Unconsciously, Li Zheng did not notice that a familiar shadow crept along the ground nearby and hid under a rock.

(End of this chapter)