Matrix Survival: I Get A Random Chest Every Day

Compared to the rewards, Li Zheng places more importance on safety.

After encountering the Infinite Transformer and Rock Ice Giant, he decided that regardless of the enemy faced in the future, unless he has a hundred percent confidence in winning, he would rather forego high rewards than take unnecessary risks.

Zhan Zhouzhou was silent for a moment before nodding: "You're right."

Heroine Zhan's views were significantly different from Li Zheng's, almost the opposite.

Because of her confidence in her abilities, she is often inclined to tackle high-difficulty challenges, even during regular explorations.

This was one of the key factors why her strength improved at a pace that even Li Zheng found terrifying.

Xiao Siyuan noticed the strange atmosphere, and although he couldn't pinpoint its origin, he used his mediating skills: "Let's stick to the old rules. It's my find, so I'll take one Divine Gene first. We can discuss the distribution of the rest afterwards based on contributions."

"Agreed."

Everyone had no objections to him taking a diamond-level item because they had long established this rule: when going into a dungeon together, it must be adhered to.

Li Zheng began, "I killed the monsters in the ventilation ducts. Xiao Ying, as my pet, diligently protected you during the dungeon, so it deserves a share of the contributions.

Although Zhan Zhouzhou and I killed the BOSS together, I didn't heed her advice, which reduced our final rewards, so I'll only take one-third of the credit for killing the BOSS.

So, summing it up, taking thirty percent of this dungeon's rewards shouldn't be a problem for me, right?"

In this, Li Zheng was a bit crafty. Although he asked Xiao Ying to protect Xiao Siyuan and the others, it was actually Pink Poli who acted, and Pink Poli, as an independent entity, shouldn't have its contributions credited to Li Zheng.

But considering it's united with Xiao Ying, and others weren't aware of Pink Poli's involvement, no one raised any objections.

Upon discussion, the final decision was for Li Zheng to take one First Generation Divine Gene, but he had to give up some of his materials and Thin Version Gene shares, so his dungeon gains were:

Various tier materials (from a small amount of Black Iron to Platinum), Reinforced Plastic +20, Thin Version Gene +3, First Generation Divine Gene +1.

Li Zheng left the rest for them to discuss leisurely.

Took Xiao Ying along and did two draws, then left the dungeon.

This time the prize wheel was different from before; a "Diamond" level item formally appeared and occupied a larger area than the previous Abyssal Dungeon spin.

The largest proportion "Black Iron" tier was removed, and the lowest reward changed to Bronze.

Li Zheng's consistent poker face remained stable, both draws resulted in Bronze material, not worth mentioning further.

...

After applying Extreme Isolation to himself and Xiao Ying, Li Zheng exited the dungeon, returning to the lava-filled room.

The fiery red before him made Li Zheng momentarily think he had returned to hell.

Li Zheng found the card swiper at the bottom of the lava and inserted his Identity Card into the molten rock to swipe it.

Uzz~

A faint hydraulic sound followed, and the lower door opened, creating a recess in the lava at the door.

The lava was sinking into a light gate.

Li Zheng stood above the door, sinking into the light screen along with the lava.

Upon passing through the light screen, it darkened, making it almost impossible to see what lay ahead.

Li Zheng looked up, and apart from Xiao Ying and Pink Poli, who followed down, there was no trace of the lava.

"Ah yes, this door can isolate a lot of things," Li Zheng recalled the stone he'd once tossed into the light screen, which vanished.

Li Zheng took out the Mysterious Declaration, illuminating a surrounding area, discovering the room to be quite low, only about five meters from floor to ceiling.

Landed on the ground and looked around. Ahead, behind, and left were walls made of stone slabs, leaving only a path less than three meters wide.

[Welcome to the Maze with No Gaming Experience; next, Pu will guide you in the most straightforward way to breach its defenses!

I'm a little fast, bear with it for a moment.]

"..." Li Zheng sighed, wondering why such things didn't happen back when he was at school, where the answers arrived before the test papers.

At the stone wall, he touched it, indeed feeling the texture of ordinary stone, which prompted a bolder thought.

"If other players came here, couldn't they just destroy these directly..."

Took out the Sheathed Sword, stabbed forcefully at the stone slab, the sharp sword tip pressed against the slab but did not penetrate.

"Well, thought too much, this is still a closed-book exam," Li Zheng begrudgingly sheathed his sword, exploring the maze per Pu's textual hints.

The maze was very complex, with some short intersections where one could quickly reach a dead-end.

While other paths were long, taking over five minutes of winding without finding an end.

Without Pu's hints, an ordinary player might blindly follow these paths indefinitely.

Sometimes branching paths appeared—all fake, and players needed to continue forward.

Sometimes there were mechanisms requiring players to trigger them, opening a stone slab not in view and clearing the path.

It seemed this maze was made not to let players clear it easily.

Only those with exceptional memory and sense of direction could traverse without facing the 48-hour time limit and unknown dangers.

Even with Pu's cheats and hints, excluding deliberate missteps, Li Zheng spent nearly an hour finding the room's "treasure".

This treasure was intriguing—a semi-transparent disc filled with copper-like wire inside.

When activated, a screen lights up, allowing players to draw mazes on it and project them via "True Projection".

True Projection can be understood as a form of consciousness-level interference.

Li Zheng casually sketched something, projecting it, and two walls appeared, tangible to the touch and causing a sting when hit.

In reality, these walls didn't exist; they were merely very convincing illusions.

"This is fascinating; I could use it at night as a defensive measure," Li Zheng mused while playing with it, then turned it off and stored it in a capsule.

During the projection's switching, Li Zheng faintly sensed something mystical.

It was as if someone substantively touched and altered his consciousness.

"Can I sense these because my spiritual power is a bit stronger than others?" Li Zheng wondered, deep in thought.

True Mazes might be invisible to high-spiritual power creatures, but presently, it remains a divine nighttime defensive tool, avoiding many dangers.

Though Li Zheng didn't mind roaming monsters visiting his room, being woken at midnight was an annoyance.

With the "treasure" in hand, Li Zheng turned to find several other doors within the maze.

The door search was daunting, Li Zheng felt like a puppet, and Pu was the puppeteer guiding him.

Ultimately, Li Zheng sped up, spending two hours finding seven unopened doors.

Annoyingly, two of them were dummy doors, and after swiping his card, they revealed only stone slab walls inside.

Though it would consume one exploration attempt for the day, it didn't obstruct players from trying another door.

Thankfully, with Pu's hints, Li Zheng avoided such annoyances and successfully picked a door with a Gold-level creature behind it.

Before entering, Li Zheng received a private message from Zhan Zhouzhou.

It had just one question: "Is that method you mentioned really effective?"

Li Zheng was taken aback, realizing what she referred to, replying: "I only heard about it, never verified. Maybe you could ask players who've had children their thoughts."

"Oh." Zhan Zhouzhou replied after a while, "If... I mean if... if it is effective, would you help me?"

Li Zheng: "???

Li Zheng: "!!!