Chapter 122: Chapter 114: Searching for Someone Again in the Night!

“It’s getting dark.”

Just after passing through a light screen, Li Zheng noticed the room was dimming.

“No big deal, with the Mysterious Declaration in hand, only one out of ten explorations tonight will enter a non-player room.”

Li Zheng glanced around the room and saw a capsule dwelling. A player was originally seated at the entrance roasting meat, tensed up when Li Zheng entered.

Unlike Li Zheng who had the Prelis’ Eye, from a certain distance, he couldn’t discern who it was.

“Vigilant, eh.” Li Zheng wasn’t bothered by the other person’s attitude, he observed for a moment, “No Blood Qi on him, so he hasn’t killed anyone.”

“Forget it, better not complicate things, just leave.”

Regardless of whether the other person could see his movements clearly, Li Zheng nodded slightly and turned to leave.

It wasn’t until Li Zheng’s figure disappeared through another door that the player relaxed and continued roasting meat.

…

Next, Li Zheng passed through six rooms consecutively, all with unfamiliar players, most of them lighting fires to cook, mainly eating various roasted meats.

The materials to start the fire were collected during their exploration, and some people with bad luck had to buy coal, wood, and other fuels in the trading hall.

Li Zheng had reasonable luck; the room where he encountered the Forest Wild Wolf had many trees. If willing to spend some time, he could hack some wood out.

However, this fresh wood required other methods to dehydrate before it could ignite, thus nobody really bought it. (The decomposition function doesn’t handle this; wood itself is of gray quality, akin to how cans cannot decompose into other things.)

Yet, over a few days, players like those who never encountered a room with firewood were rare, so even if Li Zheng went to great lengths to chop down all those trees, he wouldn’t be able to sell much.

As for self-use…

Isn’t Fire Attachment more convenient than things like firewood?

“Seven rooms already, for the last three chances I’ll certainly enter a non-player room once, so I have only two chances left to find Li Chun.”

The room Li Zheng was currently in was relatively small, and the players here initially felt tense when someone entered, but instantly relaxed a lot upon seeing it was Li Zheng, even smiling as they invited him to eat meat.

Considering that Li Zheng twice sold rare items to enhance others’ safety, none of the veteran players in the whole channel believed Li Zheng would harm them.

Even though he was holding a lantern with a bloody glow that, under its light, cast him in an eerie, sinister aura.

“Boss, want some? It’s Jungle Python meat, super tender, tastes great!”

The player enthusiastically invited.

“No, I still have things to do.”

Li Zheng swallowed subconsciously upon hearing “super tender”, but eventually declined politely.

“Alright! I’ll set aside two pieces for you; try them when you have time.”

The player decisively agreed without forcing him to stay, simply promising to send him two pieces.

Li Zheng paused, turned back, and expressed thanks: “Thanks, then.”

The player laughed heartily: “Hahaha, it’s no trouble, Big Brother Li Zheng never forgot our channel mates when he had good stuff, right? Since we met, it’s only right for a brother to offer something.”

“Mm, just trivial stuff.”

Li Zheng nodded, taking a glance at the identity information provided by Prelis’ Eye.

Zhou Kai.

“No wonder he’s so enthusiastic, often sees him in the water region channel.”

Remembering the name, Li Zheng casually picked a door and left.

Just as he entered the door, the room’s information that originally indicated a player’s presence briefly shifted.

The speed was too fast, and before Li Zheng could see clearly the information displayed by Prelis’ Eye, he had already passed through the light screen.

Looking at the empty metal room, Li Zheng frowned: “An empty room? Did the player here already leave? Going exploring this late at night?”

The danger level in the Matrix during night is vastly different from daytime.

Because at night, anything can happen.

Certain creatures’ powers may increase, the frequency of certain creatures roaming may also rise, and traps in certain rooms may activate at night.

As one player once said on the world channel, they had a steady stay in an empty room after their last daytime exploration.

As soon as night fell, suddenly two lasers appeared in the room, almost piercing through them.

In the end, they barely survived on the capsule dwelling overnight.

“Forget it, everyone has their fate; maybe they have their own means to enhance power at night?”

Shaking his head with no further thought, he was about to explore other doors.

“Huh? What’s this?”

With a quick glance around, Li Zheng noticed a gray-white plastic bottle in the corner of the room, Prelis’ Eye instantly providing information:

[A seemingly ordinary empty bottle, previously used to hold painkillers.]

“Painkillers? Was this player injured?”

Li Zheng raised an eyebrow and stored the bottle in the capsule dwelling.

Since it’s a container, and with the now much bigger space in the dwelling, might as well store it, it might come in handy someday.

Getting up and looking around, Li Zheng suddenly froze.

Except for the door he came in through, none of the other doors in the room showed signs of being opened, tightly shut, and the indicator lights on the Identity Card readers were off.

“Why are all five metal doors closed?” Li Zheng turned to his entry door, “Unless this person could vanish into thin air, it’s impossible for only one door to be open!”

If the door he entered from coincidentally matched the other player’s entry route due to the Mysterious Declaration, then at least two doors should be open in this room.

Yet now, only one door is open. Given the no-backtracking rule in the Matrix, how did this player leave?

“Space Jumping Device?”

Li Zheng thought of an item, and besides such teleportation-like objects, no other explanation came to mind.

“Using a Space Jumping Device at night? Normally, shouldn’t it be used during daylight?” Rubbing his temples, Li Zheng was unwilling to ponder further, “Whatever, doesn’t concern me, finding Li Chun is more urgent.”

He opened the private chat interface and sent another message to that girl, but once again received feedback that she was still resting.

“Resting for so long, something must have happened…”

Choosing a Bronze Level creature room, Li Zheng pulled out the Daiyu Spear, swiped the card, and left.

Entering the ninth room, prompted by Prelis’ Eye, Li Zheng dispatched the Bronze Level creature in one shot.

“Really unlucky, not even getting Bronze 5+ materials, nor a pet cultivation item.”

After decomposing, Li Zheng was slightly disappointed and finally left with his haul of fresh meat and blood.

“Last chance, hopefully, I can find her.”

After checking the information on the five doors, nothing special was mixed in except the player notification.

“Leave it to fate, little girl.”

Li Zheng randomly chose a door, swiped the card.

If given a choice, he truly hoped Li Chun wasn’t in trouble.

After all, players like Li Chun are rare in the Matrix.

Pure, kind, optimistic.

In the Matrix Realm, Li Chun’s personality seemed like a pure lotus growing amid filth.

Innocent, flawless.

“Such a girl should live in peace, not die in the Matrix.”