Chapter 154: Chapter 143: Undercurrent (Monthly Ticket Bonus)

[Player Li Chun disassembled MWD Experimental Subject No. 19 and obtained: Gene Fragment +1]

[Player Li Zheng disassembled MWD Experimental Subject No. 19 and obtained: Charcoal +1]

…

“Oh, come on!”

Li Zheng was shocked. This freshly burned tree could actually decompose into charcoal?

He took out the piece of charcoal from his dwelling, it was as thick as a forearm and almost a meter long, quite sizable.

“Awesome, man, the system is just the system, doesn’t have to make sense!”

Rolling his eyes, Li Zheng put the charcoal away, planning to save a few pieces for when the team distributes resources. One day he might want to try some different taste when grilling meat and use this charcoal for smoking.

…

Besides Phoenix Mountain, the other four were busy decomposing in the burnt-out forest, moving quickly.

The heavy rain came and went quickly. The sky had been clear for a while already.

Li Zheng tried using the flying device to ascend and check the fog range of the entire island.

But just a step away from breaking through the fog’s height, he couldn’t ascend even a meter further, no matter how he propelled the flying device, he could only “march in place,” eventually giving up in frustration.

However, at that height, through the fog, Li Zheng saw half a sun, or rather…a star similar to the sun, peeking from the edge.

To confirm if it was the real sun, Li Zheng came down and carried Li Chun up to check.

The little girl remarked that when the light shone on her, it indeed had a hint of warmth.

But seeing her face all red, Li Zheng couldn’t tell if the “warmth” she mentioned was from the half-sun or from embarrassment.

Seeing her like that, Li Zheng abandoned the plan of trying to lift her up and see if they could break through the fog’s highest point.

“Oh? Right!”

Li Zheng smacked his forehead, quickly running back to the hermit crab’s corpse and tapping the crab claws’ shell, “Xiao Ying, come out.”

After a moment, the little creature squeezed out from a gap, its belly round and full, who knows how much crab meat it ate.

“Aren’t you afraid of bursting your belly?”

Li Zheng picked it up and tapped its little head.

“Ying ying!”

Xiao Ying shook its head, loudly protesting that it didn’t eat.

Li Zheng was speechless, pinching a little residue from its mouth’s edge: “What’s this then?”

“Ying…ying ying.”

The little one’s eyes got shifty, softly claiming it only ate a little.

Li Zheng rolled his eyes, poking its round belly: “An itsy bitsy bit, eh?”

He didn’t dare poke hard, fearing he might press out whatever the little guy ate.

“Ying?”

Xiao Ying feigned confusion, touching its belly as if it didn’t know why it was like this.

“Fine, I’m not blaming you, just worried you’ll burst yourself.” Li Zheng patted its little head, “Besides, haven’t I treated you well when it comes to food? Do you really need to do this?”

“Ying ying ying ying~”

Xiao Ying made gestures continually, and Li Zheng understood them, feeling more frustrated.

“Are you saying if you eat more now, you’ll earn more during distribution later?”

“Ying!” Xiao Ying looked serious.

Li Zheng slapped his forehead, saying, “Whose stingy nature did you inherit?”

To stop Xiao Ying from diving in for more, Li Zheng simply touched the hermit crab and gave a command: Decompose.

[Player Li Zheng disassembled MWD Experimental Subject No. 666 and obtained: Gigantification Gene +1, Overlimit Shell +50, Titanium Alloy 1000g, Tiberium Alloy 5000g, Fresh Crab Meat +200, Nutritious Ultra-Fresh Crab Paste 2000g]

The quantity wasn’t much, but the quality was quite high.

Gigantification Gene, Overlimit Shell, Tiberium Alloy, all were Platinum Level.

Titanium Alloy was slightly lower, only Silver Level.

The last two food items were beyond Li Zheng’s expectations, they were actually Gold Level.

“Ying ying…”

Only a pile of useless scraps remained on the ground, Xiao Ying looked reluctant to part.

“Alright, I’ll make you sashimi later!”

Li Zheng flicked Xiao Ying’s head, teasingly saying: “Didn’t I warn you before not to eat raw meat?”

“Ying ying, am am.”

Xiao Ying pitifully smacked its lips.

Annoyed, Li Zheng flicked it again: “Even if it’s tasty, it’s a no! Especially with un-decomposed biological corpses, you don’t know if there are parasites inside.

If you randomly eat again, I’ll punish you with three days of no food, only water!”

“Ying ying.”

Xiao Ying made a gesture, fidgeting its two little hands in front.

“Plain water only!”

Li Zheng chuckled angrily: “Breaking the rules and still thinking of drinking Zhong Shi Milk? Forget it!”

“Ying.”

Xiao Ying, head down, accepted the mistake, promising not to do it again.

“That’s more like it.”

Li Zheng checked the pet panel thoroughly to confirm the little creature didn’t catch any parasites or diseases from eating, and finally let it go.

“Come on, let’s go test something.”

Holding Xiao Ying, Li Zheng powered the flying device, ascending skyward, stopping at the threshold, he said: “I’m going to toss you up, if you can get past those fogs, make sure to see what’s around, okay?”

“Got it!”

With a confirmed response, Li Zheng tossed it up, then personally witnessed a very illogical maneuver.

While Xiao Ying was tossed, its upward momentum wasn’t hindered, yet it couldn’t surpass ten centimeters above its head.

It seemed to be floating in place.

“Damn!”

Li Zheng raised his hand, catching the floating Xiao Ying, pondered, then decided to hold it high with one hand.

As he raised his hand, somehow his own flying height decreased alongside.

“Crap, what’s going on here? Not even one loophole?”

Seeing no hope, Li Zheng descended with Xiao Ying.

By then, Xiao Siyuan and others had finished dealing with the burnt-out forest, gathered, waiting for him.

Landing, Xiao Siyuan asked: “How’d it go? Any findings?”

Li Zheng shook his head: “No loopholes found at all.”

“I figured.” Xiao Siyuan, looking unsurprised, said, “That means during yesterday’s Lost Castle instance, even if we reached the second floor, we couldn’t go up, maybe not even see anything clearly.”

“Pretty much.”

Li Zheng said: “I feel these so-called special rooms aren’t simply instances for teams to conquer, there must be lots of info hidden inside, but our exploration was just too little to collect any useful intel.”

“No worry…”

Xiao Siyuan glanced at Phoenix Mountain and Yan Guang, subtly said, “There will be more opportunities to explore new areas in the future, no rush.”

Li Zheng understood Xiao Siyuan’s intention, not wanting to disclose Prel’s Eye too early.

He and Li Chun were under Matrix System’s covenant pressure, they couldn’t expose the existence of Old Prel.

But for Phoenix Mountain and others, that might not be the case.

Without actual trading, the system doesn’t care about this, keeping secrets depends solely on the players’ personal discretion.

“Let’s distribute first. This time Feng’s contribution was significant, I suggest after Xiao Siyuan takes the fixed item, the rest should be split half for him.” Li Zheng proactively shifted the topic.

“Agreed.” Yan Guang was first to raise a hand.

“I’ve got no objection, I’m not losing out anyway.”

“Brother Feng got hurt so bad, he should take more.”

Phoenix Mountain was moved: “You’re still my real bro!”

Li Zheng chuckled, ignoring him.

If there were benefits, he’d be real bro, if not, then “that Li guy,” what kind of real-world behavior is this?

…

“Mr. Muraoka, we’ve confirmed the death of that Chinese player contacted the day before yesterday, but before dying, he asked us to avenge him.”

“Oh? The target?”

“All top ten on Channel 879’s power rankings.”

“Ha! And the reward?”

“Ten pieces of Gold Level items, eight of which are blueprints, five of those are furniture-related.

Plus three Space Jumping Devices.”

“Nothing else?”

“There’s also a Gold Level Compound Bow.”

“Mr. Henzuo, next time if you’re bent on pocketing supplies, make it look decisive, understand?”

“Yes!”

“Hmm, take two people over to that channel, don’t care who the targets are, kill everyone you meet!”

“Yes!”

…

A man standing at 168 cm wiped the sweat off his forehead, heaving a sigh of relief, murmuring, “Every time contacting him makes me so nervous…”

With a clever glint in his eyes, he took out a shield, cherishing it.

“A Gold Level armor, huh, good thing I kept a backup.

Better reach out to Mr. Kato, and then head to that channel.”

…