Chapter 399: Chapter 341: It’s Time
"No matter what, you’ve added too many valuable things to the Earth Dragon Armor this time. Whether or not you accept it, I must compensate you," Li Zheng sent a private message: "Besides, I’ll look for something suitable later and send it to you."
"Huh? But..." Li Chun was obviously anxious, sending the message before she even finished typing it.
Li Zheng: "No buts. If you don’t accept it, I won’t ask you to make armor for me in the future."
Thinking it over, Li Zheng felt that sounded a bit harsh, so he changed his tone and replied: "Or how about this, if you really want to repay the life-saving grace, do it in a way that’s not monetary, at least don’t let it affect your usual exploration, got it?"
"Oh... I understand."
In a way that’s not monetary?
True, the resources in the Matrix are like money. Using resources to repay a life-saving grace is like repaying with money, right?
That’s too shallow!
Why didn’t I think of this before?
No wonder Brother Zheng is unhappy.
Li Chun turned off the private message interface, feeling troubled: "But in the Matrix, moving around isn’t particularly convenient, how can I repay a favor in a non-monetary way?"
"..." Little Spider stood behind her, offering its soft abdomen for her to lean on.
"Hmm..." Li Chun pondered deeply, her eyes suddenly lit up: "Oh right! In the dramas I watched, when people get saved, they offer themselves in gratitude. Could it be that Brother Zheng means..."
If that’s really the case, it’s not entirely impossible.
But I’m still a few months shy of eighteen, isn’t it too early to talk about this?
Li Chun’s cheeks turned pink: "In... in a few more months, when I turn eighteen..."
Snap!
Little Spider raised a jade-white segment of its limb, facepalming in a can’t-bear-to-look expression.
Li Zheng had no idea that his casual words had been misunderstood by Li Chun. He was still thinking about hunting a few more Diamond Level creatures to decompose their crystal cores and send them to her.
According to rough estimates, the materials Li Chun added were worth at least five Diamond Level crystal core items, and Li Zheng had already given one, so there were four more to go.
"Still a long way to go..." Li Zheng sighed and continued on his way with Little Sakura.
In the next room, Li Zheng encountered a large scorpion over thirty meters long. With Old Pu’s tip, he easily found its hiding spot.
The Demon Thunder Wings spread out, taking to the air. Little Sakura used Earth Ridge Stab to force it out, and Li Zheng attempted using Fire Attachment to directly explode the target.
The Demon Thunder Wings were set to level three, moving with incredible speed. This Diamond Level scorpion couldn’t even catch sight of Li Zheng. He managed to leave a trace of fire several times as he passed it.
After several cycles, the scorpion was left with seven or eight large holes, with deep purple slime gurgling from the wounds, quickly losing its ability to fight back.
Finally, in a more violent explosion, the Diamond Level Venom Sand Scorpion sacrificed its precious life.
Li Zheng covered his nose as he landed, with the air filled with a foul smell creeping through his nostrils, quite pungent.
"Decompose!"
A bright light flashed, and the scorpion’s body quickly vanished, leaving behind a mess.
Without time to check what materials were obtained, Li Zheng swiftly flew away from the site, keeping far from the pools of purple slime.
Once he landed again, a sudden dizziness hit him, but the discomfort quickly subsided.
"Such strong toxicity!" Li Zheng was alarmed. He had already been very cautious to avoid contact with the scorpion, yet just breathing in a bit of the purple slime’s scent caused dizziness.
Fortunately, his physique was extraordinary, and along with the Earth Dragon Armor’s toxin-avoiding properties, the poison’s effect faded quickly.
Even though the Earth Dragon Armor only displayed direct immunity to Platinum Level and below toxins, in reality, even toxins above the Platinum Level were weakened under its properties.
But based on toxin strength, the weakening effect varied; if the toxicity was too strong, the toxin-avoidance feature could even fail.
"Earth Dragon Armor is definitely worth its value!" Li Zheng touched the soft armor he was wearing, highly impressed.
Without this Earth Dragon Armor, just that purple slime alone would have given him a headache and been difficult to handle.
Little Sakura and Ise, and Kuro came over to join him. The little ones knew the slime was trouble and stayed far away.
Ise and Kuro were mechanical beings, immune to all biological toxins. They had participated in the battle, distracting the scorpion to prevent it from fleeing upon realizing it couldn’t win against Li Zheng.
"Let’s see the spoils." Li Zheng checked the notifications. Besides a few carapaces, the most valuable items were a 50ml bottle of deep purple viscous liquid and a strangely gleaming scorpion tail needle.
The viscous liquid was called [Venom Sand Poison], a Diamond Level toxin, lethal upon contact with anything below Platinum Level, killing instantly upon bloodstream entry.
At only 50ml, it could be used on weapons just twice.
Li Zheng didn’t dare sell this casually, fearing someone might buy it to ambush him, which would be a real injustice.
As for the scorpion tail needle, rather than a needle, it was more like a scaled-down complete scorpion tail. It had a toxin effect, but not as potent as Venom Sand, only at the power of Platinum Level.
Li Zheng had obtained a similar one before and still didn’t know its use, so he just kept it stored in a capsule corner.
"It’s a pity there’s no crystal core item." Li Zheng smacked his lips, realizing that solely pursuing high-tier kills wasn’t beneficial.
Many materials he couldn’t use himself.
Especially without higher-level gene blueprints, even the sought-after blood materials weren’t as invaluable as before.
"Perhaps it’s time to change exploration strategies, focusing on material and data rooms. It’s been a while since I got a wild blueprint."
Recalling the last time he got a blueprint from a computer, it was... well, Li Zheng forgot how long it had been. Ever since the Blacksmith gave him the Sheathed Sword, his need for external aid had decreased significantly.
Unless he acquired an Extraordinary Level equipment blueprint, any gain for Li Zheng was limited, hardly worth wasting exploration attempts just for blueprints.
Moreover, he had been collecting blood materials lately, so corresponding tier biological rooms were naturally more suitable for him.
Now it’s different; his blood material need has decreased, so blueprints and other materials hold more value.
"Computer rooms first priority, material rooms second, biological rooms third. If a room develops ability items, it gets the highest priority!" Li Zheng set his exploration priorities and continued exploring with Little Sakura.
...
In the next two hours, Li Zheng explored six rooms consecutively.
Whether the Terminal was targeting him or not, surprisingly, after he set priorities, he failed to encounter any first or second priority rooms for six consecutive times.
This meant... he killed six Diamond Level creatures consecutively!
The upside was, he decomposed a crystal core, gained from a toad-like poison, perfect for Li Chun’s Little Spider to use.
The remaining five, apart from flesh, hide, and bones, had some edible innards with certain value.
"Mysterious Declaration has one exploration chance left, so keep it, use it before sleep." Li Zheng put away the lantern. He hadn’t forgotten Misaka Tsuchiemon’s request. If Yuanfei Yuluo called for help, the last exploration chance of Mysterious Declaration could just be used to reach her.
Checking the time, it was already past four in the afternoon. The world channel still hadn’t shown any announcement of the thirtieth mutant being defeated.
"Weird, could the thirtieth mutant be so strong that even Ma Long and their team can’t beat it?" Li Zheng couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow. Kunlun’s performance seemed a bit unworthy of its name.
If so, then this buddy is not going to hold back!
"Brothers and sisters, it’s time for us to have some fun with the mutant!"