Chapter 1050 - 752: So It’s a Little Punk
Chapter 1050 - 752: So It’s a Little Punk
Li Zheng had fifty people stay in the Dark Realm for a whole night.
Starting from midnight, some people found there was nothing new to learn. Most of the images didn’t align with their expertise, and there was very little to reference even.
Some people learned a variety of things or delved deeply into one area, accepting more and extracting the essence from many images under the Bodhi Tree to fuse into themselves.
Those who finished earlier didn’t idle around, using this opportunity to refine what they gained under the Bodhi Tree, solving previous confusions and difficulties they encountered in practice.
Occasionally, grasping a key point only to find they still lacked something, they would search among the three hundred images, always managing to learn more.
Someone sighed distractedly, "If only we could come in every day and sit under the tree."
Sitting under the tree for a night equaled months of blind practice in gains.
But it’s just wishful thinking. Li Zheng has his own matters to attend to and can’t always stay in District Four to babysit them.
By the latter half of the night, almost everyone entered the final sorting stage, standing up occasionally to look for useful things among the three hundred images.
To facilitate them, Li Zheng controlled the images to loop infinitely.
Xiao Siyuan left the Dark Realm at this time to gather those Blue Star people who had a talent for medicine.
There weren’t many players who entered the Outer City, and staffing was rather random. Before leaving, Old Xiao optimistically claimed he could find about twenty people.
However, this number was overly optimistic.
In the morning, Li Zheng stopped all the images, bringing everyone back from the Dark Realm. All fifty people had gained something, their emotions stirred. Despite not relaxing all night, they didn’t feel tired and just wanted to firmly solidify what they had gained tonight.
After bidding farewell to Li Zheng, they left one by one. Turning around, Li Zheng looked at Xiao Siyuan beside him and the three young teenagers, falling silent.
"Only three?"
And by the looks of them, they weren’t old—at most eighteen or nineteen.
"Only three!" Xiao Siyuan pointed at them and said, "These are the ones with the best enlightenment I picked from hundreds of people."
"You mean enlightenment as in?" Li Zheng wondered if learning medical knowledge required enlightenment.
A fair-skinned young man with a crew cut smiled shyly, "I ranked first in biology during high school."
Another girl with freckles said softly, "I... me too..."
These two seemed like the type to be model students in school. Li Zheng knew they only acted so reserved in front of him—anyone who survived in the Matrix and successfully entered the Outer City wasn’t someone to be trifled with. They had plenty of smarts and methods.
The third was also a young man, only his demeanor differed slightly from the other two, looking somewhat carefree with a lazy stance.
Li Zheng was intrigued by him and asked, "What’s your name?"
The young man lazily replied, "Bai Yuan."
"Bai Yuan." Li Zheng nodded, asking, "Are you also number one in biology?"
"Uh... no." Bai Yuan seemed to have a slight issue with reaction time, hesitating briefly before responding, "I just got injured more than others, so I understand human anatomy a bit more thoroughly."
"Got it." Li Zheng understood, "So you’re a little thug."
"You’ve misunderstood." Bai Yuan revealed a pure smile contrary to his demeanor, "I wasn’t injured often from street fights but from my father beating me."
"Domestic violence?" Li Zheng’s expression changed, frowning: "Did your father enter the Matrix? I can talk to him for you."
"It’s not really domestic violence." Bai Yuan thought for a moment, reverting to his carefree demeanor, indifferent to everything: "Let’s just say it’s a hobby. He tormented me purely for fun, hitting me when he was happy after receiving his salary, after getting scolded by his boss, if the food was too salty or too bland, when he was bored and when he was busy, he’d find time to hit me.
Sometimes without any reason, he could just hit me.
As for where he is now..."
Bai Yuan said with an honest tone words that were chilling: "He’s probably in some room in the Matrix smelling like... I mean, emitting the kind of smell that comes from ’poop,’ the inedible residue left after food is digested and nutrients are absorbed."
"Oh? You killed him?"
Li Zheng raised an eyebrow, reassessing Bai Yuan. The information Old Pu provided didn’t indicate any blood Qi on Bai Yuan nor direct fatalities.
"Killed someone? No way!" Bai Yuan spoke with genuine emotion: "That’s my biological father, how could I bear to take his life? I just gave him back exactly what he did to me over the years. When I left, he was still alive."
"So you’re saying you merely incapacitated him, then abandoned him to fate to avoid being flagged as a killer?" Li Zheng said: "You might be mistaken, in the Matrix if someone dies due to your actions, you’d get a red name unless someone else finished the job."
For example, if Li Zheng had a grudge against someone, he could disable their limbs, take them to a room with fierce creatures, leave them there, and wait.
If another creature kills them, it doesn’t count as Li Zheng’s kill.
But if they die from excessive blood loss beforehand, it does count.
"Whatever." Bai Yuan shrugged indifferently, "I didn’t turn red afterward. After sending a message, the terminal notified me that the person went offline. Either someone finished him off, or a roaming monster ate him."
"You said your injuries gave you more knowledge. What kind of injuries taught you this?" The freckle-faced girl shyly, yet curiously asked.
In her perception, domestic violence might cause surface injuries at most. If the abuse were heavy-handed, Bai Yuan would’ve died long ago.
"Do you really want to know?" Bai Yuan teased, rolling up his sleeves and lifting his shirt to reveal his abdomen. His body was covered in scars, like hideous centipedes crawling on his skin, shocking to look at.
"Oh my god!" The freckle-faced girl covered her mouth, her face turning pale with shock: "This was all from your father... No, these are obviously knife cuts that were sewn back together!"
"Isn’t it fascinating?" Bai Yuan lowered his shirt, calmly stating, "My dear father was the Chief Surgeon at the First People’s Hospital of Bai Chuan City, stitching up these wounds was child’s play."
"Every time he cut open my flesh with a scalpel, he’d make me keep my eyes wide open, watching as he stitched the wounds, boasting about his superb stitching technique."
"Without anesthesia, of course."
Bai Yuan recounted his experiences in a detached and casual manner, as if telling someone else’s story.
"What do you think?" Xiao Siyuan poked Li Zheng’s waist, asking: "I think he has great talent, a perfect candidate for a medical student!"
Whether Bai Yuan was a promising medical student, Li Zheng wasn’t sure.
But one thing Li Zheng was certain of: If Bai Yuan could still love life after such a childhood, it would be incredibly improbable.
He even suspected that before entering the Matrix, Bai Yuan might have already taken a few lives!
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