Matrix Survival: I Get A Random Chest Every Day

Chapter 1075 776: An Old Friend Returns

"Phoenix Mountain, what are you doing here?"

Li Zheng looked at the one leading in the center and saw that it was none other than Phoenix Mountain, whom he hadn't seen for a while.

"I actually wanted to stay in the Matrix a bit longer, but the Terminal wouldn't let me." Phoenix Mountain gave a bitter smile. "It kept saying my contribution was already enough and forced me into the Outer City."

"You guys too?" Li Zheng shifted his gaze to the few people beside him.

"More or less." Ye Kai shrugged. "The reason the Terminal gave me was that my tech-modification skills were already qualified for entering the Outer City, and then I was just sent here."

Ye Yuan puffed out her flat chest. "I'm way better than this useless big brother of mine. I got in a day early because my hot-weapon modification skills met the requirement!"

Chu Xiao's expression turned bitter. "If you hear the reason the Terminal sent me into the Outer City, you'll definitely say it's absurd."

Li Zheng asked curiously, "What reason? Tell us."

"It said…" Chu Xiao looked like he had suffered a huge grievance, his voice choking. "It said my defense was too high and told me to come to the Outer City to keep getting beaten up…"

"That is kind of absurd." Li Zheng couldn't help laughing and crying, then asked them, "So it's just you few that entered the Outer City this time?"

"Not just us." Phoenix Mountain said, "There's also that furball girl Rebecca from the White Bear Legion, Liu Qi from Kunlun, Luona of the Round Table Knight Order, and so on. They're basically all legion commanders from the major legions. The reasoning was the same—they'd met the contribution requirement for entering the Outer City and were forcibly sent over."

Good grief, all of them were acquaintances!

Something stirred in Li Zheng's heart. "Other than that, was there any random nobody, someone with no reputation?"

"There was one!" Ye Yuan shouted noisily. "When I came out of the Teleportation Gate, that person was right beside me. It was a… huh? Why can't I remember what they look like?"

She racked her brains, then said in surprise, "I remember I even asked their name, but I can't recall it either! Wait… were they a man or a woman again?"

"Eh?" Chu Xiao also recalled something, his expression shifting. "Now that you mention it, I do remember—there really was such a guy!"

He explained to Li Zheng, "It's not that person had a weak presence. Face-to-face you definitely notice them, and there's no problem communicating at all. But… it seems that about half an hour after you stop talking to them, your impression starts to fade. In the end, you only remember that such a person existed, but can't recall any specific information about them."

"That's a Spiritual Power Ability!" Mirel spoke up. "That person should've come into contact with the Abyss Race and obtained a related Ability from the amnesia demons, one that can erase other people's impression of themselves—provided the other party's Spiritual Power isn't stronger than their own.

The reason you three still retain some impression is because your Spiritual Power isn't too weak and isn't far off from theirs.

Otherwise you should've forgotten them completely!"

"Mirel sis!" Ye Yuan's eyes lit up. She pounced over and hugged Mirel, refusing to let go. "I missed you so much! Huh? That weird charm you had on you is gone! But you're still so pretty!"

"Ye Yuan!" Seeing his sister's overly forward behavior, Ye Kai barked out a reprimand.

"It's fine." Li Zheng waved his hand. "The way girls interact is different from us men. Let her be. About that person you mentioned just now, you three should've heard of them a lot, you just don't know their exact name and appearance."

"Heard of a lot…" Chu Xiao was the first to think of someone. "The commander of the Nine Heavens Legion!"

"Uh…" Ye Kai said awkwardly, "The three of us are all from Nine Heavens, and we actually needed someone else to remind us before realizing our own commander also entered the Outer City. That's really something."

"Haha." Li Zheng laughed. "You don't actually need to mind that too much. Legion identities only work inside the Matrix. Once you get to the Outer City, everyone is just an Outer City resident, with no difference in status."

"That's true." Ye Kai nodded. "I was planning to find a suitable research institute to keep studying once I got to the Outer City anyway. I took a look on the way here, and this street seems to be lined with various research institutes. I'll just settle down here in the future."

"What about you guys?" Li Zheng looked at the others. "Thinking the same?"

"I don't care." Ye Yuan said carelessly. "I live off my brother. Wherever he goes, I go."

"You've got some nerve saying that!" Ye Kai cursed angrily, but he didn't actually refuse her.

Chu Xiao instead asked, "Old Li, do you know where to get more Advanced Genetic Potions? It's been so long since I've had that intense rush of power from a Genetic Potion."

Genetic Potions were absolutely the fastest and biggest leap in power Chu Xiao had ever experienced. Nothing else came close!

Unfortunately, ever since Li Zheng left the Matrix for the Outer City, they could only use the machines and formulas he left behind to push their genes up to just below the Star Shining level.

There were no formulas beyond that, so their gene strength had been stuck there for a long time.

"That kind of Genetic Potion… don't use it anymore from now on!"

Beside them, Professor Rothschild's voice came. He pushed up his glasses and walked over to them, his academic eyes showing a hint of greedy eagerness as they swept back and forth over Phoenix Mountain and the others.

He was practically itching to drag all of them off right now for a full round of data monitoring and throw them straight into research.

"I was just about to bring it up. Perfect timing, Professor's here. Let him give you all a crash course on the pros and cons of Genetic Potions." Li Zheng stepped aside and invited the professor to lecture the group.

Rothschild shared the conclusions he'd drawn from Li Zheng with the others: their current gene strength was at a just-right, perfect stage; pushing it further might create shackles and restraints.

And most importantly, if you kept using Genetic Potions to the end, you might become addicted to that feeling of rapidly gaining power and then risk everything to hunt down an Overlimit Potion to take.

Once that happened, bodily collapse and turning into an endlessly proliferating monster would be the inevitable result.

Chu Xiao smacked his tongue again and again. "So Genetic Potions had such a dangerous side to them. No wonder you never brought out the next formulas, Old Li. You were being thoughtful!"

"…"

Li Zheng was silent for a few seconds, then told the truth. "Actually, I just don't have any follow-up formulas myself."

Hearing that, Rothschild said sternly, "Someone actually dared to spread such a dangerous thing inside the Matrix? We have to report this to the Terminal and step up regulatory oversight on the Matrix!"

The Matrix was only a trial ground. The goal wasn't to kill off all the new Players.

If Overlimit items flowed in, the harm they would eventually cause was self-evident!

Li Zheng shot Professor Rothschild an extra look. He remembered the professor had mentioned being involved in developing some Overlimit item and only turning to gravity-device research after having those related memories erased.

Putting that together with the fact that his wife worked at the Genetic Research Institute, it wasn't hard to guess that the Overlimit item the couple had once worked on might very well have been an Overlimit Genetic Potion!

And it was precisely Professor Rothschild's sense of responsibility that made him resolutely give up his previous field of expertise and start over from scratch in a completely unfamiliar area.