novelraw Chapter 581 - 459: "Li Zheng, save me!" (4.2K)
Chapter 581 - 459: "Li Zheng, save me!" (4.2K)
Ten seconds later, the wolf pack dispersed, and Li Zheng appeared at the door of the beast cage. He saw the husky lying there, battered and bruised, with tears of grievance filling its dog eyes.
Just a casual glance, and Li Zheng could tell that the husky’s seemingly miserable injuries were actually nothing serious.
He didn’t even need to see to know that the husky must have started the trouble, yet when the Wolf King disciplined it, the blows were measured. So, he couldn’t be bothered to intervene.
A husky like this remembers to eat but not to learn from beatings. Treat it a bit kindly, and it climbs all over you.
Smart, but not using its wits in the right way...
The Rong Rong rabbits weren’t doing much better. After finishing a meal of feed, none of the twenty rabbits upgraded to elite status.
They were the same as when they were caught, still unchanged.
Scattered in twos and threes, the rabbits laid around inside the beast cage, resting on their own.
Li Zheng looked for a while and thought the beast cage, with its metal floor, was a bit too plain and might not be comfortable for the animals kept long-term. So, he pondered about adding some decor.
After thinking it over, Li Zheng browsed the trading hall.
This is where having many players really shows its advantages; the trading hall had everything on sale.
A quick search, and Li Zheng traded for hundreds of pounds of hay at a minimal cost.
This hay was just of grey quality, valued less than a soda can.
Being somewhat ’soft’ was better than sleeping on a metal floor, so many players buy some to lay in their homes as bedding.
Could say it was a universal Cadmus moment...
Materials like ’fiber’ served a similar purpose. Before making beds, Li Zheng had always slept on fiber, which was much softer and more comfortable than hay.
But because fiber can be made into clothes or some low-level armors—and even some Gold or Platinum armor blueprints require fiber—its price was several times that of hay, despite being the same tier.
As for why not sleep on the fur decomposed daily?
Compared to fiber and hay, that stuff wasn’t breathable!
And with all sorts of random furs piled together, the smell could ’marinate’ a person. Who could stand sleeping like that every day?
People, after getting used to the rhythm of life in the Matrix, gradually began to pursue a certain quality of life.
Those with wealth and willing to spend won’t endure a hard life.
Like Zhan Zhouzhou and the others, they had almost all managed to trade for some daily necessities through various means.
For example: beds.
Over these days, Li Zheng discovered a very interesting phenomenon.
Players in the Matrix, as long as they were willing to spend resources to trade with others, could obtain most basic daily needs.
Things like toothbrushes, toothpaste, and towels.
Or the various cooking seasonings, there were quite a few to be found in the Matrix.
However, blueprints or items that could improve player living conditions were very scarce.
Even if you found a bed during exploration, you could at most decompose part of it, definitely couldn’t collect it all.
Moving it through the door to the residence?
That’s possible.
But first, these beds are either pure metal, extremely heavy.
Or they’re too large, can’t be moved inside.
Even if you found a way to move them in, the capsule residence is only so big. It’s not an exaggeration to say a single bed could take up two or three square meters, right?
Of course, still the same saying: as long as the mind doesn’t slide downhill, ways will always be more than difficulties.
What’s our Earthling’s strong suit?
It’s our hands-on ability!
There are plenty of folk experts around.
Li Zheng once saw someone selling a self-made mortise and tenon wooden bed on the world channel, with customizable sizes!
A mere Black Iron Level wooden bed sold for the high price of a Gold Level item!
Is this price outrageous?
Not at all...
Due to the lack of complete tools, even a skilled carpenter could only make two or three wooden beds a day, squeezing their daily exploration rhythm. Could it not be sold at a high price?
In comparison, the price of the advanced bed blueprint Li Zheng traded for was practically a giveaway... a significant bargain.
Record the bed-making method into a blueprint for sale?
Don’t even think about it!
Blueprint production needs a carrier!
To make a blueprint, first, you need a blank USB drive!
Next, you need to do like Li Zheng and grab a computer in a brazen manner.
Lastly, the recorded bed blueprint needs a certain scientific content.
Among these, ninety-nine percent of the players can’t even meet the first condition.
Because the blank USBs in the Matrix come from special merchants from the Outer City, and the price...
Overcoming the first condition, ninety-nine percent would still be stuck on the third condition.
What does "needs a certain scientific content" mean?
Have you seen Forbidden City Cop?
The bed that Star Master invented, which can move up and down, barely meets the recording criteria.
However, once recorded into a USB drive, whether this blueprint is single-use or learnable depends on how the terminal determines it...
All in all, there are quite a few players in the Matrix living well now.
But only a few are living comfortably.
I digressed a bit, back to the point.
Li Zheng spread a layer of hay in each beast cage, barely improving the living environment for the two animal groups.
At least the animals didn’t have to sleep on the hard metal floor anymore.
Even the husky, crying on the hay, seemed to do so more energetically than on the ground.
After finishing these, Mirel also had dinner ready, and came over to call Li Zheng to eat together.
The dishes were still the same old ones, as Mirel currently only knew those few water-cooked meat dishes, and had no chance to learn more yet.
Fortunately, the taste had improved since the morning, evidenced by the fact that little Sakura, still in her dormant state, ate an extra bowl compared to breakfast.
Just then, tonight, Xiao Siyuan and Li Zheng had ordered a few different dishes here. The two of them ate dinner while learning the general method around the stove, with Mirel watching intently and nodding at every step.
Dinner was quickly finished. Li Zheng delivered the other people’s meals one by one, rested a bit, then summoned the Demon Blade to practice sword skills outside the residence.
The Red Polis, getting used to little Sakura, kept her usual habits, even taking her for digestion runs around the residence when idle.
The little one still showed no signs of waking, only the aroma of food could momentarily bring it from a deep slumber to a dazed, unconscious state.
Once full, it would instantly fall back into a deep sleep, utterly unreasonable.
Mirel, meanwhile, used the time for a brief rest to refresh herself.
Later, she brought out two whips to begin teaching Li Zheng the skills of using a long whip as a weapon.
At this moment, without the convenience of a ’Memory Release Device,’ Li Zheng once again deeply understood just how lacking his martial arts talent was.
Tricks that seemed simple to Mirel took Li Zheng ages to practice until he could somewhat manage them.
Just trying not to hit himself with the whip in the process took Li Zheng ten minutes to learn...
This level of comprehension almost made Mirel swear in Abyss language.
As Mirel put it, even a three-year-old from the Enchanting Demon Race would learn faster...
Li Zheng was also helpless. The soft weapon of a long whip feels completely different from swords and other weapons; he couldn’t find a clue through analogy, only hard practice.
The progress in acquiring Whip Mastery was at least five times slower than when he learned the sword!
It took a whole ten minutes for progress to rise by 3.14%...
Li Zheng went from initially enthusiastic to quickly finding it dull, until it became a mechanical act of swinging, flicking, and snapping the whip, striving for a crisp, loud sound each time in the air.
And this was just the basics of the basics.
Only after achieving this would Mirel teach Li Zheng the next level of techniques.
By the time Li Zheng successfully made the first sound, he had already been practicing whip techniques for an hour.
Mirel held her forehead, deeply feeling that her promise to teach Li Zheng whip techniques that morning was too hasty a decision.
Thinking back to how long it took her to make the first sound when she first learned whip techniques?
Hmm.
Seems like less than five seconds...
She just picked up the long whip, swung it, snapped—crack!
There it was.
And Li Zheng, after a solid hour of training, had merely caught up with others’ five-second progress.
This aptitude, Mirel felt it was too painful to even watch.
Might as well bury him.
With that thought, Mirel couldn’t help but want to persuade Li Zheng to give up on whip techniques and just focus on sword skills.
However, just then, Li Zheng’s expression changed, he put away the long whip and looked toward the world channel.
"Li Zheng, save me!"