Matrix Survival: I Get A Random Chest Every Day

Chapter 965 673: The End of Science Fiction Is Fantasy

Hundred Flowers Painting.

Below the three small seal characters, there are hundreds of flowers depicted in various poses, with vibrant colors.

Li Zheng couldn't recognize all these flowers; he could only barely identify peonies, roses, and lilies, which were blooms he was more familiar with.

As for the other types, even though Li Zheng didn't recognize them, he could tell these aren't flowers from the universe of Earth.

At least they definitely don't exist on Earth!

"What a lovely scent." Li Zheng's expression changed slightly. Although the Hundred Flowers Painting was just a scroll, it emitted a myriad of distinct floral fragrances like real flowers.

The fragrance of flowers and plants that escaped when the Treasure Chest was opened earlier came from the Hundred Flowers Painting.

Mirel looked at the Hundred Flowers Painting, quite pleased: "This scroll is so beautiful, but... does it have any use?"

Li Zheng also had this doubt.

Surely something drawn from the upgraded Treasure Chest couldn't just be a common decorative item meant only for viewing, right?

He carefully examined it, observing the lines of each flower drawn.

Unconsciously, it was as if he was immersed in the painting, surrounded by a sea of flowers.

Li Zheng suddenly snapped back to reality and turned to find Mirel with an enchanted expression on her face, clearly indicating that what he just experienced wasn't an illusion.

Or rather, even if it was an illusion, it wasn't just him who fell for it.

"Wake up!" Li Zheng called to Mirel: "What did you just see?"

Mirel awoke, avoiding the Hundred Flowers Painting, nervously saying: "I felt like I had fallen into the world of the painting, surrounded by flowers—red, white, blue, and purple. They seemed incredibly real; I could even see the patterns on each petal!"

But everything experienced happened unconsciously, without realizing anything was amiss amidst the sea of flowers.

"Wait!" Mirel looked shocked: "My Spiritual Power seems to have increased a lot, almost comparable to absorbing one-tenth of a White Magic Crystal!"

"Spiritual Power?" Li Zheng closed his eyes to inspect himself, unable to feel anything.

His Spiritual Power was so vast that no matter how much it grew, it seemed like just a drop in the ocean, inconsequential even in making a ripple.

"Try again." Li Zheng unfurled the scroll in front of Mirel: "You look at the painting; I'll watch you."

"Okay."

Obediently, Mirel looked at the painting again, yet this time, no matter how hard she tried or how focused she was, she couldn't re-enter the world inside the painting like before.

Li Zheng tried himself and couldn't replicate the previous experience either.

He rolled up the scroll again, secured it with a red string, pondering: "Perhaps this scroll has a usage limit within a certain period; let's try again tomorrow."

"Alright." Mirel nodded, then sniffed the air around her, surprised: "We seem to have the scent of flowers on us, how come?"

Prompted by her remark, Li Zheng leaned closer to Mirel and indeed caught a distinct floral scent emanating from her, remarkably similar to that of the Hundred Flowers Painting.

He had a thought: "Let me into your Spiritual Realm."

"Are you saying..." Mirel said: "The Spiritual Realm should be unique to each individual, unchanged by external forces, shouldn't it?"

Li Zheng mused: "It used to be like that, but the Hundred Flowers Painting came from the Treasure Chest, so anything is possible."

Mirel found it reasonable, so she relinquished the defense of her Spiritual Realm, allowing Li Zheng to act: "I'm ready, go ahead."

Li Zheng pointed his fingertip at Mirel's forehead, his Spiritual Power streaming into her mind, easily locating and entering her Spiritual Realm.

"Ah..." Mirel couldn't help but let out a small sound: "It's so full."

Li Zheng, focusing solely on examining Mirel's Spiritual Realm.

To see the once barren Abyss now incorporated a splash of color.

Surrounding Mirel's Spiritual Body was a ring of various blooms, exactly as depicted in the Hundred Flowers Painting!

Li Zheng was shocked: "Does this Hundred Flowers Painting actually alter a person's Spiritual Realm structure?!"

Upon closer inspection, it wasn't hard to notice that the flowers surrounding Mirel gently swayed, occasionally releasing materials resembling pollen.

The pollen dispersed slowly, eventually transforming into pure Spiritual Power absorbed by the Spiritual Power Node above.

If Mirel originally produced one unit of Spiritual Power each day, with the help of these flowers, it became approximately one point zero zero one units.

Though this Spiritual Power was faint compared to what Mirel naturally produced daily, it was additional growth, continuous and unending.

Broadly speaking, those extra zero point zero zero one were like finding a machine capable of minting coins on the roadside, only yielding a penny daily, yet accumulatively it became a considerable sum.

Well, better than nothing.

Li Zheng exited Mirel's realm and relayed the scene he witnessed: "As of now, this scroll indeed greatly benefits the enhancement of Spiritual Power, although it's uncertain whether the flowers in the Spiritual Realm can exist permanently, or whether they'll expand in scope next time we enter the world in the painting."

All of this will have to wait until tomorrow to see if entry into the world of the painting is possible again.

"How is this possible?" Mirel was amazed: "I mean... it's just a painting, how could it possess such magical effects?"

"I don't understand either." Li Zheng smiled wryly; these items were drawn from the Treasure Chest, and especially today, the elder seemed reticent, offering no explanation at all, leaving him clueless about achieving such magical effects.

Li Zheng thought of the Heart-Calming Bell previously acquired, having a thought: "That Heart-Calming Bell uses specific sound frequencies to influence the Spiritual Realm, perhaps the Hundred Flowers Painting achieves a similar effect from another angle?"

For instance, through lines?

Or perhaps colors?

Li Zheng reopened the Hundred Flowers Painting, examining it meticulously, researching every visible trace without any results.

He couldn't comprehend it.

But he recalled some optical illusion images he'd seen online, deceiving the brain into perceiving a composite object as a whole through visual displacement.

Or seeing a downhill as an uphill.

Even though this principle couldn't fully explain the secret of the Hundred Flowers Painting, Li Zheng believed it might be a similar technical approach.

He put away the scroll, lamenting: "Science at its limits has become more and more mystical."

Whether the Hundred Flowers Painting or the Heart-Calming Bell, the Bodhi Tree, or the Bone Marrow Cleansing Pill.

The emergence of these items once led Li Zheng to believe he had acquired items from a Fantasy World.

Yet strangely enough, all of these things could be explained using scientific methods.

By comparison, the once-intelligent Bloodthirsty Demon Blade, though more mystical, seemed less bizarre than those drawn from the Treasure Chest.