Matrix Survival: I Get A Random Chest Every Day

Chapter 997 701: Returning to District 4, Professor Rothschild's Research Objective

"It's better to act sooner rather than later. Let's head back to District Four tomorrow."

Li Zheng put down his bowl and patted his belly contentedly. "That Delicious Rabbit was covered in fat, I thought it would be greasy, but thanks to your cooking, it turned out rich but not greasy, tender and flavorful. Your culinary skills are getting better and better."

Mirel puffed up with pride at the compliment. "Of course!"

When she was learning Chinese, she came across a saying: To capture a man's heart, you must first capture his stomach.

Mirel thought that she had mastered both 'stomachs' of Li Zheng by now, so she wasn't worried that he'd lose interest in her. The fact that he made time to go shopping with her the other day was proof enough.

Previously, Li Zheng would not waste a whole day just to accompany her shopping.

They only ate half of the Delicious Rabbit; the rest was stored in the freezer.

They packed up the dishes into a capsule, then had the Household Robots clean them. After washing up, they opened the Treasure Chest at midnight.

"It seems that even superstitious methods aren't working anymore!" Li Zheng put away the Wish Stone Fragment from the Treasure Chest, shaking his head in frustration.

Recently, they've opened several Treasure Chests, ranging from heavy, dusty ones to wooden chests.

But inside, it was always Wish Stone Fragments.

"It feels like the rewards from the system upgrade aren't related to the Treasure Chest anymore; it's becoming more and more random..." Li Zheng sighed. "Upgrading seems worse; at least before, the treasure was related to the chest's quality."

A Super Divine Level chest would always contain rare and unseen items, while anything below it was filled with Wish Stone Fragments—they'd gotten used to it.

Sometimes, they could upgrade a King Level chest to Super Divine Level with the 'Add One' function.

But now, after the system upgrade, even that 'Add One' feature is gone…

"How can upgrading weaken it?" Li Zheng mused, thinking perhaps it wasn't that the items from the Treasure Chest System lacked a pattern, but rather he hadn't discovered it yet.

Mirel speculated, "Could it be that the Treasure Chest System has been on the Terminal too long and has already given out all it could, so now it's just using Wish Stone Fragments as fillers?"

Li Zheng found that explanation reasonable. "Maybe there are lots more Wish Stone Fragments at the Terminal; I'll have to ask when we go again."

The Terminal was always busy, so Li Zheng felt bad troubling them for trivial matters. He only approached them when he accumulated enough items.

After opening the chest, they both rested.

The next day, they went to the Gravity Research Institute to inform Rothschild about their trip back to District Four. Recalling past lessons learned, the professor insisted that Li Zheng must take Feng Yue along.

He didn't want to miss any more important data.

Left with no choice, Li Zheng agreed and took both of them along.

On the way, Li Zheng asked Feng Yue, "What's the point of the project you've been working on with the professor for so many years?"

Is it merely to research how to break the limits of surviving in high-gravity environments?

Li Zheng couldn't see the purpose of such research.

"Of course there's a point, and it's significant," Feng Yue said seriously. "The Gravity Research Institute doesn't only invent civilian gadgets; it also produces many military products. Every time a catastrophe occurs, the institute deploys personnel to set up gravity fields throughout the Seven Great Sin Domains.

When the races combating the Emotion Storm can no longer hold, the gravity fields activate fully, using over a hundredfold gravity to prevent the twisted creatures from pursuing."

Li Zheng listened intently and asked, "And then? Doesn't seem related to what you're currently researching."

"You're right," Feng Yue replied. "But... Pathfinder, haven't you noticed an issue? The gravity field serves merely as a barrier to stop twisted creatures, but it's not directly used against them."

"Because the twisted creatures won't be crushed by hundredfold gravity?"

Li Zheng furrowed his brow, thinking of the Gorging Giant Beasts in the Gluttony Sin Domain. Given their size and strength, combined with their terrifying Life Force, they might indeed survive hundredfold gravity.

"Exactly!" Feng Yue said, "Twisted creatures in all Sin Domains are different from typical creatures. Simple high-gravity can't crush them, but they can't move under hundredfold gravity either.

If at that moment, we had a military force capable of moving freely in that gravity, those immobilized twisted creatures would be helpless, ready to be slaughtered."

Mirel queried, "So Professor Rothschild wants to find a way to train such a military force, persisting in research for decades?"

Feng Yue nodded, "Absolutely! The equipment produced at the Gravity Research Institute can cover areas spanning hundreds of thousands of kilometers. On the battlefield, deploying such an area, paired with a freely traversing army, would undoubtedly wreak havoc on those twisted creatures!"

Li Zheng pondered, feeling something was amiss.

He thought for a while before asking, "Have you ever tried using physically massive, exceptionally strong races in the research institute...?"

Before he could finish, Feng Yue answered, "We've tried, but without fail, they've all collapsed."

"Huh?" Li Zheng was confused, "Why? With such physical strength, shouldn't they withstand higher gravity?"

"That's true, but you're overlooking a crucial factor," Feng Yue explained. "And that's pressure."

"Pressure?"

"Exactly," Feng Yue said. "Gravity doesn't merely alter weight; it also changes the experimental subject's internal pressure. The larger the body, the greater the pressure difference between inside and out, making dramatic changes unbearable."

"I once saw research data where a giant volunteer from the Windbreak Race willingly participated in this project but exploded from the inside out when the gravity amplified to eightfold, turning into a pile of flesh!"

"And before that, that Windbreak Race giant felt no different in sevenfold gravity!"

"This is..." Li Zheng became even more puzzled, "But the twisted creatures I saw in the Gluttony Sin Domain were all dozens of meters tall. Wouldn't they explode entering a gravity area?"

Feng Yue shook his head, "No, they wouldn't! As I said earlier, twisted creatures are unlike conventional life, seemingly defying logic, comfortably enduring a hundredfold gravity."

"Besides being immobilized, it almost doesn't affect them!"

Li Zheng then asked, "By that logic, wouldn't the smaller the body, the better for conventional life entering a gravity area? Wouldn't creatures like mice or rabbits be more suitable?"

"But their body strength is weak..." Feng Yu sighed. "Some can't even withstand fivefold gravity, getting crushed from the outside in."

"The only conclusion from years of research is that in gravity fields, only beings of our size hold potential."

Li Zheng traveled through various districts via Teleportation Gates, continuously consulting Feng Yue on gravity knowledge.

Feng Yue was forthcoming, providing any knowledge he knew to Li Zheng.

Unfortunately, Li Zheng only half-understood much of it, resulting in many jokes.

By the time they returned to District Four, it was nearing dusk.

Emerging from the Teleportation Gate, Li Zheng was stunned by the scene before him.