Matrix Survival: One random treasure chest per day

Chapter 1 Welcome to the "Matrix Survival Game"

Welcome to Matrix Survival Game!

Each matrix consists of several rooms, each containing randomized content, including both resources and dangers.

[Each matrix initially accommodates 1000 players. Don't worry, the matrix is ​​large enough for you to explore to your heart's content.]

[Each player starts with the same resources: 2 basic concentrated nutrient solutions, 2 x 500ml clean drinking water solutions, 1 capsule dwelling, and 1 identity card.]

[The capsule dwelling must not be destroyed; it is the only thing you can trust. Please do not abandon it.]

[The identity card is used to explore the matrix. Swipe the card at the door to enter the next room. Each person can explore 10 new rooms per day.]

[Note: Once a new room is selected, it cannot be cancelled after swiping the card, and there is no going back after entering the new room!]

[Note: There is no no-damage team mode between players; players can attack each other freely. Whether you team up to explore together or fight your way through the matrix alone is up to you.]

In the spirit of humanitarianism, all players under the age of 16 and over the age of 50 will be removed from the Matrix world and properly resettled.

Now, begin your journey through the Matrix!

The screen in front of him kept flashing, and Li Zheng only came back to his senses when the subtitles gradually disappeared.

"The Matrix Game World?"

Is it time travel?

Li Zheng rubbed his temples.

In his memory, he only remembered a blinding white light flashing by, and everyone in the light falling down in rows like harvested wheat.

When he woke up again, he found himself here.

"It shouldn't be time travel, or rather... even if it is time travel, it's a large-scale time travel on a global scale, so I'm not the 'chosen one' in novels, and I can't just wander around recklessly."

Li Zheng did not rush to explore the so-called matrix, but first looked around at himself.

He was currently in a room that was about three meters long, wide, and high.

Having grown accustomed to living in a 30-square-meter apartment, his only feeling at that moment was one of crampedness and confinement.

"If he had claustrophobia instead, he might be going crazy by now."

The room looks like it's made of metal, giving it a very high-tech feel, with a low-wattage light bulb on the ceiling being the source of all the light.

The ground was also made of metal plates, and not far from his feet were two bottles of water, a card, and two opaque cans of food, each about the size of a Red Bull.

Apart from that, there is nothing.

"So I'm currently in what's called a capsule residence?"

Li Zheng jumped around in the room, looked around, and curled his lip in dissatisfaction: "It's really shabby. Apart from the door, there isn't even a window. No wonder this place deserves the reputation of 'the only trustworthy place'."

In the past, I picked up the ID card, stuffed it into my inner pocket, and casually patted my entire body.

Sure enough, all the pockets were empty, even the lighter he usually used to light cigarettes was gone.

"That's really fair..."

Li Zheng didn't care. After all, the lighter was for lighting cigarettes for others; he didn't smoke himself.

Pick up the bottle of water, and a prompt will appear on the panel:
[A bottle of clean water, safe to drink, can also be broken down into: 500ml water, 1 plastic bottle]

"..."

Li Zheng was silent for a moment, then muttered, "What the hell is this 'decomposition'? This is called 'separation'!"

Pick up a can the size of Red Bull:
[Basic concentrated nutrient solution; one can contains the energy equivalent to an average person's lunch. It tastes sweet and may have other unknown effects. It can also be broken down into: 330ml nutrient solution, 1 aluminum can.]

It has the same decomposition mechanism as drinking water.

"Alright... I was planning to go to a restaurant before coming here, so this is a good opportunity to see how it goes."

"Pah."

Pull the tab, and with a few gurgling sounds, a bottle of nutrient solution is down.

The sweetness was so intense it was almost cloying that Li Zheng didn't want to drink a second can anytime soon, and he even wondered if this stuff was just good for getting through a meal based on its taste alone.

Now look at the aluminum can in your hand:
[An empty soda can can be used to store other things, or you can stomp on it to vent your frustration. It cannot be broken down, but if you accumulate enough, you can melt it down to make starting materials.]
In short, a single aluminum can equals garbage.

Li Zheng casually tossed the bottle into a corner of his residence, picked up the water bottle, took a sip to rinse his mouth and relieve the sweetness, and then opened the regional chat channel.

Chat channels are divided into world channels and regional channels.

Matrix Channel: 0000879, Current Remaining Players: 1000, Number of Megaphones: 1/1 (Megaphones are world chat tools, one refreshes daily, please decide how to use them carefully.)
A brief notification appeared in the blink of an eye. Li Zheng swallowed the water he used to rinse his mouth, wondering if this was the system reminding him that the megaphone had other uses besides chatting.

On the first day of the game, the world chat was filled with messages looking for relatives. The messages weren't refreshed very often and weren't very meaningful, so Li Zheng ignored them.

I then opened the regional channel, and suddenly there were many more people chatting. Moreover, there were no restrictions on what people could say, and all sorts of information flooded the screen, making it dazzling to look at.

(Regional channel chat lobby, messages are only visible to players in this channel, there is no limit to the number of messages, and no megaphone is consumed.)
"The Matrix Game? What's going on here? Who brought me here?"

"Who knows? Maybe they're aliens. By the way, is Xiao Xuan here? It's Jiao Mei."

"Sweetheart? I think you're a slut."

"Hahaha~ You ants, tremble at the feet of the future king!"

"Did the person upstairs get a shock and lose their mind?"

"Guess so!"

"+1"

"..."

"Hmph, you foolish ants! I am the reincarnation of the great God of Darkness. This journey is the ceremony for my people to welcome the return of the Holy One. Your blood will eventually become mere decorations beneath the throne!"

"Oh, so a mere Matrix game certainly can't stop the great God of Darkness? May I ask, God of Darkness, which room are you in now?"

"Hmph, the laughable games of these ants are nothing to me. Today I will conquer this world and be crowned king!"

One minute later.

Number of people remaining in the current area: 999
"..."

"The God of Darkness? Where is the great God of Darkness?"

"Pfft, didn't you see there's one less person? I bet he's already out of the running."

"I hope everyone is okay."

"The people upstairs are old Project Hopes; they only come out when the people upstairs are already cold."

"No, I want to ask, if the God of Darkness really did leave here alive, it's reasonable to reduce the remaining number by one, right?"

"??? Holy crap?"

"It makes sense!"

"How come I didn't think of that? 666!"

"Holy crap +1"

"..."

Li Zheng closed the interface speechlessly.

At the start of the game, everyone had at least two meals to eat without worry, so most people were observing and hoping someone would start the game first so they could gather intelligence.

However, Li Zheng knew that this situation would change by tomorrow at the latest.

At that time, hunger will force these speculators to take the first step.

The entire Matrix game may then undergo a major purge.

Just like that immature teenager from earlier.

Will players who successfully explore the next room share their experiences?
Li Zheng thought it was highly unlikely.

Anyway, he won't.

Besides the chat lobby, there was also a trading lobby on the panel. Li Zheng opened it and looked at it; it was completely empty.

"We should start exploring; it's not good to keep hiding like this."

Li Zheng opened the door to the room, stepped out, and landed on the ground.

"Ok?"

To Li Zheng's surprise, he discovered that outside the capsule residence was a huge underground cavern with several pieces of rubble scattered on the ground.

Go back and find the button by the door of the capsule residence, then press it gently.

"Oh!"

The capsule dwelling instantly collapsed, shrinking to the size of a capsule.

Li Zheng picked it up, and with a thought, the capsule disappeared.

With another flick of the wrist, the capsule appeared; press it firmly and then throw it away.

"Oh!"

After a puff of smoke, the square capsule dwellings came into view.

"Hmm, there's about a two- or three-second delay between taking out the capsule and releasing it into its dwelling. If we encounter danger in the future, we might be able to take advantage of the capsule's invincible nature."

I'm not sure if the capsule can be taken out during combat; I might try it out sometime in the future.

Having a clear plan in mind allows you to feel confident and in control.

Li Zheng transformed his residence back into a capsule and stored it in his private capsule space, then officially began to examine the cave.

The cave ceiling is very high, over five meters, and covered with patches of luminescent moss, so visibility is not obstructed.

There is a high-tech metal door on each of the four sides of the cave wall, which is obviously a passage to the next room. The key is the player's identity card.

It's worth mentioning that there's also a door on the cave ceiling and another on the ground, so Li Zheng actually has six directions to choose from.

"Forget about going up; you can't climb up without the right tools."

"If I go down, I don't know how high the space below is. If I fall and get hurt, no one will come to save me."

Since the choice of a channel cannot be canceled after it is made, Li Zheng must be extremely careful with his first choice.

Li Zheng examined each of the remaining four doors, only to find in despair that they were all identical and he couldn't tell what was behind them at all.

Just as Li was about to randomly choose a door to enter, a voice suddenly rang in his ears:
[Random treasure chest draw in progress today, please wait...]

[Draw successful. Treasure chest quality: Silver. Collect now?]

"What does this mean?"

Li Zheng looked around and made sure there were no sound devices or similar equipment in the cave before he was certain that it wasn't some NPC or something playing tricks.

"extract……?"

thump.

A tentative thought flashed through his mind, and a silver-white treasure chest appeared out of thin air, landing in front of Li Zheng.

"This... this is actually possible?!"

I opened the chat lobby and took a look; no one mentioned treasure chests or anything like that.

After a slight hesitation, Li Zheng tentatively sent a message: "Do you guys have any treasure chests?"

Soon someone replied: "What treasure chest? I only have two bottles of water and canned food in my lodgings."

"Could it be that we just lost a Dark God, and now we have a Mimic?"

……

Li Zheng waited for thirty seconds, but few people responded to him.

His message was quickly drowned in a sea of ​​words, without even making a ripple.

Could this treasure chest be my exclusive cheat code?

Like in some online novels, am I the protagonist of this world?
Then wouldn't I be able to have Xia Ji Ba Lang?
However, it's possible that others also have treasure chests, but they secretly believe they have cheat codes and deliberately hide them.

"Let's stay calm and observe for a while. If no one mentions it, then we can confirm that the treasure chest is the real issue."

Now, let's see what's inside the treasure chest.

"open to take a look!"

Li Zheng excitedly squatted down, grabbed the clasp on the treasure chest, and gently lifted the lid.

After the treasure chest was opened, there was only a hazy light inside, and nothing else could be seen.

Li Zheng reached in and scooped it up, and a system notification popped up in front of him.

[Obtained: Silver Blueprint "Ordinary Detection Goggles" *1]

[Obtained: Power Core Type I *1]

[Received: 15 parts]

[Received: 10 Iron Ingots]

[Received: 5 Copper Ingots]

"This prompt... the items in the cheat chest can be recognized by the game's own system?" Li Zheng was a little excited, but also a little disappointed.

Based on this setting, the items obtained from treasure chests should also be similar to those obtained during gameplay exploration.

From this perspective, even if others don't have treasure chests, you essentially have one more way to obtain more items than others.

"Something is better than nothing. Let's see what these things are good for."

In the Matrix game, everything a player acquires can be stored directly in their capsule dwelling. Even while in capsule form, players can retrieve the items they need.

After the contents were taken, the treasure chest gradually became transparent and eventually disappeared as if it had never existed.

"Why did it disappear? I wanted to try and see if I could break the treasure chest down."

As Li Zheng was thinking this, he suddenly felt something was wrong: "When I touched the treasure chest just now, the system didn't seem to provide any attributes for the treasure chest?"

Does this mean that the treasure chest itself is not a type of item included in the game?

"So even if the empty treasure chest doesn't disappear, it should still be something that can't be decomposed, right?"

With a thought, a USB flash drive appeared in Li Zheng's hand, and he was stunned.

"These are blueprints?"

[Standard detection goggle manufacturing blueprint, Silver grade, disposable blueprint]

Description: Can be used to craft a detection-type protective goggle item.

Required materials: Iron*2, Parts*5, Power Core of any level*1

[This is a one-time use blueprint that cannot be learned. The player has enough materials. Craft it?]

So what are you waiting for?

“Make it!”

Three seconds later, the USB drive disappeared, replaced by a single-piece protective goggle resembling the power detector from Dragon Ball.

[Standard detection goggles, silver grade, unique item, upgradable.]

It can detect basic information including, but not limited to: materials, items, creatures, and players.

The higher the item's level, the more detailed the detection information.

Upgrade material requirements: Technology Core *1, B25 grade manganese steel 300g, Power Core Type III *1, Components *30.
Secure the goggles to your ears, turn on the side button, and the goggles will start working shortly afterward.

Li Zheng looked through the goggles at the randomly selected gate, and two large characters appeared directly on the goggles:
Danger!

(End of this chapter)