Matrix Survival: One random treasure chest per day

Chapter 70 is too weak, so it doesn't have a title, but I'm still asking for votes.
When the team encountered the Mechanical Mantis again, the number had increased to eight.

As always, Zhan Zhouzhou drew his sword and charged forward, his actions swift and decisive. In the blink of an eye, he crippled a mechanical mantis.

Then she was surrounded by the remaining seven mechanical mantises. A lightsaber in her hand moved like a fish, a butterfly, or a flying flower, dazzling the onlookers who were amazed and impressed.

Zhan Zhouzhou's fighting style is different from Feng Shan's.

Fengshan mainly relies on the explosive amplification of genetic abilities to gain powerful strength to destroy the target itself, making it suitable for direct and straightforward approaches, using brute force to overcome skill.

However, when faced with overly flexible targets, it's easy to feel overwhelmed.

No matter how strong you are, it's all in vain if you can't hit the enemy.

Zhan Zhouzhou is different. She has practiced swordsmanship for more than ten years. Whether in terms of skill or combat experience, she is incomparable to Feng Shan.

Moreover, the Zhan family's swordsmanship style is agile, and combined with their unique footwork, they can handle even when surrounded.

The mechanical mantis, a fast and small opponent that doesn't rely on strength, was completely countered by Zhan Zhouzhou's sharp swordsmanship.

When paired with a silver-grade ion lightsaber, the mechanical mantis is often rendered useless by a mere graze, and dies instantly upon a direct hit.

Seeing the unwillingness in Fengshan's eyes, Li Zheng knew that he was quite discouraged, so he patiently comforted him: "Take it easy. After all, he has been training for more than ten years. He is not someone like us who has only experienced a few days of fighting."

Is Fengshan weak?
Not weak.

Quite the opposite.

Among them, Fengshan was the strongest.

Don't be fooled by the fact that Zhan Zhouzhou has an advantage over Fengshan in the fight against the mechanical mantis.

In Li Zheng's eyes, if Zhan Zhouzhou were to be hit head-on by Feng Shan's full-force punch, Feng Shan would immediately kneel on the ground, crying and begging Zhan Zhouzhou not to die.

However, there's no way around it; everyone has their own strengths and weaknesses. Zhan Zhouzhou's strengths perfectly counter Feng Shan's weaknesses, making Feng Shan appear quite weak in comparison.

"After we finish exploring the ruins, you can search for armor. I think your biggest weakness right now is your poor defense."

Li Zheng offered his opinion to Fengshan.

If Fengshan had a powerful suit of armor that could defend against the mechanical mantis's attacks, he wouldn't have been so passive before. He could have easily withstood the opponent and defeated the mantis with a single punch.

"I've been thinking about it these past couple of days."

Feng Shan let out a sigh of relief and said dejectedly, "But the trading hall is full of those heavy armors, and the rank is generally not high. Wearing them will actually reduce my combat power."

"..."

Li Zheng recalled the things he had found in the trading hall and suddenly felt some sympathy for Feng Shan.

Despite having incredibly strong offensive capabilities, their defense is inadequate, leaving them hampered and unable to effectively utilize their abilities.

For a moment, Li Zheng couldn't think of any good ideas, so he could only pat him on the shoulder and stand aside to wait for Zhan Zhouzhou to finish the battle.

At this point, Zhan Zhouzhou's side only had three mechanical mantises left, and the battle was nearing its end.

Xiao Siyuan suddenly spoke up: "Since there is no suitable armor-type equipment right now, have you ever thought about awakening a defensive gene ability?"

I once met a player who awakened an earth-type gene ability, which allowed him to condense a layer of stone-like skin on his body for protection.

Moreover, its defensive effect is excellent, and it doesn't hinder one's own movement.

Li Zheng recalled the unlucky guy he had killed and said, "That's right, Lin Fan, whom I killed before, also had a set of blood-red armor. Although his defense wasn't great, it should be decent if his ability level was raised."

"Lin Fan?"

Yan Guang looked at Li Zheng in surprise: "That armor could withstand a whole round of my firepower without dying. You're saying its defensive capabilities aren't that great?"

Hear the words.

Li Zheng was equally surprised: "You've met him? How come I've never heard you mention him?"

Could it be that Lin Fan encountered other players in the channel before meeting me?

That's it. No wonder I detected that his genetic energy was depleted back then; it turns out he was beaten to death.

"It's not something to be proud of, I can't be bothered to talk about it." Yan Guang shrugged indifferently. In her mind, the fact that Lin Fan escaped from her was a very shameful thing, something that would be embarrassing to talk about.

"Humph!"

Feng Shan sneered and said, "That weakling's defense is indeed quite good. He was able to withstand my punch with a four-fold burst of power without being hurt. That armor is indeed very suitable for me."

He just looks a bit sinister; it's probably not some kind of orthodox genetic ability. He reeks of blood. "You've encountered him too?!"

Li Zheng and Yan Guang were both surprised. They looked at Feng Shan and said in unison, "Why didn't you mention this before?"

"cough."

Feng Shan coughed awkwardly and looked away, saying, "I also feel quite ashamed that I couldn't kill him on the spot."

At this moment, Zhan Zhouzhou had finished the battle, put away her lightsaber and walked back, leaving behind a pile of metal fragments. The eight mechanical mantises had been shredded by this ferocious girl.

Hearing their conversation, Zhan Zhouzhou's eyes flickered, and she asked, "What time did you all meet him?"

"Ok?"

"I'm going~"

"No way?"

Li Zheng and the other two all looked at her at the same time and exclaimed, "You've encountered this before?!"

"Yeah, his skateboard was really fast, I couldn't catch up."

Zhan Zhouzhou said calmly, "That armor is of a high grade. I estimate it to be at least silver grade, and possibly even gold grade."

"It's very likely to be gold-grade."

Fengshan said confidently, "If it were only a silver-level ability, it would be impossible to withstand my punch so easily."

Yan Guang also said, "Indeed, a silver-grade armored soldier would be severely crippled or killed if he was hit by my firepower once, but he was in good condition when he escaped, and did not look like he had been seriously injured."

The three of them turned to look at Li Zheng at the same time and said in unison, "You said his armor isn't very effective at defense?"

Li Zheng shrugged: "It's really not good. One shot and it's blown to bits."

It really was just a matter of one shot. I even gave Lin Fan some time to recover his genetic power, just to test the effect of his gold-level ability.

He couldn't even withstand a single shot; his defenses were blasted through, and he was left with only his last breath.

Yan Guang's expression was strange: "Could it be that Lin Fan's genetic force was worn away by us, which is why you were able to take advantage of the situation?"

Yes, very likely!

Feng Shan unusually agreed with Yan Guang, also because he didn't quite believe that Li Zheng could shatter a gold-level gene ability with a single shot at that time.

It should be noted that before that, Li Zheng had only ever used silver-level items. Even though he had eaten a Flame Flower, he had only awakened a silver-level ability.

How could Lin Fan be killed so easily?
Unless Li Zheng is telling the truth about his awakened ability being at the Platinum level, it's simply impossible!
"Whether you believe it or not, Lin Fan ultimately died at my hands."

Li Zheng didn't explain that he had a platinum-level genetic ability, but he remembered that Zhan Zhouzhou had never revealed that genetic ability of hers so far.

A gold-level genetic ability.

Xiao Siyuan listened to their discussion the whole time, and exclaimed in amazement, "That Lin Fan guy is really unlucky, he just had to open the door for every unlucky person he met!"

"What terrible luck!"

Having encountered such a powerful opponent time and time again, it would be an injustice if he didn't die.

[Ancient Ruins, Exploration Progress: 23%]

Li Zheng glanced at the time. The group had been in the ancient ruins for more than half an hour, but their exploration progress was less than a quarter. He interrupted the casual conversation and said seriously, "We need to speed things up. We've pretty much figured out the strength of the mechanical mantis. Considering the difficulty, this ancient ruins doesn't need this many people at all."

"However, the matrix terminal has set this place to be accessible only in teams, which means there will definitely be even greater challenges ahead, so next..."

"boom!"

Before he could finish speaking, a deafening explosion suddenly erupted from deeper within the metal tunnel.

"Boom!"

"Boom!"

"Boom!"

Heavy footsteps followed, and the entire metal passageway shook violently, as if something enormous was approaching.

(End of this chapter)