Matrix Survival: I Get A Random Chest Every Day-Chapter 851 - 610: Ugly Farmer!?
"You are my most outstanding creation," the terminal said in a warm tone, uttering words that sent a chill down one's spine.
Li Zheng took a deep breath: "What's your purpose in bringing me here this time?"
With so many people participating in the mission, Zhan Zhouzhou completed the same number of tasks as he did, yet he was the only one who could come to the Central Hub. Who would believe there was no manipulation by the terminal?
"Indeed, there are some questions I want to know," the terminal said. "But after seeing you in person, many doubts have been resolved. You've met him, haven't you? Did he also give you the spiritual power?"
"Him?" Li Zheng frowned: "Are you talking about... Void?"
"Void? Hahaha..." The terminal seemed to hear a humorous joke, its face contorting with laughter: "He actually gave himself such a cliché nickname?"
After laughing, he sighed: "Yes, that's his style. After all, we are one entity; I should know him well."
Li Zheng didn't speak, just quietly watched the face revealed by the terminal. He didn't detect even a trace of negative emotions like violence, cruelty, or bloodthirstiness in the other party's tone or demeanor. Instead, he felt the terminal was more like a familiar old friend, kind and gentle.
"Since you've met him, you should also know the relationship between him and me, right?" The terminal finished laughing and asked seriously.
"Yes." Li Zheng nodded: "Void said that you were originally one person, but later separated, one representing the positive and the other the negative."
"Did he also say that I'm the negative and he's the positive?" the terminal asked playfully.
Li Zheng nodded, indicating agreement.
"Haha, I knew it; he's still the same as before." The terminal seemed to have anticipated this long ago, then said something that made Li Zheng doubt everything: "What if I told you he deceived you, that I'm actually the positive, and he's the negative, would you believe it?"
With preconceived notions, Li Zheng thought for a moment and shook his head gently: "It's hard for me to believe your words."
"Don't be in a hurry, I have evidence to prove this." The terminal asked: "Do you think, if he represented the positive, would a kind person like him create a situation where people have to kill each other to gather keys to open that space?"
Just with this one sentence, Li Zheng had a moment of enlightenment, realizing many things.
Before, when Void told Li Zheng that he represented positive emotions and the terminal was the collection of all negative emotions, he felt a strong sense of incongruity.
It was just that he didn't think too much about it at the time, nor did he doubt whether what Void said was true or false.
After all, at that time, Void was wholeheartedly helping him improve his spiritual power intensity, and it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that Void was his teacher.
So why would he doubt the other party?
However, now being pointed out by the terminal, Li Zheng finally realized, perhaps between the two... it might actually be the terminal that represents the positive side.
From the series of operations after the players entered the Matrix, it wasn't hard to see that the terminal was doing its best to ensure basic training effects while reducing the death rate among players.
And the most crucial point is, if the terminal really were a cruel entity, why would it set up the red name Bloody setting?
After killing someone and being surrounded by blood qi, isn't that a warning to others that this is a dangerous element?
"There is also a point you may not have considered, or perhaps you don't understand the crisis we need to face well enough, leading to this oversight," the terminal continued: "During these days in the Matrix, you surely have learned about the existence of the Emotion Storm, right?"
"Yes." Li Zheng nodded silently.
"Then you surely know that the Emotion Storm is actually formed by the accumulation of countless negative emotions, ultimately undergoing a qualitative change, right?"
"Yes."
"If it's truly as he said, if I'm the negative one, then driven completely by negative emotions, why haven't I chosen to join the Emotion Storm, but instead have been fighting against it for so many years?"
At this moment, Li Zheng's thoughts began to truly waver.
That's right, according to what Void said, if the terminal represents the evil side, why hasn't it chosen to embrace the Emotion Storm, also composed of 'evil,' but instead fights against it?
Only 'good' would completely oppose 'evil'!
"Moreover, let me show you some more things to add some persuasive power."
As soon as he finished speaking, Li Zheng noticed that the ground around him seemed to be stirred up like building blocks, stacking up layer after layer, finally forming structures resembling shelves.
The number of shelves was enormous, too many to count at a glance, densely packed.
Each shelf held at least one item.
Li Zheng walked over, inspecting several shelves.
A transparent container full of a sense of technology, sealed at both ends with alloy materials, filled with an unknown red viscous liquid.
"This is red mercury, not the disinfectant kind of red mercury, but red mercury that can be used to make nuclear bombs," the terminal's face appeared on an electronic screen next to the shelf, introducing to Li Zheng: "In our world, the red mercury nuclear bomb was just a hoax, but here it's actually been developed. Just the ones you see before you, if exploded, could instantly destroy more than half of the Outer City, and the resulting radiation could even spread to some areas of the Outer City and the Matrix, wiping out the race and civilization we've worked so hard to preserve over the years!"
"To prevent that situation from occurring, I immediately dispatched clones to eliminate all personnel related to that laboratory. The already produced red mercury was contained within the Central Hub, and three thousand years have passed since without it being released."
"And there's this." The terminal image jumped to the shelf nearby, which held an unremarkable metal rod, with a strange sphere at its front end.
"If I didn't tell you, could you imagine that this thing is actually a space-based weapon capable of destroying an entire civilization?"
"As long as it's supplied with sufficient energy, it can blast away all known matter in the universe with a single shot!"
"Even a neutron star can't withstand it!"
"Unfortunately, the Emotion Storm is not included because it has no physical form." 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶
"Next is this... an extremely dangerous 'meme.'" The terminal image introduced to Li Zheng, one by one: "This 'meme' possesses uncontrollable contagion. You could understand it as the viral progenitor; once infected, regardless of the race—so long as it hasn't transcended the limits of flesh—even an insect will become highly aggressive and lose sanity."
"This trait... isn't it just like the T Virus?" Li Zheng thought it sounded familiar, recalling a certain post-apocalyptic setting.
"Stronger than that!" the terminal said, "The T Virus can't compare to it because the virus has serum and antidotes, with hope for cure before the virus fully takes effect. However, 'memes' have no antidote!"
Afterward, the terminal introduced Li Zheng to various dangerous items, mostly strange and peculiar things, but they all shared one common feature.
That if their usage restrictions were lifted, they could destroy a civilization in a short period!
"No wonder I didn't find any large-scale destructive weaponry in the Matrix and Outer City; it turns out they were all with you," Li Zheng meditated for a while.
The terminal explained, "Because the evil in human nature cannot be controlled, whenever something similar appears, I contain it, trying as much as possible to prevent uncontrollable events in the Outer World.
The myriad races are already fragile; they can't withstand overly violent upheaval, and if some people die in the containment process, it's also a necessity."
Only death is the safest for the inventors of these items.
Even erasing their memories cannot guarantee that they won't reinvent similar things someday.
"Alright." Li Zheng internally began to agree with what the terminal had previously said; perhaps the faux truth had deceived him, and the terminal truly represented the 'good' side.
He turned his head, noticing something familiar, pointed at it, and asked, "I can understand why those highly dangerous things are contained. But why is the Genetic Potion here?"
"Because the danger of Genetic Potion is by no means less than those I've just introduced to you." The terminal moved over: "I know you've obtained the manufacturing method of the Low Tier Genetic Potion through some channel and also know you've used the Genetic Potion to compensate for some genetic flaws as a clone."
"But don't be fooled by appearances!"
"The Low Tier Genetic Potion indeed provides positive enhancement and supplied the Outer City with considerable combat strength for quite a long time back then."
"Though the ideal tier for consuming Genetic Potion, like the Spiritual Power Tier, can only be below the Basic Level."
"Because at this tier, genes are in their most perfect state."
"Once this threshold is surpassed by consuming Genetic Potions, the receptor will develop symptoms of human nature deficiency, gradually becoming limitless."
"Eventually, they may evolve into entities very similar to those twisted creatures, extremely dangerous!"
Listening to the terminal's introduction, Li Zheng understood, "So those factories in the Outer City that frequently got attacked and then disappeared were actually orchestrated by you?"
He didn't ask why, since the Genetic Potion had such strong side effects, why not control the potion tier ingested by those people—such a pointless question.
Placed before them is something that can enhance power and make oneself stronger. How many can resist the temptation?
Especially in a place like the Outer City, even without temporary fear of external enemies, there's always the threat from Desolate Beasts and Bloody. Who knows when one might die in some corner.
It's even more impossible to resist the urge to become stronger and consciously forsake using Overlimit Potions.
"Only a small portion," the terminal said, "The vast majority is actually due to market competition in the Outer City, unrelated to me."
"So, the plant-growth accelerating Cultivation Liquid factory disappeared because of market competition?" Li Zheng nodded thoughtfully.
"Ah, that Cultivation Liquid factory was also dismantled by me." The terminal awkwardly paused for a moment and then said, "Follow me."
It disappeared from the monitor, jumped to another shelf far away.
Li Zheng followed him. Since entering the Central Hub, Prelis' Eye had eerily feigned death, not reacting at all.
"What you referred to as the Cultivation Liquid factory produced this thing." Once Li Zheng arrived, the terminal's avatar vanished, the monitor showed another scene.
And the first figure appearing in it was all too familiar to Li Zheng.
The Ugly Farmer?!
