CHAPTER 268: CHAPTER 228: DESERT OF EXHAUSTION

The farce on channel 879 lasted for fifteen minutes, ending with Ma Yan besieged by everyone, having to retract like a turtle.

New teammates were also formed. Wang Chaoran ultimately did not take his buddy’s advice and included two girls in his group.

Liu Li, ranked 246th on the combat power list, wields a Silver Level Magnum Revolver. Her Four-dimensional Attributes are at Black Iron 2+, not maxed out.

Zhang Yue, ranked 103rd on the combat power list, wields a Titanium Alloy Single Blade and has upgraded to an Earth Silver Gene Ability.

Despite their loud presence on the regional channels, when faced with Li Zheng, these girls were rather reserved.

With a girl hanging onto each arm, Li Zheng said to Wang Chaoran, "Start the instance."

Fortunately, the situation Yu Yongmei mentioned didn’t happen. Li Zheng felt fortunate to be only held by both arms.

"Alright." Wang Chaoran pulled his buddy back to prevent him from bothering Li Zheng, confirming the instance members.

Seizing the opportunity, Li Zheng escaped from the two girls, stepping in first with Sakura: "I’ll go ahead, be careful, everyone."

[Desert of Exhaustion, Exploration Progress: 0%]

As soon as Li Zheng entered the instance, he was almost knocked over by the steaming heat in the air, quickly casting a layer of Extreme Isolation on himself, Sakura, and Pink Poli.

"This feels close to fifty degrees, right?" Li Zheng looked around, all he saw was yellow sand.

The sunlight was glaring, even Li Zheng had to squint to see.

Looking up slightly, two basin-sized suns hung in the blue sky, tirelessly emitting light and heat.

"Damn! It’s so hot!"

Behind him, Wang Chaoran and the others entered the instance, shouting about the heat as their first reaction.

"Look at the sky, two suns!" Zhang Yue pointed at the sky, exclaiming loudly.

"No wonder it’s this hot."

"How are we supposed to fight in this environment?"

"Hey? Look, the boss isn’t even sweating!" Liu Li gazed at Li Zheng with amazement.

Wang Chaoran was calm: "Of course, we can’t compare to the boss."

He walked behind Li Zheng and asked, "Boss, what should we do next?"

Being their first time in this instance, they were completely in the dark and had no clue.

Besides, Li Zheng promised to guide them through. As "lucky charms" just tagging along for experience, they waited for Li Zheng’s instructions.

Li Zheng thought for a moment and said, "Stay here and don’t move. I’ll have Sakura protect you. If small monsters appear, assist Sakura in defense."

"Huh?" Wang Chaoran glanced at the pet that always followed Li Zheng, envy flashing through his eyes as he asked, "Boss, what about you? Won’t you join us in defending?"

"With Sakura protecting you, it’s more than enough." Li Zheng looked into the distance, seemingly spotting a building at the edge of his sight: "I’ll check that out and handle the boss."

"Um..." Wang Chaoran looked back at his teammates, hesitating: "Can you handle it alone? Should I go with you? I can at least be bait."

Li Zheng eyed him with surprise; it was the first time he’d heard someone calmly offering to be bait.

Is he so reckless?

Patting Wang Chaoran on the shoulder, Li Zheng chuckled, "What nonsense are you talking about? I promised to guide you through, and you want to be bait? Just stay here properly, because after this instance, you won’t get many chances to join me."

To finish the last step of the regional channel admin transfer task, Li Zheng had initially stated he’d guide three free instances.

No matter what materials are gained during these instances, he asks for none, completely as a volunteer.

Once the instance is cleared, as long as they don’t trade everything away like Xiao Siyuan did, these players are sure to make it to the top 100 on the combat power list.

That’s why Li Zheng mentioned there wouldn’t be many chances to join him in instances later.

Unless Wang Chaoran offers a reward Li Zheng is satisfied with.

"Alright then." Wang Chaoran nodded in disappointment.

Such a rare chance to join his idol in an instance, yet he didn’t even get the chance to fight side by side.

"Sakura, protect them."

"Woof!" Sakura patted its chest, assuring it would complete the task.

Li Zheng casually placed several more layers of Extreme Isolation on it and Pink Poli, extending the duration to five minutes before walking forward.

Walking more than ten meters, he activated the flying device on his back, skimming low toward the building he had seen earlier.

The strong airflow surged, Li Zheng’s flight speed was very fast. So focused on traveling, he didn’t notice some tiny creatures swept up in the yellow sand by the airflow.

At the entrance, Wang Chaoran watched Li Zheng depart and turned to stay with the others.

At this point, everyone’s weapons were already in hand. Zhang Yue asked, "Hey? Where did the boss go?"

"Do you even need to ask?" His buddy replied: "Of course, he went to battle the boss."

Liu Li asked, "What do we do then? Just stay here at the entrance?"

"If you can catch up with the boss, then you can go," his buddy rolled his eyes.

He had no good attitude towards these girls eyeing Li Zheng.

Zhang Yue and Liu Li glared at him furiously.

Wang Chaoran suddenly felt a headache. His buddy was a high school friend. After entering the Matrix, Wang Chaoran stayed on channel 879, and his buddy was transferred over from a subsequent channel split.

He had heard others say his buddy’s sexual orientation seemed off, but he hadn’t taken it seriously.

Today, he finally realized...

This was genuinely off, not just joking around.

"Alright, alright, we’re teammates now. Keep bickering like this, and I’m afraid you’ll start fighting." Wang Chaoran rubbed his forehead and said, "The boss mentioned he might appear small monsters, so we have to work together to get through the instance."

His buddy dismissed it, saying, "What’s the deal, just small monsters, right? The boss gets the big guy, and if we can’t even handle small monsters, where’s our face?"

"You?" Zhang Yue eyed him skeptically, "Think you can handle it?"

His buddy was furious: "Men shouldn’t be doubted!"

Liu Li stifled a laugh, "True, except for your orientation, you’re like a man everywhere else."

His buddy pouted, "Same-sex love is true love."

"Since it’s true love, you’re set to have no children, aren’t you?" Zhang Yue had a more fiery personality than Liu Li, and did not hold back.

His buddy was enraged: "Nonsense! We can adopt!"

"Kids in the Matrix are all sixteen and up, where will you adopt... Ouch!" Zhang Yue cried out, lifting her foot to find a small hole in her shoe’s sole, blood flowing from the opening.

"The blood is black, it’s poisoned!" Liu Li inspected, casually pulling out a Bronze Level Interpretation Potion from her dwelling: "Drink half, then squeeze out the poisoned blood, clean the wound later. This can neutralize Bronze level toxins, and delay Silver Poison."

"Thanks."

Zhang Yue took the potion and jumped beside to treat her injury.

His buddy swung a shovel at the spot Zhang Yue stood, dug a few times but found no creatures hidden beneath the sand.

Wang Chaoran glanced around, the area was all sandy land, nowhere to hide: "Trouble!"

"Woof?"

Sakura tilted its head at them and suddenly stomped its foot.

Rumble!

Rumble!

Two earth spikes burst from the sand, a mass of yellow sand rolled down the edges, raising a cloud of dust.