CHAPTER 275: CHAPTER 235: A BEAUTIFUL... BAD DAY BEGINS WITH OPENING A TREASURE CHEST.

Words are words, jokes are jokes.

Through this incident, Li Zheng realized he still underestimated the lethality of gourmet food.

Given that their safety was already assured, it seemed that besides more power, these powerful top players were most interested in improving their quality of life.

"How about organizing a few grand feasts as the highlight of the auction in a couple of days?" Li Zheng was already planning on squeezing more benefits from players who didn’t need Black Iron Level potions.

"Hmm, I need to plan this carefully. The items for the first auction can’t be too few, or it’d seem too shabby." Li Zheng opened his record panel and began listing the items he could auction, aiming to make a name for himself with the first auction.

Maybe, over time, he could even develop this into his own business, enticing more players with unique items to supply goods and enrich his auction.

Once it grew large enough, if these players still wanted to participate, no one would dare cause trouble like Shinoda Chizuru did this time.

"Hmm, didn’t Ye Yuan and the others have a few Valok’s Eyes?"

"Try to buy them and have Phoenix Mountain make a few pocket watches, sell them off in batches!"

"Chu Xiao’s megaphone is also good; I could get five of them and sell them as a set, they should be worth something."

"What else?" Li Zheng pondered a bit and added Xiao Siyuan’s Black Water to the list.

This item in the game was unique, exclusive.

Even though old Xiao exhausted himself daily, producing enough Black Water for others to bathe in.

But, if operated well,

it could be a hot and sought-after item!

"The imaging device Liu Jiale offered before wasn’t made from a blueprint, which is a pity..."

Noting this, Li Zheng realized that it seemed there weren’t many more unique items among the people around him.

So he had to list his own valuable items too.

The potions, graded by enhancement limit, were divided into ten levels, from Black Iron 1+ to Bronze 5+. He collected a full set of each and auctioned them separately.

The floating flying device from the learnable blueprint that he had only made once, he also decided not to keep hidden.

For this auction, he planned to put one up, expecting its popularity wouldn’t be less than the pocket watch.

By the time the auction starts, his Ice and Fire Attachment would definitely be full level, so he wouldn’t need so many cultivation dishes. He could sell some and probably recover a lot of resources.

For the Platinum Level cultivation liquid, he planned to take out eleven liters and sell them in one, two, three, and five different amounts, interspersed with other auction items.

As for the newly acquired clothing feature fragments, since obtaining them required dismantling equipment, he didn’t plan to sell these, saving them for later when the timing was right.

"Counting it all up, I can actually gather quite a lot of good items?" Li Zheng bit his nails, adjusting his carefully ordered items, and finally nodded in satisfaction.

Let’s auction them off in this order!

With the plan set, Li Zheng saved the document, preparing to start arranging these things for the first auction starting tomorrow.

Checking the time, it was nearing midnight, and Li Zheng rubbed his temples to relax his mind.

He felt like there was a very unique item he had forgotten about. What could it be?

Beside him, Little Sakura was already asleep on the pink Poli, with a large bubble of snot hanging from her nose, inflating and deflating with each breath.

Seeing the oil residue at the corner of her mouth, he remembered how excited she was when she heard there was a midnight snack and couldn’t help but smile knowingly.

In the bathroom sink, the housekeeper-named intelligent humanoid was cleaning the utensils that had once held boiled meat slices.

According to Li Zheng’s request, after washing, all utensils had to be rinsed with purified water once more.

Not to wash away more stains, but to wash away the psychological discomfort.

Anyway, he didn’t lack that bit of clean water.

Gong Yi and Gong Er were changing shifts, and these days, the number of potion orders had been increasing. Apparently, the players of channel 879 also noticed the increased sale of blood in the trading hall.

Currently, commissioned tasks were still restricted within channel 879, and Li Zheng planned to lift this restriction after the first auction, depending on the circumstances.

Unknowingly, the time passed midnight, and that familiar voice sounded in his ears.

[Daily treasure chest has been drawn, randomly determining quality...]

"It’s time, there are many things to do today, need to make the most of time." Li Zheng looked into the void and silently murmured extraction.

[Extraction successful, today’s treasure chest quality: Black Iron, extract now?]

"Black... Black Iron?" Li Zheng’s expression froze.

Wasn’t this the first time since obtaining the system that he had drawn the lowest quality chest?

After consecutive days of gold and platinum chests, Li Zheng was almost numb, forgetting that iron, copper, and silver were among the lower tier qualities.

"Even if I use delayed extraction, tomorrow I’ll just get a Bronze Treasure Chest." Li Zheng thought about it and decided to extract immediately.

A black iron-shelled box fell in front, and Li Zheng casually emptied its contents, his expression turning bitter immediately.

Iron Ingot +5, Copper Ingot +3

This little amount, what’s the difference from getting nothing?

Watching the chest fade and disappear, Li Zheng suddenly had a thought: Rationally speaking, the Black Iron Chest should be the lowest quality. If he delayed until the next day to lower one grade and extract, what would be the result?

Would it fail to lower and only able to extract Bronze, or would it keep the original quality to extract Black Iron?

"Might be worth trying in the future." Li Zheng felt he wouldn’t have the courage to try this when the time came.

Besides, it didn’t seem necessary?

Turning to wake Little Sakura, despite her protests, he dragged her out of the shelter, packed up the capsule, and took out the business card to start today’s exploration.

Aside from using the Mysterious Declaration a few times, this was his first time exploring the Matrix at night.

Following the card’s guidance, he soon arrived in front of a metal door, and even at night, Old Pu was diligently at work.

[A group of bloodthirsty rats lurk behind the door, their strength greatly enhanced at night, more frenzied, more restless.

But don’t worry, they’re just Bronze level trash, posing no threat to you.]

"Bronze..." Li Zheng frowned, feeling a bit displeased with how the Matrix limited room danger based on one’s strength.

Why have a danger ceiling, but no floor?

With only ten formal exploration opportunities a day, without Old Pu, wouldn’t he waste them on trash when he became stronger?

Once upon a time, Li Zheng had complained about dangerous rooms being orange and deep red in difficulty.

He never thought there’d come a day when he’d disdain low difficulty...

Typical case of an inflated ego.

Swipe card, enter the door.

The arrow on the card now had one less, leaving only one remaining.

When the light curtain blocking everything in front disappeared, a pungent stench assailed him, making Li Zheng frown deeply.

The pipe-like environment stretched far away, and the dim light overhead threatened to go out at any moment, while the moist air, mixed with unimaginable foulness, kept seeping into his nose in a tangible way.

The nearby pipe walls were slick, seemingly coated with some kind of greasy black substance, akin to dried bloodstains.

The paths on both sides converged into a narrow ditch.

The ditch was filled with pitch-black unknown filth, and when bubbles occasionally surfaced and burst, they released a more intense stench.

"Ugh~"

Little Sakura followed inside, and upon smelling the stench, she nearly gagged.

The pink Poli considerately transformed into a mask, covering her nose and mouth, filtering air with its contractions to provide her breathable air.

Li Zheng was terribly envious, forced to silently take out the long-unseen air purifier and wear it over his face.

Though they filtered the foul air in different ways, the tangible moisture still clung to them.

Li Zheng even felt as if the stench was seeping into his pores.

In the mere minute since arriving here, without encountering even a single bloodthirsty rat, Li Zheng was already sweating as if he’d been drenched.

His undershirt clung sticky and moist to his skin, extremely uncomfortable.

He tried applying an Extreme Isolation, but it was ineffective.

Isolation ability only affected temperature, not humidity.

At this moment, Li Zheng had two thoughts.

First, his recent shower was wasted.

Second, this should be near the doctor’s place, but why was the environment so dreadful?

And judging by this situation, it seemed somewhat like a sewer?