CHAPTER 286: CHAPTER 246: MR. LI, YOU REALLY ARE A GOOD PERSON!

"I should have known to go easier."

Li Zheng stood in front of Kitajo Akemi’s capsule dwelling, still brooding over missing a chance to acquire a Specialized Ability.

That was a specialization!

An ability even higher than mastery!

Ever since gaining the Ion Cutting Blade, Li Zheng would allocate time each day to intensely practice various weapons in hopes of mastering more abilities.

But up until now, aside from the Spear Mastery acquired through the "Warrior" type Memory Release Device, he hadn’t mastered a single ability!

Even the one with the highest acquiring progress, Swordsmanship Mastery, was only at 73.56%, still quite a distance from being fully mastered.

These days, while practicing Zhan style Swordsmanship, Li Zheng realized that ever since his Swordsmanship Mastery progress surpassed 50%, the speed suddenly slowed down significantly.

Initially, as long as the techniques were decent, nearly every strike could increase the progress by a bit.

Now, sometimes after ten minutes of harsh practice, the progress only goes up by 0.1%.

Li Zheng speculated it might be due to the singularity of the techniques he practiced. For some reason, he had a special affinity for the "Passing Swift" move of Zhan style Swordsmanship, progressing particularly quickly with it.

Among the remaining dozens of moves, except for "Willow Leaf Lightly Brush," he could only execute their forms without capturing their essence.

Not worth mentioning!

Perhaps it aligns with what Zhan Zhouzhou initially replied when Li Zheng asked if he had any martial arts talent.

Heh—

Actually, the results of Li Zheng’s intense practice these days are equivalent to three years of rigorous training by Earth’s practitioners.

It’s not that Li Zheng’s talent isn’t as poor as one would think. He simply benefits from the Matrix’s ability to digitize progress, allowing him to adjust his practice accordingly.

However, the appearance of Zhan Zhouzhou and Kitajo Akemi also served as a wake-up call for Li Zheng.

The Earth is so vast, with so many people, there are bound to be some hidden masters.

Usually not showing off, but once in the Matrix, these people’s talents become prominent, progressing almost monstrously.

While others still fret over their mastery progress, they have already mastered some specialization, leading the charge.

Then again, this is the foundation these people accumulated from years of rigorous practice before entering the Matrix. Why would they have to start at the same point as others?

"Forget it, being fortunate enough to acquire something is lucky for me. Maybe there are better abilities awaiting me in the future."

Li Zheng adjusted his mood, plastered his ear to the door, and heard a serene silence inside, only faint breathing, almost inaudible.

"This movement... could she have already passed out?" Li Zheng thought with an odd expression. If so, wouldn’t it save him the trouble of operating the Memory Release Device later?

It’s important to know that making someone lose consciousness isn’t as simple as depicted in movies and dramas.

It requires a high level of technique.

If Li Zheng followed what he learned from movies, by dawn, he might end up with a red name.

It’s obvious he’s better at making people dead than knocked out.

Kitajo Akemi is a living example...

Mentioning the Mysterious Declaration, Li Zheng chose to merge Kitajo Akemi’s Identity Card. At this moment, Li Zheng suddenly felt, sometimes life is so coincidental.

If Shinoda Chizuru had been in her capsule dwelling, he would have had to find a way to drag her out without being too forceful. If he accidentally killed her, he might end up with a red name.

[Merging Identity Card...]

[Mysterious Declaration trait triggered...]

[Acquired...]

[Merge complete...]

As the prompts flickered, the Identity Card and the capsule dwelling disappeared together, leaving the blood-soaked Shinoda Chizuru falling to the ground, indeed already unconscious.

"Sigh, can’t you all wear a bit more? Not considerate at all! If I end up gone, are you all just happy?!" Li Zheng rummaged through the capsule, retrieving two dirty pieces of clothing from a gray-white stone box to cover Shinoda Chizuru, preventing some neck-to-below part incidents.

Looking at the grimy clothes, Li Zheng fell into contemplation: "Seems like the Intelligent Humanoids haven’t been assigned to clean for two days, might as well check the fertilizer later and replenish it."

But as he thought, his actions were swift, already fitting the Memory Release Device onto Shinoda Chizuru.

In the next second, a virtual display screen appeared on the helmet, showing two options.

[Copy Memory]

[Copy Ability]

Li Zheng chose the first option, and the screen changed to display countless video files.

He casually clicked open one and found that they were all clips from Shinoda Chizuru’s life.

Some were from before entering the Matrix, and some were from after entering it.

However, these clips were not continuous, and the older the memory, the more severe the sense of fragmentation.

Li Zheng had no interest in exploring others’ privacy, so he skipped a large number of scenes of Shinoda Chizuru showering and changing clothes, finding recent memories instead.

He extracted the memory fragments from Shinoda Chizuru’s encounter with Li Zheng to her livestream slander against him. Just as he was about to confirm the copy, he paused.

He rewound the timeline by two more days and selected the memory of Shinoda Chizuru begging the previous player to take her along, then confirmed the extraction.

After the memory copying was complete, Li Zheng removed the Memory Release Device from Shinoda Chizuru’s head and took some time to wake her up.

Upon waking and seeing Li Zheng standing beside her, Shinoda Chizuru was so frightened that tears streamed down her face as she begged Li Zheng to spare her.

Li Zheng replied flatly with a phrase she had previously said: "I gave you a chance, Miss Shinoda."

"No, it’s not like that!" Shinoda Chizuru turned and knelt on the ground, kowtowing continuously, crying and shouting: "I was forced to do all those things by that bitch Kitajo Akemi, I’m a victim too!"

"Mr. Li, I’m begging you, spare me, I won’t dare to do this again!"

"Please, I really know I was wrong!"

Watching Shinoda Chizuru kowtowing like pounding garlic, Li Zheng suddenly felt a wave of nausea.

Not long ago, Kitajo Akemi had risked her life to save her, entering the range of his attack.

In the blink of an eye, Shinoda Chizuru was maligning her savior with venomous words to save her own life.

"How about this, I’ll give you a chance. Whether you live or die depends on your own luck, what do you say?" Li Zheng suggested.

Hearing this, Shinoda Chizuru was overjoyed and quickly nodded in agreement: "You say it."

Li Zheng smiled kindly: "It’s simple. I’ll let you pick a door. Once inside, whether you live or die is up to fate."

"This..." Shinoda Chizuru hesitated for a moment, then realizing it was her only way out, gritted her teeth and agreed: "No problem, I’ll do as Mr. Li instructs, and if I survive, I hope Mr. Li will honor our agreement and not pursue me further."

"Rest assured, I always do things openly and honestly, I would never go back on my word." Li Zheng’s smile grew warmer.

Subsequently, Li Zheng led her around the room, selecting a suitable metal door.

Fortunately, Li Zheng stopped in front of the first door, which gave her a sense of relief.

It seemed Li Zheng really intended to let her go.

After Shinoda Chizuru swiped her card, Li Zheng did not immediately allow her entry but instead called her back: "You probably don’t have a suitable weapon, do you?"

Saying this, he tossed her a Platinum Level matte black dagger and a large bottle filled with Black Water: "This dagger belonged to Kitajo Akemi, take it for self-defense. The bottle contains a Gold Level item for treating injuries, effective both internally and externally, perfect for healing the bruises on your body."

"Huh?" She seemed surprised by Li Zheng’s generosity, giving her a weapon and healing items for free, taking a while to react and feeling deeply moved: "Th...thank you, Mr. Li."

"No need to thank me." Li Zheng’s smile deepened: "I’m not as kind as you think, besides the two items I gave you, hand over all your resources from your residence to me as an exchange!"

"Sure!" Shinoda Chizuru complied easily by dumping all the items from her capsule in front of her, the highest tier being only Bronze Level materials.

"That’s it?" Li Zheng looked at her suspiciously.

"That’s all, the better stuff has already been taken by others." Shinoda Chizuru was afraid Li Zheng might misunderstand, repeatedly saying: "I can give you access to my residence, you’ll see I wasn’t lying if you take a look!"

"No need." Li Zheng recalled how she had been subservient to others for a long time and figured that if there was anything valuable, it wouldn’t be in her possession anyway.

He patted Shinoda Chizuru’s shoulder and advised earnestly: "The amount of Black Water is enough to last you a long time, remember to store the rest safely in your residence, be careful not to lose it, okay?"

"Mm, go on." Li Zheng’s tone was gentle.

"Okay." Shinoda Chizuru took a deep breath, took a step forward, then paused, turning back to give Li Zheng a deep bow, sincerely saying: "Mr. Li, you are truly a good person!"

With that, she stepped into the door Li Zheng had chosen for her.

Li Zheng smiled as he watched her leave, checked the room information displayed on Prelis’ Eye, and softly said: "Not necessarily..."

[Behind the door is a frenzied Platinum creature, highly dangerous. It will calm down at dawn, it’s recommended to wait a night before proceeding.

Old Prel: Oh ho, you really are a fiend, she’s doomed!]