Chapter 4: Uncle 9's Reputation Wronged

Li Zheng, with nothing better to do while waiting for his crops to mature, started wandering around the room, occasionally pulling out an Iron Ingot and smashing it against the machines on the walls.

After half an hour of effort, the entire room was in shambles except for four Cultivation Dishes that remained intact.

Various wires and components were scattered all over the floor, occasionally sparking as if protesting the rough treatment they were receiving.

"Pah, this damn system is so stingy, putting so many machines on the room walls, yet not a single one of them can be decomposed!"

Li Zheng spat on the ground, cursing angrily.

Li Zheng figured this was also to increase the difficulty of the game. Otherwise, if players went around collecting everything, wouldn't everyone be like dragons?

With nothing left to smash besides the four Cultivation Dishes and an hour to go before the crops matured, the bored Li Zheng decided to sit down somewhere, open the chat hall, and see how the other players were doing.

Matrix channel: 0000879, current remaining players: 965, small broadcasts: 1/1

As soon as the chat hall opened, Li Zheng noticed the change in the remaining player count.

"Another thirty-four people died?"

Li Zheng clicked his tongue secretly.

The death rate is crazy high!

It's only been two hours since the game started, and just this one channel has seen thirty-five people die!

Current remaining players: 964.

In just a short time, another person has died.

Li Chun: "Someone else died. This game's difficulty is just too high!"

Chen Xiao: "Duh, what did you think? Playing Super Mario? Survival games are never easy!"

Lin Fengjiao: "I wonder if those who've died out have really died or just quit the game... By the way, is Xiaoxuan here or not?"

Chen Xiao: "Shut up! Asking and asking, what the hell are you asking? You've asked over a hundred times in the past two hours!"

Lin Fengjiao: "I'll keep asking! Xiaoxuan, where are you? Xiaoxuan, are you here? Xiaoxuan, are you here? Xiaoxuan..."

"..."

Watching Lin Fengjiao spam the chat, Li Zheng's mouth twitched slightly.

"That familiar name... Wow, Ninth Uncle's reputation is being damaged!"

He clicked on Lin Fengjiao's avatar and discovered it really was a girl, sporting short hair and looking a bit like a tomboy.

In the chat hall, every speaker's avatar is displayed, and they're all real photos.

So in this game, the phenomenon of burly men pretending to be cute girls is almost impossible.

Lin Fengjiao: "Xiaoxuan, where are you? Xiaoxuan, are you here?"

Still spamming.

Li Zheng decisively finds the mute icon next to her avatar.

Click!

[You have muted player "Lin Fengjiao", and all her messages are now blocked from your view. This operation will not affect her ability to send chat messages.]

After muting, not only can Li Zheng not see Lin Fengjiao's past messages, but he won't see any of her future messages either.

Unless she sends a small broadcast.

Li Zheng: "Click the avatar, there's a mute icon. You can filter her messages."

After a while.

Chen Xiao: "Thanks, buddy, it's peaceful now."

Li Chun: "Th-thanks, big bro!"

Bystander: "Thanks +1"

"+1"

"..."

A long stream of +1 spams followed, clearly showing Lin Fengjiao's antics had angered the crowd, with at least a hundred people lining up with +1.

Phoenix Mountain: "What's happening?"

Yan Guang: "Not sure, but +1 is definitely right!"

Lu Li: "You guys only now realized there's a mute function?"

Li Chun: "...?"

Chen Xiao: "You knew?"

Lu Li: "Lin Fengjiao, right? I muted her an hour ago."

Zhan Zhouzhou: "[Tungsten Steel Dagger Blueprint] [Tungsten Steel Longsword Blueprint] [Tungsten Steel Shield Blueprint] are all Black Iron Level learnable blueprints. Anyone needs them? Exchange for 100g Tungsten Steel!"

Chen Xiao: "You knew about muting and didn't tell us? By the way, 100g Tungsten Steel for three blueprints? @Zhan Zhouzhou"

Zhan Zhouzhou: "Dream on! @Chen Xiao"

Lu Li: "None of you asked. I'll take the Tungsten Steel Shield blueprint. [Tungsten Steel 139g], see you in the trading hall."

Li Chun: "[Tungsten Steel 95g] not quite enough. Can you give me a discount for the Longsword blueprint, Zhouzhou?"

Zhan Zhouzhou: "Sure, I'll specify you in the trading hall. There's still one Dagger blueprint, wait five minutes, if no one wants it, I'm off to explore the next room."

Li Chun: "Thanks, Zhouzhou."

...

Lu Li: "Damn! Little girl, don't trade!"

...

Li Chun: "Transaction completed, what's wrong? @Lu Li"

Lu Li: "Forget it, you check it yourself."

...

Li Chun: "Wah wah wah, you need a research table to learn the blueprint? And it still requires 100g Tungsten Steel to craft?!"

Chen Xiao: "Haha, neither of you knew you could click the blueprints to check details? @Lu Li @Li Chun"

Lu Li: "...Forgot."

Li Chun: "I didn't notice either, I never played games before."

Zhan Zhouzhou: "Goods exchanged, no refunds. Anyone want the Dagger blueprint? Wait three more minutes!"

Phoenix Mountain: "I'll take the Dagger blueprint, consider it making friends. But an extra question, which room are you at now?"

Zhan Zhouzhou: "Seventh room, see you in the trading hall."

Chen Xiao: "Awesome! @Zhan Zhouzhou"

Lu Li: "Really impressive, I'm only at the fifth room."

Phoenix Mountain: "@Zhan Zhouzhou, decent skills, interested in teaming up if we meet? I'm already at the ninth room."

Zhan Zhouzhou: "I don't trust anyone, so I'm not interested in forming a team."

Phoenix Mountain: "Too bad. [Ion Light Saber Blueprint] Silver Level one-time blueprint, swap something good in exchange, I'll take a look."

Chen Xiao: "Major player, carry me please!"

Lu Li: "Big guy, need an accessory on your leg?"

Bystander: "Big guy, need leg hair on your leg?"

Random Bystander: "Big guy, need an accessory on your leg hair?"

Random Person: "Big guy, need leg hair on your accessory?"

...

Seeing all the bootlicking messages that followed, Li Zheng lost interest and started browsing the trading hall instead.

But it's only the first day, and regardless of what materials or blueprints players obtain, they're hoarding them while observing the market, afraid they'll accidentally sell off their Divine Artifact.

People like Zhan Zhouzhou, who put up three blueprints for trade, also prefer to negotiate prices in the chat hall before specifying trades.

So at the moment, there isn't much valuable stuff listed for sale in the trading hall.

Most items are things like "rocks," "sticks," or "grass ropes" of gray quality, traded for food or water.

These are just opportunists, hoping some gullible newbie will fall for their tricks to make a small profit.

"Absolutely clueless whether these people are idiots themselves or really think others are idiots."

In Li Zheng's view, these people's mindset is so limited.

He even saw someone attempting to sell an empty can for "basic Concentrated Nutrient Liquid" in exchange.

Checking the seller.

Well, he recognizes them!

0000879 channel, Lin Fengjiao.

"That moron..."

He snorted and stopped paying attention.

Checking the time, unknowingly he'd already spent nearly an hour in the chat hall.

Getting up to check the maturity level of his four types of crops, a small broadcast message popped up:

[0000879 Lin Fengjiao: Think you can silence me? Xiaoxuan, where are you? Xiaoxuan, are you here? Xiaoxuan, are you here?]

Li Zheng: "..."