Chapter 35 Business Opportunity

The membrane screen dissipated. Li Zheng leisurely took his time, slowly examining the room and unexpectedly discovered that there was actually a resource storage tank here.

"Hey, what a coincidence, huh?"

Li Zheng casually pulled out his old pal with a familiar smile and walked over.

"It seems that not everyone knows that after various devices are damaged, they can be decomposed. Xiao Siyuan didn't smash it when he left this room."

That's right, Li Zheng didn't choose the red danger room or the two top and bottom doors but instead chose the room Xiao Siyuan had come from.

"Just as I thought, once a player leaves a room, only they cannot go back, which doesn't mean others can't enter from that direction."

Li Zheng recalled that every room he passed through was left in shambles and suddenly had a mischievous thought, "If someone enters the rooms I've explored and finds them in chaos with nothing usable left, I wonder what they'd think?"

Thump, thump, thump!

With his ribs healed, Li Zheng no longer had concerns. He went all out and quickly smashed the resource storage tank to a decomposable state.

"Decompose!"

[Decomposed damaged resource storage tank, obtained: Temperature Controller*1, damaged Power Core Type III*1, ...]

"Hmm?"

Li Zheng frowned. He had avoided the upper left part while breaking it, but he still damaged the Power Core. "So, the Power Core is installed on the right side?"

With this noted in mind, Li Zheng looked at the three doors he could enter, one open, two closed.

The open one was the route Xiao Siyuan took to enter here, while the two closed ones were both green resource-safe doors.

"Xiao Siyuan's luck... good yet bad, a two-thirds safety chance, and he chose the remaining one-third?"

Li Zheng chose one, swiped the card, and entered.

In the next two rooms, Li Zheng entered to search and smashed after searching. He never left anything that could be taken away.

...

"Finally completed today's exploration quota, time to rest and have dinner."

"Ying!"

Xiao Ying poked her head out of the pocket, eagerly rubbing her tiny hands.

"You little foodie."

Li Zheng chuckled, poking Xiao Ying's head, which triggered the little one's protest.

"Ying ying ying!"

Xiao Ying flew out, raising her hands high to indicate she was not a foodie.

"Alright, alright, our Xiao Ying is not a foodie, just likes to taste delicious food." Li Zheng half-heartedly appeased with a few words.

"Ying, hmph!"

Xiao Ying felt that something was off about this statement but couldn't figure out what, so she just grunted and turned her head away.

"Okay, move a bit, I'm getting our place out."

Li Zheng threw the capsule, and once it expanded into the residence, he opened the door and brought Xiao Ying inside.

He took out four Luoshen Flowers for himself to eat, defrosted a part of the salt-baked gland, heated it up, and handed it to Xiao Ying, "Here, this is yours."

After eating, they hydrated.

"Gulp, gulp, gulp... Ah~" That was Li Zheng.

"Gulp gurgle gulp gulp... Burp~" That was Xiao Ying.

"Hahaha!"

Li Zheng pointed at Xiao Ying and laughed. This little one imitated him and then burped.

Xiao Ying blushed and protested, refusing to admit that her burp ruined her "lady" image.

After dinner, Li Zheng tossed the empty water bottle aside and collapsed onto the dwindling pile of fibers, while Xiao Ying, as usual, flew outside to frolic, helping digestion.

"Ah~~~ how comfortable!"

Suddenly relaxing, all Li Zheng felt was his entire body becoming limp without the slightest desire to move.

"This time the detector seems to need quite a bit of time, might as well upgrade first."

Removing the detector, he opened the system interface.

"Upgrade!"

[Advanced scientific detector materials sufficient, confirming upgrade...

This upgrade will consume: AI Core*1, Titanium Alloy 300g, Power Core Type IV*1, Basic Module*30]

[Estimated time for this upgrade: 8 hours.]

He roughly checked the resources and found that after a whole day of saving and conserving, there was still only one bottle of purified water.

"The water's running low, better trade for some more."

Li Zheng opened the trading hall, put up Snake Grass Needles, priced at one Snake Grass Needle for two hundred milliliters of purified water.

Earlier trading was rather urgent, so the prices were relatively cheaper.

Now, at this time, some who had traded before should have already used the Snake Grass Needles and felt their benefits, and surely they remain unforgettable. When they discover the price has doubled, someone will still buy.

"Too bad there's no loudspeaker, otherwise shouting in the world channel would definitely sell faster.

Guess now... don't know when they'll discover my trade listing."

"First, put ten up, swapping them for two liters of water should suffice."

After finalizing, he checked the time and found it was almost night; with nothing else to do, Li Zheng suddenly remembered he still had a blueprint.

[Air Purifier, Bronze Level, one-time use

Description: Can manufacture one air purifier.

Required materials: Parts*5, Iron Ingot*5, Copper Ingot*5, Power Core Type II*1]

It was the blueprint of the air purifier that came out of the Bronze Treasure Chest today.

"Needs a Type II Power Core?"

Li Zheng rubbed his brow in conundrum, opened the trading hall, and searched Power Core.

The list refreshes, and all models of Power Cores currently for sale appear before him, an impressive quantity.

"So many?" Li Zheng is slightly surprised, "I didn't get a few Power Cores all day, and someone has extras to trade?!"

Li Zheng looks at the offers in the trading hall, filtering through the Power Cores he can afford.

"Power Core Type I, trading for one liter of clean water? That cheap?"

The first offer surprises Li Zheng for a long time before he realizes that after exploring twenty rooms in two days, including the initial supplies, he only saw three bottles of water.

Only a total of 1.5 liters.

Scrolling down, Li Zheng finds there are quite a few players trading Type I Power Cores for water resources.

Most have set the trade requirements between one and 1.5 liters.

After looking, he rubs his chin, eyeing thoughtfully, "Using the water purifier, a Type I Power Core can convert up to two liters of dirty water, with a transformation rate nearing one hundred percent.

Then using the purified water to trade for Type I Power Cores, I can profit by 500 milliliters to a liter of water here and there? Such a good deal?"

It's incredible, but after calculating, Li Zheng finds it's a real good deal!

The facts are all laid out, no matter how unbelievable, they've happened, leaving Li Zheng no choice but to believe.

"This is clearly abnormal... If it's that easy to profit, wasn't there a sucker who bought the water purifier from William? Didn't he notice this bug? Unless he met the God in the Matrix?"

Thinking about this, Li Zheng suddenly sits up, spirit shaken, "It's quite possible!"

In the Matrix, who knows how many players perish every hour; the sucker might have gone to meet God by now?

"But with the Matrix being so vast, it's impossible that only I got the blueprint for the water purification equipment, right?"

Li Zheng searches for the words "purified water" again, and after the list changes, most are items named "Water Purification Effervescent Tablets," a Black Iron Level tool.

"Water Purification Effervescent Tablets, consumable, place in 100 milliliters of dirty water, let sit for three hours to obtain 90 milliliters of purified water, costing… good grief!" Li Zheng exclaims, "It takes 80 milliliters of clean water to sell? Damn, I respect you as the strongest rogue!"

Upon seeing the seller's name, Li Zheng is speechless on the spot.

William Houston!

"Why do I see this guy's name everywhere?"

Skipping the annoying name, Li Zheng looks at other water purification devices, such as sand and gravel water filters, distillers, and water molecule extractors.

But these devices are all set for rental mode, no player is selling them.

And they each have some flaws.

Like sand and gravel water filters, they consume "sand and gravel" material while filtering, which is hard to find.

After all, most rooms in the Matrix have a sci-fi metal style, finding stones to break is difficult.

The filter water cycle is lengthy, and it can't achieve the purifier's hundred percent conversion rate.

Or like distillers, though they also consume Power Cores like purifiers, the energy consumption is slightly lower, but conversion rates are low and time-consuming.

Water molecule extractors don't consume much, but the purification cycle is long, taking ten hours for a liter of water, efficiency is shockingly low.

In comparison, the purifier has the highest cost performance among all purification tools.

Though energy consumption is the greatest, the conversion rate is high and fast!

"I feel like I can make a big profit tonight!"

Li Zheng is thoroughly excited, starting to search for dirty water.

"150 milliliters of dirty water, trading for 100 milliliters of clean water? Bought!"

"200 milliliters of dirty water, trading for an item to develop genetic ability? Roll on!"

"20 milliliters of dirty water, trading for any Matrix creature's blood? Dream on!"

"50 milliliters of dirty water, trading for any Matrix creature's meat? I pee yellow, either it gets pungent or afraid it'll shame you to death!"

...

After picking and choosing, Li Zheng changes 500 milliliters of clean water into 800 milliliters of dirty water.

"Water isn't enough."

Opening the regional chat channel, Li Zheng doesn't care what's being talked about, directly sending out a message.

Li Zheng: [Snake Grass Needle] trades for Power Core Type I, interested parties, bring offers privately.

Phoenix Mountain: @Li Zheng, shouldn't you set a clear price when selling?

Lu Li: Exactly.

Li Zheng: @Lu Li, you cheeky rascal, what are you talking about?

Lu Li: Ahem, I mean nine Snake Grass Needles for four Power Cores.

Li Zheng: @Lu Li, it's a deal! Can't bring it out, I'll beat you!

Lu Li: Daddy, I'm wrong!

Phoenix Mountain: @Lu Li, I'm your uncle, call me before you're beaten!

Li Chun: Then I'm the aunt?

Yan Guang: Blind student, you just discovered the highlight?

Li Zheng: Ten Snake Grass Needles for one Power Core, only exchanging one, hurry, first come first served!

Stranger: I'll trade!

Li Zheng: Okay, it's you, name it in the trading hall.

Phoenix Mountain: ???

Lu Li: ???

Stranger: [Snake Grass Needle] @Li Zheng, thanks big shot! @Phoenix Mountain, thanks big shot for bargaining! Mua!

Phoenix Mountain: Scram!!!

Lu Li: Isn't this the fisherman's gain in the clam and snipe fight?

Phoenix Mountain: You scram too!

Lu Li: Of course!