MTLNOVEL Chapter 218: Framing
After killing one Night Warrior General, the rest became much simpler, even though the Power Demon Incarnation's ability failed due to the lack of Original Force.
Li Zheng, with the help of Xiao Ying and Fen Poli, seized an opportunity, used Short Distance Teleportation, and advanced to behead the opponent.
The second Night Warrior General was adept at hidden weapons, specifically the needle-shaped ones that had appeared before, extremely sharp.
The penetrative power could even rival Diamond Level firearms; Li Zheng used all his skills to ensure he wasn't hit by it.
After the battle, he checked the stone pillar that had been hit by the opponent's hidden weapon; everywhere it struck, a hair-thin needle hole appeared.
And inside the needle hole was a hollow state, the internal stone pillar was pulverized into dust, extremely astonishing indeed.
"Impressive, the damage is similar to that caused by a sniper rifle; if it hit a human, the consequences would be unimaginable." Li Zheng wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, glad he had Xiao Ying and Fen Poli as helpers, which made taking down the opponent a bit easier.
However, Li Zheng was not completely unscathed.
A cut was made on the right side of his abdomen by a sharp blade, the incision not deep, showing signs of healing after the battle ended.
This was when killing the first Night Warrior General, during the opponent's dying struggle, who fiercely slashed him with all his strength.
Fortunately, he was still in the Power Demon Incarnation state at the time, greatly enhancing his defense compared to usual.
If not for the Power Demon Incarnation at the time, that slash could have cut him in half at the waist.
"Scatter these stone pillars away, tonight should be fine." Li Zheng instructed the concerned Xiao Ying beside him about his wound, then turned to find the pieces of the Sheathed Sword and assembled them one by one.
"These creatures are just too bizarre; while alive, they could even taste the opponent's blood, indicating they have a physical form." Staring at the place where he just retrieved the dagger, it was empty.
Even the few drops of blood he flung off from the Longsword were gone, as if they never existed.
"In the end, at the exact moment they completely died, not even a hair remained, damn it…"
Feeling exhausted from killing two Diamond Levels, the outcome turned out to be for nothing, leaving Li Zheng quite displeased.
"Just let me find out who's behind this mess, or else… hmph!" Shaking his head with a cold snort, Li Zheng returned home, reheated the water in the bathtub, and took another bath.
This time, lacking the interest to soak, Li Zheng quickly finished washing, drained the water, and replaced it with a fresh pool of water, heating it again.
He then let Xiao Ying and Fen Poli go in to wash, while he dressed himself, lay back on the bed, and checked the time.
Quarter to midnight, not even fifteen minutes had passed since the grueling battle and shower.
"This should be the strongest enemy I've defeated since I entered the Matrix, right?"
In reality, the Night Warrior General was just fast; other aspects were nothing special.
Neither the weapons' techniques they used nor their defense and strength were worth mentioning.
The only noteworthy aspect was the bizarre hidden weapons, and since the whistling sound became apparent, they were rather unremarkable.
"The weaknesses are obvious, and this time it was unfamiliarity with the Night Warrior General that caught me off guard; next time, a Short Distance Teleportation will surely guarantee success."
Perhaps because of the recent battle, his spirits were overly excited, causing Li Zheng to toss and turn in bed, unable to fall asleep.
So, he opened the chat group to see if anyone else was still awake at this hour.
Coincidentally, at this moment, a private message alert popped up.
It was from Zhan Zhouzhou, with a short message: "Watch the one with the highest popularity livestream."
"Livestream?"
Following the advice, he opened the livestream interface; all rooms were arranged by popularity, and the first room preview showed a female player.
Li Zheng recognized this person.
Shinoda Chizuru!
Glancing at the livestream title, Li Zheng's face instantly darkened, resembling Xiao Siyuan's.
［I was violated by the Dragon Country player 'Li Zheng'!］
What a violation…
Clearly, it was you who came on to me, and I turned you down because I thought you were dirty, didn't I?
"Let's see what trick you're playing."
Clicking into the livestream, the screen displayed Shinoda Chizuru crying like a pear blossom bathed in rain, pitifully appealing to all.
It was unclear what she did, but her face now had even more bruises than when Li Zheng left, and the colors were even more vivid.
Shinoda Chizuru tearfully accused, "You all know about him posting on the world channel, challenging the High Celestial Plain right?"
"At that time... when I saw the photo he posted, I believed it, and felt quite sympathetic towards that girl."
"As a player from Nihong Country, I was outraged by the supposedly High Celestial Plain atrocities that Li Zheng exposed. I even questioned High Celestial Plain members in our regional channel."
"Then... today I was exploring like usual, and I ran into Li Zheng."
"By then, he had just killed a monster resembling a rhino, but during its dying struggle, it severely injured him."
"I thought, he came to our channel, presumably to seek justice against High Celestial Plain..."
"Out of sympathy, I offered him a set of Platinum Level nanorobots I just acquired for healing..."
"In the end, he didn't appreciate it, insulted me outright, calling me a woman who acts in adult films."
"I... just wanted to show through actual deeds that we Nihong Country players aren't as despicable as he claims..."
"Who would've thought... who would've thought... after I healed him, he attempted inappropriate advances on me and said Nihong Country women are just cheap, with so many acting in adult films, it's no big deal to play around with them."
"I got really scared at the time, I wanted to run, but he chased after me and kicked me down, then started cursing me again... boohoo..."
"I couldn't beat him, so I knelt and begged for mercy."
"Who would've thought he actually..."
In the livestream room, the screen changed, showing a photograph with the camera directly facing Li Zheng's face.
From the edges of the photo, it could be seen that Li Zheng was extending a hand toward the camera direction.
Li Zheng was, of course, familiar with this scene. At the time, he was squatting in front of Shinoda Chizuru, who was begging him to take her in, and he felt it was inappropriate, so he reached out to tidy her collar.
How did it change flavor when viewed from a different angle?
The screen changed again, and this time in the photograph was the collar of a kimono, which showed that the person wearing it was in a sorry state, with the collar wide open.
And a hand was reaching towards the collar.
"Damn!" Li Zheng's face turned even darker.
This woman planned to frame me from the start?
Otherwise, how could the angles and timing of the two photos be just right?
Sure enough, as soon as the two photos came out, the viewers in the livestream room started clamoring.
Someone said, "Damn, this guy looks decent but does something like this, he's really disgraced our Dragon Country!"
Someone said, "Killing is just a matter of a head hitting the ground, can't play by yourself? So disgusting!"
Someone else said, "Better not let me run into him, or I'll definitely clean up the house for Dragon Country!"
There were also people saying, "Do you guys remember William? Back then, he quarreled with that Li Zheng twice on the world channel, and guess what? A few days later, William was dead!"
Someone on the scene agreed, "I know about that. That kind of quarrel is just bickering, isn't it? It's not that serious, right? Is it worth killing over?"
Following that, the barrage rhythm became fixed.
"Exactly, pretending to be chaste while being wicked. Sickening!"
"Ha, is this just being a hooligan?"
"Li Zheng really deserves to die, he should be nailed to the pillar of shame in Dragon Country!"
Li Zheng saw several familiar names in the vast ocean of barrage.
Yan Feixiang was following the trend and cursing him.
Tang Qianzang commented to let the bullets fly for a while.
Liu Jiale was asking how many bowls of noodles did Xiao 6 eat?
Li Chun refuted, Brother Li Zheng is not that kind of person!
Chu Xiao, Ye Kai, Ye Yuan, and other acquaintances were also refuting, but they were few in number, and even with most of the players from channel 879, they were weak.
Because, in this livestream room, millions of players had gathered!
Among them, Dragon Country players accounted for seventy percent!
Of this seventy percent, over ninety percent were cursing him.
Li Zheng even saw that Lin Fengjiao's statements to clarify for him were drowned out.
It seemed like nobody cared about the truth.
Li Zheng did not post any rebuttals in the barrage, he just coldly watched the scene, as if the one being cursed wasn't himself.
At that moment, he was doubting whether caring so much about the safety of the Dragon Country players before was a mistake?
Were they, worth it?
But soon, Shinoda Chizuru did something else that completely ignited the "passion" of the viewers.
She rolled up her sleeves, revealing tender and fair arms, covered with teeth marks.
She pulled open her collar, which was also marked with teeth marks.
She lifted the hem of her kimono, showing bruised thighs mixed with numerous teeth marks.
She sobbed, saying, "These are all from his biting."
The next second, not just the barrage, but even Li Zheng's private chats exploded.
Players who had previously traded with him frantically sent private messages, using extremely venomous language to insult Li Zheng.
Those who were blocked by the private chat restrictions didn't hesitate to spend, buying various materials Li Zheng put up in the trading hall, just to curse him in the chat.
Li Zheng didn't respond, his gaze was indifferent, locking the private chat completely, refusing to accept messages from anyone.
Even messages from Phoenix Mountain and others were blocked.
"Boring."
In the trading hall, items from Black Iron to Silver Tier had all been snatched up, with only Gold Level items left, which nobody bought.
These people were still rational, at least they couldn't bear to waste Gold Level items just for a venting.
Thinking about it, Li Zheng lifted the private chat restriction, searched for Shinoda Chizuru, and sent her a private message, "Are you framing me?"
For some reason, Shinoda Chizuru's private chat wasn't locked, and she quickly replied, "I gave you a chance, Mr. Li."
"Ha." Li Zheng's lips slowly curled, "I should say, I've already given you enough opportunities, Miss Shinoda."
The other party replied, "Are you threatening me?"
Li Zheng said, "This is the price you ought to pay!"
Then, regardless of what the other party said, Li Zheng locked the private message and paid no more attention to the matter.
Nor did he look at the insults appearing in the world channel. Li Zheng turned over, intending to sleep, when a voice rang in his ear.
[Today's random treasure chest has been refreshed, do you want to draw it now?]