Matrix Survival: I Get A Random Chest Every Day

"So the door was jammed, no wonder there hadn't been any monsters. Wait..." Li Zheng suddenly froze, "Why did the footsteps go behind us?"

"Above us!" Xiao Siyuan raised the Mysterious Declaration, and above the passage hung a ventilation duct, trembling from the chaotic footsteps, threatening to collapse at any moment.

Boom!

In the gap when everyone looked up, a sharp bone spike pierced down from inside the ventilation duct, just behind the team.

Fortunately, it wasn't long enough to hit anyone in the team.

Without hesitation, Lu Li raised the sniper rifle, firing a bullet above the bone spike.

The slender bullet, like an iron skewer, pierced through the ventilation duct, accurately striking the monster thrusting the bone spike, and a roar echoed inside the duct.

Clang—

A screeching metallic scrape arose as the bone-spike monster, hit by a bullet, didn't die, dragging the bone spike across the duct, with dark green sticky fluid oozing out from the scratch.

The squad members below dodged frantically to avoid getting stained by the fluid, fearful of any biological virus it might contain.

"This won't work." Li Zheng quickly assessed the situation, shouting to Xiao Spear: "Guard the door, don't let those monsters get in, I'm going up!"

"Howl." Little Sakura nodded, guarding the half-opened gate with Pink Poli.

Pink Poli's iron fists could just fit through the gate's gap, now reaching directly to the opposite side, launching a barrage of Monster Fist punches.

Thud thud thud~

Clap clap~

A series of chaotic hits indicated the effectiveness of Pink Poli's attack, with dark green sticky fluid splattering everywhere through the gate's gap, and constant howls from behind the door.

Seeing this, Li Zheng wasted no time, activated the flying device, soared upwards, and tore open the ventilation duct with a sharp blade, venturing inside.

He needed to stop the monster in the duct from going down, lest it harm the three less capable teammates.

Entering the duct, it was more spacious than expected, even wide enough for two sand trucks to run parallel.

The height was nearly five meters.

The monster with the bone spike piercing the duct looked different from zombies, its body surface covered with a layer of gray bone armor, with a mantis-like elongated bony blade protruding from one forearm.

There was a terrifying hole in its body, gushing dark green fluid as Lu Li's handiwork.

Apart from this gray-boned zombie, there were many normal zombies in the duct, reaching out and biting as soon as Li Zheng appeared.

Thankfully, his reflexes were very quick, and with Zhan Zhouzhou's swordsmanship training, he readily slashed through the regular zombies with Sheathed Sword flashes.

"All these zombies are wearing lab coats, were they researchers?" Taking a glance, Li Zheng suspected that the zombies in the duct were likely researchers seeking refuge during the biological virus outbreak, ultimately failing to escape infection.

"First, kill that big one before it leaps down!"

With a swipe to remove the liquid from his sword, Li Zheng activated the Eye Demon War Boots' ability, instantly appearing three meters away, right before the gray-boned zombie.

Thrusting forward with his longsword, Li Zheng aimed to defeat it in one move while the bony blade was embedded in the duct.

"Roar~!" The gray-boned zombie let out a roar, wrenching the bony blade to slice horizontally at Li Zheng.

These monsters feared nothing, devoid of thought, driven only by instinct.

If Li Zheng didn't retreat, he risked being sliced in two at the moment of killing the gray-boned zombie.

"Power Demon·Frenzy!"

The wrathful Power Demon Incarnation appeared, allowing Li Zheng to withstand the attack, successfully plunging his sword into the gray-boned zombie's brain.

A pain flared at his waist as Li Zheng was pushed back two steps by the gray-boned zombie, swinging his longsword to cut surrounding regular zombies.

Touched his waist, there was no blood, not even a scratch, which relieved Li Zheng.

He feared that even a slight scratch might result in a viral infection, but the Power Demon Incarnation's defense held strong, unpierced.

Swish swish!

Li Zheng darted back and forth inside the duct, continuously wielding Zhan's sword techniques, mowing down all zombies.

Ensuring there were no survivors, Li Zheng returned the way he'd come, landing below.

Thud thud thud~

Clap clap!

Pink Poli continued its Monster Fist barrage, the striking sounds from the other side of the gate were ceaseless.

Xiao Siyuan and other ranged fighters were also busy, seizing the opportunity to shoot through the gate's gap, unsure about the success of their attacks.

"Little Sakura, you two step aside!" Li Zheng commanded, rushing to the gate with his sword, slicing it apart with two swipes.

The Frenzied Power Demon Incarnation wielded the Diamond Level Sheathed Sword, cutting the metal gate as easily as tofu.

Li Zheng gave a kick to the gate fragments, and when he rushed past them, he saw a changed environment with many small rooms along the corridor.

Large numbers of zombies were confined inside, with transparent glass-like materials at the doors and walls, seemingly fragile but resistant even to zombie impacts.

"Observation Chamber for Test Subjects?" Instantly recognizing such rooms common in Hollywood sci-fi films, Li Zheng was momentarily taken aback.

Those lab-coat-wearing frogmen were actively creating zombies, containing them for research!

For reasons unknown, the virus spread where it shouldn't have, leading to the collective death of researchers in the biolab, making them part of the observed.

The hallway, or corridor, saw zombies already mashed into pulp by Pink Poli, making the ground sticky and wet, disgustingly slippery.

"This secondary level doesn't seem much more difficult?" Quickly surveying the corridor, Li Zheng found a few stray zombies and decapitated them with ease.

In no time, the area was down to observation chambers with still active test subjects; seeing a living being, they let out hoarse howls, pressing against the transparent material, staring intensely at Li Zheng with eyes filled with tremendous yearning.

"This setup reminds me of those slave-era descriptions in history class, where slaves probably reacted similarly seeing their rescuer hero," Xiao Siyuan said with a sigh, looking at the observation rooms after crossing the gate.

"Quite a difference," said Lu Li, carrying a sniper rifle, "Slaves wanted freedom, while these want to tear us apart or make us one of them."

Zhan Zhouzhou and others followed, showing complex emotions upon entering.

Originally, she was supposed to do Li Zheng's task, but she was instead left behind to protect everyone, something she found hard to accept.

"The exploration rate is only ten percent, indicating we haven't encountered a formal attack; maybe these room-confined zombies are our targets too," Zhan Zhouzhou said, pointing with her Sword Point to a room, "They're just regular zombies; let's split up and clean this place to save time."

As she spoke, she moved to unlock a room.

"Wait!" Li Zheng called out to her.

...