"???
Seeing the world channel announcement from William, Li Zheng was dumbfounded.
This guy...
Didn't Phoenix Mountain say he already made an announcement this morning?
Why post it again on the world channel now?
Could it be...
Li Zheng thought of a possibility.
"Damn, where did this guy get the extra announcement? Not using it for something useful, just to mess with me?"
Li Zheng was grinding his teeth in annoyance, but since they weren't on the same channel and he had no announcements left, he could only take it out on Phoenix Mountain.
Removed from the blacklist, sent a private message: "Want some Snake Grass Needles?"
Phoenix Mountain, who had already cleared ten rooms today, was happily chatting in the regional channel when he saw the private message from Li Zheng. After opening it, he was completely flustered.
"What is Li up to now?"
"Trying to mess with me again?"
Phoenix Mountain hesitated for a moment, decided to be tough for once, and directly refused.
"I don't care!"
[The other party has added you to the blacklist for twelve hours, unable to send private messages.]
"Damn!"
"Thud!"
Private message failed to send. Phoenix Mountain got furious and instinctively punched the wall of his capsule residence.
[Unauthorized modification, capsule residence is damaged. Please repair promptly.]
"Damn it!"
After chatting in the regional channel for a while and being cheered up by Lu Li, his good mood was completely gone. Phoenix Mountain reluctantly chose to use materials to repair his capsule residence.
Regional channel:
Phoenix Mountain: "@Li Zheng, NMSL!"
Li Zheng, who was trading with someone in private chat, was notified by the system that someone mentioned him in the regional channel and opened it to see Phoenix Mountain's insult.
There were also clueless bystanders joining in the fun.
Li Chun: "What's wrong, Phoenix Mountain bro? Why so angry?"
Lu Li: "Li Zheng? Isn't he the big shot selling poisonous meat this morning? He just announced selling Snake Grass Needles, did Phoenix Mountain bro break the negotiations with him?"
Li Chun: "Yesterday, when Lin Fengjiao was blocked, it was also Li Zheng who reminded us."
Lu Li: "Whoever messes with Phoenix Mountain bro is an enemy of mine, Lu Li! @Li Zheng, NMSL!"
Ha, this little suck-up.
Li Zheng squinted and began typing.
Li Zheng: "??? @Lu Li, kid, you're on the wrong path."
After sending the message, Li Zheng opened the trading hall, put up three Snake Grass Needles, and made a designated no-price trade.
Soon, Li Chun posted in the regional channel, amazed and asking: "[Snake Grass Needle] @Li Zheng, is this for me?"
Li Zheng: "Yeah, you seem alright, so keep it for protection."
Li Chun: "Thank you, big brother Li Zheng!"
Li Chun was thrilled; where else could you get a Bronze-level item just by being a bystander?
Phoenix Mountain: "..."
Lu Li: "..."
Bystander: "@Li Zheng, big shot, notice me!"
Bystander A: "Notice +1!"
Lu Li: "@Li Zheng, big shot... no, dad! Dad, I'm wrong, dad! Have mercy on your unworthy child! Send your son two Snake Grass Needles too, I need them for protection!"
Li Zheng: "..."
Li Chun: "..."
Phoenix Mountain: "??? Do you acknowledge fathers everywhere? Does your mom know?"
Lu Li: "If you're rich, you're the dad, who cares about those things?"
Bystander: "Such filial piety."
Bystander A: "Filial beyond measure!"
Bystander B: "Huge filial display, folks."
...
Li Zheng: "@Lu Li, your shameless nature is quite like mine in the old days, reward!"
Thirty seconds later.
Lu Li: "[Snake Grass Needle] From today on, you're my real dad! Mua!"
The regional channel went silent for a moment and then erupted in a frenzy.
Bystander: "@Li Zheng, dad!"
Bystander A: "@Li Zheng, grandpa!"
Bystander B: "@Li Zheng, great-grandpa!"
Li Zheng sat in a cold room, surrounded by calls of "dad."
But he ignored those claiming kinship after that.
He's not a fool; giving Snake Grass Needles to Li Chun and Lu Li was just to spite Phoenix Mountain.
"Can't be too harsh, have to give a little sweet sometimes, otherwise it'd be awkward to meet later."
Li Zheng considered for a bit and sent a designated trade to Phoenix Mountain, offering five Snake Grass Needles in exchange for a hundred milliliters of water.
Afterwards, he ignored the @ messages in the regional channel, focusing on negotiating with players in private chat who wanted to trade for Snake Grass Needles, trading at the price of one hundred milliliters of water or one hundred eighty milliliters of sewage for one needle, completing dozens of deals.
At the current period, this price was a loss for Li Zheng.
However, he urgently needed a large amount of water and had to sell off Snake Grass Needles to maximize his acquisition of water resources.
Interestingly, during this time, a player from Neon named "Kato Junwa" lashed out at William Houston in the world channel, bluntly saying he was just jealous of Li Zheng and had a traditional Western bias against Eastern Dragon Realm.
William Houston might have run out of small horns, he didn't retaliate verbally again.
Initially, Li Zheng was curious about why a Neon player would speak up for him.
Not long after, when he saw a private message from Kato Junwa, he understood.
"I have one liter of water here, Li-san, can you offer a friendly price?"
It seems this guy used a small horn to help confront people just to get some extra benefits in the trade.
Li Zheng sighed, as expected of a cunning merchant, just by speaking a few good words, he can get more items in trade than others.
Isn't this worth it?
After weighing the options, Li Zheng replied: "The price I gave others is one hundred milliliters of purified water for one Snake Grass Needle, but for you, I can offer thirteen needles for one liter of water."
"Great deal!"
Kato Junwa was very satisfied with the price and sent a private message: "Li-san is a smart person, doing business with smart people is always enjoyable. May I ask, what do you need so much water for?"
Li Zheng listed the items explicitly in the trading hall, looking at Kato Junwa's message, he frowned and replied with two words: "Bathing."
"Hehe."
This reason was obviously not believed by the other party, but out of tact, they didn't press further.
After busying for more than half an hour, Li Zheng finally processed all the private messages and found a unique one.
0000878 Liu Jiale: "I don't have extra water, but are you interested in this item? [3D Imaging Device (consumable)]"
[3D Imaging Device (consumable) Black Iron Level
After use, you can freely construct a 3D projection, the projection can act according to the user's set target.
Duration: 10 seconds]
"Great item!"
Li Zheng was immediately tempted and quickly sent a private message asking for the price.
"Ten Snake Grass Needles for one Imaging Device."
The price sent by Liu Jiale made Li Zheng's eyelid twitch.
He had seen people ask for high prices, but none so exorbitant as swallowing a hippopotamus.
A Black Iron Level item, still just a consumable, wanting in exchange for ten Bronze Level Snake Grass Needles?
Is this because he hasn't had enough peaches?
If the ten Snake Grass Needles are used to deal with Bronze Level Matrix creatures, with luck, they may be exchanged one-for-one.
The decomposed flesh and blood afterwards could be reused again.
As long as you don't encounter creatures above Bronze Level, ten Snake Grass Needles are enough for a player to roam in the Matrix for three to five days!
Unlike Li Zheng, who casually shot out over forty Snake Grass Needles, ending up wasting twenty-five needles...
Let's not talk about him.
"Two needles."
"Eight needles!"
"You're dreaming, four needles!"
"At least six needles!"
"Forget it, not worth it, I don't want it."
"Don't want it, then alright!"
"..."
"..."
"Five needles!"
"Deal!"
Tsk.
Li Zheng felt a toothache, wasn't it agreed upon to forget about it if not selling?
Then why did he agree to it again?
And so decisively?
Damn it, if this gadget wasn't truly useful to me, if you had found me at another time, I'd have wanted to douse you with urine to wake you up.
Thirty seconds later, the last transaction for Li Zheng also ended, gaining a metal ball the size of an egg resembling a camera.
The moment he got the item, Li Zheng understood how to use it, as the usage instructions came with the transaction through the system.
Flipping his hand to store it away, Li Zheng sped up, getting busy again.
Including gifts, this trade used a total of 450 Snake Grass Needles, ultimately exchanging for nearly fifty liters of water.
There must be many other players in the Matrix with excess water resources, except those people don't need Snake Grass Needles, so they didn't trade with Li Zheng.
Otherwise, Li Zheng wouldn't mind buying more water.
Fifty liters of water isn't really much.
But divided into 500-milliliter small bottles, it's quite a quantity.
A big pile of water bottles piled up in front of Li Zheng, like a small mountain.
"Now, it's time to perform the real technique!"
Li Zheng took a deep breath, opened a bottle of water, and poured it all on the ground.
After pouring one bottle, he opened another.
...
Soon, Li Zheng poured out a path of water between the metal door and the Rock Ice Giant Leader.
In the cold environment, the water path slowly froze into a mottled ice path.
Testing the smoothness of the ice path, Li Zheng nodded with satisfaction.
"Should be enough."
Li Zheng approached the Rock Ice Giant Leader, stepping on the deep blue semi-transparent body of the Giant Leader with one foot, converting gravity, and walked up.
Target, Platinum Level item, Rock Ice Ruo Fire is within reach.
Li Zheng reached out and grabbed the red flower, pulling it out with force, uprooting it from the Leader's knee gap.
The next moment, a roar shook the heavens!