Chapter 56: Underground City

After returning to his apartment room to take a shower, he turned on the television and watched the news while eating beef jerky.

“Recently, the Life Science Research Institute has made a major breakthrough in the treatment of cancer, AIDS, and other illnesses.”

“The Council of Elders has issued the latest instructions. They want to increase the fertility rate of the citizens and ensure a healthy proportion of the young and middle-aged population.”

“The Sports Administration hosted various meetings regarding the revival of martial arts this morning and suggested to promote our martial arts culture and improve the physical fitness of the citizens…”

After reading for a while, Zhou Chen felt that the system’s influence on Dragon Country was not small. The post on the forum regarding the treatment of cancer and AIDS mentioned that it was related to the healing potion produced by the system.

Raising the fertility rate was also related because many middle-aged and young adults had gone missing recently, which was to say, died in Survival missions. Although the current number could not cause a substantial effect on the large population of the Dragon Country, the higher-ups considered that there would be consequences in the long term, so they began to suggest increasing the fertility rate.

Promoting the revival of martial arts was another related matter. They wanted to increase the survival rate of their citizens by increasing their individual combat strength.

Time passed leisurely. Zhou Chen was rather relaxed this weekend. He would occasionally go to the dojo to train. After training, he would eat a meal and recover to his peak condition.

Two days later, a new Survival mission arrived.

[Survival mission is about to begin. Please be prepared.]

[Teleportation begins…]

[Underground City

Difficulty: Low Bronze

Mission: Return to Planet Blue through the Teleportation Formation on the third floor of the Underground City.

Prompt: There are some Treasure Chests in this dungeon. The items obtained from the Treasure Chests can be brought back to Planet Blue.]

Zhou Chen was currently in a sealed stone passage. There were oil lamps hanging on the wall of the passage, so the space was bright.

Beside Zhou Chen were six men and three women. There were a total of ten Survivors.

All of them were dressed differently and looked to be less than forty years old. They were staring at the depths of the passage with excitement and prudence.

“I have read posts about this Underground City dungeon on the forum, and they said that there are many traps and treasures in this dungeon!”

A young man with a refined and gentle appearance spoke first.

“Do you remember the distribution of the traps here? Why don’t you lead the way?”

A petite girl who looked a little weak winked at him.

“How can I remember? Even if I remember, it’s useless. The system will not produce the same dungeon. Even if it’s a dungeon with the same name, the structure will change.”

The refined young man shook his head.

While they were chatting, two men had already walked into the depths of the tunnel. This instantly caused the others to move because everyone remembered that the system had mentioned that there were treasure chests here and they were unwilling to let it be obtained by others.

Zhou Chen walked behind. He held a spear in one hand and a round shield in the other, observing the situation in the passage while moving slowly.

“As the starting path, this passage should be safe.”

While he was thinking, he heard rumbling sounds ahead.

“Look! There’s a fork here!”

Someone in front of him had triggered some mechanism, causing a wall to split open, revealing a dark passage.

“Who has a source of light? Let’s take a look inside. There must be something good.”

A middle-aged man in his thirties was very interested in that passage.

But before anyone answered him, some sounds came from the passage. Then, a few lizard-like monsters about two meters long crawled out.

Seeing this, the people in front immediately ran deeper into the passage, unwilling to fight these lizard monsters. The people in the back had no choice but to take out their weapons to fight with these monsters because their back path was a dead end, and their front path was blocked by these monsters.

Zhou Chen was also among the ones in the rear. He casually waved his spear and pierced through the head of a charging lizard monster. The other monsters that were closer were dealt with by a thin young man and a long-haired woman.

As for those further away, perhaps because they had seen how powerful the three behind were, they chased after the others in the depths of the tunnel.

[Passive Plunderer triggered: You have stolen the Black Lizard’s passive skill “Dark Vision I”. Do you want to absorb it?]

“Absorb!”

As soon as the system announcement appeared in his mind, Zhou Chen chose to agree and absorbed the passive skill, Dark Vision.

This Dark Vision was similar to the Low Light vision he had, but the focus was different. The Dark Vision allowed him to see things in a dark environment, while the Low Light vision allowed him to see things in a dim environment.

After fusing with the passive skill, Dark Vision, Zhou Chen walked to the fork and looked inside. The scene inside appeared in black-and-white to him, showing a large space with few pit traps and a wooden box.

‘I found a treasure chest so quickly?’

Zhou Chen immediately walked in while navigating the way with his spear.

The thin man behind him shouted.

“Don’t go in! It’s so dark, and can be dangerous!”

Zhou Chen turned his head and smiled faintly.

“It’s okay. I can handle it.”

Then, he disappeared into the darkness.

Of course, the others only saw darkness. From Zhou Chen’s point of view, the scene inside was quite clear, but it was all in black and white.

He knocked on the ground with the spear from time to time to ensure that it was safe before walking in.

He circled around three pit traps and slowly approached the treasure chest in the depths.

Zhou Chen saw a bat-like monster standing on the treasure chest, staring at him.

“What are you looking at?”

Zhou Chen did not hold back. He stabbed with the spear, scaring the little monster away.

Zhou Chen could not be bothered to deal with this little monster.

“This box doesn’t seem to be locked.”

Zhou Chen looked at the treasure chest from about two meters away and tried to pry it open with the spear.

The process was quite smooth. A few seconds later, he saw the insides of the treasure chest: There was nothing.

“No way… An empty treasure chest?”

Zhou Chen was speechless. This treasure chest was surrounded by traps and was even hidden in the dark environment. Logically speaking, it should not be worthless.

Just as he was about to check if there were any interlayers in the treasure chest, the entire treasure chest suddenly jumped, and the lid was aimed at his head.

“F*ck, this thing is a monster.”

Zhou Chen finally realized that this thing that looked no different from an ordinary box was a monster. He immediately dodged its attack and stabbed with the spear.