CHAPTER 359: CHAPTER 302: NEW PETS, TEAM EXPANSION

Li Zheng hadn’t gone over to decompose the bodies yet when two robots took the lead, standing in front of a corpse each, staring blankly, lost in thought. It was unclear what they were thinking about.

After a while, the robots suddenly squatted down, inch by inch caressing the surface of the bodies.

From Li Zheng’s perspective, these two robots seemed to have some peculiar hobby.

But from the emotional fluctuations coming from the robots, Li Zheng could only feel an uncontrollable sadness.

"Could these two purple-skinned people have been their previous owners? Like rabbits mourning the death of a fox?" Li Zheng thought these robots were quite principled. Even after being treated like that by the purple-skinned people, they were still saddened by their deaths.

Since the robots had been of much help in the battle, Li Zheng tactfully refrained from interrupting them, allowing the two robots to wallow in self-pity.

He then returned to the circular building to check the condition of the four players. Apart from Zhao Yu lying there like a dead dog, the other three were unharmed.

In contrast, Sakura, who protected them, had a hole in her left wing, likely from being hit by a red light beam.

"How did it end up like this?" Li Zheng took out a bottle of Black Water and sprinkled some on Sakura’s wing. Although the effect wasn’t great, it was better than nothing.

The red light beams carried high temperatures, scorching a small area around the wound upon penetration, making it difficult to heal. He’d have to consult Old Xiao on how to handle it after leaving.

The player missing a limb explained, "Those purple-skinned guys have no sense of honor, attacking without warning. We saw one pass by the door earlier and didn’t make a move, but they suddenly ambushed us. That’s when Sakura got her injury."

"Oh?" Li Zheng’s expression changed. That passing purple-skinned person must have been one of those who attacked him.

He had wondered why the fight broke out when Sakura and the others stayed inside the building.

Thinking back, that purple-skinned person must have noticed them but decided to deal with him first, hence ignoring them.

The ray weapons wielded by the purple-skinned people were incredibly strange—effective with every shot against flesh. Even Li Zheng was caught off guard, let alone Sakura.

Sakura must have been worried about him and was checking outside the building through a gap when her wing got hit by a red light beam.

Seeing that Black Water had little effect on this type of injury, and that it wasn’t as severe as his own injuries, at most temporarily affecting Sakura’s flying ability, Li Zheng told the little one, "This wound can’t be treated for now. I’ll figure something out once we’re back."

"Awoo," Sakura nodded, not too concerned about the injury. After all, Li Zheng had suffered worse wounds and pulled through. As his pet, how could she have a big reaction to such a minor injury?

"Boss, you’re injured too?" Another player, sharp-eyed, noticed the bandage on Li Zheng’s leg and exclaimed in surprise.

The other two then noticed and asked with concern, "Is it serious?"

"Does anyone have any good healing items for the boss?"

"Damn, I only have the same bandages as what’s on the boss’s leg."

"Then what should we do?"

"Don’t look at me; I’ve used everything I have to treat these two injuries I have and nothing is left."

Though they were worried, due to their lack of strength, they couldn’t offer any good healing supplies, only fretting.

Li Zheng looked at the three’s genuine expressions of concern, recalling the odd teammates he met in previous adventures, feeling a slight warmth inside.

Damn, these are the normals!

Too bad it’s within an abnormal quest.

"It’s nothing serious, I’ll just ask Old Xiao to help me treat it later," Li Zheng reassured them.

Just then, the sound of robots moving "kuang chi kuang chi" outside the building attracted everyone’s attention.

Li Zheng turned to look and saw the two robots carrying three bodies, arriving outside the building.

Seeing Li Zheng come out, the two robots gently laid the bodies down, then knelt on one knee, bowing their heads to him.

Simultaneously, a terminal prompt popped up in front of Li Zheng:

[The two Blood Robots from the Bloody Battlefield have submitted to you, hoping you can take them with you.

Bringing them along will mean a complete break with the Kron Race, leading to an endless fight.]

Li Zheng was slightly stunned. Was it possible to recruit followers during a quest?

And what about this Kron Race? How unreasonable are they?

I’m not forcefully taking them; they came to me willingly!

How did the hatred suddenly shift to me?

The three players behind him were even more stunned.

What’s called a gap, huh?

The gap is that everyone entered the Matrix Realm together; the boss is casually recruiting underlings while they need the boss’s help to complete the quest.

"Do you... want to come with me?" Li Zheng hesitated. He didn’t really want to agree, as these two robots were not very strong. Besides being sturdy, they hadn’t shown many advantages.

Their only weapon, the Plasma Cannon, couldn’t even penetrate the purple-skinned people’s Blood Armor, let alone be of much help to Li Zheng.

And Li Zheng remembered that he had seen a broken robot not long ago, indicating that they couldn’t even beat the purple-skinned people.

What difference would it make to take them along than dragging around two burdens?

He might even need to maintain them and provide them with energy once they’re taken out. It doesn’t seem worth it.

The robots couldn’t understand what Li Zheng was saying, but they did catch the tone of refusal in his voice.

Gazing at each other, they made some unintelligible noises and lowered their heads even further.

Li Zheng felt a bit conflicted and suddenly realized that these two robots might be part of the quest rewards.

Otherwise, just ten Blood Crystals wouldn’t match the quest’s difficulty value.

By principle, he should not take any benefits from this quest, but it seemed these two robots were fixed on him, and with a language barrier, even if Li Zheng wanted them to follow another player, they wouldn’t agree.

"Alright then, from now on, you two will follow me," Li Zheng, after much contemplation, accepted the robots’ submission.

As soon as he voiced his acceptance, the terminal prompt appeared again.

[You accepted the Blood Robots’ allegiance, severing ties with the Kron Race completely. The next time you enter other areas of the Bloody Battlefield, all Kron Race members will target you as the primary threat.]

[You have acquired two Blood Robots, pet count +2, and opened the Blood Robot Attribute panel synchronously; you can view their details on the panel.]

Li Zheng didn’t expect these two robots to differ vastly from the previously acquired Intelligent Humanoids, falling under the category of pets.

With this comparison, Li Zheng realized that perhaps Blood Robots might have unique features as well.