My Romance Game Updated – Chapter 107

Puppet Card

“Be careful! I see a 7th-order mutated bird!”

The 7th-order bird was more than 100 meters away, so Ren Chenxi didn’t attack it immediately. But at the creature’s sharp cry, the other mutated birds scattered about attacking the nearby buildings reconverged and charged toward the rooftop where Ren Chenxi and Mu Ning stood.

            

The cunning 7th-order leader bird had figured it out: of everyone in the entire base, Ren Chenxi and Mu Ning were the greatest threat.

But it had to be said—no matter how cunning, it was ultimately just a bird with a bird-sized brain. Knowing full well that Ren Chenxi and Mu Ning were difficult opponents, it didn’t choose to avoid them and take down the other buildings first. Instead, it insisted on fighting them, sending its surrounding flock to their deaths one after another.

“The mutated bird is too high up! I can’t reach it!”

            

Alerted by Ren Chenxi, Mu Ning also spotted the enormous 7th-order bird. But her vines had an even shorter range than Ren Chenxi’s attacks. For now, she could only give up on the high-altitude target and quicken the assault of her vines, dealing with the increasingly dense swarm around them. Even with the boost from Ren Chenxi’s Acceleration Cards, their vine whip and long blade were moving so fast they were little more than afterimages. Yet, facing so many mutated birds, they still felt they weren’t fast enough.

“The Shield Card only has five minutes left. You hold them off while I synthesize some more cards.”

If the 7th-order bird had been within her attack range, Ren Chenxi was confident she could kill the damn thing with just one SR Shield Card and one SSR Shield Card. The problem was that the cunning creature just kept circling high above, commanding its underlings to die in its stead, without descending one bit.

            

“Okay, you synthesize the cards. But I think your low-rank Shield Cards are enough. Our main priority right now is defending against these low- and mid-tier mutated birds.”

Ren Chenxi thought Mu Ning had a point. Their primary enemies at the moment were these low- and mid-tier birds. Even if she synthesized an SSR Shield Card, it would be a waste if the cunning high-order bird never attacked them. An SSR Shield Card, synthesized from five SR cards, would only protect one person for an hour against the swarm. Using five SR Shield Cards separately, however, would be more flexible for the two of them. Moreover, while the synthesized card could withstand ten of the high-order bird’s attacks, that was useless if it never came down.

So, if she drew any SR Shield Cards, she wouldn’t synthesize them.

            

Five minutes was more than enough time for Ren Chenxi to do a hundred ten-draw pulls. And within those pulls, she really did get six SR Shield Cards. At the same time, she also saw one SR Puppet Card!

That’s right! I have two more of these SR Puppet Cards in my inventory. She remembered that an SR Puppet Card could grant her control over a mid-tier target it hit.

If that was the case, she knew how to deal with the high-order bird in the sky.

            

By the time Ren Chenxi finished drawing cards, the shields on both of them were about to expire. She applied a new SR Shield Card to herself and Mu Ning, then took out the only three Puppet Cards she had. These cards were incredibly rare, as their draw rate suggested. She’d never thought much of them before; she had even felt they were less direct and effective than an Explosion Card. But now… it seemed that special cards really were useful in special situations.

I hope this actually works!

Clutching the three Puppet Cards, Ren Chenxi scanned the mutated birds that were frantically attacking them in midair. After a moment of picky deliberation, she finally selected three larger, 6th-order mutated birds that looked a bit like eagles. In the apocalypse, all sorts of birds had mutated into forms that were vastly different from their original appearances. Ren Chenxi couldn’t be sure which avian family they belonged to, so she decided to just call them mutated eagles.

            

“Mu Ning, see those three eagle-like mutated birds? Try not to hurt them. I synthesized a new type of card and want to test it on them.”

Mu Ning had, of course, noticed the three 6th-order mutated eagles Ren Chenxi pointed out. Honestly, if Ren Chenxi hadn’t said anything, those three fierce and troublesome birds would have been her very next targets. Though large, they were exceptionally agile. Several times, Mu Ning had aimed her vines at them, only for them to deftly dodge the attack.

The three mutated eagles could evade Mu Ning’s vines, but Ren Chenxi’s perfect accuracy—and the transparent cards the birds couldn’t see—were not so easily dodged.

            

After telling Mu Ning not to accidentally harm her new “puppets,” Ren Chenxi sequentially shot the three Puppet Cards at the 6th-order mutated eagles, which were only seventy meters away. As the cards sank into their bodies, the three birds, which had been ferociously preparing to ambush Mu Ning, suddenly and bizarrely turned and flew toward Ren Chenxi. Their flight was wobbly, lacking all of their previous agility.

“What did you do to them?” Having been alerted by Ren Chenxi, Mu Ning had been paying close attention to the three eagles and was the first to notice their strange behavior.

“Nothing much. They’re just under my control now.” With a single thought, Ren Chenxi could make the mutated eagles fly wherever she wanted, however she wanted. As if controlling remote-controlled airplanes, she fiddled with the three birds for a while longer until she could maneuver them skillfully. She directed them to a less crowded area and had them fly a short distance at top speed. In the process, the three rapidly flying eagles directly knocked more than a dozen other mutated birds out of the sky.

            

This demonstrated just how lethal their beaks were. Due to their mutation, their beaks were no longer hooked like a normal eagle’s; instead, they were longer, sharper, and thicker. If she used their beaks as weapons, having them fly at full speed to pierce that 7th-order mutated bird high in the sky…

No, it wasn’t enough. They needed to be even faster. After all, when a mid-tier mutated bird fought a high-tier one, even a single-tier difference represented a power gap of ten times or more.

To be safe, Ren Chenxi applied an SR Acceleration Card to each of the three mutated eagles. Then, she commanded the three sped-up birds to shoot toward the lofty 7th-order bird like three missiles.

            

Mu Ning, who had been watching the three mutated eagles the entire time, finally understood Ren Chenxi’s intention as she saw them charge toward the high-order bird in a suicidal dive. A 6th-order mutated eagle against a 7th-order mutated bird—she knew there was basically no chance of winning, but Mu Ning couldn’t help but hope that the three eagles could at least inflict some significant damage.

From within the flock it was commanding to throw their lives away against the two tiny humans below, three mutated eagles suddenly shot out, flying in the opposite direction. It was impossible for the 7th-order mutated bird not to notice. But more than wondering why they had turned around, the bird was furious that they dared to defy its orders. As a high-order leader bird, it would not permit any of its underlings to disobey it!

So, not only did the 7th-order bird not flee, it actually charged rapidly toward the three reckless mutated eagles, deciding to teach them a lesson and show them the consequences of defying its command.

            

When two objects flying at high speed collide, the destructive force is immense! And Ren Chenxi was thrilled to see that the 7th-order bird, provoked by what it saw as a challenge to its authority and eager to retaliate, was gradually flying into her attack range. Instantly, she pulled an SSR Explosion Card from her inventory, along with an SSR Critical Hit Card synthesized from SR cards.

The damage bonus from an SSR Critical Hit Card was a full one thousand percent. With just one SSR Explosion Card, she could deal ten times the damage to that 7th-order bird! And just in case, she had specifically synthesized three more of these SSR Critical Hit cards and stored them in her inventory. After the 8th-order mutated octopus incident, Ren Chenxi had learned to be smarter. Who knew if this 7th-order bird would suddenly have some kind of strange transformation at a critical moment?

“Look! They’re about to collide!”

            

At Mu Ning’s excited cry, Ren Chenxi got her wish. She watched as the four enormous mutated birds smashed into each other high in the sky. All she could say was, a high-order mutated bird was a high-order mutated bird. Even though the three 6th-order eagles had been accelerated, the moment they struck the high-order bird, they not only failed to cause much damage but were instantly blasted into a bloody mist by the impact.

Ren Chenxi watched as the 7th-order bird’s health bar dropped by only a tiny sliver, feeling no disappointment at all. Because, due to its incredible momentum, the 7th-order bird continued to hurtle toward her attack range.

Closer, and closer! 110 meters! 105 meters! 100 meters!

            

The bird also realized it was getting nearer to the two humans below. A powerful sense of crisis, innate to all animals, made it desperately beat its wings in midair, trying to brake its forward momentum. After a great effort, it finally managed to halt its descent. Just as it was about to flap its wings and regain altitude, its head, just like those of the three mutated eagles it had just shattered, suddenly erupted into a cloud of blood.

The headless corpse of the mutated bird plummeted downward at high speed.

Just as Ren Chenxi quietly breathed a sigh of relief, preparing to receive the massive body, another, even more colossal shadow suddenly dove toward her at an even greater speed.

            

Looking up at the health bar of this dark figure, Ren Chenxi sucked in a cold breath. It was an 8th-order mutated bird! And! This 8th-order mutated bird could use an esper ability!

With just a few flaps of its wings, a barrage of wind blades instantly shattered the shield protecting Ren Chenxi. Seeing the 8th-order bird was already within twenty meters of her, Ren Chenxi didn’t even have time to pull out a new Shield Card or Explosion Card before another round of wind blades arrived!

“Watch out!”

            

With Mu Ning’s cry of alarm, Ren Chenxi felt herself being shoved violently aside. At the same time, several wind blades grazed her left arm. The sharp blades instantly carved several deep wounds into her flesh.

An attack this strong and fast… Mu Ning’s shield won’t hold either!

As if to confirm her fears, Mu Ning’s stifled gasp of pain echoed a second later.

            

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The author has something to say:

Right… about the dishwasher problem, the author can’t be bothered to struggle with it anymore. Let’s just leave it at that, whatever. In my house, acting first and reporting later doesn’t work. The dishwasher needs to be installed, and in the time it takes for the workers to come, my mom would probably force me to return it.

My mom is the type who is pretty controlling. She gets angry about anything I buy without her permission. I once saw my mom standing directly on the window ledge to wash the windows, and I was terrified watching from below, clinging to her pants for dear life. (Don’t ask why the author didn’t help—I have a fear of heights, and the government forced our entire row of street-facing apartments to remove our security bars). Later, I bought her one of those high-altitude safety ropes, and she just scowled and got mad, then threw the rope away…

            

(But the author has a bad temper too. I got into a huge fight with my mom and broke her phone, so now I mainly don’t want to argue again. I’m not going to do the ‘act first, report later’ thing anymore.)

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