My Romance Game Updated – Chapter 115
by Little PandaReopening for Business
Once Ren Chenxi admitted it, the girls stopped doubting.
After all, compared to Ren Muhui—whom they hadn’t known for very long—Ren Chenxi’s word was far more credible.
Once they were certain this weapon had indeed been forged using 5 million Level 1 Crystal Cores, the girls took turns gingerly holding the “watch,” examining it from every angle. Tang Ying even took out ten Level 1 Crystal Cores to charge it, then retrieved a bare, plucked mutated bird carcass they planned to roast later to use as a target.
Under everyone’s expectant gazes, Tang Ying followed Chen Gu’s instructions and pressed the switch on the side of the watch. A long press charged the weapon, releasing all the stored energy at once. A short press fired a direct shot, consuming exactly ten Level 1 Crystal Cores’ worth of energy.
“Whoosh!”
As Tang Ying carefully pressed the button, a pale yellow beam immediately shot out from a tiny hole on the front of the watch. However, perhaps because her aim was off, the beam missed the mutated bird carcass entirely. Instead, it streaked straight toward the wall behind it. To everyone’s shock, that seemingly thin ray of light actually blasted a massive hole right through the thick wall.
The commotion was so loud that it even startled their neighbors on the other side, who hurried out to investigate.
“What’s going on? What happened? Why is there such a massive hole in your wall?”
“Hahaha, it’s nothing, it’s nothing! Just two of our Strength Espers fighting over food. They accidentally smashed the wall~~,” Zhang Tongqi quickly went over to explain, laughing merrily.
Meanwhile, the other girls stared at Tang Ying, utterly speechless.
“Are you serious, Yingying? This weapon doesn’t even have recoil, and you were so close! How did you still miss?”
“Aiyah, I’ve never handled a shooting weapon before! I didn’t even play with slingshots when I was a kid. How was I supposed to know my aim was this bad…”
“Seriously, that was a waste of ten Level 1 Crystal Cores! If I’d known, I would’ve tested it! I was on the school basketball team, you know!”
“Does being on the basketball team magically make you a sharpshooter?!”
“You broke the wall, so you’re responsible for patching it up, got it? The house is letting in a draft now!”
“Hmph! It’s just a little hole in the wall. The Crystal Wall I patch it with will be way sturdier than the original brick anyway!”
As the girls fell into another round of noisy chattering and bickering, the conversation threatened to stray further and further off-topic. Ren Muhui had no choice but to interrupt helplessly, “Alright, alright. Regardless of her aim, you have to admit the destructive power of my weapon is pretty incredible, right?”
At Ren Muhui’s words, everyone’s attention shifted back to the “watch” in Tang Ying’s hands.
“The destructive power really is incredible! A weapon like this is perfect for self-defense, especially for you and the rest of the girls, Keyu!”
Having her name suddenly called, Huo Keyu finally tore her eyes away from the “watch.” She looked straight at Ren Muhui and asked with deep seriousness, “Big Brother Ren, if… if I also give you 5 million Level 1 Crystal Cores, could you forge one of these watches for me too?”
“…” This girl actually seriously intended to buy the “watch”! Ren Chenxi’s eyes widened in sheer astonishment. “Do—do you even have 5 million Level 1 Crystal Cores?” she asked in disbelief.
“I don’t have them right now, but I will work hard to earn them. Once I’ve saved up enough, Big Brother Ren, would you…”
“No problem at all! Keyu, as long as you save up enough, I’ll have my gege forge another weapon just like this. Or I can just give you the one in Yingying’s hands right now~ But you only need to save up half! I have plenty of Crystal Cores, so I’ll cover the other half for you.”
Once she confirmed Huo Keyu’s sincere intention to buy the “watch,” Ren Chenxi shot a smug look at Ren Muhui, whose face had gone completely pale. She then hastily cut in, agreeing to the request on his behalf. In any case, she would ultimately be purchasing the “watch” from the Apocalypse Mall anyway, so she didn’t need Ren Muhui’s permission at all. However, Ren Chenxi’s well-meaning offer to split the cost was flatly rejected by Huo Keyu.
“There’s no need, Xi-jie! I’ll pay the 5 million Level 1 Crystal Cores myself.”
Ren Chenxi had already anticipated that Huo Keyu would insist on paying for it herself, but 5 million Level 1 Crystal Cores was no small sum. She wanted to persuade her otherwise, but Huo Keyu seemed to read her mind. Before Ren Chenxi could speak, she continued:
“Xi-jie, didn’t you say so yourself? Even ordinary people like me can earn Crystal Cores through our own hard work in this Apocalypse. Didn’t we make quite a lot of Crystal Cores some time ago? Honestly, we’ve been idle for too long lately. We’ve grown so lazy that we even find it a hassle to go downstairs to cook! If we keep going like this, I’m afraid we’ll be completely ruined by laziness by the time winter is over. That’s why I was thinking we should open our stall again.”
“That’s right, that’s right!” As soon as Huo Keyu finished speaking, Du Tian and Yue Yue chimed in agreement. “Xi-jie, you saw how popular our snack stall was before~ I believe if we reopen it, we’ll sooner or later earn enough Crystal Cores to have this watch weapon forged. Besides, we want such an excellent self-defense weapon too!”
“Exactly! Xi-jie, let us open the snack stall again and earn the Crystal Cores ourselves. Who knows? We might earn quite a lot of Crystal Cores by the end of winter~”
Seeing how enthusiastic everyone was, Ren Chenxi didn’t want to dampen their spirits, so she could only nod in compromise. “Alright then. You can open the snack stall first, but if you’re still short on Crystal Cores when the time comes, I can chip in a little for you.”
“It’ll be enough, it’ll be enough~ And if it’s really not, you can just lend us some, Xi-jie. With our Keyu’s culinary skills, we’re bound to save up enough sooner or later~”
While the three ordinary girls happily discussed which simple, profitable snacks they should sell, Tang Ying stroked the watch and suddenly chimed in wistfully, “I want this watch weapon too. I’m going to earn Crystal Cores!”
Watching Tang Ying lovingly toy with the watch, Ren Chenxi suddenly remembered something. Indeed, as an esper, Tang Ying’s ability lacked any offensive power. Up until now, her power had mostly been used to provide her with “ammo.”
Looking at her exclusive tool person1, Ren Chenxi offered an apologetic smile. “Yingying, since you like this watch so much, how about… you wear it for now? After all, you’ve given me so many crystals…”
“No, no, Xi-jie! Compared to the crystals I gave you, you’ve helped me so much more!” Hearing Ren Chenxi’s words, Tang Ying felt embarrassed and immediately took off the watch, passing it to Du Tian, who was also eager to examine it. Then, she turned back to Ren Chenxi and said:
“It’s fine, Xi-jie! My ability can help me earn Crystal Cores too. Just like you said before, using my ability for home renovation is actually a great idea! I’ve been living too comfortably lately, to the point that I completely forgot my main profession! Don’t worry, with the hardness of my mutated crystals now, plenty of people in the base will want to hire me for renovations. I can definitely gather those 5 million Crystal Cores all on my own~”
Seeing how fiercely independent they all were, Ren Chenxi had nothing left to say. She could only offer her encouragement, “Alright then! Work hard, everyone. Whichever of you gathers the Crystal Cores first gets to have the watch~”
“Eh? Xi-jie, shouldn’t this watch belong to Ren xuezhang?” Tang Ying asked, slightly puzzled. “Since Ren xuezhang was the one who forged it, can you really just handle it as you please?”
“It’s fine. I was the one who provided the Crystal Cores for forging it anyway, so of course I have the final say!” Having said that, Ren Chenxi shot a sidelong glance at Ren Muhui. Sure enough, his face was a portrait of gloomy defeat.
In this bet between Ren Chenxi and Ren Muhui, Ren Chenxi had clearly emerged victorious. Not only was Huo Keyu willing to save up the Crystal Cores to buy the watch on her own, but the other two non-esper girls, as well as Tang Ying, also intended to rely on their own hard work to earn the Crystal Cores to exchange for it. They had even refused Ren Chenxi’s offer to split the cost.
Catching the meaning behind Ren Chenxi’s glance, Ren Muhui could only wave his hand in reluctant surrender, playing along with her words. “Yeah, this watch belongs to my meimei now anyway. She can do whatever she wants with it!”
Having lost the bet and being forced to hand over all his Crystal Stones, Ren Muhui was in no mood to watch the girls happily discuss what to do with the watch. He led Chen Gu and the other guys back to the Men’s Building with heavy steps.
But before long, Ren Muhui came slinking back alone with a devious smirk. He pulled Ren Chenxi into a corner and whispered, “Sis! My Crystal Stones are game currency! I can’t even withdraw them~”
“Heh! Can’t you just mail them to me then?” Ren Chenxi had absolutely zero tolerance for Ren Muhui trying to back out of his debt, even if the wager was a mere 200,000 Crystal Stones.
“…” Fuck! There was indeed a mail system! But… could it actually send items?
Reluctantly opening his Mail Panel, Ren Muhui tinkered with it alongside Ren Chenxi for a good while. To their mutual exasperation, they discovered that although they were both players in the very same game, they couldn’t add each other as friends, let alone send each other mail!
Seeing Ren Muhui’s overjoyed, “dodged a bullet” expression, what else could Ren Chenxi do? She had no choice but to let him off the hook!
Motivated by the watch weapon, the girls, who had been slacking off and taking things easy, suddenly became incredibly industrious again. Even though buying the watch was only the goal of a few girls like Huo Keyu and Tang Ying, the others were extremely eager to pitch in and help. For instance, they spent a long time together discussing where Huo Keyu’s snack stall should be set up, how to run it, and what foods they should primarily sell.
Following the base’s restructuring, the various stalls that had originally been set up near the Sports Field had now been consolidated into the vacant Tin Shacks. However, even though the Tin Shacks could block some of the wind and rain, the biting, cold air in a southern winter was absolutely relentless, penetrating every single crevice. So, even if the stalls had moved inside the Tin Shacks, it was still freezing! As a result, the businesses in the Tin Shacks only saw a bit of activity during the day. Once night fell, let alone customers visiting, even the vendors themselves were unwilling to brave the cold to set up their stalls.
The girls discussed it for a long time and finally settled on the best solution.
In any case, good wine fears no deep alley2. Ever since their snack stall had first opened, its flavors had been universally praised by the entire base. Take their previous Fish Ball sales as an example—even when they only sold them from their own window in the Villa Area, plenty of people had braved the pouring rain just to buy them. Therefore, even if they reopened their stall right from their own window, they wouldn’t have to worry about a lack of business.
Moreover, keeping the stall at their own villa window spared them the grueling trek to the Tin Shacks in the biting winter wind.
With the location set at their own window, the hours of operation would also need some adjustments. Previously, Huo Keyu’s BBQ Stall had followed the trend and operated during the evening. But winter was freezing, and the nights were even colder; surely very few people would brave the icy winds just to find food. Had they forgotten how even the girls themselves had barely wanted to move between floors out of sheer laziness?
Therefore, the best time to set up would be during the day, specifically right before lunch when everyone’s stomachs were beginning to rumble. Of course, they couldn’t miss the late afternoon period before dinner either. After all, their current goal was to earn 5 million Level 1 Crystal Cores! And not just a single 5 million, at that!
The author has something to say:
Big Brother Ren: Forget it, I’m not struggling anymore. I’m lying flat3; I’m just useless.
Footnotes
- An internet slang term (gōngjùrén) referring to a utility character or someone who is used by others purely as a tool to advance their own goals.
- An idiom literally meaning 'the aroma of good wine fears no deep alley' (jiǔ xiāng bù pà xiàngzi shēn), indicating that high-quality goods naturally attract customers regardless of location.
- A Chinese cultural buzzword (tǎng píng) referring to a state of doing the bare minimum to get by, rejecting societal pressures to overwork or struggle.
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