My Romance Game Updated – Chapter 116
by Little PandaTraveling Together
After all, they already had experience running a stall, and their various ready-made tools were incredibly complete. Working together, the girls simply renovated the windows on both sides of their First Floor, and Huo Keyu’s snack stall was open for business once more.
This time, the girls abandoned the skewered meats, which were a hassle to grill and cooled down too easily. Instead, they switched to other hot foods that were popular in the winter and simple to prepare. For example, Spicy Skewered Hot Pot1, Curry Fish Balls2, and a hearty Mutated Bird Offal Stew simmered with the internal organs of mutated birds…
To make these snacks, they only had to boil a broth, dump all the ingredients into the pot at once, and scoop them out directly for the customers when they arrived. Of course, the customers had to bring their own containers.
Furthermore, since Ren Chenxi guaranteed that spices and seasonings would be fully supplied, Huo Keyu suggested they could lower the prices slightly. This would allow the ordinary survivors in the base who didn’t have many crystal cores to try something new, while also following a strategy of small profits and quick turnover. After all, they had more than enough ingredients to squander3.
Since the last mutated bird attack on the base, the survivors’ food reserves had become quite abundant. Even the elderly, weak, sick, and disabled—who used to live meal-to-meal—were now able to fill their bellies under Qi Sheng’s arrangements.
But they were merely filling their bellies. After all, the communal meals cooked in the cafeteria were never made with much care. Coupled with the scarcity of seasonings, they were prepared with barely any flavor—just enough to be edible.
Thus, when the girls’ snack stall reopened, the intoxicating aroma drifted to the neighboring villas, drawing in several starving survivors who were on their way to the dining hall. Enticing the nearby survivors was only the beginning; as these people packed up their snacks to eat alongside their cafeteria meals, they ended up tempting an even larger crowd. Moreover, once word got out that the snack stall at Mu Ning’s villa had reopened with more variety and significantly lower prices, even the survivors with tight budgets couldn’t resist spending a few crystal cores just to get a taste, using the savory snacks to help swallow down their bland dining hall food.
The snack stall’s business exploded across the base once again. This time, it wasn’t just Huo Keyu and several of the girls selling snacks; even Zhang Tongqi and the other girls with esper abilities joined in, helping out at another window. Aside from the snack business, Tang Ying also actively drummed up business around the base, promoting her “Tang Ying-style Durable Crystal Glass.” Sure enough, after witnessing the hardness of her crystals, she immediately secured several massive orders. Qi Sheng even hired her to thoroughly renovate his newly occupied villas, earning her a cool one million crystal stones.
Throughout the entire winter, while the other survivors in the base settled into a rare period of leisure, this group of girls was burning with passion, burying their heads in work to earn crystal cores.
Of course, these girls did not include Ren Chenxi and Mu Ning.
The cold war between Ren Chenxi and Mu Ning dragged on. In the past, when going out to hunt or gather seafood at the Beach, everyone might move as a team. But now… food was abundant, and the girls were busy earning crystal cores. Not wanting to spoil their fun, Mu Ning stopped forcing everyone to hunt or go to the Beach. Instead, she stayed locked in her room all day, not even joining them to watch movies anymore.
Seeing this, Ren Chenxi assumed Mu Ning was acting this way because she was always in the Girls’ Building Second-Floor Living Room and simply didn’t want to see her. Consequently, she stopped watching movies and playing games with the group there. In any case, she had plenty of televisions, game consoles, and media players of her own, so she wouldn’t be bored locked in her room. Besides, she still had Tantan to keep her company!
By the time Mu Ning discovered that Ren Chenxi had moved back to the Third Floor, she merely kept a cold face and said nothing. Zhang Tongqi and the others were truly at their wits’ end with these two pampered little ancestors. Since they couldn’t intervene anyway, they simply let them be. After all, their most important task right now was staying busy earning crystal cores!
Finally, after a long, freezing winter, Tang Ying got her wish and permanently kept the wristband she had once worn on her wrist. And Huo Keyu, through everyone’s joint efforts in selling snacks, also obtained a brand-new wristband.
Seeing two girls equip watch-weapons in a single winter completely stunned Ren Muhui, who hadn’t taken their efforts seriously at first. After recovering from the shock, he fell even deeper into self-pity. Whatever. In this game, he was simply inferior to girls anyway! He had lost to his younger sister when pursuing his Goddess, and now, he couldn’t even beat these native NPCs when it came to earning crystal cores…
Wait, that wasn’t right. He hadn’t even tried to earn crystal cores all winter! After pocketing a media player and a game console from his younger sister, he had spent every day lost in movies and games with his brothers like Chen Gu. He had basically wasted the entire winter playing around! He hadn’t even leveled up his skills!
But… what could he do about it? Either way, the guys just didn’t seem as capable as the girls! Just look at their team—Goddess Mu was still the Boss!
After comforting himself with this logic, Ren Muhui continued to slack off with a clear conscience.
Compared to the useless, shut-in guys, the girls were practically insatiable. As the weather gradually warmed, they crazily planned to keep running the stall through the night to pull in extra income from late-night snacks. It couldn’t be helped; now that Huo Keyu had her watch, they still needed to help Du Tian and Yue Yue earn theirs~
Aside from running the stall, digging for mutated seafood on the Beach was another major source of crystal cores. However, since no one had been to the Beach all winter, nobody knew if the rapidly evolving mutated seafood, after a winter of devouring each other, had given rise to a new high-tier seafood overlord in the waters of the South Sea. Consequently, as soon as the temperatures began to rise, the other survivors in the base held back, initiating no major operations.
In any case, most of the survivors in the base still had leftover food reserves even after enduring the long winter. As for the few who had completely exhausted their supplies, they could still rely on the cheap meals provided by the base cafeteria.
However, perhaps because they were clinging to four thick thighs4, Mu Ning’s survivor squad was unlike the other cautious teams. Instead, they were itching to head to the Beach and harvest mutated seafood like crazy. Oh, wait, to be precise, only the girls were enthusiastic. After all, they still had to help their sisters save up crystal cores to buy weapons, as well as charge those weapons.
While the girls were excitedly discussing whether the mutated seafood shoveled up from the Beach would be of a higher tier and yield more crystal cores after a winter of growth, Mu Ning rationally put a stop to their risky ideas. According to Mu Ning, they would definitely go to the Beach, but for safety’s sake, they shouldn’t move as a group initially. She would go alone to scout the shoreline first, and once she confirmed there was no danger, everyone else could follow.
Over the winter, Mu Ning had absorbed almost all of her crystal cores, except for her two Level 8 crystal cores. She had even completely absorbed her Level 7 crystal core. Yet, perhaps because leveling up became exponentially harder at higher tiers, or because the threshold between mid-tier and high-tier was simply too high, she still failed to advance her tier despite absorbing all that energy.
Mu Ning felt she was currently stuck at a bottleneck and desperately needed a breakthrough. She had been cooped up in the base all winter, unable to fully stretch her esper abilities. This trip to the Beach would be the perfect opportunity to scout the area and give her abilities a proper workout.
The moment they heard Mu Ning wanted to go to the Beach alone, Zhang Tongqi and the others instinctively turned their eyes to Ren Chenxi. Ren Chenxi’s immediate reaction, surprisingly, was also a natural urge to accompany Mu Ning.
But…
“I’ll go by myself this time. Don’t worry, if there’s danger, I won’t take any unnecessary risks.”
Mu Ning made her decision without sparing Ren Chenxi a single glance. Naturally, such a choice met with strong opposition from her teammates.
“That won’t do, Boss! It’s been an entire winter. Who knows what kind of changes have occurred in the sea?”
“You can stop us from going, but at least let Xi-jie accompany you! If Xi-jie is with you, we’ll feel a lot more at ease.” Remembering the icy cold war between the two all winter, the girls eagerly tried to play matchmaker, hoping the barrier between them would slowly melt away like winter ice in the spring. “Xi-jie, please, won’t you go with the Boss?”
“There’s no need!” Before Ren Chenxi could reply, Mu Ning cut in flatly. “I’ll be perfectly fine on my own!”
In the past, Mu Ning would have wished for nothing more than to send everyone away and pull Ren Chenxi along for a private “date” at the Beach, but now…
The girls exchanged helpless looks, their pleading gazes finally landing on Ren Chenxi.
Ren Chenxi didn’t notice the girls’ silent pleas. But she did notice that Mu Ning’s eyes had not met hers once since the very beginning. Or, to be more precise, ever since Mu Ning had said she would no longer like her, her gaze had never lingered on Ren Chenxi again. This was supposed to be the outcome she wanted most, wasn’t it? But… what was this lingering irritation in her chest?
Ren Chenxi knit her brows, her expression so icy that the girls shrank back in fear, not daring to plead any further. Seeing Mu Ning on the verge of walking out the door alone, Ren Chenxi suddenly spoke up. “I’m going to the Beach too.”
At those words, Mu Ning paused for a fraction of a second before continuing toward the door. However, she didn’t refuse this time. Staring at Mu Ning’s retreating back, Ren Chenxi pursed her lips and followed anyway.
Yes, she had already planned on going to the Beach today anyway. Although she had received a decent share of crystal cores from Huo Keyu and the others over the winter, that small amount was far from enough. She needed to keep amassing them. The Beach was prime ground for gathering crystal cores in bulk—why should she miss out just because this woman was going!
Yes! That was exactly it! Reassured by her own logic, Ren Chenxi’s steps grew even more resolute.
Seeing the two finally leave together, Tang Ying cheered, “Yay!” and high-fived the other girls. They truly hoped that traveling together this time would help mend the relationship between Ren Chenxi and Mu Ning.
Unfortunately, the girls’ beautiful fantasy did not play out between Mu Ning and Ren Chenxi.
Ren Chenxi followed Mu Ning all the way to the Parking Lot. Key in hand, Mu Ning opened the door to the minivan first and climbed into the driver’s seat. She didn’t open the front passenger door for Ren Chenxi as she used to, but she didn’t rush to drive off either. She waited in silence until Ren Chenxi opened the rear door and slid into the back seat before finally starting the engine.
They rode in total silence, and in an atmosphere so quiet it was nearly suffocating, the vehicle finally arrived at the Beach.
Footnotes
- Málà chuánchuánxiāng (Spicy Skewered Hot Pot) is a popular Sichuan street food where various skewered ingredients are cooked in a simmering, spicy, and numbing broth.
- Gālǐ yúdàn (Curry Fish Balls) is a classic Cantonese street snack featuring springy fish balls simmered in a rich, savory curry sauce.
- Huòhuo is a Northern Chinese dialect term meaning to squander, ruin, or use up recklessly, often used colloquially in Northeastern and Northern China.
- Dà cūtuǐ (thick thighs) is a Chinese internet metaphor referring to powerful, influential people whom others can rely on for protection, support, or resources.
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