My Romance Game Updated – Chapter 135
by Little PandaMental Distress
“P-Ping-ge, y-you didn’t suppress her ability at all!”
Several espers who had been preparing to attack Ren Chenxi were thoroughly startled by their companion’s suddenly exploding head. At the same time, their steps forward froze, as if their feet had taken root. They dared not advance, yet they dared not retreat.
“H-how is that possible?” Cai Ping also stared incredulously at yet another headless corpse. In sheer terror, he looked at Ren Chenxi. Refusing to accept reality, he once again stretched his hand toward her.
Ren Chenxi smirked derisively at Cai Ping’s futile struggle. In an instant, an extremely thin crystal spike appeared in her hand. With a casual flick, she sent the crystal spike flying straight through Cai Ping’s palm.
This man was the main culprit behind Mu Ning’s temporarily sealed powers. Ren Chenxi had no intention of granting him a quick death with an effortless headshot.
Cai Ping’s ability only allowed him to suppress the powers of others; his physical endurance was barely any higher than that of an ordinary human. Thus, the crystal spike Ren Chenxi threw easily pierced right through his palm.
The agonizing pain from his palm forced an uncontrollable shriek from Cai Ping’s throat. Wailing, he glared at Ren Chenxi in disbelief and demanded, “How… how can this be?! Why can you still use your ability? I should’ve suppressed it! You shouldn’t be able to use any powers for the next seven days!”
Ren Chenxi merely shrugged at Cai Ping’s questioning. In this game world, Cai Ping’s ability could indeed suppress the powers of other espers. However, she was a player. Her game skills did not count as in-world esper abilities, rendering his suppression completely useless against her. Even if his ability could inflict a “cannot use skills” debuff on her, she could easily clear it with a Recovery Card. But Cai Ping’s restriction did not even register as a standard game debuff1 on her system panel, which was also why she had no way of removing Mu Ning’s ability seal either.
At the thought of Mu Ning’s sealed abilities and how the Mu and Zhou families had used the opportunity to corner her, Ren Chenxi felt her anger flare up again. If she had hesitated for even a few more days back then, there was no telling what kind of harrowing situation Mu Ning would have faced! Knowing Mu Ning’s unyielding pride and her refusal to be controlled, she might have actually found an opportunity to end her own life!
The memory of that day, when Mu Ning had resolutely held a dagger against her own neck, flashed before Ren Chenxi’s eyes. Shaken, she unconsciously tightened her grip on Mu Ning’s hand. Sensing her tension, Mu Ning gently squeezed her palm in return.
Comforted by Mu Ning’s reassuring gesture and holding the warm, solid hand in hers, Ren Chenxi quickly reined in her emotions. However, when she looked back at Cai Ping, her eyes were filled with absolute murder.
Shua!
Another sharp crystal spike flew from Ren Chenxi’s hand, piercing deep into Cai Ping’s right leg. His leg skewered, Cai Ping instantly lost his balance and crashed heavily onto the floor. Seeing his pathetic state, some in the crowd gloated silently. Others felt a pang of pity, but terrified by Ren Chenxi’s horrific, un-suppressible power, none of them dared to step forward and help him.
The strength of this fifth-order esper was simply too terrifying!!!
Ren Chenxi paid no attention to the schemes running through their minds. As long as her brief display of power was enough to deter them and keep them in line for now, that was plenty. Looking down at Cai Ping, whose wails on the floor had grown even more piercing, she conjured several more sharp, slender crystal spikes. The moment they appeared, everyone in the room took another giant step back in unison. A few standing close to the door even slipped out on the sly.
Ren Chenxi did not stop those who fled. However, when Father Zhou, Mother Zhou, and Mu Ning’s two biaodi2 also tried to slip away, she sent several crystal spikes flying without mercy. The projectiles impaled their legs, sending them crashing to the floor alongside Cai Ping.
“Don’t be in such a hurry to leave, you guys!” Ren Chenxi said with a seemingly pleasant smile. “Since you dared to join forces against my wife3, you should be prepared for the retaliation, right?”
Meeting her gentle smile, no one dared to argue back this time. No one dared to point out that she was a woman, ask how she could take a wife, or protest that Mu Ning was not hers. The others who had been hoping to sneak out were frozen in place, utterly paralyzed with fear.
“N-No! We’re innocent! We only came to attend the wedding! We didn’t conspire with the Zhou family to target Biaojie4!” The two biaodi who had previously accompanied Zhou Zhilong to Nanhai Base began pleading their case on the spot, desperate to escape Ren Chenxi’s vengeance.
“Wait, that’s not right,” Ren Chenxi unceremoniously exposed their lies on the spot, without showing them any face. “As I recall, weren’t you two the ones who kept going on about how much Mu Ning’s parents missed her? Weren’t you the ones singing praises of how deeply devoted Zhou Zhilong was to her? And what happened? You completely ignored Mu Ning’s wishes and forced her to marry him anyway.”
“W-We didn’t! Biaojie agreed to marry Zhou Zhilong of her own free will!”
“Pfft. Do you think I wasn’t there when you worked with Cai Ping to suppress Mu Ning’s powers, driving her to the brink of suicide?”
“…” Ren Chenxi’s words immediately reminded everyone of her face-changing disguise. Cold sweat broke out across the room. Quite a few people began frantically reflecting on whether they had done anything out of line that day.
Ren Chenxi watched with satisfaction as the faces in the room turned a kaleidoscope of colors. Smiling amiably at Mu Ning’s biaodi, she said warmly, “It’s fine. Although you collaborated with the Zhou family to trap my wife, your crimes don’t quite warrant a death sentence…”
The two biaodi had barely let out a sigh of relief when thick, long crystal spikes skewered their hands and legs in rapid succession. Unlike the slender spikes from before, these heavy shards ripped open much larger wounds, inflicting excruciating agony.
“Aaaagh—!!!” Two more shrill screams joined the chorus of Cai Ping’s wails.
Having witnessed the fate of Mu Ning’s biaodi, anyone who had been preparing to offer an excuse promptly shut their mouths. However, Ren Chenxi did not target anyone else. She merely turned her gaze back to the screaming Cai Ping. Letting her false smile fade into a chilling expression, she said coldly, “Your power is to suppress the abilities of other espers. In this apocalyptic world, an esper’s ability is undoubtedly their greatest means of survival. It must have felt quite exhilarating to hold their survival in your hands, didn’t it? Why don’t we let you experience what it feels like to have your fate controlled by others?”
“W-What… What are you going to do?!” Ren Chenxi’s words made Cai Ping momentarily forget his pain. Looking at the unmistakable murderous intent gleaming in her eyes, a bone-chilling shiver ran down his spine.
“Oh, nothing much. I just want the people here to decide what kind of pain you’ll suffer next~” Ren Chenxi smirked, her cold gaze sweeping across the room. Her frozen stare paralyzed everyone. Highly satisfied with their “cooperation,” she gave a slight nod and uttered words that plunged Cai Ping into deeper terror.
“In a moment, I will let you all leave this room. However, you must exit one by one. Before you leave, you must attack Cai Ping once with your esper ability. You can target any part of his body you like, as long as you keep him alive. As for those without abilities, find a weapon on the spot and strike him~”
The moment the words left her mouth, everyone scrambled to act. But when a crowd rushed forward to strike Cai Ping at once, they were instantly warned back by a shower of crystal spikes from Ren Chenxi. With that, the crowd finally fell into line, queuing up to take turns attacking Cai Ping, who was already trembling so violently on the floor that he had lost control of his bladder.
Some targeted Cai Ping with half-hearted, superficial blows, merely adding shallow cuts to his limbs. However, those who held old grudges against him were far more ruthless. One female esper aimed directly between his legs, castrating him with a single, clean strike.
At first, Cai Ping tried to fight back, attempting to suppress the powers of those attacking him. But when the first esper felt their ability suppressed, they simply abandoned using their ability, grabbed a nearby wooden chair, and smashed it viciously onto Cai Ping’s uninjured hand.
After that, Cai Ping was in too much pain to resist. He could only watch in horror as person after person stepped up to him, unable to foresee how they would strike. By the time the line ended, he was entirely covered in blood, having blacked out from the sheer agony.
The next esper in line looked helplessly at Ren Chenxi. Fortunately, she did not make things difficult for him, simply telling him to drag Cai Ping out. She also dismissed the remaining onlookers from the Luo family, along with several members of the Zhou family whom she did not recognize. The bridal chamber, once filled with festive wedding decorations, was now left with only two headless corpses on the floor, the injured Father and Mother Zhou, and Mu Ning’s two biaodi.
“Forget it, let them go too,” Mu Ning said. “They’re just irrelevant people anyway, and didn’t their plot fall through? Besides, they even helped bring about my marriage to you~”
Seeing that Ren Chenxi was still preparing to make a move on Father and Mother Zhou, Mu Ning—though she loathed this hypocritical couple—bore no deep hatred toward them. As for her two biaodi, they were merely lapdogs kept by the Mu family; the brief lesson Ren Chenxi had just taught them was more than enough.
The Zhou parents and Mu Ning’s biaodi, who had been waiting in despair for Ren Chenxi’s wrath, actually felt a swell of gratitude toward Mu Ning when they heard her speak up for them. Before this, they had viewed her with nothing but disdain and dislike.
However, just as the group began scrambling on all fours toward the exit, Ren Chenxi spoke up again.
“Don’t run off so quickly! You’ve caused my wife and me so much psychological trauma today. You have to pay a mental distress fee5, don’t you think?”
“…” Just who on earth suffered more mental damage here?!
Yet with two headless corpses lying right beside them and Cai Ping’s horrific fate fresh in their minds, no one dared to argue. The Zhou parents scrambled to retrieve crystal cores, while Mu Ning’s biaodi hurried to gather funds from the Mu family.
After all, the Mu family were still Mu Ning’s relatives, and Ren Chenxi didn’t want to push things too far. Besides, judging by Mu Ning’s attitude, she had completely washed her hands of them. Under these circumstances, making the Mu family bleed a symbolic amount of resources would be enough.
Of course, if the Mu family dared to resist, she would make sure to teach them a proper lesson!
Footnotes
- A common gaming abbreviation for 'negative status effect' used to describe a detrimental condition inflicted on a character, such as poison, stun, or silence.
- biǎodì (表弟): A Chinese kinship term referring to a younger male cousin through the maternal line or a paternal aunt's line.
- xǐfu (媳妇): A colloquial northern Chinese term for 'wife', often used in informal speech to denote a spouse or daughter-in-law.
- biǎojiě (表姐): A Chinese kinship term referring to an older female cousin through the maternal line or a paternal aunt's line.
- jīngshén sǔnshīfèi (精神损失费): A humorous webnovel trope where a protagonist demands material compensation from antagonists for the psychological distress caused by their actions.
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