My Romance Game Updated – Chapter 136
by Little PandaHigh-Order Espers
The Zhou family’s compensation was settled very smoothly. Even when faced with the lion’s wide-open mouth1 of Ren Chenxi and Mu Ning demanding sixty million Level 1 crystal cores, they actually managed to produce it. Ren Chenxi had even demanded an extra RV of the exact same model that Zhou Zhilong had driven to Nanhai Base.
It had to be said that Ning’an Base truly deserved its reputation as the country’s largest and most powerful base; even a random, minor faction inside possessed such incredible wealth.
After collecting the Zhou family’s compensation, Ren Chenxi and Mu Ning set off for the Mu family residence. Halfway there, they saw Mu Chengzhi and Mu Ning’s two biaodi2 cousins aggressively charging toward them, leading a large group of uniformed men.
“Captain Wu! It’s them! They’re the ones who’ve been murdering people in our base! That headless corpse in the base from before was their doing! And those two headless corpses at the Zhou residence were also theirs! Cai Ping was almost tortured to death by these two women, too! Captain Wu, look at the wounds on our bodies! These two vicious women did this to us! It’s not just us—they’ve beaten so many people to the point of critical injury!”
The moment Mu Ning’s two biaodi saw Ren Chenxi, they began excitedly bababa-ing3 to the tall, sturdy man leading the Public Security Patrol Team, refusing to shut up. Even though Ren Chenxi was the one who had actually done everything, they insisted on dragging Mu Ning down with her. This shameless display made Ren Chenxi laugh from sheer exasperation.
“Mu Ning, look at these two biaodi of yours,” Ren Chenxi said. “Is there any point in keeping them alive?”
“They’re beyond saving,” Mu Ning replied indifferently. “Just send them to be reborn!”
Mu Ning’s casual remark made her two biaodi’s faces turn deathly pale on the spot. But when they remembered the patrol team standing beside them, they carefully shrank behind him, seizing the opportunity to continue complaining: “Captain Wu! You see that?! You’re standing right here, and they still dare to be so arrogant! Arrest them now! Otherwise, there’ll be even more innocent casualties in our base!”
The moment the patrol team appeared, Ren Chenxi had immediately cast an SSR Shield Card on both herself and Mu Ning. At the same time, she secretly readied two Invisibility Cards, two SSR Critical Hit Cards, and two SSR Explosion Cards in her hands. It was no wonder she was so cautious—within this patrol team of barely twenty people, there were actually two 7th-Order espers!
This was the very first time Ren Chenxi had encountered high-order espers in this game world. But so what if they were 7th-Order high-order espers? Wouldn’t an 8th-Order mutated beast still get instakilled by her just the same?
Having made fully sufficient preparations, Ren Chenxi looked lazily at Mu Ning’s two biaodi. “Innocent?” she drawled. “Are you absolutely sure… the people I killed were actually innocent?”
“How were they not innocent?!” a shrill, weeping screech cut in from behind just as Ren Chenxi finished speaking. “You, a person from Nanhai Base, why did you run to our Ning’an Base and kill my son?! What did my son ever do to you?!”
It turned out that Father Zhou and Mother Zhou, completely unwilling to have their entire family fortune drained dry, had dragged their injured bodies out to find the Public Security Patrol Team, and just happened to cross paths with them here.
Hearing Mother Zhou’s weeping, blood-curdling accusations, and seeing the fresh blood seeping through the bandages wrapping her and Father Zhou beside her, the surrounding Ning’an Base survivors looked at Ren Chenxi with increasingly hostile gazes. A few local espers, brimming with a sense of superiority, began muttering in none-too-quiet voices.
“Tsk, country bumpkins from Nanhai Base running amok in our base? They’ve got some nerve, don’t they?”
“Exactly. A mere 5th-Order esper and an ordinary person—how are they still so arrogant? Did they manage to cling to some big shot in our base behind the scenes?”
“Shh, shh, shh, keep it down! Who knows, maybe their backer is rushing over right now to stand up for these girls~”
“But damn, they really are gorgeous! Who in our base is lucky enough to enjoy two such top-tier beauties at the same time~”
Although Mu Ning’s abilities were currently suppressed and unusable, Ren Chenxi could still clearly see her level on the game interface. To the other espers, however, they couldn’t sense any ability from Mu Ning, making her appear as nothing more than a powerless ordinary person. In Ning’an Base—where mid-tier espers were as common as dogs and there were exactly five high-order espers—the sheer arrogance of these two women made most people assume they must have some formidable backing!
Since these busybodies made no effort to lower their voices, Ren Chenxi heard every single word of their trash-talk clearly. It was just mindless gossip, so she wasn’t about to blow their heads off just for that, but she certainly wasn’t going to let Mother Zhou get away with splashing dirty water4 on her.
Thus, as Mother Zhou continued selling misery5, weeping about how pitiable and innocent the Zhou family and Zhou Zhilong were, a thick, long crystal spike shot out and pierced through her recently bandaged thigh again. The unhealed wound was violently torn open once more, and the excruciating pain sent her crashing to the pavement, howling miserably.
“Hey! You! You really aren’t afraid of death, are you?!”
Listening to Mother Zhou’s agonizing screams, the crowd’s fury at Ren Chenxi’s arrogance reached a boiling point. A 5th-Order esper from the patrol team stepped forward and unleashed a direct attack. A massive fireball surged toward her, but the moment the fireball hit Ren Chenxi, it scattered in all directions, leaving her completely unharmed. Even Mu Ning, who stood right beside her, wasn’t affected by the scattered flames.
“You…” Before this fire-system esper could even recover from his shock, his thighs were also impaled, left and right, by two crystal spikes.
Had this fire-system esper targeted only her, Ren Chenxi might have let it slide. After all, as a member of Ning’an Base’s patrol team, attacking her to maintain the base’s security was understandable. But what he absolutely should not have done was launch an attack without a single care for Mu Ning beside her! When Mu Ning was currently just an ordinary person in their eyes, this fire-system esper still dared to unleash an attack that would have easily engulfed her. How could Ren Chenxi possibly tolerate this?!
This second retaliation completely detonated the crowd’s rage. In an instant, nearly every esper in the vicinity joined the assault against her. Most notably, the patrol team’s other 7th-Order esper besides Captain Wu spread his arms wide, plating his entire body in a silver-glowing coat of steel, and charged toward Ren Chenxi and Mu Ning.
This 7th-Order esper, relying on his hardened Steel Body, charged at the very front, so many of the attacks launched by the other espers at Ren Chenxi and Mu Ning ended up landing on him. However, these attacks had no effect on him whatsoever. Similarly, the other attacks that bypassed this steel-bodied esper and landed on Ren Chenxi and Mu Ning failed to cause them any damage either.
Seeing their own attacks land on the two arrogant women as if it were completely painless, these espers felt a wave of frustration. However, it only made them put even more hope on the 7th-Order esper charging at the front, wishing he would give these two women a severe thrashing.
Yet, before that steel esper could take more than a few steps, his hard steel head suddenly exploded out of thin air just like that.
A Steel Body capable of withstanding the attacks of countless mid-tier espers collapsed stiffly onto the ground, just like that, before this arrogant woman who was supposedly only a 5th-Order. And his hard steel head had exploded so thoroughly that not even dust remained.
“…”
With the ability to instantly kill a high-order esper, was this arrogant woman before them really only a 5th-Order?
Suddenly, everyone remembered that higher-level espers could hide their level from other espers. So… could this woman be a high-order esper even higher than the 7th-Order???
“Look…”
While everyone was stunned into silence by the death of the steel-bodied esper, Ren Chenxi spoke up unhurriedly.
“Can you all listen to me properly? I have a bad temper. If you attack me so casually, I really will fight back!”
The words “fight back” frightened the espers who had just attacked her into taking a step back in unison, hiding behind the growing crowd. As for the newly arrived onlookers, they stared at the headless corpse of one of their base’s only five 7th-Order espers—the one with the absolute highest defense—lying face down on the ground just like that. Even more terrifyingly, the corpse still maintained its silver, metallic Steel Body form!
Such terrifying deterrence of strength frightened everyone present into absolute silence. Even the injured Mother Zhou and that 5th-Order esper didn’t dare to groan anymore.
Thus, Ren Chenxi’s voice clearly reached the ears of everyone present.
“Although attacking people in your base is wrong, wasn’t it you who first slandered and attacked me before I fought back? You idiots6 actually bought that old hag’s pathetic act? You really think Zhou Zhilong was innocent? Do you even know what his actual esper ability was? Didn’t you ever stop to wonder how he managed to easily awaken a second and third system? Let me tell you the truth: Zhou Zhilong’s real ability was Plunder! Yes, indeed—he could literally steal the powers of other living espers, up to a maximum limit of three!”
“You… you’re talking bull—”
Hearing his son’s ability being exposed, Father Zhou instinctively wanted to refute her, but receiving only a casual glance from Ren Chenxi, he was so frightened that he swallowed the rest of his words back down.
Hearing Ren Chenxi’s words, the others went from shock to thinking back, recalling Zhou Zhilong’s initial ability and his subsequent ones.
After warning Father Zhou, Ren Chenxi continued, “I don’t care whether you believe it or not. Anyway, some of you should think about whether any close friends or relatives of yours disappeared, and Zhou Zhilong just happened to acquire their esper abilities. Oh, and right, there’s also strength espers. Plundering duplicate abilities allowed Zhou Zhilong to advance his ability in tier, so you should think about whether any of your strength-system relatives or friends have gone missing!”
Following Ren Chenxi’s words, many of the onlookers indeed fell into deep thought. And some had already begun to discuss in low voices. Clearly, they had indeed noticed some anomalies.
Footnotes
- A Chinese idiom meaning to make an outrageous demand or ask for an exorbitant price, metaphorically comparing the demand to the wide-open mouth of a roaring lion.
- Biaodi refers to a younger male cousin on one's mother's side or a maternal aunt's/uncle's son.
- Bababa is an onomatopoeia mimicking continuous, rapid, and annoying chatter or complaining.
- Po zangshui, literally splashing dirty water, is a Chinese idiom meaning to slander, smear, or fling mud at someone to ruin their reputation.
- Maican, literally selling misery, is internet slang meaning to exaggerate or fake one's hardships to gain sympathy or play the victim.
- Chunhuo, a harsh insult meaning idiots, blockheads, or fools.
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