My Romance Game Updated – Chapter 34
by Little PandaThe Base
“Xi… Xi-jie, you… how did you know Fan Juntian does drugs?”
“My brother told me.” Ren Chenxi subconsciously pinned it on Ren Muhui again, but after a moment’s thought, she realized that answer wasn’t quite right. She could only brace herself and explain with a mix of truth and lies. “My brother said that Fan Juntian once tried to hire someone to harm him with drugs. Luckily, my brother was sharp and ran away immediately. Since Fan Juntian wanted to use drugs on my brother, it means he definitely has a lot on hand. My brother suspected that this rich young master must be using them himself in private. Sure enough, one day, Fan Juntian collapsed on the sports field, convulsing. The school announced that he’d had a medical episode, but my brother was convinced it was withdrawal.”
“Fan Juntian tried to harm Ren Muhui with drugs in the past?” Mu Ning, who had been quiet, suddenly became agitated again. “How come I didn’t know about this? Why didn’t Ren Muhui ever tell me?”
“Heh, did you ever care about Ren Muhui before? Do you know when he stopped living in the school dorms? Besides, you used to be unwilling to even listen to him say an extra word, so how could he possibly tell you about these troubles!”
“…” It was true, in the past, I found even looking at Ren Muhui to be an annoyance… Mu Ning pressed her lips together, finally managing a soft, “I’m sorry.”
Seeing the atmosphere grow tense again, Chen Gu quickly interjected to change the subject.
“Yes, that’s right, Fan Juntian does drugs. But he’s not afraid of people knowing. First, it’s the apocalypse; even if he does drugs in a group, he’s not worried about the police coming to arrest him. Second, Fan Juntian’s esper ability requires drugs to be maintained. For this reason, he even specially cordoned off a plot of land in his Fan family’s residential area to grow poppies.”
“Eh? There’s an esper ability that needs drugs to be maintained?” Song Xin felt like her three views on superpowers had been refreshed again.1
“Fan Juntian’s ability is poison smoke. He can release a cloud of toxic green smoke to poison his enemies. According to Fan Juntian himself, if he wants to maintain the toxicity of his poison smoke, he has to keep taking drugs.”
“Tsk tsk tsk, he was already a rotten person to begin with, and even his ability is so bizarre!” Tang Ying, who had no love for Fan Juntian, immediately rolled her eyes in disgust. “A person like that, who does drugs and carries poison, is someone we really need to stay away from!”
“But with food being so hard to grow now, how can Fan Juntian still grow poppies?” Jian Dan, who didn’t know Fan Juntian, was more focused on food. “This person is such a waste. If he can grow poppies, why not grow some grain?”
“To grow the poppies, the Fan family specially dug up dozens of baskets of uncontaminated soil from the suburbs. Plus, there’s a wood-system esper in their faction. With him around, keeping some plants alive is no problem. And who knows where they found a few professional drug manufacturers. As for growing grain… Hmph, people like them, who have climbed to such high positions, would they get their own hands dirty to grow food? It’s much more comfortable to just sit back and wait for others to offer it to them!”
Chen Gu’s words made everyone’s impression of Fan Juntian and the Fan family even worse. Tang Ying was even more blunt with her displeasure. “Mu-xuejie is a water- and wood-system esper. So now that Fan Juntian is pursuing Mu-xuejie, how much of it is genuine, and how much is for personal gain?”
“Forget now, even back then when he was chasing Mu-xuejie, I bet it was because he knew about her family background,” Yang Xiangrui chimed in from the side.
“Alright, that’s enough. It’s almost your turn. Don’t worry, I know the person handling registration inside. I’ve already given them a heads-up. You just need to fill in your name, gender, and ability normally. If you don’t have an ability, just write ‘none.’ However, those without abilities might need to be quarantined for an additional 24 hours before entering the base.”
Espers couldn’t be infected by the zombie virus, but ordinary people could. This measure was for the safety of the base, so the students without abilities all expressed their understanding. Huo Keyu also just nodded quietly.
Jian Dan turned back and gave Huo Keyu a reassuring hug, smiling as she said, “It’s perfect. Even after we get into the base, Xi-jie and the rest of us will have to find a place to live. When you get out of quarantine, you can move right in with us~”
Unexpectedly, Huo Keyu, who had gotten along quite well with everyone on the journey, suddenly shook her head. “No, after we enter the base, I won’t be following you guys anymore. I… the ones being quarantined are all ordinary people. I’ll try to see if I can join up with them…”
“There are good and bad people among the ordinary folks too!” Understanding what Huo Keyu meant, Chang Ling quickly tried to dissuade her. “Keyu, we’ve all gotten along so well. C-could you really bear to abandon us like this…”
Knowing Chang Ling’s good intentions, Huo Keyu just gave a bitter smile and shook her head. “It’s all thanks to you that I was able to reach this base safely. And on the way here, I couldn’t help with anything. Following you would only drag you down. To just enjoy your care for free, I…” She felt terrible about it and didn’t want to live such a useless life.
As soon as Huo Keyu finished speaking, the few other S University students without abilities also grew uneasy.
Sensing everyone’s rising anxiety, Zhang Tongqi quickly tried to comfort them. “Don’t worry, everyone. Although espers have an advantage in the base, ordinary people can live well here too! It can’t be that in the apocalypse, people without abilities shouldn’t be allowed to live, right?”
“Right, right!” Chen Gu chimed in with an explanation. “The base also posts missions that ordinary people can complete. And people with certain skills can find work, like in the construction teams, the base cafeteria… They also recruit some technical personnel…” At this point, Chen Gu saw that instead of being comforted, everyone was getting more anxious, so he quickly added, “Oh, oh, oh! Right! Ordinary people can also do business in the base. Some people go outside the base to pick mushrooms or dig for wild vegetables to sell. Some people try to grow their own fresh vegetables. A lot of the vegetables in the base are supplied by these ordinary people!”
“What else? What else?” one of the S University girls without an ability asked, her eyes shining as she looked at Chen Gu.
“…” He didn’t know what else either!
Sigh, what a hassle. The previous batch of giant babies from S University were always leeching off them, and they found it disgusting. This new batch of S University students clearly wanted to be independent, but… they, as espers, really had no idea what other jobs were available for ordinary people in the base!
“Umm… you can also do some handicrafts and set up a stall… and…” Zhang Tongqi also scratched her head, racking her brains without coming up with anything more.
“The rest you can slowly find and discover for yourselves! Don’t worry! As long as a person is diligent, they can always support themselves!” Mu Ning, who had been silent, suddenly spoke up. She glanced at Huo Keyu, then at the other S University students without abilities, and continued, “Although what you do with your lives from now on is your own business, I must still advise you to try your best not to stick only with other ordinary people. On the surface, the base might seem peaceful and stable, but this is the apocalypse. Even people like Fan Juntian dare to do drugs openly, so some darkness is unavoidable. If other people find out your group doesn’t even have a single esper, what kind of treatment you’ll receive… you can imagine for yourselves.”
Mu Ning’s voice was still cold and indifferent, but the S University students could all hear the concern she had for them. They quickly thanked her and then went in one by one to register, as the line had finally reached them.
Chen Gu was right; compared to ordinary people, registration for espers was indeed simpler. After filling in her name, Ren Chenxi hesitated when she got to the ability column.
Actually, Ren Chenxi had always had a question. She could see the ability level of other espers, and espers could sense each other’s levels. So, how did they see her, an ordinary person who only had skills given by the system? Back when she first met Jian Dan and the others, no one had doubted her identity as an esper.
So, as an esper, what ability should she write down? And what about the ability level?
Mu Ning, who had been watching Ren Chenxi, saw her pause her pen and walked over for a look. Seeing her hesitation at the ability column, she whispered beside Ren Chenxi’s ear, “Don’t put down spatial ability.”
The sudden warmth of breath by her ear made Ren Chenxi turn her face away in discomfort. When she saw it was Mu Ning who had leaned in close, her expression soured even more. But dislike was one thing; she wasn’t so petty as to deliberately go against the advice of a base “senior” like Mu Ning out of spite. She picked up her pen and wrote “Shooting” in the ability column, paused, and then wrote down the level: 2nd-order. Mm, better to be a little modest.
“Your ability is only 2nd-order?” Mu Ning looked at her with disbelief.
Ren Chenxi instinctively wanted to snap back at her, but after seeing Mu Ning’s own ability level, an idea struck her. She deliberately asked, “Then what order do you think I am?”
“I can only sense your highest-level ability, but I don’t know if it’s shooting or spatial.” Mu Ning leaned in to whisper by her ear again. For some reason, she loved watching Ren Chenxi’s soft, white earlobe get tinged pink by her breath. “So, I only know that your highest-level ability is 4th-order.”
4th-order? My marksmanship skill is already at level 7, so where did this 4th-order come from? Ren Chenxi didn’t have time to ponder it, because after filling out her form, she had to give her spot to the next person.
It wasn’t until much later that Ren Chenxi learned her level from the character information panel. Back when this crappy game was still a dating sim, players didn’t have levels. It was only after the game update that this mostly useless player level was added. With a player level came a player experience bar. Leveling up was also simple; you just gained experience by killing monsters. As for how much experience each monster gave, Ren Chenxi had never paid attention. In any case, to Ren Chenxi, this player level was something she could take or leave. The reason she said it was fucking useless was because the level was just a number going up.2 Leveling up didn’t give any attribute bonuses, nor did it grant any extra skill points.
For Ren Chenxi, compared to this so-called player level, she was much more concerned about the level of her marksmanship skill, and… the number of crystal stones she had.
After Ren Chenxi came out of the registration room, Huo Keyu happened to be coming out from another door with the other S University students who didn’t have abilities. However, Ren Chenxi was heading directly into the base, while Huo Keyu had to follow the staff to the quarantine room.
“Huo Keyu!”
Ren Chenxi suddenly called out to her.
“?” Huo Keyu, who was at the very end of the line, turned to look at Ren Chenxi.
“I’ll come get you tomorrow, don’t worry~ After you get out, we won’t let you stay idle!”
Ren Chenxi’s words were meant for Huo Keyu, but also for the others being quarantined with her. Their group wasn’t the only one seeking refuge at Nanhai Base today; there were others too. So, besides the S University students, there were also strangers being quarantined with Huo Keyu. Although their side seemed to have the advantage in numbers, they were all young students. Ren Chenxi was still afraid that they would be at a disadvantage when facing those who were clearly seasoned members of society.
Understanding Ren Chenxi’s good intentions, Huo Keyu smiled and shouted back, “Okay!”
Seeing the smile finally appear on Huo Keyu’s tense face, Ren Chenxi returned a gentle smile of her own. Standing to the side, Mu Ning stared blankly at the familiar smile on Ren Chenxi’s face, and her heart began to pound uncontrollably again, bit by bit.
How many times in the past had she seen the same smile on Ren Muhui’s face? It was just that back then, she was completely unwilling to spare it a second glance. And now, she couldn’t seem to get enough of it…
The author has something to say:
\(≧∇≦)// Yay, double update complete~
Hope everyone enjoys the Spring Festival Gala, and enjoys the chapter too~~~
By the way, tomorrow at 10 AM, I’ll be sending out small red envelopes to the little cuties who leave a comment under this chapter~ The first 10 will get slightly bigger ones~
It’s the New Year, so let’s not have a lottery and spoil the mood~ Although the red envelopes aren’t huge, at least I can guarantee that all the little cuties who participate will get one~
Footnotes
- “Sanguan” literally means “three views” and refers to a person’s worldview, values, and philosophy of life. The phrase means to have one’s core beliefs challenged by something shocking.
- The original text uses 没什么卵用 (méi shén me luǎn yòng), a vulgar slang term literally meaning “no egg use,” with “egg” being a euphemism for testicle. It means something is completely useless.
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