My Romance Game Updated – Chapter 40

Detoxification

“Poi-poisoned?”

Ren Chenxi’s words silenced the entire room. Even Tantan, nestled in her arms, seemed to sense the gravity of the atmosphere and stopped rubbing against her and purring.

            

“Are you trying to say… Sun Jia’s poison is related to Fan Juntian?”

“To be precise, it’s a drug addiction! I suspect that besides poisoning people, Fan Juntian’s poison smoke ability can also get them addicted!” Without giving anyone a moment to recover, Ren Chenxi dropped another bombshell.

“Drug addiction? What proof do you have?” While the others were too shocked to even manage their expressions, Mu Ning, her face still a wooden mask, pressed coldly.

            

“…” This woman is so annoying. The proof is that this mother can see the debuffs on you NPCs!

But she couldn’t say that. Ren Chenxi twitched the corner of her mouth and fabricated an explanation for Mu Ning with a smile that was all skin and no flesh.​¹ “First, Sun Jia’s complexion is somewhat similar to that drug addict Fan Juntian. Second, there’s the wound on her arm. Logically, an esper’s constitution is stronger than an ordinary person’s, and their recovery ability is also quite good. Besides, you’ve all used a lot of wound medicine on Sun Jia, but her injury never healed and only got worse. I heard Zhang Tongqi say before that Sun Jia’s wound kept splitting open, so I made a bold guess. Could it be that Sun Jia was poisoned by Fan Juntian’s smoke and developed an addiction? In a state of delirium, did she tear open her wound to resist the cravings?”

Hearing Ren Chenxi’s speculation, the faces of the girls in the room grew even darker. Just then, a weak female voice spoke up. “Yes, but not entirely.”

            

The speaker was, surprisingly, Sun Jia, who had woken up in her bed at some point. She looked at Ren Chenxi with a smile. She was clearly such a gentle person, but from her words, Ren Chenxi could hear the resilient nature beneath her gentle surface.

“When the addiction acted up, I wasn’t delirious. I was perfectly lucid. I tore open my wound, hoping to use the pain to suppress… the craving.”

As soon as Sun Jia finished speaking, Wu Tong threw herself sobbing at the bedside, crying and complaining at the same time. “Xiao Jia! Why didn’t you tell us? Why did you have to… have to torture yourself like this… Tearing open a healing wound… How much must that have hurt…”

            

Zhang Tongqi’s eyes were also red as she glared at Sun Jia angrily. “Xiao Jia! Why didn’t you tell us about something so huge! Do you not see us as friends anymore!”

“That’s not it…” Sun Jia soothingly patted Wu Tong’s head with her left hand, then looked up first at Mu Ning, then back to Zhang Tongqi. “It’s because I see you as friends that I didn’t want you to know…”

“Why?” Mu Ning asked in a cold voice.

            

“…Because I didn’t want to be controlled by Fan Juntian’s poison smoke and have him use it to threaten you, Boss, into compromising with him. I… I wanted to try and see if I could kick the addiction with my own willpower, but… I could endure it at the beginning, but the longer it went on, the harder it became…”

Through Sun Jia’s low, weak, yet unfailingly gentle voice, everyone finally understood what had happened.

In fact, the day after Sun Jia was injured while saving someone, Mu Ning had taken Chen Gu, Zhang Tongqi, and the others to ask Dong Ting for wound medicine first thing in the morning. That group had made all sorts of excuses and dodged the request, refusing to give them any medicine. But that afternoon, Fan Juntian had shown up with his gang of fox friends and dog companions,​² ostensibly to apologize. He said it was an apology, but he showed no sincerity at all. They had brought wound medicine, but they refused to simply give it to Mu Ning, hinting in every other sentence that if she wanted the medicine, she would have to become Fan Juntian’s girlfriend.

            

Chen Gu was furious and immediately threw a punch at the nearest dog leg. As was to be expected, the two groups started fighting. The fight broke out right at the door to Mu Ning’s house. Even though Fan Juntian had come with medicine to apologize, Mu Ning and the others still refused to let him and his lackeys inside. It was a good thing they didn’t, because when the fight started, nothing inside the house was damaged, especially not the few pots of vegetables that were so precious in the apocalypse.

Fan Juntian was already someone most people in the base didn’t dare to provoke, so when they started a ruckus in the Villa Area, the people in the other houses shut their doors and windows tightly, wanting no part in the conflict between Fan Juntian and Mu Ning. Even if they had wanted to intervene, they didn’t have the strength.

The sounds of fighting downstairs alerted Sun Jia, who was resting upstairs. She endured the pain and went downstairs. When she looked out the window, she saw a scene that nearly made her heart stop. Mu Ning was busy using her vine whip to fight an esper who could harden his skin, and she hadn’t noticed at all that Fan Juntian, standing off to the side, was secretly releasing his poison smoke at her!

            

Without a moment’s hesitation, Sun Jia immediately pulled open the window as fast as she could, yanked off the jacket draped over her shoulders, and threw it towards Mu Ning with all her might.

“Boss, watch out! Fan Juntian is using his poison smoke!”

Sun Jia’s right arm was injured and her left arm wasn’t strong enough, so the jacket didn’t even come close to reaching Mu Ning. But upon hearing Sun Jia’s shout, Mu Ning quickly turned around. The vine whip in her hand instantly extended, wrapping around the jacket before it hit the ground, and she swung it forcefully at the poison smoke that was spreading towards her, whipping a portion of it back in Fan Juntian’s direction. Chen Gu and the other guys also reacted, quickly taking off their own shirts, holding their breath, and furiously waving to disperse the poison smoke while cursing Fan Juntian for being so despicable.

            

Although Fan Juntian’s poison smoke was toxic, it was light and airy. With no wind, it spread slowly. So with a few waves from Mu Ning, Chen Gu, and the others, the smoke gradually drifted to the side and then slowly dissipated.

Because Fan Juntian had used his poison smoke, Mu Ning went berserk and thrashed him and his group with her vine whip. In the end, the patrol team arrived with Qi Sheng and forcibly separated the two groups. Qi Sheng already had a low opinion of the Fan family, and because Fan Juntian had actually dared to release poison smoke within the base, he and his dog legs were taken away by Qi Sheng.

The base didn’t have a prison. Small-scale fights and brawls would at most earn a warning. More serious offenses resulted in confinement, and could even lead to expulsion from the base. Regarding Fan Juntian’s poison smoke ability, Qi Sheng had even created a new rule specifically for him: Fan Juntian was forbidden from releasing his poison smoke at will within the base—at the very least, he was not allowed to release it outside of the Fan family’s territory.

            

This time, Fan Juntian had openly released his poison smoke in the Villa Area, which was clearly a serious violation. Therefore, before they could even think about retaliating against Mu Ning and her group, they first had to worry about how to appease the anger of Qi Sheng and the other people in charge of the base. Even though the Fan family’s power in Nanhai Base was on par with Qi Sheng’s faction, on paper, the leader of the base was still Qi Sheng. And this time, Fan Juntian was the one who broke the rules first, so the Fan family was in the wrong no matter how you looked at it.

With Qi Sheng stepping in and showing favoritism, Mu Ning and her group, who had beaten Fan Juntian and his cronies black and blue, got off completely scot-free. Although the Fan family was unwilling to accept it, they could only swallow their resentment and had to figure out a way to bail Fan Juntian out of the base’s confinement room.

The only one who suffered any consequences was Sun Jia, who had warned Mu Ning.

            

The moment Sun Jia threw her jacket and shouted, Fan Juntian knew his plan was ruined. So, while Mu Ning and the others were dispersing the poison smoke, he released another cloud of it in Sun Jia’s direction. Fan Juntian was closer to Sun Jia’s position, and just by chance, a light breeze picked up at that moment. The breeze helped Mu Ning and her team disperse the smoke faster, but it also accelerated the smoke’s journey to the window where Sun Jia was standing.

Sun Jia quickly pulled the window shut with her only functional left hand, but she was still careless and inhaled a tiny wisp of poison smoke that seeped in through the crack.

“So that’s when you were hit by Fan Juntian’s poison smoke and got addicted? Why didn’t you tell us then?” Recalling Fan Juntian’s despicable methods, Mu Ning’s expression was clearly displeased. Learning that Sun Jia had been poisoned back then, her voice became even colder.

            

“What good would telling everyone have done?” Sun Jia shook her head with a bitter smile. “With something like drug addiction, isn’t forced withdrawal the only way? If everyone knew I was addicted, you couldn’t possibly go to Fan Juntian and demand drugs to ease my suffering, could you? Besides, if everyone went to settle the score with Fan Juntian and he found out I was addicted, given his filthy intentions towards you, Boss, what do you think would happen? I didn’t want to make things difficult for everyone, or put you in a tough spot, Boss… So… I thought I could get through it on my own…”

“But… you should have at least said something… Said something so we could help you through the withdrawal together! Why would you self-harm like that, tearing open your own wound!” Wu Tong sobbed uncontrollably by Sun Jia’s bed. She was heartbroken and angry at the same time. She wanted to punch Sun Jia, but held back because of her weak condition, so she could only pound the bed in frustration.

“Look, look, with that hot temper of yours, you definitely would have found a way to cause trouble for Fan Juntian, wouldn’t you? And it’s not just you. Now that I’ve told the truth, you’re probably all mentally planning how you’re going to give Fan Juntian death by a thousand cuts~​³ Not to mention those even more hot-headed guys upstairs…”

            

It had to be said, Sun Jia’s guess was spot on. Not only did Zhang Tongqi and the others want to teach Fan Juntian a harsh lesson, but even Jian Dan’s group and the students from S University, who didn’t know Sun Jia well, were utterly disgusted by him.

The only rational ones present were probably Ren Chenxi and Mu Ning. Ren Chenxi was calm because she was confident she could dispel this drug addiction debuff. As for Mu Ning… well, she was just that kind of cold-hearted person anyway!

But even cold-hearted people cared about their teammates.

            

“Everyone, calm down. Sun Jia is right. More important than settling scores with Fan Juntian right now is helping Sun Jia overcome her addiction!”

“But Fan Juntian, he…” Wu Tong was indignant. Her good sister’s wound, which had a chance to heal, was brutally torn open again and again, and she had to endure the agony of addiction every day. Why should the perpetrator get to continue living in a luxury mansion, enjoying all sorts of extravagant food!

“Then tell me, what can we do by going after Fan Juntian now? Deliberately starting trouble in the base is also punishable. If we explain the reason for the trouble… then Fan Juntian will find out about Sun Jia’s poisoning, and he’ll have one more piece of leverage against us! Wu Tong, get a grip. There’s no antidote for drug addiction. Even if you go and argue and fight with Fan Juntian, you won’t solve anything…”

            

“I can!”

“???”

Aside from Sun Jia, who was forced to inhale the poison smoke and became addicted, no one else present had ever come into contact with drugs. However, even without direct experience, they knew from their childhood education and from various TV shows, movies, and novels that there was truly no antidote for drug addiction. One could only rely on their own willpower to endure the cravings and force a withdrawal. So… Ren Chenxi’s sudden declaration of “I can!” made everyone momentarily doubt if they had heard her correctly.

            

“You can help Sun Jia quit?” Clearly, Mu Ning’s understanding was also that it was impossible for Ren Chenxi to instantly cure Sun Jia’s addiction.

“I can detoxify Sun Jia!” Ren Chenxi stroked Tantan’s little head, a confident smile on her face.

“You’re… you’re lying, right?” Even though she desperately wanted Ren Chenxi to be telling the truth, Wu Tong still couldn’t believe it.

            

“What if I really do detoxify Sun Jia? What if I help her completely break free from the addiction?”

“Then I won’t charge you rent!”

“Deal! You said it!”

            

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The author has something to say:

Huohuo: Yay! I can get free rent!

Wooden Goddess: Yay! I can give her free rent~

            

Luoluo: Meow meow meow meow~ I didn’t get a chance to sell cute​⁴ in this chapter, so I’ll sell cute to everyone in the comments~ Also, you can strip off my master’s vest,​⁵ but you can’t strip off cloth from anywhere else!

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