My Romance Game Updated – Chapter 59
by Little PandaHeading to the Warehouse
With Sun Jia’s addiction cured and her wounds on the mend, everyone was in high spirits. As a result, that day’s breakfast was especially delicious for all. Well, all except Mu Ning.
Although she’d told Ren Chenxi she would have several more bowls of congee, she hadn’t counted on the other girls being such voracious eaters. By the time she’d slowly, nostalgically savored the single bowl Ren Chenxi had personally served her, the others had already downed two or three bowls each. When she finally went to get more, there was only enough for about two bowls left in the pot. And just as she was about to scoop some out, Wu Tong rushed over, snatched the rice ladle from her hand, and said bluntly, “Boss, you’re still eating? Sun Jia is still weak! Let’s leave the rest for her!”
Then, using a large bowl, Wu Tong ladled out every last drop of the remaining congee.
What do you mean, ‘still eating’? This mother only had one bowl, too!
Mu Ning’s face was cold, and she desperately wanted to send Wu Tong flying with her vine whip. But seeing Wu Tong carefully carry the bowl over to take care of Sun Jia, she could only suppress her anger.
Everyone except Mu Ning ate to their heart’s content that morning. Even the men in the Men’s Building next door had whipped up some kind of unknown hodgepodge and seemed to be eating with great satisfaction.
After breakfast, Zhang Tongqi eagerly proposed they go search the supermarket’s underground warehouse that morning. Ren Chenxi had been thinking about the warehouse as well. She also remembered she had to pick up Huo Keyu and the others around noon, so she added a condition: they had to be back at the base by 11 a.m. Mu Ning guessed Ren Chenxi wanted to get back to pick up the others and nodded in agreement.
“Today’s main objective is to see if that supermarket has an underground warehouse. If it does, we’ll take everything left inside and then head straight back to the base. If there’s nothing…”
Before she could finish, Zhang Tongqi bounced over and cut her off.
“Spit, spit, spit! Don’t be a crow’s mouth1, Boss! No jinxing! How could there be nothing? There’s definitely something in there!”
“…” Fine, say whatever you want.
They took the bus again. Before setting off, however, they gave it a simple patch-up. The so-called patch-up involved finding a few wooden planks and stone slabs, fitting them into the window frames where the glass had completely shattered, and then having Tang Ying crystallize them all.
Having advanced to the 3rd-order, Tang Ying could not only control the color of the crystals but also their purity. As a result, the crystallized planks and slabs in the window frames all turned into transparent crystal—so clear that from a distance, you’d think it was just ordinary glass. But this crystal glass was far tougher than the real thing.
Due to her condition, Sun Jia was left behind again. To take care of her, Wu Tong also had to stay at the villa. Tantan was left behind as well.
Having finally been reunited with its owner, Tantan naturally threw a fit, rolling around on the ground, desperate to go with Ren Chenxi. Ren Chenxi was very experienced with this behavior. Before the apocalypse, whenever it was time for her to go to class, Tantan would act cute and throw a tantrum just like this, refusing to let her leave. So how did she handle it? Simple. First, she’d peel open one of its favorite snacks. Then, she’d hold Tantan and soothe it with a soft voice. Finally, she’d have to promise Tantan she would be back by noon to make it lunch, and after lunch, she’d play with its little toys for a while.
Ren Chenxi didn’t have any snacks on hand, so she took out a small piece of fresh wolf meat instead. While Tantan was clutching the meat in its little paws, going purr purr, she took one of its small toys from her inventory, waved it at the cat, and placed it gently by its side. After making all her promises, she stood up.
Tantan was extremely familiar with this routine. As unwilling as it was, it could only meow its goodbyes as Ren Chenxi left. It had tried persisting with its tantrum before, but that had only resulted in Ren Chenxi grabbing it by the scruff of its neck and locking it in a room to suppress the rebellion. So, Tantan knew to quit while it was ahead2. If it kept making a fuss, it would be put in the little black room3. Then it wouldn’t be able to run around freely, and its owner wouldn’t play games with it when she got back.
Ren Chenxi’s practiced handling of Tantan’s clinginess only earned a couple of glances from Mu Ning, who said nothing. Zhang Tongqi, on the other hand, watched in amazement and asked Ren Chenxi how she knew how to deal with a misbehaving Tantan.
Before Ren Chenxi could answer, Mu Ning replied for her. “Ren Muhui probably taught you, right?”
Ren Chenxi felt there was a hidden meaning in Mu Ning’s words. But so what? She nodded calmly and spun a straight-faced lie. “When my ge was raising Tantan, he loved sharing his experiences with me. Over time, I heard so much that I learned how to handle all of Tantan’s little moods.”
“…” Can you really transmit experience telepathically like that and apply it so well in practice?
Zhang Tongqi and the others didn’t get it, but they were greatly shocked4.
The bus had been refueled yesterday, and it had enough to get to the supermarket and back to the base. Still, just to be safe, Ren Chenxi used up her five refreshed free daily card draws on the way. She got three greasy cards, one Costume Card, and one R-rank Explosion Card. She hadn’t used the 150,000 crystal stones she’d earned to draw cards yet. With nothing else to do on the road, she might as well use 50,000 of them for ten 10-draw gacha pulls.
That’s right. Ever since becoming a 50% Off Honored Grand Member, a 10-draw that used to cost 10,000 crystal stones now only cost her 5,000.
One 10-draw guaranteed at least one R-rank card or higher. So, from her ten 10-draws, Ren Chenxi received six R-rank Explosion Cards, four R-rank Acceleration Cards, two R-rank Illusion Cards, as well as one SR-rank recovery card and one SR-rank Shield Card. The other 86 cards were all N-ranks: forty greasy cards, thirty-one flash cards, five Costume Cards, and ten Pilfer Cards5.
Looking at the new haul in her inventory, Ren Chenxi couldn’t help but marvel. Is the probability of getting an SR-rank card from a 10-draw really this high? In that case, I’ll have to save up my crystal stones for 10-draws from now on.
What Ren Chenxi didn’t know was that among the privileges of her glittering 50% Off Honored Grand Member status, besides the store-wide discount, there was another perk: an increased drop rate for R-rank and higher cards.
While Ren Chenxi was busy drawing and synthesizing her cards, the bus had already traveled a long way from the base, though it was still quite a distance from yesterday’s supermarket. The boys and girls around her were excitedly hoping the supermarket would have an underground warehouse, preferably one still stocked with plenty of supplies. Ren Chenxi, however, rested her chin on her hand and stared blankly out the window, not joining in the youths’ discussion. The others, in turn, were too shy to disturb her.
In reality, Ren Chenxi was only pretending to look at the scenery. In private, she was stealthily6 synthesizing the excess N-cards in her inventory. She now had exactly nine R-rank Explosion Cards; with just one more, she could synthesize two more SR-rank Explosion Cards.
As for the N-cards, the god-tier flash cards were definite keepers. The greasy cards, which guaranteed a hit on low-order monsters, caused them to become oily, and always dropped a 6L bottle of all-purpose gasoline, were also untouchable. That left the Costume Cards and the Pilfer Cards. She had seven Costume Cards. Without hesitation, she used five of them to synthesize an R-card, but it only produced one R-rank Critical Hit Card.
She had thirteen Pilfer Cards left. She took out ten to synthesize. In Ren Chenxi’s opinion, the Pilfer Card wasn’t very useful. Inside the base, everyone was a survivor just trying to get by; she couldn’t bring herself to steal from them. What if she accidentally took someone’s life-saving medicine or food? These survivors, however, did not include Fan Juntian.
She thought about the dirty tricks he’d pulled on her before the apocalypse, and how he’d gotten Sun Jia addicted to drugs after it began, torturing her for so long. And from what Chen Gu and the others had said, the man was running lawless in the base. If he hadn’t done anything even more outrageous, it was only because he hadn’t yet, but not even the base leader, Qi Sheng, could control him. For scum like that, Ren Chenxi wouldn’t feel the slightest guilt or remorse using a Pilfer Card on him. So, the remaining three Pilfer Cards would be reserved for Fan Juntian.
The ten Pilfer Cards first synthesized into a Displacement Card. Thankfully, the second synthesis finally produced an R-rank Explosion Card. With that, Ren Chenxi took her ten R-rank Explosion Cards and synthesized them into two SR-rank Explosion Cards. Now, she had eight of them.
A few more days of saving up cards, a few more days of doing quests, and I’ll try to get ten SR Explosion Cards. Then I’ll synthesize them into two SSR explosion cards, and I’ll go to the beach to find that 7th-order Octopus! Right now, she had an Invisibility Card, a Shield Card, flash cards, Acceleration Cards, and Critical Hit Cards. It was just one 7th-order Octopus. Even if she couldn’t annihilate it in one go, she was confident she could ensure her own safety and escape successfully.
“We’re here! We’re here!”
As Ren Chenxi was quietly7 plotting in her mind how to use these cards against the octopus, a fervent cheer erupted beside her. The bus had arrived at the supermarket they had passed yesterday.
“Everyone, be careful. There are a lot of zombies gathered here, and we don’t know if there are any mutated beasts lurking in the ruins. Do not, under any circumstances, act alone!”
As soon as everyone was off the bus, Chen Gu, with his experience from several missions in the wild, began to give a stern warning, especially to the newcomers. They had all come to understand the dangers of H City. Even though it was daytime, no one took Chen Gu’s words lightly. So, despite their excitement, they remained orderly, gathering together and waiting for Ren Chenxi to put the bus into her inventory before moving slowly and uniformly toward the supermarket.
The author has something to say:
It’s so cold! My fingers are freezing! An author who insists on a 3,000-character daily update is already very dedicated!!!
And, here in the south, it’s obviously cold inside, but some parental behaviors are just so hard to understand! It’s this cold, so why do you have to insist on opening the windows for ventilation!
This mother just wants to stay warm, I don’t want fresh air!
Footnotes
- 'Wūyāzuǐ' (crow's mouth) is a common term for a jinx, someone whose pessimistic predictions unfortunately come true. Crows are often seen as birds of ill omen in Chinese culture.
- The idiom 'jiàn hǎo jiù shōu' means to quit while you're ahead or know when to stop when things are going well.
- 'Xiǎo hēiwū' (little black room) is slang for solitary confinement or being put in a punishment room.
- A popular Chinese internet meme phrase, 'dà wéi zhènhàn', used to express being completely and utterly shocked or blown away by something.
- The card's name, 'shùn shǒu qiān yáng', is a Chinese idiom that literally means 'to lead away a goat in passing'. It describes stealing something casually or taking advantage of an opportunity to pilfer something without much effort.
- 'Àn chuō chuō' is a slang term for doing something secretly or on the sly.
- 'Qiāo mīmī' is another slang term for doing something secretly or quietly.
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