My Romance Game Updated – Chapter 64

The Sucker

At 5:00 a.m., everyone was still asleep. Ren Chenxi, fighting off sleepiness, commandeered the kitchen. She washed rice, chopped vegetables, prepped ingredients, and cut up some wolf meat strips for Tantan’s breakfast. When the first person came downstairs, Ren Chenxi started cooking the congee in the pot.

As Zhang Tongqi and the others sheepishly thanked Ren Chenxi for the made-with-love breakfast, Mu Ning also took a sip of the congee Ren Chenxi had served her. The SR-rank Explosion Card was in hand~

            

With 10 SR-rank Explosion Cards, Ren Chenxi didn’t hesitate this time, synthesizing them into two SSR cards. Looking at the multitude of cards in her inventory—from Flash Cards and Invisibility Cards to Shield Cards—Ren Chenxi figured that since Mu Ning and the others were going out hunting soon, she could use the opportunity to check out the beach.

Thus, after everyone had eaten their fill, rested for a bit, and prepared to set out, Ren Chenxi was just about to feign a stomachache and say she wasn’t going today, when Fan Juntian suddenly arrived with a group of people. Seeing Fan Juntian, Zhang Tongqi, Wu Tong, and the other girls immediately looked vigilant. Next door, Chen Gu and the other guys also hurried over, showing a highly unwelcoming attitude as they demanded to know what Fan Juntian was doing here.

Faced with everyone’s intense hostility, Fan Juntian uncharacteristically flashed a good-natured smile at Mu Ning. After dropping his usual nauseatingly affectionate lines, he finally stated his true purpose for coming.

            

He wanted to buy a Crystal Core Engine from Ren Chenxi.

In three days, the Fan family had learned that Qi Sheng had obtained a Crystal Core Generator and a Crystal Core Engine. They didn’t particularly want the generator; the only thing that tempted them was the engine. It was two years into the apocalypse. The gasoline in almost all the gas stations around H City had been pumped dry by survivors. If they wanted to travel further to search for supplies—and the various poisonous plants Fan Juntian needed—the gas they had hoarded simply wouldn’t be enough!

So when Fan Juntian learned that Qi Sheng had an engine that only required crystal cores to run, he almost wanted to seize it at all costs. However, the dissuasion of those around him, combined with Qi Sheng’s status and strength in the base, made Fan Juntian dismiss the idea. But he was unwilling to simply give up on the Crystal Core Engine. After making numerous inquiries, Fan Juntian found out that Qi Sheng had bought the engine from Ren Chenxi.

            

He couldn’t rob Qi Sheng of his engine, but buying one from Ren Chenxi should be easy enough, right? Even if Chen Gu’s group hated him and didn’t want Ren Chenxi to sell it to him, he had plenty of methods to secure it. If all else failed… he would just find an opportunity to capture and control that Ren Chenxi.

Of course, the prerequisite for all this was that Ren Chenxi actually had another Crystal Core Engine.

Before coming to Ren Chenxi, Fan Juntian had been very worried that she might be out of stock. However, a subordinate in charge of intelligence gathering told him that Qi Sheng had bought one generator and one engine, and that Ren Chenxi had kept one generator for her own use, so it was estimated she also kept one engine.

            

Thanks to his subordinate’s detailed intelligence, when a scowling, impatient Chen Gu said Ren Chenxi had no more engines, Fan Juntian didn’t give up. Ignoring Chen Gu and the others who repeatedly tried to chase him away, he just smiled at Ren Chenxi and tempted her with crystal cores: “I heard Qi Sheng bought the engine from you for 200,000 1st-order crystal cores. Well then, I’ll offer double the price. With this kind of sincerity, would Ren-meimei be willing to sell me another engine?”

Although the address “Ren-meimei” was disgusting, it couldn’t be denied that Ren Chenxi was indeed tempted by Fan Juntian’s offer of 400,000 1st-order crystal cores. Seeing signs of her wavering, Fan Juntian confirmed she still had an engine and pushed further: “And out of these 400,000 1st-order crystal cores, there are one hundred 4th-order crystal cores and one thousand 3rd-order crystal cores~”

3rd and 4th-order crystal cores were highly beneficial for the espers in their current team to advance! So, ignoring the objections of Zhang Tongqi, Chen Gu, and even Mu Ning, Ren Chenxi readily agreed to sell the Crystal Core Engine to Fan Juntian.

            

“This is the very last engine. I originally wanted to save it for ourselves when we ran out of gas.”

“Yes, yes, yes, thank you Ren-meimei for parting with your treasure~” Ren Chenxi’s reluctant expression made Fan Juntian celebrate his own brilliance. Sure enough, coming to try his luck with her was the right move. But then again, this woman was unbelievably stupid. Once everyone ran out of gas in the future, this Crystal Core Engine would be even more precious; no amount of crystal cores would likely be enough to trade for one. Yet she was actually selling it to him now for a mere 400,000 1st-order crystal cores? Tsk tsk tsk, she really was just as stupid as her brother, Ren Muhui.

On the surface, Fan Juntian showed Ren Chenxi all sorts of gratitude, but in his heart, he looked down on her even more.

            

One of the people accompanying Fan Juntian was a spatial esper. As soon as Ren Chenxi nodded in agreement, he took out three large sacks of crystal cores. Although Zhang Tongqi and Chen Gu were extremely unwilling, since Ren Chenxi had made her decision, they couldn’t say much more and could only help her count the crystal cores in the sacks. Making an excuse to fetch the engine, Ren Chenxi turned and went upstairs to the second floor.

Mu Ning followed Ren Chenxi. She had originally wanted to urge Ren Chenxi again not to sell the engine to a person like Fan Juntian—not to sell to their mutual enemy. But upon seeing Ren Chenxi pull another engine out of her inventory with a smug, slightly gloating expression, she suddenly seemed to understand something. This engine probably had a problem.

Realizing this, Mu Ning gave up on persuading her. She took the engine from Ren Chenxi’s hands, and after the two dawdled for a little while longer, they carried the “problematic” engine downstairs. Downstairs, Chen Gu and the others were still counting the crystal cores. With so many people helping, they were already halfway done.

            

Zhang Tongqi and the others refused to let Fan Juntian inside the house, so he waited eagerly at the door. When he saw Mu Ning indeed carrying a machine, his eyes immediately lit up. As for Chen Gu and the others, their expressions grew even more displeased, though their counting speed picked up considerably.

“All done, Xi-jie. One hundred 4th-order crystal cores, one thousand 3rd-order crystal cores, and 200,000 1st-order crystal cores—no mistakes.”

Once the last crystal core was counted, Ren Chenxi had Mu Ning hand the engine over to Fan Juntian’s group, while Zhang Tongqi and the others could only watch resentfully from the side. The moment Fan Juntian got the engine, he hurriedly signaled his people to leave. He couldn’t wait to go back and test its performance and crystal core consumption rate.

            

As soon as Fan Juntian left, Zhang Tongqi held it in and held it in, until she finally couldn’t hold it in any longer. With some resentment, she asked Ren Chenxi, “Xi-jie, why did you sell the engine to Fan Juntian? You know what he did…” He caused Xiao Jia to become addicted to drugs and suffer so much torment! So why give such a great engine to a scum like him!

Ren Chenxi smiled at Zhang Tongqi. She was just about to tell her what the trick with the engine was when Mu Ning, standing to the side, preemptively whispered an explanation on her behalf: “There’s a problem with that engine!”

“Huh??? Really?”

            

Ren Chenxi didn’t answer. She merely glanced around. Seeing that some people next door were still craning their necks to peek, she ushered everyone inside. Only after the front door was closed did she explain unhurriedly, “There is indeed a problem with that engine. Otherwise, why wouldn’t I take it out for our own use?”

Hearing Ren Chenxi say this, the unwillingness on everyone’s faces vanished instantly, replaced by poorly concealed delight and satisfaction. Overjoyed, Zhang Tongqi quietly asked, “Then Xi-jie, what’s wrong with that engine?”

What was wrong with it? Only that after 7 days, it would be recalled by the system.

            

Back when Ren Chenxi had searched for engines, the first few options she had skipped over were engines with a limited usage period. She was very familiar with this kind of time-limited merchandise—wasn’t it just another scheme by major online games to trick players into spending money¹? And this Apocalypse Mall was even more ruthless in swindling money! A 1-day engine cost 5,000 crystal stones, and a 7-day engine cost 20,000. These terrible prices had made Ren Chenxi skip past the limited-time items immediately after searching. She hadn’t expected to be able to use these terrible-value items to scam 400,000 crystal stones out of Fan Juntian now~

Of course, the engine being time-limited was too outrageous an answer to share. Besides, even if she said it, they might not believe her. Thus, Ren Chenxi began to lie through her teeth: “I’m not exactly sure what the specific problem is. Anyway, when those people gave it to me, they said the engine probably wouldn’t last very long and advised me to find someone to fix it. But the people in our base can’t even build a Crystal Core Generator; how could they possibly have the ability to repair a Crystal Core Engine? So I just kept it in storage. I didn’t expect Fan Juntian to show up right on time to be the sucker²~”

“Wouldn’t last very long? Then what if Fan Juntian uses it for a while, it breaks down, and he comes looking for us?” Zhang Tongqi asked worriedly.

            

“Hey, hey, hey, why would they come looking for us? Who’s to say they didn’t break the engine themselves while using it?” Chen Gu retorted craftily³.

“Or maybe the engine will break down halfway through a drive, leaving them stranded outside the base~” Even Jian Dan started guessing with gloating delight.

“Be bolder!” Wu Tong rolled her eyes and cursed maliciously. “What if the car gets halfway and the engine explodes~”

            

Wu Tong’s bold speculation immediately elicited a chorus of hearty laughter from the group. Looking at everyone’s smiling faces, Ren Chenxi could only quietly rebut in her heart: What a pity. This engine will merely vanish without a trace in 7 days.

After everyone had a good laugh, looking at the three burlap sacks of crystal cores was much more pleasing to the eye. No matter what, Fan Juntian was taking a loss on these three sacks, yet he had left with an expression as if he had scored a massive bargain. What a giant idiot~

Zhang Tongqi pointed at the three black plastic bags for Ren Chenxi, helpfully explaining, “Xi-jie, the first bag has one hundred 4th-order crystal cores and one thousand 3rd-order crystal cores. The remaining two bags are all 1st-order crystal cores.”

            

Hearing this, Ren Chenxi pondered for only a moment before stowing the two bags of 1st-order crystal cores into her inventory, exchanging them for 200,000 crystal stones. She didn’t touch the bag of 4th-order and 3rd-order crystal cores, however. Instead, she looked at Mu Ning and said, “Distribute these 3rd and 4th-order crystal cores to everyone so they can upgrade their esper abilities?”

Hearing Ren Chenxi’s words, Mu Ning immediately frowned in displeasure. “They should rely on themselves to acquire crystal cores for upgrading. Why would they take the cores you earned from selling the engine? Besides, don’t you need crystal cores very badly yourself?”

“That’s right, Xi-jie, keep these crystal cores to upgrade yourself! We can use our esper abilities more often to upgrade on our own, and we can hunt for crystal cores ourselves.” As soon as Mu Ning finished speaking, the others chimed in in agreement.

            

Seeing everyone’s resolute refusal, Ren Chenxi thought for a moment and added, “How about this, then? Trade me your 1st-order crystal cores for these. To me, one thousand 1st-order crystal cores and one 4th-order crystal core are exactly the same anyway.” Regardless of the tier, her crystal cores were ultimately converted into crystal stones to draw cards. However, for 3rd-order espers like Zhang Tongqi and Chen Gu, only 3rd-order crystal cores could effectively accelerate their advancement.

“Really?” Everyone looked at Ren Chenxi suspiciously.

“It’s true!” Ren Chenxi nodded earnestly. “Think about it—all those low-order crystal cores I collected from Qi Sheng earlier have already been used up. If they were truly useless, I wouldn’t have kept a pile of them to waste!”

            

Seeing that Ren Chenxi’s expression didn’t seem fake, Mu Ning hesitated for a moment. But seeing the persistence on Ren Chenxi’s face, she nodded and told Chen Gu, “Then bring out all your low-order crystal cores to exchange!”

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The author has something to say:

Mutou (Wood): The made-with-love breakfast my wifey made for me~ It’s so delicious~

            

Xixi: It’s a made-with-love breakfast for everyone!

Tantan: Meow meow meow meow, every day Master makes me a made-with-love breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea, dinner, and late-night snack, meow meow meow~~~

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