My Romance Game Updated – Chapter 7

Water Source

Thank god. Even though the zombie’s head had been blown clean off, the Crystal Core​¹ still dropped to the ground perfectly intact. As Ren Chenxi picked up the 1st-Order Crystal Core from beside the corpse, she was surprised to see a Mobile Phone​² and a Lighter​³ lying there as well.

This Explosion Card​⁴… It doesn’t just blow a zombie’s head off, it can also blast the items right off its body?

            

The same thing happened again with other zombies. After a bit of investigation, Ren Chenxi realized these were Item Drops​⁵. To put it bluntly, it was just like when a monster explodes equipment​⁶ in an online game. She also discovered that, at some point, an auto-loot​⁷ option had appeared in the bottom-right corner of her backpack​⁸. All she had to do was check the box, and any items from zombies she killed within a 10-meter radius would automatically be sent to her inventory.

Relying on her Explosion Cards and the Auto-Loot feature, Ren Chenxi began clearing out the other 1st-Order Zombies​⁹ trapped in the hotel rooms. In addition to the guaranteed Crystal Cores, she also managed to collect chewing gum​¹⁰, a Bank Card, Nail Clippers​¹¹, Scissors, a Dagger, and even a pack of Instant Noodles​¹².

Ren Chenxi found it a little hard to understand why someone would be carrying around Scissors and a Dagger; her gut told her this zombie must have been some kind of Lawless Element​¹³ before turning. But what kind of weirdo carries a pack of Instant Noodles in their pocket? she wondered. Whatever. It’s my gain now. The item description even showed that they weren’t expired. The only problem was that the entire hotel’s power was out. Even though the rooms had water kettles​¹⁴, there was no way for her to enjoy a steaming hot bowl of noodles.

            

Sigh. To think that the Instant Noodles I used to despise before the apocalypse have now become so precious.

That single pack of Instant Noodles prompted her to check the Apocalypse Mall​¹⁵ again. Sure enough, a quick search showed that they sold Mini Cassette Stoves​¹⁶. But the price made her heart ache. The cheapest stove cost a whopping 10,000 Crystal Stones​¹⁷, and a single Gas Canister​¹⁸ for it cost another 10,000.

Forget it. I’ll just keep the precious noodles in my Backpack for now. I’ll get a chance to eat them hot eventually… right?

            

Ren Chenxi hadn’t synthesized very many Explosion Cards, so when it came time to clear out the rest of the hotel, she had to bravely challenge the zombies with nothing but her N Cards​¹⁹. But after blowing up a few heads, then a few more, she actually started to get used to it. In the process, she realized that 1st-Order Zombies really weren’t that scary. Perhaps because they had been trapped in their rooms for two years, they were all just Skin wrapping bones​²⁰. They were slow, their movements were stiff, and their attack power was low. Even if she couldn’t win a fight, she could definitely outrun them. All she had to do was duck back into a room, and they couldn’t even break through the thick door.

That first 1st-Order Zombie had only managed to break through the rolling shutter because the shutter itself was so flimsy.

Now that she had a handle on the 1st-Order Zombies’ strength, Ren Chenxi grew bolder. She started throwing Greasy Cards​²¹ and Flash Cards​²² at them without hesitation. Then, while a zombie was either blinded by the intense light or slipping and sliding on the ground, flailing helplessly as oil oozed from its body, she would finish it off. Sometimes she’d smash it from a distance with large pieces of discarded furniture; other times, she’d get in close and brutally hack its head to pieces with a Handsaw.

            

Ren Chenxi had found the Handsaw in the hotel’s first-floor warehouse. In the kitchen, she’d also discovered a sharp Kitchen Knife​²³ and a large Bone Chopper​²⁴, though it was a shame all the food there had completely rotted away. When it came to chopping off zombie heads, the Bone Chopper was obviously the better choice. But it didn’t have the reach of the Handsaw. For someone like her, who was just starting to fight zombies head-on, she definitely preferred the longer weapon.

Using a Handsaw like a cleaver felt awkward, and the whole process was just so bloody and disgusting. Ren Chenxi had to constantly hypnotize herself, chanting over and over in her head, This is just a game, this is just a game, just to force her way through it.

Thankfully, as difficult as it was, she eventually adapted. After clearing out every last 1st-Order Zombie in the hotel, she had even managed to collect five bottles of Gasoline. The containers looked just like large, 6L Peanut Oil Bottles. The only difference was that instead of a flashy wrapper, they had a simple white label with the word “Gasoline” written on it.

            

Once all the zombies in the hotel were dealt with, Ren Chenxi dragged a pile of junk from the warehouse and barricaded the main entrance. By the time she was done, all the free N Cards she’d received were gone. The few Outfit Change Cards​²⁵ and Leading a goat away in passing Cards​²⁶ she had left were pretty much useless. The only things she could do now were wait for her gacha draws to refresh and level up her Sure Hit (Advanced)​²⁷ skill.

After the game update, Ren Chenxi could no longer exchange Favorability Value​²⁸ with the Wooden Goddess​²⁹ for Skill Points​³⁰. If she wanted to level up her skills, she had to do it the old-fashioned way: by grinding Proficiency​³¹. As for how to level up Sure Hit​³²… it was simple. She just had to throw things at zombies. It didn’t matter if she killed them or not. As long as an object she threw successfully hit a zombie, the skill’s Proficiency would increase.

With the hotel entrance barricaded, Ren Chenxi went to a third-floor window. She took out one of the working Mobile Phones she’d looted, set its ringtone to the loudest possible volume, and tossed it onto the street below. As the zombies wandering the area were drawn in by the noise, she seized the opportunity and started throwing every useless item she could find in the hotel down at them. She threw the Electric Kettle from each room, along with a whole series of Ashtrays, Teacups, and Teapots. She’d initially considered using the Toothbrushes, Toothpaste, and Soap Bars from the bathrooms, but those were far too precious to waste. Fortunately, she later found a huge ring of Spare Keys at the front desk to use as projectiles instead.

            

She kept this up for two days straight. By the end, Ren Chenxi had leveled her Sure Hit (Advanced) skill to level 5, increasing its 100% accuracy range from 10 meters to 50. She finished off all the zombies she’d used for grinding by crushing them with other heavy objects from the hotel. In addition to a number of 1st-Order Crystal Cores, she managed to save up one Greasy Card and two Flash Cards, and even synthesized another Explosion Card.

Feeling confident with her level 5 Sure Hit and the few cards she had on hand, Ren Chenxi snuck out the hotel’s back door. She explored the immediate area, hoping to find useful supplies in the nearby shops. She even paid another visit to that Mobile Phone Store. Phones might not have a signal anymore, she reasoned, but at the very least, they can make noise to attract zombies, right?

Her little excursion gave Ren Chenxi a good idea of why there were so few zombies—and no other survivors—in the area. First, it was a pretty obscure tourist destination; even when she had first arrived, there hadn’t been many people around. Second, there wasn’t even a Commercial Street​³³ nearby, just a lone hotel and a handful of scattered shops. It wasn’t the kind of place that would draw a crowd. So, when the apocalypse suddenly descended, the small population that remained met a swift end. Some turned into zombies, some were killed by natural disasters, and the rest, of course, were devoured.

            

Her walk had certainly revealed its share of mangled corpses. But the stroll also confirmed a critical fact: this area might be relatively safe, but without a source of food or water, she had to leave. None of the scattered shops nearby were supermarkets or convenience stores. It was all places like a Gold and Jade Store or a Specialty Ethnic Decoration Store.

Ren Chenxi had originally planned to turtle​³⁴ in this relatively safe spot for much longer. The problem was that her dry rations required a lot of water. The Nang Flatbread​³⁵ she ate with pickled vegetables was delicious, but it always left her incredibly thirsty. It had only been a week, and despite forcing herself to ration—brushing her teeth only once a day, wiping her face with a barely damp towel, washing her hair just twice and her body only once—her water supply was dwindling fast. She’d even cut her hair to shoulder-length to conserve water, but her stock of over sixty bottles of mineral water had already shrunk to just twenty.

A Water Source was absolutely critical! This place might be safe, but she couldn’t survive here without water.

            

On the day she decided to leave the tourist area, Ren Chenxi first ate until she was completely full, then extravagantly drank half a bottle of water. With her belly full and her thirst quenched, she opened the main map to plan her next move. While the map didn’t show any red dots indicating danger, she did notice something new: since the game update, Survivor Bases​³⁶ of all sizes had appeared all over the country.

A base would definitely have a stable supply of drinking water, right? With so many Espers​³⁷ gathered in one place, there had to be at least one or two Water-System Espers. Maybe if I can find a bigger, safer-looking base with a lot of Espers, I can manage to gou for another ten years in this apocalypse.

After studying the map, Ren Chenxi decided to head south toward the coastal metropolis of H City, which was relatively close to Y City. She’d seen the great plains; now she wanted to see the ocean again. In fact, H City had been her original destination before the game update, but she’d changed her plans at the last minute to see the grasslands first. Besides, she was curious. What does the ocean even look like in the apocalypse? This is a perfect chance to find out!

            

Ren Chenxi knew that the distance between Y City and H City wasn’t that great. In peaceful times, it would have been a seven-hour drive. But this was the apocalypse. The road would be full of dangers, and the journey would undoubtedly take much longer. Thankfully, her Mini-map​³⁸ would help her pick routes with fewer red dots. And she had no intention of walking there.

She was going to drive. So what if she didn’t have a license in this game world? It was the apocalypse—who was going to pull her over for Driving without a license? The Apocalypse Mall sold RVs​³⁹, even military-grade, heavily armored Off-road RVs​⁴⁰. But with a price tag followed by a long string of zeros, all Ren Chenxi—with her thirty-odd 1st-Order Crystal Cores—could do was drool.

There were, however, several dust-covered cars in the hotel parking lot. She figured she could find one that still ran and use it as her Transportation Tool​⁴¹. Of course, the few bottles of Gasoline in her Backpack wouldn’t be nearly enough to get her all the way to H City. Fortunately, not far from the tourist area, there was a Service Area right off the Highway.

            

The second stop on Ren Chenxi’s apocalypse survival tour was set: the Service Area with the Gas Station.

---

---