My Romance Game Updated – Chapter 75
by Little PandaBiding Time
“After I left, how was your harvest this morning?” Before announcing the ‘good news,’ Mu Ning wanted to see if her lackeys had taken the opportunity to slack off during her absence.
“Wow! Boss, our harvest this morning was incredible~” Speaking of the morning’s gains, Chen Gu’s face filled with pride and excitement. “We hunted two 2nd-order mutated rabbits and one 1st-order mutated chicken. Fang Hong and the others also picked a lot of mushrooms and dug up plenty of fresh bamboo shoots~ Oh, right, Huo Keyu even found a large cluster of cumin~~~ We can add another flavor to the BBQ stall~”
“That’s it?” Mu Ning looked dissatisfied. “Weren’t there any large mutated beasts, like mutated wild bulls or mutated wild boars?”
“Boss—” Chen Gu and the others felt deeply wronged. “You set out with us. To save on gas, the bus could only circle the perimeter of the base! Even if there were other large mutated beasts nearby, they were probably already hunted by other survivors from the base!”
“Yeah, Boss, don’t just criticize us. What did you and Xi-jie go do all morning? And Boss, you even got injured…”
As Zhang Tongqi spoke up, Tantan, who had been circling Ren Chenxi, grew increasingly excited. Its purring was almost as loud as a tractor.
“Eh? Why does it feel like Tantan is more excited today than usual?” Jian Dan found it a bit strange.
“Well, probably because…” Ren Chenxi squatted down to pet Tantan, calmly explaining, “Tantan smelled the lingering seafood scent on me.”
“Seafood scent?” Zhang Tongqi exclaimed, then quickly realized. “B-Boss, did you and Xi-jie go to the beach this morning???”
“Yeah, I came back this morning to get Ren Chenxi to accompany me to the beach.”
As soon as Mu Ning finished speaking, Chen Gu shrieked in excitement, “Boss! Then why didn’t you take us with you! You knew the beach was so dangerous…”
“Take you for what? You can only hunt little chickens and ducks. Was I supposed to take you to deliver yourselves as a snack1 to the mutated octopus? Even someone like me got injured. Do you think you guys could withstand a few slaps from its tentacles?”
“…B-but Boss, why did you specifically only seek out Xi-jie?” Chen Gu clearly knew that with their current strength, standing before the mutated octopus would only mean throwing their lives away, but he was still a bit indignant.
After all… they had followed their Boss through life and death in the apocalypse for two years! Yet at a critical moment, why did she only think of leaving them behind and seeking out Xi-jie, whom she had known for less than a few days?
While Chen Gu harbored his resentment, Ren Chenxi very cooperatively pulled a massive section of octopus tentacle out of her inventory. The shortest tentacle had been over a dozen metres long, so Ren Chenxi had decisively chopped all eight tentacles into three sections each.
The moment this segment of octopus tentacle appeared, everyone was so shocked they almost forgot to breathe. Tantan, who had been circling Ren Chenxi non-stop, let out an excited awooo and lunged straight at it. Before Ren Chenxi could even stop the cat, Tantan had already gnawed a small hole into the tentacle.
“…” Tantan’s mutated bite force really was strong! Thankfully, the cat always knew its limits when playing around with her. Otherwise, with her fragile skin, Tantan would probably have gnawed several holes into her by now!
“No, Tantan!” Before the cat could excitedly take a second bite, Ren Chenxi sternly pinched the scruff of its neck and hoisted it up. “You’re so small. You can’t eat this much octopus meat all at once!”
“Tantan’s actual body size is bigger than this…” Mu Ning couldn’t help but remind her.
“Even so, it can’t eat this entire section!” Ren Chenxi said, pulling that flashy and garish2 long blade out of her inventory to slice the tentacle section into smaller pieces.
Hoisted up and then set back down, Tantan seemed to understand Ren Chenxi’s meaning. It trotted happily into the kitchen and brought out its dedicated stainless steel food bowl. Out of habit, Ren Chenxi patted Tantan’s fluffy little head, then raised the flashy blade to slice the octopus for the cat.
As for the surrounding crowd, they no longer had the energy to roast that excessively gaudy blade in Ren Chenxi’s hand. From the moment the octopus tentacle was pulled out, they had been too stunned to speak.
After a long while, Chen Gu finally asked Mu Ning with a tremble in his voice, “B-Boss, is the thing Xi-jie is feeding Tantan… from that 7th-order mutated octopus?”
Mu Ning calmly nodded. “Yes.”
“I-is it… Did you and Xi-jie kill the 7th-order octopus together?”
“Yes.”
“…” Alright, no wonder the Boss didn’t want to bring them along for the risk. Bringing them would have been delivering snacks, but bringing Xi-jie meant stomping noobs3? But that wasn’t right either! Boss was 5th-order and Xi-jie was 4th-order. Leaping across tiers to fight a high-tier mutated octopus—wasn’t it really the octopus stomping the Boss and Xi-jie instead? Boss had even gotten injured, hadn’t she!
Seeing the shock and doubt on her lackeys’ faces, Mu Ning dropped another bombshell. “Given enough crystal cores, Ren Chenxi’s combat power is even higher than mine. That mutated octopus was severely wounded by her.”
“…” Now Chen Gu and the others completely lost their ability to formulate a response. Boss! Your level is higher than Xi-jie’s, but it turns out she’s stronger than you. Why do you sound so proud of that!
Compared to the shock and disbelief of Chen Gu, Zhang Tongqi, and the others, Jian Dan’s group—who had been the first to witness Ren Chenxi’s formidable esper ability—did not doubt Mu Ning’s words in the slightest. Instead, they excitedly questioned Ren Chenxi, “Xi-jie, was it that headshot ability of yours? That 3rd-order esper from before who could harden his entire body to stone was easily headshot by you! I noticed you don’t use it often. So it actually consumes crystal cores?”
“Yeah, something like that.” Ren Chenxi thought about it. Her card ability was indeed tied to how many crystal cores she possessed. The more crystal cores she had, the more cards she could draw. “But against a high-tier mutated octopus, I couldn’t headshot it directly. I could only blow off a portion of its HP.”
“…” Even just blowing off a portion of its HP was already incredibly badass4, alright?! If the rest of them went up, they probably wouldn’t even be able to scratch a single layer of the mutated octopus’s health bar!
Connecting this to the massive amount of crystal cores Ren Chenxi had hoarded over the past few days, everyone gained a new understanding of her true strength. Didn’t they hear the Boss personally admit her power? Didn’t they see the Boss was injured, while Ren Chenxi stood there completely unharmed? Didn’t they see the 7th-order mutated octopus—which had annihilated so many survivor squads from their base—now being extravagantly fed to a cat?
For a moment, everyone looked at Ren Chenxi with profound reverence. Especially Sun Jia.
“Xi-jie’s strength really is amazing! You clearly had a stomachache this morning, yet you still managed to follow the Boss to the beach to kill a mutated octopus!”
“…”
So, can we just let the stomachache excuse slide?!
“Meow, meow, meow~” A sticky, affectionate meow broke the somewhat solemn atmosphere. It turned out Tantan had finished the octopus in its bowl and wanted to pester Ren Chenxi for a second helping. From Tantan’s continuous purring, Ren Chenxi knew the cat truly loved the octopus tentacle, and perhaps other seafood as well.
Thinking of the other seafood, Ren Chenxi immediately pulled out the five iron buckets and four plastic bags she had harvested. The frozen, rock-solid iron buckets and plastic bags hit the ground with a thud, once again drawing everyone’s attention. The iron buckets, in particular, were glaringly obvious—they contained several massive razor clams, frozen stiff.
“It’s seafood! All kinds of seafood!”
Even though they were stationed in a base at a seaside town, the survivors—thwarted by the powerful mutated sea monsters—had longed for seafood for ages, only able to satisfy their cravings in their dreams. Never did they expect that one day, they would actually see so much… frozen-solid seafood in reality!
It was the apocalypse; no one would say no to food, especially delicious food!
Instantly, the room full of people was ready to erupt into cheers.
Fortunately, before anyone could scream in excitement, Mu Ning shot them a cold glare, instantly silencing the room.
“Keep it down! Do you want everyone nearby to know that someone from our squad killed the 7th-order mutated octopus?”
No one wanted to attract unnecessary trouble in the base. Thus, everyone obediently, quietly, and while secretly swallowing their saliva, deftly began packing away the rock-hard frozen seafood. There were razor clams, abalones, scallops, oysters, crabs, lobsters, and more…
While processing the seafood, the group, wondering how it all got frozen so solidly, learned another earth-shattering piece of news. Their Boss had advanced a tier again! Not only had she advanced, but she had mutated an ice-system esper ability! Moreover! The already formidable Xi-jie was now also 5th-order!!!
For a moment, everyone felt a mix of sorrow and happiness.
The sorrow was because the Boss and Xi-jie leveled up far too quickly. It felt like they would never be able to catch up, doomed to trail behind them forever, shamelessly dragging them down. The happiness was because… lying flat5 and enjoying the carry felt far too good!
That afternoon, their lunch turned into a seafood feast. Steamed crab, salt and pepper razor clams, scallion oil abalone slices, garlic vermicelli oysters… The originally steamed rice remained the staple, and the other stir-fried dishes weren’t wasted either. Anyway, people’s appetites had generally increased a lot since the apocalypse began; even with several extra seafood dishes, they could still pack it all away.
However, since they didn’t want the rest of the base to smell the seafood, they ate the meal rather stealthily. After lunch, Chen Gu and the others excitedly discussed whether they could go to the beach that afternoon to gather seafood as well, since the high-tier mutated octopus was gone. Although Xi-jie had brought back a lot, in the apocalypse, who would ever complain about hoarding too much food?
More importantly, the mutated seafood by the beach also had crystal cores for them to harvest!
Hearing their request, Ren Chenxi turned to look at Mu Ning, waiting for her to make the decision. Indeed, there were too many survivors hunting around the perimeter of the base now, leaving relatively few large mutated beasts for them to catch. If they wanted to hunt more mutated beasts, they either had to travel further out or risk going to the beach.
Now that the biggest threat at the beach was resolved, the South Sea beach would eventually become the next hunting ground for the base’s survivors, at least until the next high-tier sea monster was born. Naturally, it was also a prime spot to harvest massive amounts of crystal cores. Just from this one haul alone, Ren Chenxi had already collected over 13,000 crystal stones from the frozen mutated seafood.
Increasing just her own strength certainly wasn’t enough. Since they had the means now, Ren Chenxi naturally hoped Jian Dan and the others could level up as well. In this cruel apocalypse, no one wanted to stay stagnant forever.
Meeting Ren Chenxi’s gaze, Mu Ning shook her head slightly and said calmly, “For the next few days, you will continue hunting around the base perimeter. No one is allowed to go to the beach, and absolutely no one is to mention this to anyone else!”
“Ah! Why, Boss! The 7th-order octopus is already dead!”
The moment Mu Ning finished speaking, a chorus of wails erupted.
“Yes, the 7th-order mutated octopus is dead, and this will sooner or later be discovered by the survivors who still brave the beach.”
“Then why can’t we…”
“Of course we can go to the beach, and we can even go openly, but—only after those survivors discover that the 7th-order mutated octopus is gone!”
The author has something to say:
Mutou (proud): My Xixi is super strong!
Tang ‘Dream Crystal’ ‘Tool Person’ ‘CP Chief’ Ying (excited): So Goddess, are you the one on the bottom then!!! (Imagines a 10,000-word action scene in her head)
Footnotes
- A Chinese internet slang term ('sòng cài', literally 'delivering dishes') meaning to offer oneself up as easy prey, feed the enemy, or go on a suicide mission.
- A Chinese term (huālihúshào) for something that is overly ornate, flashy, or gaudy to the point of being impractical or tacky.
- A gaming slang term ('nüè cài', literally 'abusing vegetables') referring to high-level players easily crushing or stomping much weaker opponents (noobs).
- A slang term ('niú pí', a euphemism for 'niú bī') meaning incredibly awesome, badass, or overpowered.
- 'Lying flat' (tǎng píng) is a Chinese cultural buzzword referring to doing the bare minimum to get by, rather than striving or fighting against overwhelming odds.
0 Comments