My Romance Game Updated – Chapter 77

by Little Panda

Fishing

With Ren Chenxi’s guarantee of unlimited gasoline, Chen Gu drove a long way before stopping at a beach with plenty of reefs. More reefs meant more shellfish seafood clinging to them.

After so many days of external medicinal powder application, internal anti-inflammatory medicine, and continuous healing from the Recovery Card, the hideous wound on Sun Jia’s arm had now completely healed. On today’s beach excursion, Sun Jia, Huo Keyu, and the others had strongly insisted that everyone participate. Only Tantan was left behind at the villa, pitifully left behind as a ‘left-behind child.’¹

The group was large this time, and included ordinary people without esper abilities, so both Mu Ning and Ren Chenxi had sternly instructed everyone to stick together and absolutely not wander off alone. Even if they discovered something, they had to notify everyone and act as a group.

Of course, these rules about staying together didn’t apply to Ren Chenxi and Mu Ning.

While everyone else was enthusiastically shoveling seafood on the beach, one shovel per person, Mu Ning led Ren Chenxi step by step toward the sea. Both of them wore tall rain boots, walking until the seawater rose to their calves before stopping.

Although Zhang Tongqi and the others had been diligently shoveling seafood, they kept watching Mu Ning and Ren Chenxi’s movements. When she saw the two of them walking toward the sea without any hesitation, she felt worried at first and wanted to dissuade them. But then she thought — what right did she have to advise them? The Boss and Xi-jie were people who could join forces to kill a 7th-order mutated octopus! Instead of worrying about the Boss and Xi-jie being in danger, she should focus on herself and stay alert against the mutated seafood on the beach that still had decent combat power, so she wouldn’t cause trouble for the Boss.

Still, even if she had no standing to advise the Boss, Zhang Tongqi’s attention kept drifting unavoidably toward the Boss and Xi-jie. Especially watching the two of them walk toward the sea, which was even more dangerous than the beach — her heart couldn’t help but rise into her throat. What were the Boss and Xi-jie doing? They weren’t planning to dive underwater to catch higher-level mutated sea monsters, were they?

The same went for Chen Gu, Jian Dan, and the others. These espers, relying on their abilities, kept getting distracted even when facing aggressive mutated seafood.

Fortunately, Huo Keyu, as an ordinary person with strong vigilance, reminded them from time to time, preventing these people from getting attacked by crabs and crayfish. Getting injured while shoveling low-tier seafood and having to return to base — that would be mortifying!

But precisely because of Huo Keyu’s reminders, these people openly slacked off, watching until Mu Ning and Ren Chenxi stood with seawater past their calves. Then Mu Ning flicked out a vine, wrapped a Level 3 crystal core around its tip, and threw the vine into the deeper water beyond.

Mu Ning was now at 6th-order. Her vines could extend up to 30 meters.

“Huh? The Boss and Xi-jie… they’re fishing?”

Chen Gu’s words had barely fallen when Mu Ning grabbed her vine with both hands, pulling hard. Seeing this, Ren Chenxi hurriedly grabbed the vine too, pulling with her. Several strength-espers like Chen Gu were about to help when a huge mutated fish was dragged out of the water by Mu Ning and Ren Chenxi.

The various seafood on the beach was mostly low-tier with little attack power. These creatures had been forced onto the beach and had even grown accustomed to living in the sand — for one reason only: in the sea, there were other mutated sea monsters that posed even greater threats to them.

Low-tier seafood surged onto the beach to survive, while mid-to-high-tier seafood fought each other in the sea. Without human overfishing, the various seafood in the ocean — while fighting and killing each other — still far outnumbered mutated beasts on land. At the same time, these sea creatures had much higher levels than land-based mutated beasts.

Mu Ning had only tentatively thrown a Level 3 crystal core into the sea, not expecting a mutated fish to bite immediately. And it was a 4th-order mutated fish at that.

Fortunately, although the 4th-order mutated fish was large, Mu Ning and Ren Chenxi could still pull it with their combined strength. Moreover, the mutated fish, accustomed to fighting in the sea, was even more vicious than the aggressive seafood on the beach. Even after being hauled out of the water, instead of struggling to escape, it thrashed toward Mu Ning and Ren Chenxi’s position.

However, Mu Ning simply flicked out another sharp vine that pierced through the mutated fish from head to tail, and the fish stopped thrashing.

“Whoa, this fish is huge. Wonder how the meat tastes, and whether it’d make good pickled fish²~” Ren Chenxi watched the plump, massive 4th-order mutated fish being slowly pulled onto the beach, her eyes gleaming, and she swallowed stealthily³.

That was right. The reason the two of them had suddenly decided to ignore the mutated seafood crawling all over the beach and go fish for the more dangerous, more vicious mutated fish hidden in the seawater — it all started because Ren Chenxi was craving pickled fish. Back when she was eating pickled beef noodles, Ren Chenxi had already been nostalgic for the delicious pickled fish from before the apocalypse. Now that the biggest threat in the South Sea, the mutated octopus, was gone, Ren Chenxi naturally started wanting to eat pickled fish again.

At breakfast today, Ren Chenxi had mentioned to Mu Ning that she wanted to go fishing at the seaside, then asked if Mu Ning could give her a longer vine to use as a fishing tool. But Mu Ning had waved her hand grandly, saying there was no need for fishing tools — she could just use her vines to wrap around the fish directly, which was even more convenient than fishing gear. Ren Chenxi thought this made a lot of sense. Besides, Mu Ning’s vines had been able to restrain an 8th-order octopus monster so effectively — wrapping around a mutated fish would definitely be no problem.

Sure enough, the first Level 3 crystal core was just a test. As soon as the mutated fish bit, Mu Ning’s vine seemed to grow eyes, instantly wrapping around the greedy mutated fish. Then Mu Ning and Ren Chenxi hauled it ashore together. Getting the first mutated fish so easily made Mu Ning and Ren Chenxi’s confidence soar. After snatching the Level 3 crystal core from the 4th-order mutated fish’s mouth, they wrapped another crystal core around the vine and threw it back into the seawater.

This time, they waited only a short while before the vine transmitted a clear pulling force. The power was stronger than the first 4th-order fish. Mu Ning and Ren Chenxi pulled with even more effort and finally hauled this catch out of the water. Ren Chenxi looked at the struggling mutated fish — good heavens, a 5th-order mutated fish!

“Sure enough, the mutated seafood hiding in the sea is at much higher levels than on the beach!”

As Ren Chenxi spoke, Mu Ning pulled on the vine with one hand while her thoughts raced. If she caught enough mid-tier mutated fish in the sea, could she save up all those crystal cores and trade them for that 8th-order core from Ren Chenxi?

Ever since the last time she had exhausted her abilities and collapsed weakly on the beach, Mu Ning had been truly terrified. Not because she feared other stronger mutated sea monsters emerging from the ocean to attack her while she was defenseless — but because if Ren Chenxi really wanted to leave her and just walk away, she wouldn’t have the strength to stop her.

Ren Chenxi was powerful. With enough crystal cores, she would only grow stronger. Mu Ning had understood this clearly ever since she and Ren Chenxi had joined forces to kill that 8th-order mutated octopus. It was precisely because of Ren Chenxi’s strength that Mu Ning felt fear. She was afraid that Ren Chenxi would become even more powerful in the future, and then at any moment could shake off her — whose abilities were far inferior — leave this base, leave her side. And she wouldn’t have the ability to stop it.

So when she heard Ren Chenxi say she wouldn’t use that Level 8 core for now, Mu Ning inevitably felt a secret sense of relief. At the same time, Mu Ning’s heart also wavered regarding that Level 8 core. Originally, she had wanted to kill that mutated octopus just to give the 8th-order core to Ren Chenxi. But the result was, once she knew Ren Chenxi might become powerful enough to abandon her, she selfishly hoped Ren Chenxi wouldn’t continue to grow stronger. At least, not too much stronger than herself…

Of course, Mu Ning couldn’t stop Ren Chenxi from obtaining more crystal cores and becoming stronger. She just humbly hoped that Ren Chenxi wouldn’t run too fast, wouldn’t make it impossible for her to keep up. So while Ren Chenxi grew stronger, she had to grow stronger too — even stronger than Ren Chenxi. Only by being more powerful than Ren Chenxi would she have the ability to stay by her side forever!

So she needed crystal cores, more and more crystal cores, to trade for that Level 8 core from Ren Chenxi!

“Bad! This mutated fish is gnawing through the vine — it’s trying to escape! Mu Ning, what are you spacing out for!”

Ren Chenxi’s startled cry from beside her instantly pulled Mu Ning back from her increasingly dark thoughts. She froze for a moment, glanced at the 5th-order mutated fish that had already chewed halfway through the vine, and her expression turned cold. She flicked out two more vines, piercing through the fish from front to back, left to right. The mutated fish, which had been struggling continuously, finally went still.

A mere 5th-order mutated fish. If its strength wasn’t enough, it had to be prepared to become someone else’s meat!

Ren Chenxi felt that after killing this 5th-order mutated fish, Mu Ning had become completely hyperactive, as if she’d been injected with stimulants. Next, she caught three more 4th-order mutated fish and two more 5th-order fish in quick succession. After that, she even caught a 6th-order mutated fish!

A 6th-order mutated fish might be dangerous for other survivor teams gathering seafood at the beach, but against Mu Ning — who was also 6th-order with dual abilities — it was still just prey to be toyed with. A joke. This was a female lead who had dared to leapfrog tiers⁴ and challenge an 8th-order mutated octopus when she was only 5th-order! Against a 6th-order fish with nothing but sharp teeth — no tentacles — it was just stomping noobs⁵!

So, under the combined assault of vines and ice spikes, this 6th-order mutated fish was frozen into a solid block of ice. Ren Chenxi, standing to the side, said she didn’t even have a chance to act — she could only watch helplessly as Mu Ning brutally abused that mutated fish. The few people who had been stealthily keeping an eye on Mu Ning and Ren Chenxi’s situation finally relaxed when they saw Mu Ning handling it so easily, and turned their full attention to shoveling the various seafood crawling all over the beach.

Although the 6th-order mutated fish was completely outmatched by Mu Ning, its sheer size and weight still required Chen Gu to help pull it ashore. Actually, Mu Ning and Ren Chenxi together could have hauled the mutated fish ashore if they’d put in more effort, but Mu Ning said she needed to save her strength to catch even more mid-tier mutated fish.

???

Sister! You’ve already caught four huge fish! Why aren’t you stopping? Are you addicted to fishing or something!

The author has something to say:

Wood: “I want to become stronger! Only by becoming stronger can I protect my wifey!”

Author: “What’s your real inner thought?”

Wood (////▽////): “If I become stronger, I can play all kinds of games with wifey~”

Footnotes

'Left-behind children' (liúshǒu értóng) is a Chinese term for children who remain in rural areas while their parents migrate to cities for work. Here it's used metaphorically — the cat Tantan is being left 'home alone' while the family goes out.
'Pickled fish' (suāncài yú) is a popular Chinese dish featuring fish in a sour, spicy broth with pickled vegetables. Ren Chenxi is craving this classic comfort food.
'Stealthily' or 'on the sly' (àn chuō chuō) — doing something secretly or furtively.
'To leapfrog tiers' (yuèjí) refers to fighting enemies whose level is higher than your own. Mu Ning had done this when she was only 5th-order but helped fight an 8th-order creature.
A gaming slang term ('nüè cài', literally 'abusing vegetables') referring to high-level players easily crushing much weaker opponents.

Footnotes

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