My Romance Game Updated – Chapter 78
by Little PandaNot a House Cat
Mu Ning had truly gotten addicted to fishing. By late morning, when Chen Gu and the others arrived carrying their several large, full bags of harvest, they found Mu Ning fishing in a near-frenzy. She didn’t even want to trouble herself with returning to the base for lunch at noon — she wanted to stay by the sea, make do with whatever for lunch, and keep fishing in the afternoon.
This proposal was immediately met with Ren Chenxi’s protest. Eating casually by the seaside at noon was one thing, but Tantan had been left behind in the small villa at the base! If she didn’t return at noon, what would happen to Tantan, who had already settled into N meals a day1!
Mu Ning had no choice but to call for everyone to pack up — they had been happily gathering seafood too — and return to the base at noon to rest, then continue coming to the seaside to fish in the afternoon.
Hearing that Mu Ning still wanted to come to the seaside to fish in the afternoon, Ren Chenxi didn’t even know what expression to make! In just one morning, Mu Ning had already caught seven 4th-order mutated fish, nine 5th-order mutated fish, and four 6th-order mutated fish! After the 8th-order overlord mutated octopus in this South Sea region disappeared, the other mid-tier seafood that should have become feed for the mutated octopus were now competing frantically — killing and devouring each other in their rush to grow, all wanting to become the next high-tier overlord of these waters.
There was a bottleneck in advancing from mid-tier to high-tier, and this bottleneck was not easy to cross. So throughout the morning, the mutated fish Mu Ning caught were basically all mid-tier at the 5th and 6th orders. This harvest made Chen Gu’s group watch with envy. But they didn’t have Mu Ning’s 6th-order strength, nor did they have Mu Ning’s long vines — so no matter how envious they were, they could only suppress their feelings and focus on digging up the low-tier seafood on the beach.
It wasn’t just Chen Gu, Zhang Tongqi, and the other 3rd-order espers — even the ordinary people without esper abilities like Huo Keyu and Du Tian had gathered quite a lot of shellfish seafood2 in one morning. Of course, the seafood Huo Keyu and the others gathered was mostly 1st and 2nd order, while Chen Gu and those 3rd-order espers naturally focused on catching 3rd-order mutated seafood.
Before getting on the bus, everyone carried one or several plastic bags. Some of the seafood in the bags was still alive, so Ren Chenxi couldn’t just directly help store them in her inventory. In fact, Mu Ning hadn’t planned to let Ren Chenxi help store all the seafood in the inventory either. According to Mu Ning, the seafood from this morning would just be brought back directly like this, and each person’s crystal cores from the seafood they caught would belong to them — after processing everything, only then would they be bagged and stored in Ren Chenxi’s space.
This proposal received everyone’s unanimous approval. Moreover, on the way back, they might encounter other survivor teams returning from a big harvest at the seaside. If everyone else’s hands were openly full of harvest while their own team had nothing but empty hands, that would easily arouse others’ suspicion!
As it turned out, when Ren Chenxi’s group returned to the base entrance, they didn’t meet any other survivor teams coming back from a big seaside harvest. Instead, on the way back, they ran into Qi Sheng’s group resting and grilling fish in a small grove by the roadside.
Seeing the familiar bus, Qi Sheng enthusiastically greeted Mu Ning, and even invited Mu Ning to get out and have lunch together. From what Qi Sheng said, they planned to just rest by the seaside at noon and continue picking up seafood all over the beach in the afternoon. In the apocalypse, food was fundamentally the most important thing — rather than wandering elsewhere searching for supplies and hunting mutated beasts, with this ready abundance of seafood just lying around on the beach for anyone to pick up, any normal person knew what to choose.
After a morning of cautiously gathering seafood, Qi Sheng had confirmed that the dangerous mutated octopus in the sea really seemed to be gone, and only then did he feel at ease letting his brothers run wild and ravage3 all the seafood on that stretch of beach. The morning’s harvest had Qi Sheng and the others in high spirits — they couldn’t bear to leave, wanting to take advantage of the beach still being safe to gather as much seafood as possible for reserves. Processing them for food storage was one thing; the crystal cores on these seafood were another matter entirely.
In fact, teams like Qi Sheng’s, blinded by the massive harvest, were everywhere among those who couldn’t bear to leave the seaside at noon. Some people didn’t even want to leave the beach while eating, just sitting on the sand, casually gnawing on dry rations or eating seafood sashimi right there, then greedily continuing to search the entire beach for seafood that hadn’t been picked up by others after filling their stomachs. The weather was getting colder and colder — once this autumn passed and the long winter came, the cold and hunger awaiting them would be terrible!
When Qi Sheng greeted Mu Ning, Wei Yuze had to slow down the bus’s speed. However, in the brief moment the bus passed Qi Sheng, Qi Sheng sensitively noticed Mu Ning’s level issue.
“Why can’t I sense your esper level? You advanced? How did you manage that?”
It wasn’t strange for Qi Sheng to ask so directly. In the apocalypse, basically every esper instinctively pursued the improvement of their own esper level. So seeing an esper who was originally at the same level as yourself suddenly become one level higher — it was impossible not to care!
Hearing Qi Sheng’s question, Mu Ning simply had Wei Yuze stop the bus. Since advancing to 6th order, Mu Ning hadn’t met with Qi Sheng for several days — when Huo Keyu and the others set up their stall at night, she stayed at home — but Mu Ning knew that her level advancement would be discovered sooner or later, so she might as well take this opportunity to find a good excuse and explain.
“We were attacked by a 6th-order mutated fish on the beach over there just now.”
“6th-order mutated fish?”
“Yes, a 6th-order mutated fish. Ren Chenxi and I worked together to subdue it, but the process was extremely dangerous — probably because of excessive esper energy consumption, we advanced during the process.”
As soon as Mu Ning finished speaking, Qi Sheng abruptly turned his head to look at Ren Chenxi on the other side of the car. When Ren Chenxi heard Mu Ning’s words, she cooperated perfectly, promptly placing a 6th-order mutated fish at the rear of the bus. When Qi Sheng looked at her, she smiled and pointed to the back of the bus: “That 6th-order mutated fish is over there.”
Qi Sheng followed Ren Chenxi’s finger and indeed saw an enormous mutated fish thrown at the rear of the bus. The fish was about as wide as the bus was wide. And in length, it was more than half as long as the bus. For a moment, Qi Sheng’s expression was complicated. He really didn’t know whether to feel lucky that he hadn’t been attacked by 6th-order mutated seafood, or to envy that Mu Ning and Ren Chenxi had not only advanced but also obtained a Level 6 crystal core.
A Level 6 crystal core!
Looking at that mutated fish one more time, Qi Sheng asked Mu Ning very eagerly: “That Level 6 crystal core of yours, could you…”
“No!” Before Qi Sheng could even finish his question, Mu Ning rejected him categorically. “Qi Sheng, you know — this is a Level 6 crystal core. Right now, I need this crystal core more than you do!”
“…”
Being refused so bluntly by Mu Ning, Qi Sheng’s face looked rather unpleasant for a moment. But he didn’t keep pestering her about it. He knew that if it were himself, he definitely wouldn’t trade away a Level 6 crystal core either. “You were attacked by a 6th-order mutated fish — on which part of the beach?”
“If you continue past where you were this morning, about another half hour of driving,” Chen Gu answered very obligingly on Mu Ning’s behalf. “Sheng-ge, our bus’s wheel tracks are quite heavy — if you follow the tracks along, you should be able to find the beach where we were attacked by the mutated fish this morning~”
Hearing Chen Gu give such details, and seeing the rather obvious wheel tracks in the mud where the bus had passed, Qi Sheng stopped pestering Mu Ning and waved his hand magnanimously to bid farewell to the people on the bus.
Ren Chenxi knew that the reason Qi Sheng could let them go so simply was partly because that was just a Level 6 crystal core, and partly because Qi Sheng felt that if 5th-order Mu Ning could kill a 6th-order mutated fish by fighting across tiers, then maybe with their team’s strength, they could also kill a mutated fish.
If it had been a Level 8 crystal core, Qi Sheng definitely wouldn’t have let their bus full of people leave so easily.
Returning to the base, returning to the villa, poor Tantan — who had been abandoned by Ren Chenxi, a solitary cat — started meowing nonstop the moment Ren Chenxi walked through the door. The cat was both aggrieved and complaining, and even more, pleading for benefits.
Ren Chenxi also felt very apologetic toward Tantan. Before, when everyone went out, there were always one or two people left behind in the villa to keep Tantan company, but this time, Tantan had truly been all alone guarding the villa. Listening to Tantan’s ceaseless meows, Ren Chenxi felt both heartache and guilt — not only did she slice up a large basin of octopus tentacles for Tantan, she also peeled two large mutated shrimp4 for him.
With such a full basin of seafood as consolation, Tantan finally stopped his resentful meowing and instead started happily purring over his lunch. Seeing Tantan eating happily, Ren Chenxi felt relieved too. As long as the compensation she gave was enough to satisfy Tantan, then next time, Tantan would still very cooperatively be left behind at the villa.
Only… was this kind of one-sided, self-righteous arrangement for Tantan really good or not? After all, it was already the apocalypse now. Tantan was no longer like before the apocalypse — a delicate, soft little kitty with no combat power. Today’s Tantan was a 4th-order mutated cat with strength comparable to a mutated leopard!
From the side, Mu Ning watched Ren Chenxi being sad one moment and sighing the next, then suddenly spoke up: “When we go to the seaside this afternoon, let’s bring Tantan along.”
“Huh?”
Mu Ning’s proposal caught Ren Chenxi off guard for a moment.
“Tantan is a mutated beast, after all — no longer a little kitty in a greenhouse. If you keep spoiling and protecting him like this until his combat power is all gone, have you considered — if one day you’re forced to leave Tantan behind again, how will Tantan survive without you then?”
“I won’t leave him again…” Hearing Mu Ning say this, Ren Chenxi reflexively started to argue, but she stopped mid-sentence. What right did she have to be certain she wouldn’t leave Tantan behind again? Before the apocalypse, she had never imagined that just a trip would end up separating her and Tantan for two years. And after the apocalypse, the future was all unknown — who could guarantee there wouldn’t be some other accident forcing her and Tantan apart?
Ren Chenxi went silent. Mu Ning carefully observed the regret and conflicted expression on Ren Chenxi’s face, then continued: “From now on, whenever we go out on missions, if there’s no one at the villa, we’ll probably bring Tantan along on operations. So, don’t keep trapping Tantan in the villa anymore. Let’s try bringing Tantan to the seaside this afternoon, alright?”
“But… look at how much Tantan likes seafood… If we get to the seaside and Tantan can’t control himself — he’s so gluttonous, what if he just rushes into the sea to catch fish without caring about anything else? Then at that time…” Ordinary cats were afraid of water, but Tantan hadn’t been afraid of water even when he was an ordinary cat — he didn’t even resist baths. Now that he was mutated, he’d probably go swimming in the sea!
“It’ll be fine, I’ll keep an eye on Tantan~” Seeing Ren Chenxi getting a bit emotional, Mu Ning quickly reassured her: “With my current strength, controlling Tantan is still very easy. My vines can also follow my will and not grow thorns — as long as Tantan doesn’t behave this afternoon, I’ll just bind Tantan up and throw him onto the bus. Then you can feel at ease, right?”
If it was Mu Ning… Ren Chenxi thought of that day when the 8th-order mutated octopus was tightly bound by Mu Ning, and those mid-order mutated fish that morning tied up like dead fish by Mu Ning, then looked at Tantan eating madly, and finally nodded.
Tantan was a mutated cat — she definitely couldn’t keep Tantan confined at home forever. And her cards were mostly attack cards and support cards. If she wanted to control Tantan without hurting him using cards, there was simply no way. But with Mu Ning’s vines helping, it was perfect — if Tantan didn’t behave, he could get a proper lesson too.
The author has something to say:
Xixi (key point): I won’t leave Tantan behind again!
Mutou (key point): Again? You really let it slip!
Tantan (key point): Meow meow meow meow I want to eat seafood I want to eat seafood!
Footnotes
- A playful pattern in Chinese where 'N' represents an unspecified large number. The phrase suggests Tantan has become accustomed to being fed many meals throughout the day, emphasizing his pampered lifestyle.
- A general term for mollusks with shells — clams, oysters, mussels, scallops, and similar creatures.
- A Northern Chinese dialect word (huòhuo) meaning to squander, ruin, or use something up in a wasteful, destructive manner. Here it implies using up the resources recklessly.
- A mutated sea creature, larger than normal shrimp, caught by the group at the beach.
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