My Romance Game Updated – Chapter 86

by Little Panda

Entertainment Products

Compared to the other survivors at the base, Ren Chenxi didn’t particularly like the rain. Because whenever it rained, she would be trapped at home with nothing to do all day. The girls had already claimed all the housework, and as for cooking—without any missions, Ren Chenxi wasn’t particularly motivated. During the last four-day downpour, Ren Chenxi had stayed home with nothing to do, so she’d just grabbed Tantan and petted him like crazy.

Poor Tantan, after four days of Ren Chenxi’s frantic petting, his originally fluffy fur seemed to have shrunk by a whole size.

So when the second rainstorm arrived and Ren Chenxi saw Tantan looking a whole size “thinner,” she couldn’t bring herself to grab him and pet him endlessly again. But during a rainstorm, she couldn’t go out, and she couldn’t pet Tantan, and she didn’t want to do housework—so all that was left was lying down and sleeping. Ren Chenxi didn’t want to just lie there. Suddenly she thought of the guys next door, those lazy bums who couldn’t even be bothered to wash their dishes more than once every few days. These lazy people who never used housework to pass the time had their own way of killing time—gathering together and taking turns playing their one and only game console!

Ren Chenxi wasn’t particularly interested in this era’s game consoles. After all, she had played more advanced single-player games, various online games, even holographic games. So this era’s game consoles seemed slightly backward to her.

But no matter how backward the games, they could still be played to pass the time, right? And maybe the game consoles in the Apocalypse Mall would have more fun games?

With this fantasy in mind, the bored Ren Chenxi opened the Apocalypse Mall and searched for game consoles. Sure enough, several options immediately popped up. There were the most basic and cheapest cartridge-based game consoles, but game cartridges had to be purchased separately. There were also disc-based game consoles from later generations, which similarly required separate disc purchases. Ren Chenxi browsed for quite a while before finally finding a game console she was satisfied with. This console didn’t need cartridges—it came with several thousand mini-games built in. The games inside were all popular ones from this era, and when connected to a TV for everyone to watch together, no one would suspect anything.

Of course, a game console with thousands of built-in games would definitely cost more than those cartridge-based ones, but the discounted price meant nothing to Ren Chenxi, who was now carrying a fortune. So without blinking an eye, she bought three of the game consoles that cost only 10,000 crystal stones after discount.

After buying the game consoles, Ren Chenxi still wasn’t satisfied. She browsed through the electronic products in the Apocalypse Mall, setting aside the more futuristic items, and picked out a media player. There was no helping it—game consoles alone weren’t enough. She couldn’t ignore the girls who weren’t interested in games, like Huo Keyu, Jian Dan, Lu Ping, and the others.

This media player looked somewhat like a DVD player from this era, but instead of reading discs, it connected to external hard drives. Buying one of these media players also came with a free external hard drive loaded with thousands of movies. The hard drive was a large 18TB capacity model—not a product of this era. But Ren Chenxi wasn’t worried; she could just say it was smuggled in from abroad. After all, the free hard drive contained entirely foreign films, categorized as horror films, spoken in foreign languages but with Chinese subtitles.

One media player cost 20,000 crystal stones. Ren Chenxi bought two. The hard drive that came with the second player was loaded entirely with police action films. Ren Chenxi thought about it and bought ten more hard drives separately, containing various popular TV series—martial arts, comedy, romance, and even quite a few classic variety shows. Most of these TV series and variety shows weren’t from this era either, but that wasn’t a problem for Ren Chenxi. She could just claim they were from abroad or the Hong Kong region.

In the Apocalypse Mall, these electronic products were fairly cheap—some even cost the same as seasonings—and memory was even less valuable. Ren Chenxi spent only 10,000 crystal stones on these ten external hard drives.

When Ren Chenxi appeared in the living room with three game consoles and two media players, making up a casual excuse about how she seemed to have swiped them from some shop and stuffed them into her spatial inventory back then, and only discovered them today while organizing her things, she brought them out for everyone to pass the time together.

As soon as the game consoles and media players appeared, even Huo Keyu, who had no interest in these entertainment electronics, gathered around. There was no helping it—everyone was too bored. Besides working, all they could do was gather and chat. Zhang Tongqi and the others used to play cards, but after two years of the apocalypse, those cards had become so worn that everyone could practically recognize what each card was by its damage patterns. If they wanted to play cards, Song Xin, Chang Ling, and the others wouldn’t even join Zhang Tongqi’s group.

Besides, after playing for just half a month, Song Xin, Chang Ling, and the others had already memorized those tattered cards. Playing again would be pointless.

So when Ren Chenxi suddenly produced game consoles and a media player, it naturally drew screams of excitement from the girls. The high-decibel shrieks attracted Zhang Tongqi and the others from downstairs. Three game consoles, each allowing two players, and Ren Chenxi had plenty of TVs in her inventory—more than a dozen girls gathered together, either taking turns playing games or watching horror films together. They were thoroughly satisfied and happy.

Ren Chenxi had originally suggested giving one game console and one media player to the guys, but Zhang Tongqi and Wu Tong immediately vetoed the idea. According to Zhang Tongqi and the others, the guys were too selfish. That broken game console they’d found themselves—they wouldn’t even lend it to the girls. Several times they said “next time, next time,” and then it was just always “next time.” Back then, electricity was expensive, and Zhang Tongqi didn’t want to waste electricity and crystal cores, so she eventually just gave up.

But now things were different! They had affordable Crystal Core Generators, so many TVs, plus game consoles with thousands of built-in games, and twelve hard drives’ worth of movies, TV series, and variety shows. They had the means to enjoy themselves and pass the time—why wouldn’t they enjoy it? As for the guys, they’d keep the game consoles and media players a secret for now. When they couldn’t hide it anymore, they’d properly mess with them and make them squirm a bit before saying anything!

With the game consoles and media player, Ren Chenxi finally wasn’t bored these three days. She even felt a bit regretful—why hadn’t she searched for these entertainment electronics in the Apocalypse Mall sooner? She’d let so much of Tantan’s fur go bald for nothing.

Tantan: Meow meow meow meow meow…

On the third day, Mu Ning saw how everyone was absorbed in games and movies, so she deliberately let everyone rest for another day. Especially the horror movies—a group of girls gathered in the living room, squeezed together with the curtains drawn. The atmosphere couldn’t have been better, and she could squeeze next to Ren Chenxi too!

But this day was clearly not going to let Mu Ning squeeze next to Ren Chenxi and watch horror movies in peace. There was no helping it—the Fan family members who had come a few days ago wanting to buy a Crystal Core Engine were back again. This time they didn’t want to buy an engine; they wanted to buy a generator instead.

Heaven knows how much of a buzzkill it was when, at the scariest part of the movie, the person beside her was so tense she was practically pressed against her, and Mu Ning was floating with excitement—only for heavy pounding on the door to come from downstairs!

Such loud knocking was a buzzkill to Mu Ning, but to the group of girls already immersed in the horror atmosphere, it was a fright. When the girls screamed in terror at the knocking, Ren Chenxi was so scared she instinctively shoved Mu Ning away, making Mu Ning even more unhappy. So when Mu Ning went downstairs with a dark expression and opened the door to see the Fan family group, her face grew even darker.

“What do you want!”

Her cold, murderous gaze immediately made the lackeys who had been arrogantly pounding on the door shiver involuntarily and retreat to the back, trembling. Once the lackeys moved aside, the person who was clearly in charge naturally had to step forward and negotiate with Mu Ning.

The Fan family member who came this time was Fan Juntian’s older brother, Fan Haotian. Compared to Fan Juntian, Fan Haotian’s reputation at the base was much better. Even if some people still had issues with Fan Haotian, it was only because he was a Fan. On the surface, Fan Haotian didn’t cause trouble at the base, and when he spoke with Qi Sheng, he was always amiable—nothing like Fan Juntian’s arrogant and overbearing manner.

But that was only on the surface. Never mind that Fan Haotian was now smiling at Mu Ning with such gentle courtesy—hadn’t he just allowed his subordinates to pound on the door? And half of his subordinates were addicted to drugs!

Ren Chenxi watched coldly as Fan Haotian exchanged hypocritical pleasantries with Mu Ning, thinking to herself: could the Fan family be using Fan Juntian’s poison smoke ability to control a large number of espers and make them work for them?

While Ren Chenxi sized up Fan Haotian and speculated about the Fan family with maximum malice, Fan Haotian hemmed and hawed for quite a while. Only when Mu Ning impatiently urged him did he finally state his purpose.

They wanted to buy a Crystal Core Generator.

Last time they hadn’t managed to buy a Crystal Core Engine from Ren Chenxi, and the Fan family was still unwilling to give up. Unlike those few technical experts, the scheming Fan family still suspected whether Ren Chenxi actually had any Crystal Core Engines left. However, while it was uncertain whether she had Crystal Core Engines, it was certain that Ren Chenxi still had one Crystal Core Generator remaining. The Fan family hadn’t originally planned to target that Crystal Core Generator, but when several Fan family members who had gone to buy the engine but failed suggested researching how other abilities could be utilized, Fan Haotian thought of their 4th-order Lightning-system esper.

Originally, they had used the Lightning-system esper’s ability to modify an electric engine. But a Lightning-system esper’s ability was limited—if they powered an RV, they couldn’t supply electricity for other uses. But if they bought Ren Chenxi’s remaining Crystal Core Generator, they could probably generate enough power. Right now, several of his elders were anxiously trying to figure out how to develop other abilities to power an RV so they could rush to the neighboring province and find Fan Juntian.

But in such a short time, what good solution could they come up with? Better to just buy another Crystal Core Generator and use electricity to drive the RV. Besides, his subordinates had learned that the Crystal Core Engine Qi Sheng bought could generate quite a lot of power as long as there were sufficient crystal cores! Generators weren’t as delicate as espers—who would complain just from generating a bit more electricity? The Fan family provided him food, drink, and housing every day, and he had the audacity to complain about being tired when his only job was generating electricity? Tsk. If the Crystal Core Generator they bought back could produce enough power, they’d kick that self-important Lightning-system esper to the curb!

The author has something to say:

Xixi: Horror films, cop films, action films, comedy films, romance films~ I have everything here~

Mutou: Do you have that kind… the kind you watch privately… those action films~

Xixi: …