My Romance Game Updated – Chapter 92

Constant Trouble

Compared to Mu Ning’s slacking off¹, the other three water-system espers were truly working their fingers to the bone, desperately draining their abilities to put out the fire. They had no choice. Their levels were too low to control their water-system abilities with any real freedom. Unfortunately for them, this immense effort was far from enough in the eyes of Fan Haotian, who was supervising from the sidelines.

“Trash! Useless trash! Look at this pitiful amount of water! This water column is so thin! How do you have the nerve to charge me 500,000 Level 1 crystal cores! Even 100,000 would’ve been too much!”

            

“Did you not eat enough?! Put your backs into it! Would it kill you to put out a bit more water?! Trash!”

“This pathetic trickle of water, damn it, isn’t even as much as this father’s piss!”

Finally, unable to endure Fan Haotian’s relentless, ugly insults any longer, Jiao Xueyi cut off his water supply. He urged the other two water-system espers to join him in a strike. “Forget it. Since we’re so useless anyway, we can’t earn these 500,000 Level 1 crystal cores with a clear conscience. We might as well return them to Eldest Young Master Fan and just leave Miss Mu to put out the fire alone!”

            

The moment the three water-system espers stopped, the fire that had almost been suppressed showed signs of flaring up again. Terrified, Fan Haotian was forced to swallow his anger and offer all sorts of gentle coaxing before Jiao Xueyi and the other two agreed to resume their efforts.

For the sake of the crystal cores, Jiao Xueyi didn’t bother arguing further and continued fighting the fire. However, that didn’t mean he was willing to be a punching bag² and continue enduring Fan Haotian’s verbal abuse.

“Eldest Young Master Fan, when I am releasing my ability, I don’t like having ugly dog barks affecting me from the sidelines. If that happens, the water column I release will only get smaller and smaller. So… I assume Eldest Young Master Fan understands what I mean?”

            

Mocked with such cynical sarcasm by Jiao Xueyi, Fan Haotian naturally felt another surge of anger flare up with a whoosh. But the rage accumulating in his heart couldn’t compare to the blazing inferno roaring before him.

If this fire wasn’t extinguished, all the wealth the Fan family had accumulated over the years—both from before the apocalypse and over these past two years—absolutely everything would vanish into thin air!

Thus, his noisy mouth finally snapped shut. Similarly, all the anxious members of the Fan family clamped their mouths shut, not daring to make the slightest sound.

            

In the end, the fire was finally extinguished by the joint efforts of the three water-system espers. Moreover, Jiao Xueyi had even managed to level up during the process.

Having obtained the crystal cores and leveled up his ability, Jiao Xueyi left in a fantastic mood, despite his deep exhaustion. As for Mu Ning, she let out a gentle sigh of regret and called for Chen Gu and the others to leave.

On the way back, despite earning 2 million Level 1 crystal cores, Chen Gu and the others were still somewhat unreconciled. They continuously complained about why Mu Ning had to help the Fan family. Wouldn’t it have been better to just let those scourges go bankrupt overnight?

            

It wasn’t until they reached the bottom of their own building that Mu Ning turned her head to explain. “Even without me, there were three other water-system espers. To protect the Fan family, Fan Haotian definitely would have lured them with even more crystal cores to help put out the fire.”

“Tch, just based on those three other water-system espers…”

“But they were the ones who put out the fire!”

            

“Eh?”

Hearing Mu Ning say this so suddenly, Chen Gu and the others hadn’t quite processed it. So Mu Ning continued, “I actually didn’t put in any effort at all. These 2 million Level 1 crystal cores can be considered a free windfall.”

Now, Chen Gu and his group immediately understood what she meant. No wonder when they left the Fan family, the other three water-system espers all looked like they were on the verge of collapse, while their Boss still looked completely fine~

            

Although they were sorry the Fan family’s fire had been put out, they were still quite happy to walk away with 2 million Level 1 crystal cores for free~

When the knocking first started in the Villa Area, it had jolted quite a few people awake. Upon learning that a fire had broken out at the Fan family’s place, many residents, acting out of joy at others’ misfortune³, either teamed up to watch the commotion outside the Fan family territory or gathered together to mock and sneer at the glow of the flames dyeing half the sky red in the distance. Now that the fire was out, these people dropped their spectator mentalities, yawned, and returned to their respective homes to sleep.

The entire night of commotion seemed to calm down completely along with the extinguishing of the flames.

            

When Ren Chenxi woke up the next day, she received 1 million Level 1 crystal cores from Mu Ning. The gasoline had been provided by Ren Chenxi, the fire had been set by Ren Chenxi, and Mu Ning had simply been responsible for putting on an act. Mu Ning knew that with Ren Chenxi’s personality, she would insist on splitting the 2 million Level 1 crystal cores evenly. Rather than arguing with her, she figured she might as well divide the crystal cores fairly in advance.

Sure enough, upon hearing the origin of the crystal cores, Ren Chenxi accepted them without the slightest resistance. But at the same time, she felt it was a pity that the fire had only burned that one patch of poisonous grass and flowers. She heard from Mu Ning that there was actually another small patch of poisonous plants behind the luxury villa. Of course, Mu Ning had only learned this yesterday when she overheard the Fan family members muttering in relief from the sidelines.

“There’s nothing to be sorry about. The Fan family’s troubles aren’t over yet~”

            

Seeing Ren Chenxi’s indignant look, Mu Ning smiled and gently comforted her. “It’s morning now. Qi Sheng should be heading to his office to arrange today’s affairs~”

“Oh, right!” Ren Chenxi suddenly remembered. The invisibility effect on the sisters, Liang Ke and Liang Xiu, whom she and Mu Ning had dumped in the office, would have worn off by now.

She really wondered what kind of mood Qi Sheng would be in when he saw his old acquaintances collapsed on his office sofa in such a miserable, wretched state.

            

While Ren Chenxi was looking forward to seeing whether Qi Sheng would bring new trouble to the Fan family, back on the Fan family’s side, the massive fire had left everyone mentally and physically exhausted. When Fan Haotian returned to his room, he didn’t even notice that the old man hadn’t made an appearance that night. The moment he threw himself onto his large bed, he drove the other women away and fell into a deep sleep. In the end, he didn’t even get enough rest to wake up naturally before he was jolted awake by Fan Zhaotian rushing frantically into his room.

“Big Bro! It’s terrible! Our Dad… he… he’s dead!!!”

With a single sentence, Fan Haotian was so shocked that all his sleepiness instantly vanished.

            

That old man… how could he just die!!! Although Fan Haotian had hoped to seize all the power from his father’s hands as soon as possible, in this situation… in a situation like this… A fire had just destroyed most of the poisonous grass and flowers they had so meticulously cultivated, and Fan Juntian hadn’t returned yet. They didn’t even know if he could return…

Fan Haotian knew very well that his uncles were absolutely not kind people. When the old man had snatched the position of Patriarch, the other old farts had been intensely dissatisfied. If Fan Juntian hadn’t awakened his poison smoke ability after the apocalypse, allowing them to use drug addiction to control the majority of their people, those guys probably would have led the younger generation to rebel long ago! But right now, Fan Juntian’s whereabouts were completely unknown, and the old man was dead…

“The old man… No, how did Dad die?!” Could it be that the old man’s body couldn’t handle it, yet he still tried to learn from them and indulge in women, ending up ruining his health and just dying in bed like that?!

            

Having crashed without undressing after putting out the fire yesterday, Fan Haotian now sprang straight out of bed and strode out the door.

When Fan Haotian asked about Fan Qian’s cause of death, Fan Zhaotian’s entire face instantly paled another shade. “Dad… Dad was killed by someone… His whole head… his head was chopped off!”

“His head was chopped off?!!!” Fan Haotian had just reached the door of Fan Qian’s room. He cast a glance at the bed and, sure enough, saw the old man’s decapitated corpse. “Bastard! Who did this! Was it that woman?!” Fan Haotian cursed, glaring at the woman huddled in the corner, shivering and crying uncontrollably.

            

“Big Bro, it probably wasn’t her… The old man just fed her drugs last night. She wouldn’t have the strength…”

Reminded by Fan Zhaotian, Fan Haotian also realized this. Leaving aside whether this woman even had the strength to sever an entire head, just finding a murder weapon capable of decapitation would be difficult in the entire Fan family territory.

No, it wasn’t that the Fan family lacked weapons, but rather that all weapons within their territory were strictly controlled. Captive playthings like these couldn’t even touch a small knife, so how could they possibly have a weapon capable of decapitating someone?

            

Could it be… someone betrayed the Fan family?

Reaching this conclusion, Fan Haotian immediately broke out in a cold sweat.

To be honest, although the Fan family treated their recruited espers quite well… he was certain that most of them harbored deep resentment toward the family. It couldn’t be helped. Because they wanted to recruit strong fighters but feared those same fighters would turn around and swallow the Fan family whole, Old Fan had utilized Fan Juntian’s addictive poison smoke. To ensure these espers and most ordinary people wouldn’t turn on them, they were all hooked on the drug, making them easy to control.

            

Those controlled by Fan Juntian’s poison smoke were completely reliant on it. Although some conventional narcotics could alleviate their symptoms, for those who had already formed a dependence on his specific ability, only the smoke could completely relieve the absolute agony of their withdrawals.

However, Fan Juntian’s poison smoke ability actually consumed energy at an alarming rate. Only by continuously consuming drugs himself could his ability last longer. For this reason, the Fan family had to scramble all over to find various poisonous grass and flowers for him.

Seeing the weather getting colder by the day, the Fan family was growing increasingly anxious about these plants. Despite how carefully they had cultivated that massive patch, the foliage was exceedingly delicate. Every year when winter arrived, a huge swath of them would freeze to death without fail. Therefore, Fan Juntian had to head out into the wild before winter hit to find more cold-resistant varieties.

            

Logically, with Fan Juntian’s ability being so rare and the fact that he controlled most of the Fan family’s espers, the old man shouldn’t have been willing to let him risk venturing out to find poisonous flowers and grass. But… in the entire Fan family, besides Fan Juntian, there was truly no one else capable of the job.

It was hard to say whether it was fortunate or unfortunate. Before the apocalypse, Fan Juntian had failed in a scheme to harm someone and had instead fallen into his own trap, forced into a drug addiction. From then on, things spiraled out of control. More than half of the Fan family’s wealth was squandered⁴ on providing narcotics for him. Seeing his son’s expenses growing larger and larger, the old man had even considered ruthlessly abandoning him. But then, the apocalypse arrived, and Fan Juntian awakened the poison smoke ability.

As soon as this ability emerged, the shrewd and sinister Old Fan immediately planned how to exploit it. Consequently, he doted on Fan Juntian even more, supplying him with an unlimited amount of drugs. But post-apocalypse, the middlemen who had long supplied the Fan family completely lost contact. With no other choice, the Fan family had to plant the poisonous flowers and grass themselves and hire professionals to manufacture the drugs. After all, with the whole world thrown into chaos, who was going to stop them from growing and manufacturing narcotics?

            

It was also during their frantic search for these plants that Fan Juntian discovered he was exceptionally sensitive to them. He only needed to take a slight sniff of their scent to know whether they could be used in the manufacturing process.

After the apocalypse, although plant mutations weren’t very aggressive, the physical appearances of most flora had undergone massive changes. If they really searched for poisonous grass and flowers based on pre-apocalypse standards, everyone would simply be completely in the dark⁵, blindly fumbling around. To accurately pinpoint the specific mutated variants needed, Fan Juntian had no choice but to head out personally.

Therefore, after obtaining the Crystal Core Engine, Fan Juntian tested it for two days. Finding that the engine indeed worked and that a single Level 1 crystal core could power it for quite a long time, he anxiously left the base, wanting to take a look at the neighboring province, which had already become a dead city. It was desolate and unpopulated there, so there were definitely more varied mutated plants to be found!

            

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The author has something to say:

It’s so surreal right now! We finally managed to reach zero cases⁶ here a few days ago, but just today, someone else ran in, and we have to do nucleic acid tests⁷ again…

Why do some people just insist on running around everywhere…

            

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