My Romance Game Updated – Chapter 12

To Become Companions

The two green-dot girls, Chang Ling and Song Xin, had attended the same school as the “Corpse-Collecting Girl,” Jian Dan. Sharing a common interest, they’d formed a band. When the apocalypse came, the three of them fled the school together, traveling and struggling to survive until they ran into this group of human scum.

The two girls told Ren Chenxi all of this as they helped her clean the corpses and bloodstains off the bus. They also confirmed that the yellow-dot¹ girl, Huo Keyu, wasn’t with them. By the time they were captured, Huo Keyu and that white-eyed wolf² Cai Huiyan were already on the bus. At that time, there were several other surviving girls on board. One of them had told them that the human scum had gone out to capture the three of them because their “stored grain”³ was running low.

During the five days they were held captive, the other surviving girls were tortured to death one by one, their bodies eventually put into the hot pot⁴ by the human scum. The trio’s initial furious resistance had devolved into near-total despair. They had thought it was about to be their turn to become hot pot ingredients. Jian Dan, in particular, had been prepared to end herself before she could be defiled⁵ by those men.

But then, Ren Chenxi appeared.

“Jie⁶, thank you, thank you so much. It’s all thanks to you… thanks to you for saving us…”

Having been pulled from a hellish abyss in their moment of despair, the three girls were overcome with gratitude toward Ren Chenxi. As Chang Ling and Song Xin spoke, they couldn’t stop the tears from flowing. Even Jian Dan, the most composed of the three, felt her eyes turn red⁷.

Ren Chenxi stood by quietly, letting the three of them vent their emotions. Once they had calmed down, she asked curiously, “You haven’t awakened any esper abilities? How did you get caught by this group of human scum?”

She could see that all three of them were clearly 3rd-Order Espers⁸. If they truly didn’t know they had powers, she would have to find a way to help them discover their abilities. However, they didn’t need her reminder; all three girls knew perfectly well that they were espers.

“We have awakened abilities, but… it might be because we were clutching our musical instruments when it happened. Our powers are closely tied to them. We can only use our abilities in conjunction with our own instruments…”

…I see. So it was true. In this apocalypse, the abilities espers awakened came in five flowers and eight gates⁹. That meant her own skills, like Headshot¹⁰ and Flash¹¹, would probably seem normal to others. “So… where are your instruments?” Ren Chenxi recalled that ever since she had killed the first man, Jian Dan had only used that cleaver as a weapon.

“…Our most precious instruments were destroyed by that man inside, the one surnamed Huang. Cai Huiyan’s lover¹².”

“It was all Cai Huiyan! At first, she was standing by the road asking for our help, saying her sisters were in danger. We saw she was a girl, and she was crying so pitifully, so our hearts went soft and we agreed. But on the way, after she wheedled out what our powers were, she turned right around and told that group of human scum. They were prepared for us. They had a Speed-Type Esper ambush us when we weren’t looking, snatching our instruments away. Then they had that Huang guy destroy them all…”

“A Speed-Type Esper?”

“The third esper you knocked out, Jie. The one Jian Dan dragged onto the bus and killed.”

… After listening to the girls’ indignant accusations, Ren Chenxi sighed helplessly. “This apocalypse has been going on for two years now, you guys…”

“Jie, it’s not that we lack vigilance¹³! We just thought, in this apocalypse, we’re all women, and life isn’t easy for any of us. If we can help, we should help, so…”

Seeing the three girls’ remorseful expressions, Ren Chenxi couldn’t bring herself to say anything more. After all, they didn’t have a mini-map¹⁴ to warn them like she did. Still, watching them spill everything to her so readily, she couldn’t resist asking, “You just learned a hard lesson. Why are you trusting me so easily now?”

“Because you’re strong, Jie!”

“Not just strong, you’re our lifesaving benefactor!”

“And you’re just as disgusted by the beasts who eat people in the apocalypse!”

…Alright, fine. She had to admit that she was… well, compared to that human scum, she was a good person.

While she was talking with the girls, the corpses on the bus had all been dragged off. The girls worked diligently, wiping down the bloodstained floor. They used a rag found on the bus; having been forced to travel with these men for five days, they knew where some things were kept. But without any water, after the blood was wiped up, it still left behind dark, dull smudges.

In truth, the smudges didn’t matter much. The entire floor of the bus was covered in them.

Just as Ren Chenxi was about to head up to the second level of the bus, Jian Dan, who was right beside her, suddenly asked, “Jie, are you also an Earth-System Esper? Or… a Space-System Esper¹⁵?” Seeing Ren Chenxi turn to look at her, she quickly and nervously explained, “I just saw a stone block suddenly appear in your empty hands, so I was wondering where the rocks came from…”

Faced with Jian Dan’s question, Ren Chenxi had no choice but to nod and admit it. “Yes, I also have a Space Esper Ability.” She couldn’t help it. She’d been in such a rush to save them that she’d forgotten to be discreet. She might as well just say she had a Space Esper Ability; it would give her a legitimate reason to take out the bed sheets and quilts she had gathered from the hotel.

Besides, Ren Chenxi was now certain that no one else in this world could see the system’s cards.

Learning about Ren Chenxi’s Space Esper Ability, the three girls were ecstatic. They started chattering away, telling her that they could now take all the things they couldn’t carry from the supermarket. They even proposed that all future supplies¹⁶ they found should be stored in Ren Chenxi’s “space¹⁷.”

If I put everything in my “space” and then run away¹⁸, what will you do, you silly girls¹⁹?

Ren Chenxi couldn’t help but glance back at the now-quiet supermarket. Compared to Huo Keyu, these three girls still seemed a bit too naive. Perhaps because they were espers, their journey had been relatively with the wind and water²⁰ before they met this group of human scum.

“By the way, Jie, where are you heading next? C-Can we come with you?” Perhaps realizing that only by traveling with Ren Chenxi would their scavenged supplies have a “space” to be stored, the three girls belatedly grew nervous. Their desire to follow this big boss was a one-sided wish; would she even be willing to take them?

Looking at the three girls’ nervous, pitiful expressions, Ren Chenxi glanced at the green dots²¹ on her mini-map and nodded. “Sure. There’s safety in numbers, and it’ll be more convenient on the road. Where were you originally headed?” Her original destination was H City, but there were plenty of coastal cities; it didn’t have to be H City. And now that she was back in the game, two years had already passed. The information she had was definitely not as current as what these NPCs, who had actually lived through those two years, possessed. She might as well get their opinion.

“Wow! That’s great! We’ll feel so much safer with you, Jie!”

The three girls were thrilled to get Ren Chenxi’s approval. They immediately started chattering about the city they had been trying to reach and why. Actually, it was only Chang Ling and Song Xin who were chattering; the more composed Jian Dan just chimed in from time to time to add a few details.

As it turned out, the girls had also been heading to H City. They were originally from L City, which was even farther away. On the day doomsday arrived, they not only avoided the natural disasters but also gained esper abilities. With their powers, they managed to live reasonably well in L City. But as the climate grew more unstable and natural disasters more frequent, their lives in L City became increasingly difficult.

The potable water source became polluted, survivors fought over limited supplies, and mutated animals charged out of the forests to prey on humans. While most mutated plants weren’t harmful to people, they encroached on human living space. More and more plants swarmed into the cities, devouring any crops that people had managed to grow.

With no water and no food, scavenging for supplies became harder and harder. So, they decided to take a risk and leave L City.

“So, out of all the places in the country, why did you choose H City?” I wanted to go to H City because it’s close to Y City and it’s a coastal city. But what about them? L City is a thousand li away²², so why were they so set on H City?

“At first, we were just wandering without a goal, going from one city to the next to gather supplies. But later, when we were in G City, we met a group of young survivors. They were students from S University who couldn’t stay in S City anymore, so they wanted to go to H City. According to them, they had a xuejie²³ with a Water- and Wood-System Dual Esper Ability. At the very beginning of the apocalypse, after helping some classmates escape their zombie-infested school, she insisted on going to H City to find her boyfriend. The other students didn’t want to risk it, so they stayed in S City. Now that they can’t survive in S City anymore, those students want to go to H City to seek refuge with the xuejie who has a Water-System Esper Ability. After all, no matter when, water is the most important thing.”

When the girls mentioned S City and S University, Ren Chenxi’s heart skipped a beat. It was simply because she was also a student from S University. Or, to be more precise, her Lao-ge²⁴ was a student there, and she had taken his place, slogging through two years of classes at S University just to chase a goddess for two years.

However, this memory of S University was just a fleeting thought. She was more concerned about the xuejie with the water and wood abilities. A Water-System Esper Ability! Moreover, H City had a large survivor base. For a base to grow that large, it couldn’t be short on water, right? She figured that besides that xuejie, the base must have other Water-System Espers.

Just the possibility of a base that wasn’t lacking water solidified Ren Chenxi’s resolve to go to H City. It was simple: she desperately missed the happy times when she could freely wash her hair and take a shower.

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