My Romance Game Updated – Chapter 14

Instruments

The night passed peacefully. Ren Chenxi got a decent night’s sleep, and when she woke up, she noticed that Huo Keyu, who had been a yellow dot¹ on her mini-map, had turned into a green dot² at some point.

Perhaps that rare, peaceful sleep had finally allowed her tense nerves to relax, and she was starting to accept everyone.

After a simple breakfast, Ren Chenxi summoned the double-decker bus from her Backpack. The girls siphoned the remaining fuel from the gas station, pouring it into empty water barrels. Ren Chenxi was a little surprised. Two years into the apocalypse, and this gas station still had fuel left? It wasn’t much, though—barely half a barrel.

Before setting off for H City, the girls wanted to check out a nearby shopping mall to see if they could find suitable musical instruments. Ren Chenxi agreed without hesitation, knowing the road to H City was bound to be dangerous. Any increase in their combat power was an increase in their safety.

Ren Chenxi had never driven a bus before, but she figured all vehicles were more or less the same. She’d get used to it after a little practice. To her surprise, however, the other girls actually knew how to drive one and had experience behind the wheel.

In the two years of the apocalypse, the delicate little flowers once carefully protected in a greenhouse had to learn how to grow. If they couldn’t grow, they would just rot in the apocalyptic mud.

The first to volunteer to drive was Huo Keyu. She was a skilled driver, and when they encountered small groups of zombies on the road, she didn’t even flinch, just stomped on the gas and plowed right through them.

Ren Chenxi had her mini-map, while Jian Dan and the others had a fairly detailed national atlas. Song Xin proudly explained that they used to travel often, so their atlas was the latest edition. Still, no matter how new it was, it couldn’t compare to the convenience and utility of the map built into Ren Chenxi’s game system. But Ren Chenxi felt no need to reveal any more ways she was different from the people of this game world, so she let Jian Dan and the others navigate. Her only job was to give a heads-up when a red dot appeared ahead.

Besides warning them about zombies, Ren Chenxi had also gathered a huge number of small, broken rocks and stored them in her Backpack before they left. She spent the entire trip sitting by an open window, tossing a few stones whenever she saw a zombie. Her Sure Hit³ skill wasn’t maxed out yet; it still needed leveling!

Seeing Ren Chenxi accurately pinpoint zombies on the road ahead and casually toss pebbles at them like it was a game naturally sparked the curiosity of Jian Dan and the others. Ren Chenxi explained that her eyesight had improved after the apocalypse, allowing her to see things from very far away. As for the pebbles, that was just to train and improve her accuracy.

Jian Dan and the others were dumbfounded by her explanation. “Jie⁴, your accuracy is already a hundred shots, a hundred hits⁵, and you still need to practice? A Big boss⁶ is a Big boss, after all!!!”

After bluffing her way through her own skills, Ren Chenxi grew curious about the Esper Abilities of Jian Dan and the other two. The girls didn’t hide anything, cheerfully telling her all about their powers.

When Song Xin struck her instrument, the sound would slow enemies down. The music Chang Ling played would send enemies into a daze. And the notes from Jian Dan’s instrument would transform into a Sonic Wave Attack⁷. More importantly, their music only affected the targets they locked onto, preventing any indiscriminate harm to their own side.

Ren Chenxi was about to praise them for their abilities. Her own skills were given to her by the game system, but the girls had awakened their powers on their own. With a band like this working in concert, it was no wonder they had lived so peacefully before running into that gang of scum. But perhaps it was because their lives had been so stable, and their powers so strong, that they had let their guard down and fallen into the scum’s trap.

For the rest of the journey, Ren Chenxi was even more eager than the three girls to find a large mall or a musical instrument store. After all, she was running low on her precious Explosion Cards. If the girls had their instruments, she could save her cards for when she really needed them.

Normally, in the apocalypse, something purely for entertainment like a musical instrument would be the last thing any survivor would bother taking up space with. Yet, after searching two malls and one instrument store, the girls said they couldn’t find what they needed.

As they left the last store—a small but fully stocked instrument shop—Ren Chenxi finally had to ask. “What exactly are your instruments? How could they not be in that shop? It looked like they had everything…”

“My instrument is an Erhu⁸.”

“A Suona⁹…”

“Small Cymbals¹⁰…”

“…Your band is really unique.”

In the end, it was the observant Huo Keyu who pointed out they had just passed a teahouse. Some teahouses hosted opera performances, so they might find the instruments they needed there. Sure enough, in the teahouse, which had already been mostly looted clean, the girls found their instruments among a pile of useless junk. All three were a little dirty but otherwise perfectly intact. The Erhu didn’t even have a broken string.

With their instruments in hand, the girls were overjoyed. They eagerly followed Ren Chenxi and diligently attacked any zombies they encountered on the road. They explained that the only way to level up their Esper Abilities was to use them frequently. They recalled their most dangerous moment, when they were trapped in a small restaurant by a massive horde of zombies. That night, after finally eliminating all the zombies that had surrounded them, they had overdrawn their powers and become 3rd-Order Espers.

So it’s similar to my skills, Ren Chenxi thought. You have to use them often to level them up. There was one difference, however. The girls also told her they could absorb the Crystal Cores¹¹ from zombies’ brains to upgrade their powers. Although every esper’s ability was different, the Crystal Cores were universal and could be used by anyone.

The girls only mentioned the Crystal Cores inside zombie heads, not those inside espers. This could only mean that these kind-hearted girls had never cut open another esper’s head, so they didn’t know that espers had Crystal Cores, too.

With the girls joining the attack, Ren Chenxi was even happier. As long as a zombie was first hit by one of her pebbles, any Crystal Core it dropped after being killed by Jian Dan’s Sonic Wave Attack would be automatically looted into her Backpack, provided it was within ten meters. Besides, the music added a nice touch to an otherwise dull journey.

Three hours later, Ren Chenxi was no longer happy.

The atmosphere in the bus was lively, yes, but it was too lively!

At first, listening to the music from these unique instruments was interesting. But after a while, Ren Chenxi found it noisy. The Qiang-qiang wula-wula zhiya-zhiya was a constant assault, and at such close range, it was overwhelming. Long after the music stopped, her ears were still ringing.

The Suona was especially bad. As the most “hooligan” of all instruments, the moment it started playing, Ren Chenxi’s head would spin. Alright, I get it now. She finally understood how Chang Ling’s Suona could inflict dizziness on enemies. But Chang Ling had been wrong about one thing—her dizzying tune clearly affected her own teammates, too!

Fortunately, the three girls’ powers eventually ran out. When Chang Ling finally lowered her Suona and let out a long sigh, saying she was done and needed to rest, Ren Chenxi let out a sigh that was even longer.

It’s finally over.

Even Huo Keyu, who had been silent for most of the trip, spoke up with clear disdain. “Your powers are so loud!”

Jian Dan looked a little embarrassed. She explained that they had traveled with others before, but they were always told they were too noisy, which was why they ended up as a trio. They had even regretfully declined an enthusiastic invitation from that group of S University students in G City to travel to H City together. But after their encounter with the scum gang, they no longer dared to travel as just a trio and had boldly struck out on their own.

“If it’s really that loud… we won’t play in the bus anymore. If we run into a large number of zombies, we can get out and fight them,” Jian Dan said, looking at Ren Chenxi cautiously.

Ren Chenxi waved her hand dismissively. Although their powers were loud, her gains along the way had been substantial. With over sixty 1st-Grade Crystal Cores, thirty 2nd-Grade Crystal Cores, and seventeen 3rd-Grade Crystal Cores now in her Backpack, there was no way she would kick them out. Thanks to them, she had enough Crystal Stones¹² for two Card Lottery Draws¹³. She didn’t plan on using the 2,000-plus Crystal Stones just yet, though.

“It’s fine. It was really loud, but thanks to you, our journey has been much smoother. It’s just that your music is too persistent. You don’t have to exhaust all your energy at once. You could play for a bit when there are more zombies, then stop and rest when their numbers thin out. Like now—you’ve used up all your power. What if we run into danger soon?” Ren Chenxi offered her suggestion sincerely.

“…But we rarely encounter a time when there are few zombies, right?” Jian Dan said, looking troubled. After all, the slightest sound would draw zombies in droves, and their three instruments could attract them from miles away. Just like now—their powers were depleted, but a huge horde of zombies was still shambling along behind their bus. This was the main reason other people had found them so troublesome.

“Sigh, we should have just been quiet from the start. We were just too excited to finally have our instruments again…” Chang Ling added, stroking her Suona regretfully.

Ren Chenxi understood how they felt. They had finally gotten their life-saving instruments back. Remembering the days they were powerless and controlled by those scum, the girls couldn’t help but vent all their frustration on the zombies on the road, proving to themselves that their powers were still strong.

“Forget it. Just be more careful in the future,” Huo Keyu said, seeing the girls’ guilt. She tried to comfort them. “Your powers are amazing, but it’s better to use them sparingly. After all, when danger strikes, a normal person like me without any powers has to rely on you.” They were companions who had been through thick and thin, who had shared joys and hardships¹⁴. Though Huo Keyu complained, she would never actually kick them out just for being loud. Besides, what right did a normal person have to kick out espers?

Seeing that Ren Chenxi and Huo Keyu truly didn’t mind the noise, the three girls relaxed. After a brief moment of silence, they started chattering away again. At this point, they were only two hours away from H City. If the highway remained this clear, they might even be able to wash their hair and take a shower with clean water tonight.

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