My Dating Sim Just Got an Update - Chapter 19

Learning that Fan Juntian was also in H City triggered an instinctive wave of disgust in Ren Chenxi. However, she quickly suppressed the feeling.

Wasn’t it actually a good thing that this guy, who was even more persistent than she used to be was also here? With that nuisance pestering her, the Wood Goddess likely wouldn’t have the time or energy to bother with Ren Muhui’s “twin sister.”

As she reminisced about the old days of bickering with her “rival,” the bus had unknowingly reached Zuoning Town. They were still some distance away from Yanghu Village, but the sky had already turned completely dark.

“Sister Xi, what should we do? Should we push on to Yanghu Village, or find a place nearby to rest for the night?”

By now, Ren Chenxi had essentially become the group’s “Big Sister.” Not only did the four girls who had started the journey with her look to her for guidance, but even the S University students who had just boarded today were watching her, waiting for her to make the call.

“Hmm…” Ren Chenxi checked her game map. After a moment of thought, she made a decision. “Let’s find an open area nearby to rest for the night. We’ll head to the South Sea Base tomorrow.”

Although the bus had traveled quite a distance from the dense forest, this was still a rural town. Before the apocalypse, these areas had far more vegetation than the cities. After two years of neglect, the wild plants had grown into a frantic tangle. On her game map, Ren Chenxi could see that much of the road ahead was covered in green. In the darkness of night, there was no telling what dangers lurked within. Instinctively, she felt they shouldn’t risk traveling at night without being fully prepared.

Having struggled through two years of the apocalypse themselves, the others understood the dangers of the night even better than she did. Her decision was met with unanimous approval.

However, there were so many plants in the area that it took Chang Ling a while to find a suitable spot: a dilapidated two-story house. It was a “borderline” choice because, about 300 meters away, wild weeds still grew in thick clusters, some even creeping onto the clearing in front of the house. Several other buildings nearby had already half-collapsed. They planned to clear the weeds, park the bus in the clearing, and spend the night inside the self-built house.

Lu Ping, the strength-based user, and Zhu Kong, the wind user, were enough to handle the weeds. As for Jian Dan and her bandmates, it was too late for a concert. While the boys cleared the yard, Ren Chenxi and the others went inside to scout the building. They hoped to find some food or water, but upon entering, they realized why this house was still standing while the others had fallen: it was only because the collapse wasn’t obvious from the outside.

Inside, the stairs leading to the second floor had completely crumbled. Yang Xiangrui used his strength to pull himself up to the second floor to check it out, returning with a face full of dust.

“No point going up there. It’s a mess, the walls have caved in, and only the main beam is holding the roof up,” Yang Xiangrui said, coughing and brushing dust off his face.

“Nothing on the first floor either—no food, no water. There’s a well outside, but the water is contaminated and undrinkable…”

“Sigh, dry biscuits again tonight. By the way, Tang Ying, how are your food supplies? Do you have enough?”

“We have a little left, and biscuits. Oh! I still have two ham sausages, but our bottled water is all gone.” Tang Ying said as she rummaged through her large backpack.

“We still have some bottled water. We can share some with you later,” Jian Dan offered.

Since they were going to the South Sea Base tomorrow and would need the S University students’ help to ask their water-user senior for help, Jian Dan and the others weren’t being stingy with their remaining supply.

“Ah! Thank you so much! We were actually planning to just grit our teeth and bear the thirst tonight.”

“It’s no problem.” Compared to these poor souls who were used to enduring thirst, Sister Xi’s use of water was positively extravagant. After all, Sister Xi insisted on brushing her teeth every morning and night!

Ren Chenxi had two full barrels of water in her inventory, and there was one half-barrel on the bus for everyone to drink during the drive. Song Xin carried that remaining half-barrel into the house. The students, who had been thirsty for a long time, eyes lit up at the sight of it. Yet, despite their thirst, no one rushed forward to grab it.

Ren Chenxi glanced at the green dots on her mini-map to ensure they were safe, then watched as Jian Dan poured water for the students. Some had thermoses, while others used empty plastic bottles. While pouring for Tang Ying, Jian Dan suddenly looked at her and asked casually, “By the way, Tang Ying, you’re an ability user too, right? I can sense it. What’s your power?”

Wait, can ability users sense each other? Ren Chenxi looked at Tang Ying, whose level was displayed as Rank 2, and blinked in surprise. She knew the girl had an ability and had wondered why she didn’t use it against the mutant leopard earlier, choosing instead to just cheer from the sidelines. Though she found it odd, she hadn’t asked; she was glad Jian Dan had brought it up.

“Sigh, my ability is basically useless… I’m just a ‘water’…”

“A water-user?!”

Before Tang Ying could finish, Song Xin and Chang Ling shouted in excitement. Even Ren Chenxi’s heart skipped a beat at the word “water.”

“What are you thinking!” Tang Ying rolled her eyes hard. “If I were a water-user, would I have traveled all this way to find Senior Sister Mu? Would I have been suffering from thirst this whole time?”

“Fair point. So what is your ability then?”

“It’s ‘Crystallization.’ I can turn anything I touch into crystal…”

That… sounds like a really powerful ability!”

“Then why didn’t you try to crystallize that mutant leopard earlier?”

“I’d have to actually touch the thing first, sister!” Tang Ying was nearly at her wit’s end. She had explained the flaws of her “useless” ability to people too many times to count.

Unfortunately, Chang Ling didn’t pick up on her frustration. She was determined to find a powerful use for an ability that sounded so cool. “Well, can you crystallize yourself? Like those people who can turn their skin to stone for invincible defense?”

In response, Tang Ying gave a demonstration. She reached out and touched a dusty, discarded wooden table on the floor. With just a light tap of her index finger, a corner of the table began to change. From dirty and grey, it slowly transformed into a shimmering, translucent crystal.

“Whoa—”

Before Song Xin could finish her praise, Tang Ying gestured for Lu Ping to come over. Lu Ping reached out and gave the crystal corner a light snap; it shattered instantly.

“Items I crystallize become very brittle. Against someone with strength like Lu Ping, it just breaks. And once it’s crystal, it doesn’t change back,” Tang Ying explained helplessly. “If I crystallized a part of my own body and it broke, it would be gone for good…”

Everyone looked at Tang Ying with pity. Before the apocalypse, this ability would have been incredibly lucrative. But in this world… it did seem a bit useless.

Ren Chenxi looked at Tang Ying and handed her an empty biscuit wrapper. “Try it on this?”

Tang Ying was usually tired of “performing” her ability for others, but since it was Ren Chenxi asking, she nodded happily. She touched the flimsy wrapper, and the entire thing turned into solid crystal.

Ren Chenxi took the crystallized wrapper back and tried to snap it. It was surprisingly tough; she couldn’t break it with her bare hands. The crystal had sharp, jagged edges. She realized that if she had Lu Ping break it into smaller pieces, the long, needle-like shards would make excellent hidden weapons. Thinking this, she had Lu Ping shatter it and then carefully picked out a few promising “darts.”

Crystallized objects were truly beautiful. Tang Ying didn’t ask what she wanted them for; seeing that Ren Chenxi was interested in her crystals, she hurried to drink the water Jian Dan had given her.

With the weeds outside cleared, Yang Xiangrui suddenly suggested, “Since we have food and water, why don’t we start a small campfire and have something hot? I still have two packs of instant noodles.” He had been craving those noodles for the entire trip.

Ren Chenxi had noodles too, but she felt an odd sense of unease. This place wasn’t like the service area they had stayed in before. The encounter with the Rank 4 mutant leopard had left her with a lingering sense of crisis.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea. After how dangerous that forest was, you’re actually in the mood for a hot meal?”

Song Xin immediately shot down Yang Xiangrui’s suggestion. Even though she also wanted something warm, she prioritized her safety. Besides, they had eaten well back at the gas station, so she wasn’t that desperate.

“But we’re far from the forest now. No matter how fast that leopard is, it won’t chase us all the way here, right?”

“Who knows? Honestly… why do I feel like H City might be even more dangerous? There’s such a massive base there…”

“Maybe… because there’s such a large survivor base, the zombies and mutant beasts near the city were driven out? Most of them might have fled to the surrounding towns and villages,” Ren Chenxi theorized.

“That makes sense! The base must have a lot of ability users. Low-level zombies and beasts would be easily wiped out. The ones that escaped would either be higher level or just more capable of survival. After two years, they’ve probably evolved further…”

Hearing the analysis, Yang Xiangrui couldn’t help but shiver. “Hiss… alright, I’ll just stick to my biscuits. Honestly, having water to drink is enough to make me happy.”

Huo Keyu, who had been quiet the whole time, glanced at Yang Xiangrui and then went back to silently chewing her biscuit. After fighting the mutant leopard together on the bus, she didn’t feel as much animosity toward the S University students anymore.

After a simple dinner, Ren Chenxi couldn’t help but yawn. The adrenaline from the leopard incident had kept her wired for a long time, but now that she had relaxed and filled her stomach, exhaustion was hitting her hard.

She wasn’t the only one; the S University students, having wandered the forest for so long, were also desperate for rest. They discussed it and decided to take turns on watch—three people per shift, rotating every two hours. Before sleeping, Lu Ping pushed several heavy cabinets from the inner room to block the broken front door. They also found some sturdy wooden planks and used tools from the bus to securely board up the two windows.

Following the others’ lead, Ren Chenxi tightened her windbreaker and leaned against a corner of the wall. She did a quick check of her inventory and her remaining cards before drifting off to sleep.

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