My Dating Sim Just Got an Update - Chapter 23

Chen Gu hadn’t expected that he would end up sitting on a bus with a group of S University students he initially disliked. All of this was simply because they had suddenly found a common topic: badmouthing the “S University Giant Babies.”

Well… it wasn’t exactly badmouthing; they were just recounting the terrible things those “babies” had actually done.

“I’m telling you, back at S University, that Li Jie guy spent all day acting like Fan Juntian’s lackey! Fan Juntian and Senior Ren didn’t get along at all! So Liao Lan, who’s best friends with Li Jie, definitely wasn’t close to Senior Ren either! Senior Sister Mu has been tricked!”

“Damn it! These guys are truly disgusting. Just wait until I get back; I’m going to beat them to a pulp!”

“Go for it! We want revenge too! Leaving us without a drop of water or a crumb of food—those bastards were practically trying to kill us!”

“Those giant baby bastards have no hearts! We had a teammate named Sun Jia who isn’t here today. Do you know why? Because she’s injured. And the reason she’s hurt is because she saved an S University student named Dong Ting. Those giant babies got a craving and wandered near the base to hunt some mutant chickens, only to be ambushed by zombies. Our Xiao Jia was passing by and helped them, and to save Dong Ting, a zombie nearly bit her entire arm off. And what did Dong Ting do? While the zombie was still latched onto Xiao Jia, she turned around and ran off with the rest of them! If we hadn’t been nearby and heard Xiao Jia’s screams, she would have died right there!”

“What’s more disgusting is that when we went to find them later to ask for some medicine and anti-inflammatories from Fan Juntian, they refused to take responsibility. Those ungrateful wolves actually said, ‘We didn’t ask her to save us; she did it on her own.’ And that Dong Ting even had the nerve to claim she never asked for help—that Xiao Jia just charged in and provoked the zombies herself…”

“Tsk, these people are truly vile!” Song Xin, Chang Ling, and the others listened in amazement. “Truly, in the apocalypse, there’s no such thing as ‘worst,’ only ‘even worse’ when it comes to the human heart.”

“What about Senior Sister Mu? Doesn’t Fan Juntian love her to death? If she asks him for medicine, he wouldn’t refuse, right?”

“Fan Juntian does like the Boss, and he’s willing to give her medicine, but on one condition—the bastard wants the Boss to be his girlfriend!”

“Holy crap! What a dog! Compared to him, Senior Ren really was much better. It’s just a pity…”

“Brothers, don’t worry. We have ability users too, and we aren’t like those ungrateful giant babies who just sit around doing nothing. Your friend’s medicine was used on Sister Xi, so tomorrow we’ll accompany you to the neighboring city to find more!”

Yang Xiangrui’s words finally earned a bit of goodwill from Chen Gu’s team. However, at the mention of finding medicine, they let out long sighs.

“It’s not that easy to find… these days, most pharmacies have been picked clean. And with Xiao Jia’s injury… honestly, a little bit of medicine isn’t enough. It only helps slow down the infection so it doesn’t get worse.”

“From what you’re saying, Xiao Jia was bitten several days ago? Is she not an ability user? Shouldn’t an ability user’s constitution heal the wound faster? Why is it still worsening?”

“We aren’t sure. We used so much medicine at first, and it looked like it was almost healed, but then it just split open again for no reason. Plus, Xiao Jia was bitten by a zombie of a higher rank than her. Although an ability user’s body produces antibodies, the virus from a higher-ranked zombie isn’t that easy to clear. So the wound keeps reopening and shows signs of gradually worsening…”

“So higher-rank viruses are harder to clear? We hadn’t seen any zombies stronger than us until we reached the outskirts of H City—then we hit that Rank 4 leopard and all those wolves…”

“Speaking of the leopard, we encountered one too. I don’t know if animals are mutating further, but when we killed that leopard, its whole body was secreting oil! It was so gross!”

“Right! It must be a new mutation. Several of the wolf corpses out there are greasy too!”

While the conversation on the bus shifted toward the greasy mutant beast corpses, inside the van, Mu Ning had finished treating Ren Chenxi’s wound, applying powder and bandaging it up. After carefully draping her own clean jacket over Ren Chenxi, Mu Ning didn’t let go. She sat in the back row of the van, half-embracing the girl, gently stroking Ren Chenxi’s cheek while staring intently at her familiar face.

Yes, it was too familiar. This face—the eyebrows, eyes, nose, mouth, even the tiny black mole at the corner of her right eye was identical to Ren Muhui’s. If Mu Ning hadn’t accidentally seen those private areas while treating the wound, and if the softness unique to a girl wasn’t so real and free of any surgical scars, she really would have thought Ren Chenxi was Ren Muhui back from a gender reassignment surgery.

But… even having confirmed Ren Chenxi was a girl, Mu Ning still had doubts about her story. She claimed to be a twin sister, but even twins have differences, let alone fraternal twins of different genders. How could a sister look so much like her brother that they seemed to be cast from the same mold?

Could it be that the Ren Muhui who chased her all over S University was actually a girl all along?

As this thought surfaced, Mu Ning’s gaze became increasingly soft as she looked at Ren Chenxi’s profile.

No wonder. Back when she had no feelings for Ren Muhui, she hadn’t paid him much attention. But as he appeared around her more often and she finally took notice, she had thought that this “handsome” boy so many girls crushed on was actually a bit too delicate. “Beautiful” would have been a more fitting description than “handsome.”

Unfortunately, even as she became attracted to him, the fact that he seemed to treat his pursuit as a game to prove his own charm had filled her with resentment. Back then, her eyes would involuntarily follow him, yet she resisted him fiercely, to the point of dismissing his exquisite beauty as “effeminate.”

But looking at it now… Mu Ning reached out and gently touched Ren Chenxi’s somewhat cool cheek.

If Ren Muhui was actually a girl, then that delicate beauty made perfect sense. But why? Why go through the trouble of pretending to be a boy to chase her? Was she afraid Mu Ning didn’t like women? And why brag about her “charm” to others?

Regardless of the reason…

Mu Ning leaned down again, tracing the lines of Ren Chenxi’s features with her eyes as she whispered softly, “Whether you are a man or a woman, and no matter why you were so good to me back then. You can’t think of leaving me again…”

She couldn’t… she couldn’t experience that agonizing despair a second time.

From ecstasy to hopelessness… from heaven to hell. Truly, it only took the space of a single breath.

Mu Ning’s hand trembled slightly as her palm slid down to the side of Ren Chenxi’s neck. Feeling the faint warmth and the steady thrum of a pulse, her racing heart finally began to calm.

Mu Ning would never forget the ecstasy she felt after calling Ren Muhui frantically for days when the call was suddenly answered. She had heard that familiar voice so clearly. But in the next second, before she could ask where he was or why he hadn’t returned to school, a loud crash came from the other end, like a phone hitting the floor. After that, no matter how she called out, there was only a dial tone.

In that moment, Mu Ning felt her own heart stop. She felt as though she had fallen into an abyss. In reality, the entire world had fallen with her. The sky darkened, the earth shook, students collapsed one by one, and torrential rain poured from a leaden sky…

When everything finally seemed to settle, the world had changed forever. Many people told her Ren Muhui was dead, or that he had become one of those wandering monsters in the school. But she refused to believe it. She insisted on finding him. Based on a single lead, she had traveled from S City to H City. For two years, she had searched almost every corner of H City, but she could never find him.

Only in loss did she realize that she had completely fallen for him, trapped by his gentle persistence like a frog in warming water. By the time she understood her feelings, it seemed too late…

No! That was wrong! It wasn’t too late! Because the person was right here beside her. She hadn’t left, and she wasn’t dead. This time, she would hold on to her firmly.

Mu Ning carefully reached for Ren Chenxi’s left hand, which was resting on her chest. She gently pried apart the slender fingers and interlaced them with her own, locking them together in a firm grip.

How wonderful. We’ll never be apart again.

Mu Ning held her hand and listened to her shallow breathing. In this rare moment of peace, she stared dotingly at Ren Chenxi’s face, her heart full of joy and security. Just as she leaned down and her nose brushed against Ren Chenxi’s soft hair, a sudden “thud-thud-thud” on the window shattered the tranquility.

“Boss… Boss…”

Mu Ning straightened up immediately. After confirming that Ren Chenxi hadn’t been woken up, she turned an annoyed glare toward the window.

“Boss, zombies are coming a lot of them. And other mutant beasts too…”

The world at night was already extremely dangerous, and with so many mutant wolf corpses lying around, the intense scent of blood was bound to attract wandering zombies and hidden predators. Mu Ning’s face darkened. She carefully moved Ren Chenxi back onto the seat and tucked the jacket around her before opening the door and stepping out.

Chen Gu, standing outside the window, was dumbfounded by the series of actions he had just witnessed.

Is the Boss. Treating this girl like her boyfriend? No, no, maybe she’s just looking after her boyfriend’s sister? But the sister’s brother is dead, how are we supposed to tell the Boss that.

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