My Dating Sim Just Got an Update - Chapter 31

By daybreak, piles of corpses had accumulated outside the house. Despite the exhaustion weighing on everyone after guarding the perimeter all night, they followed Chen Gu’s advice. Taking advantage of the lull in attacks, they had to quickly process the remains and leave as soon as possible.

The reason daytime is considered safer in the apocalypse is that many nocturnal creatures, despite their mutations, cannot override their biological habits. During the day, these mutant beasts temporarily retreat into hiding, waiting for nightfall to strike again.

However, “safer” is a relative term. Given the sheer number of humans before the fall, at least half of whom turned into zombies instantly—not to mention those later infected by scratches and bites—the zombie population was far beyond anyone’s imagination. Zombies are unaffected by the cycle of light and dark; they would continue to be drawn by the heavy scent of blood. If they weren’t careful, they might even attract high-level variants.

Furthermore, not all mutant beasts are nocturnal. In the apocalypse, one can never afford to let their guard down.

When Chen Gu spoke of “processing the corpses,” he meant excavating the crystal nuclei from the brains of the fallen zombies and beasts, and perhaps carving out a few choice cuts of mutant meat before departing. Two years into the end of the world, most people knew that nuclei resided in the brains of monsters, even if some remained ignorant of the fact that ability users had them too. In major settlements like the South Sea Base, these nuclei had even become a form of currency.

As the others busied themselves digging for nuclei, Ren Chenxi walked a circuit around the piles of bodies, her eyes fixed on her backpack interface—specifically the first twenty empty slots. Thank heavens that in this world, even though many mechanics mimicked the MMOs she used to play, the “despawn timer” for loot didn’t exist. As long as a monster’s drop hadn’t been picked up by someone else, it remained in existence.

During the final few waves of the night, Ren Chenxi had ignored protests and dragged her injured body out to kill nearly ten Level 1 and 2 zombies, while also “tagging” over twenty mutant beasts. Including what she had scavenged while fishing in troubled waters earlier, her backpack now held an additional 18 Level 1 nuclei, 16 Level 2 nuclei, and 7 Level 3 nuclei.

While Ren Chenxi was satisfied with her haul, the others were growing increasingly bewildered.

“Strange. What’s going on? This zombie doesn’t have a nucleus in its head?”

“Mine too. Is it possible these zombies haven’t even reached Level 1 yet?”

Normally, ability users of similar levels can sense one another’s strength, as well as the level of zombies and mutant beasts. While high-level users can hide their strength from those below them, zombies and beasts cannot hide theirs unless they are dead.

Once dead, their energy signatures vanish, leaving the brain nucleus as the only way to confirm their rank. Finding a brain without a nucleus left the group stumped.

“A sub-Level 1 zombie? Does such a thing even exist?”

“It’s not just the zombies. Several of these mutant beasts don’t have nuclei either!”

“Weird. Look at the size of this wolf; it’s clearly a mutant! Is it possible the nuclei in wolves aren’t located in the brain?”

“And the zombies? Why do some have them and others don’t? I think you’re the one without a brain!”

“Then where are the crystals?”

“I bet they got knocked out of the head during the fight. Let’s search the ground; maybe we can find a stray one or two~”

I’m certain you’re brainless now.

Listening to the debate over the “missing” nuclei, Ren Chenxi, the sole owner of all the dropped items, gave a guilty shrug. She turned away and pulled out a dagger, pretending to help Jian Dan and the others, but they immediately stopped her. In their view, Ren Chenxi only had one functional arm and wouldn’t be much help; she was better off resting.

Regarding her left shoulder, Ren Chenxi would have been terrified in the past. She would have worried about whether the bone would knit, if infection would set in, or if her combat effectiveness would be permanently hampered. Now, those fears were gone. Though she was loath to admit it, she owed this peace of mind to the “Ice Goddess,” whose existence had triggered the reward of five SR-grade Recovery Cards.

A Recovery Card restored 70% of one’s health. When the wolf bit her yesterday, her health had only dropped by 20%, so one card was more than enough to top her off. However, these system-provided cards differed from the potions in her old games; her health bar didn’t just snap back to full instantly.

According to the detailed description, a Recovery Card restores health while gradually mending wounds and curing illnesses. Even if one were eviscerated or had every bone shattered, as long as health stayed above 30% and no further damage was taken, the body would be fully healed by the time the health bar hit 100%.

Of course, being eviscerated usually meant health was well below 30%. In such cases, one card would only bring a player up to roughly 70%, partially closing wounds but requiring follow-up treatment.

As for the speed… Ren Chenxi had used a card last night, and so far, her health had recovered by less than 5%. The card’s effect was capped at a 5% recovery rate per day. This meant it would take at least four days for her shoulder to be completely healed.

Still, even with less than 5% recovery, the wound felt significantly better. She didn’t feel any discomfort when she unconsciously shrugged.

Mu Ning, watching from the side, saw that shrug and wondered why this girl was so careless with her body. Her shoulder was mangled, yet she insisted on moving it. Moreover, that shrugging motion was hauntingly familiar. In her memories, that person used to shrug exactly like that whenever they had done something to displease her.

Mu Ning’s confusion lasted only a moment before Chen Gu’s voice rang out again.

“Boss, do we still want the meat from these wolves? They’re just like that Level 4 leopard we found in the woods! They’re all greasy and disgusting! I wasn’t paying attention yesterday and touched one; now my hands are covered in oil!”

“Me too, it’s a nightmare. Soap and detergent are so expensive these days…”

Subtly, Mu Ning looked back at Ren Chenxi. She saw her steal a glance at Chen Gu’s group, quickly look away, and then shrug both shoulders again…

Could the missing nuclei and the greasy corpses be related to her? And could twins really share the exact same subconscious habits?

“Boss, should we just give up on the wolves? We’ve checked five and found nothing. Let’s skip them and check the other beasts.”

Zhang Tongqi’s question broke Mu Ning’s train of thought. She looked around at the remaining corpses and nodded. “Leave the wolves. Focus on the others.” Mu Ning then knelt by a zombie to dig for a nucleus herself. She skillfully drove a sharp dagger into the temple, twisting and prying to shatter the bone. Looking through the hole at the spot where the nucleus should have been, she found it empty.

Mu Ning turned her head to look at Ren Chenxi again. She saw the girl standing obediently to the side, staring blankly into the distance. That silhouette was achingly familiar. Once, when Mu Ning had piled a drawer full of cookies, chocolates, and cakes onto a desk and demanded to know if Ren Muhui had put them there, he had stood just like that—hands folded over his stomach, standing straight as a board, looking everywhere but at her, too guilty to meet her eyes.

Had she really memorized so many of his habits without realizing it?

“Boss, more zombies approaching! Ugh, this is never-ending! More bodies to process!”

A groan of frustration broke Mu Ning’s reverie. She looked into the distance and saw several low-level zombies staggering toward them. Just as she was about to deal with them, Ren Chenxi stepped forward.

“Keep working. I’ll take care of these.”

After witnessing Ren Chenxi’s terrifying accuracy the previous night, Chen Gu’s group didn’t doubt her for a second, even with her injury.

Only Mu Ning watched her back with a hint of worry. But when she saw a single long crystal spike take down a zombie instantly, her heart eased. It seemed the junior, Tang Ying, had become Ren Chenxi’s dedicated “ammo supplier.” After being “oppressed” by Ren Chenxi all night, the girl with the seemingly useless ability had actually leveled up. Now, her crystallized objects were even harder; even Chen Gu, a Level 3 user, struggled to break them. Thus, the evolved Tang Ying now focused on crystallizing small objects specifically for Ren Chenxi to use as projectiles.

Over the course of the night, Ren Chenxi had mastered the patterns for dealing with low-level enemies. She no longer needed R-grade Explosion Cards to kill them.

Mu Ning watched as Ren Chenxi casually dispatched the zombies with one hand. As the bodies hit the ground, a thought struck her. If she went to check the brains of these zombies right now, would she find nuclei?

Unfortunately, Ren Chenxi didn’t give her the chance. She called out loudly, “Those are taken care of! Keep working; I’ve already dug out their nuclei!”

“Go ahead, go ahead!”

The group didn’t even look up. They had enough bodies to deal with; they didn’t care about the ones Ren Chenxi had just added to the pile. Only Mu Ning watched as Ren Chenxi walked over to the corpses, pulled out a dagger in a business-like manner, gave the heads a few perfunctory stabs, and moved on to the next one.

That was the most half-hearted nucleus harvesting I’ve ever seen.

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