My Dating Sim Just Got an Update - Chapter 65

Trading high-level crystals for low-level ones was easy, but trying to go the other way was a different story entirely. Some traders even demanded exorbitant rates on the black market to part with their high-grade stones. For instance, in certain corners of the base, a single Level 3 crystal could fetch 200 Level 1 crystals, and a single Level 4 crystal could go for as many as 2,000. These rates were double the base’s official exchange standard.

Of course, despite these high prices, very few ability users were actually willing to part with their hard-earned high-level crystals. The “double exchange rate” was mostly a theoretical figure. Only the base leaders or the Fan family had the deep pockets and resources to trade away their stockpiles so generously.

Zhang Tongqi and the others didn’t want Ren Chenxi to lose out and insisted on paying her the double black-market rate, but Ren Chenxi stood her ground. It wasn’t until she threatened to take the generator back, start charging them for water at base prices, and settle every single expense individually that they finally relented and accepted a fair trade.

They dragged over two large sacks of Level 1 crystals some earned from their recent barbecue sales and others saved over a long period. Seeing their stash of low-level crystals vanish so quickly made Zhang Tongqi grumble that they’d better hunt down extra mutant beasts today so they could keep the barbecue stall running tonight.

The mention of the hunt reminded Ren Chenxi of her “leave of absence” that had been interrupted by Fan Juntian’s arrival. As the group prepared to head out, she clutched her stomach, put on a pained expression, and told them she was feeling unwell and needed to stay near a bathroom today.

Concerned, everyone immediately urged her to stay home and rest. As it happened, Huo Keyu and the other ordinary survivors wanted to join the outing today; they weren’t planning on heading to the dangerous outskirts of H-City, just scouting the neighboring small town. While the ability users hunted, they hoped to forage for mushrooms, wild greens, and other crops. Although Ren Chenxi worried about their safety, it was broad daylight, they had plenty of protectors, and most importantly, they had the powerhouse Mu Ning with them. She didn’t press the issue further.

Once Mu Ning’s group and the newcomers had departed, the house was left with only Tantan and Sun Jia. Sun Jia looked at Ren Chenxi’s hand on her stomach and her “urgent” expression, nodded understandingly, and headed upstairs to rest. Ren Chenxi suspected Sun Jia thought she had some specific digestive ailment, but since she couldn’t explain the truth, she just laughed awkwardly and instructed Tantan to follow Sun Jia upstairs and keep watch over her.

With the coast finally clear, Ren Chenxi ducked into the crystal-clad bathroom and pulled up her card draw panel. She initiated thirty consecutive ten-draws. This massive pull netted her 3 SR “Explosion” cards, 2 “Invisibility” cards, 2 “Shield” cards, along with 15 R-grade “Explosion” cards, 9 “Acceleration” cards, and 1 “Position Swap” card.

The remaining 268 cards were all N-grade. Among them were 120 “Grease” cards, 86 “Flash” cards, and 62 “Outfit Change” cards. Realizing she might encounter mid-to-low-tier mutated seafood at the coast, she left the “Grease” cards alone for now. The bus was running low on fuel after two trips, so she planned to use the coast trip to stock up on universal gasoline.

Since she needed “Grease” cards for fuel and wanted to keep the “Flash” cards for defense, she unhesitatingly used 60 “Outfit Change” cards to synthesize 7 R-grade “Explosion” cards, 3 R-grade “Critical Hit” cards, and 2 “Position Swap” cards.

She now had 22 R-grade “Explosion” cards. She synthesized 20 of them into 4 SR “Explosion” cards, which she then combined with the SR cards she had just drawn to create a single SSR “Explosion” card.

Altogether, she now holds three SSR “Explosion” cards. According to the card information, an SSR card couldn’t guarantee a one-hit kill against high-level enemies; the damage varied depending on the target’s rank. For example, against a Level 7 Octopus Monster, a single SSR card would only deal 30% damage. Under normal circumstances, her three SSR cards wouldn’t be enough to finish the beast. Her remaining SR cards would deal negligible damage to such a high-tier monster, but she had a secret weapon: an SR “Critical Hit” card!

Normally, “Explosion” cards didn’t have a critical hit rate or bonus damage. However, if she used a “Critical Hit” card on herself before attacking, the subsequent “Explosion” card would be guaranteed to deal massive bonus damage. An R-grade “Critical Hit” card gave a 10% bonus, an SR gave 100%, and an SSR would provide a staggering 1000% boost!

While one “Critical Hit” card could only buff a single attack, a 100% boost was exactly what she needed to take down that Level 7 Octopus.

Armed with this arsenal of high-level cards, Ren Chenxi felt a surge of confidence for her trip to the sea.

Leaving the bathroom, she checked the second floor one last time. Since Mu Ning and the others were gone, she knocked on Sun Jia’s door to remind Tantan to keep a close eye on her. She explained to Sun Jia that her “stomach pains” were coming in waves and she might be stuck in the bathroom for a while, so she wouldn’t be able to look in on her. Sun Jia, hearing how “serious” it sounded, urged Ren Chenxi to take some medicine and rest, assuring her that Tantan was enough company. Tantan complied with a soft meow, curling up obediently in his little bed by Sun Jia’s side.

This bed wasn’t the one from Ren Chenxi’s room; it was a spare they used for Tantan whenever the team went out. During yesterday’s warehouse raid, Ren Chenxi had moved it to Sun Jia’s room so the cat could guard her.

Gently patting Tantan’s head, Ren Chenxi left the room and carefully closed the door. Sun Jia watched her go, worried by her solemn expression. Is Xi-jie’s stomach really that bad? Why did she look like she was marching onto a battlefield just to go to the bathroom?

Ren Chenxi didn’t know about Sun Jia’s concerns, but she was indeed heading to a battlefield. As a “Combat Rank 5” rookie who had considered giving up just a few weeks ago, she hadn’t even been in this world for a month, and now she was about to challenge a Level 7 monster. Even with a deck of lethal cards, she couldn’t help feeling a bit of nervous tension.

One million shop points, here I come!!!

Ren Chenxi walked calmly out of the base gates and kept going until she reached a secluded area. She pulled the off-road vehicle from her inventory, but before starting it, she realized the fuel gauge was low. It likely wouldn’t last the trip to the South Sea coast. She tracked down a few “Red Dot” zombies nearby, used 5 “Grease” cards, and finished them off with the sharp crystals in her bag. This netted her five 6L bottles of gasoline and 5 Level 1 crystals.

She poured all 30L of gasoline into the tank, checked the map for the nearest coastal point, and began the drive. Although the South Sea Base was named after the sea, it wasn’t actually a coastal town. It took her an hour of driving to finally reach the shoreline.

The road was dotted with red marks on her mini-map. She avoided most of them, only stopping to kill the zombies or mutant beasts that directly blocked her path. As she neared the coast, the number of red dots actually decreased—until she finally reached the shoreline marked “South Sea.” There, she was met with a dense, terrifying sea of red dots.

There were so many that her scalp crawled. During the drive, she had been so focused on the Level 7 Octopus that she had completely overlooked the other mutated seafood roaming the beach.

Her plan for the octopus was theoretically perfect: activate a “Shield” card, lure the monster onto the sand, pull it far enough away so it couldn’t retreat into the water, use an “Invisibility” card, buff herself with the SR “Critical Hit” card, and then unload three SSR “Explosion” cards in rapid succession.

An SR “Shield” card created a transparent dome for 30 minutes, but against a Level 7 enemy, it could only withstand 10 hits. Ren Chenxi had five of these. If she synthesized them into an SSR “Shield,” she’d get a 1-hour shield that was impervious to any enemy below high-rank, but it would only last 10 minutes against high-tier attacks.

She debated: did she want 10 minutes of absolute defense, or five separate shields that could take 50 hits total? After a moment of thought, she opted for the SSR synthesis. While the beach was swarming with “trash mobs,” the only real threat was the octopus. For maximum safety, she would activate the SSR Shield the moment the boss appeared. Ten minutes was more than enough time to secure the kill, and if anything went wrong, it was enough time to use an “Acceleration” card to escape.

Before stepping onto the sand, Ren Chenxi stashed the vehicle back in her inventory. Gripping a long iron rod in one hand and a “Grease” card in the other, she carefully stepped onto the soft, fine sand.

The patch of sand she stood on was clear on the mini-map, but ten steps ahead, the red dots began. Looking out, she could see giant crabs scuttling in the distance and jellyfish slumped on the shore, but the area directly in front of her seemed empty.

The crafty creatures were hiding under the sand!

Ren Chenxi carefully tossed a few large rocks toward the area ten steps ahead. As soon as the rocks hit the sand, eight massive crabs erupted from the ground. They looked like three-spotted crabs but were twice the size of a king crab. Fortunately, they were only Level 2 or 3. As they charged toward her aggressively, she started slapping “Grease” cards on them one by one.

However, the grease didn’t make them slip! Their sharp, pointed legs stabbed directly into the soft sand. Even though oil was pouring down their long, thin legs, it didn’t slow their advance in the slightest!

The coastal wind was howling. Ren Chenxi tried to use a lighter and candles from her bag to start a fire, but the gale was too strong; the flame wouldn’t catch. In the time it took her to try, the eight giant crabs had already reached her.

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