My Dating Sim Just Got an Update - Chapter 75

“How was your harvest this morning after I left?” Before revealing the “good news,” Mu Ning wanted to check if her subordinates had taken the opportunity to slack off while she was away.

“Whoa! Boss, our haul this morning was incredible~” Speaking of their progress, Chen Gu was immediately filled with pride and excitement. “We caught two Level 2 mutant rabbits and one Level 1 mutant chicken. Fang Hong and the others also gathered a lot of mushrooms and dug up plenty of fresh bamboo shoots. Oh, and Huo Keyu found a large patch of cumin! Now we can add some real flavor to the roasted meat~”

“Just that?” Mu Ning’s expression was unimpressed. “No large mutant beasts? No mutant buffalo or wild boars?”

“Boss—” Chen Gu and the group felt slighted. “You left with us! To save fuel, we had to keep the bus near the base perimeter. Even if there were any large beasts nearby, they probably would have been snatched up by other survivors already!”

“Yeah, Boss, don’t just pick on us. What did you and Sister Xi do all morning? And you even got hurt.”

As Zhang Tongqi spoke, Tantan, who had been circling Ren Chenxi, became increasingly agitated. His purring grew so loud it sounded like a rattling tractor engine.

“Eh? Why does Tantan seem so much more excited than usual today?” Jian Dan asked from the side, looking puzzled.

“Well, it might be because…” Ren Chenxi explained calmly as she crouched down to pet the cat, “Tantan probably smells the lingering scent of seafood on me.”

“Seafood?” Zhang Tongqi cried out in surprise before quickly connecting the dots. “B-Boss, did you and Sister Xi go to the coast this morning???”

“Yes. I came back this morning to ask Ren Chenxi to accompany me to the beach.”

The moment Mu Ning finished speaking, Chen Gu let out an excited yelp. “Boss! Why didn’t you take us with you? You knew the seaside was so dangerous…”

“Take you for what? So you could hunt small chickens and ducks? Or so you could be served as snacks for the mutant octopus? Someone like me got injured—how many hits from those tentacles do you think you could withstand?”

“B-but Boss, why did you only ask Sister Xi?” Chen Gu knew deep down that their current strength would mean certain death in front of a giant octopus, but he still felt a bit slighted.

After all, they had been following her through life and death for two years. Why did she choose to leave them behind and go with Sister Xi, whom she’d known for less than a week?

While Chen Gu was wallowing in his grievance, Ren Chenxi played along by pulling a massive section of an octopus tentacle from her backpack. A single tentacle was over ten meters long, so she had chopped the eight limbs into three sections each.

The appearance of this massive chunk of meat made everyone stop breathing for a moment. Tantan, circling Ren Chenxi’s feet, let out an excited “aowu!” and pounced directly onto the tentacle. Before Ren Chenxi could stop him, Tantan had already gnawed a small hole into it.

 Ren Chenxi thought to herself that Tantan’s bite force after mutating was truly terrifying. Luckily, the cat was careful when playing with her; otherwise, a fragile human like her would probably have a few holes in her too!

“Tantan, stop!” Before the cat could take a second bite, Ren Chenxi grabbed him by the scruff of his neck with a stern face and lifted him up. “You’re too small to eat that much octopus meat at once!”

“Tantan’s true form is actually much larger than this…” Mu Ning couldn’t help but remind her from the side.

“Even so, he can’t eat a whole section like that!” Ren Chenxi said as she pulled out her flashy, colorful long sword and began slicing the tentacle into smaller pieces.

The cat, having been set down, seemed to understand her intentions. He trotted eagerly into the kitchen and dragged out his dedicated stainless steel food bowl. Ren Chenxi habitually rubbed Tantan’s furry head before using the gaudy blade to thinly slice the meat for him.

The onlookers no longer had the energy to criticize her overly colorful sword. From the moment the tentacle appeared, they had been too stunned to speak.

After a long silence, Chen Gu asked Mu Ning in a trembling voice, “B-Boss, is the meat Sister Xi is feeding Tantan. from that Level 7 mutant octopus?”

Mu Ning nodded calmly. “Yes.”

“A-and you and Sister Xi killed it together?”

“Yes.”

 Well, no wonder the Boss didn’t want to take them. They would have been food, but bringing Sister Xi meant they were the ones doing the eating. Still, it felt off—one was Level 5 and the other Level 4. Fighting a high-level mutant across ranks should have resulted in them being crushed, especially since the Boss was injured!

Seeing the mixture of shock and doubt on her subordinates’ faces, Mu Ning dropped another bombshell: “Given enough crystal nuclei, Ren Chenxi’s combat power is even higher than mine. That octopus was heavily wounded by her.”

 Chen Gu and the others were speechless. Boss! Your level is higher than hers, yet she’s stronger than you—why do you sound so proud of that?!

Unlike the stunned boys, Jian Dan and the girls—who had witnessed Ren Chenxi’s power early on didn’t doubt Mu Ning for a second. Instead, they asked excitedly, “Sister Xi, was it that head-exploding ability of yours? Like how you easily took out that Level 3 stone-skin guy! I noticed you don’t use it often; does it really consume that many crystal nuclei?”

“Yeah, that’s basically it.” Ren Chenxi thought about it; her card abilities were indeed tied to how many nuclei she had. The more she had, the more cards she could draw. “But against a high-level mutant like that octopus, I couldn’t blow its head off instantly. I could only chip away at its health.”

“…” Even chipping away at its health was incredible! If we went up there, we probably couldn’t even scratch its skin!

Recalling the mountain of crystal nuclei Ren Chenxi had gathered over the last few days, everyone gained a new understanding of her true strength. Their Boss had personally acknowledged her power, and while the Boss was injured, Ren Chenxi was completely unharmed. Furthermore, the Level 7 horror that had wiped out so many survivor teams was now being luxuriously fed to a cat.

In an instant, everyone’s respect for Ren Chenxi skyrocketed—especially Sun Jia.

“Sister Xi is truly amazing! She was suffering from a stomach ache this morning, yet she still went out with the Boss to kill a mutant octopus!”

Can we please just move past the stomach ache thing?! Ren Chenxi pleaded internally.

“Meow meow meow~” A clingy meow broke the solemn atmosphere. Tantan had finished his bowl and was rubbing against Ren Chenxi for a refill. From his constant purring, she could tell he truly loved the octopus—and likely other seafood too.

Thinking of other seafood, Ren Chenxi pulled out the five iron buckets and four plastic bags she had harvested. The frozen containers hit the ground with a heavy thud, catching everyone’s attention again. The iron buckets clearly showed massive bamboo clams frozen inside.

“It’s seafood! All kinds of seafood!”

Despite living in a town near the sea, the survivors had been kept away by the powerful sea monsters. They had been craving seafood for ages, only able to enjoy it in their dreams. They never expected to see so much of it in reality… even if it was frozen solid.

In the post-apocalyptic world, no one turns down food especially delicious food!

In an instant, the house was filled with cheers.

However, before the shouting got too loud, Mu Ning silenced them with a single cold glare.

“Watch yourselves! Do you want everyone in the neighborhood to know someone in our team killed the Level 7 octopus?”

Nobody wanted to invite unnecessary trouble within the base. They immediately quieted down, silently swallowing their saliva as they nimbly organized the frozen treasures: razor clams, abalone, scallops, oysters, crabs, lobsters, and more.

As they sorted through the haul, wondering how it all got frozen, they received even more shocking news. Their Boss had leveled up and awakened an Ice-type ability! Furthermore, the already powerful Sister Xi was now Level 5!!!

For a moment, everyone felt a mix of sorrow and bliss.

The sorrow came from the fact that the Boss and Sister Xi were leveling up so fast that they might never catch up—they were destined to follow behind and shamelessly ride their coattails forever. The bliss? Being carried by such powerful leaders felt absolutely amazing!

That afternoon, lunch became a seafood feast. Steamed crabs, salt-and-pepper bamboo clams, abalone with scallion oil, garlic vermicelli oysters… The rice they had already steamed served as the staple, and the other dishes they had prepared earlier weren’t wasted either. In the apocalypse, everyone’s appetite had grown; they could easily finish it all.

To prevent the scent from drifting to other houses, they ate somewhat secretively. After the meal, Chen Gu and the others excitedly discussed whether they could go to the beach to scavenge since the octopus was gone. Although Ren Chenxi had brought back a lot, no one in the apocalypse would ever complain about having too much food.

More importantly, those mutant sea creatures carried crystal nuclei they could harvest!

Hearing their request, Ren Chenxi turned to Mu Ning, waiting for her to decide. It was true that there were too many survivors hunting around the base, making large prey scarce. To find more, they either had to travel further or risk the coast.

Now that the biggest threat was gone, the South Sea beach would eventually become the base’s next big food source and a gold mine for nuclei. Based on Ren Chenxi’s haul alone, she had gathered over 13,000 crystals just from the frozen creatures.

Individual strength wasn’t enough; since the conditions were right, Ren Chenxi hoped Jian Dan and the others could improve their levels too. In this cruel world, no one wanted to stay stagnant.

Mu Ning met Ren Chenxi’s gaze but shook her head slightly. She said calmly, “For the next few days, continue hunting around the base perimeter. No one is allowed to go to the beach, and you are not to mention this to anyone!”

“Ah! Why, Boss? The octopus is dead!”

As soon as Mu Ning spoke, the room was filled with groans of disappointment.

“Yes, the Level 7 octopus is dead. The survivors who risk the coast will discover that sooner or later.”

“Then why can’t we”

“We can go, and we can even go openly, but only after those other survivors have officially discovered that the octopus is gone!”

That was a delicious turn of events!

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