Chapter 27: So What’s Our Relationship Now
After finishing the exchange with Shen Jinwen, Xu Zhi didn’t leave right away.
Now that she had a better grasp of Shen Jinwen’s attitude, there were some things she felt she could discuss more openly.
“You know the Nanshan Villa District?” she asked.
Shen Jinwen nodded. “I do.”
“How far is it from here?”
Shen Jinwen’s expression shifted slightly at the question. “You want to go there?”
Xu Zhi shook her head. “No, just asking.”
Shen Jinwen replied, “Oh, it’s quite far. Normally it takes about forty minutes to drive there. It’s in the southern ecological zone.”
And that’s on a normal day. In the current situation, with the city inaccessible and the need to take a detour, it’d take at least an hour to get there—if it were even possible.
Seems like she wouldn’t be going there anytime soon, unless she got randomly transported close again.
Xu Zhi didn’t ask any more about Nanshan Villa. Seeing that it was about time, she got ready to leave.
Just before she stepped out, Shen Jinwen stopped her and asked, “I’m planning to look for a way to contact people—like a walkie-talkie or something. Do you want one too?”
This question carried a subtle implication, something like: Do you want to be teammates with me?
Xu Zhi thought Shen Jinwen was being a bit roundabout, so she smiled and nodded. “Of course. We can’t keep guessing whether the other person’s home every time, right?”
Shen Jinwen looked cool and aloof—like someone hard to approach—but upon hearing Xu Zhi’s answer, a small smile broke through her usual calm face, instantly making her seem more approachable.
Xu Zhi knew this was because they’d reached a tacit agreement to be “companions.”
On her way home, Xu Zhi kept thinking: You really can’t judge a person by appearances. Shen Jinwen, despite her aloof look, was surprisingly gentle after getting to know her. She even gave off a slightly well-behaved vibe amidst her quiet nature. Xu Zhi wasn’t sure if it was appropriate to describe someone a few years older than her like that, but it felt accurate.
Though Shen Jinwen was cautious and independent when they first met—able to survive alone even in this ruined city—once trust was established, she turned out to be unexpectedly easy to get along with. Even her aggressiveness had only shown up during their first encounter.
Xu Zhi liked teammates like this—obedient, without too many opinions—because she’d spent most of her life following others’ instructions. Now, she didn’t want to listen to anyone else.
Not long after getting home, the game console finished its update.
Xu Zhi watched the two-hour-long progress bar crawl to its end, and the screen once again showed the familiar image she’d seen the first time she picked up the console:
A pixelated, gloomy sky with a black sun hanging high overhead. Pollution flowed from it in liquid form, endlessly falling into the mortal world.
A line of familiar narration appeared on the screen:
[Game update complete.]
[Click to view patch notes.]
Xu Zhi tapped “confirm,” and the patch notes popped up.
This game update includes the following:
- Optimized idle/hang-up system. After the update, there’s no time limit for idle mode, and you can now change commands or recall your familiars at any time.
- Each time a familiar levels up, the boost it provides to you has been increased.
- Added a suggestion box. If you have any complaints or feedback about the game, you can now submit them through the suggestion box, and the game will make adjustments accordingly.
Only three changes, but Xu Zhi was a little shocked.
Why does this game… feel so obedient?
She remembered she’d only just recently complained about how rigid the idle function was—and now it was fixed. Plus, there was now a suggestion box?
But more importantly, that second item—the increased benefit from familiar level-ups—felt strange to her.
She’d always wondered: where did the power boosts she received from familiar upgrades come from?
Was it from the familiars themselves? Or from the game?
And with this update, was the game squeezing more power out of itself—or her familiars—to help her?
Is this game… treating me like royalty?
It spoon-fed her tips, revealed hidden knowledge most people couldn’t dream of, boosted her mentally and physically, and now even adjusted to her preferences the moment she voiced a complaint.
And all this… without ever asking for anything in return. No tricks. No traps.
“What the hell…?”
Xu Zhi even started wondering if there was some massive hidden conspiracy—like maybe she was being fattened up by the game console like livestock, only for it to harvest her later or something.
But… if it were raising someone, why her? She was so weak at the beginning—surely there were better choices?
She didn’t even awaken her powers naturally—it all came from consuming cores!
Thinking of that made Xu Zhi pause.
The game’s oddly “catering” behavior and how the update just happened to begin after she ate the black fruit… all these coincidences had planted a bold theory in her head.
But Xu Zhi instinctively rejected the idea. It was just too strange.
When the console first appeared, it had been sudden, sure—but she hadn’t experienced any hallucinations or dreams like Shen Jinwen had. And after that, she still hadn’t felt any extraordinary power.
She was still just an ordinary person.
It wasn’t until she awakened the [Eye of Secrets] that she truly felt herself crossing the line between ordinary and supernatural.
But there was none of that when she first got the console.
So if she had to guess, the console probably wasn’t her supernatural ability. Otherwise, why didn’t she sense anything?
After she got [Eye of Secrets], the difference was obvious.
So even though the idea had crossed her mind, Xu Zhi quickly dismissed it.
“Then what’s the reason?”
She sighed, unable to make sense of why the game console had “chosen” her.
Regardless, it was the only solid asset she had. And so far, it hadn’t caused her any harm.
She wouldn’t give up the one tool that could make her stronger.
For now, she decided to test out just how much stronger familiar upgrades would make her after the patch.
Xu Zhi pulled out the three remaining black fruits from her inventory. She fed one to Gouzi, and one to Yi.
She held onto the last one for now—planning to see how much Yi could absorb from the second fruit. If it gained enough evolution points, she’d let it have the third as well.
After all, her goal was to raise a familiar to level 20 as quickly as possible.
Plus, with each fruit fed, she got one chance to draw a new familiar trait—another big upgrade for her.
As she watched the two familiars fall into a deep sleep after eating the fruit, Xu Zhi still felt a bit bothered.
Why is it that the familiars get clear upgrades after eating the fruit, but I don’t?
She didn’t feel any increase in her own supernatural energy. The [Eye of Secrets] hadn’t evolved. She hadn’t gained any new abilities.
The only change was that the game updated.
It was hard not to overthink that.
“So what exactly is your relationship with me?”
The girl stared down at the console in her hands, frowning as she muttered to herself.
What if this world is her dream