So this is what they mean by: out with the old, in with the new?
Heng Jin's arrival also meant the RV had arrived. Jing Shu's mood was heavy, but this good news still lifted her a little.
"Home's right at the gate. Grandma, Grandpa, head back on foot and boil some ginger tea so you don't catch a cold. Someone will come help us lift the car in a bit. I'll take these things home with Dad first."
Jing Shu wiped rain mixed with red nematodes from her face. Red nematodes had already tangled in her eyebrows. She had only thrown on rain boots and a rain hat today and had not had time to grab a raincoat. After all that solemn vow to never let red nematodes get close again, it only took a few days to break it.
Same old smell, same old flavor. Jing Shu spat and expelled a red nematode that had gotten into her mouth.
"What sin did we commit, heavens," Grandma Jing groaned. Grandma Jing patted Xiao Dou to make sure it was still there, but the food that had fallen in the rain was a lost cause.
The morning air was frigid. Jing Shu was already shivering in the rain, to say nothing of the elderly couple. She hurried Su Lanzhi into taking them home to get warm.
Jing Shu and Jing An shouldered the suitcases one by one and began cleaning up the scene. When Jing An saw the size of the blasted crater, his heart still pounded with fear. "This is outrageous. Who did we offend this badly?"
"Probably someone who's got their eyes on our supplies."
Jing An fell into brooding silence.
By the time Jing Shu finished tidying up, the place showed little trace of what had happened, aside from the crater and rubble. The rain washed the rest away.
Even so, when Heng Jin rolled up in a truck-like RV, the sight still stunned him.
Heng Jin was not the only one with a dropped jaw. Jing An stared in disbelief. Jing Shu ground her teeth.
In the dark, when Jing Shu saw that king-of-the-road, super-sized truck barreling toward her, she could not help feeling delighted. The thought of migrating through brutal winter in a warm RV made life feel bearable again.
Then she got a good look. The entire front bumper of the RV was gone. The nose was caved in. The chassis was misaligned, and the vehicle was crab-walking sideways.
Like a giant sideways scuttling crab, and fast at that.
"Forget it. I was planning to redesign the front end anyway," Jing Shu said.
One headlight was dead. The windshield was laced with spiderweb cracks. How had the driver even gotten it back here?
"Fine. The glass was due to be replaced with bulletproof glass," Jing Shu said.
One glance told the story. Yang Yang had not treated it like a lover. Yang Yang had driven it like a bumper car.
Up close, the RV's flanks were scraped all over. She could endure that. She could endure a lot.
But where had the passenger door gone? And why was there a person-sized hole where the passenger cab should connect? Did someone hit it with a missile?
On the Conqueror RV, the driver and passenger cab were like a standard truck, separated from the living compartment.
Jing Shu had wanted to cut through and connect the cab to the living area. Well, now someone had kindly "missiled" it open for her.
Her heart bled.
For a vehicle this abuse-proof to end up like this, she had no idea what heaven-defying mess Yang Yang had been mixed up in to get chased so hard. She could picture that massive RV ramming through obstacles. It must have been thrilling.
"Alright. We'll redo the whole build. As long as the core components are fine, we can fix the rest," Jing Shu exhaled. Niu Mou had said it might be "a bit rough." Turned out "a bit rough" was very rough.
The massive Conqueror RV halted beside Jing Shu. The sheer size hit home. The tires came up to her chest. She had to tilt her head back to see the driver's seat.
Heng Jin and two men hopped down. One look at the huge crater and the overturned car told the story. "You're a walking aggro magnet. No wonder you draw this much hatred. Brothers, let's flip the car."
With Jing Shu and Jing An, five people heaved the car upright and pushed it straight into the family garage.
If you have an accident, do it in front of your house. Two steps and you are home. So convenient.
The undercarriage had been blasted. Jing An did not dare drive it again without a thorough inspection.
Heng Jin helped park the RV in the newly built oversized garage. Envy and resentment flickered in his eyes. Look at this life. They even built a dedicated RV garage. Before the apocalypse, he had been a rich second-generation. Now he was reduced to chauffeuring.
"This puts your place at a premium. The RV too. Half of Wu City is underwater. Housing is a nightmare. Even a single villa has to be shared by government higher-ups."
In times like these, eating rice and vegetables, living in a spacious home, and owning a running vehicle made a family like Jing Shu's true upper class.
Heng Jin still had cargo elsewhere. After they scheduled the transfer of the remaining virtual coins, he rushed off.
From this moment, the Conqueror RV officially belonged to Jing Shu. She would rebuild this giant into her ideal. It would be their second home.
"Daughter, this isn't what you said before. You said an RV. You brought back a monster truck. How much fuel will this guzzle?" Jing An could practically see rivers of fuel pouring away.
Curiosity won in the end. Jing Shu and Jing An climbed inside for a tour. Despite the ocean-crossing scars outside, the interior was lavish and the build quality screamed top tier.
All in all, Jing Shu was satisfied. Still, she wanted to remodel. The awkward part was sleeping space. Only the rear master bedroom had a big bed and a 32-inch LCD TV. Comfortable for sure.
But besides that, there were no other beds. The dining area, kitchen, and two sets of leather sofas felt excessive. There was also a lift-up second deck with a circular sofa.
Her plan was to bring the whole family when they migrated. Space would be tight.
It just so happened she had acquired a batch of high-quality light steel from Zhou Daheng. She planned to install it on the lift-up terrace to create an enclosed, elevating second floor dedicated to sleeping, solving the headcount problem.
As for the exact second-floor layout, that needed more discussion. She even wanted to bring all the poultry. Where to house them was another issue. The RV's safety also needed to be upgraded.
"It seemed time to meet Wu You'ai's mentor."
The thought made Jing Shu quietly, deeply pleased.
===
Hi everyone! Just a quick announcement: I've hit the 20-novel limit on my Webnovel account, so I won't be able to upload any new projects here for now. To keep sharing my translations with everyone, I've decided to migrate my new uploads to AO3!
For my completed novels, I'll also be making them available in .epub format on Google Drive or TeraBox, so you can read them offline whenever you want. I'll put the links in the comment section. If you're reading on the app, it can be tricky to copy or open links there. In that case, please use your browser to access the web version at https://www.webnovel.com and, if needed, switch to desktop mode in your browser settings to copy/paste or access the links properly.
I've already started a new project there: "My VR Games Terrify the World"—I hope you'll enjoy it! Don't worry—all ongoing/serializing projects on Webnovel will continue here. I won't be abandoning anything you're currently following!
For extra safety, I'm also putting my translations on Royal Road (username: Reiya_Alberich) so they're accessible in multiple places.
If you'd like to follow my AO3 account, my pseud is Rikhi and you can find my profile here: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rikhi/pseuds/Rikhi
Or just search 'Rikhi' on it's search bar.
Thanks so much for your support, and I hope you'll continue to enjoy all the translations—both old and new—no matter the platform! (๑˃̵ᴗ˂̵)و
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Meng Shu never expected to wake up in a parallel world where VR technology is everywhere, but horror games are painfully primitive. His saving grace? A game development system that's incredibly easy to use, with a unique currency: player fear.
Every scream, every jolt, every moment of pure dread his players experience fuels his progress. With this terror tax, he can unlock the blueprints for every classic horror game from his past world. While everyone else ignores the genre, Meng Shu sees a golden opportunity.
He begins to unleash a series of VR horror experiences that leave players traumatized. Outlast has them pleading for mercy. Visage keeps them perpetually on edge, jumping at the slightest sound. SOMA plunges them into deep existential dread, and Alien: Isolation teaches them the true meaning of helpless fear.
From Silent Hill to Resident Evil and Five Nights at Freddy's, Meng Shu's growing library of nightmares has one simple goal: to become the undisputed master of fear and make the entire gaming world scream.