RHWHEG – Chapter 6 Game Update

The screen interface seemed to have changed a little, looking more like a phone’s default home screen. On it was a game icon: “Mediterranean Butler Match-3”; there was also a mailbox icon with a red badge in the top-left corner showing the number 1; next to it was a dotted box displaying: “Requires 1000 Exploration Points to unlock (Current Exploration Points: 36).”

The system timely explained:

“This system is a casual mini-game system, with many puzzle and casual games under its banner. Please continue exploring, unlock new game slots, and enjoy a richer gaming experience!”

Yu Qunqing opened the mailbox.

“Dear Player: Hello! This system has been successfully upgraded. Version reward: Game Seed x1 for ‘Antarctic Penguin Farm Story’, which can be downloaded with a game slot. Wish you a pleasant gaming experience!”

Yu Qunqing felt a flicker of movement in his mind. He reached out and grabbed at the screen, and instantly a red mist-like substance appeared in his hand. The world before his eyes flipped into inverted colors—sky black, floor green, leaves red. At the same time, the system continuously blared warnings:

“Ding-dong! This area has already been occupied by the game ‘Mediterranean Butler Match-3’. Please select another empty location! Ding-dong! Not enough game slots. Please acquire sufficient Exploration Points to unlock more game slots. Ding-dong…”

In his vision, a yellow boundary line encircled the entire residential complex. That should be the download range the system was talking about.

He released his grip, the seed floated back into the screen, and his ears returned to silence. Yu Qunqing pondered—so the download conditions for a new game had three requirements: a game seed, a game slot, and sufficient area for installation.

He had just gone to gather food, and now the system gave him a farm game. It was like “dozing off and having someone hand you a pillow.” Every move the system made seemed to be pushing him to survive well. But since there was still a large gap in his Exploration Points, he still needed to find more food to get through this ordeal.

He tapped into Mediterranean Butler Match-3 and found there were mails inside too:

“This maintenance downtime has ended. Thank you for your patience. As compensation, please receive: Infinite Stamina Apple (Duration: 30 min / Expires in 2 days) x3, Apple Slices (Restores 2 stamina each) x3, Cross Water Gun x1, Windmill x1, Rainbow Candy x1, Gold Coins x1000.”

As the saying goes—getting rich all depends on server maintenance.

The second mail read:

“Offline recharge has been credited. Your current account balance: 6 Diamonds. First Recharge Bonus Gift: Fortune Tree (Quality: Treasure) x1. Please claim.”

Yu Qunqing reached out again and caught a ball of green mist in his hand. His vision inverted once more, the floor now divided into square grids. If the mist was moved to an unsuitable place, the grid beneath turned red. Even under the beach chair, prompts appeared. Since he had only renovated the living room and kitchen, the new furniture could only be placed in those two areas.

In the end, Yu Qunqing placed it beside the beach chair. There was already a coconut tree nearby, so adding a Fortune Tree next to it looked symmetrical.

“Pop.”

As soon as Yu Qunqing released it, a full-grown Fortune Tree in a large pot appeared next to the beach chair, with festive red envelopes hanging on it. A prompt showed on the envelopes: 7 hours left until maturity. Collect once matured.

As expected, treasure-grade furniture offered more functions than rare-grade ones.

The 6 Diamonds he had just received, he planned to save. Once he accumulated 18, he’d buy a monthly pass. Years of gaming experience had taught him—monthly passes were always more cost-effective than gift packs.

From the Gold Shop, Yu Qunqing spent 12,000 coins on a Parrot House. After all, the little guy had earned him those 6 Diamonds, so he couldn’t treat it poorly. The small blue-bellied parrot perched on its branch to rest, finally able to sleep safely for once.

Then he lay back on the beach chair and started playing match-3. With a swipe of his finger, the colorful disaster-stones on the screen disappeared in chains. Just moments ago, he had figured out how to operate the touchscreen from a distance—finally, no more manually smudging the screen.

He ate one Infinite Stamina Apple and easily cleared Stage 41.

Yu Qunqing even turned on the game’s sound effects. The clinking sounds when the disaster-stones were eliminated were surprisingly pleasant to hear.

“Ding-dong.” The system’s prompt sounded somewhat resentful:

“Player had promised to renovate the living room…”

Yu Qunqing replied:

“But the living room looks fine as it is.”

Beside the beach chair was a retro-style Chinese tea table, placed directly opposite a cyberpunk-style long sofa. The sofa was silver-gray, smooth and sleek, though one corner had a hole with exposed wires, and the backrest was plastered with colorful advertisements. The combination of high-tech and lower-class grunge was authentically cyberpunk—just completely out of place with the living room atmosphere.

Yu Qunqing stayed silent for a few seconds, then said:

“Honestly, the original furnished style looked better.”

The system grew anxious:

“That was just a copy-paste template of a model house! It’s completely joyless! Player should properly enjoy the game—especially the renovation aspect…”

As for the match-3 part, Yu Qunqing had always enjoyed it.

“I’ll renovate later.” Yu Qunqing promised, so the system wouldn’t keep chiming pitifully, “I definitely won’t flake on you.”

Half an hour passed quickly, and Yu Qunqing cleared 18 more stages. During this time, thanks to his Infinite Stamina, if the opening board wasn’t good, he immediately restarted until he got a more favorable layout. In match-3 games, luck always outweighed skill.

Now he had 21 Hexagram.

The renovation part didn’t consume Hexagram. Starting with the wallpaper, he chose a subtle geometric pattern, pure white skirting boards, and a plain white embossed cornice at the junction of wall and ceiling.

He swapped the long sofa for a black minimalist-luxury one, the tea table for a glass one with metal edges—chosen to match the beach chair. Throw pillows became small dried-fish-shaped yellow ones, the carpet an irregular long-fur camel-brown rug, and the low table now displayed colorful porcelain and a rainbow umbrella to complement each other. The living room finally looked somewhat harmonious.

“Replace the TV stand, replace the wall lamps, the low stools. Let’s put a cactus here—after all, the living room already has so many plants.”
Yu Qunqing swapped out the remaining furniture, making everything match a similar style. He didn’t really understand aesthetics, but as long as it looked pleasing to the eye, it was fine.

The entire living room was completely transformed. He was beginning to understand the fun of renovation games—the sense of development when turning chaos into order.

“Area—Living Room, renovation complete. Reward: 1500 gold coins. Balcony area unlocked.”

The system voice fell, and the whole living room looked as though a filter had been applied, becoming even more refined, with softer lighting.

Yu Qunqing didn’t hesitate and immediately unlocked the balcony. Tonight, he wanted to rest properly, so he had to ensure its defenses were solid.

A hexagram slowly disintegrated, and the balcony’s scorched floor instantly changed. He chose the same stone texture as the living room, and at a glance, the space felt twice as large—the living room now looked like a semi-open, outdoor lounge.

Around the balcony was a transparent barrier, firmly rejecting all harmful intruders.

Yu Qunqing added a plant shelf filled with succulents, placed a swing chair, a round table, and an astronomical telescope. Against the wall, he set up a freezer—turning the place into a perfect spot for stargazing.

“If only this were before the apocalypse…” Yu Qunqing sighed after using up the hexagram.

His stamina was gone too, but his gaming journey was far from over.

The weekend event “Star Power Plant” had ended in the game, replaced by a Monday-to-Wednesday special event: “Construction Material Explosion.”

The gameplay was slightly different from the usual match-three. These stages only had one type of obstacle—multi-layered ice. By clearing the ice and revealing the wood beneath the disaster stones, players could collect abundant building materials. Once the upper half of the screen was cleared, it scrolled down halfway, supplying an endless stream of materials.

The stages still had limited moves. Clearing half rewarded 15 extra moves, and the game continued until the moves ran out. No items were allowed. Each day granted only five attempts.

As for the use of materials, the game hinted that they would unlock after completing the “Repair the Fountain” mission.

All in all, it was a gameplay mode more reliant on certain elimination strategies.

“Need to synthesize more duck balloons and water guns.”

That was the charm of match-three games—supposedly mindless, yet while playing, you couldn’t help but figure out strategies. Casual games weren’t casual at all.

After finishing the game, Yu Qunqing cooked a pot of rice with the rice cooker and soaked some dried mushrooms. His cooking skills were barely passable—just enough to not poison himself. He chopped two onions and a handful of scallions, stir-frying everything together. The rice smelled fragrant, the mushrooms added a savory richness, and the purple onions not only enriched the flavor but also made the dish more visually appealing. Most importantly, he had made a big pot—finally, he was full.

…

Following the Crocodile River downstream led into hilly terrain. Here, the river split into many smaller branches, rejoining after winding past the hills. This was also where three cities converged, so highways were already well-constructed. At a farmhouse resort on a small hill, humanity’s hope—the Natural Disaster Shelter—had been built.

“It’s getting dark, let’s hurry back!” said the leader of an exploration team.

The team members, each carrying wood or gasoline, quickened their steps up the slope at the order. Two young men of similar age lagged slightly behind.

“You are… Yu Yanlan?”

Yu Yanlan looked up blankly to see a gentle-looking stranger approaching. He tried to recall his name—something like… Su Zhu?

“I’m Han Shuzhu,” the young man introduced himself, getting straight to the point. “If I’m not mistaken, you’ve awakened a disaster ability, haven’t you?”

“Ah?” Panic flickered in Yu Yanlan’s eyes. His naturally world-weary gaze now looked like that of an innocent lamb. The wood in his hands immediately dripped water, which quickly dried up. “How did you know? I only just realized… I was planning to report it to the director when we got back.”

“That’s amazing.” Han Shuzhu felt a pang of jealousy but kept it hidden. “Your ability to extract water is extremely useful. You’ll definitely be valued.”

Then he would shine, be praised by all, meet the love of his life, cling to a golden thigh, and live happily ever after in the apocalypse.

“You’re a Safety Officer. Maybe I’ll need to rely on you in the future,” Yu Yanlan said. Although just a university student, he understood social niceties. What he said was true—Han Shuzhu’s clothes bore a green tag, meaning “absolutely safe, impossible to mutate.”

Safety Officers were LV0 in the apocalypse. Their advantage was immunity to mutation, no matter how much radiation they absorbed. Thus, they were placed in critical positions to ensure key operations never collapsed. Yu Yanlan thought he was one of them, planning to apply for a green tag once they got back—until the recent crisis awakened his power.

Awakened… which meant radiation would now level him up, make him stronger… but also greatly increase the risk of mutating into a monster. Could he lose his sanity and become a blade of destruction against humanity?

Yu Yanlan was deeply troubled.

“You have an older brother, don’t you?” Han Shuzhu probed. Seeing Yu Yanlan’s unnatural expression, he guessed the answer. Taking a deep breath, he thought: perhaps he wasn’t really LV0 either.

The book in his mind—that was his disaster ability!

Though he could only glimpse limited futures now, it could be upgraded. And upgrading didn’t increase the cosmic substance in his cells—others would still see him as “absolutely safe.”

He had his own golden cheat too!

“What? You know Qunqing?” A weary-looking woman squeezed forward. She was Yu Yanlan’s mother, Liang Cai, from another team that had just merged with theirs. “Do you know how he’s doing? Is he here? Do you know where he is?”

“Mom—he’s been with us all along,” Yu Yanlan frowned.

“You don’t understand, I’m worried about your brother. He didn’t answer his phone before, I don’t know what happened. I told him not to go to college far away, but he wouldn’t listen. I found him a job, but he refused. Look at him now, disappeared. I raised him with so much effort… Have you found a power bank? Maybe if I call him, he’ll answer.” Liang Cai’s face was full of sorrow.

“There are no power banks now.” Yu Yanlan said impatiently, pulling Han Shuzhu away, ignoring his mother’s endless nagging.

This was almost exactly as described in the book.

Han Shuzhu’s heartbeat quickened. He sighed inwardly—Yu Qunqing’s parents looked so concerned, yet in the future they would push him out as a shield. Truly, the hearts of people were unpredictable. As expected, villains always had both pitiful and hateful sides.

“I’ve seen your brother a few times at work,” Han Shuzhu explained.

“Oh.” Yu Yanlan’s mood was heavy. After a while, he asked, “What kind of person is he? …Well, that’s a strange question. I’ve hardly ever met him.” More accurately, whenever their parents mentioned him, their faces turned dark.

“Not very easy to get along with,” Han Shuzhu recalled what he’d read in the book. “He’s a very cold person, ruthless in achieving his goals. On the surface, he’s fair and just, but in reality, he has no humanity at all—one could call him cruel… Sorry, I forgot he’s your brother.”

“It’s fine.” Yu Yanlan secretly sighed in relief, strangely feeling a bit closer to Han Shuzhu for saying that. He whispered, “I guessed as much.”