CHAPTER 246: CHAPTER 246: DINING WITH A GHOST

EDITOR: DRAGON BOAT TRANSLATION

This time, as Ren Suo faced the challenge in "Midnight Walker" at Ben Gang, he was ready for battle.

Although the protagonist was still a 50/50 weakling, Ren Suo had equipped her with the "Mysterious Sovereign’s Secret Record Chapter One" and "Wax and Wane," the "Goddess Jade Pendant," and the "Pure White Mini Holy Grail"—this was the best configuration he could think of so far.

It was still a deserted spot in Kowloon Park. After the female stall owner set up her food stall, she suddenly opened a drawer that had never been opened before.

Inside were two things: a jade pendant and a small white cup.

The stall owner tied the jade pendant around her wrist and placed the cup on the partition between the kitchen and the dining table. This partition was meant to prevent customers’ saliva from entering the frying pan and to block hot oil from splashing onto customers. It wasn’t very wide, but the cup wasn’t big either; it wobbled on top but didn’t fall off.

Ren Suo had never seen such a situation before. Items from the props bar turned into real objects in the game!

Just as Ren Suo was stunned, the man in a tracksuit sat down silently again.

As long as he restarted the game, the first day of the game was fixed, and the ’customers’ encountered in a city were also fixed, at least for now. Perhaps as real time advanced, the first day of the game would change as well.

If he was really ruthless (to himself), he could try various seasoning methods for the customers until he got it right. Although there were dozens of seasonings, analyzing the ’customers’’ life experiences could narrow the selection down to three to eight types, which he could then test out slowly.

However, this would be very time-consuming. In places with high Concealment Concentration, one wouldn’t know how many customers there would be in a whole night. The mission’s goal was to satisfy 10,000 desires. This meant it was possible to clear the game, implying he had to collect at least 1,000 desires per night, while the child had only provided nine.

Perhaps there were level differences among ’customers.’ Those with high Concealment Concentration, demanding requirements, and complex life experiences provided more desires, but it seemed unavoidable to serve dozens of customers in one night.

Saving was only possible on the world map interface, meaning only after surviving one day. In other words, if I wanted to use this near-exhaustive method, I could indeed find the optimal solution and clear the game day by day. But since this game has a battle element, it means that ’getting the customer to willingly pay’ might not be the only way to victory. ’Massaging the customer into paying’ could also be an excellent method. If it’s not possible to satisfy them with the flavor, the only option is to please them physically. ’If the customer thinks it tastes like shit, beat him up. If I can’t win, start over and cook another bowl of shit.’ That’s my current strategy.

It was still a bowl of luncheon meat and egg noodles. However, just as the man in the tracksuit was about to start talking about his childhood, the small white cup on the partition suddenly glimmered with a faint light.

The stall owner picked up the cup, and a game prompt popped up: "Do you wish to pray to the Pure White Mini Holy Grail?"

A list of prayers popped up in the game:

"A cup of 1% Prayer Concentration Holy Water: 3 Merit Points"

"A cup of 10% Prayer Concentration Holy Water: 30 Merit Points"

How did the in-game purchase options appear here? And why did the Pure White Mini Holy Grail, a reward from "Mage Under the World Tree," become the in-game purchase medium for "Midnight Walker"?

Though it felt somewhat inexplicable, being able to use Krypton Gold was a good thing. So Ren Suo didn’t hesitate and decided to try the 1% concentration Holy Water first.

The stall owner poured freshly boiled hot water into the Holy Grail. As the clear, boiled water wobbled slightly in the white cup, one, two, then three drops of sparkling radiance fell into it, gradually turning the water into a white liquid that looked like thick milk.

Without any hesitation, the stall owner drank the Holy Water. Ren Suo thought to himself, If 1% concentration is like milk, wouldn’t 10% concentration be as thick as yogurt?

While the stall owner was drinking, the man in the tracksuit stopped talking, quietly waiting for her to finish before continuing his story.

The effect of the Holy Water quickly became apparent: the stall owner’s skin emitted a glimmer. As the man in the tracksuit recounted his childhood memories, two words suddenly turned red and flew out of his dialogue box, imprinting themselves heavily onto the screen:

’Father’.

More keywords were extracted: ’colleague,’ ’girl,’ ’mask,’ ’joy’... These keywords varied in color intensity. Ordinary ’colleague’ was light red; ’father’ and ’girl’ were bright red; while ’mask’ and ’joy’ were so red they were almost black.

After some thought, Ren Suo chose seasonings corresponding to those keywords: ’Fatherly Love,’ ’Friendship,’ ’Romance,’ as well as ’Freedom’ and ’Joy.’

He thought for a moment and then replaced ’Joy’ with ’Understanding.’

According to the color intensity, he adjusted the seasoning concentration from low to medium to high. Once done, the stall owner pushed the bowl of luncheon meat and egg noodles over.

"Your luncheon meat and egg noodles."

The man in the tracksuit ate the noodles in silence. Ren Suo watched him nervously. If he flares up and refuses to tip, I’ll see if I can beat him up using the "Mysterious Sovereign’s Secret Record Chapter One" and "Wax and Wane."

However, the man in the tracksuit just burped and said quietly, "Some flavors are too light, others too strong. Just average."

He fumbled in his tracksuit, fumbled some more, and finally produced a cockroach—a Xiao Qiang.

"I don’t have much to offer, but I’ll give you this pet."

Ren Suo’s lips twitched, but the female stall owner accepted it without changing her expression. On closer inspection, Ren Suo realized it was actually a good item:

"A 48-year-old Xiao Qiang: Before entering combat, the owner gets to act for one round, then combat begins."

Although this thing doesn’t add any attributes and isn’t helpful for food preparation, it’s almost like a Divine Artifact in battle! Normal turn-based combat is ’I hit you, then you hit me.’ Now with Xiao Qiang, my game character can hit the opponent once before the normal combat turn order begins.

The man in the tracksuit quickly left. At that moment, a woman in red sat down. The game screen chimed, and the glimmer on the stall owner’s body disappeared.

"Do you wish to pray to the Pure White Mini Holy Grail?"

A 1% concentration of Holy Water only allows observation of one customer’s desire, but with 10% concentration, I should be able to observe ten to twenty customers?

Ren Suo still chose the 1% concentration Holy Water. His "Plucking Feathers from a Flying Goose" privilege was guaranteed to activate, with a cost reduction of at least 1 Merit Point. This meant that even if he served ten customers, he would only need to spend a maximum of 20 Merit Points.

Moreover, sometimes "Plucking Feathers from a Flying Goose" would trigger a 10 Merit Point cost reduction, like this time. Although it can’t make the cost negative, it’s like I got a bottle of Holy Water for free.

Pleased, the female stall owner finished the Holy Water and started listening to stories. After serving nine customers this way, Ren Suo realized, The game’s time flow is still perfectly aligned with reality: the stall owner sets up her stall at 12:00 AM and closes at 4:00 AM. This means I have to play through these four hours for real.

However, the tenth customer took Ren Suo by surprise.

"Huh? What’s a late-night food stall doing here? Yo, the lady boss is quite pretty!"

"Du Liwei, what are you saying!"

"I love you the most, Xiao Hui! Don’t be jealous. Come on, let’s have some late-night food."

A thuggish-looking young man with yellow hair, accompanied by a girl with similarly dyed hair—Ren Suo found her hair color hard to describe, a kind of wine-red—approached the food stall. They sat down, Yellow Hair’s arm still around the girl’s waist, his hand rubbing against the area near her chest as he curiously looked around. Although the girl wasn’t exceptionally beautiful, she was pretty and cute. Her clothes were disheveled and her cheeks were flushed; it was clear they hadn’t come to the park just to camp out.

Ren Suo quickly made a judgment: A delinquent youth and his girlfriend.

Then again, what normal person would come to a deserted part of a park in the middle of the night for a late-night snack?

Yellow Hair even flicked the Pure White Mini Holy Grail. "Where did you buy this?"

"What will you have?" the female stall owner asked directly.

"Let me see... Boss, you haven’t listed any prices."

"Du Liwei, look! It says we can eat for free if we tell a story."

"Hey, you’re right! But I don’t have any stories to tell." Yellow Hair pulled out his wallet. "One hundred bucks for two servings of Barbecued Pork Rice. Is that enough?"

At that moment, another new customer approached the food stall.

An old man, coughing and using a cane, approached. He was coughing as he walked, dressed in padded winter clothes and a hat, and slowly sat down on a chair. The old man’s face was covered with age spots. He was pale, his eyes were bloodshot, and he was constantly coughing.

"When did this old guy show up?" The girl jumped in fright, leaning against her boyfriend. "Is he crazy, wearing such warm clothes in this heat?"

"Xiao Hui," Yellow Hair said, hugging his girlfriend. He then smiled at the old man. "You hungry too, old timer?"

Ren Suo’s lips twitched. By this time, I could almost confirm that Yellow Hair and his girlfriend were not the target customers for the ’Ghost Stall,’ but a pair of lovers who had stumbled upon it by accident.

That old man, *he* was the ’normal customer’ for a Ghost Stall.

Moreover, looking at the old man’s attire, he’s likely not just an ordinary ’Semi-Awakened Demonized Person’—who else dresses in padded winter clothes and a hat in this summer heat? Even wearing a long-sleeved tracksuit would attract stares.

He’s a ghost, and a ghost who died in winter, at that. He’s kept this attire since awakening, and normally, who knows where he hides.

Among the previous nine customers, I’d roughly spotted three ghosts and one dwarf who seemed like a demon, so I wasn’t too surprised.

Encountering a ghost while out for a tryst in the wild? You guys are really unlucky...