CHAPTER 278: CHAPTER 278: TEN DAYS

"Encountering the Fairy Palace Mobile Dining Booth may potentially enhance one’s cultivation aptitude and can heal psychological illnesses, eliminating the risk of Demonization for cultivators."

"Cities where the Fairy Palace Mobile Dining Booth has appeared include: Ben Gang, Shenhai, New York..."

"The owner of the Fairy Palace Mobile Dining Booth is a young woman with black hair, currently referred to as the God of Cookery."

"Combat power evaluation of the God of Cookery: Bottomless Abyss. All those who come into contact must not engage in battle with her."

As the days passed, information about the ’Celestial Palace Newbie’ was gradually disclosed on the internal network. Ren Suo believed the Federal Watchers had likely shared this intelligence with other nations. After all, only Angel Zack could truly estimate the Food Goddess’s combat power.

Individuals like Dai Yuxing and Yellow Hair—their combat power evaluations certainly held no reference value. The only one who could issue a ’Bottomless Abyss’ rating had to first be an ’Abyss’ himself. Now, Angel Zack, increasingly known as a world-pinnacle powerhouse, possessed that qualification.

These past few days, Ren Suo had been paying close attention to the internal network. The official postings during this time were his best chance to score points. Examples included "Why Can’t the Fairy Palace Mobile Dining Booth Be Located?", "Secrets of the Fairy Palace’s Food," and "Exploring the True Form of the Fairy Palace Food God."

Some questions, Ren Suo merely made forced connections, just barely linking them to the right answers. However, "Exploring the True Form of the Fairy Palace Food God" was one he couldn’t discuss at all—every guess imaginable had emerged. Legends like Liu Maoxing, Soma Yukihira, and Yi Ya all came up—yes, the Yi Ya who once cooked his own son for Marquis Qi Heng.

From ancient famed chefs to modern manga characters, as long as it was related to food, everything was dragged out for analysis. Ren Suo couldn’t get a word in, nor could he answer. He knew the Food Goddess’s essence was that of a Desire Collector, but she hadn’t shown this trait at all.

However, this was the only period Ren Suo had. After the video was broadcast, he wouldn’t be able to score points anymore.

Today, Ren Suo saw a new question:

"Why can’t customers who have dined at the Fairy Palace Mobile Dining Booth be located?"

"There are currently two eyewitness reports: Our personnel, stationed in the park where the mobile dining booth appears, observed something peculiar during the midnight hours. They saw groups of individuals (some not even human) who were clearly customers of the booth. Yet, our personnel would pass them by without notice, regardless of their attire, gender, or age. Only after 4 a.m. local time would they realize they had previously ignored these individuals.

Furthermore, when encountering obvious Non-Human entities (such as strange creatures wearing crow masks and capable of flying with wings), ordinary people, who would typically react intensely, would instead ignore them simply because they were customers of the dining booth.

Meanwhile, nearby surveillance cameras, operating at midnight, could capture customer silhouettes. However, their facial features and clothing were extremely blurry and unrecognizable.

Aside from a few citizens who actively provided information and some Transcendent Criminals who suddenly turned themselves in, no other customers have been found. However, according to intelligence gathered, every appearance of the Fairy Palace Mobile Dining Booth served at least a hundred customers.

The Transcendent Criminals who turned themselves in garnered our attention because their surrender times coincided closely with the dining booth’s appearances, and their abilities were almost entirely depleted. Questioning revealed they had dined at the Fairy Palace booth."

The responses below varied widely. This time, Ren Suo couldn’t score any points because these answers all converged on one point: the Fairy Palace possesses a special method to drastically reduce its customers’ presence. This was also Ren Suo’s own guess, very close to the truth.

However, the most upvoted response suggested an interesting viewpoint:

"...Based on previous experiences, Ren Naiser will definitely publish videos of the movements of people from the Fairy Palace, especially those known worldwide. There are virtually no exceptions. Perhaps we can wait, and then we could simply reap the benefits."

Mysterious Country has never stopped pursuing Ren Naiser. On the other hand, everyone acknowledges Ren Naiser’s might—he symbolizes an almost omnipresent information network. While no one can command him, extracting intelligence from his videos is still a form of utilization.

In fact, researchers like Ren Suo are there to mine information from Ren Naiser.

This viewpoint received widespread support. Even Ren Suo couldn’t help but ’like’ it, indicating his stance on the issue.

So, will Ren Naiser really release a video that would allow people to capture individuals directly from the screen?

Ren Suo was also curious about the video’s final outcome. However, he didn’t speculate much, unlike others who, ignorant of the facts, believed the Fairy Palace Food God would patrol the world for many more days. Ren Suo knew this Food Goddess journey would end in another day or two.

Because in this question, Ren Suo saw a piece of information mentioned: a strange person wearing a crow mask, capable of flying with wings.

This was clearly the Crow Tengu from the Tokyo trip! This means the God of Cookery arrived in Tokyo yesterday, or even the day before!

The precise timing of Dai Yuxing’s encounter with the Fairy Palace Food God was key. Li Dan, seemingly aware that Ren Suo suddenly wanted to try his luck, had shared this information directly with him, despite having no interest in participating himself. From this, Ren Suo could be almost certain: Tonight was the tenth day!

Initially, Ren Suo assumed that the ten days of Ghost Walking would translate to ten days in reality. However, he later realized his calculation was flawed. The Ghost Walking timing is set to local time, from midnight to 4 a.m. Due to differing time zones, the Food Goddess might finish her Ghost Walking at 4 a.m. in one location, while her next destination had just entered nighttime, with midnight only a few hours away.

So, would the Food Goddess start working immediately? By comparing intelligence, Ren Suo easily deduced the Food Goddess’s choice: she would take a day off.

What were consecutive days of Ghost Walking in the game became, in reality, separated by as much as 30 hours.

Thus, due to time zones, the ten days of Ghost Walking actually spanned more than ten days.

In fact, Ren Suo had also pondered what he would do if the business hours of ’Midnight Walker’ weren’t consecutive but staggered, perhaps one day in the east and another in the west. He eventually dismissed the thought because there was only one solution—to chill out.

If the timing wasn’t fixed, Ren Suo certainly couldn’t loiter around the Cultural Park every day. It was too far from Heavenly Lotus Academy, so he had to abandon that option.

But during the tenth day’s gameplay, Ren Suo felt confident no unexpected problems would arise. After submitting the task evaluation, information obtained from the strategy system and the internal network confirmed everything was proceeding as he had anticipated.

This time, it felt very secure!

After getting dressed and leaving home, Ren Suo found Lin Xianyu already waiting downstairs, even playing with a cat. Black Bell still isn’t home this late, he thought. The summer heat must be making the cat restless.

"How long have you been here?"

"About ten minutes," Lin Xianyu gently stroked Black Bell’s fur, looked behind Ren Suo, and asked, "Didn’t Little Star come?"

Ren Suo shrugged, "She made plans with her classmates for a graduation trip before school starts."

Water parks and graduation trips... Ren Suo listened with envy. He’d spent his summer after the college entrance exams working, delivering takeout for a noodle shop. But his sister’s academic performance was indeed excellent. It wasn’t just him; even their parents financially supported her outings.

Ren Suo, having been through similar experiences, knew how much his sister anticipated this final group trip. Naturally, he didn’t mention anything about the Fairy Palace and simply wished her a joyful journey. She was his sister, after all. Even if she missed this fortuitous enhancement, Ren Suo would naturally share any future benefits he obtained with her.

The future is indeed important, but there’s nothing wrong with enjoying the present either.

Although Ren Suo was now earnestly chasing opportunities, he valued the daily happiness of his family and friends far more than power. Previously, Ren Suo had been somewhat naive about this. But after playing ’Midnight Walker,’ he had seen too many Demons and Ghosts who, despite possessing power, still degenerated into slaves of Desire.

Humans chase Desire, but Desire also chases humans, like an eagle swooping down on a rabbit. That old saying still holds true: In life, being happy is what matters most.