CHAPTER 284: CHAPTER 284: THE FOURTH TIME!

Tonight was the final night. Red Armor understood this with absolute clarity.

Though it had only been a mere three days, Red Armor knew these three days held more value than all its past life combined—even if its life only totaled fifty-one days.

As soon as Red Armor shattered the coffin lid, it was immediately discovered by the officials of Flourishing Sakura and rapidly conscripted into the Martial Spirit Squad. After some tests, the Martial Spirit Squad swiftly concluded that Red Armor was a monster worthy of trust, and thus Red Armor naturally became an extramural member.

Due to its first owner, Red Armor had only one goal: to challenge Martial Artists across the land and to witness the world’s splendors. At the same time, Red Armor believed in loyalty, propriety, righteousness, wisdom, and trust. It felt that, apart from the coffin lid it had shattered, the only debt it owed in its entire life was to Fairy Palace for awakening its Spirit Vein.

Without Fairy Palace, its Spirit Vein would not have awakened, and there would be no Red Armor!

Adhering to this philosophy, Red Armor’s initial contract with the Martial Spirit Squad was simple: work a day, receive a day’s pay. Once it had saved enough money, Red Armor planned to take a plane to other places, enjoy the scenery, challenge other strong ones en route, and also seek to repay Fairy Palace!

Without a doubt, Red Armor was unaware of the need for an ID card and visa to take a plane, let alone go through security checks at customs.

If Red Armor ever saved enough for a plane ticket in the future, the Martial Spirit Squad certainly had other means to keep it. But unexpectedly, after meeting the Fairy Palace Food God, Red Armor immediately severed ties with the Martial Spirit Squad, determined to work for Fairy Palace for three days to repay the debt of gratitude!

And when the God of Cookery was willing to let Red Armor work, it attained a hint of enlightenment.

Not a single detail of these three days’ experiences could be revealed. Never inquire into the secrets of the female owner or the customers. When needed in battle, there could be no retreat. After it was all over, no one would remember you had served the female owner—only you would retain this memory.

These rules were automatically imprinted in Red Armor’s mind, which it naturally accepted in full. And in the following three days, Red Armor was absolutely thrilled.

Powerful beings, previously unseen, appeared one after another in front of the Ghost Stall. Although many times the God of Cookery would blow them away without Red Armor’s involvement, just watching the strong ones fight made Red Armor feel its trip was worthwhile.

Furthermore, Red Armor, standing by the Ghost Stall, listened to the life experiences of other Demons and Ghosts, gradually expanding its own knowledge. Though it often referred to itself as ’this old one,’ could read and write, and possessed exceptional Combat Power, these were due to the Knowledge and Skill inherited from its existence as armor.

In essence, Red Armor was actually just a baby not yet a hundred days old.

Its determination to leave the Martial Spirit Squad to repay its debt to Fairy Palace showed its simple-mindedness.

Therefore, what it gained the most during these three days was not battle experience, but life experience.

It had seen youths falter due to their dysfunctional families, girls who wished to flay and dismantle scumbag lovers after love turned to hate, a younger brother driven mad because his elder brother had slaughtered their entire family, and psychologically twisted serial killer doctors.

In these three days, Red Armor grew rapidly, no longer the naïve Samurai it was three days ago, who seemed as if it had stepped straight out of a television show, yet its desire to repay its debt remained unchanged.

However, it paid great attention to the upcoming customers.

Hmm?

Red Armor noticed that the young man the God of Cookery had called it to assist earlier had returned. It had a pretty deep impression of this young man because he was the one the God of Cookery left the Ghost Stall to personally feed. And now, its impression of him deepened once more—he was the first one to return to the Ghost Stall for a second visit.

And this time, the young man had brought a girl with him.

Red Armor paid the girl a bit of attention; the young man was negligible, but the girl possessed considerable strength.

Red Armor felt that its ’volume’ was about the same as the girl’s—note, ’volume’. According to the Martial Spirit Squad, the ’Yin Yang Fish’ inside Red Armor was of a similar scale to the girl’s ’Yin Yang Fish’. Thus, upon seeing the girl, Red Armor felt a sense of being evenly matched.

But Red Armor didn’t care too much; similar volume did not mean similar Combat Power. Over these days, Red Armor had seen quite a few ’monsters’ of a similar volume to itself, but none could defeat it.

With the armor as its core, Yin and Yang energies circulated effortlessly. Also, because of its first owner, it vaguely mastered powers such as Swift as Wind, Gentle as Forest, Aggressive as Fire, Immovable as Mountain, Unpredictable as Shade, and Fierce as Thunder, making its Combat Power far surpass that of other Living Beings of the same volume.

This girl was not enough to make it wary enough to stand up.

However, the girl’s appearance was probably good. While Red Armor certainly did not have an aesthetic standard for humans, it subconsciously used the Fairy Palace Food God as a benchmark. This girl looked a bit like the Fairy Palace Food God, so she must be what humans referred to as a beauty!

"Has Xiao Yan already finished eating and left?"

"Yes, she went back to get something, and when I bumped into her, I brought her here first. She should have finished eating by now and gone to find Qiao Muyi and Xiaoyu. We’ll eat first. If they haven’t arrived by then, we’ll go look for her too."

They seemed to be customers who didn’t need to tell stories, chatting among themselves, which left Red Armor slightly disappointed.

However, at that moment, another customer arrived, one who did tell stories, and Red Armor listened with keen interest.

This customer’s life was also full of twists and turns. After he entered high school, his parents died in a plane crash, leaving behind only a house and a sister. However, his sister didn’t care much for him, and because he had a fierce appearance, he had very few friends for a long time.

For some reason, Red Armor found the customer’s life story somewhat familiar. It was as if it had seen a similar plotline in the educational cartoons it watched in Flourishing Sakura, where the protagonist would usually join some sort of club.

But this customer’s life was not as exciting as the cartoons. Schools in the Mysterious Country didn’t have after-school clubs where one could stay for hours. He was quickly ostracized by his classmates for various reasons. When he went home, he was ignored, leading him to become embittered and develop radical views. That’s why he ended up coming to the Ghost Stall seeking Healing.

When this customer left after finishing his meal, Red Armor noticed that the young man and the girl from earlier had already left. It made sense; they didn’t need to tell stories, so their mealtime was naturally shorter.

The next customer sat down. While Red Armor was listening to the story, it was surprised to see the young man from earlier come back – and he brought along a girl who seemed a bit younger.

Although Red Armor didn’t have human aesthetic standards, it recognized that this girl was different from the first one.

"Hey, can we really order anything here?"

The new girl was noisier than the first, getting excited about ordering from the menu. While waiting for her meal, she touched everything around, loudly saying, "It smells so good!" "Miss, can we take a picture together?" "Ren Suo, take a picture of us," and so on.

Because she was so noisy, Red Armor couldn’t clearly hear the story of the other, legitimate customer.

By the time they left, the legitimate customer had also finished his meal and story.

After this customer left, just as Red Armor was eagerly awaiting the next one, it saw the young man show up again!

And he was accompanied by a girl!

This girl was also different from the previous two, dressed in Black Body Armor, which seemed like some kind of uniform.

The first girl seemed quiet and kind, much like the God of Cookery. The second was ’full of energy’ and very loud. The third, however, was all smiles and laughter, yet carried a natural air of authority as she moved.

Although all three girls seemed not too bad-looking, Hmm, they do resemble the God of Cookery a bit.

But what was going on here? Red Armor had never seen a man bring three different girls to the Ghost Stall for dinner in one evening!

This dealt a huge shock to Red Armor’s young psyche, prompting it to exclaim internally:

Are humans really this impressive?

It had heard many life stories of downfall due to romantic relations before and hadn’t expected someone could play it like this.

This even made it overlook whether the young man actually ate each time he showed up.

When this girl sat down, she looked at the public notice of the Ghost Stall and asked with a smile, "Life experiences? Do you want people to spill their tears and blood for your amusement? O mighty one from Fairy Palace, this hobby of yours isn’t particularly refined."

Red Armor finished meditating and placed its hand on the hilt of its blade.

How dare she challenge the God of Cookery? Young man, you should have stuck with the first two!

At that moment, the God of Cookery responded, "Tears and blood—swallowing them yourself is nauseating, and recounting them to others is often ill-timed. Lending them to me as seasoning for my dishes, however, is putting them to their best use."

The girl was silent for a moment, then responded with a smile, "That’s true, but we don’t have a past filled with tears and blood."

"Then savor my cooking."

When the food arrived, the girl took a bite and immediately said, "Delicious! Can I follow you and eat the dishes you make every day?"

Red Armor’s hand promptly left the hilt, and it continued to meditate.

Well, this girl knows how to admit her mistakes, quickly recognizing the God of Cookery’s wonderful qualities. She even had the same idea as this old one. Not bad, the young man has good judgment.

Soon, the young man and the girl in Black Body Armor left.

A moment later, as the next customer took their seat, Red Armor had no interest in listening, its gaze fixed intently in the distance.

When the young man’s figure appeared yet again, although Red Armor had no head, it couldn’t help but mimic humans by rubbing where the temples would be on its helmet.

The fourth time!