Chapter 246: Chapter 246 – Eating With A Ghost
Ren Suo had already thought of his game plan when he selected Hong Kong in “Fleeing Ghosts in the Night” for the second time.
Although the main character in the game was still a weakling with a 50/50 health, Ren Suo had also equipped her with [Secret Records of Glorious Xuan – Chapter 1] and [Moonlight], as well as [Jade Pendant of the Goddess of River Luo] and [Small Holy Grail of Purity]—that was the best combination of abilities and props Ren Suo could think of at present.
Like the previous time, the scene in the game was set in a soulless part of Kowloon Park. After the female stall owner set up the food stall, she suddenly opened a drawer that had never been opened before.
There were two things in the drawer: a Jade Pendant, and a small white cup.
The female stall owner wore the Jade Pendant on her wrist and placed the cup on a divider between the kitchen and the dining table. The divider served to prevent the saliva from diners from getting into the oil pan, and at the same time prevent the hot oil from splashing onto the diners. As such, the divider was not wide, but the small cup was not too big and could be placed on the divider without falling, although it was not stable.
It was the first time that Ren Suo encountered such a situation:
Items in the prop slots turned into real, tangible objects in the game.
While Ren Suo was still in his daze, the man wearing sportswear sat down at the stall again, without making a sound.
Whenever Ren Suo restarted the game, the first day of the game remained the same, and the ‘customers’ he met in the same city also remained the same—at least for now. It was also possible that the first day in the game would change as time in reality progresses.
If Ren Suo was cruel enough (to himself), he could actually experiment with the various combinations of seasonings for each customer, until he found the right combination for them. Although there were dozens of seasonings, he could narrow the options down to 3 to 8 different types based on his analysis of the life experiences of the ‘customers’. Afterwhich, he could slowly experiment with the few likely seasonings.
The only problem was that doing so would be extremely time-consuming. He still did not know how many ‘customers’ there would be in one night in a location where the [Degree of Concealment] was high. The target was 10,000 Desires to clear the game, which had to be achievable—that meant that Ren Suo had to gather at least 1000 Desires every night, while the child only gave 9 Desires.
Perhaps there was a difference in the level between ‘customers’—in areas with high [Degree of Concealment], there would be ‘customers’ with more requirements and more complicated life experiences, and they gave more Desires as a result. Nonetheless, it was likely unavoidable that he had to attend to dozens of ‘customers’ every night.
On the other hand, the game could only be saved from the world map, which meant that it could only be saved after each night had passed.
In other words, if Ren Suo wanted to use such a method of experimenting with all possible options, he could indeed find the most optimal solution to clear the game, day by day.
However, since the game still had a fighting component to it, it meant that ‘obediently asking customers to pay’ was not necessarily the only way to clear the game. ‘Getting customers to pay through massaging them’ could also be an excellent method—if the taste of the food was unable to satisfy them, then there was no other choice but to bring joy to their physical body.
Ren Suo’s current strategy was: ‘fight the customer if he thought that the meal was unsatisfactory, and if the fight can’t be won, start again and cook another meal’.
Like the previous time, the man in the sportswear still wanted a bowl of luncheon meat noodles with egg. However, when the man was about to start talking about his life again, the small white cup on the divider suddenly began to glow faintly.
The female stall owner picked up the cup, and the game prompted: [Do you wish to make a wish to the Small Holy Grail of Purity?]
A wish list appeared in the game:
[A glass of 1% concentration Holy Water: 3 merit points]
[A glass of 10% concentration Holy Water: 30 merit points]
How were the in-game purchase options made available at that juncture?
The Small Holy Grail of Purity was the reward from “The Mage Under the World Tree”. Why did it become a platform for the in-game purchase options in “Fleeing Ghosts in the Night”?
Although it feels somewhat strange, being able to spend merit points in the game was nonetheless a good thing. Ren Suo did not hesitate any further and tried the 1% concentration Holy Water.
Consequently, the female stall owner poured the freshly boiled hot water into the Holy Grail. The colorless and transparent boiling water swayed slightly in the white cup, then three glistening drops of light fell into the water. The boiling water slowly turned into a white-colored liquid and resembled dense milk.
Without hesitation, the female stall owner drank the Holy Water. Ren Suo thought in his heart, ‘If 1% concentration Holy Water was as dense as milk, wouldn’t 10% concentration Holy Water be as firm and dense as yogurt?’
As the female stall owner was drinking the water, the man in the sportswear stopped telling his story. He waited quietly for the female stall owner to finish drinking the water before he continued with his story.
The effect of the Holy Water very quickly emerged—the skin of the female stall owner began shimmering faintly, and when the man in the sportswear started talking about his childhood memories, a word suddenly flew out from the dialogue box. The word turned red and was heavily imprinted on the screen:
[Father].
Then, more and more keywords were extracted: [colleagues], [girls], [mask], [laughter]… In addition, the keywords were in different tones of red: the ordinary keyword [colleagues] was light red, while [father] and [girls] were bright red, and [mask] and [laughter] were deep red.
Ren Suo pondered for a moment, then selected the seasonings which corresponded to the keywords: [Fatherly Love], [Friendship], [Love], [Freedom], and [Happiness].
He deliberated over his choices again, then replaced [Happiness] with [Understanding].
Based on the intensity of the colors, Ren Suo also adjusted the quantity of the different seasonings accordingly to be small, medium, or large. After the seasonings were added, the female stall owner pushed the bowl of noodles to the man and said:
[Here’s your luncheon meat noodles with egg.]
Silently, the man in the sportswear finished eating the luncheon meat noodles with egg, and Ren Suo looked at him nervously. If he turned berserk and did not want to tip the stall owner, he had no choice but to see if [Secret Records of Glorious Xuan – Chapter 1] and [Moonlight] would be able to give him a good beating.
However, the man in the sportswear merely burped and said quietly: [It’s ordinary. The taste is slightly too bland but slightly too heavy at the same time.]
He dug around his sportswear for some time, and eventually took out a Blattidae animal—a cockroach.
[I have nothing decent to give you, so here’s my pet for you.]
Ren Suo pulled the corners of his lips. However, the female stall owner remained unfazed and accepted the gift. Ren Suo inspected it more closely and discovered that it was quite a gem:
[48-year-old cockroach: the possessor has an extra turn before proceeding into regular battle.]
Although the cockroach did not enhance the stall owner’s attributes, and neither did it help much in terms of the production of food, it was essentially equivalent to a legendary weapon in battle. In the ordinary turn-based battle, it was a cycle of him taking his turn, then the enemy taking his turn. With the cockroach, Ren Suo’s game character could attack the enemy once first before proceeding to the regular turn-based battle.
The man in the sportswear left quickly, and at that juncture, another woman in red-colored clothes sat down. At the same time, a ‘ding’ sounded from the game, and the shimmer on the female stall owner disappeared.
[Do you wish to make a wish to the Small Holy Grail of Purity?]
“1% concentration Holy Water is only able to observe the desires of one customer. Does that mean that the 10% Holy water would be able to observe 10 to 20 customers?”
Eventually, Ren Suo still chose the 1% concentration Holy Water, since his player privilege [Seizing All Opportunities] would surely be triggered. At the very least, the privilege would -1 merit point off his spending, which meant that he would only need to spend a maximum of 20 merit points if he attended to 10 ‘customers’.
Furthermore, [Seizing All Opportunities] could—like this time—trigger the effect of -10 merit points off his spending. Although he would not be given merit points instead, it meant that Ren Suo received a free round of Holy Water.
After the female stall owner finished drinking the delicious Holy Water, the ‘customer’ began telling her story. After attending to 9 ‘customers’ in the same way, Ren Suo realized that the progression of time in the game was exactly the same as in reality. Since the female stall owner set up her stall at 12 midnight and closed at 4 a.m, that also meant that Ren Suo had to play for a solid 4 hours for the night to be over.
The tenth customer took Ren Suo slightly by surprise.
[Eh? Why is there a stall selling supper here? Wow, the lady boss is quite pretty eh.]
[Du Li Wei, what did you say?!]
[Xiao Hui, I love you the most, don’t be jealous. Let’s have supper.]
A roguish, yellow-haired teenage boy approached the food stall with a girl who also had her hair dyed—it was very hard to describe her hair color, though it looked somewhat wine-red. Both of them sat down in front of the stall, and the yellow-haired guy’s hand was still wrapped around the girl’s waist. He fondled around her chest as he looked around curiously. Although the girl was not exactly pretty, she still looked cute and pleasing to the eye. Her clothes were slightly disorganized, and her cheeks were flushed—they must not have been at the park to sleep.
Ren Suo quickly made his judgment: a playful teenage boy and his girlfriend.
Then again, which ordinary person would look for a place to eat supper in the middle of the night in an empty garden?
The yellow-haired teenager even fiddled with the Small Holy Grail of Purity and asked: [Where did you buy this?]
The female stall owner asked directly: [What do you want to eat?]
The yellow-haired teenager said: [Let me have a look… Lady Boss, you did not state the prices.]
The girl said: [Li Wei, look at that, it says that the meal is free, you just need to tell a story.]
The yellow-haired teenager replied: [Eh, you’re right! I don’t have a story to tell though.]
He took out his wallet and asked: [Here’s a hundred yuan. Is that enough for two barbecued pork rice?]
At that juncture, another ‘customer’ came to the stall.
It was an old man who was coughing and supporting himself with a walking cane. While coughing, he made his way to the stall. He was wearing a cotton-padded jacket as well as a hat. He slowly sat himself on the chair and kept coughing continuously. The old man had many age spots on his face. His face looked pale, and his eyes were bloodshot.
The girl was startled, and she leaned on her boyfriend as she exclaimed: [When did this old man appear? He must be crazy, who would wear such warm clothing on a hot day like this?]
[Xiao Hui.] The yellow-haired teenager said as he hugged his girlfriend. He smiled at the old man and asked: [Sir, are you hungry too?]
Ren Suo pursed his lips. He was quite sure now that the yellow-haired teenager and his girlfriend were unlikely to be the target customers of the ‘fleeing ghosts stall’. Instead, they must have stumbled upon the stall by accident.
That old man was the ‘normal customer’ of the ‘fleeing ghost stall’.
Moreover, judging from the looks of the old man, he was unlikely the typical ‘partially Awakened demonized person’. Which ordinary person would wear a cotton-padded jacket and a cotton-padded hat meant for winter on such a hot day? It would already be quite a sight to see someone wearing long-sleeved sportswear.
He must be a ghost, one who died in the winter. After he Awoke, he continued wearing such clothing, and it was a wonder where he hid himself at other times.
Of the nine customers he had just served, Ren Suo encountered around 3 ghosts. He also suspected one of them to be a short spirit, so he was not too surprised upon seeing the old man.
“You guys are quite unlucky to have met a ghost when you were only in the park to have an ‘enjoyable and exciting’ couple time…”