Early the next morning, Ren Suo went online to check his discussions. He found that, apart from a pile of replies criticizing him with references and quotations, there was no official news of his views being adopted.
Ren Suo had already anticipated this. For one thing, his idea was difficult to verify. For another, it was normal for no one to pay attention, especially since even he wasn’t sure if the information he’d obtained was correct.
The ideas he gathered from the game were not necessarily correct, and many of them were his own speculations.
But he was not a hands-on researcher, unable to verify his own opinions. He could only express his views online to see if he could attract the attention of the research institute.
Although he was now a Level 2 Researcher, considered a middle-layer figure within the Mysterious Country’s Spiritual Energy research system, it was hard to say how much attention his views would attract.
However, Ren Suo was just playing for time. If a research institute recognized his view and decided to study it, that would be best. If not, there was no hurry. After *Midnight Walker* was broadcast, someone would eventually try to research a method of ’soothing Demons and Ghosts.’
Turning on the Spiritual Energy Aggregation Device, Ren Suo put on the Goddess Jade Pendant and continued his Cultivation.
On the first day, only the Obnoxious Customer who appeared last and was defeated by the female store owner activated the Goddess Jade Pendant. It was only activated by a little bit—about the same amount as when Ren Suo had defeated a Demon in the subway.
Compared to *Mage Under the World Tree*, it was about a ratio of 1:50, but it was better than nothing.
Ren Suo guessed this was related to strength. Although the demonic Obnoxious Customer was strong, he was at most at the second-turn level.
Each boss in the Seven Secret Realms could withstand an entire Superhuman Warrior Squad. There were restrictions on entering and exiting the Secret Realms, and heavy ammunition like tank shells couldn’t be used. Despite this, the fact that they could take on a modern army head-to-head highlighted their terrifying strength.
If Demons could also withstand the Mysterious Country’s modern army, then Ren Suo would not have encountered just one throughout the night....
Of course, Ren Suo had another option: adopt a ’feeding shit’ Attack on all ’customers.’
If they ate well, they would leave directly with treasures and Desires. If they did not eat well, they would fight the female store owner and, after losing, leave with treasures and Desires.
According to this pattern, Ren Suo realized that fighting was a very cost-effective approach—it could save him the money spent on Holy Water.
Although Ren Suo had the Player’s Privilege of "Plucking Feathers from a Flying Goose," the first day alone cost him nine Merit Points. There were still nine days to go, and Ren Suo would run out of Merit Points after spending about half of what he had left.
However, after ’observing’ for a day, Ren Suo felt he should be able to grasp the routine for extracting keywords. Next, he planned to try to understand the ’customers’’ life regrets and the extent of their regrets to then refine the seasoning precisely.
Moreover, ordinary ’customers’ generally had low combat power, so even if he entered combat mode, Ren Suo was confident he could win.
Ren Suo had never considered the approach of ’seeing Ghosts and slashing Ghosts, seeing Demons and slaying Demons, and feeding shit throughout.’ The theme of this game was clearly not to run an illicit establishment. Although following a hack-and-slash path was relatively easier and could enhance the probability of passing, the evaluation at the final tally likely wouldn’t be high.
Moreover, Ren Suo guessed that the Obnoxious Customer he encountered on the first day could also have been made to shed heartfelt tears. He could have renounced his demonic nature, confessed, and sworn to dedicate the rest of his life to the construction of a socialist society....
But this was no longer a problem that could be solved with Krypton Gold. Ren Suo needed to find clues for seasoning from the Obnoxious Customer’s appearance, clothing, body type, and other aspects.
For such an issue that Krypton Gold couldn’t solve, it was better to just feed shit directly.
While eating lunch, Dong Chengling suddenly asked, "Did you receive the notice from Vice Chancellor Yuan Chu?"
"No, what’s up?" Ren Suo replied.
"We have to start preparing for the entrance ceremony," Dong Chengling said with some distress. "Coming up, we need to find time for rehearsals, discuss scripts, and coordinate... my Cultivation time has decreased again...
"However, Xiao Qiao, being a Tactical Cultivator involved in the performance, also needs to come here for rehearsals. She’ll probably stay temporarily at a hotel outside the school. Finally, I can have her taste my cooking! Recently, since it’s just the two of us eating, I haven’t been able to cook too much."
Entrance ceremony? Ren Suo blinked and quickly remembered.
So far, the "Stealing Heaven’s Technique Awakening Method" is still the most effective Awakening Technique. Cultivators and mortals who could not achieve Awakening during the opening of the Spirit Treasury or the full opening of the World Spiritual Repository had one active path to Awakening, apart from passively waiting for Destiny’s favor: performing the ’Stealing Heaven’s Technique.’
However, according to the internal network’s data, many people had lost their lives by attempting to ’Steal Heaven’s Technique’ through practices like rooftop boxing or extreme sports. Naturally, many people also achieved Awakening through it.
’Stealing Heaven’s Technique’ was a gamble; if you gambled, you might strike it rich or lose your life.
The ten Cultivator Schools of the Mysterious Country planned to use this method. They would set up an entrance exam resembling the ’Stealing Heaven’s Technique’ for a few elite students to stimulate their Awakening. The students would not be notified in advance, ensuring they felt a sufficient ’sense of crisis.’
As for safety, not only would all those involved be school teachers and Tactical Cultivators, but there definitely wouldn’t be only one Healing Cultivator like Ren Suo on standby.
Ren Suo had previously received a related notice but didn’t need to rehearse—medics just needed to show up and watch.
"When does the entrance ceremony start?" Ren Suo asked.
"Early September, before the university officially starts, but the exact schedule hasn’t been set yet," Dong Chengling replied. "It might even be deemed too risky and canceled."
Ren Suo uttered an "oh," then suddenly asked, "By the way, Cheng Ling."
"Although I’ve never mentioned this before, actually... I really like..."
Dong Chengling stared at Ren Suo, blinking.
"...I really like going shopping in the middle of the night."
Dong Chengling paused for a moment before responding, "In the middle of the night... in the school?"
"No, in the city," Ren Suo said. "I often get these whims in the middle of the night, suddenly wanting to go eat late-night supper at a street food stall over ten kilometers away."
Dong Chengling thought for a moment and said, "I’ve never really done something like that."
"Because it’s not your style; you definitely wouldn’t have such strange thoughts," Ren Suo said while eating. "Only a night owl like me would suddenly think of wandering the streets when it’s quiet at night."
"Do you find it fun?"
"Very fun!" Ren Suo declared, thumping his chest.
In the afternoon, Ren Suo continued his ’Ghost Walking’.
He had decided to train his ’Keyword Extraction Ability,’ and it wasn’t just talk.
He chose to spend ten hours training this Ability. To do this, he would repeatedly play in Peacock Mumbai, the city with the ninth-highest concentration.
Ren Suo first analyzed the life experiences of these Demons and Ghosts from Peacock Country, jotting down keywords to apply targeted solutions. If a Demon or Ghost was not satisfied with the curry and insisted on fighting, then they’d fight.
That’s when Ren Suo realized that the female stall owner’s Health Points wouldn’t recover during a single session of ’Ghost Walking.’ For example, if she had 19 Health Points left after one battle, she would still have only 19 Health Points in the next.
After dealing with about twenty-nine curry-eating Demons and Ghosts from Peacock Country, all of whom used their hands to eat, the female stall owner was finally killed by a Witch.
Unlike in the Mysterious Country, out of the twenty-nine Peacock Country customers, surprisingly eighteen were Demons. This meant they were there just to eat without paying and weren’t interested in sharing their life stories.
Ren Suo had no choice but to feed them poisonous excrement.
He also discovered a peculiar incident: while a Half-Demon man (suppressing his demonic nature) was eating at the Ghost Stall, a True Demon woman walked up, slapped his head off, sat down, and demanded a free meal.
Ren Suo didn’t feel like he lost a customer, but he sensed that something big was about to happen in this ancient country neighboring the Mysterious Country.
However, Ren Suo’s Keyword Extraction Ability hadn’t improved much; instead, his skills in feeding excrement had rapidly advanced that afternoon.
After repeating this three times and spending the afternoon at it, Ren Suo had the female stall owner drink Holy Water in the evening to get the correct keywords. He then compared them with the ones he had figured out himself.
There were some things Ren Suo thought were important, but the customers didn’t care at all. Conversely, there were keywords Ren Suo thought he had just mentioned casually, but the customers felt these pointed to crucial regrets deep inside.
Then Ren Suo felt that the Krypton Gold was indeed costly for a reason.
It’s hard for people to put themselves in others’ shoes; differences in culture, education, and experience mean that what people say and what they actually think aren’t always perfectly aligned.
The man who said he wanted to kill his wife and daughter because of life’s pressures was actually angry because his daughter wanted to marry a young man he didn’t approve of. He wasn’t willing to admit that he couldn’t even control his daughter, preferring to blame unemployment. However, in his narrative, unemployment was just a passing complaint.
The girl who said she wanted to annihilate her family because she was being married off to a businessman she didn’t like actually harbored Resentment that started from her parents’ favoritism towards her younger brother since childhood. She resented her brother, even though he was good to her. She didn’t resent marrying per se, but rather being sacrificed for her brother. Her conflicted feelings had turned into an unstable bomb, ready to explode at any trigger. Yet, in conversations, she often bragged about her brother.
There are many unsaid things, not because people don’t want to say them, but because they aren’t even aware of them themselves.
After tinkering all night, Ren Suo finally made it through the next day in Peacock Mumbai. Almost half of the customers there were True Demons, requiring fights. The last customer was, naturally, also a True Demon. He didn’t fully succumb to the excrement Ren Suo fed him; his strength was only slightly weakened, and Ren Suo had to fight hard to get through it.
「It was past midnight.」
Ren Suo got dressed, took out his phone, and made a call.
"Zhao Huo, what are you up to?"
Zhao Huo replied, "Translating the August anime lineup."
Ren Suo said, "Come on, let’s go out for a late-night snack."
Zhao Huo asked, "Isn’t the cafeteria closed?"
Ren Suo exclaimed, "Let’s eat out! It’s boring to always eat in the cafeteria."
Zhao Huo said, "Of course you think it’s boring; you have special privileges, I don’t... Are there any Ghost Stalls outside?"
Ren Suo said, "A new barbecue stall opened recently. I heard it’s really good, but it’s not a Ghost Stall."
Zhao Huo seemed somewhat tempted, asking, "How far is it?"
"Hmm... nine kilometers away."
Rejected, Ren Suo didn’t mind. He left Heavenly Lotus Academy leisurely and spent two hours walking to the barbecue stand in the center of Lianjiang City. He shared his location, took photos for a nine-square photo grid, and posted it on social media: ’3 A.M. on the pedestrian street, me, seeking deliciousness.’
Ren Suo was satisfied as he put his phone away and slowly walked back.
Yes, he was preparing, preparing an excuse for himself.