Upon seeing the Yellow Hair couple gaining substantial benefits from the Desire Set Meal, Ren Suo pondered how he could find an opportunity to try out the Midnight Walker stall himself. Time and location weren’t issues; he only had to confirm the location in the game, and then he could visit it every night to scout the area. The problem was, Ren Suo needed to find a reason for such an action.
Of course, Ren Suo could disguise himself and go, but it was August. Walking on the street, you felt like you could evaporate from the heat, and even at night, you couldn’t wear too much. Otherwise, the police would definitely think something was off. Dressed in layers in the middle of the night? Are you a feverish programmer working overtime? they might think.
As for Face-Changing techniques, Ren Suo had thought about it, but they weren’t available in the Spell Network. The spells currently for sale in the Spell Network were all low in Damage, focusing on ’self-protection’ and ’life assistance.’ Problematic spells like ’Invisibility Technique,’ ’Facial Transformation Technique,’ ’X-Ray Vision Technique,’ and ’Hypnotism’ were nowhere to be found.
Ren Suo suspected such spells definitely existed. However, they surely wouldn’t be made public and were likely secrets passed on internally with utmost confidentiality. Owners would keep these abilities to themselves, as such spells not only posed a threat to others but could also significantly impact the Cultivators themselves:
"That’s the guy who can use the Invisibility Technique, tsk tsk..."
"Ah, there’s the X-Ray perv! Don’t face him directly, or turn your side or back to him; just stay away!"
"Mmm, because XXX can use Facial Transformation Technique, I suggest adding iris recognition to women’s restrooms..."
"Don’t look at him, don’t talk to him, or you’ll be hypnotized!"
Compared to pure killing abilities, these privacy-invading abilities could cause even more panic among others.
Moreover, with surveillance cameras at various intersections in Lianjiang City, it was better to go openly than to sneak around. Ren Suo also guessed that if he had a strong desire not to appear on camera, his image might not necessarily show up in the game evaluation videos after being uploaded. Of course, putting all his hope in the Mini-World Game Console was too foolish, so Ren Suo prepared a reason for ’encountering the Ghost Stall’ for himself. After all, he wasn’t the first normal person to eat at a Ghost Stall.
He didn’t even need breakfast after returning and immediately continued working on his strategy for ’Midnight Walker.’
He looked at the list of cities and noticed that the Concealment Concentration had decreased in Mumbai and Ben Gang, with Mumbai dropping to 39th place and Ben Gang to 78th.
Setting up shop in the same city for several days obviously led to gradually decreasing returns. Or, to put it another way, the most dangerous Demons and Ghosts in the city would visit the Ghost Stall first, and after dealing with them, only the weaker ones remained.
But comparing Ben Gang and Mumbai, Ren Suo noticed that the last customer of the day, the ultimate boss, seemed to be getting stronger.
It wasn’t just a matter of Ren Suo not feeding the boss correctly; the boss’s Health Points had noticeably increased, and the effects of various negative buffs had slightly decreased.
For instance, the first boss in Ben Gang received a ’Takes +10% all Damage, lasts for 5 turns’ negative effect from Filth, whereas the second dirt-covered boss from Mumbai received a ’Takes +8% all Damage, lasts for 5 turns’ negative effect from Cleanliness.
It wasn’t that the bosses had gotten stronger; rather, the bosses in cities with higher Concealment Concentrations were inherently stronger, much like how a second-grader is inherently tougher than a first-grader.
If Ren Suo couldn’t find the boss’s weakness and strike with Precision, he would basically have to meet the boss head-on.
In fact, during the fight with the Mumbai boss, the female shop owner almost died. It was only because Ren Suo had her use ’Struggle Warrior (Damaged)’ to create Clones that could buy time and execute a dual Attack that she barely won.
Reducing combat opportunities, ensuring the shop owner was in full Status to face the last customer, and making each customer leave satisfied to gain enough rewards to strengthen the shop owner—this was the strategy for the game.
Therefore, Ren Suo decided to fight from the bottom up. Otherwise, even if he reached the final boss in the city with the highest concentration, a single mistake in feeding could result in being crushed by the boss. It was better to upgrade steadily and securely.
Even when Ren Suo played the city with the highest Concealment Concentration and noted down the keywords for each ’customer,’ each attempt took four hours. If he couldn’t pinpoint the boss’s weakness, he had to start over, making the time cost too high.
And the eighth city was... New York.
Incidentally, Sky Capital in the Mysterious Country, although not at the bottom, was in a middling position in the Concealment Concentration rankings. This meant that not only were there no visible Demons and Ghosts in Sky Capital, but there were also very few hidden ones.
This was extremely rare because no other city ranked similarly had a population exceeding one million, whereas Sky Capital had over twenty million people.
Ren Suo even suspected that Sky Capital might not have any actual Demons and Ghosts, only Half-Demons suppressing their impulses.
Is Sky Capital’s countermeasure system especially formidable? Ren Suo wondered. Yet, at this moment, he recalled the young man he had seen through a spatial barrier in ’Mage Under the World Tree.’ Ren Suo remembered him well because he had used an image of a Nine-Tailed Fox as his computer wallpaper.
On the screen, as night fell, the female shop owner pushed her food cart into Central Park in Manhattan, amidst the urban jungle.
New York had a permanent population of only about 8 million, less than Ben Gang. However, in reality, some areas, like Manhattan, were as densely populated as major cities. Near Central Park, high-rises encircled the green expanse like barriers, towering over the vegetation as slumbering giants in the pitch-dark midnight.
The park was very large, and quite a few homeless people slept on the benches. The female shop owner passed by almost silently, without disturbing anyone, quickly setting up her stall in a secluded area deep within the dense forest.
Almost as soon as the female shop owner finished washing her utensils, her first customer arrived.
It was not a normal person but appeared to be a Half-Demon, whose size was thrice the width of the female shop owner—a super-sized fatty.
I can feel his clothes screaming, "AAAAH, I’m going to burst!" Ren Suo thought.
Facing this type of customer, Ren Suo felt very experienced. Since it was the first customer, he decided to extract the keywords himself.
This customer’s life was ordinary. He was a truck driver deeply troubled by his obesity, unliked, with no savings, his only happiness derived from watching soap operas and indulging in fried chicken and cola.
But he felt that his suffering was not met with adequate returns, so his thoughts turned increasingly radical, and he started thinking about running over pedestrians with his truck...
Such customers existed around the world; Ren Suo had served several of them. Their Desires generally revolved around ’gaining respect and Understanding from others,’ ’not letting my suffering go in vain,’ and ’I’m just missing an opportunity; I want to prove I am no less than others.’ So Ren Suo increased the proportion of ’Understanding,’ ’Effort,’ and ’Hope’ in his recipe and served him a chocolate tart—it was surprising that even the Ghost Stall could produce a chocolate tart.
However, as the customer ate, he started crying. Just when Ren Suo thought he had resolved this customer’s issues, the man suddenly slammed his fist on the table, shouting, "It’s not sweet! None of it’s sweet! I just wanted the sweetness of love, why isn’t there any! WHY!"
His fat started to swell and burst, transforming into the upper bodies of several naked, blond-haired beauties. They clung to him, gazing at the female shop owner with Charm in their vacant eyes.
You merely said ’no one likes me,’ how was I supposed to know you were in heat! Ren Suo inwardly exclaimed.
Just as Ren Suo braced for a fight, the customer suddenly plunged his head into the chocolate tart, his face instantly covered. He then slammed the table again, angrily turning to see who was so bold!
Then, the next second, he deflated.
The beauties on his body shrank back into his fat.
A figure approached, treading gracefully, seemingly untainted by dust.
This mountain-like customer, facing a being only a fraction of his size, hurriedly nodded. He intended to turn and leave, but when the newcomer simply uttered a noncommittal ’Mm,’ he frantically fished a USB drive from his pocket, handed it to the female shop owner, and then slipped away with a speed that belied his physique.
The female shop owner took the USB drive and watched the new customer calmly.
"What would you like to eat?"
The newcomer squatted on the table, cocked its head at the female shop owner, said nothing, and licked its paws, its nine tails swaying back and forth.
I feel like grabbing a hammer to smash the dimensional barrier in the television, take it in my arms, and then stroke it over and over again... Ren Suo thought, captivated.
Yes, this new customer was a Clone of the Devouring the Spirit of the World—
Little Nine-Tailed Fox!