[Mmm? Must I really tell a story?] the yellow-haired teenager asked.
The female stall owner glanced at the teenager, then accepted the 100 yuan note in his hand. She said: [You can just pay with money.]
Then, she looked at the old man and said: [Tell me about your life.]
The burgundy-haired girl laughed and joked: [Lady Boss, you’re so funny.]
The yellow-haired teenager lightly pinched his girlfriend’s waist, then smiled apologetically at the female stall owner and the old man. He whispered something in her ear, but although Ren Suo could not hear what he was saying, a dialogue box appeared over his head which said: [Look at the old man, he does not seem to have much money on him. The Lady Boss is doing good by trying to help him. Don’t make the old man feel embarrassed.]
Ren Suo was slightly surprised as he looked at the yellow-haired teenager. He had not expected him to be somewhat understanding of strangers—indeed, one should not judge a “yellow-haired teen” by its cover.
The old man ordered a bowl of Yang Chun noodles. The stall owner nodded, then said to the yellow-haired teenager: [I need to prepare the noodles for the old man first, please give me a moment.]
The teenager’s girlfriend said: [We came first though…]
The yellow-haired teenager lightly pinched his girlfriend’s waist again, then smiled at the female stall owner and replied: [Take your time, we are not in a hurry.]
The female stall owner drank a free glass of 1% concentration Holy Water. She began listening to the old man tell his life story and keywords were extracted. In the meantime, the couple were bored and had nothing to do, or perhaps their mobile phones had run out of battery, so they listened to the old man as they sat in their seats. They commented softly at certain points in time:
[He’s talking about when Hong Kong was still a rural city? Is the old man that old already?]
[The old man even had to pay for protection in the past.]
[If I were born during his era, I would certainly have ventured in real estate and become rich.]
The female stall owner and the old man completely ignored the couple, even as the old man gave a conclusion about his life:
[… I had two sons—one died after he became an adult while the other went up north, so I don’t know how he is doing now. I pick up aluminum cans and plastic drinking bottles on the street to exchange them for some steamed buns…”
Keyword: [Son].
The old man sighed and continued: [I’m old. One night when I went to pee at home, I fell down and broke my leg. I did not have the energy to shout, and it was cold. I remained on the floor in my house, unable to move, and eventually…]
[I froze to death.]
Keywords: [Cold, Frozen].
Amongst monsters, the stories of demons did not end in death, but it was the opposite for ghosts. In fact, they would remember very clearly how they died, and the memories would remain etched in their minds. That was also the reason why they were able to control their desires to kill and hide themselves within the city. It was only when the ‘ghost stall’ appeared late in the night that they would emerge from the darkness.
The burgundy-haired girl gave a chuckle, but she remembered what her boyfriend said and remained silent.
However, the look on the yellow-haired teenager’s face changed slightly. From his point of view, he could see a subtle reddish-purple color on the lips of the old man, and the extent of the cloudiness in the old man’s eyes suddenly increased significantly. The hands of the old man were also of a very strange frozen blue color, though his age sports slightly concealed the peculiar changes to his body.
However, when the old man finished telling his story, the abnormalities of his body grew more obvious. The yellow-haired teenager swallowed his saliva and wanted to leave, but the female stall owner said at that juncture:
[Your food is almost ready.]
Ren Suo did not know why the female stall owner said that, but the yellow-haired teenager seemed to be instantly relieved. He took the initiative to swap seats with the burgundy-haired girl so that she was further away from the old man.
The burgundy-haired girl felt that it was strange, but did not think too much into it. She leaned on her boyfriend and took out her mobile phone to play.
After adding the appropriate seasonings based on the extracted keywords, the female stall owner lightly pushed the bowl of Yang Chun noodles to the old man. Then, she quickly prepared two plates of barbecued pork rice—amusingly, there was already cooked rice sitting in the rice cooker.
Ren Suo thought that she would give the plates of barbecued pork rice directly to the couple, but the game entered the seasoning interface again and Ren Suo was momentarily stunned.
How could he season the food when the pair of lovebirds did not tell their story?
However, the seasoning interface had appeared and Ren Suo had to select something, so he blindly chose [Happiness] and [Love], and set the amount of seasoning to be added to the maximum. The female stall owner took out two bottles of seasoning and poured the contents of the bottles into the two plates of barbecued pork rice, as if the seasonings did not cost any money.
Nonetheless, Ren Suo was not concerned about it—could the main character not win a fight against ordinary people?
Unlike other customers, the yellow-haired teenager and the burgundy-haired girl looked suspiciously at barbecued pork rice before they took the spoons and began eating. The next moment, their faces suddenly turned red and they said loudly:
[It’s delicious!]
[I feel thoroughly invigorated!]
[This… it tastes extremely pleasant!]
[It tastes like love too.]
[Here, let me feed you, mmm~]
With that, the pair of lovebirds began showing their love for each other as they continued feeding each other. Ren Suo pulled the corners of his lips.
After the old man finished the Yang Chun noodles, the abnormalities on his body also disappeared, and he turned back into the ordinary old man who wore a cotton-padded winter coat on a hot day.
The old man said: [It’s extremely delicious. Thank you.]
He searched in his pockets and retrieved a candy. He said: [A kid from around the area gave this to me, but I could not bear to eat it. Unfortunately for me, when I wanted to eat it, I could no longer enjoy its taste. Here, take this.]
The female stall owner took the candy and realized that it was actually not a sweet:
[Chalk wrapped in a sweet wrapper: if you consume it directly, HP +100, Attack +15; it can also be used as a single-use item in a battle to restore 9999 HP.]
The old man left silently, and the couple was also finishing their barbecued pork rice. When they were about to leave, the two of them were suddenly stunned at the same time.
[Lady Boss, what did you put in the rice? Why do I still feel so comfortable after finishing it…]
[I… How did I…]
At that juncture, [+0.52] appeared above the head of the burgundy-haired girl, while [+0.31] and [Awakening +1] appeared above the head of the yellow-haired teenager.
The yellow-haired teenager immediately pulled the burgundy-haired girl back to her seat. He was anxious as he said: [Two more dishes of barbecued pork rice, exactly the same as how it tasted just now! I will give you as much money as you want!]
Ren Suo was stunned. At that point, the female stall owner shook her head and said: [That taste is something which a person can only enjoy once in his life. It’s fine though if you want to eat ordinary barbecued pork rice.]
[You guys should leave. There would be other customers coming soon. I’m running a ‘fleeing ghosts’ stall here.]
The burgundy-haired girl asked her boyfriend: [Li Wei, I’m already full, why are you…]
The yellow-haired teenager pulled his girlfriend closer and whispered in her ear: [The rice here further Awakened my extraordinary ability! Do you not feel anything?]
The girl replied: [I just feel extremely comfortable throughout my body.]
The teenager said: [It’s beneficial no matter what! This is a miracle!]
However, no matter what they said, the female stall wonder did not agree to their request. She said: [The taste of desire is something which a person can only taste once. Those who enjoy the taste of desire more than once would not be able to maintain their sanity, and would be consumed by their desires and turned into beasts.]
[Do you really wish to tear the girl beside you into pieces?]
The yellow-haired teenager immediately calmed down and said: [Thank you very much.]
The stall owner replied: [You’re welcome.]
The yellow-haired teenager reached into his pockets as he asked: [Do I need to give you a present?]
The female stall owner answered: [There’s no need to, presents from ordinary people are meaningless to me. Only presents left behind by ‘customers’, whose sanity is on the edge and pent-up emotions are about to explode, would contain their desires…]
[You guys should leave before the next ‘customer’ arrives.]
As the female stall owner was talking, Ren Suo was also navigating around the game and finally found the conversation option.
However, there was a remark written in red next to the option: [Beware, any mistakes made in conversations may result in dissatisfaction of customers.]
The customers were all monsters that forcibly suppressed their desires with their reason and sanity. They finally managed to find a stall that was able to provide them with ‘delicious flavors’ and could relax their pent-up emotions. It would thus be very easy to trigger them to act rashly through words and result in battles. Ren Suo understood that and did not have any intention to communicate personally with any of the monsters anyway.
However, the two of them at the stall then were ordinary people. There were questions Ren Suo wanted to ask:
[Are you an Awakener?]
The yellow-haired teenager nodded and replied: [Yes.]
It was no wonder that he remained so calm despite noticing that the old man beside them just now was a ghost.
[Is your girlfriend an Awakener?]
The yellow-haired teenager looked at the burgundy-haired girl. She shook her head and replied: [No, I’m not.]
[Alright, let’s shake hands.]
As Ren Suo said that, the female stall owner extended her hand. The yellow-haired teenager hesitated for a moment, then stretched his hand out to shake her hand.
[Data Stream], activate!
Ren Suo had already equipped the [Fleeing Ghosts Stall Owner] with [Data Stream] earlier on, but it required physical contact to be activated. Nonetheless, it was fortunate that the ability could be used—the [Data Stream] icon appeared on the top right corner of the screen, and relevant information appeared when the female stall owner came into contact with physical objects.
[Target type: Adult male, Human, a Primate]
[Meal consumed: Barbecued Pork Rice (Happiness 100, Love 100)]
[Effects after consumption: Talent Score +0.31, Awakened Ability Level +1, physical body slightly enhanced]
[Possibility of consuming Meal of Desires again: None]
Unlike when using Data Stream in real life, [Data Stream] in the game was more concise, but analyzes exactly the information which Ren Suo wanted to know—
After ordinary people consumed the Meal of Desires from the ‘fleeing ghosts’ stall, their talent scores would be increased, and their Awakened Abilities would further Awaken if they had one!
The female stall owner then proceeded to shake the burgundy-haired girl’s hand. In her data stream, she did not have “Awakened Ability Level +1”, but her talent score increased by 0.52. Similarly, she could no longer consume the Meal of Desires.
After the couple left, Ren Suo controlled the female stall keeper to continue attending to ‘customers’, but his mind was already thinking about something else—
He also wanted a meal at the fleeing ghost stall!
There were not many opportunities where one would be able to enhance oneself without putting in any effort!
However, there were many problems: for example, there was no way for Ren Suo to know the exact date when the fleeing ghost stall would operate. Moreover, it would also be very likely for him to encounter monsters if he searched for the fleeing ghost stall.
As Ren Suo pondered about it, a dozen more guests also came and left the stall. By then, it was already 3:30 a.m. in the game, half an hour before the game ended for that day.
At that juncture, the street lamps in the distance suddenly began flickering.
A young man, who wore a suit with a red tie, donned a red hat and carried a large, black umbrella, walked slowly towards the fleeing ghost stall and sat down.
He glanced at the sign at the fleeing ghost stall and smiled.
He said: [Sorry, I’m not interested in telling others about my life.]
Ren Suo could see that the jade pendant the female stall owner wore on her wrist was emitting a faint red glow.
The man said: [I originally intended to devour you directly, but I heard that your food is quite delicious, so let’s try that. Do your best to satisfy me. If I’m happy after eating it, I may let you die a less miserable death.]
Ren Suo could immediately tell that the man was a cold-hearted ‘demon-person’—amongst the various types of monsters, it was the only kind which would certainly be chaotic evil. They were terrifying creatures who had gone berserk and who disregarded law and order.
Such demons would certainly have committed plenty of crimes and killed countless people. If it were the Mainland, they would certainly be crushed swiftly to pieces by the iron fist of a socialist society (the Countermeasure System and the Changjiang and Yellow River Forces were established for this very purpose). However, Hong Kong was considered an important port for imports and exports, and was a global city, so there were many opportunities for demon-people to hide.
“Is this an unavoidable battle…”
However, even if battle was unavoidable, such people would only take action after he finished his meal, for various reasons.
At that juncture, Ren Suo also finally understood the true purpose of the other set of ‘undesirable’ seasonings—[Despair], [Anger], [Incontinence], [Betrayal], [Jealousy]…
“There’s no need to talk about morals and values to such people who have greatly sinned. Just feed him garbage!”
[Mmm? Must I really tell a story?] the yellow-haired teenager asked.
The female stall owner glanced at the teenager, then accepted the 100 yuan note in his hand. She said: [You can just pay with money.]
Then, she looked at the old man and said: [Tell me about your life.]
The burgundy-haired girl laughed and joked: [Lady Boss, you’re so funny.]
The yellow-haired teenager lightly pinched his girlfriend’s waist, then smiled apologetically at the female stall owner and the old man. He whispered something in her ear, but although Ren Suo could not hear what he was saying, a dialogue box appeared over his head which said: [Look at the old man, he does not seem to have much money on him. The Lady Boss is doing good by trying to help him. Don’t make the old man feel embarrassed.]
Ren Suo was slightly surprised as he looked at the yellow-haired teenager. He had not expected him to be somewhat understanding of strangers—indeed, one should not judge a “yellow-haired teen” by its cover.
The old man ordered a bowl of Yang Chun noodles. The stall owner nodded, then said to the yellow-haired teenager: [I need to prepare the noodles for the old man first, please give me a moment.]
The teenager’s girlfriend said: [We came first though…]
The yellow-haired teenager lightly pinched his girlfriend’s waist again, then smiled at the female stall owner and replied: [Take your time, we are not in a hurry.]
The female stall owner drank a free glass of 1% concentration Holy Water. She began listening to the old man tell his life story and keywords were extracted. In the meantime, the couple were bored and had nothing to do, or perhaps their mobile phones had run out of battery, so they listened to the old man as they sat in their seats. They commented softly at certain points in time:
[He’s talking about when Hong Kong was still a rural city? Is the old man that old already?]
[The old man even had to pay for protection in the past.]
[If I were born during his era, I would certainly have ventured in real estate and become rich.]
The female stall owner and the old man completely ignored the couple, even as the old man gave a conclusion about his life:
[… I had two sons—one died after he became an adult while the other went up north, so I don’t know how he is doing now. I pick up aluminum cans and plastic drinking bottles on the street to exchange them for some steamed buns…”
Keyword: [Son].
The old man sighed and continued: [I’m old. One night when I went to pee at home, I fell down and broke my leg. I did not have the energy to shout, and it was cold. I remained on the floor in my house, unable to move, and eventually…]
[I froze to death.]
Keywords: [Cold, Frozen].
Amongst monsters, the stories of demons did not end in death, but it was the opposite for ghosts. In fact, they would remember very clearly how they died, and the memories would remain etched in their minds. That was also the reason why they were able to control their desires to kill and hide themselves within the city. It was only when the ‘ghost stall’ appeared late in the night that they would emerge from the darkness.
The burgundy-haired girl gave a chuckle, but she remembered what her boyfriend said and remained silent.
However, the look on the yellow-haired teenager’s face changed slightly. From his point of view, he could see a subtle reddish-purple color on the lips of the old man, and the extent of the cloudiness in the old man’s eyes suddenly increased significantly. The hands of the old man were also of a very strange frozen blue color, though his age sports slightly concealed the peculiar changes to his body.
However, when the old man finished telling his story, the abnormalities of his body grew more obvious. The yellow-haired teenager swallowed his saliva and wanted to leave, but the female stall owner said at that juncture:
[Your food is almost ready.]
Ren Suo did not know why the female stall owner said that, but the yellow-haired teenager seemed to be instantly relieved. He took the initiative to swap seats with the burgundy-haired girl so that she was further away from the old man.
The burgundy-haired girl felt that it was strange, but did not think too much into it. She leaned on her boyfriend and took out her mobile phone to play.
After adding the appropriate seasonings based on the extracted keywords, the female stall owner lightly pushed the bowl of Yang Chun noodles to the old man. Then, she quickly prepared two plates of barbecued pork rice—amusingly, there was already cooked rice sitting in the rice cooker.
Ren Suo thought that she would give the plates of barbecued pork rice directly to the couple, but the game entered the seasoning interface again and Ren Suo was momentarily stunned.
How could he season the food when the pair of lovebirds did not tell their story?
However, the seasoning interface had appeared and Ren Suo had to select something, so he blindly chose [Happiness] and [Love], and set the amount of seasoning to be added to the maximum. The female stall owner took out two bottles of seasoning and poured the contents of the bottles into the two plates of barbecued pork rice, as if the seasonings did not cost any money.
Nonetheless, Ren Suo was not concerned about it—could the main character not win a fight against ordinary people?
Unlike other customers, the yellow-haired teenager and the burgundy-haired girl looked suspiciously at barbecued pork rice before they took the spoons and began eating. The next moment, their faces suddenly turned red and they said loudly:
[It’s delicious!]
[I feel thoroughly invigorated!]
[This… it tastes extremely pleasant!]
[It tastes like love too.]
[Here, let me feed you, mmm~]
With that, the pair of lovebirds began showing their love for each other as they continued feeding each other. Ren Suo pulled the corners of his lips.
After the old man finished the Yang Chun noodles, the abnormalities on his body also disappeared, and he turned back into the ordinary old man who wore a cotton-padded winter coat on a hot day.
The old man said: [It’s extremely delicious. Thank you.]
He searched in his pockets and retrieved a candy. He said: [A kid from around the area gave this to me, but I could not bear to eat it. Unfortunately for me, when I wanted to eat it, I could no longer enjoy its taste. Here, take this.]
The female stall owner took the candy and realized that it was actually not a sweet:
[Chalk wrapped in a sweet wrapper: if you consume it directly, HP +100, Attack +15; it can also be used as a single-use item in a battle to restore 9999 HP.]
The old man left silently, and the couple was also finishing their barbecued pork rice. When they were about to leave, the two of them were suddenly stunned at the same time.
[Lady Boss, what did you put in the rice? Why do I still feel so comfortable after finishing it…]
[I… How did I…]
At that juncture, [+0.52] appeared above the head of the burgundy-haired girl, while [+0.31] and [Awakening +1] appeared above the head of the yellow-haired teenager.
The yellow-haired teenager immediately pulled the burgundy-haired girl back to her seat. He was anxious as he said: [Two more dishes of barbecued pork rice, exactly the same as how it tasted just now! I will give you as much money as you want!]
Ren Suo was stunned. At that point, the female stall owner shook her head and said: [That taste is something which a person can only enjoy once in his life. It’s fine though if you want to eat ordinary barbecued pork rice.]
[You guys should leave. There would be other customers coming soon. I’m running a ‘fleeing ghosts’ stall here.]
The burgundy-haired girl asked her boyfriend: [Li Wei, I’m already full, why are you…]
The yellow-haired teenager pulled his girlfriend closer and whispered in her ear: [The rice here further Awakened my extraordinary ability! Do you not feel anything?]
The girl replied: [I just feel extremely comfortable throughout my body.]
The teenager said: [It’s beneficial no matter what! This is a miracle!]
However, no matter what they said, the female stall wonder did not agree to their request. She said: [The taste of desire is something which a person can only taste once. Those who enjoy the taste of desire more than once would not be able to maintain their sanity, and would be consumed by their desires and turned into beasts.]
[Do you really wish to tear the girl beside you into pieces?]
The yellow-haired teenager immediately calmed down and said: [Thank you very much.]
The stall owner replied: [You’re welcome.]
The yellow-haired teenager reached into his pockets as he asked: [Do I need to give you a present?]
The female stall owner answered: [There’s no need to, presents from ordinary people are meaningless to me. Only presents left behind by ‘customers’, whose sanity is on the edge and pent-up emotions are about to explode, would contain their desires…]
[You guys should leave before the next ‘customer’ arrives.]
As the female stall owner was talking, Ren Suo was also navigating around the game and finally found the conversation option.
However, there was a remark written in red next to the option: [Beware, any mistakes made in conversations may result in dissatisfaction of customers.]
The customers were all monsters that forcibly suppressed their desires with their reason and sanity. They finally managed to find a stall that was able to provide them with ‘delicious flavors’ and could relax their pent-up emotions. It would thus be very easy to trigger them to act rashly through words and result in battles. Ren Suo understood that and did not have any intention to communicate personally with any of the monsters anyway.
However, the two of them at the stall then were ordinary people. There were questions Ren Suo wanted to ask:
[Are you an Awakener?]
The yellow-haired teenager nodded and replied: [Yes.]
It was no wonder that he remained so calm despite noticing that the old man beside them just now was a ghost.
[Is your girlfriend an Awakener?]
The yellow-haired teenager looked at the burgundy-haired girl. She shook her head and replied: [No, I’m not.]
[Alright, let’s shake hands.]
As Ren Suo said that, the female stall owner extended her hand. The yellow-haired teenager hesitated for a moment, then stretched his hand out to shake her hand.
[Data Stream], activate!
Ren Suo had already equipped the [Fleeing Ghosts Stall Owner] with [Data Stream] earlier on, but it required physical contact to be activated. Nonetheless, it was fortunate that the ability could be used—the [Data Stream] icon appeared on the top right corner of the screen, and relevant information appeared when the female stall owner came into contact with physical objects.
[Target type: Adult male, Human, a Primate]
[Meal consumed: Barbecued Pork Rice (Happiness 100, Love 100)]
[Effects after consumption: Talent Score +0.31, Awakened Ability Level +1, physical body slightly enhanced]
[Possibility of consuming Meal of Desires again: None]
Unlike when using Data Stream in real life, [Data Stream] in the game was more concise, but analyzes exactly the information which Ren Suo wanted to know—
After ordinary people consumed the Meal of Desires from the ‘fleeing ghosts’ stall, their talent scores would be increased, and their Awakened Abilities would further Awaken if they had one!
The female stall owner then proceeded to shake the burgundy-haired girl’s hand. In her data stream, she did not have “Awakened Ability Level +1”, but her talent score increased by 0.52. Similarly, she could no longer consume the Meal of Desires.
After the couple left, Ren Suo controlled the female stall keeper to continue attending to ‘customers’, but his mind was already thinking about something else—
He also wanted a meal at the fleeing ghost stall!
There were not many opportunities where one would be able to enhance oneself without putting in any effort!
However, there were many problems: for example, there was no way for Ren Suo to know the exact date when the fleeing ghost stall would operate. Moreover, it would also be very likely for him to encounter monsters if he searched for the fleeing ghost stall.
As Ren Suo pondered about it, a dozen more guests also came and left the stall. By then, it was already 3:30 a.m. in the game, half an hour before the game ended for that day.
At that juncture, the street lamps in the distance suddenly began flickering.
A young man, who wore a suit with a red tie, donned a red hat and carried a large, black umbrella, walked slowly towards the fleeing ghost stall and sat down.
He glanced at the sign at the fleeing ghost stall and smiled.
He said: [Sorry, I’m not interested in telling others about my life.]
Ren Suo could see that the jade pendant the female stall owner wore on her wrist was emitting a faint red glow.
The man said: [I originally intended to devour you directly, but I heard that your food is quite delicious, so let’s try that. Do your best to satisfy me. If I’m happy after eating it, I may let you die a less miserable death.]
Ren Suo could immediately tell that the man was a cold-hearted ‘demon-person’—amongst the various types of monsters, it was the only kind which would certainly be chaotic evil. They were terrifying creatures who had gone berserk and who disregarded law and order.
Such demons would certainly have committed plenty of crimes and killed countless people. If it were the Mainland, they would certainly be crushed swiftly to pieces by the iron fist of a socialist society (the Countermeasure System and the Changjiang and Yellow River Forces were established for this very purpose). However, Hong Kong was considered an important port for imports and exports, and was a global city, so there were many opportunities for demon-people to hide.
“Is this an unavoidable battle…”
However, even if battle was unavoidable, such people would only take action after he finished his meal, for various reasons.
At that juncture, Ren Suo also finally understood the true purpose of the other set of ‘undesirable’ seasonings—[Despair], [Anger], [Incontinence], [Betrayal], [Jealousy]…
“There’s no need to talk about morals and values to such people who have greatly sinned. Just feed him garbage!”
