Upon hearing what Stanley said, Ren Suo, who was behind the screen, was slightly stunned.
He naturally did not know what Stanley had thought in his mind after he heard the female stall owner mention the term ‘Heavenly Palace’, but it was very obvious that Stanley’s thought process gave Ren Suo much inspiration.
As such, the female stall owner neither denied nor confirmed Stanley’s guess. Instead, she turned to look at the men in the black cloaks and asked: [What do you guys want to eat?]
At that juncture, the men in the black cloaks could not be more surprised. They said in eight different languages:
[What is this ability of yours? Let us go now!]
[You are opposing The Cards right now!]
At that juncture, Little Nine-Tailed Fox made a sound and looked at them lazily. They instantly knew their place:
[Is this a secret power of the East?]
[Your Excellency, the strength of your powers is unimaginable.]
[Please forgive us, we have been rude. The Cards is willing to compensate.]
[Your Excellency, since Stanley is under your protection, we can report this to the organization and call off the order to kill Stanley.]
[I am Spade K. Your Excellency, please consider and accept our sincerity. We are deeply sorry for being rude.]
In just a few moments, the men in the black cloaks quickly changed from a threatening stance to that which was both humble and compensatory. They simply wanted to reconcile with the female stall owner.
The organization of assassins was unlike others—there was no panic about the trouble they caused, no arrogance of being a strong force of power, and no haughtiness of the organizations of large, powerful nations. Once they found that they were completely unable to escape from the control of the food stall, they immediately realized how far away they were from their opponent in terms of capability.
They were assassins without any beliefs; they were pure egoists, and naturally was unwilling to lose their lives there and then just to get Stanley.
However, the female stall owner’s response to their begging was the same:
[What do you guys want to eat?]
The men in the black cloaks calmed down, and their captain, whose name was Spade K, asked: [Must we eat?]
The female stall owner nodded.
[Can we order anything?]
The female stall owner nodded again.
Then, Spade K pondered silently for a moment and said: [I want to eat… T-Rex meat in teriyaki sauce.]
The other members immediately understood what their captain was trying to do and said, one after another:
[I want a deep-fried Cerberus.]
[Do you have soup boiled with a whole Kun fish?]
[I want a dozen skewers of grilled trilobites!]
[I want a grilled saber-toothed cat!]
[I want to eat a Hound of Tindalos teppanyaki!]
2The dishes which the men in the black cloaks ordered were essentially impossible to make. Although they ordered brazenly, they all looked intently at the female stall owner to see if she would be provoked.
However, to their surprise, the female stall owner did not say anything but instead began preparing their meals in silence.
However, Stanley, who was standing behind the food stall, could clearly see everything she was doing!
The female stall owner… No, the Food Goddess opened a drawer of the food cart, reached into it, and took out a huge, bloody piece of meat.
As his Awakened Ability was related to blood, Stanley was very sensitive to the energy of blood. As soon as the meat appeared in his sight, he immediately felt the huge energy the meat possessed—it was not related to Reiki energy, but it has something to do with the strength of muscles and fullness of blood. More scientifically speaking, it was related to the proportion of fat in it. For example, comparing between a fat person and a muscular person with the same weight, they were two completely different types of bloody meat to Stanley.
The piece of meat in the female stall owner’s hands had to be one from a beast, with energy more terrifying than that of human meat. It was a piece of meat from a creature that Stanley could not identify, although he had already slaughtered countless different types of creatures while he was at the training camp.
The Food Goddess got down to work, slicing the meat and frying it in a pan of oil. The fire burned and very soon a piece of steak was done in a skillful manner.
It was time for the familiar seasoning segment, and Ren Suo hesitated for some time.
The group of people was ‘intruders’, much like the yellow-haired teenager from before. They were not there because they were in any way attracted to the fleeing ghost stall, but simply because they were hunting down the man in red to kill him.
It was just that, when they attacked the fleeing ghost stall, they were classified as ‘customers’ by the game.
It was as if the game “Fleeing Ghosts in the Night” had finally remembered that it was a “supernatural economic simulation adventure” game, and consequently forced the group of them to stop fighting and sit down to have supper.
Based on the responses of the men in the black cloaks, Ren Suo had several speculations:
Firstly, they were actually not willing to sit down. According to what they said, they were being suppressed by a mysterious power of the East.
Secondly, based on what the female stall owner said to persuade Stanley, it could be seen that such a suppression could only be maintained if they were not in danger.
Ren Suo recalled the previous customers who wanted to eat ‘garbage’ meals. They initially wanted to create trouble, and yet they still sat down to eat garbage. That was very strange in itself—although true demons were intelligent, they were inhuman. Why were they all so obedient and orderly?
Now that he encountered this group of men in the black cloaks, Ren Suo realized that this was the power of the game.
However, unlike the men in the black cloaks, most of the other customers were strongly enticed subconsciously by the fleeing ghost stall. The subconscious hints were likely related to their deepest desires of destruction because that was the greatest difference between customers who were monsters and customers who were ordinary people.
In the case of the men in the black cloaks, while it was very obvious that they made a livelihood out of crimes and illegal means, they were not even half-demon, let alone real demons. It could be because they were not Awakened, or because they had undergone numerous psychological training when they were at the training camp, so they did not receive the subconscious hints of the fleeing ghost stall.
Instead, they were strongly suppressed by the fleeing ghost stall, and they clearly knew themselves that they were in a strange situation.
It seemed as if that the game was so furious that they directly controlled them with a strong mysterious force, without even bothering to conceal it. It was as if saying: “Whoever dares to oppose the fleeing ghost stall would be crushed to ashes by the game!”
Since the men in the black cloaks were evil customers, Ren Suo would usually feed them garbage.
However, they were not monsters but ordinary people. Moreover, they were already somewhat afraid and knew that the difference in power between them and their opponent was too great, so they might not voluntarily engage in battle even if they were given garbage food.
It was akin to an ordinary person passing by a Shaxian delicacies stall and suddenly getting dragged into the stall by several strong guys to eat a bowl of fried wonton. Even if the ordinary person was very angry, would he really dare to retaliate immediately?
Furthermore, the men in the black cloaks did not seem to experience much stress in life, and they were all sufficiently sane. Ren Suo did not need to add special seasonings for them, and of course, they were not interested in telling their stories either.
Since he was confident that they would not voluntarily engage in battle, Ren Suo decided to add a slightly unusual combination of seasonings:
[Happiness] must be added—being able to live as a human, the most important thing was to be happy;
[Compassion] + [Passion] + [Sympathy] + [Understanding] + [Justice] + [Trust] were also added to the simmering food;
Finally, he added a bit of [Love]—I heard that you guys like to watch Leon: The Professional?
The first one to taste their supper was Spade K. The other men in the black cloaks all looked nervously at their captain, while Spade K looked at the steak in front of him whose origins were completely unknown. He did not hesitate much and began eating it—after all, they were already at the stall and could not leave without eating.
He picked up a knife and a fork and cut the meat into strips. The other men in the black cloaks awaited their captain’s response, but their captain Spade K merely ate in silence. Very soon, he finished the food, and he stood up.
Then, he walked to the side without uttering a word. He took out a cigarette from his chest pocket and began smoking by himself.
The food which the rest of the men in the black cloaks ordered were also served one after another—the steamed Kun fish in clear soup, the skewered trilobites, the deep-fried Cerberus…
One after another, they finished eating, and then they also stood up in silence. Some of them started smoking with Spade K, some of them raised their heads to look at the night sky of New York City, while the rest of them took out their mobile phones to play.
After all of the men in the black cloaks finished eating their food, Spade K discussed something with his team members, then looked at Stanley and said: [You… take care of yourself. We will find a way to buy you a few days, but you should be ready to fight at any time.]
[However, the number of people the organization is targeting will soon increase.]
Spade K took the cigarette from his mouth and wanted to throw it out directly, but he thought about it, then retrieved a transparent bag from his chest pocket and put his cigarette inside the bag.
[We, the 13 Spades, would soon leave The Cards. When that happens, the organization will hunt us down. At the least, this will be able to disperse the resources available to hunt you down, and you may be able to fall under the radar.]
Stanley was stunned.
He looked at the female stall owner, and then at Spade K. He asked: [Why are you doing this?]
Spade K replied: [I was just reminded of the kind of person I truly want to be, and the same goes for them. If it is possible, I hope that you can help us to disarm the bombs in our bodies.]
One of the team members said: [It seems too boring to be a tool for the organization. I always comfort myself by saying that there would come a day when I would be able to have time for myself, to do what I like to do…]
Another one of the members of the team, whose voice was obviously that of a female, said: [Such a time is actually close at hand. The time is now, and any delays to that would just be a compromise to the coward in us.]
A short guy in the black cloak laughed and said: [I’m used to killing people, but that doesn’t mean that I do not prefer a more peaceful life.]
[It is time for us to change ourselves.]
[I may only be as tiny as a speck in the world, but my heart still yearns to fulfill its desires and aspirations.]
Stanley could hardly believe the 180° change in the mentalities and attitudes of the 13 Spades.
Nonetheless, he thought about the psychological changes he experienced after he ate the pig blood from the stall. He then looked at the female stall owner who was calm as usual, and suddenly understood something. He walked over to help the 13 Spades disarm the bombs in them.
Stanley remarked: [Are you not afraid that I would take the opportunity to kill you, Spade K?]
Spade K replied: [The moment I chose to betray The Cards, I was no longer afraid of death. If I die in your hands, it would also be a salvation for me.]
Stanley remained silent for a moment. After he finished disarming the bombs in the 13 Spades, he suddenly asked: [You are just an assassin who is proficient in killing people. If you leave The Cards, what else can you do?]
Spade K said: [I have killed many people—both the poor and the rich, both men and women… I do not know whether they were good or bad, virtuous or evil, and neither do I have the right to judge them. Those are lives which I have deprived these people of, and I will always remember them as a shackle to wake myself up.]
[When I’m bored, I like to read martial arts novels from Xuan Nation and superhero comics from the Federation. Perhaps, this is the guiding light of destiny.]
[I have already rediscovered the beauty of life. I am determined to break free from the past, but I will not forget the suffering I have experienced, and neither will I waste my skill.]
[From now on, I will be a sharp sword in the night and a guard before dawn. I will burn what’s left of me and become additional firewood for the world!]
[In the past, I would say ‘I have come’ to proclaim the death of the target.]
[In future, I hope that the same phrase would be used to proclaim the safety of the target.]
Upon hearing what Stanley said, Ren Suo, who was behind the screen, was slightly stunned.
He naturally did not know what Stanley had thought in his mind after he heard the female stall owner mention the term ‘Heavenly Palace’, but it was very obvious that Stanley’s thought process gave Ren Suo much inspiration.
As such, the female stall owner neither denied nor confirmed Stanley’s guess. Instead, she turned to look at the men in the black cloaks and asked: [What do you guys want to eat?]
At that juncture, the men in the black cloaks could not be more surprised. They said in eight different languages:
[What is this ability of yours? Let us go now!]
[You are opposing The Cards right now!]
At that juncture, Little Nine-Tailed Fox made a sound and looked at them lazily. They instantly knew their place:
[Is this a secret power of the East?]
[Your Excellency, the strength of your powers is unimaginable.]
[Please forgive us, we have been rude. The Cards is willing to compensate.]
[Your Excellency, since Stanley is under your protection, we can report this to the organization and call off the order to kill Stanley.]
[I am Spade K. Your Excellency, please consider and accept our sincerity. We are deeply sorry for being rude.]
In just a few moments, the men in the black cloaks quickly changed from a threatening stance to that which was both humble and compensatory. They simply wanted to reconcile with the female stall owner.
The organization of assassins was unlike others—there was no panic about the trouble they caused, no arrogance of being a strong force of power, and no haughtiness of the organizations of large, powerful nations. Once they found that they were completely unable to escape from the control of the food stall, they immediately realized how far away they were from their opponent in terms of capability.
They were assassins without any beliefs; they were pure egoists, and naturally was unwilling to lose their lives there and then just to get Stanley.
However, the female stall owner’s response to their begging was the same:
[What do you guys want to eat?]
The men in the black cloaks calmed down, and their captain, whose name was Spade K, asked: [Must we eat?]
The female stall owner nodded.
[Can we order anything?]
The female stall owner nodded again.
Then, Spade K pondered silently for a moment and said: [I want to eat… T-Rex meat in teriyaki sauce.]
The other members immediately understood what their captain was trying to do and said, one after another:
[I want a deep-fried Cerberus.]
[Do you have soup boiled with a whole Kun fish?]
[I want a dozen skewers of grilled trilobites!]
[I want a grilled saber-toothed cat!]
[I want to eat a Hound of Tindalos teppanyaki!]
2The dishes which the men in the black cloaks ordered were essentially impossible to make. Although they ordered brazenly, they all looked intently at the female stall owner to see if she would be provoked.
However, to their surprise, the female stall owner did not say anything but instead began preparing their meals in silence.
However, Stanley, who was standing behind the food stall, could clearly see everything she was doing!
The female stall owner… No, the Food Goddess opened a drawer of the food cart, reached into it, and took out a huge, bloody piece of meat.
As his Awakened Ability was related to blood, Stanley was very sensitive to the energy of blood. As soon as the meat appeared in his sight, he immediately felt the huge energy the meat possessed—it was not related to Reiki energy, but it has something to do with the strength of muscles and fullness of blood. More scientifically speaking, it was related to the proportion of fat in it. For example, comparing between a fat person and a muscular person with the same weight, they were two completely different types of bloody meat to Stanley.
The piece of meat in the female stall owner’s hands had to be one from a beast, with energy more terrifying than that of human meat. It was a piece of meat from a creature that Stanley could not identify, although he had already slaughtered countless different types of creatures while he was at the training camp.
The Food Goddess got down to work, slicing the meat and frying it in a pan of oil. The fire burned and very soon a piece of steak was done in a skillful manner.
It was time for the familiar seasoning segment, and Ren Suo hesitated for some time.
The group of people was ‘intruders’, much like the yellow-haired teenager from before. They were not there because they were in any way attracted to the fleeing ghost stall, but simply because they were hunting down the man in red to kill him.
It was just that, when they attacked the fleeing ghost stall, they were classified as ‘customers’ by the game.
It was as if the game “Fleeing Ghosts in the Night” had finally remembered that it was a “supernatural economic simulation adventure” game, and consequently forced the group of them to stop fighting and sit down to have supper.
Based on the responses of the men in the black cloaks, Ren Suo had several speculations:
Firstly, they were actually not willing to sit down. According to what they said, they were being suppressed by a mysterious power of the East.
Secondly, based on what the female stall owner said to persuade Stanley, it could be seen that such a suppression could only be maintained if they were not in danger.
Ren Suo recalled the previous customers who wanted to eat ‘garbage’ meals. They initially wanted to create trouble, and yet they still sat down to eat garbage. That was very strange in itself—although true demons were intelligent, they were inhuman. Why were they all so obedient and orderly?
Now that he encountered this group of men in the black cloaks, Ren Suo realized that this was the power of the game.
However, unlike the men in the black cloaks, most of the other customers were strongly enticed subconsciously by the fleeing ghost stall. The subconscious hints were likely related to their deepest desires of destruction because that was the greatest difference between customers who were monsters and customers who were ordinary people.
In the case of the men in the black cloaks, while it was very obvious that they made a livelihood out of crimes and illegal means, they were not even half-demon, let alone real demons. It could be because they were not Awakened, or because they had undergone numerous psychological training when they were at the training camp, so they did not receive the subconscious hints of the fleeing ghost stall.
Instead, they were strongly suppressed by the fleeing ghost stall, and they clearly knew themselves that they were in a strange situation.
It seemed as if that the game was so furious that they directly controlled them with a strong mysterious force, without even bothering to conceal it. It was as if saying: “Whoever dares to oppose the fleeing ghost stall would be crushed to ashes by the game!”
Since the men in the black cloaks were evil customers, Ren Suo would usually feed them garbage.
However, they were not monsters but ordinary people. Moreover, they were already somewhat afraid and knew that the difference in power between them and their opponent was too great, so they might not voluntarily engage in battle even if they were given garbage food.
It was akin to an ordinary person passing by a Shaxian delicacies stall and suddenly getting dragged into the stall by several strong guys to eat a bowl of fried wonton. Even if the ordinary person was very angry, would he really dare to retaliate immediately?
Furthermore, the men in the black cloaks did not seem to experience much stress in life, and they were all sufficiently sane. Ren Suo did not need to add special seasonings for them, and of course, they were not interested in telling their stories either.
Since he was confident that they would not voluntarily engage in battle, Ren Suo decided to add a slightly unusual combination of seasonings:
[Happiness] must be added—being able to live as a human, the most important thing was to be happy;
[Compassion] + [Passion] + [Sympathy] + [Understanding] + [Justice] + [Trust] were also added to the simmering food;
Finally, he added a bit of [Love]—I heard that you guys like to watch Leon: The Professional?
The first one to taste their supper was Spade K. The other men in the black cloaks all looked nervously at their captain, while Spade K looked at the steak in front of him whose origins were completely unknown. He did not hesitate much and began eating it—after all, they were already at the stall and could not leave without eating.
He picked up a knife and a fork and cut the meat into strips. The other men in the black cloaks awaited their captain’s response, but their captain Spade K merely ate in silence. Very soon, he finished the food, and he stood up.
Then, he walked to the side without uttering a word. He took out a cigarette from his chest pocket and began smoking by himself.
The food which the rest of the men in the black cloaks ordered were also served one after another—the steamed Kun fish in clear soup, the skewered trilobites, the deep-fried Cerberus…
One after another, they finished eating, and then they also stood up in silence. Some of them started smoking with Spade K, some of them raised their heads to look at the night sky of New York City, while the rest of them took out their mobile phones to play.
After all of the men in the black cloaks finished eating their food, Spade K discussed something with his team members, then looked at Stanley and said: [You… take care of yourself. We will find a way to buy you a few days, but you should be ready to fight at any time.]
[However, the number of people the organization is targeting will soon increase.]
Spade K took the cigarette from his mouth and wanted to throw it out directly, but he thought about it, then retrieved a transparent bag from his chest pocket and put his cigarette inside the bag.
[We, the 13 Spades, would soon leave The Cards. When that happens, the organization will hunt us down. At the least, this will be able to disperse the resources available to hunt you down, and you may be able to fall under the radar.]
Stanley was stunned.
He looked at the female stall owner, and then at Spade K. He asked: [Why are you doing this?]
Spade K replied: [I was just reminded of the kind of person I truly want to be, and the same goes for them. If it is possible, I hope that you can help us to disarm the bombs in our bodies.]
One of the team members said: [It seems too boring to be a tool for the organization. I always comfort myself by saying that there would come a day when I would be able to have time for myself, to do what I like to do…]
Another one of the members of the team, whose voice was obviously that of a female, said: [Such a time is actually close at hand. The time is now, and any delays to that would just be a compromise to the coward in us.]
A short guy in the black cloak laughed and said: [I’m used to killing people, but that doesn’t mean that I do not prefer a more peaceful life.]
[It is time for us to change ourselves.]
[I may only be as tiny as a speck in the world, but my heart still yearns to fulfill its desires and aspirations.]
Stanley could hardly believe the 180° change in the mentalities and attitudes of the 13 Spades.
Nonetheless, he thought about the psychological changes he experienced after he ate the pig blood from the stall. He then looked at the female stall owner who was calm as usual, and suddenly understood something. He walked over to help the 13 Spades disarm the bombs in them.
Stanley remarked: [Are you not afraid that I would take the opportunity to kill you, Spade K?]
Spade K replied: [The moment I chose to betray The Cards, I was no longer afraid of death. If I die in your hands, it would also be a salvation for me.]
Stanley remained silent for a moment. After he finished disarming the bombs in the 13 Spades, he suddenly asked: [You are just an assassin who is proficient in killing people. If you leave The Cards, what else can you do?]
Spade K said: [I have killed many people—both the poor and the rich, both men and women… I do not know whether they were good or bad, virtuous or evil, and neither do I have the right to judge them. Those are lives which I have deprived these people of, and I will always remember them as a shackle to wake myself up.]
[When I’m bored, I like to read martial arts novels from Xuan Nation and superhero comics from the Federation. Perhaps, this is the guiding light of destiny.]
[I have already rediscovered the beauty of life. I am determined to break free from the past, but I will not forget the suffering I have experienced, and neither will I waste my skill.]
[From now on, I will be a sharp sword in the night and a guard before dawn. I will burn what’s left of me and become additional firewood for the world!]
[In the past, I would say ‘I have come’ to proclaim the death of the target.]
[In future, I hope that the same phrase would be used to proclaim the safety of the target.]
