CHAPTER 261: CHAPTER 261: COMPLETING CONDITIONS AHEAD OF TIME

EDITOR: DRAGON BOAT TRANSLATION

"Desire Collection Amount: 10,320"

After clearing the fifth day in Mexico City and the fourth day in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Ren Suo had already met the conditions to advance prematurely.

Unlike Mexico City, Sao Paulo was the most populous international city in the southern hemisphere and maintained some order. It wasn’t a place where Demon Ghosts roamed as freely as dogs or where True Demons were everywhere. Mexico City was different; people died there often, which gave True Demons the liberty to be rampant.

In Sao Paulo, however, it wasn’t True Demons that were numerous, but rather Demons! In Sao Paulo, Ren Suo saw for the first time a Shape-shifting Demon Species he didn’t recognize: a Jaguar Girl.

The Jaguar Girl perfectly matched Ren Suo’s aesthetic preferences. Her body was normal, and her face was extremely cute. However, she had a pair of beast ears, and her hands and feet hadn’t fully transformed, resembling cosplay gloves and shoes—which was super cute.

However, the Jaguar Girl was ferociously deadly. As the final boss of Sao Paulo, Ren Suo saw her as an incredibly cute Beast-eared Girl. Having also extracted keywords using Holy Water, he racked his brains to prepare a delicious meal for her.

Once the Jaguar Girl was well-fed, she was clearly satisfied, but she said, "I’ll give you three free hits."

With the help of "48-year-old Xiao Qiang," the female shop owner swiftly attacked for five rounds, depleting half of the Jaguar Girl’s Health Points. Then, the Jaguar Girl retaliated with an eight-claw attack, seriously wounding the female shop owner.

With no other choice, Ren Suo had to use his trump card prop: "Catnip."

This was a gift from a certain cat-type monster. If the female shop owner consumed it, her Attack Power would increase by 120. However, if used as an attack prop, it could cause cat-type monsters to temporarily lose control for five rounds. Its uses were very limited, but Ren Suo always kept such special-purpose food items.

This time, it was perfectly suited for the situation. The female shop owner used "Catnip" to disorient the Jaguar Girl for five rounds, finally taking her down.

Tears streamed down the Jaguar Girl’s face as she looked at the female shop owner. Suddenly, she hugged the shop owner and began to sob loudly, desperately nuzzling her head against her. Ren Suo could understand. If he saw the female shop owner, he would want to nuzzle her too, considering he had used his lower half to think when designing the character.

The Jaguar Girl proposed to wander the world with the female shop owner. Ren Suo, of course, rejected her on the shop owner’s behalf. He advised her to Shape-shift properly and start anew, but not to remove her beast ears...

The final bosses’ combat power grew increasingly stronger. If Ren Suo hadn’t consistently chosen cities with high "Concealment Concentration," thereby receiving enough gifts, and if the female shop owner hadn’t been sufficiently strengthened, he couldn’t possibly have cleared cities with such high concentrations.

Ren Suo vaguely realized that the Desire released by Demons and Ghosts who were "fed to defeat" was less than the Desire released by those who were "repenting and reforming."

This feeling was baseless, purely speculative, but the existence of the "seasoning" step was the best evidence. Moreover, avoiding battles prevented the female shop owner from losing Health Points, thereby increasing the chances of clearing the level.

But with his Desire Collection Amount already sufficient, did Ren Suo still need to challenge cities with higher difficulty?

Although three days of game time remained, Ren Suo could have chosen to pass the time in a rural area with low "Concealment Concentration," quickly getting through these three days to clear the game.

But Ren Suo glanced at the city list and sighed.

"Concealment Concentration" ranked third—Tokyo.

"Concealment Concentration" ranked second—London.

"Concealment Concentration" ranked first—Lianjiang City!

Ren Suo had no choice from the start. If he wanted to personally experience dining at a Ghost Stall, he needed to empower the female shop owner step by step so she could clear Lianjiang City.

Moreover, the more Desire collected, the higher the evaluation upon clearance would naturally be. Ren Suo, currently lacking Merit Points, wouldn’t back down despite knowing the difficulties.

Ren Suo could now guess the hierarchy of Demons and Ghosts, ranked from highest to lowest strength: Strange Creature, Demon, Ghost, Demon Species, Half-Demon.

Cities with large populations had many Half-Demons. However, to become a place with high "Concealment Concentration," the primary factor wasn’t the number of Half-Demons, but the number of Demons and Ghosts!

Peacock Country’s Mumbai and Mexico City, where True Demons were plentiful on average, had thus squeezed into the top ten. Meanwhile, cities like Shenhai and Sao Paulo, with their high-quality powerhouses, were not far behind.

The top three cities were all well-ordered, places where conventional official forces could maintain public order. This meant that irrational Demons and Ghosts were exceedingly rare. The customers there were undoubtedly individuals who could restrain their impulses but could explode into powerful Extraordinary Creatures at any moment.

As for Lianjiang City, it certainly had no True Demons. It was unknown what powerful creatures were hidden within the city.

At least without True Demons, I can still use seasoning by listening to their life experiences and satisfy the customers with their meals... Ren Suo took a deep breath and chose to begin Ghost Walking in Tokyo.

The female shop owner pushed her food stall cart, eerily appearing in a park. The park’s paths were clean, its streetlights bright, and its benches free of homeless people. From afar, the park seemed to cover a vast area.

A park of this size in Tokyo likely meant it was a scenic spot. Indeed, as the female shop owner pushed her cart past, she saw several patrol officers chasing away homeless people sleeping on the benches.

If it were an ordinary park, homeless people might even set up tents and sleep off the paths. The patrol officers were so attentive; it truly seemed to be a famous site.

The patrol officers completely ignored the female shop owner and her food stall, even after she passed them multiple times. Ren Suo felt the female shop owner’s actions were becoming bolder. He remembered that in Ben Gang City, she used to dodge others by weaving left and right. Now, she walked right in front of people, yet they still couldn’t see her.

Has she grown stronger, or... Ren Suo wondered.

The food stall cart stopped on the shore of a lake called Shinobazu Pond. The water glistened, with many large, blossoming lotuses bathed in the flowing Moonlight. Numerous sleeping black swans drifted on the water. They seemed not to notice the female shop owner or the food stall cart, remaining silent and utterly still.

Soon after the food stall was set up, the first... or rather, the first pair of customers arrived.

They were two little girls. One had white hair and was dressed in a red Kimono; she had a cute, smiling face. The other had black hair and wore cute pink bunny pajamas, rubbing her eyes as if she hadn’t fully awakened. Both appeared to be only about five or six years old.

"Mako..." the black-haired little girl said, looking at the food stall. "Where is this? Weren’t we just playing at home?"

When the black-haired little girl spoke, her missing front tooth was evident, and her voice was soft and childlike.

"There’s good food here. You often treat me, so it’s my turn to treat you," the white-haired little girl said, pulling the black-haired girl to sit down. She patted the table and declared, "We’ll have sushi!"

"Mako, are you treating me?" the black-haired little girl asked, overjoyed. She hugged the white-haired girl and giggled. "Then I’ll sleep for a bit. Call me when it’s time to eat..."

Watching the black-haired girl drift back to sleep, the smile on the white-haired girl’s face faded. She looked expressionlessly at the food stall’s sign and then at the female shop owner.

"My name is Asami Mako, and I died 23 years ago," the white-haired girl said, glancing at the black-haired girl beside her. "She is my niece, Nishino Natsuya."

A Ghost? Ren Suo thought.

"Adults can’t see me; only Natsuya can. So, I sneaked into my sister’s house. After that, her family started to experience a string of good fortune: her husband got a promotion, her blog became popular, and Natsuya’s grades improved..."

"I think I must have become a Zashiki-warashi."

Wait, I’m not good at handling these kinds of emotionally heavy life stories where no one is acting foolishly. I need external assistance this time, Ren Suo thought. So, he opened the Pure White Mini Holy Grail’s exchange list—

That’s when he found out the exchange list had changed.