Mini World Game Console

"Mission completed."

"Basic mission objective: 60 points;"

"Changing Moon: Successfully portrayed three character tags—2 points;"

"Dark New Moon: All Apostles of the Moon God perished—2 points;"

"Waning Moon - Solitude: Cleared without any companions—2 points;"

"Waxing Moon - Solitude: Never entered Dream Death State—2 points;"

"Traces in the Dream: Total Dream Quota exceeded 2,000—2 points;"

"Crimson Full Moon: Successful descent of the Moon God—10 points;"

"Total score is 80 points, rated as extraordinary."

"Current mission score: 80 points (extraordinary), Highest mission score: 80 points (extraordinary)."

"As the player has achieved an extraordinary rating and met the hidden requirements, you will receive information about this game's hidden side mission."

"Side mission: Silver Full Moon. The Moon God's descent failed."

"Would you like to upload this result as the final outcome? Successfully uploading this result will grant you Merit Points and exclusive rewards commensurate with your rating level."

"This evaluation can only be kept until December 24th at 23:59."

"The evaluation can only be uploaded once."

I actually cleared it...

Ren Suo bit his thumbnail, looking at the mission results on the screen, an inexplicable feeling washing over him.

This was a 4-star game. Although there was some difficulty at the beginning, once Ren Suo activated the level 7 Lunar Eclipse, coupled with limited Teleport from "Silver Moon Crystal: Dragon Heart" and "Mage's Death-Defying Feather," the other Apostles of the Moon God simply couldn't compete with Luna in terms of actual combat power.

Although they could still use Miracles to suppress Luna, Ren Suo's motto was, "You have Miracles, I have reloads." After being unexpectedly defeated by a Miracle the first time, Ren Suo would naturally remember the lesson upon reloading. He would then find ways to avoid the Miracle's influence, thus easily capturing the Silver Moon Crystal.

The Apostles of the Moon God's shift—from initially calling for battle to later giving up the moment Luna successfully seized the Silver Moon Crystal—also stemmed from this. It was one thing that Luna knew where the Silver Moon Crystal would descend each time, but her ability to launch preemptive strikes and dodge all offensive Miracles completely shattered the Apostles' confidence.

Most offensive Miracles were very covert and almost instantaneous, at best only signified by an initial flash of light, making them normally impossible to avoid. Yet Luna either dodged them, stayed far out of range, or didn't give them a chance to lock on at all. This immensely frustrated the Apostles who wielded these Miracles.

Having a powerful ultimate move but being unable to unleash it, or missing entirely, could make anyone question their existence if it happened often enough.

Therefore, overall, the game difficulty was just moderate. Ren Suo hadn't even spent any Krypton Gold. He merely used two holiday promotional event opportunities for the Golden Ranger to invade the Dream-within-a-Dream system and snatch a tiny share of the Dream Quota.

Clearing it so smoothly gave Ren Suo a sense of unreality.

Moreover, the side mission achievements "Silver Full Moon" and "Crimson Full Moon" were diametrically opposed. Could he actually clear the game even if the Moon God's descent failed? Was this game so simple that it could be cleared without any significant effort?

Ren Suo felt a slight doubt, but a score of 80 points wasn't low. If he uploaded it, it wouldn't be too bad...

"ACHOO!"

The Cloning, who was mopping the floor, suddenly sneezed. He wiped his nose and shuddered. His face turned bright red, and his nose seemed blocked as he kept sniffling.

Ren Suo glanced at him and checked his phone: the real-time temperature was 12°C. An ordinary person could easily catch a cold at this temperature wearing only an apron and no other clothes...

Ren Suo had restricted the Cloning's abilities to the absolute limit, making him almost equivalent to Ren Suo's untrained, ordinary self before he started Cultivation. This allowed the Cloning to exist for a maximum of 180 minutes. While this state was more than adequate for household chores, the Cloning couldn't withstand the cold.

Moreover, in cold conditions, the Cloning's work efficiency also significantly decreased; his movements became a bit stiff, and his feet were freezing.

Ren Suo had previously only allowed the Cloning to wear clothes when the weather was cold. But now that he had caught a cold, it was too late for clothes to help immediately.

Ren Suo thought for a moment, then gestured to the Cloning to close the doors and windows. He then equipped the Pure White Mini Holy Grail, followed by The Demon King Returns and Flame Overlord. His body began to radiate a large amount of heat, and in just a few dozen seconds, he raised the room temperature to 24°C. The Cloning's cold status was instantly dispelled, returning him to full energy and 100% work efficiency.

The shivering Cloning gradually calmed down. He glanced at Ren Suo, rubbed his palms together, and continued mopping the floor.

After sorting out the Cloning's welfare issue, Ren Suo turned back to the game settlement screen.

The option to directly upload the game results flickered in his mind then vanished without a trace.

Ren Suo opened the Mystic Tavern and casually glanced around, only to be surprised to find that there were actually customers in the tavern!

And it was one of Ren Suo's favorite game characters!

Seeing her sitting quietly in a corner of the tavern drinking, Ren Suo hurried over to flatter her, "Long time no see! You look more spirited than ever, and your hair seems to have grown a lot too!"

She looked up, seemingly surprised, and smiled, "Long time no see."

Ren Suo asked, "What should I call you? Collector? God of Cookery? Or do you want to pick a name for yourself?"

Indeed, this guest in the Mystic Tavern was none other than the protagonist of "Midnight Walker." Her Hell Kitty apron was bulging, she wore flat shoes, and her dark hair was casually tied up. She looked damn sweet!

Of course, the sweetest thing about her was the Desire-infused food she made—a super prop that could enhance Cultivation Talent and Awakening Abilities.

"What do you want to call me?" she asked, crossing her legs. She took out a ladies' cigarette, lit it, took a gentle puff, and smiled.

Ren Suo blinked. "You smoke?"

"Constantly being assailed by desires, I also need a way to de-stress. This is my homemade cigarette; if you like, I'll give you one next time we meet. It'll make you very happy," she smiled.

Ren Suo declined politely, "I don't smoke. If I did, my mom would kill me when I got home."

Ren Suo still remembered when he was ten: his mom discovered his dad secretly smoking in the kitchen. His dad ended up sleeping in the living room for the entire summer—without even mosquito coils—which forcibly made him quit. Sleeping in the living room during summer without mosquito coils was a terrifying torture, all because his dad's breath smelled of smoke. His mom said that women didn't like men who smoked.

Although he later learned it was "ugly, bald, poor, short, or fat men who smoked" that women didn't like, Ren Suo had fully inherited this habit of not smoking—primarily because he spent all his money on games and the internet, leaving none for cigarettes.

"That's good. You don't seem to need to de-stress," she said with a smile. "So, what do you want to call me? And just so you know, I don't want to be called Collector or God of Cookery. I want something more intimate."

Ren Suo thought for a while. "Gourmet? Kitchen Girl? Wife? Girlfriend?"

"Let's go with Kitchen Girl." She then asked curiously, "You don't have a wife or girlfriend?"

Ren Suo responded, "Nope."

Kitchen Girl pondered for a good while, then said, "You don't look it."

Ren Suo said, "…Thank you for the compliment."

Kitchen Girl said, "Although I don't quite remember back then, when you came to my shop to eat… you weren't alone, right?"

Ren Suo replied, "Not alone, there were five of us together."

Kitchen Girl asked, "And the ones with you, they weren't men, right?"

Ren Suo confirmed, "All women."

Kitchen Girl pressed, "Those women, were they ugly?"

Ren Suo recalled seriously, "Of course not. Although they all have different styles, they were all young and beautiful girls. If you used their pictures as WeChat avatars, you could probably fool a few idiots into becoming backup options."

Kitchen Girl continued, "Then they must have really bad personalities, right? The very annoying kind?"

Ren Suo frowned slightly and replied earnestly, "Not at all. One girl is very disciplined and rather aloof; just looking at her was enough to make one feel inadequate. But after getting to know her, you'd realize she simply wasn't very talkative and didn't care for leisure activities. Talking with her is very comfortable; she's a true mentor and a helpful friend. Another girl, though her words were harsh and often left people speechless, never truly hurt anyone or attacked their vulnerabilities. In her actions, she was responsible towards her colleagues and a good person who helps her friends. There's also a female student, several years younger than me, who had just started university. She often liked to criticize others, but she was diligent in everything she did and willing to go to great lengths to help her friends. As for the last student, her only faults are not liking to study and eating a lot… They are all good people."

Kitchen Girl blinked. She stared intently out of the screen, took a puff of her cigarette after a moment, and then said, "…Alright, I think I get the picture. What did you want from me?"

Ren Suo immediately switched back to fawning mode. "Nothing much, I just had some free time and came to pay my respects."

"Also, about that... if I set your Ghost Walk area to Lianjiang City, could you, perhaps, come to my place and cook for me or something?"

Ren Suo had this idea in mind. He had always set the Kitchen Girl's Ghost Walk region to areas in the world with the most intense aura of Desire, like Peacock Country or Mexico. However, he occasionally sent the Kitchen Girl to work in Lianjiang City, but she had never proactively sought him out.

The Kitchen Girl smiled and said, "I don't use my True Form to collect Desire in the real world; instead, I hide within the Sea of Desire... In short, I don't appear in reality. If you want to find me, use Rippling Spring Sounds."

TSK, so sucking up doesn't get you anything for free, huh?

Ren Suo immediately lost interest and turned to the tavern owner, "Hey, I need customer service."

The tavern owner, who was knitting, sighed and said, "State your problem. I'll give you an answer sometime between 1 second and 31,536,000 seconds from now."

Ren Suo asked, "31,536,000 seconds... how many days is that?"

The Tavern Owner replied, "365 days."

Ren Suo said, "That's quite a range, isn't it? From 1 second to 365 days?"

The Tavern Owner stated, "1 second if you give Merit Points, 365 days if you don't."

Such a money-grubber! Can't it be free?

Muttering to himself, Ren Suo then asked his question, "Didn't you say before that in Night of the Hunt, not killing other Apostles of the Moon God would lower the game's difficulty? But the ending required the protagonist to kill all the other Apostles of the Moon God. What's that about?"

The Tavern Owner stated, "15 Merit Points."

Ren Suo blinked. It was always five Merit Points before; why did it suddenly jump to 15!?

Ren Suo exclaimed, "Isn't that too much?"

The Tavern Owner replied, "I'm in a bad mood from knitting this scarf, so the price has gone up. Ask if you want. If not, get lost."

This guy's temper was getting worse. However, Ren Suo suddenly became curious, "Why are you knitting a scarf?"

"Because I have to give another gift…" The tavern owner suddenly looked up, hid the scarf and tools, and huffed, "That question also costs 5 Merit Points."

"Fine, here you go," Ren Suo said without batting an eye, handing over 5 Merit Points. His intuition told him that NPCs like this, who kept their thoughts hidden, could usually trigger hidden quests.

The tavern owner was silent for a moment, then said, "Regarding your previous question about Night of the Hunt, I can answer it for the 5 Merit Points you just paid."

Ren Suo said, "No, I want to know why you are knitting a scarf."

The Tavern Owner replied, "System error. Unable to recognize your question. Please ask again."

Ren Suo pressed, "What? Come on, why are you knitting a scarf?"

The Tavern Owner replied, "System error. Unable to recognize your question. Please ask again."

After trying several more times, Ren Suo exclaimed, Damn it—the tavern owner was now pretending to be an AI—how utterly fake!

But the owner stubbornly refused to say why, and Ren Suo couldn't exactly rush in and beat it out of him. So, he had no choice but to ask about the Night of the Hunt issue again.

Ren Suo suddenly realized that it wasn't that he hadn't spent Krypton Gold on this game; he'd spent it all on asking for strategies in the Mystic Tavern...

The Tavern Owner answered, "'Night of the Hunt' is a game with multiple endings. In the highest-scoring Perfect Ending, you need the help of other Apostles of the Moon God."

Ren Suo said, "But the Moon God requires the protagonist to kill the other Apostles of the Moon God."

The Tavern Owner retorted, "Just don't listen to him. He tells you to do something, and you just do it? Is he your mom?"

Ren Suo thought about it and said, "But that won't work. Even if I don't have the protagonist kill the Apostles of the Moon God, they might end up killing each other anyway."

The Tavern Owner said, "Just try it and you'll understand."

"After receiving a fair tip, the tavern owner quietly tells you: If the protagonist doesn't kill anyone, another ending might be possible."

When this game prompt appeared, it indicated that the tavern owner had finished answering, but Ren Suo was not satisfied yet. "'Another ending' isn't the same as the 'Perfect Ending,' right? How do I get the Perfect Ending?"

The Tavern Owner repeated, "15 Merit Points."

Ren Suo asked, "More money? Then I'll ask: Why are you knitting a scarf?"

The Tavern Owner replied, "System error. Unable to recognize your question. Please inquire again."

Ren Suo said, "Stop pretending. Since you're knitting a scarf here anyway, I'll just stay in the tavern and watch you. Don't you dare stop knitting."

The Tavern Owner declared, "I dare!"

Ren Suo challenged, "Come on!"

The Tavern Owner said, "TSK. Alright, if you agree to forget about this scarf business from now on, I'll answer your question this one time. Just this once. If you bring it up again, I'll go on strike."

Ren Suo thought it over. Getting this question answered for free wasn't bad, so he agreed, "Deal."

The tavern owner answered, "To achieve the Perfect Ending, the first step is to ensure all Apostles of the Moon God survive. Although the Mask of the Moon World is everyone's dream, its pillars are the twenty-eight Apostles of the Moon God. If an Apostle of the Moon God perishes, the Mask of the Moon World will also collapse."

"If your protagonist avoids combat, the other Apostles of the Moon God will not kill each other. The Mask of the Moon World will be exceptionally stable, and the Moon God will not descend."

Ren Suo asked, "Is that the Perfect Ending?"

The Tavern Owner replied, "No, that's just the 'avoidance ending.' If the Moon God's descent fails this time, she might still try again in the future. The true Perfect Ending involves luring the Moon God to descend into a stable Mask of the Moon World. The Mask of the Moon will then become the Moon God's prison, and moreover, she won't be able to descend upon your protagonist. That's when the Moon God is at her weakest. You then need to eliminate her completely."

Ren Suo asked, "How do I lure her?"

The Tavern Owner replied, "Eliminate other Apostles of the Moon God, making the Mask of the Moon World unstable."

Ren Suo said, "Wait, doesn't that contradict what you just said? Killing other Apostles of the Moon God will cause the Mask of the Moon World to collapse."

The Tavern Owner said, "How can you be so dense? The collapse of the Mask of the Moon World only happens *after* the Moon God has descended."

"You just need to kill them *before* the Moon God descends, right?"

Ren Suo was visibly shaken. This logic... why does it seem to make some sense?

But Ren Suo soon grasped the tavern owner's real meaning and asked, "Is it really that simple?"

"The real difficulty lies in the battle with the Moon God," the tavern owner said, waving his hand dismissively. "I've answered your question. Don't bring up the scarf again."

"Under your threat, the tavern owner fiercely tells you: Before acquiring 25 Silver Moon Crystals, kill most of the Apostles of the Moon God. This can lead to the Perfect Ending."

No matter how Ren Suo asked after that, the tavern owner ignored him. The Kitchen Girl finished her drink and left. Before going, she told Ren Suo to change her designated area in a couple of days, preferably to one with better scenery.

Ren Suo exited the Mystic Tavern, feeling a bit sleepy. He rubbed his eyes, went back to lie down in his bedroom, and had the Cloning give him a massage. He planned to sleep well afterward and then work hard tomorrow to achieve the Perfect Ending.

While being massaged, Ren Suo turned his head and glanced at the bedside table. He noticed the scarf Bai Ji had given him hanging there. It looked quite warm and was finely crafted. If it was really hand-knitted, Bai Ji must have put a lot of thought into it.

Hand-knitted... Scarf... A touching gift...

Ren Suo turned his head, curiously looking at the Cloning, speaking as if asking a question, yet also as if to himself, "Knitting a scarf must be mindless, repetitive labor, right?"

The Cloning didn't respond, pressing hard on Ren Suo's rhomboid muscles, making him grunt—after these past two days of 'training,' the Cloning's massage skills had become perfectly attuned to Ren Suo's body.

"Speaking of which, people are supposed to give gifts on Christmas Day…" Ren Suo lazily took out his phone, opened the browser, and typed in the search bar:

"Scarf-knitting methods even a monkey could learn"