Chapter 218: Harvesting
“……Relying on this method, the Ghost Restaurant’s sales channel has always been pretty good. If it weren’t sold so expensively, there would probably be more buyers.”
In the messy restaurant, Zhang Qian leaned against the table, flipping through the notebook in his hand.
After the waiter finished speaking, he shut his mouth nervously, rubbing his hands anxiously, seemingly worried that eating so many dishes earlier would displease Zhang Qian.
After all, in the waiter’s cognition, as long as they were Ghost Controllers, the Ghost Restaurant’s dishes held immense appeal for them, and no one could refuse.
Even Zhang Qian probably wouldn’t be an exception.
Being so generous earlier and rewarding the dishes to him was nothing more than because the dishes looked unappealing and showed no signs of their value.
And he knew the truth but didn’t inform, which could be considered adding insult to injury. Now knowing Zhang Qian definitely wouldn’t let him off easily.
But he was overthinking it. Zhang Qian felt nothing particularly after hearing these words.
After all, the main function of the dishes was to balance supernatural power, and the power in his body was never chaotic to begin with, so naturally there was no need for balance.
As for that slight boost…
Thinking of the disgusting feeling of eating those things, Zhang Qian chose to refuse.
He still shook his head and sighed, “You’re practically forcing people into an arms race like this. You have to spend money now, or who knows when you’ll get beaten to death by your old enemies.”
“If the effects of these dishes are really as miraculous as you say, people from that previous era would probably buy one regardless of need, just in case.”
After all, even if Zhang Qian himself didn’t buy or need it, other Ghost Controllers couldn’t possibly give up such a strength boost.
Even if not eaten, it could be kept as a trump card.
Just like a hidden energy source behind the scenes—once things went wrong, it could be pulled out to explode together with others, and there might even be a chance to survive afterward. No matter how you thought about it, it wasn’t a loss.
Such things placed in today’s era also held profound meaning. Although people who controlled multiple fierce ghosts were still rare, those people were definitely wealthy.
As long as the effects could be proven, the price wouldn’t be a big issue. Even without enough ghost money, they surely wouldn’t lack other resources.
If those dishes were still around, a thousand ghost money might really just be a small amount, easily earned back casually.
Plus, with the Ghost Restaurant’s branch stores seemingly vanished without a trace, the one in Zhang Qian’s hands could completely be auctioned as a rarity.
Sold at the price of ten portions, the extras could be exchanged for fierce ghosts or supernatural items—that thrill, no, he had to wipe his mouth first.
But no matter how much he thought, it was just fantasy. After all, some guy had already eaten all the dishes.
A bit of a pity…
Zhang Qian looked up and down at the waiter’s body.
He wondered if slicing open this guy’s stomach now could dig out those dishes.
Although he himself couldn’t eat them, selling them should be no problem. At worst, he could be conscientious and give the customers a discount.
“Uh…” The waiter felt a chill from that gaze and carefully tried to shift Zhang Qian’s attention.
“Shopkeeper sir, the situation you mentioned shouldn’t exist. Given the boss’s personality, how could he let those Ghost Controllers take the dishes away?”
“Every customer must finish their ordered dishes in the dining area after ordering, or it’s considered abandoning ownership of the dishes. Then please ask the waiter for more.”
Zhang Qian came back to his senses and nodded, “Mm… that makes sense.”
Without such a rule, aside from those Ghost Controllers already terminally ill and needing the dishes to balance the supernatural in their bodies, most Ghost Controllers wouldn’t eat them on the spot.
More likely, they’d carry the Ghost Restaurant’s dishes on them as a safety net to prevent unexpected situations.
But what if no unexpected situations arose? Naturally, they’d keep carrying it.
If this continued without use, most Ghost Controllers probably wouldn’t need to buy a second one before dying, greatly reducing the ghost money the restaurant could squeeze out.
“After all, it’s a marketing tactic. If the duration could be a bit longer, it wouldn’t be unacceptable.”
Zhang Qian rubbed his chin and asked curiously, “How long does the effect of one dish last approximately?”
“About…” The waiter thought for a moment and held up three fingers.
“Three weeks?” Zhang Qian shook his head. “That’s too rip-off, you guys.”
“No, actually three days.” The waiter said awkwardly.
“But it’s not certain. The duration of the dish’s effect increases with price. Generally, the more expensive, the longer it lasts. Cheap ones about three or four days, expensive ones maybe up to a month.”
Three or four days…
Zhang Qian inwardly marveled; this Ghost Restaurant was really black-hearted.
This duration had no effect on extending a Ghost Controller’s life and wasn’t enough to investigate or resolve supernatural events, but it was absolutely sufficient for killing.
It seemed the so-called boss had a clear positioning for his own product—not some life-extending elixir, but hope for a comeback sold to desperate outlaws.
But no matter what, one dish lasting only three or four days was too much of a rip-off.
“Your boss must be very strong. Surviving this long without being beaten to death does have some logic to it.” Zhang Qian sighed.
If another Ghost Controller tried this, the likely end would be being fought over by major factions and locked in some small dark room to cook dishes for life, right?
Just like his own ability to suppress fierce ghost revival—if without enough strength, it wasn’t a boon but a disaster.
“This matter is really hard to say. After all, no one has seen the boss make a move, and most people haven’t even seen the boss’s face.”
The waiter recalled and realized he had only seen the shopkeeper once before being sent to the ghost ship, and not even the front face—just a back view.
“Many say the boss doesn’t even exist, or might be dead. The Ghost Restaurant itself is a fierce ghost with self-consciousness, collecting ghost money for some other scheme.”
This speculation wasn’t baseless.
Because over the years, quite a few Ghost Controllers caught for eating king meals were taken away, yet the main store’s ingredients were still insufficient.
More crucially, no matter how expensive the Ghost Restaurant’s dishes were, they were just ordinary humans, without fierce ghosts.
So where did the fierce ghosts from those Ghost Controllers go? They couldn’t have been removed as impurities, right?
“Interesting.” Zhang Qian nodded thoughtfully.
He’d have to look into the function of ghost money later. What exactly did these colorful little things mean for fierce ghosts and Ghost Controllers to attract so many big shots’ favor?
