Chapter 040: Professional Quest

Night God Wei glanced down at the smooth airstrip, her cold, beautiful face tinged with anger as she crossed her arms over her chest and stared intently into Su Cheng’s eyes. “You noticed it long ago?”

“The real Chiyo-hime shouldn’t recognize me at all. I was simply playing along, acting out a scene with her.” Su Cheng deliberately feigned being charmed by Chiyo-hime, hoping to lull her into a moment of carelessness and strike with a fatal blow.

The cat demon’s spirit had indeed been eradicated, body and soul, but in her dying moments, she left behind a lingering remnant inside Chiyo-hime. Thanks to Chiyo-hime's human aura and divine power, it had escaped the gods’ wrath.

Yet in the end, she still perished by Su Cheng’s hand.

“The storyline instance ‘Terror at Sensō-ji’ has concluded. The system is settling the results. Please wait patiently…”

It was finally over.

Seeing the word ‘concluded’ appear on the game screen, the members of the Night God Squad all breathed a sigh of relief.

This storyline instance had been a devastating ordeal for their team: Night God Wei and Kyōhei Furukawa suffered injuries severe enough to be fatal—Kyōhei had his chest slashed open and nearly lost his heart and liver to the cat demon.

Fortunately, once the game ended and they left the instance, their wounds would instantly heal.

Otherwise, Night God Wei might not even survive until the ambulance arrived.

A shaft of light enveloped each player, separating them from the world of the instance. No force within the instance could touch them now.

Within the glow, the vicious, cross-hatched claw marks on Su Cheng’s back healed completely in seconds, leaving not even a scar behind.

“Instance settlement complete. Rewards have been distributed. Captain, please review.”

Since this instance was in team mode, the settlement was handled for the entire group. Aside from the basic rewards, the extra rewards based on instance evaluation were allocated by the captain.

Storyline Instance: Terror at Sensō-ji
Difficulty: 3 stars (Hard)
Mode: Team
Participants: 6
Survivors: 6
Main Quests: 1. Infiltrate the Demon King’s banquet (Completed) 2. Awaken the shrine maiden and disrupt the Demon King’s banquet (Completed) 3. Investigate story events (Completed)
Monsters Killed: Demon King Yamashita Nenshu, Cat Demon Chiyo-hime, Hundred-Eyed Demon, Jorōgumo, etc.
Total Points: 39,000
Overall Evaluation: S Rank!

Upon seeing the S Rank evaluation, a look of surprise flashed in Night God Wei’s eyes. She had expected an A Rank at best, but unexpectedly, they had achieved S Rank.

It was never easy to earn an S Rank. Had Su Cheng not delivered the final blow to Chiyo-hime, the evaluation would surely have dropped.

“Wow, S Rank! This is my first time getting S Rank!” After Night God Wei shared the settlement info with all members, Kaori Inoue hugged her phone and exclaimed repeatedly. Though she hadn’t suffered any serious injuries in this instance, her ‘Coffin Lid of the Trickster Demon’ had been destroyed—a significant loss.

However, in team mode, storyline instance points weren’t divided evenly but allocated based on each member’s contribution. Though Kaori was timid and found few useful clues, as the main tank, her contribution was substantial, and she received a generous amount of game points after settlement.

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As for Su Cheng, he received the MVP award in team mode, earning nearly 8,000 points—outstripping even Night God Wei, the captain.

“Next is the S Rank bonus rewards. There are eight this time—it’s a jackpot,” Night God Wei announced with a smile, sharing the eight rewards for distribution as needed.

Even items useless to the team could be posted on the forum’s marketplace for points or other gear.

To Su Cheng’s surprise, the longbow and anti-demon arrows from shrine maiden Chiyo-hime also dropped.

[Red Luan]
Type: Bow
Quality: Rare
Attack Power: Extremely High
Attribute: Fire
Special Effect: Demon-Breaking, deals extra damage to souls of the undead and dispels magical power.

Since no one in the team used bows, the Red Luan went to Su Cheng.

In the end, Kaori Inoue received a rare piece of armor with damage absorption, the monk Ichizen got a summoning spell for the spider lady, and Saburō Sakamoto and Kyōhei Furukawa each gained their own rewards.

Night God Wei received an alchemy recipe for refining [Lesser Soul Essence].

Only then did Su Cheng realize Night God Wei’s secondary profession was alchemist, and at a fairly high level.

In horror games, support professions are invaluable, able to craft special items, enhance gear, brew potions, draw charms, and chant spells.

Yet only a few players pursue these lifestyles, as investing resources from instances into a support profession impacts combat power. Advancing a lifestyle profession requires massive resources—only the wealthy can afford it.

With team rewards settled, Su Cheng and the others began to fade, vanishing from Sensō-ji.

Just then, Su Cheng saw the shrine maiden Chiyo-hime, whom he had killed, crawl upright and turn with a strange smile.

A jolt of realization struck Su Cheng. Something had felt off since the start—Chiyo-hime’s death seemed too clean. Only now did he suddenly understand.

Cats have nine lives!

Back in the real world, the autumn sun had risen above the horizon, bright rays spilling across clean streets, warming everything.

The gates of Sensō-ji slowly opened, and tourists from around the world flooded in.

After a night of battle, Su Cheng returned to his apartment and slept deeply.

He didn’t know how long he’d slept, but suddenly felt something heavy pressing on him.

Opening his eyes, he saw a pale little girl lying on his body.

Was this… sleep paralysis?

“Xiao Bai, stop messing around.”

At his words, the spirit Xiao Bai obediently crawled off him and sat to the side, curiously observing the room.

Xiao Bai didn’t seem to be a child of this era, but from the Warring States period, fascinated by everything in the real world. However, her spirit was too fragile to leave Su Cheng’s side for now, so she could only stay in his room.

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Feeling a headache, Su Cheng got up and twisted open a bottle of mineral water. If the landlord knew he was keeping a ghost in his room, he’d probably kill him.

After a shower to clear his mind, Su Cheng took out his phone, tapped the horror game icon, and checked his instance gains.

“Game points: 8,100. [Small Soul Crystal] x20. [Famous Blade: Shadow of the Gale] (professional item). [Demon-Breaking Bow: Red Luan]. [Mask of the Slaughtering Ghost].”

To Su Cheng’s delight, he triggered a profession quest. If he completed it, he could become a professional player.

Opening the game quest panel, he saw a new profession quest had appeared.

“Player Su Cheng has triggered the [Divine Ghost Swordsman] profession quest. Accept? Note: If you decline, the quest will disappear.”

Divine Ghost Swordsman!

According to the game’s description, Divine Ghost Swordsman is a profession that fights using the power of spirits and gods—a melee exorcist class.

Without hesitation, Su Cheng chose to accept the Divine Ghost Swordsman quest.

“Quest: Clear a 3-star hard instance with an S Rank evaluation and collect three [Evil Crystals].”

Clearing a 3-star instance with S Rank wouldn’t be easy for Su Cheng, and what were [Evil Crystals]?

Checking the official forum for ‘Tokyo Monster Strategy,’ Su Cheng learned that [Evil Crystals] were special soul crystals that only dropped from elite monsters in instances.

The trouble was, their drop rate was low—collecting three wouldn’t be easy.

The Divine Ghost Swordsman’s advancement quest wouldn’t be completed so easily.

Su Cheng closed his eyes, and for some reason, Chiyo-hime’s face appeared in his mind.

“To think the cat demon is so tenacious—even this couldn’t kill her.” Su Cheng frowned, a shadow hanging over his thoughts.

Still, he didn’t dwell much on it. No matter how powerful the cat demon was, could she escape the game instance and hunt him in the real world?

Besides, her spirit had been suppressed, with only a shred of remnant soul left—a much reduced threat.

Just then, there was a knock at the door.

Xiao Bai’s form became translucent as she obediently sat aside, lest she frighten anyone.

“Su Cheng, someone’s here for you—a real beauty!” Ryosuke Araki said with a mischievous grin, thinking Su Cheng had a girlfriend.

“Someone’s looking for me? Could it be Senior Chu He?”

Su Cheng changed clothes and stepped out. When he saw the girl in the living room, chatting and laughing with Ryosuke Araki, his expression changed instantly.

“Cat—cat demon!”

The one sitting in the living room was Chiyo-hime, the cat demon!

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