Fecal Sea Frenzied Maggot

One, two, three.

Liu Zheng expressionlessly stuffed the remaining sheep eyeballs into his mouth.

He did not dip them in the sauce again, because his new tongue found the taste rather pleasant.

With every eyeball Liu Zheng ate, something new grew from his body.

His sanity did not decrease any further, probably because he had gotten used to it.

"Obtained the 'Flesh Rebirth' status."

"Status: Flesh Rebirth"

"Effect: Grants an almost immortal ability to repair the body."

When Liu Zheng swallowed the last sheep eyeball, the system prompt appeared again.

"Finally, something good happened."

He let out a satisfied belch.

"Seeing you eat so happily puts me at ease."

the maid said with satisfaction.

"Should I call you Mr. Li or Little Dove?"

Liu Zheng casually leaned back against the sofa and wiped his mouth with his tentacles.

"Either is fine. A name is just a code name."

"Then I'll call you Little Dove. Thanks for the meal. I should be going."

he said as he stood up.

"Wait, young man. I haven't given you a tip yet."

the maid said.

"What do you want?"

She swayed her hips as she walked up to Liu Zheng.

"Money, extraordinary items, or me?"

The maid extended a slender, pale finger and traced circles around Liu Zheng's mouthparts.

He definitely did not want her.

Even if she were not an old man, a big-breasted maid had absolutely no appeal.

Money would be nice, though. If Mr. Li were generous enough, he might be able to repay Cow-Horse's money and buy another bottle of Ascension Hair Moss.

As he thought that, a thought began to swell uncontrollably in Liu Zheng's mind.

"I want an extraordinary item that's big and powerful. Preferably something that explodes."

He wildly waved his tentacles, smashing the floor with loud cracks.

"Interesting."

The maid had been somewhat angry, but after hearing his words, a sly smile returned to her face.

"If I could see that woman lose her mind, that would be nice too."

she muttered under her breath.

"What did you say?"

"Nothing. Wait here. I'll go get it."

The maid padded upstairs with a catlike gait.

Liu Zheng remained where he was and waited.

His four eyes constantly swept the surroundings, while all his tentacles twitched restlessly.

Fortunately, he still retained the most basic level of sanity and knew better than to court death here.

At last, the maid came back downstairs.

"Use it well. It's very rare."

With a giggle, she placed a chunk of yellow amber onto Liu Zheng's tentacle.

"Name: Fecal Sea Mad Maggot Fossil (Single-use)"

"Type: Item"

"Quality: Fine"

"Effect: Instantly releases a large quantity of unstable ammonia gas upon use."

"Remark: Is killing someone not enough? Must you also crush their spirit?"

"Can be taken out of the instance: No"

Looking at the plump white worm that had slept for who knew how many tens of thousands of years, Liu Zheng felt a chill run through him.

If someone died to this thing, then their life as a human would truly be over, wouldn't it?

Oh, he did not seem to count as human anymore.

Then it was fine.

"Thanks. Goodbye."

Liu Zheng put away the amber and left without looking back.

He was afraid that if he lingered any longer, he would not be able to stop himself from smashing the maid's head with his tentacles.

"Until next time, young man."

From the corner of his eye, he seemed to see Mr. Li waving at him.

When he returned to the entrance of First-Class Sky Villas, Liu Zheng discovered that the security guards' corpses were still there.

"Is nobody going to clean this up?"

Liu Zheng complained as he opened his character panel.

Everything had happened too suddenly. He had not had the time to examine it closely before.

"Status: Flesh Mutation"

"Effect: Causes uncontrollable mutations in the player's body. Cannot alter genes or bloodline."

"Current mutation effects: Strength +30, Constitution +20, Perception +15."

Liu Zheng swung his tentacles with all his strength, directly smashing a guard's corpse into pulp.

Very good. Very powerful.

He nodded in satisfaction.

"Temporary Madness: Irritability"

"Effect: The player becomes extremely irritable, to the point of losing reason. A high Mental attribute helps alleviate the symptoms."

"Duration: Three instances."

"Flesh Mutation and Irritability... Why does it feel like I'm the villain?"

Liu Zheng looked at the pile of corpses, and a thought suddenly flashed through his mind.

More than ten minutes later, he hummed a tune as he walked toward Bloodstained Restaurant.

"Boss, I'm back."

Liu Zheng greeted him.

Cow-Horse had been looking down at its phone. Hearing him, it lazily raised its head.

"How much did Mr. Li give you—holy shit!"

Cow-Horse's eyes widened even larger than its nostrils.

"How the hell did you turn into this?"

It shot to its feet, and even the fur on its tail stood on end.

Even by the standards of an Outstanding Employee, Liu Zheng looked rather horrifying now.

"It's a long story. By the way, do I still count as a human citizen like this?"

he asked curiously.

"Your essence hasn't changed, so theoretically, you should. But theoretically, you might not. Still, as long as City Hall doesn't issue a notice, your identity won't change."

Cow-Horse thought for a moment before answering.

"Then when will City Hall issue a notice?"

"No idea. Other than the employment office, every department in City Hall is pretty inefficient."

Cow-Horse shook its huge head.

"Fine."

"Hurry up and tell me, how much did you get as a tip?"

it urged.

"Mr. Li gave me this."

Liu Zheng took out the Fecal Sea Mad Maggot Fossil.

"What's this thing for?"

Cow-Horse asked in confusion.

"It seems to release a huge amount of ammonia gas."

"Ugh, put it away, put it away."

Cow-Horse hurriedly covered its nose.

"Don't let the cafeteria guys see that thing, or even I won't be able to protect you."

After Liu Zheng put the fossil away, it said disdainfully.

"Aren't we forbidden from entering the cafeteria?"

"Sometimes when the cafeteria is too busy, they have us help in the kitchen. It's rare, though. I've only run into it a few times since I got here."

Cow-Horse replied.

"Is it dangerous?"

"Of course it's dangerous, but there are plenty of benefits too—"

Cow-Horse stopped halfway through its sentence.

"Oh, right. When are you going to play Snake Game? I'm still waiting to see the clear reward."

it shouted.

"Not yet. Boss, can you get me some paper and a pen?"

Liu Zheng said.

"What do you need those things for?"

"I need them to get used to my new body."

"What a hassle. Wait here."

Cow-Horse spat out the key again and opened a cabinet in the lower right corner.

"Take them yourself."

Liu Zheng did as instructed and took out a notebook and a fountain pen.

A name was written on the notebook's cover.

"Bai Langzi."

He opened the notebook. The first few pages were filled with winding, twisted writing that he could not understand.

"That guy's Snakefolk. I heard he used to be a modern poet. Then retro became popular, and he lost his job."

Cow-Horse sounded somewhat gleeful at his misfortune.

"Name: Snakefolk Poetry Manuscript"

"Type: Miscellaneous Item"

"Quality: Ordinary"

"Effect: None"

"Remark: The final work of a genius poet. Certain beings may perhaps like it."

"Can be taken out of the instance: Yes"

A miscellaneous item?

This was the first time Liu Zheng had seen an item of this type.

He gave the remark a thoughtful glance, then tore out those pages of poetry, folded them neatly, and put them into his pocket.

"You should change into a work uniform. You're too painful to look at right now."

Cow-Horse said disdainfully.

Not only did it not fit him, but many places had been torn open, exposing things that should not have been exposed.

"Do I have to pay to change uniforms?"

"This should count as accidental wear and tear, so probably not. I'll ask."

Cow-Horse took out its phone and rattled off a string of words.

"Done. Your new uniform will arrive shortly."

The moment it finished speaking, a white thread descended from the ceiling.