Average Villainy per Capita

Before long, Liu Zheng reached his destination.

Green Laurel Garden Crazy City.

It was a fairly large residential compound, probably with sixty or seventy buildings.

Perhaps because his perception had been enhanced, he could finally see inside the compound from outside.

The buildings' exteriors were quite new, but smooth green vine-like plants crawled over the walls and ground, making them unpleasant to look at.

"Sanity loss resisted."

The system notification appeared again.

"Another sanity drop? Isn't this getting a little ridiculous?"

Liu Zheng was somewhat dissatisfied.

If not for the Legendary Deliveryman's Vest, those two sanity drops just now would probably have given him another temporary madness.

But without the vest's attribute bonuses, he would not have been able to see inside the compound either.

In this bizarre world, excessively high attributes were not necessarily a good thing.

He recalled the Freak-Eyed Salmon Head Pizza he had delivered the first time. Eating it seemed to offer a chance of gaining the "Spirit Sight" status.

What would this world look like through Spirit Sight?

Putting away that dangerous line of thought, Liu Zheng walked up to the compound's guard booth.

Green Osmanthus Garden was clearly nowhere near as well-equipped as First-Class Sky Villas. There was only one security guard in the booth, and his appearance and bearing were far inferior as well.

Still, it was a little better than Merlin Residential Compound. At least he looked human.

"Stop! What are you here for?"

The prematurely gray-haired guard barked.

"I'm delivering food."

Liu Zheng pointed at the vest he was wearing.

This outfit had the same style as the ones issued by the restaurant, only in a different color.

"Delivering to where?"

"Building 4, Room 606."

He replied.

"There's no Building 4 here. You've come to the wrong place."

The guard waved him off.

"Isn't this Green Laurel Garden Crazy City?"

Liu Zheng asked suspiciously.

"This is Green Laurel Garden Crazy City, but our compound doesn't have a Building 4."

The guard said with certainty.

He stared at the guard for a moment, then made a call.

"Boss, can the address on the order be wrong?"

Liu Zheng asked.

"Did you trade with that tree?"

Instead of answering immediately, Cow-Horse asked about something else.

"I did."

"What did you trade for?"

Cow-Horse asked with great interest.

"I've already answered one question for you."

Liu Zheng did not satisfy its curiosity again.

"Tch, kid, you're really not acting like a human anymore, getting so stingy. The address won't be wrong, but it might not be expressed in the normal way."

Cow-Horse said.

"I see."

He seemed to understand.

"Come on, tell me. What did you trade for?"

Cow-Horse urged.

"The Legendary Deliveryman's Vest."

"Holy shit! You really lucked out, kid."

Cow-Horse cried out, its tone full of envy and jealousy.

"Boss, I'll deliver the food first. I'll tell you all about it when I get back."

Liu Zheng hung up and headed into the compound.

"What are you doing?"

The guard stepped out of the booth and blocked him.

"I'll go in and look for it myself."

He said.

"Can't you understand human speech? I said there's no Building 4, so there's no Building 4. This is an upscale compound. Outsiders aren't allowed in."

The guard said impatiently.

"Unless?"

Liu Zheng offered him the opening.

"Unless you give me a pack of cigarettes. Or, you've got quite a lot of Flesh on you. A couple bites would do."

The guard sized him up with a hungry look in his eyes.

"Heh."

A familiar extortion routine. In this world, security guards were villains on average.

He and Cow-Horse had already smoked all the cigarettes.

As for Flesh, he probably had plenty of it now.

But not a single piece was extra.

He had to offer tribute when he was human, and he still had to offer tribute after becoming inhuman. Then hadn't he mutated for nothing?

"Come on, let's take a picture together."

Liu Zheng extended a tentacle and draped it over the guard's shoulder.

"What are you doing?"

The guard asked uneasily.

"Oh, nothing. Last time, I killed someone without remembering to take a picture, so I had nothing to compare. I can't forget again this time."

He said with a smile, then pressed the shutter with another tentacle.

"Click."

The shutter sounded, and the screen now showed a grim-faced guard beside a sunny, cheerful young man.

"Are you threatening me?"

The guard said unhappily.

"You think people are so awful. You must have suffered a lot, huh?"

Liu Zheng looked at him sympathetically, then swiped through his photo gallery.

"Come on, smile more. The world will become a better place. Look, he has such a wonderful smile."

On the screen were corpses piled atop one another.

The corpse on top wore a bloody smile across its face.

"Do you recognize their uniforms?"

He asked beside the guard's ear.

"I-I do."

The guard swallowed.

"How much do you make in a month? Why risk your life like the guards at First-Class Sky Villas?"

Liu Zheng said gently.

"Quit trying to scare me. That trick might work on them, but it won't work on me."

The guard's eyes flickered a few times, and his tone hardened again.

"Is that so?"

His third tentacle suddenly curled into a ball and slammed viciously into the guard's ribs.

"Ah!"

The guard let out a scream, his body curling like a cooked crayfish.

Just as Liu Zheng was about to follow up, the guard's hair suddenly swelled and shot outward.

Needle-like strands of hair pierced into his body, skewering him straight through.

Liu Zheng felt pinprick-like pain all over his body. Even more terrifying, he felt something inside him being sucked away by that hair.

"You've got quite a few tricks."

He lowered his head and used his mouthparts, stretched to their limit, to tear at the hair.

Though it was incredibly tough, before the sharp teeth strengthened once more by the Legendary Deliveryman's Vest, it was still merely an appetizer.

The severed hair made sounds like snapping rubber bands. Each time a strand broke, the guard's face grew a shade paler.

"No!"

He violently shook his head and pulled his hair back, then leaped far away in one bound.

"You're just a human. How can you bite through my hair?"

The guard cried out in terror.

"Want to know? Give me a piece of Flesh, and I'll tell you."

Liu Zheng stuck out his long tongue and licked his teeth.

The holes in his body had already healed, and even the bloodstains on his skin had been reabsorbed.

"Hmph, it's not impossible. Come inside first."

The guard returned to the booth and beckoned to him.

"No need. I'd better deliver the food first."

Liu Zheng said as he looked at the open booth door.

"Don't you want to know where Building 4 is?"

The guard hurriedly asked.

"I should be able to find it myself."

He said confidently.

"The owner of Room 606 is a lunatic. Don't you want to know about him?"

The guard added.

"Oh? Tell me."

Liu Zheng was indeed interested and walked toward the booth.

"That idiot, last time I kindly greeted him, and he said I interrupted his inspiration. He cursed me out, then said he was going to file a complaint against me."

The guard said indignantly.

"What inspiration?"

He caught the keyword.

"You don't know? That guy writes novels. I heard that—"

The guard stopped himself.

"Heard what?"

Liu Zheng pressed.

"Come inside and I'll tell you. There are cameras outside. They can record us talking."

The guard pointed at the camera above the compound gate.

"Fine."

He took several large strides, then planted one foot.

On the edge of the guard booth's entrance.

"Do you really want me to go inside?"

Liu Zheng looked at the guard with an ambiguous smile.

The guard's expression became even gloomier than before.

"Next time you try to trick someone, remember to manage your expression better. You need conviction. Don't be like those traffic-star celebrities."

"And once you go inside, don't come back out. If I see you wandering around outside later, I'll kill you."

Liu Zheng gave him the friendly reminder, then kicked the guard booth's door shut.

Leaving the guard with a shifting expression behind, he walked into the compound.