So You Think You're Tough?

"Finally finished."

Liu Zheng let out a long breath.

"You brat finally came to your senses."

Cow-Horse said sinisterly.

"What happened to me?"

He asked curiously.

"Look at the time."

Cow-Horse jerked its chin.

Liu Zheng took out his phone and looked at the time displayed on it.

23:30.

"It's already this late."

He shuddered and looked at the sudoku magazine.

There was definitely something wrong with that thing.

"Stop looking. It's no big deal. Even if you couldn't finish it, I would've kicked you awake."

Cow-Horse said.

Kicked awake? More like kicked to death.

Liu Zheng gave a dry laugh.

"Hurry up and take out the food. I'm starving to death."

Cow-Horse shouted.

Liu Zheng took two employee meals from the cabinet: a bowl of ramen and a box of sushi.

For drinks, there was a bottle of draft cola and a bottle of sake.

After making the offering, he finished the remaining employee meal and drank the draft cola as well.

Liu Zheng pulled open his pants and took a look, then clicked his tongue.

Nothing was glowing. This Japanese food clearly wasn't authentic.

He tucked the sake into his pocket, planning to give it to the French Plane Tree.

That tree seemed to prefer alcohol over beverages.

He checked the time. 23:56.

Now it depended on whether Novelist was reliable.

Fortunately, Novelist really was reliable.

At exactly midnight, Ghost Hand reached inside on time.

It set down the delivery slip and gave Liu Zheng the middle finger.

Then, before he could retaliate, it slipped back out.

"HAHAHA!"

Cow-Horse erupted into earth-shaking laughter.

Its two thick lips were even lifted by the rush of air.

"You... what did you do to piss it off?"

Only after a long while did Cow-Horse finally stop, saying between gasps.

"The last order had a problem, so I scared it a little."

Liu Zheng shrugged his tentacles.

That little thing really held a grudge.

"Serves you right. You should be grateful it didn't slap you twice, hahaha!"

Cow-Horse continued laughing.

Ignoring it, Liu Zheng picked up the delivery slip.

"Order: One serving of Merfolk Egg Fried Rice"

"Address: Room 606, Building 4, Green Laurel Garden Crazy City"

"Time limit: Three hours"

"Three hours?!"

Cow-Horse's huge head leaned over.

"Your little sweetheart really went all out."

It clicked its tongue.

"We're just friends."

Liu Zheng corrected it seriously.

"Then your friend is loyal enough. Even my wife can't bear to spend that much on me."

Cow-Horse said somewhat enviously.

"Is it expensive?"

"Of course. Who do you think can afford Bloodstained Restaurant? Placing an order on your own initiative and customizing the delivery time—this single order is enough to keep you working for a year."

Cow-Horse said.

"That's robbery."

Liu Zheng said sincerely.

"If the boss didn't fleece people, how would she make money?"

Cow-Horse gave a dry laugh.

"I wasn't the one who brought her up this time."

He looked at it warily.

Last time they had mentioned the boss, one had been scared half to death, while the other had been beaten half to death.

Was Cow-Horse getting bold again this time?

"It's fine to say that."

Cow-Horse waved a hoof.

"The boss loves hearing people praise her for being black-hearted, ruthless, and greedy for money."

"Does she also like being hung from streetlights?"

Liu Zheng asked, squinting.

"Never heard that one. But I heard she likes taking molten gold baths."

Cow-Horse said mysteriously.

"Gold... baths?"

He had heard of milk baths and rose baths, but how did one take a gold bath?

"You melt gold and pour it into an iron bathtub to bathe in it."

Cow-Horse explained.

"Impressive."

Liu Zheng gave it a thumbs-up.

That woman really wasn't human.

"How else could she be the boss? Enough asking nonsense. Get moving. Three hours isn't exactly generous."

Cow-Horse urged.

The two left the passageway, and Liu Zheng took out the map.

"Where's the Black Market?"

He asked.

"Here."

Cow-Horse tapped the northwestern corner of the map with a horn.

"Huh?"

Liu Zheng looked at that spot and felt that it seemed familiar.

After thinking for a few seconds, he took out the letter from the beginning.

Turning it over, he saw that the Black Market's location indeed overlapped with one of the circles.

"City Hall actually marked the Black Market's location. That doesn't seem like their style."

Cow-Horse leaned over and said.

"Is that so?"

Liu Zheng replied casually.

Maybe the system had marked it.

"What are the other three places?"

He pointed at the other circles.

"That's Chaos Club, that's the Landfill, and the one in the very center is City Hall."

Cow-Horse listed them one by one.

"What kind of place is Chaos Club?"

Liu Zheng asked.

"No idea. I've never taken an order from there, and you'd better pray you never get one either."

Cow-Horse shook its head.

"Why?"

"I heard it from the Black Market people. Last time, City Hall sent three teams in, and not a single one came out."

Cow-Horse said.

"Are centaurs strong? How do they compare to you Cow-Horses?"

Liu Zheng asked seriously.

"I fucking meant teams in the general sense! Do you understand what 'general sense' means?"

Cow-Horse froze for a moment, then flew into a rage.

"Got it, got it. Please continue, boss."

He placated it.

"Continue my ass. Get moving. If I weren't counting on you to make me money, I'd kick you to death with one hoof right now."

Cow-Horse said angrily.

It was Liu Zheng's first time going out at night, and he could clearly feel the difference.

The gazes watching him from the darkness were almost tangible, like countless tongues licking across his body.

His whole body felt unbearably itchy.

"It itches, doesn't it?"

Cow-Horse mocked him.

"A little."

Liu Zheng nodded in admission.

"Night is nothing like daytime. If I weren't here, they would've rushed out and torn you apart already."

Cow-Horse said.

"Who are they?"

He asked.

"Everything. Some like eating people, some eat anything, and some have been eaten hollow. Like this one!"

As Cow-Horse spoke, it suddenly stomped hard on the ground.

The asphalt concrete instantly cracked apart, and dark green blood slowly seeped up from underground.

Cow-Horse kicked away the rubble, stabbed its horn into the ground, and hooked out a grotesque creature.

Its skin was pale, and its body resembled a fat toad. Where its head should have been was a cluster of pink tentacles, with no eyes.

"Good stuff."

Cow-Horse said cheerfully.

It stuffed the monster into its mouth and bit off its head and half its body in one bite.

"Tastes like chicken, crunchy as hell."

Cow-Horse licked its lips in satisfaction.

This thing was extremely rare. It barely even showed itself during Bloodstained Night.

Just getting a bite made this whole trip worthwhile.

"Want a couple bites?"

Noticing Liu Zheng's gaze, it hesitated before asking.

After all, it was still counting on this brat to split the earnings. It couldn't be too stingy.

Liu Zheng looked at the pale corpse. A system prompt shone brightly above it.

"Name: Fresh Corpse of a Moon Beast Juvenile"

"Type: Item"

"Quality: Fine"

"Effect: Mentality +5, Perception +5. Small chance of gaining the 'Auditory Hallucinations' status, extremely small chance of awakening the 'Daughter of Isolation' bloodline."

"Note: The moon is watching you."

"Can be taken out of the instance: Yes"

"Warning: The 'Daughter of Isolation' bloodline conflicts with the player's current state. Forcibly awakening it will produce uncontrollable consequences."

Even without the system's warning, he had no intention of eating that thing.

Eating a Black Goat's eyeball had already turned him into a tentacled monster. If he ate this too, he probably would not even retain a humanoid form.

"Cowards have no palate."

Cow-Horse mocked, then swaggered forward, shaking his head.

Liu Zheng followed close behind.

Green bodily fluid dripped all along the path they took.

Pairs of scarlet eyes emerged from the darkness, letting out excited roars.