Cow-Horse

Biodata

Feature	Details
Name	Cow-Horse (牛马)
Species/Race	Cow-Horse; a nonhuman with a bull’s head and a horse’s body 1
Affiliation	Bloodstained Restaurant, Delivery Department 1 2
Occupation/Role	Senior delivery worker; Liu Zheng’s supervisor, trainer, and frequent partner 1 2
Status	Active 49
First Appearance	Chapter 1

Background

Cow-Horse came from a farm alongside Oink and Black Claw. It was later sold to Bloodstained Restaurant by the smugglers who would become affiliated with the Round God Sect, a history that fuels its hostility toward Garcia and the iron-masked cultists 27 45.

Before its current work, Cow-Horse played bass in Black Claw’s band. Their music advocated racial equality and civil rights before City Hall shut the group down as “vulgar” and “violent.” Cow-Horse claims to have abandoned those ideals in favor of the city’s brutal law of the strong preying on the weak 49.

It remains at the restaurant partly to save for Paradise Island, where it hopes to reunite with its wife. Cow-Horse intends to flee the restaurant after the trip, fearing it may not survive there long enough to see its future calf born 15 20.

Appearance

Cow-Horse has a large horse-like body covered in fur, a broad bull’s head, and two horns with an oily black sheen 1.

• Exceptionally muscular; its fur can take on a metallic sheen when it prepares to fight 13.
• Values its horns above all else, comparing them to a human’s face 2.
• Hides keys, wallets, clothing, and other small objects in its mouth 2 28.
• Regrew a previously broken horn while recovering from injuries 46.

Personality

Cow-Horse is loud, insulting, boastful, and habitually opportunistic. It bullies junior workers for food, charges Liu Zheng for medicine, and tries to extract profit from nearly every arrangement 3 8 33. Its worldview is similarly harsh: it repeatedly describes life as “eat or be eaten” and readily speaks of humans and other creatures as food 8 13.

Despite this cruelty, Cow-Horse is practical rather than needlessly malicious. It trains Liu in delivery procedures, provides partial explanations of dangerous rules, and repeatedly helps him when Liu’s usefulness or survival benefits them both 2 7 14. Its loyalty grows into a rough companionship: it escorts Liu through the Black Market, relies on Emergency Rations to protect him during Oink’s butchering, and assists him in the kitchen 23 27 41.

Cow-Horse is sensitive about its horns, fur, poverty, and past injuries. It is also deeply attached to its wife, making the Paradise Island vacation voucher one of the few things capable of overriding its usual greed with obvious emotion 2 13 15.

Abilities & Skills

Physical Strength and Durability

Cow-Horse possesses overwhelming physical power compared with ordinary human employees.

• Forced Liu Zheng away from the kitchen corridor with strength he could not resist 2.
• Kicked Liu hard enough to break several ribs after Liu mentioned the restaurant owner 3.
• Can crush Liu’s tentacles into pulp, destroy much of his body, and simulate the force needed to test his regeneration 14.
• Pinned the hostile Eel Head beneath one hoof; Eel Head could not bite through its fur 30.
• Can smash pavement, uncover prey from beneath the road, and kill creatures with its horns and jaws 24.

Delivery Expertise

As a senior delivery worker, Cow-Horse understands the restaurant’s procedures, workplace boundaries, and the flexible logic of deliveries.

• Taught Liu how orders arrive, how to retrieve food, and how to use the uniform, map, locker, and flip phone 2.
• Explains that an address-only order can be completed by bringing the package to its destination, even without a recipient’s signature 7.
• Advises Liu that delivery problems may require conversation, deception, intimidation, or violence 7 16.
• Its Outstanding Employee status permits it to leave the break room and escort Liu outside the restaurant 23.

Survival Knowledge and Connections

Cow-Horse has extensive knowledge of the restaurant’s dangers and maintains useful, if exploitative, connections.

• Warns Liu about forbidden topics, kitchen dangers, nighttime threats, sick leave, and the limitations of employee protection 3 24 41.
• Has access to kitchen leftovers and contaminated goods through its delivery connections 34.
• Knows Oink from their shared past and is familiar with Black Market gambling risks 26 28.
• Uses its reputation to deter nighttime creatures from attacking Liu during their journey to the Black Market 24.

Equipment / Items

• Ascension Hair Moss — A grotesque healing liquor Cow-Horse obtained and loaned Liu; it healed his ribs while temporarily increasing Strength and Constitution at the cost of Spirit and Perception 3.
• Paradise Island Couples’ Vacation Voucher — Received from Liu in exchange for Vlad III Limited Edition; Cow-Horse intends to use it to reunite with its wife 15.
• Lucky Clown Card and clown costume — Prepared in advance for gambling at the Black Market; the card increases luck while its holder is dressed as a clown 28.
• Expired Ox-Horse Meat Canned Food — Used to restore Liu’s depleted body mass after regeneration consumed his physical reserves 14.

Relationships

• Liu Zheng — Supervisor, trainer, creditor, and eventual survival partner. Cow-Horse initially threatens to eat Liu if he proves useless, but Liu’s massage skills and repeated bargains make him valuable 1 2. Cow-Horse later protects, advises, exploits, and cooperates with him in the Black Market and kitchen 23 27 41.
• Si Xue — Employer and owner of Bloodstained Restaurant. Cow-Horse obeys her order to train Liu 1.
• Oink / Heaven Butcher — Fellow farm survivor and feared Black Market butcher. Cow-Horse is deferential around Oink but risks angering him to protect Liu 26 27.
• Dai Lego — Enemy. Cow-Horse once tried to sell the French Plane Tree herbicide-tainted liquor, leading Dai Lego to beat it badly 25.
• Garcia — Former associate of the smugglers who sold Cow-Horse to the restaurant. Cow-Horse openly despises Garcia and the Round God Sect 45 46.
• Black Claw — Former bandmate and leader. Cow-Horse recalls Black Claw’s death while exploring the landfill 27 49.
• Wife — Cow-Horse has been separated from her for six months and wants to use the Paradise Island voucher for a reunion 15.

Story Role / Major Arcs

Liu Zheng’s Handover

Cow-Horse is assigned to train Liu after Si Xue appoints him as a delivery driver. It guides him through the Delivery Department, explains the job, tests his nerve, and accepts him as a worthwhile partner after Liu relieves its chronic spinal strain with a massage 1 2.

Delivery Department Partnership

Cow-Horse becomes Liu’s primary source of workplace knowledge, though it withholds information, injures him over dangerous questions, and turns aid into debt. It nevertheless provides healing liquor, explains delivery loopholes, and supports Liu’s attempts to clear Snake Game 3 7 13 14.

Paradise Island Bargain

After Liu obtains the Paradise Island Couples’ Vacation Voucher from Snake Game, Cow-Horse aggressively negotiates for it. The two ultimately trade the voucher for Vlad III Limited Edition, giving Cow-Horse the prospect of seeing its wife again 15.

Black Market Expedition

Cow-Horse recruits Liu for a midnight Black Market trip, offering protection in exchange for half the profits. It directs Liu toward selling his flesh, outfits him as a clown for gambling, restrains Eel Head, and relies on Oink’s intervention when the Gambling Den’s demon mentally influences them 23 26 28 30 33.

Kitchen Assignment and Round God Sect Conflict

When kitchen workers are hospitalized, Cow-Horse accompanies Liu into the kitchen and returns to its usual pastry work under Napoleon. It later joins Liu and Salmon on a supply mission, where its past with the Round God Sect and its resentment of Garcia become explicit 41 42 45 46.

Trivia

• Cow-Horse keeps a photograph in its locker that appears to show a Cow-Horse wearing a maid outfit 3.
• It considers walking beside dead humans bad luck and refuses to begin deliveries alongside Liu for that reason 8.
• Cow-Horse once claimed it could save enough money for a Paradise Island scalper’s ticket, then admitted that claim was “bullshit” 20.
• It is capable of quoting poetry, though Liu discovers that the lines it recites were copied from Bai Langzi’s Snakefolk poetry manuscript 45.