Cow-Horse

Biodata

Background

Cow-Horse escaped from 103 Breeding Farm, a livestock facility that raised numerous large species. Unlike Oink, who originated from the separate Heaven Farm, Cow-Horse was captured by Round God Sect smugglers shortly after its escape and sold to Bloodstained Restaurant 65. It escaped the farm by deceiving other captive animals into believing it would free them, then using their bodies to overload the electric fence; it admits it never intended to return for them 65.

At first, Cow-Horse was held at the Restaurant as backup food. After Heaven Butcher Oink slaughtered much of the Kitchen staff, it became an employee and eventually transferred from the Kitchen to the Delivery Department when that department became short-handed 65. It ultimately rose to lead the department, though it remains wary that the position could be taken from it 212 236.

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.

Cow-Horse’s experience as a Lower-Class Species informs much of its ambition. Cow-Horse families must pay household-registration taxes even when their children pass the citizenship birth test, and many are forced into debt to secure citizenship 103. It wants a larger home, legal registration, an elite education, and eventually a City Hall position for Little Cow-Horse 452.

It remains at the restaurant partly to save for Paradise Island, where it hopes to reunite with its wife. Cow-Horse was initially separated from her for six months; she later lives in Workers’ New City, and it entrusts Liu Zheng with visiting and protecting her when a department-head meeting prevents it from making the trip itself 15 464. 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, cash, and other small objects in its mouth 2 28 345.
• Regrew a previously broken horn while recovering from injuries 46.
• Peacock later used a bull horn and horse whip identified as Cow-Horse’s stolen body parts as auction currency, concealing the extent of Cow-Horse’s mutilation from it 569.
• Its movements can be remarkably quiet and light despite its size, while its muscles visibly roll beneath its fur when it moves 464.

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.

Its ruthless pragmatism is rooted in its history. Cow-Horse openly admits to sacrificing other animals to escape 103 Breeding Farm and initially planned to profit from stealing and selling livestock from the same farm 65. It has little patience for idealism, formal education, or elaborate language, preferring direct bargains and immediate survival 65 344.

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 has gradually shown that its claims of pure self-interest are incomplete. It secretly arranged treatment for Sesha, took dangerous work in Liu Zheng’s place, prepared an escape route from Metropolis for Liu at enormous cost, and repeatedly serves as his bodyguard or lender despite complaining about every favor 114 180 236 345. It also risks trouble to rescue Hou Taotao, Yellow Monkey’s son, because it helped raise him and considers him family 710 719.

Cow-Horse is sensitive about its horns, fur, poverty, and past injuries. It is also deeply attached to its wife and prospective child, making the Paradise Island vacation voucher and Little Cow-Horse’s future among the few things capable of overriding its usual greed with obvious emotion 2 13 15 452. Its family responsibilities make it considerably less reckless than Liu Zheng 344.

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.
• Its raw strength is sufficient for Liu Zheng’s Cow-Horse cosplay to crack the previously impenetrable Sewer floor with a single hoof-stomp 79.
• A more accurate Cow-Horse imitation was powerful enough to injure Kunguna’s divine banner, demonstrating that even an incomplete reproduction of Cow-Horse’s physical power can threaten a local god 404.
• Cow-Horse’s direct fighting style prioritizes destruction over protection; it admits that it struggles to safeguard hostages when facing numerous powerful enemies 364.

Desperation Mode and Relics

When enraged or forced into a serious confrontation, Cow-Horse can enter a desperation mode marked by blood-red light, steaming nostrils, and intensified physical force 344. It can manifest the Bronze Bull Head, a furious horned relic, alongside blood mist and phantom hoof strikes 346.

Cow-Horse also possesses the Tiger Soul Fragment, the tip of a broken blade containing an ancient slaughter god’s killing intent. The Perfect-quality fragment can be used to forge equipment or cultivate the Killing Dao, though Cow-Horse preserves it in hopes of eventually reassembling the complete Tiger Soul weapon 559.

Delivery Expertise

As the Delivery Department’s head, 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.
• Has earned the Outstanding Employee distinction three times, a record represented by its Memorial Medal 30 719.
• Often takes over deliveries that it judges especially lethal for Liu, though it charges for the service or treats the favor as future leverage 151 347.

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.
• Understands Metropolis’s species-based citizenship hierarchy and warns Liu against investigating the political exclusion of Pig-headed Men too deeply 103.
• Maintains ties across the Black Market, Kitchen, Cemetery, Customer Service Department, and older members of the Animal Farm band 149 345 452 710.

Power Progression

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.
• Outstanding Employee Memorial Medal — A medal associated with Cow-Horse’s three Outstanding Employee awards. It can offset penalties for failed deliveries and is valuable enough that Cow-Horse reluctantly lends it only when necessary 30 719.
• Bronze Bull Head — A horned relic Cow-Horse can manifest during combat, accompanied by blood mist and powerful hoof attacks 346.
• Tiger Soul Fragment — A Perfect-quality blade-tip relic containing the killing intent of an ancient slaughter god; Cow-Horse treats it as a potential family heirloom and component of the complete Tiger Soul 559.
• Haystack — Cow-Horse’s favored bed in the Delivery Department lounge. Sleeping on it can restore Sanity and increase the user’s Sanity limit, though its benefits may eventually reach a cap 548.

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. Their relationship develops into an abrasive brotherhood: Cow-Horse takes dangerous deliveries for Liu, helps arrange his possible escape from Metropolis, lends him rare relics, and remains willing to protect him when properly compensated 114 236 559.
• Si Xue — Employer and owner of Bloodstained Restaurant. Cow-Horse obeys her order to train Liu 1.
• Oink / Heaven Butcher — Fellow survivor of the livestock system and feared Black Market butcher. Cow-Horse is deferential around Oink but risks angering him to protect Liu 26 27. Oink’s slaughter of the Kitchen staff indirectly saved Cow-Horse from being kept as backup food, creating a mixture of debt, familiarity, and intimidation between them 65 236.
• 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 and regrets that Liu, rather than itself, was the one to defeat Garcia 45 46 529.
• White-Feather Chicken / Napoleon — Rival Kitchen leader and former colleague. Napoleon has treated Cow-Horse as an ingredient, mocked its attachment to humans, and concealed Niu Dafa’s corpse, but the two also conduct business and occasionally assist one another 65 114 425 592.
• Black Claw — Former bandmate and leader. Cow-Horse remembers Black Claw’s death while exploring the landfill 27 49. It later searched the Garbage Processing Plant for Black Claw but failed to find it, becoming defensive when Liu presses the issue 591.
• Red Pig — Old associate and fellow Animal Farm member. Cow-Horse concealed the death of Red Pig’s wife, Chihaya, believing that Red Pig’s search for her was the only thing preserving his will to live 149.
• Niu Dafa — Cow-Horse’s father, a champion Bullfighting Cow-Horse from 103 Breeding Farm. Cow-Horse recognizes him immediately upon seeing his corpse and resolves to give him a dignified burial rather than permit his body to be cooked 425.
• Wife — Cow-Horse has been separated from her for six months and wants to use the Paradise Island voucher for a reunion 15. It later reveals that she lives in Workers’ New City and entrusts Liu Zheng with protecting her if needed 464.
• Little Cow-Horse — Cow-Horse’s child or expected child. Cow-Horse hopes to secure household registration, a first-rate education, and a stable City Hall career for them 452.
• Hou Taotao — Yellow Monkey’s son, whom Cow-Horse helped raise. Though Cow-Horse considers him reckless and unsuitable as a deliveryman, it cannot abandon him when he is detained by New Grape Hotel 710 719.
• Sesha — Nile Doctor’s adopted daughter. Cow-Horse secretly arranged assistance for her through Nile Doctor, while insisting that the act was merely practical 180.

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.

Escape Quota Scheme

When Peacock attempts to force Liu into a lethal delivery, Cow-Horse refuses Oink’s offer to deliver in Liu’s place because Peacock would continue targeting him. Instead, it arranges an illegal route for Liu to leave Metropolis: a quota requiring one thousand portions of Flesh and a prohibited memory-preserving chip that would prevent the city from erasing Liu’s memories after departure 236. The plan demonstrates that Cow-Horse considers protecting subordinates part of being a boss, despite claiming it can no longer save everyone 236.

Cemetery Protection

Cow-Horse accompanies Liu to the Cemetery, repeatedly warns him against dangerous promotions, lends him money, and prepares to fight Old Cowboy when the caretaker threatens Liu 345 346. Liu’s deceptive handling of Old Cowboy’s one-dollar ritual leaves Cow-Horse furious because it had genuinely risked its life to protect him 346.

Niu Dafa’s Return

Liu discovers the Perfect-quality corpse of Champion Cow-Horse in the Kitchen’s cold storage and initially considers using it to increase his own attributes 424. He ultimately returns the corpse to Cow-Horse, who recognizes it as its father, Niu Dafa 425. Cow-Horse resolves to bury him, establish a genuine multigenerational family, and eventually help the Cow-Horses still trapped at 103 Breeding Farm once it has the means to do so 425.

Champion Legacy

Cow-Horse’s family legacy continues after Niu Dafa’s return. Liu receives Champion Cow-Horse’s Filial Offal Soup, gaining Strength, Constitution, and the temporary Bucking Kick skill 473. Later, an expired Cow-Horse cosplay outfit draws out Niu Dafa’s lingering will; the Champion Cow-Horse manifestation withstands Ma Baoli’s Five Consecutive Lightning Whips and defeats her with a hoof strike 733.

Hou Taotao Rescue

Cow-Horse asks Liu to rescue Hou Taotao after the young Monkey is detained by New Grape Hotel for casino cheating, violence, and sleeping with the owner’s woman 710 719. Although it criticizes Hou Taotao’s recklessness, it admits that it helped raise him and cannot abandon Yellow Monkey’s only son 710.

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.
• Cow-Horse played bass in the Animal Farm band before becoming a delivery worker 49.
• It once defaced a newsstand owner’s pornographic magazines with comments and drawings, creating a grudge so severe that the owner initially threatens Liu Zheng with a shotgun merely for mentioning Cow-Horse’s name 180 181.
• Cow-Horse is so accustomed to storing valuables in its mouth that Liu jokingly suspects it enjoys repeatedly arranging and dismantling stacks of cash 345.
• It considers itself a model husband because it brings its own wife when vacationing, a claim Liu treats with open contempt 53.