Chapter Summaries

Chapter Summary: The Bloodstained Restaurant

Key Plot Points and Events

• Liu Zheng, a terminally ill ALS patient, is unexpectedly chosen for the “Hell Game” after completing a survey.
• He discovers that he signed a Betting Agreement, which forces him to become a player and grants rewards related to his wish—health and longevity. However, he must achieve at least an S/A-level clearance in every instance or be erased.
• His first trial is the solo novice instance “Bloodstained Restaurant.” His objective is to survive for 72 hours.
• He is transported to the eerie Jinxiu Xinyuan residential community and receives an employment notice ordering him to attend an interview or lose his citizenship and be subjected to “processing.”
• The notice’s map leads him to the Bloodstained Restaurant, a disturbing building whose sign is made from nailed human limbs.
• Upon entering, Liu Zheng meets Si Xue, the restaurant’s beautiful but clearly nonhuman owner. She offers him three jobs: delivery worker, assistant cook, or waiter.
• Rather than choose directly, Liu Zheng cleverly asks Si Xue to assign him the most suitable position. She sends him to work as a deliveryman.
• A bizarre cow-headed, horse-bodied creature named Cow-Horse arrives to train him and warns that he may be eaten if he fails.

Character Development

• Liu Zheng is introduced as calm, practical, and unusually accepting of danger because of his terminal illness. He views the game as preferable to slowly waiting for death.
• His dark humor and sharp observational skills help him cope with the supernatural environment.
• He demonstrates emotional control when confronted by Si Xue’s supernatural charm, quickly recognizing that her beauty is dangerous.
• His experience as a former deliveryman and his willingness to flatter others allow him to secure what he believes is the safest available position.
• Si Xue is established as elegant, intimidating, manipulative, and likely nonhuman. Her brief smile nearly overwhelms Liu Zheng, revealing her potentially supernatural influence.
• Cow-Horse appears threatening but vain and easily pleased by compliments, suggesting that flattery may be useful when dealing with the restaurant’s monsters.

Significant Themes

• Life, death, and desperation: Liu Zheng’s terminal illness motivates him to gamble his life for health and longevity.
• Rules and coercion: The Hell Game disguises compulsion as choice, binding Liu Zheng through an agreement whose consequences are fatal.
• Sanity versus perception: The instance contains sights that actively reduce rationality, making knowledge and self-control essential for survival.
• Humanity and monstrosity: The setting includes “human citizens” alongside nonhuman beings, implying that humanity is only one category within a larger society.
• Adaptability and manipulation: Liu Zheng survives his first encounter by observing danger, controlling his reactions, and using politeness and flattery strategically.
• The grotesque beneath the ordinary: A job interview and restaurant employment are presented through horrifying supernatural details, blending mundane social structures with extreme violence.

Character Interactions

• The system informs Liu Zheng of the game’s rules, his dangerous agreement, his declining sanity, and the survival objective, though it withholds some information.
• Liu Zheng reads the employment notice and follows its instructions, choosing to investigate the marked destination rather than explore optional locations.
• He meets Si Xue during the interview. Their exchange establishes her authority and his cautious, deferential strategy.
• Si Xue insults him as “trash” but is intrigued by his cleverness, assigning him to delivery work.
• Cow-Horse takes responsibility for his handover, insults and threatens him, but immediately responds favorably when Liu Zheng compliments its appearance.

Chapter Summary: “Handover Duties”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Cow-Horse leads Liu Zheng through the Restaurant’s employee passage, showing him three routes:
  • The carpeted passage leads to the waiters’ break room.
  • The blue-curtained passage belongs to the Kitchen, where the sound of bones being chopped can be heard.
  • The red-lit passage is the deliverymen’s territory.
• Liu Zheng hears a woman screaming from behind the Kitchen curtains. Cow-Horse tempts him to intervene but redirects him, implying that entering the Kitchen would be extremely dangerous.
• They arrive at the deliverymen’s break room. Cow-Horse uses a key hidden beneath its tongue to open the door, forcing Liu Zheng to handle the unpleasant key.
• Liu Zheng and Cow-Horse test each other’s boundaries through sarcastic remarks and veiled threats. Liu Zheng establishes that he is clever and not easily intimidated.
• To gain Cow-Horse’s cooperation, Liu Zheng offers it a massage. His knowledge of bone-setting and massage relieves Cow-Horse’s severe spinal strain caused by carrying deliveries.
• Pleased with Liu Zheng’s usefulness, Cow-Horse agrees to explain his new job.
• Cow-Horse describes the delivery process:
  1. An order ticket is pushed through a hole beneath the door.
  2. The deliveryman must wait thirty seconds.
  3. He then collects the food from a cart and follows the ticket’s instructions to deliver it.
• Liu Zheng receives a locker containing a uniform, an old flip phone, and a map. Cow-Horse gives him its phone number, but immediately warns him not to save it—the first rule of the job.

Character Developments

• Liu Zheng demonstrates caution, emotional control, and resourcefulness. He avoids rushing toward the screaming woman, recognizing the danger, and uses humor and psychological pressure to negotiate with Cow-Horse.
• He also proves practically useful through his massage skills, transforming his relationship with Cow-Horse from that of a helpless newcomer and handler into a mutually beneficial partnership.
• Cow-Horse is revealed to be physically powerful, intimidating, and morally alien, but also somewhat vain, comfort-seeking, and responsive to practical benefits. Its approval of Liu Zheng increases after the massage.
• Cow-Horse hints that previous delivery partners were incompetent and met horrific fates, including one who was sent to the Kitchen as an ingredient.

Significant Themes

• Survival through adaptability: Liu Zheng survives not through strength but by observing rules, controlling his reactions, and finding ways to make himself useful.
• Danger hidden beneath routine: Ordinary workplace procedures—deliveries, lockers, uniforms, and phones—exist within a supernatural environment where workers can be killed or consumed.
• Rules and forbidden knowledge: The strict separation between passageways and the warning not to save phone numbers suggest that seemingly minor violations may have deadly consequences.
• Humanity versus the inhuman: Liu Zheng’s calm wit contrasts with Cow-Horse’s monstrous nature, while the Restaurant combines familiar workplace structures with grotesque, unnatural practices.
• Power and negotiation: Their relationship is based on constant testing. Cow-Horse has physical dominance, but Liu Zheng gains influence through intelligence and usefulness.

Character Interactions

• Cow-Horse repeatedly tests Liu Zheng by mentioning the screaming woman and warning him about the consequences of taking the wrong path.
• Liu Zheng responds to Cow-Horse’s intimidation with deadpan humor, wiping the saliva-covered key on Cow-Horse’s fur and challenging its claim that cleverness is dangerous.
• Their exchange reveals mutual suspicion but also a developing reliance: Cow-Horse needs a competent partner, while Liu Zheng needs Cow-Horse’s guidance.
• The massage becomes an important turning point, easing their hostility and prompting Cow-Horse to share the delivery procedures and the first job rule.

Chapter Summary: “Rules for the Deliveryman”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Liu Zheng asks Cow-Horse about the restaurant’s rules. Cow-Horse explains that employees are forbidden from asking for reasons and must not leave the break room without an order.
• Staff meals are delivered to lockers, and bathroom breaks are only allowed during deliveries.
• When Liu Zheng asks when the restaurant changed owners—likely referring to the mysterious noblewoman Si Xue—Cow-Horse begins to answer but suddenly suffers a supernatural reaction. He freezes, trembles violently, and loses control of his bladder, suggesting that discussing the owner is forbidden or dangerous.
• After recovering, Cow-Horse angrily kicks Liu Zheng, breaking several of his ribs. He warns Liu Zheng never to ask about the owner again.
• Despite his injuries, Liu Zheng remains calm and considers the practical problem of Cow-Horse having to complete all the deliveries alone.
• Cow-Horse gives Liu Zheng a secret healing item called Ascension Hair Moss 53°, demanding 2,000 afterward. The disgusting drink contains worms and other grotesque ingredients but rapidly heals Liu Zheng’s injuries.
• The item increases Liu Zheng’s Strength and Constitution while lowering his Spirit and Perception. He avoids the possible drunken effect.
• Cow-Horse explains additional workplace rules:
  1. Do not speak to the meal preparers.
  2. After 7 p.m., loud noises are forbidden.
  3. Do not reveal information about the Bloodstained Restaurant to outsiders or outside information to employees, except to Cow-Horse.
  4. Do not steal from, alter, or delay delivery orders.
• Cow-Horse advises Liu Zheng to be bold outside because he is now a restaurant employee.

Character Developments

• Liu Zheng demonstrates composure, adaptability, and calculated courage. Even after being badly injured, he focuses on gathering information and exploiting the situation rather than panicking.
• His willingness to drink the revolting healing potion shows his growing determination to survive and accept the dungeon’s bizarre rules.
• Liu Zheng becomes more optimistic about the game’s potential after witnessing the potion’s extraordinary healing effects, recognizing that the world may allow him to become something beyond an ordinary human.
• Cow-Horse/Oxhead is revealed to be both dangerous and helpful. He can violently punish Liu Zheng for triggering a forbidden topic, yet he also spends a valuable healing item on him and explains the rules.
• Cow-Horse’s reaction to questions about the owner reveals that he is constrained by supernatural prohibitions and may fear the restaurant’s higher powers.
• The photograph of Cow-Horse in a maid outfit hints at a more unusual or humiliating past than his intimidating appearance suggests.

Significant Themes

• Rules as survival mechanisms: The restaurant’s regulations are not ordinary workplace policies but life-or-death restrictions. Even asking the wrong question can trigger supernatural consequences.
• Knowledge and danger: Information about the owner, the restaurant, and its employees is tightly controlled. Curiosity can be as dangerous as physical violence.
• Adaptation to the grotesque: Liu Zheng accepts horrifying food, monstrous coworkers, and supernatural medicine as practical necessities, showing how quickly he is adapting to the dungeon’s logic.
• Power and exploitation: The workplace treats employees harshly, offers poor wages, and imposes restrictive rules, yet provides miraculous benefits unavailable in the real world.
• Courage and identity: Cow-Horse’s advice to act boldly as a restaurant employee suggests that Liu Zheng’s new role grants him authority or protection outside the restaurant, despite his low level.

Character Interactions

• Liu Zheng and Cow-Horse establish a tense but functional relationship. Cow-Horse threatens and injures him, but also heals him and teaches him how to survive.
• Liu Zheng challenges Cow-Horse with practical questions and subtle observations, while Cow-Horse remains suspicious of Liu Zheng’s unusual calmness.
• Their exchange over the healing drink reveals a transactional bond: Cow-Horse provides assistance, but Liu Zheng incurs a debt.
• Liu Zheng’s question about the owner exposes a dangerous boundary between them, making clear that some subjects are forbidden even among employees.

Chapter Summary: “First Takeout Order”

Key Plot Points and Events

• After Cow-Horse explains the restaurant’s rules, it ignores Liu Zheng and goes to sleep. With nothing else to do, Liu plays the old phone’s only game: Snake.
• The game initially seems simple, but its levels become increasingly difficult. Liu discovers that reaching level 20 is required to exit the game, while reopening it afterward would force him to clear it completely.
• Cow-Horse reveals that the highest known score is level 24 and hints that the game may be dangerous, as the restaurant’s many cabinets once belonged to previous players. Completing the game may grant a mysterious reward, possibly money, promotion, or a train ticket out of the restaurant and city.
• Liu carefully advances to level 20, enduring extreme speed, complex obstacles, unpredictable bonuses, and spiked hazards. Though exhausted, he successfully clears the required stage and stops before risking further progress.
• A delivery order arrives through the breakroom door: one “Freak-Eyed Salmon Head Pizza” must be delivered to Room 503, Building 3, Merlin Residential Compound, within an hour.
• Liu inspects the pizza and is disturbed by its numerous fish heads and living-looking eyes. After slapping himself to break their hypnotic effect, he checks the system description and learns that the pizza is a valuable item that temporarily enhances perception, may grant “Spirit Sight,” permanently reduces mental fortitude, and can be removed from the dungeon.
• Liu prepares to make the six-kilometer delivery, but his weakened lungs and deteriorating physical condition make the journey difficult. He realizes that although he has already lost the physical contest against Cow-Horse, his struggle of will has only begun.

Character Developments

• Liu Zheng: Demonstrates patience, strategic thinking, and resilience by adapting his Snake strategy and reaching level 20. He remains cautious, refusing to pursue the rumored reward despite his curiosity. He also hides the severity of his physical weakness from Cow-Horse, determined not to appear completely defeated.
• Cow-Horse: Shows a mixture of amusement, cruelty, and reluctant admiration. It pressures Liu to continue playing and takes pleasure in the possibility of him being trapped by the game. It praises Liu’s skill but also sends him into his first dangerous delivery immediately afterward.
• Liu’s condition: His physical health is worsening, especially his lungs and stamina, creating an additional danger beyond the supernatural rules and delivery tasks.

Significant Themes

• Games as traps and tests: The Snake game appears harmless but may be connected to the dungeon’s deadly rules and the fates of previous players.
• Curiosity versus survival: Liu is intrigued by the game’s rewards and the pizza’s item properties, yet chooses restraint when further curiosity could endanger him.
• Mental and physical endurance: Liu’s success depends on discipline and strategy, while his weakened body increasingly limits him.
• Power and psychological resistance: Cow-Horse has overwhelming physical power, but Liu refuses to surrender psychologically.
• Danger hidden in ordinary objects: A simple phone game and a pizza conceal supernatural effects and potentially lethal consequences.

Character Interactions

• Cow-Horse observes and comments on Liu’s gameplay, insisting that he continue until level 20 and warning that reopening the game would require a full clear.
• Liu questions Cow-Horse about the game’s purpose, completion reward, and the number of previous players, but Cow-Horse avoids answering directly and points toward the old cabinets.
• After Liu completes level 20, Cow-Horse praises him and jokingly links his skill to his excellent massages.
• When the order arrives, Cow-Horse orders Liu to prepare for delivery, using the assignment to push him out of the relative safety of the breakroom and into the dangerous city.

Chapter Summary: “The Tree Was Talking”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Liu Zheng asks Cow-Horse whether the Restaurant provides transportation for deliveries, but Cow-Horse refuses to help and warns him that he is already late.
• Liu Zheng travels through the completely dark, silent Delivery Passage. He uses his medical knowledge of desensitization therapy to endure the darkness, while his coughing and lung pain help keep him mentally grounded.
• He emerges into an empty city and begins his delivery. The streets contain no people, vehicles, or traffic signals.
• Cow-Horse calls to remind him that, if he needs to use the bathroom outside, he must do so beside plants—preferably trees or green belts.
• After unexpectedly developing the urge to urinate, Liu Zheng relieves himself beside a camphor tree. A nearby French plane tree suddenly speaks to him, identifies the urine’s alcohol content, and asks him to pour it into its mouth.
• The tree explains that the other trees are ordinary “Zhizhangs” that cannot speak, while it is a unique, intelligent “genius” tree.
• Liu Zheng attempts to trade his urine for transportation, first requesting a vehicle, then an electric scooter or bicycle. The tree refuses all of these requests.
• Instead, the tree offers him a Human-Bone Crutch, an Excellent-quality item that increases movement speed by 10% and can be removed from the instance.
• Liu Zheng grows suspicious when the crutch emerges from a large root and wonders whether the tree intends to eat him.

Character Developments

• Liu Zheng demonstrates psychological resilience by deliberately enduring the darkness of the Delivery Passage and using his physical discomfort as an anchor. He remains practical, skeptical, and opportunistic throughout the encounter.
• He also shows quick thinking by bargaining with the talking tree and recognizing the potential value of the crutch.
• Cow-Horse remains blunt and unhelpful but provides important operational information, including the strange rules governing bodily functions outside the Restaurant.
• The French plane tree is revealed to be intelligent, greedy, proud, and highly unusual. It treats Liu Zheng’s urine as a desirable drink and tries to negotiate for it.

Significant Themes

• Adaptation to the abnormal: Liu Zheng treats bizarre supernatural circumstances—talking trees, magical items, and impossible rules—as problems to be analyzed and managed.
• The grotesque mixed with the mundane: Ordinary activities such as commuting, urinating, and delivering food become strange and dangerous within the instance world.
• Barter and opportunism: Liu Zheng and the tree both attempt to exploit the other, turning an absurd situation into a mutually beneficial transaction.
• Isolation and psychological endurance: The empty streets and oppressive passage emphasize loneliness, while Liu Zheng’s medical suffering becomes a stabilizing force rather than merely a weakness.
• Uncertainty and hidden danger: Even apparently beneficial items may have sinister origins, leaving Liu Zheng wary of the tree’s intentions.

Character Interactions

• Liu Zheng and Cow-Horse have a terse, pragmatic exchange, with Cow-Horse dismissing Liu Zheng’s transportation concerns.
• Cow-Horse’s phone call establishes the bizarre plant-related bathroom rule and adds comic tension.
• Liu Zheng’s main interaction is with the French plane tree, whose unusual speech, demands, and bargaining behavior contrast with Liu Zheng’s skepticism.
• Their negotiation ends with the tree offering the Human-Bone Crutch, but Liu Zheng remains suspicious rather than accepting the deal blindly.

Chapter Summary: “Meat for a Question”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Liu Zheng discovers that the French Plane Tree, Dai Lego, cannot lie, though it can refuse to answer questions. He uses this weakness to negotiate safely with it.
• Liu Zheng trades filtered alcohol—made from urine—for the Human-Bone Crutch and a rusty container. He learns that the tree can attack anyone who steps onto the two-meter ring of black soil surrounding it or takes its belongings without permission.
• Dai Lego reveals that its roots, rather than its decorative mouth, are its true means of eating and drinking. It also offers Liu Zheng a valuable item in exchange for a bottle of Ascension Maotai 53°, hinting that the alcohol may be crucial to surviving restaurant work.
• The Human-Bone Crutch improves Liu Zheng’s walking speed, allowing him to make up some of the time lost during the trade.
• With only ten minutes remaining, Liu Zheng reaches Merlin Residential Compound. He cautiously enters by slipping past the parking barrier instead of approaching the apparently sleeping security guard.
• Unable to identify the buildings, Liu Zheng asks the guard which one is Building 3. The guard demands one piece of meat for the answer.
• Since Liu Zheng cannot take food from the delivery order without risking punishment, he offers his own flesh. The guard removes its hat, revealing an eel-like head covered in tiny teeth, which bites a piece from Liu Zheng’s arm.
• Although the bite causes severe pain, Liu Zheng discovers that it leaves no visible wound. The guard then points him toward Building 3, and Liu Zheng rushes there with the delivery deadline approaching.

Character Developments

• Liu Zheng becomes increasingly resourceful and cautious. He tests supernatural rules, uses humor and negotiation to survive, and refuses to compromise the delivery order even when doing so would be easier.
• He demonstrates considerable pain tolerance and determination by allowing the guard to take flesh from his arm rather than risk stealing from the customer’s food.
• Dai Lego shifts from hostile and threatening to reluctantly cooperative. Though still insulting and irritable, it accepts Liu Zheng as a potential trading partner and provides useful information about the crutch and survival at the restaurant.
• The security guard is revealed to be a grotesque, rule-bound creature that demands meat in exchange for information. Its apparent laziness conceals a dangerous supernatural nature.

Significant Themes

• Survival through negotiation: Liu Zheng survives not through force but by understanding supernatural rules and finding mutually acceptable trades.
• Rules and loopholes: The chapter emphasizes that every creature follows specific conditions—Dai Lego cannot attack outside its soil or without provocation, while the guard requires meat for information.
• The cost of information and progress: Knowledge and assistance require physical or material sacrifice, shown by Liu Zheng trading alcohol and flesh.
• Maintaining professional duty: Despite danger and temptation, Liu Zheng protects the delivery order and prioritizes completing his job.
• Human-monster moral ambiguity: Dai Lego criticizes humans for exploiting supernatural creatures, suggesting that the division between humans and monsters is not morally simple.

Character Interactions

• Liu Zheng and Dai Lego engage in hostile but increasingly cooperative banter, using insults, bargaining, and humor to establish a trade.
• Dai Lego warns Liu Zheng that obtaining Ascension Maotai may be essential for staying alive at the Bloodstained Restaurant.
• Liu Zheng interacts cautiously with the security guard, whose demand for meat forces him to sacrifice part of his own body.
• The chapter ends with Liu Zheng accepting the guard’s painful price and racing toward Building 3 to complete the delivery.

Chapter Summary: “The Delivery’s Here”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Liu Zheng races to deliver his first order, reaching Room 503 with only minutes to spare.
• The grotesquely obese resident, “Fatty,” refuses to accept the delivery, insisting it is not his and demanding a piece of meat in exchange.
• Fatty uses intimidation, foul smells, spitting, and an unsettling voice that induces comfort in Liu Zheng. Liu realizes Fatty is afraid of the delivery box and deliberately provokes him by suggesting he was too frightened to spit on Liu’s uniform.
• With only seconds remaining, Liu throws the box into the room and shuts the door. Fatty bursts through it in panic, injuring Liu and insisting that the food is not his.
• At the exact deadline, Fatty abruptly becomes lifeless and mechanically thanks Liu before returning inside. The delivery is considered complete, though Liu notices that it has cost him something.
• Back at the Bloodstained Restaurant, Cow-Horse congratulates Liu on surviving. It reveals that Liu has lost or become “incomplete” in some way—something everyone else can see except him.
• Liu bargains with Cow-Horse for a bottle of Maotai, offering to defeat Snake Game in exchange. Cow-Horse agrees, regardless of whether Liu receives a reward.
• Cow-Horse explains that deliveries addressed only to a location can be completed by bringing the package there, even without a signature. It advises Liu to use deception, intimidation, forced entry, or any other method necessary.
• The chapter ends when loud pounding comes from inside a restaurant locker, hinting at another supernatural threat or imprisoned entity.

Character Developments

• Liu Zheng demonstrates quick thinking, nerve, and adaptability. Rather than fighting Fatty directly, he identifies Fatty’s fear of the package and manipulates him into accepting it just before the deadline.
• He becomes more willing to negotiate and exploit the restaurant’s rules, arranging a future confrontation with Snake Game to obtain Maotai.
• Liu remains unaware of the physical or supernatural damage he has suffered, highlighting his vulnerability and lack of knowledge about the restaurant’s world.
• Fatty is introduced as aggressive and coercive, but his terror of the delivery reveals that he is not as powerful or confident as he pretends.
• Cow-Horse continues to act as Liu’s cynical employer and source of partial information. It helps Liu but deliberately withholds knowledge unless compensated.

Significant Themes

• Survival through cunning: Liu succeeds not through strength but by recognizing Fatty’s weakness and using the delivery rules against him.
• Hidden costs and incomplete knowledge: Completing a task does not mean escaping unharmed; Liu has paid a mysterious price that he cannot perceive.
• Bureaucratic supernatural rules: The delivery system operates according to rigid deadlines and technical definitions rather than ordinary ideas of service or consent.
• Exploitation and bargaining: Information, safety, alcohol, and even supernatural rewards are treated as commodities.
• Fear beneath apparent power: Fatty’s intimidating appearance masks his terror, while Cow-Horse’s confident guidance suggests deeper dangers beyond Liu’s understanding.

Character Interactions

• Liu and Fatty engage in a tense battle of intimidation, with Fatty trying to extort him and Liu countering through psychological manipulation.
• Liu and Cow-Horse maintain a transactional but increasingly familiar relationship. Liu asks questions and negotiates directly, while Cow-Horse mocks him, withholds information, and still offers practical guidance.
• Their conversation establishes Liu’s next challenge—defeating Snake Game—and ends with the unexplained pounding from the locker interrupting their exchange.

Chapter Summary: “Employee Meal”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Liu Zheng receives his employee meal, but Cow-Horse immediately stops him from eating it, insisting that junior employees must first give their food to senior employees.
• The meal is identified as a high-quality item called Bloodstained Restaurant Employee Meal, which restores stamina and compensates for deficiencies. Its cryptic note suggests it may be connected to a woman who lost everything.
• Cow-Horse rejects the spicy curry-like meal, allowing Liu Zheng to keep it. Although tempted by its possible restorative effects, Liu Zheng burns the food instead, unwilling to consume something so suspicious.
• Cow-Horse explains that employee meals are random and that Liu Zheng’s meal may have been unusually valuable. He also casually remarks that survival in their world means “eat or be eaten.”
• Liu Zheng discovers additional food and drink in his locker: an unidentified steak, beer, and a can of Hell Rock Cola, which restores stamina and sanity but may cause rock-music-related auditory hallucinations. He saves the cola and goes to sleep hungry.
• After waking, Liu Zheng is assigned a delivery order. Cow-Horse lets him choose between two slips, but Liu Zheng notices Cow-Horse’s reaction and cleverly selects the more favorable job.
• Liu Zheng receives an order for Supreme Black Goat Kid Eye Sashimi to a VIP customer, Mr. Li, at the First-Class Sky Villas. The delivery is three kilometers away and must be completed within thirty minutes.
• Cow-Horse receives a far worse assignment: Hell Maggot Mixed Rice, twenty-five kilometers away, with only twenty minutes allowed. Liu Zheng learns that employees may rent transportation for long-distance deliveries, though doing so is expensive and impractical.
• Cow-Horse refuses to accompany Liu Zheng, claiming that traveling with dead humans brings bad luck, and insists that delivery workers must travel separately.

Character Developments

• Liu Zheng displays increasing caution and resourcefulness. He resists pressure from Cow-Horse, refuses to consume the suspicious meal, notices Cow-Horse’s subtle physical reaction, and uses it to choose the better delivery assignment.
• He also remains emotionally affected by the meal’s description, especially the suggestion that someone has been reduced to scraps, hinting at his growing awareness of the grotesque nature of the world.
• Cow-Horse continues to act as an arrogant but somewhat informative senior employee. He bullies Liu Zheng over the meal, tries to profit from it, yet also provides useful information about restaurant rules and delivery procedures.
• His statement about hoping Liu Zheng would eat him if he became mush reveals his familiarity with death and bodily transformation, while his fear of bad luck shows superstition beneath his domineering personality.

Significant Themes

• Survival and exploitation: The employee system forces weaker workers to surrender resources to stronger ones, reflecting the chapter’s “eat or be eaten” worldview.
• Suspicion and self-preservation: Liu Zheng must question every apparent benefit, since food, drinks, and workplace rules may carry hidden dangers.
• Dehumanization: The grotesque meals and casual discussion of people becoming “mush” blur the boundary between food, monsters, and employees.
• Luck and unequal treatment: Random meal quality and delivery assignments determine employees’ chances of survival, while VIP customers receive special significance and generous rewards.
• Rules versus personal power: Some practices are official rules, while others—such as Cow-Horse’s refusal to travel together—are merely personal customs enforced through intimidation.

Character Interactions

• Cow-Horse initially dominates Liu Zheng by claiming his meal, but Liu Zheng quietly resists and ultimately burns it.
• Their exchange establishes a tense relationship combining bullying, negotiation, and reluctant instruction.
• Liu Zheng outmaneuvers Cow-Horse during the delivery selection, turning the senior employee’s attempt at generosity into an advantage.
• Cow-Horse remains condescending, but Liu Zheng’s calm reactions suggest that he is beginning to understand how to deal with and manipulate the strange hierarchy around him.

Chapter Summary: “When Reason Fails, Use Physics”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Liu Zheng retrieves the bizarre delivery item “Supreme Black Goat Kid Eye Sashimi,” a jar of fresh eyeballs that can heal injuries but may cause disturbing flesh mutations.
• While crossing the employee passage, Liu Zheng again experiences the corridor’s seductive, living-wall effect. He briefly loses control and physically interacts with the wall before snapping out of it, leaving him horrified but also privately intrigued.
• Rather than immediately delivering the food to the First-Class Sky Villas, Liu Zheng visits Dai Lego, the sentient French plane tree, and gives it a can of alcohol.
• In exchange, Dai Lego provides a Copper Finger, an excellent-quality item granting one chance to save and load, potentially allowing Liu Zheng to retry a failed situation or game.
• Dai Lego reveals that it has consumed some restaurant employees’ brains and can access fragments of their memories, though it cannot learn everything about the restaurant. It already knows Liu Zheng is attempting to clear Snake Game.
• Liu Zheng reaches the First-Class Sky Villas but is stopped by the heavily armed security guards, who refuse to let him enter and demand food as payment.
• When the guards surround him and negotiations fail, Liu Zheng contacts Cow-Horse for advice. Cow-Horse tells him that if the guards will not listen to reason, he should use “physics”—meaning violence.
• Liu Zheng immediately kicks one of the guards in the crotch, beginning a confrontation.

Character Developments

• Liu Zheng becomes increasingly adaptable and opportunistic. He cautiously tests the limits of the restaurant’s rules, avoids asking dangerous questions, and acquires a valuable item before attempting the next stage of his mission.
• His reaction to the living corridor reveals both his vulnerability to the restaurant’s supernatural influences and his irreverent, darkly humorous personality.
• Liu Zheng also demonstrates growing confidence in confronting danger. Once Cow-Horse gives him implicit permission to fight, he acts decisively rather than continuing to negotiate.
• Dai Lego is shown to be powerful, eccentric, and knowledgeable. It has unusual biological traits, enjoys alcohol and music, and possesses access to memories through consuming brains, though its knowledge is limited.
• Cow-Horse remains abrasive and unwilling to help directly, but still provides practical guidance when Liu Zheng needs it.

Significant Themes

• Reason versus force: The chapter’s central idea is that negotiation and rational discussion have limits in a hostile supernatural world. When the guards exploit their authority, physical action becomes the only effective solution.
• Survival through adaptability: Liu Zheng survives by combining caution, humor, bargaining, and violence. He constantly evaluates risks, especially regarding what information he can safely reveal.
• The grotesque and the absurd: Body horror—eyeball sashimi, flesh mutation, brain-eating trees, and living walls—is presented alongside comedy and mundane concerns such as diabetes, drinking, and property management fees.
• Power and hidden knowledge: Dai Lego’s partial access to employees’ memories emphasizes that information is valuable but dangerous. The restaurant remains mysterious, and even powerful beings cannot fully understand it.
• Games and second chances: The Copper Finger’s save-and-load ability reinforces the story’s game-like world and reflects the desire to overcome impossible situations through retries.

Character Interactions

• Liu Zheng and the living corridor: The corridor affects Liu Zheng physically and mentally, nearly causing him to act indecently before he regains control.
• Liu Zheng and Dai Lego: Their exchange is casual and comedic despite the tree’s horrifying nature. Liu Zheng gives Dai Lego alcohol, and Dai Lego rewards him with the Copper Finger. Their conversation also establishes Dai Lego’s knowledge of Snake Game and the restaurant.
• Liu Zheng and Cow-Horse: Liu Zheng calls his boss for help, but Cow-Horse refuses to intervene directly. Instead, he authorizes Liu Zheng to abandon reason and use force.
• Liu Zheng and the security guards: The guards attempt to exploit Liu Zheng by demanding food and surrounding him. Their intimidation fails when Liu Zheng responds with sudden violence, setting up the chapter’s cliffhanger.

Chapter Summary: “Mr. Li”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Liu Zheng fights three hostile security guards inside the strange instance world.
• The combat becomes increasingly brutal: he kills one guard with a dagger, mutilates another’s mouth, and stabs the final guard in the chest after enduring repeated baton strikes.
• Although seriously injured—with a concussion, bleeding head wound, back pain, throat spasms, and difficulty breathing—Liu Zheng continues his delivery mission.
• He reaches apartment 301 in the First-Class Sky Villas and discovers that Mr. Li’s residence is occupied by a calm Gothic-dressed maid.
• The maid summons Mr. Li, an elderly, silver-haired man dressed in pink silk pajamas.
• Liu Zheng cautiously verifies Mr. Li’s identity by calling Miss Si through the maid’s phone. Miss Si confirms that he is an authorized deliveryman.
• Liu Zheng hands over the order, but Mr. Li reveals that his doctor has forbidden him from eating “facial-feature foods,” apparently referring to dishes containing parts such as eyes or other facial organs.
• Instead of discarding the meal, Mr. Li unexpectedly offers it to Liu Zheng, who realizes this may have been the hidden danger or test he was anticipating.

Character Development

• Liu Zheng: His suppressed frustration and psychological strain erupt during the fight. He becomes exhilarated by the guards’ pain and blood, revealing a violent, increasingly unstable side beneath his usual rationality. Nevertheless, he remains focused on completing his work and demonstrates caution by verifying Mr. Li’s identity before handing over the order.
• Mr. Li: He appears polite, refined, and physically frail, but his unusual diet, medical restrictions, and strange household suggest that he is far from ordinary. His friendly offer of the unwanted food creates an immediate sense of danger.
• The maid: She is emotionally detached and exceptionally composed, showing no reaction to Liu Zheng’s blood-covered appearance. Her formal behavior resembles that of a lifelong servant.
• Miss Si: She remains authoritative and emotionally distant, quickly confirming Liu Zheng’s identity over the phone.

Significant Themes

• Violence as psychological release: Liu Zheng experiences comfort and even excitement when the guards react like ordinary humans, suggesting that the brutal combat temporarily reconnects him with reality.
• Maintaining duty amid danger: Despite severe injuries, Liu Zheng continues the delivery, emphasizing the rigid demands of the instance world.
• Reality versus artificiality: The seemingly human natives and unnatural rules make Liu Zheng question what is real, while ordinary responses to pain provide him with reassurance.
• Hidden danger behind politeness: Mr. Li, the maid, and Miss Si behave calmly and courteously, but their strange circumstances imply that the most dangerous threats may be concealed beneath civilized appearances.
• Food as a supernatural test: The delivered dish appears to involve human facial features, and Mr. Li’s offer may force Liu Zheng to make a dangerous choice.

Character Interactions

• Liu Zheng engages in a violent confrontation with the security guards, taunting one and provoking another while using improvised dagger techniques.
• The maid politely but emotionlessly receives him and consults Mr. Li rather than challenging him.
• Liu Zheng carefully questions Mr. Li’s identity, leading to a brief verification call with Miss Si.
• Mr. Li speaks graciously with Liu Zheng, then shifts the situation by offering him the forbidden meal, ending the chapter on a tense cliffhanger.

Chapter Summary

Plot points and events

Liu Zheng is invited to Mr. Li’s home after acquiring a jar of sheep eyeballs. Mr. Li asks him to eat them raw, but Liu Zheng negotiates a condition: he wants chili, garlic, soy sauce, vinegar, and scallion oil for dipping. While he eats under the watch of Mr. Li and the maid, he notices disturbing words in Mr. Li’s newspaper about “descent,” “suppression,” and lowering citizen rank. After consuming several eyeballs, Liu Zheng begins hearing eerie, religious-sounding music and involuntarily speaks the words “Shub-Niggurath.” Mr. Li immediately explodes, and the maid absorbs his remains. She then uses a fishbone-marked pendant and invokes “N’tss-Kaambl” to repel the supernatural force linked to Liu Zheng’s Hell Rock Cola.

Character developments

Liu Zheng remains pragmatic and sarcastic despite his fear and injury. He uses food seasonings to make the disgusting meal bearable and treats the eyeballs as valuable loot rather than questioning the danger too deeply. The supernatural event triggers several system warnings: his sanity decreases, his maximum sanity is permanently reduced, and he gains the temporary condition “Irritability.” Most significantly, he acquires “Flesh Mutation,” transforming his body into a monstrous form with four tentacle-like arms, goatlike hooves, tumors, black eyes, and a tooth-filled mouth. Though initially horrified, Liu Zheng quickly accepts the change once he learns it is temporary or removable with game points. His final decision to continue eating reflects his growing willingness to embrace monstrosity and survival over his former human identity.

Character interactions

Mr. Li acts like a generous, kindly elder while pressuring Liu Zheng to eat the raw eyeballs. The maid behaves as a servant toward Mr. Li but later reveals a much more powerful and mysterious role, absorbing his remains and using an ancient protective invocation. Mr. Li’s true nature is also revealed to be nonhuman; even after his apparent destruction, his voice emerges through the maid, claiming he has always been Mr. Li. Liu Zheng is caught between their supernatural conflict and becomes the apparent vessel or trigger for the eldritch force associated with the cola.

Significant themes

The chapter explores the loss of humanity, bodily transformation, and the fragile nature of sanity. Horror is contrasted with dark humor, especially through Liu Zheng’s focus on dipping sauce and his blunt reaction to his grotesque new body. The scene also emphasizes the danger of seemingly ordinary items and rules: the Hell Rock Cola produces unpredictable supernatural effects, while eating the “loot” carries hidden consequences. Liu Zheng’s closing attitude—“I’m not human anymore anyway”—shows his psychological shift from resisting monstrosity to using it as another tool for survival.

Chapter Summary: “Fecal Sea Frenzied Maggot”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Liu Zheng finishes eating the sheep eyeballs given to him by the maid. His mutations continue, but he receives the beneficial “Flesh Rebirth” status, granting him an almost immortal ability to repair his body.
• When offered a tip, Liu Zheng chooses a powerful, explosive extraordinary item rather than money or the maid herself.
• The maid gives him the Fecal Sea Mad Maggot Fossil, a single-use item that releases a massive amount of unstable ammonia gas. Its grotesque nature suggests it is meant not merely to kill someone, but to psychologically traumatize them.
• Liu Zheng leaves the villa before his growing irritability can drive him to attack the maid.
• Outside, he examines his new statuses:
  • Flesh Mutation: Uncontrollable bodily mutations, with increases to Strength, Constitution, and Perception.
  • Temporary Madness—Irritability: Makes him dangerously short-tempered for three instances, though high Mental attributes can reduce its effects.
• Testing his new strength, Liu Zheng smashes a security guard’s corpse into pulp. He then appears to devise another plan involving the corpses before returning to the Bloodstained Restaurant.
• Cow-Horse is shocked by Liu Zheng’s monstrous appearance. Liu Zheng asks whether he still legally counts as human, and Cow-Horse explains that his essence is technically unchanged unless City Hall officially rules otherwise.
• Liu Zheng shows Cow-Horse the maggot fossil. Cow-Horse warns him never to let the cafeteria workers see it, explaining that restaurant employees may occasionally be forced to help in the dangerous kitchen.
• To adapt to his mutated body, Liu Zheng asks for paper and a pen. He discovers that the notebook belongs to Bai Langzi, a Snakefolk poet, and contains a manuscript classified as a miscellaneous item.
• Liu Zheng takes the poetry pages after noticing the item’s unusual remark that “certain beings” may appreciate them.
• Cow-Horse arranges a replacement work uniform because Liu Zheng’s current clothing has been destroyed by his mutations. A strange white thread descends from the ceiling, apparently delivering or preparing the new uniform.

Character Developments

• Liu Zheng: Gains greater physical power, enhanced perception, and near-immortal regeneration. His body becomes increasingly monstrous, while his humanity and emotional stability continue to erode. His temporary irritability makes him more violent and unpredictable, although he retains enough awareness to avoid attacking the maid immediately.
• Cow-Horse: Acts as Liu Zheng’s practical supervisor and source of institutional knowledge. Despite being disturbed by Liu Zheng’s appearance, it helps him handle workplace matters and remains interested in the reward from the Snake Game.
• The Maid: Reveals a sly, manipulative personality. She seems pleased by the possibility of causing another woman to lose control and deliberately gives Liu Zheng a horrifying weapon.
• Bai Langzi: Appears indirectly through his poetry notebook. His history as a modern poet who lost his job after “retro” became popular adds a brief, absurd detail to the setting.

Significant Themes

• Loss and instability of identity: Liu Zheng’s body is no longer human-looking, raising questions about whether physical transformation changes legal or personal identity.
• Power versus sanity: His mutations make him stronger and harder to kill, but they also fuel irritability, aggression, and possible loss of reason.
• Grotesque humor: Horrific transformations, ammonia-based weapons, mutilated corpses, and workplace bureaucracy are presented with absurd comedic detachment.
• Institutional indifference: Even after guards are killed and Liu Zheng becomes monstrous, the city’s systems remain slow and inefficient, emphasizing the bizarre normality of the world.
• Utility in the grotesque: Items and abilities that would be disgusting or horrifying to ordinary people become valuable tools for Liu Zheng.

Character Interactions

• The maid flirts with and taunts Liu Zheng while offering him a reward, but their exchange ends with mutual distrust and suppressed hostility.
• Liu Zheng and Cow-Horse discuss his legal status, the dangerous cafeteria, and the value of his new item.
• Cow-Horse mocks Liu Zheng’s appearance and insists that he replace his damaged uniform, but still assists him.
• Liu Zheng’s discovery of Bai Langzi’s poetry introduces the possibility that seemingly useless items may have hidden value to unusual beings.

Chapter Summary: “Restraint”

Key Plot Points and Events

• A giant white spider delivers Liu Zheng’s new cafeteria uniform, a loose cloak designed to hide his transformed body and tentacles.
• Cow-Horse comments that Liu Zheng resembles a cultist and warns him to control his increasingly severe irritability, especially within the dangerous cafeteria environment.
• Liu practices calligraphy by copying the Song of Righteousness, though his tentacles struggle to produce normal-looking characters.
• A conversation about whether Cow-Horse has eaten humans escalates into a brief confrontation. Cow-Horse boasts about its strength and history of eating various creatures, while Liu’s wounds heal instantly due to his immortal body.
• Liu threatens Cow-Horse with the Fecal Sea Mad Maggot Fossil and a lighter, exploiting Cow-Horse’s fear that an explosion would burn off its valuable fur.
• Liu explains that his anger comes from his desperate circumstances: being forced to work among monsters, consume horrifying food, hear disturbing Gospels, gradually lose his humanity, and potentially receive no wages.
• The confrontation unexpectedly turns into a smoking session. Liu shares cigarettes stolen from security guards, and the two quietly smoke together.
• Cow-Horse clarifies that although it has eaten many creatures, it never intentionally killed the delivery workers who died. It also reveals that Liu may be able to trade with a mysterious tree for drinks or other valuable items, though the reward depends on the stage-clear prize.
• Liu plays the game Snake Game, reaching Stage Twenty-Five, the final stage. His enhanced vision, reaction speed, and multiple eyes and tentacles make the increasingly difficult levels easier for him.
• He uses the Copper Finger to activate the “Next Stage” option, coating it in gold, and prepares to confirm his progress.

Character Developments

• Liu Zheng: His transformation continues to alter both his body and personality. His Irritability makes him more aggressive and reckless, but he remains calculating, using threats and psychological pressure rather than direct violence. He also shows resilience, adapting his new abilities to calligraphy, smoking, and gaming.
• Cow-Horse: Initially hostile and domineering, Cow-Horse reveals a more defensive and pragmatic side. It is genuinely frightened of losing its fur and eventually shares information with Liu. Their relationship shifts from intimidation and mutual distrust toward a rough, transactional companionship.
• The giant spider: Its brief appearance reinforces the cafeteria’s impersonal, monstrous workplace hierarchy, where even routine logistics are handled with hostility.

Significant Themes

• Restraint and anger: Liu struggles to control Irritability, while Cow-Horse urges him to suppress his temper. The chapter explores whether anger is weakness, justified resistance, or a survival mechanism.
• Loss of humanity: Liu’s transformed body, monstrous workplace, forced diet, and strange rituals all emphasize his gradual alienation from human life.
• Survival through adaptation: Liu survives by exploiting his new physical abilities, using intelligence, threats, bargaining, and flexibility rather than relying on his former human identity.
• Workplace exploitation and absurdity: The deadly cafeteria is treated like an ordinary job, complete with uniforms, supervisors, logistics, paydays, and workplace disputes. The contrast creates dark humor.
• Fragile cooperation: Even monsters who threaten and insult one another can form temporary alliances when their interests overlap.

Character Interactions

• The spider’s dismissive delivery prompts Liu’s irritation and Cow-Horse’s warning.
• Cow-Horse mocks Liu’s appearance and calligraphy, while Liu responds with dry humor.
• Their argument over cannibalism becomes a contest of intimidation, with Liu using the fossil and lighter to exploit Cow-Horse’s fear.
• The shared cigarettes temporarily ease the tension and produce an unusual moment of camaraderie.
• Cow-Horse provides information about the tree and the game’s possible rewards, while Liu flatters it and begins planning a trade.
• The chapter ends with Liu and Cow-Horse still wary of each other, but increasingly connected through negotiation and shared survival.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• Liu Zheng presses “confirm” on the final level of Snake Game and is transported into an endless grassland, where a gigantic snake immediately grabs and devours him.
• Its venom dissolves his body so thoroughly that even his Flesh Rebirth ability cannot save him. He uses “Load save” to return to the lounge, realizing that the game’s final level places him inside the game as its victim.
• Rather than asking Cow-Horse about the level’s details, Liu Zheng begins devising a strategy. He concludes that fighting the snake directly is impossible because of its overwhelming strength, speed, and venom.
• Liu Zheng tests his regenerative limits by asking Cow-Horse to attack him with force comparable to the explosion of the Fecal Sea Mad Maggot Fossil. Cow-Horse destroys his tentacles and later crushes most of his body, but Liu Zheng regenerates each time.
• His regeneration consumes bodily resources, leaving him visibly thinner and extremely hungry. Cow-Horse reluctantly feeds him several cans of expired ox-horse meat, restoring his mass and stamina.
• After preparing himself, Liu Zheng reenters the game and deliberately dives into the snake’s mouth, treating himself as a delivery.
• He briefly steadies himself using the snake’s fangs, then allows himself to be swallowed and crushed in its esophagus.
• Inside the snake, Liu Zheng releases the ancient explosive power of the Fecal Sea Mad Maggot Fossil. The resulting explosion appears to destroy or defeat the snake.
• He awakens in the lounge, apparently having cleared the level. The game disappears from his phone, but the promised reward is not immediately visible; he eventually discovers something in his pocket.

Character Developments

• Liu Zheng demonstrates exceptional composure and adaptability after being killed. Instead of panicking, he analyzes the enemy’s abilities and constructs a plan based on his regeneration and the fossil’s explosive power.
• He becomes increasingly willing to use his own body as a weapon, deliberately enduring mutilation, crushing, and being swallowed in order to complete the level.
• His regenerative ability is clarified as powerful but costly: rebuilding damaged flesh consumes his body’s reserves and creates an intense need for food.
• Cow-Horse shifts between disbelief, irritation, concern, and reluctant assistance. It is impressed by Liu Zheng’s survivability but frustrated by his constant need for food and his habit of buying on credit.
• Their relationship remains comedic and antagonistic, with Cow-Horse threatening him while still helping him prepare for the final attempt.

Significant Themes

• Ingenuity over brute force: Liu Zheng succeeds not by overpowering the snake, but by exploiting its body and using the environment inside its digestive tract.
• Sacrifice and endurance: Victory requires Liu Zheng to repeatedly endure extreme pain, bodily destruction, and near-certain death.
• Regeneration and its limits: Immortality-like abilities do not eliminate consequences; Liu Zheng must replenish the physical resources consumed by healing.
• Absurdity and dark humor: The deadly final challenge, expired canned meat, Cow-Horse’s complaints, and Liu Zheng’s “delivery” strategy create a deliberately grotesque and comedic tone.
• Games as unpredictable worlds: The final level overturns Liu Zheng’s expectations by making him part of the game’s scenario rather than merely an outside player.

Character Interactions

• Liu Zheng and Cow-Horse collaborate closely, though their exchanges are filled with insults and complaints.
• Liu Zheng asks Cow-Horse to simulate the fossil’s explosive force, using the attacks to measure his regeneration and prepare for the final level.
• Cow-Horse repeatedly attacks him, feeds him canned meat, and ultimately helps him recover enough to attempt the level again.
• Their banter emphasizes Cow-Horse’s resentment over Liu Zheng’s debts and Liu Zheng’s shameless reliance on Cow-Horse’s assistance.
• After the final attempt, Cow-Horse wakes Liu Zheng and asks whether he succeeded, while Liu Zheng investigates the missing reward and finds an unknown object in his pocket.

Summary of “Perfect Item”

Plot and events

Liu Zheng wins a Perfect-grade Paradise Island Couples’ Vacation Voucher, which grants a fifteen-day vacation and counts toward his survival requirement. Since fifteen days far exceeds the necessary clearance time, Liu realizes the voucher could effectively guarantee a high-ranked clearance. However, Cow-Horse also desperately wants it to reunite with his wife and potentially have a child. Their original trade—one bottle of Heavenward Moutai for the voucher—is therefore threatened.
Rather than breaking the agreement, Liu proposes a fair renegotiation. Cow-Horse leaves to find something of equal value and returns badly injured, carrying a Perfect-grade bottle of Vlad III Limited Edition wine. The wine boosts Strength, Constitution, and Perception and may awaken vampire-related bloodlines, including the rare Dracula’s Descendant bloodline. Liu accepts the wine in exchange for the voucher, while retaining the Moutai. Cow-Horse is surprised but relieved, agreeing to wait a week before using the voucher.
Liu then asks about Paradise Island. Cow-Horse describes it as a luxurious, free vacation resort created for exceptional talents. Liu warns him about a story resembling The Island, in which “lucky” citizens are secretly clones harvested for organs. Cow-Horse dismisses the idea, explaining that Paradise Island is real and that a relative who visited later committed suicide because he understood he would never experience such luxury again.

Character development

Liu demonstrates strategic thinking, confidence, and a willingness to renegotiate rather than exploit Cow-Horse’s original agreement. Although he recognizes the voucher’s immense value, he also values Cow-Horse’s continued assistance as a guide and companion. His immortal body gives him confidence during the confrontation, allowing him to stand up to the physically overwhelming Cow-Horse.
Cow-Horse’s personal motivations become clearer: beneath his aggressive and crude exterior, he deeply misses his wife and looks forward to starting a family. He is also practical and financially ambitious, having considered saving for years to afford a vacation ticket. Despite his anger, he ultimately honors the spirit of their deal and accepts the exchange.

Themes

The chapter explores the value of happiness and leisure in a harsh survival-oriented world. Paradise Island represents both genuine salvation and a potentially dangerous form of temptation: once someone experiences perfect luxury, ordinary life becomes unbearable. The story also emphasizes bargaining, trust, and mutual dependence, as Liu and Cow-Horse must balance self-interest with their ongoing relationship. The contrast between the idyllic vacation and Cow-Horse’s horrific injuries further highlights the violence and instability surrounding even seemingly pleasant rewards.

Character interactions

Liu and Cow-Horse engage in a tense negotiation when both claim the voucher. Cow-Horse threatens Liu physically, but Liu refuses to back down and insists on a fair trade. Their exchange reveals mutual respect beneath their insults and hostility. After completing the deal, they discuss Paradise Island, with Liu offering a dark speculative warning and Cow-Horse responding with his family’s real experience. The chapter ends on their characteristic joking hostility, showing that their relationship has become more familiar and cooperative despite constant threats and sarcasm.

Chapter Summary: “Legendary Deliveryman’s Vest”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Liu Zheng receives a new delivery order for a Fishman Family Bucket to Room 606, Building 4, Green Laurel Garden, with a one-hour time limit.
• He asks Cow-Horse how to determine whether physical delivery is possible. Cow-Horse admits there is no reliable way to know and advises him to talk when possible and fight when necessary.
• On the way, Liu Zheng encounters French Plane Tree/Dai Lego singing La Marseillaise. The tree is shocked by Liu Zheng’s grotesque new form, which resulted from eating Black Goat’s Young sashimi and drinking Hell Rock Cola.
• Liu Zheng negotiates with Dai Lego, offering the Vlad III Limited Edition blood wine in exchange for a valuable item. Dai Lego reluctantly trades him the Legendary Deliveryman’s Vest, which provides:
  • A 50% increase to all attributes during deliveries
  • Immunity to most sanity loss
  • True damage against most targets
• Dai Lego reveals that the vest was originally given to it as a Valentine’s Day gift, though it regarded the exchange as merely a transaction.
• Liu Zheng pours the wine over Dai Lego’s roots, completing the trade, then immediately puts on the vest and experiences a dramatic increase in strength.
• While rushing toward the delivery destination, Liu Zheng senses an intensely hostile presence watching him from a nearby building. He confronts it, destroys the building’s rolling shutter, and discovers that the watcher retreats rather than fight.
• The system confirms that Liu Zheng successfully resists sanity loss. He mocks the hidden observer and continues toward his delivery.

Character Developments

• Liu Zheng becomes increasingly confident and aggressive as his strength grows. Rather than avoiding suspicious entities, he actively provokes and confronts them.
• His grotesque transformation remains a source of humor and inconvenience, but he now treats it more casually and uses his new abilities with enthusiasm.
• The vest significantly upgrades Liu Zheng’s status as a deliveryman, making him faster, stronger, more durable mentally, and more capable of defeating supernatural opponents.
• Dai Lego/French Plane Tree is established as wealthy, prideful, dramatic, and deeply passionate about fine wine. Despite claiming not to care about Liu Zheng, it is willing to surrender an extraordinarily powerful item for the blood wine.
• Cow-Horse continues to function as Liu Zheng’s cynical adviser, offering practical but grim guidance about survival in Bloodstained Restaurant.

Character Interactions

• Liu Zheng and Cow-Horse exchange sarcastic remarks about the mysterious hand delivering orders and the danger of physical deliveries.
• Liu Zheng and Dai Lego maintain a teasing, antagonistic business relationship. They insult one another but clearly rely on their profitable trades.
• Their negotiation reveals a contrast between Liu Zheng’s practical focus on useful items and Dai Lego’s emotional attachment to rare wine.
• Liu Zheng’s confrontation with the hidden watcher shows his new willingness to dominate weaker or frightened threats instead of cautiously avoiding them.

Significant Themes

• Power and confidence: The vest symbolizes Liu Zheng’s rapid rise in power and his shift from cautious survival to aggressive dominance.
• Risk versus reward: Liu Zheng accepts dangerous encounters and trades valuable resources to gain tools that improve his chances of survival.
• Commerce and relationships: Even bizarre supernatural friendships are shaped by bargaining, value, and mutual exploitation.
• Sanity and identity: The chapter continues exploring how exposure to monstrous food, drinks, and environments transforms Liu Zheng physically and mentally.
• Bullying the weak and fearing the strong: Liu Zheng recognizes that many terrifying entities rely on intimidation, and his newfound strength allows him to reverse that dynamic.

Chapter Summary: “Average Villainy per Capita”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Liu Zheng arrives at Green Laurel Garden Crazy City to deliver food to Building 4, Room 606.
• His enhanced perception lets him see inside the compound, but merely viewing it causes repeated sanity-loss notifications.
• The compound appears unsettling: although its buildings are modern, green vine-like growths cover the walls and ground.
• The guard claims there is no Building 4, suggesting that the delivery address is expressed in an abnormal or supernatural way.
• Liu Zheng contacts Cow-Horse, who confirms that the address is probably valid but may not follow ordinary logic. Cow-Horse also learns that Liu Zheng traded with the mysterious tree and obtained the Legendary Deliveryman’s Vest.
• The guard demands cigarettes or some of Liu Zheng’s flesh as a bribe. Liu Zheng refuses, unwilling to sacrifice more meat after already having to pay tributes elsewhere.
• Liu Zheng intimidates the guard by taking a photograph with him and displaying images of corpses, implying that the guard could become another victim.
• When intimidation fails, Liu Zheng attacks. The guard retaliates by transforming his hair into needle-like strands that pierce Liu Zheng and drain something from his body.
• Liu Zheng tears through the hair with his sharpened mouthparts, forcing the guard to retreat. His wounds quickly heal, demonstrating the vest’s powerful defensive and regenerative benefits.
• The guard attempts to lure Liu Zheng into the booth, first by offering information about Building 4 and then by mentioning the resident of Room 606.
• Liu Zheng recognizes the trap and refuses to fully enter. He notices that the guard is worried about being recorded by surveillance cameras and warns him that his deceptive expression gives him away.
• Liu Zheng shuts the guard inside the booth and enters the compound alone, intending to find the delivery destination himself.

Character Developments

• Liu Zheng becomes increasingly confident in his inhuman abilities. He uses his tentacles, enhanced teeth, regeneration, and psychological intimidation without hesitation.
• He shows growing distrust and cleverness, recognizing the guard’s attempts to manipulate him and avoiding the booth’s likely trap.
• His attitude toward morality and violence continues to shift. He casually threatens and attacks the guard, treating the confrontation as another routine obstacle.
• Cow-Horse remains curious and envious of Liu Zheng’s gains, particularly the Legendary Deliveryman’s Vest, while continuing to provide useful guidance.
• The guard is established as predatory and manipulative. Though initially confident and aggressive, he becomes frightened when Liu Zheng resists both his extortion and supernatural attack.

Significant Themes

• Villainy as normal behavior: The title is reflected in the guard’s casual extortion and hunger for human flesh. Predatory behavior is portrayed as an ordinary part of daily life.
• Humanity versus monstrosity: Liu Zheng looks and acts increasingly inhuman, yet he is often more perceptive and restrained than the supposedly human residents and guards.
• Power and adaptation: Liu Zheng’s transformation gives him extraordinary abilities, but it also brings dangers such as sanity loss and the unsettling consequences of heightened perception.
• Deception and psychological warfare: Both sides try to manipulate the other, but Liu Zheng’s awareness and threatening behavior allow him to seize control.
• The instability of reality: The impossible address and missing Building 4 suggest that ordinary geography and logic cannot be trusted in this world.

Character Interactions

• Liu Zheng and Cow-Horse discuss the mysterious address and Liu Zheng’s trade with the tree; Cow-Horse is impressed by the vest but cannot satisfy its curiosity.
• Liu Zheng and the guard begin with a routine delivery dispute that escalates into bribery, intimidation, and physical combat.
• The guard tries to draw Liu Zheng into the booth with information about Room 606, but Liu Zheng exposes the deception and reverses the power dynamic.
• The chapter ends with Liu Zheng entering the compound while the guard is left trapped and humiliated in his booth.

Chapter Summary

Plot and events

Liu Zheng delivers food to a tenant in Building 3A, Room 606, but the customer refuses to open the door or sign for the order. After failing to contact Cow-Horse, Liu decides to force the situation. He uses his tentacles to pound on the door until the frightened customer opens it. When she tries to shut him out, Liu throws the delivery inside and seals the door, provoking her into attacking it. She reveals powerful, mantis-like bone blades growing from her arms and slices the metal door apart. Rather than fight, Liu probes her for information and proposes a trade: he will teach her how to write novels if she signs for the delivery. She reveals that she writes an unpublished male-oriented reincarnation business novel. Liu reads her opening, harshly criticizes it, and claims that readers need to imagine themselves as attractive, powerful protagonists.

Character development

Liu is shown as aggressive, reckless, and sadistically amused by frightening others, but he is also observant and pragmatic. Recognizing that the girl may be stronger or possess unknown abilities, he chooses manipulation and negotiation over direct combat. His past as a failed writer and former reporter becomes relevant as he evaluates her manuscript. The girl initially appears timid and vulnerable, but her violent strength and monstrous bone weapons reveal that she is far from ordinary. Despite her hostility, she becomes curious enough to discuss her writing with Liu.

Themes

The chapter mixes horror, dark comedy, and absurdity. It emphasizes the bizarre normalization of violence and supernatural abilities in Liu’s world, where even a food delivery can become a life-threatening confrontation. Another major theme is the relationship between fiction and reader identification: Liu argues that protagonists should be attractive and empowering so readers can project themselves into them. The chapter also satirizes online novel culture, including genre conventions, subscription numbers, rejected manuscripts, and formulaic character design.

Character interactions

Liu and the girl begin as antagonists, with her refusing the delivery and threatening to call the police while Liu deliberately provokes her. Their confrontation escalates into a contest of physical strength when she attacks the door. Once Liu shifts to discussing writing, the interaction becomes a strange negotiation. He questions her about her publishing status and genre, gaining information while pretending to offer professional guidance. Their exchange ends with Liu bluntly insulting her protagonist and asserting his theory that “all readers are hot studs.”

Chapter Summary: “Guaranteed Approval”

1. Key Plot Points and Events

• Liu Zheng helps a girl revise a web-novel concept, criticizing its weak conflicts and suggesting that the protagonist become rich by selling adult toys. He confidently claims this idea is guaranteed to be approved.
• He waits until the delivery timer expires, then leaves the residential complex.
• Liu Zheng deliberately provokes the security guard by claiming he injured the dangerous resident from room 606, testing whether the guard will retaliate. The guard sees through the bait and refuses to act.
• Once away from the complex, Liu Zheng’s Legendary Deliveryman Persona bonuses disappear, leaving him physically weakened. He confirms that the Persona’s effects only function during deliveries.
• Concerned about the mysterious phosphorescence and the vengeful nature of the residents, he takes a different route back to Bloodstained Restaurant.
• At the restaurant, Liu Zheng discovers that Cow-Horse has returned but has not eaten the employee meal left in Liu Zheng’s locker. This leads him to suspect that Cow-Horse cannot open another employee’s locker without permission.
• Liu Zheng stores the Legendary Deliveryman Persona in his locker, preventing Cow-Horse from taking or inspecting it directly.
• Cow-Horse demands to know what Liu Zheng traded the mysterious tree for. Liu reveals that he obtained the Legendary Deliveryman Persona.
• Liu Zheng attempts to trade the Persona to Cow-Horse for survival supplies. He also pressures Cow-Horse by mentioning Dai Lego, the Paradise Island Couples’ Vacation Voucher, and Cow-Horse’s damaged horn.
• Cow-Horse refuses to provide rare items such as Ascension Hair Moss but eventually offers Liu Zheng an opportunity to earn extra money.

2. Character Development

• Liu Zheng: Demonstrates increasing cunning, confidence, and resourcefulness. He uses psychological pressure, bluffing, flattery, and negotiation to protect himself and maximize the value of his items. He also becomes more cautious, recognizing the dangers of the residential complex and planning alternative routes.
• Cow-Horse: Shows himself to be suspicious, irritable, and unwilling to be manipulated easily, but he is also practical and somewhat protective of Liu Zheng. His emotional reaction to his broken horn reveals a personal attachment to it. Ultimately, he chooses to offer Liu Zheng work rather than valuable supplies.
• The security guard: Remains passive and distrustful. He does not respond to Liu Zheng’s provocation, indicating either caution or familiarity with Liu Zheng’s deceptive methods.
• The girl receiving the delivery: Is easily influenced by Liu Zheng’s forceful reasoning and reluctantly accepts his bizarre writing advice.

3. Significant Themes

• Survival through manipulation and negotiation: Liu Zheng survives not through strength alone but by exploiting information, threats, and social relationships.
• The limits of power: The Legendary Deliveryman Persona makes Liu Zheng powerful only during deliveries; once the delivery ends, he is vulnerable again.
• Trust and suspicion: Nearly every interaction is shaped by doubt. Liu Zheng assumes others may betray him, while Cow-Horse recognizes and counters his schemes.
• Resource scarcity and transactional relationships: Items, favors, protection, and information are treated as currency. Even Liu Zheng’s powerful Persona becomes something to trade for continued survival.
• Cunning versus brute force: Liu Zheng repeatedly avoids direct confrontation, using bait and psychological tactics instead.

4. Character Interactions

• Liu Zheng and the girl argue over what makes a web novel compelling, with Liu Zheng mocking a generic revenge plot and pushing an absurd but supposedly marketable premise.
• He taunts the security guard by suggesting that the injured resident from room 606 is vulnerable, but the guard refuses to be deceived.
• Liu Zheng and Cow-Horse engage in a tense bargaining exchange. Liu flatters Cow-Horse while threatening to expose his vacation voucher and damage his remaining horn; Cow-Horse responds with sarcasm and anger.
• Their relationship remains adversarial but cooperative: Cow-Horse cannot fully protect Liu Zheng, yet he recognizes Liu Zheng’s unusual ability to survive and gives him a new opportunity to earn money.

Chapter Summary: “Deliberately Careless”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Liu Zheng learns that the legendary deliveryman’s uniform is part of a larger set consisting of a vest, cap, and delivery box. Completing the set may raise its quality to Epic grade.
• He questions Cow-Horse about the legendary deliveryman, discovering that the man worked at the restaurant for thirty years but disappeared before Cow-Horse arrived. Cow-Horse hints that the restaurant is dangerous and that it plans to escape after returning from Paradise Island.
• Cow-Horse advises Liu Zheng to sleep because there are probably no more orders that night. Liu Zheng successfully survives his first day in the strange world and prepares for his second.
• At breakfast, Liu Zheng offers Cow-Horse his meal. Cow-Horse greedily eats most of the food—especially the disgusting “Fishman Eggs”—while Liu Zheng tolerates the arrangement because he does not want to eat them.
• Liu Zheng examines the accompanying drink, discovering that it is an Excellent-quality item called Red-Eyed Snake Mackerel Essence. Its effect produces an urgent bowel movement and treats certain poisons. He decides to save it for trade rather than consume it.
• Ghost Hand assigns two delivery orders. Cow-Horse takes one, leaving Liu Zheng with another delivery to Green Laurel Garden, specifically Room 201 in Building 1.
• Liu Zheng discovers that the meal is a Large Intestine Sashimi Platter, an Excellent-quality healing food with a suspicious remark: “Life is unpredictable; a large intestine wraps around a small intestine.”
• Recognizing that the meal may contain the wrong ingredient, Liu Zheng searches through the platter and finds a small intestine hidden among the large intestines. He realizes the kitchen may have intentionally included it.
• He returns to the break room and provokes Ghost Hand by striking the door panel as it reaches inside. Ghost Hand responds angrily with an obscene gesture before withdrawing.
• A few minutes later, Liu Zheng receives a replacement meal. After inspecting it, he confirms that it contains only large intestines. The item’s remark has changed to, “Was it deliberate, or was it careless?”
• Liu Zheng takes the corrected order and enters the dark passageway to complete the delivery.

Character Developments

• Liu Zheng becomes more observant and confident. He is no longer merely trying to survive; he actively analyzes item descriptions, recognizes possible sabotage, and challenges the restaurant’s mysterious staff.
• His experience working near a hospital proves useful when he identifies the small intestine hidden in the meal.
• Liu Zheng also displays increasing boldness and humor, mocking Ghost Hand and enjoying its startled reaction.
• Cow-Horse is shown to be opportunistic and somewhat selfish, taking Liu Zheng’s breakfast, but it also provides valuable warnings about the restaurant and its dangers.
• Cow-Horse’s comments reveal fear and dissatisfaction beneath its casual attitude, suggesting it is planning to flee the restaurant.
• Ghost Hand appears mischievous or deliberately careless in preparing orders, but it also demonstrates a temper and a willingness to correct the meal after Liu Zheng notices the mistake.

Significant Themes

• Survival through attentiveness: Liu Zheng’s ability to inspect item descriptions and identify irregularities prevents him from delivering a potentially dangerous or incorrect order.
• Deliberate negligence and hidden malice: The chapter questions whether the wrong ingredient was included by accident or intentionally, emphasizing the uncertainty and danger of the restaurant.
• Exploitation and escape: Cow-Horse’s desire to leave the restaurant suggests that the workplace is oppressive or lethal, despite its outwardly ordinary routines.
• Adaptation to the bizarre: Liu Zheng increasingly treats grotesque food, supernatural workers, and strange item effects as manageable parts of his job.
• Power and defiance: Liu Zheng’s interaction with Ghost Hand marks a small act of rebellion against the mysterious force controlling the restaurant.

Character Interactions

• Liu Zheng and Cow-Horse discuss the legendary deliveryman, the delivery uniform set, and the restaurant’s dangers.
• Cow-Horse takes advantage of Liu Zheng’s generosity by eating much of his breakfast, while Liu Zheng quietly accepts the tradeoff.
• Liu Zheng and Ghost Hand engage in a silent confrontation: Liu Zheng slams the door to intimidate it, and Ghost Hand retaliates with a middle finger.
• Their exchange establishes a growing rivalry and suggests that Liu Zheng is beginning to resist the restaurant’s strange rules rather than passively obeying them.