Chapter Summaries

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• A flock of dangerous Vulture Crows begins frightening the Flymen, threatening to make them abandon their work. Liu Zheng gives the Flymen ten minutes to control the situation, threatening to send them to the Sewer if they fail.
• The intelligent Flyman uses pheromones—by spreading saliva from its mouthparts—to calm the other Flymen. This only buys them roughly ten minutes and does not eliminate their fear.
• Liu Zheng tries to find a way to repel the birds. Nile Doctor admits he has a possible long-range attack, but its effectiveness is uncertain. The others have no obvious solutions.
• Liu Zheng asks about the birds’ identity. The Flyman leader knows only that their name is embedded in their bloodline memory and that they are dangerous.
• The group considers researching Vulture Crows online, but Nile Doctor and Guokou Tangzi explain that useful professional knowledge is restricted, expensive, or risky to obtain. Nile Doctor contacts the widow and former associates of a deceased ornithologist, eventually learning that Vulture Crows fear strong light and intense smells.
• Nile Doctor prepares a powerful light-based divine spell, while Guokou Tangzi attempts to repel the birds with strong scallion and garlic aromas. She creates a second soup pot and pours boiling oil over Scallion Head and Garlic Head, releasing an overpowering smell.

Character Developments

• Liu Zheng demonstrates his authority and quick thinking. He motivates the Flyman through a mixture of threats and promises, including access to Sewer food and a possible City Hall position. He also takes charge of investigating the birds’ weaknesses.
• The intelligent Flyman proves loyal and resourceful. Though frightened, it obeys Liu Zheng, calms its species, and salutes him after accepting his command.
• Niu Daji continues serving as translator and comic relief. He casually questions Liu Zheng’s naming choices and is immediately terrified when threatened with being turned into food.
• Nile Doctor is shown to be powerful, knowledgeable, and extremely old, but also evasive and prideful. His exchanges with Liu Zheng reveal a teasing elder-younger relationship, while his actions show that he respects Liu Zheng’s growing strength.
• Guokou Tangzi reveals more about the Ultimate Flavor Group’s bizarre culinary methods and confidently uses its ingredients and tools to solve the crisis.
• Scallion Head and Garlic Head are treated as living culinary ingredients, reinforcing the strange and grotesque nature of the group’s food-based abilities.

Significant Themes

• Authority through fear and reward: Liu Zheng controls his subordinates by combining intimidation with attractive incentives.
• Knowledge as restricted power: The chapter emphasizes that useful information is not freely available; professional knowledge is guarded by qualifications, money, and surveillance.
• The absurdity of Metropolis: Dangerous creatures, bizarre deaths, species extermination, and supernatural bureaucracy are treated as ordinary matters.
• Food and survival: Threats of being eaten, Sewer buffets, medicinal creatures, and culinary combat blur the boundaries between food, people, and monsters.
• Generational and species differences: Liu Zheng’s “Short-Lived Species” perspective contrasts with Nile Doctor’s long-lived experience, creating both comic conflict and mutual respect.

Character Interactions

• Liu Zheng commands the Flyman through Niu Daji, while Niu Daji translates the Flyman’s responses and occasionally makes jokes at his own peril.
• Liu Zheng and Nile Doctor repeatedly trade insults, especially about age, experience, morality, and Liu Zheng’s supposedly “conservative” romantic life. Despite their banter, Nile Doctor supports Liu Zheng and helps obtain crucial information.
• Liu Zheng and Guokou Tangzi discuss whether cooking smells can repel the birds, leading to her unusual demonstration with Scallion Head and Garlic Head.
• Nile Doctor’s phone call produces a series of bizarre misunderstandings involving former spouses and medical expertise, reinforcing the chapter’s dark comedy.
• The chapter ends with the team preparing two possible countermeasures—Nile Doctor’s intense light and Guokou Tangzi’s pungent aromas—against the Vulture Crows.

Chapter Summary: “Quantum Bodhisattva, Saving All Bugs”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Liu Zheng, Nile Doctor, and the Ultimate Flavor Group execute a plan to drive away the Vulture Crows threatening the area.
• Nile Doctor invokes Ra’s power through the Eye of Light, flooding the sky with blinding radiance and disrupting the birds’ vision and formation.
• Guokou Tangzi throws a pot of scallion-and-garlic oil into the flock. The explosion deafens the Vulture Crows and overwhelms their sense of smell, leaving them terrified and disoriented.
• The Vulture Crow leader uses powerful wingbeats to guide the flock away through touch and airflow, successfully removing the immediate threat.
• The French Plane Tree briefly awakens after being fed, but appears to fall back into a sleep-like state. Liu Zheng jokes about its strange eating habits, while Nile Doctor questions the logic of feeding a tree through its mouth.
• Liu Zheng receives an urgent call from the security guards: more than a dozen monks have attacked the building and trapped Sea Woman and her companions.
• A monk’s Buddhist chanting begins affecting the minds of Liu Zheng’s allies. Liu’s system activates “Sanity Decline Immunity,” allowing him to resist the chant, and he quickly hangs up.
• Liu decides to return alone in the tank, leaving Nile Doctor and the others to guard the French Plane Tree. Although he worries about Sea Woman, he prioritizes the French Plane Tree because of their long-standing bond and the Human-Bone Crutch it once gave him.
• At the building, a cybernetic monk attempts to persuade Sea Woman to convert to Buddhism. He claims that the Metaverse will establish the Six Paths of Reincarnation and a Pure Land, but his real goal is to gain merit by converting a powerful protector into a willing Buddhist disciple.
• Nightingale and Vampire Girl resist the monk’s efforts. When he begins forming the Inner Lion Seal to control their bodies, Vampire Girl transforms into a bat and uses ultrasonic waves to interrupt him.
• The monk counters with Buddhist scripture, creating a painful clash of sound and energy. Vampire Girl weakens, so Sea Woman gives her blood to restore her strength.
• The monk eventually shatters the ultrasonic attack with a powerful command and then attacks Vampire Girl with a summoned Five-Clawed Golden Dragon.
• Vampire Girl is too exhausted to defend herself and silently hopes Liu Zheng arrives before the dragon kills her.

Character Developments

• Liu Zheng demonstrates tactical thinking by coordinating the sensory assault on the Vulture Crows. He also shows strong loyalty and decisiveness when choosing to rescue the French Plane Tree rather than divide his forces.
• Nile Doctor proves reliable and remains unaffected by the monks’ mental attack, likely because of Ra’s divine protection. His humorous exchanges with Liu reveal their growing familiarity and mutual trust.
• Guokou Tangzi contributes significantly through her improvised explosive soup attack, emphasizing the Ultimate Flavor Group’s unusual but effective abilities.
• The French Plane Tree remains mysterious and eccentric, awakening only long enough to complain about being unable to eat more before apparently returning to sleep.
• Sea Woman shows compassion and courage by willingly feeding Vampire Girl her own blood, even while under threat from the monk.
• Vampire Girl proves her loyalty by risking herself to protect the others. Despite her protests that she is not a bat, she uses her bat form and ultrasonic abilities to fight.
• Nightingale acts as the group’s strategist and displays knowledge of Buddhist techniques, warning the others about the Inner Lion Seal.
• The cybernetic monk is revealed to be ambitious beneath his seemingly compassionate religious language. He wants to convert Sea Woman willingly so that her achievement of Buddhahood will improve his own spiritual standing.

Significant Themes

• Loyalty and personal bonds: Liu Zheng’s decision to prioritize the French Plane Tree reflects the importance of shared history and emotional debt.
• Teamwork through unconventional methods: Divine light, cooking oil, sensory disruption, and supernatural abilities combine to defeat the Vulture Crows.
• Faith versus coercion: The monk presents conversion as salvation, but his threats and attempts at bodily control reveal the coercive nature of his “mercy.”
• Technology and spirituality: The monk’s artificial body, mechanical prayer beads, cybernetic eyes, and digital Buddhist imagery blend religious symbolism with futuristic technology.
• Sacrifice and mutual aid: Sea Woman sacrifices her own blood to save Vampire Girl, while the group repeatedly relies on one another to survive.
• Humor amid danger: Liu’s jokes about feeding the tree, Nile Doctor’s complaints, and the absurd combination of soup, divine light, and Buddhist cybernetics keep the chapter’s tone irreverent despite the serious threats.

Character Interactions

• Liu Zheng praises Nile Doctor and Guokou Tangzi for their contributions, though neither reacts warmly to his praise.
• Liu and Nile Doctor exchange sarcastic remarks about the French Plane Tree’s eating habits, revealing their comic but dependable partnership.
• Liu gives Nile Doctor responsibility for adapting to emergencies while he rushes to protect Sea Woman and the others.
• The monk repeatedly tries to persuade Sea Woman to convert, threatening her friends to pressure her.
• Nightingale directs Vampire Girl during the battle and identifies the monk’s techniques.
• Vampire Girl and Sea Woman cooperate closely, with Sea Woman sustaining Vampire Girl by giving her blood.
• The monk’s attack on Vampire Girl turns the confrontation from spiritual persuasion into open violence, ending the chapter with her in mortal danger and awaiting Liu Zheng’s arrival.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• Nightingale blasts the Five-Clawed Golden Dragon with a cannon and then finishes it with a second shot, destroying it completely. She proudly asserts that she is not someone to be underestimated.
• Monk Dade recognizes Nightingale’s combat style as resembling that of her father, revealing that he knew and previously clashed with him. He claims her father had an affinity with Buddhism and expresses interest in recruiting Nightingale and Vampire Girl into the Buddhist Order.
• Dade offers to take the two women to a temple to study Buddhism, promising to return them if they lack religious affinity. Nightingale distrusts him and suspects the monks intend to imprison or harm them.
• Dade begins counting down while threatening to act, but Liu Zheng arrives before the confrontation can escalate.
• Liu Zheng identifies himself as a Deliveryman from Bloodstained Restaurant and demands access to deliver food to Vampire Girl in apartment 1219.
• Dade initially orders his disciples to stop Liu Zheng, but backs down when Liu Zheng produces a Tindalos Chew Toy capable of summoning a dangerous Tindalos Hound. Liu Zheng threatens to release it into the Metaverse.
• After discovering that Liu Zheng’s delivery is meant for the occupants of apartment 1219—the same people he is confronting—Dade attempts to take the delivery himself. Liu Zheng refuses, suspecting Dade would steal or consume it.
• Dade abandons negotiations and uses Buddhist magic to immobilize Liu Zheng, ordering his three disciples to capture him.
• The Doghead intervenes, striking the monks and injuring one of them, though his own claws are badly damaged. Liu Zheng then offers him two hundred thousand to kill the monks.

Character Developments

• Nightingale demonstrates overwhelming firepower and a bold, confrontational personality. Her relationship with her father becomes significant, as Dade’s past association with him links her to the Buddhist Order.
• Monk Dade appears calm and polite but is manipulative, coercive, and ambitious. His interest in recruiting Nightingale and Liu Zheng is partly motivated by the merit and advancement it would bring him, particularly his desire to reach the Bodhisattva Fruit Rank.
• Liu Zheng remains reckless, fearless, and aggressively protective of his delivery duties. He uses intimidation and dark humor to exploit the Buddhist Order’s fear of the Tindalos Hound.
• Vampire Girl is relieved when Liu Zheng arrives, viewing him as a powerful ally capable of rescuing her.
• The Doghead proves willing to defend Liu Zheng and fight powerful opponents, even while suffering serious physical damage.
• Dade’s disciples—Zhiwu, Zhizhang, and Zhikong— are obedient and formidable, immediately following their master’s orders.

Significant Themes

• Power and intimidation: Characters constantly test one another through displays of force, from Nightingale’s artillery to Liu Zheng’s Tindalos weapon.
• Distrust beneath politeness: Dade speaks in the language of compassion and friendship, but his actions reveal coercive intentions. Nightingale and Liu Zheng remain suspicious of his promises.
• Conviction in the face of death: Liu Zheng explains that Deliverymen accept the possibility of dying on every assignment, presenting their fatalism as the source of their courage.
• Religious rhetoric versus self-interest: Dade invokes Buddhist compassion, vows, and karma while pursuing personal advancement and attempting to forcibly recruit others.
• Loyalty and mutual protection: Nightingale helps Vampire Girl partly because of her connection to Liu Zheng, while the Doghead risks injury to protect him.

Character Interactions

• Nightingale and Dade engage in a tense battle of sarcasm and negotiation, with Nightingale mocking his vows and refusing to accept his assurances.
• Dade treats Nightingale as both a threat and a potential recruit because of her connection to her father.
• Liu Zheng’s arrival shifts the balance of power. His delivery obligation places him directly against Dade, whose monks are blocking his route.
• Liu Zheng and Dade exchange threats disguised as formal conversation, culminating in Dade’s decision to attack.
• The Doghead’s intervention prevents Liu Zheng from being captured and transforms the standoff into an open fight between the Buddhist monks and Liu Zheng’s allies.

Chapter Summary: “Doghead: Pay Me More, Woof!”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Liu Zheng bribes the Doghead security guards by offering 10,000 currency units for every monk they kill. Though the monks are unmoved by the offer, the guards—whose wages are relatively low—are highly motivated.
• Doghead Koude accepts the deal and activates Bloodline Reversion, transforming into a powerful Dragonkin with scales, horns, wings, and enhanced magical abilities.
• Koude attacks the three monks, beginning with Monk Zhizhang. It casts Beadfire, launching nine explosive fireballs, but Monk Dade counters with Great Grace and Virtue Palm, extinguishing the attack.
• Koude uses several Dragon Shouts:
  • Force Will, which fails to control the opponents but still stuns them.
  • Slow Time, slowing everyone’s perception.
  • Elemental Fury, increasing its attack speed.
  • Dragon Soul Awakening, strengthening its defenses and spell resistance.
• Empowered by these buffs, Koude focuses on Monk Dade. Dade views the Dragonkin as a potential Buddhist guardian and hopes to subdue or recruit it for his temple.
• Meanwhile, Liu Zheng continues provoking Dade and attacks the QR code on his arm, apparently the monks’ vulnerability. Dade easily deflects Liu’s weapons and demonstrates overwhelming strength with his Vajra Finger technique.
• Dade pierces Liu Zheng’s head and destroys much of his face, seemingly killing him.
• Fearing that Liu’s death will cost it the promised reward, Koude casts the powerful ninth-level spell Edict: Slaughter. The spell strikes Dade, dims the QR code on his arm, and appears to kill him.
• Koude reverts to its ordinary form and collapses, lamenting the loss of its payment. However, Dade unexpectedly speaks again, revealing that he has survived or possesses another means of resurrection.

Character Developments

• Liu Zheng is shown to be manipulative, opportunistic, and fearless. He uses money to turn the guards against the monks and constantly insults Dade, even while defending himself from deadly attacks.
• Koude is established as an exceptionally powerful but unstable Doghead. Its multiple conflicting bloodlines make Bloodline Reversion dangerous and unpredictable, though they also grant it extraordinary combat potential. Its greed and concern over payment remain stronger than its fear of death.
• Yang Dali provides important context about Koude’s history, explaining why the company values it despite its dangerous transformations. Koude’s instability has prevented it from advancing beyond a senior ordinary security position.
• Monk Dade appears calm, confident, and highly skilled. He is both pious and ambitious: he wants to turn Koude into a Buddhist dragon guardian because doing so could improve his chances of becoming abbot. His supposedly fatal defeat by Edict: Slaughter adds mystery to his capabilities.
• The other monks, particularly Zhizhang, are largely overshadowed by the confrontation between Koude, Liu Zheng, and Dade, though Zhizhang attempts an attack during the chaos.

Significant Themes

• Money as motivation: Liu Zheng’s bribe demonstrates the power of immediate material incentives, especially among workers whose wages are low. The monks’ ideological commitment contrasts with the guards’ practical concerns.
• Work and social value: The argument over whether monks “produce nothing” satirizes labor, wages, and economic contribution. Dade’s claim that the Buddhist Order mines Primordial Coins highlights the chapter’s blend of spiritual traditions and modern economic activity.
• Identity and inherited power: Koude’s transformation shows how bloodline, ancestry, and conflicting origins can shape both physical ability and mental stability.
• Faith versus pragmatism: Dade interprets Koude through Buddhist doctrine and sees a potential sacred guardian, while Liu and Koude view the fight in terms of survival and payment.
• Appearance versus reality: Liu’s apparent death and Dade’s apparent defeat both prove unreliable. The chapter repeatedly emphasizes that characters—and even their bodies—may not function as they seem.
• Humor amid danger: Insults about wages, mining “virtual coins,” Buddhist hypocrisy, and Koude’s desperate cries about its money create comic relief during a lethal battle.

Character Interactions

• Liu and Koude form a temporary employer–mercenary partnership based entirely on payment.
• Liu antagonizes Monk Dade through insults about the monks’ lack of productive work and Dade’s claims of Buddhist supremacy.
• Dade treats Koude as a potential dragon guardian rather than merely an enemy, while Koude attacks him to secure its bonus.
• Yang Dali’s warning about Koude’s instability shows the guards’ familiarity with and concern for their dangerous colleague.
• Koude ultimately saves Liu after Dade appears to kill him, not out of loyalty but because Liu’s survival is necessary for Koude to receive payment.
• The chapter ends with Dade apparently surviving Edict: Slaughter, setting up a continued confrontation.

Chapter Summary: “Happy New Year, Guys (and a Leave Request)”

• Key events: The narrator returns from a trip feeling ill, experiencing dizziness, fever, chills, throat tightness, and mouth ulcers. A test confirms that they have contracted COVID-19 again. Because it is New Year’s Day, they decide to rest and take a short break, while reminding readers to wear masks when traveling.
• Author’s 2024 reflection: The narrator describes the past year as a mixture of achievements and hardships. They wrote a novel that gained more than ten thousand subscribers, paid off a significant amount of debt, and improved their living conditions. However, they were also diagnosed with a mental illness, and medication side effects severely disrupted their sleep and eating habits.
• Character development: Although the narrator is uncertain whether 2024 was ultimately positive or negative, they have learned to accept circumstances and continue forward. They compare this attitude to Liu Zheng, who also keeps moving ahead because he has no other choice. The narrator notes that the medication’s side effects may be becoming more manageable as their body adjusts.
• Themes: The chapter focuses on illness and self-care, resilience in the face of unavoidable difficulties, acceptance, gradual recovery, and hope for improvement. It also reflects on the balance between personal success and mental-health struggles.
• Character interactions: The narrator directly addresses the reader in a warm, informal, and humorous manner, offering health advice and New Year’s wishes. They hope readers will have smooth, prosperous lives and jokingly ask them to send tips—specifically a Silver Treasure Chest whenever they win a large amount from scratch-off lottery tickets.
• Looking ahead: For 2025, the narrator hopes to update more frequently, give readers more enjoyment, and eliminate their remaining debts.

Chapter Summary: “Colonel, Shoot Him!”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Monk Dade survives his apparent death by chanting the Ksitigarbha’s Fundamental Vow Sutra, while the Thousand-Petal Azure Lotus protects his body.
• Liu Zheng attacks the lotus but realizes that destroying all its petals would take too long. He instead rushes toward Room 1219, where the target is located.
• Monk Dade attempts to preserve the mission by using an Electronic Śarīra to possess one of his disciples. He chooses Zhizhang’s body because it is the most suitable host.
• Zhizhang desperately flees, unwilling to sacrifice his life, but his fellow disciples Zhikong and Zhiwu restrain him with the Dragon-Subduing Hand.
• The old monk’s consciousness enters Zhizhang’s prosthetic body, greatly increasing his power. He confronts Liu Zheng and attacks him with the Divine Foot Power and Great Grace and Virtue Palm.
• Liu Zheng uses Shi Tiantian’s Little Flower to gain stone skin, but the palm still destroys his heart. He uses the attack’s remaining force to break the Vajra Fourfold Meditation Ring and enter Room 1219.
• Liu Zheng orders Vampire Girl and the others to escape. Nightingale blasts open the window, Sea Woman throws Liu Zheng into a tank, and Nightingale fires a powerful shell to delay the pursuing monk.
• The old monk survives the explosion and attempts to stop the escape with laser attacks. Liu Zheng orders Colonel Hound to fire, and the gunfire disrupts the lasers long enough for the group to flee.
• The monks pursue them, but Captain Yang Dali orders the security guards to stop fighting, reasoning that they have already been adequately paid and should not risk their lives.

Character Developments

• Liu Zheng demonstrates tactical intelligence rather than relying solely on brute force. He quickly abandons the plan to destroy the lotus and instead targets the formation and escape route. Despite suffering a fatal-looking injury, he remains focused and sarcastic.
• Monk Dade is revealed to be pragmatic and ruthless. He is willing to sacrifice his disciple’s body to complete the mission and protect his position within the monastery.
• Zhizhang changes from a disciplined monk into a terrified, defiant individual when faced with death. His anger toward his fellow disciples exposes the limits of his loyalty and faith.
• Zhikong and Zhiwu initially hesitate to betray Zhizhang, but fear of punishment forces them to obey. Their actions show how the monastery’s hierarchy and threats override personal bonds.
• The old monk emerges as a powerful and hypocritical figure: he preaches Buddhist compassion and detachment while coercing others and forcibly taking control of Zhizhang’s body.
• Nightingale, Sea Woman, and Hound work efficiently as Liu Zheng’s escape team. Their quick cooperation allows the group to survive despite overwhelming opposition.
• Yang Dali proves practical and self-preserving, recognizing when continuing the battle is no longer worth the risk.

Significant Themes

• Religious doctrine versus selfish conduct: The monks invoke Buddhist vows, sacrifice, and enlightenment, yet act through coercion, violence, and self-preservation.
• The value of life and sacrifice: Zhizhang rejects the idea that his life is expendable, challenging the monastery’s claim that sacrifice is spiritually noble.
• Technology and spirituality: Buddhist relics, sutras, supernatural abilities, prosthetic bodies, QR codes, lasers, and electronic consciousness coexist, creating a cybernetic version of religious power.
• Pragmatism and survival: Liu Zheng’s group repeatedly prioritizes escape and practical action over pride or prolonged combat.
• Institutional control: The monastery maintains loyalty through threats of punishment, expulsion, and horrifying retribution rather than genuine faith.
• Humor amid danger: Liu Zheng’s insults and the absurdly modern presentation of Buddhist powers undercut the chapter’s deadly violence and maintain its irreverent tone.

Character Interactions

• Liu Zheng and Monk Dade clash over the lotus, the formation, and the escape, with Liu Zheng mocking Dade’s Buddhist identity throughout.
• Monk Dade and the old monk cooperate in sacrificing Zhizhang, while Zhizhang openly protests the injustice of being used as a replacement body.
• Zhikong and Zhiwu betray Zhizhang under the old monk’s orders, revealing the conflict between their brotherly bonds and obedience to authority.
• Liu Zheng coordinates closely with Vampire Girl, Nightingale, Sea Woman, and Hound, turning their separate abilities into a successful escape.
• Captain Yang Dali and the security guards ultimately choose survival over continued loyalty to the mission, ending the chapter with the enemy in pursuit but the protagonists temporarily safe.

Chapter Summary: “Bombing the Metropolis”

Plot and major events

Liu Zheng and his companions flee toward Rose Street in the modified Hound tank, anticipating that their attempt to bomb the old monk might fail and that they may need to fight the cyber monks directly. The driver activates the tank’s NO Propellant, doubling its speed and temporarily pulling away from the pursuing monk. However, the monk combines the power of the surrounding cyber monks through their QR-code markings and traps Hound in a giant Buddha’s Palm.
Liu chooses a relatively empty park as the bombing site to reduce civilian casualties. He uses the Frogfish King’s Resonance Sac to create a powerful sonic blast, then feeds that energy into a Hand-Crank Air-Raid Siren. The siren summons a series of military bombers from the clouds, beginning with the driver’s favored He 111 “Vulture.”
The monk attempts to defend his followers with the Great Luo Dharma Robe, but the bombers’ attacks force him to make a difficult choice: return the borrowed power to the other monks so they can move, or retain it and preserve his own strength. He prioritizes Monk Dade and the larger mission, leaving the other monks largely helpless. After destroying the first bomber with a Flame Blade, he protects himself with the Great Luo Dharma Robe and Arhat Golden Body while relying on another defensive treasure to protect Monk Dade.
Multiple waves of bombers—including Il-4s, Lancasters, B-17s, B-24s, and Manchesters—drop their bombs. Hound is repeatedly blasted into the air but survives. When the bombardment ends, the driver reports that every monk except one has been killed. Even the old monk’s defenses fail, leaving him as a pile of golden debris. The chapter ends with Liu Zheng asking who survived.

Character development

• Liu Zheng shows tactical awareness and limited but genuine concern for innocent lives by choosing a deserted area before launching the airstrike. He remains willing to use extreme force but recognizes the destructive consequences of his actions. His verbal exchanges with the monk also reveal his growing confidence and refusal to submit rhetorically.
• The driver/Colonel displays both technical expertise and pride in his tank modifications. He is eager to showcase Red Ghost’s military technology and treats the airstrike with nostalgic enthusiasm, suggesting a deep connection to warfare and his former identity. Despite his bravado, he understands the limits of Hound and the risks of revealing its full capabilities.
• The old monk proves powerful, experienced, and adaptable, using several defensive and offensive techniques. However, his decision to retain the monks’ combined power shows that he values Monk Dade and the continuation of his religious lineage above the lives of the lesser monks. His confidence gradually gives way to desperation as the bombardment escalates.
• The cyber monks sacrifice their individual strength by transferring their QR-code power to the old monk. This makes them unable to defend themselves, emphasizing their dependence on their leader.
• Monk Dade becomes the monk’s central priority, though his survival is left unresolved at the chapter’s end.

Character interactions

Liu and the driver maintain a teasing but cooperative relationship, with Liu provoking the driver to reveal Hound’s capabilities and the driver boasting about his modifications. Liu and the old monk exchange opposing moral accusations: the monk condemns Bloodstained Restaurant’s violence, while Liu invokes justice against the monks. Their argument is ultimately settled through combat rather than persuasion. The old monk also interacts strategically with his disciples, absorbing their strength and deciding that preserving his chosen heir matters more than protecting everyone.

Significant themes

• Destructive power and collateral damage: The chapter contrasts overwhelming military technology with supernatural defenses and highlights the danger of indiscriminate attacks.
• Sacrifice and leadership: The old monk’s choice to preserve his own power and protect Monk Dade raises questions about whether leaders should save the many or preserve the group’s future through a chosen successor.
• Technology versus spiritual power: Tanks, bombers, sonic weapons, QR-code energy, Buddhist spells, and magical defenses all compete on the same battlefield.
• Moral ambiguity: Neither side has clean moral authority. Liu acknowledges the violence of his own faction, while the monk condemns it despite participating in a mission involving force and domination.
• Nostalgia for war: The driver’s delight at seeing the bombers and his references to past weapons reveal an unsettling affection for military destruction.

Chapter Summary: “Monks Are Hard to Kill”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Liu Zheng attacks Monk Dade, the “Flower Monk,” who is immobilized but protected by thousands of Green Lotus Petals while chanting the Kṣitigarbha Bodhisattva’s Fundamental Vow Sutra.
• Despite Monk Dade’s defensive Buddhist techniques, Liu Zheng steadily destroys the lotus petals and eventually severs and destroys Dade’s artificial body.
• Monk Dade continues chanting even after decapitation and dismemberment, revealing backup power or redundant systems. His remains then self-destruct in a massive explosion.
• Liu Zheng survives by diving into a shell crater. He collects fragments of Dade’s Golden Body and stores them in the Legendary Delivery Box, uncertain whether the monk is truly dead or merely backed up elsewhere.
• Wanting to retaliate against the monks involved in Sea Woman’s kidnapping, Liu Zheng seeks advice on reporting them. Silver Wolf directs him toward the Sanitation Bureau, while Nightingale contacts her Public Security Division acquaintance, “God’s One Draw.”
• Nightingale successfully trades two valuable limited-edition cards for the promise that God’s One Draw will file a report.
• Liu Zheng also learns that the recent battle severely injured the security staff: two died, four were seriously wounded, and nearly everyone else suffered minor injuries. The old security guard, Brother Dou, has been hospitalized at a psychiatric clinic after suffering mental trauma.
• Liu Zheng promises to cover the deceased workers’ funeral and compensation costs, as well as medical expenses, though the company claims it will reimburse them.

Character Developments

• Liu Zheng remains ruthless and practical in combat, but he also shows responsibility and compassion. He ensures the injured guards receive care and worries about Brother Dou’s future, recognizing the human cost of the battle.
• Monk Dade is revealed to be extraordinarily difficult to kill. His unwavering chanting contrasts with his intense fury, suggesting powerful Buddhist discipline despite his emotional hatred of Liu Zheng.
• Nightingale demonstrates loyalty and resourcefulness by using her connections to help Sea Woman, though she is visibly distressed at having to sacrifice treasured championship cards.
• Sea Woman becomes more emotionally supportive of Liu Zheng, unexpectedly comforting him over Brother Dou’s condition. Their relationship appears to be growing closer, despite her usually detached demeanor.
• Silver Wolf continues acting as a dependable fixer and advisor, helping Liu Zheng navigate the city’s bureaucratic systems.
• God’s One Draw is established as flirtatious, shameless, and opportunistic, demanding valuable cards in exchange for official assistance.

Significant Themes

• The difficulty and uncertainty of death: Monk Dade’s repeated survival and possible data backups blur the boundary between death and destruction for electronic lifeforms.
• Technology versus spirituality: Dade’s Buddhist chanting and lotus defenses coexist with artificial bodies, QR-code systems, backup power, and self-destruction mechanisms.
• Consequences of violence: The battle’s aftermath emphasizes that victory comes with civilian casualties, trauma, and financial responsibility.
• Loyalty and mutual obligation: Liu Zheng’s willingness to compensate the guards, and Nightingale’s sacrifice for Sea Woman, show the group’s growing sense of solidarity.
• Bureaucracy as a weapon: Instead of confronting every monk directly, Liu Zheng turns to government departments and institutional channels to create trouble for them.
• Humor amid danger: Musical comparisons, flirtatious banter, and Liu Zheng’s sarcastic remarks lighten the otherwise brutal combat and tragic aftermath.

Important Character Interactions

• Liu Zheng taunts Monk Dade while destroying his defenses, creating a comic contrast between violent hacking and solemn scripture recitation.
• Liu Zheng, Nightingale, and Sea Woman bicker playfully about relationships and household authority, revealing increasing familiarity among the group.
• Nightingale’s call with God’s One Draw becomes a negotiation filled with sexual jokes and teasing before she secures his help.
• Liu Zheng speaks respectfully with Manager Zhen about the injured security workers and takes personal responsibility for their welfare.
• Sea Woman’s quiet reassurance surprises Liu Zheng and marks a rare moment of genuine emotional connection between them.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• Liu Zheng and his companions travel by tank toward Rose Street after the destructive battle. Vampire Girl playfully clings to him, while the group jokes about their relationships.
• The Sanitation Bureau and Public Security Division arrive at the devastated street. Public Security merely photographs the area because the main crime scene is elsewhere, while the Sanitation Bureau begins assessing the enormous repair costs.
• The Sanitation Bureau leader angrily blames Bloodstained Restaurant and the monks’ illegal prosthetic workshops for the destruction. Unable to confront Bloodstained Restaurant directly, he plans retaliatory enforcement against the monks and orders the estimated losses to be inflated by thirty percent.
• Back at the apartment, Guokou Tangzi, the Potato Sisters, Sea Woman, Nightingale, and Vampire Girl engage in a tense, comedic rivalry over their supposed romantic positions around Liu Zheng. Their arguing repeatedly drags Liu into an exaggerated “family” drama.
• The group plays miniature, expandable mahjong. Liu Zheng is deliberately targeted by the three women at his table, who openly cooperate against him and force him to pay their winnings.
• French Plane Tree awakens after recovering from the previous battle. When they release a cloud of pale green breath, Nile Doctor shields Liu Zheng and absorbs it, causing plants to grow over his body. He burns them away with the fire of his Winged Dragon Golden Crown.
• French Plane Tree explains that the breath contained overflowing Natural Divine Power. They then transform by forming a root-covered flower bud and shrinking into a smaller but more refined and powerful tree form, with vines, fresh leaves, moss-covered bones, and an even more grotesque appearance.
• Ginseng Baby emerges from the soil, having grown significantly after absorbing part of the Natural Divine Power. French Plane Tree reveals that Ginseng Baby has become connected to them like a retainer and may evolve alongside them in the future.
• Liu Zheng realizes that Ginseng Baby may now technically belong to French Plane Tree and begins considering how much compensation or value he can extract from this development.

Character Developments

• Liu Zheng remains the practical, sarcastic center of the group. He manages the chaos, threatens people when necessary, and immediately looks for ways to profit from Ginseng Baby’s altered status.
• Vampire Girl continues to treat Liu Zheng as her exclusive “husband” and becomes jealous and combative when challenged. Despite her injuries, she remains energetic and possessive.
• Nightingale, Sea Woman, and Guokou Tangzi form a temporary alliance against Liu Zheng during mahjong, emphasizing their competitive and flirtatious hostility toward one another and him.
• Nile Doctor demonstrates his loyalty and protective instincts by intercepting French Plane Tree’s dangerous breath. His ability to survive and purge the plant growth also highlights his unusual resilience and powers.
• French Plane Tree becomes more powerful and self-confident after absorbing Natural Divine Power. Their transformation gives them a more concentrated, elegant form, while their arrogance and antagonistic relationship with Liu Zheng remain unchanged.
• Ginseng Baby grows physically and becomes timidly dependent on French Plane Tree for protection. Their connection appears to have changed their status from an independent being into something resembling a subordinate or retainer.
• Niu Daji shows his instinctive loyalty to Liu Zheng by accepting the insult of being called ugly, recognizing that taking the blame is part of being a good subordinate.

Significant Themes

• Comedic found family and chaotic relationships: The group behaves like a dysfunctional household, with mock marriages, jealousy, insults, and playful threats replacing conventional affection.
• Power, ownership, and hierarchy: Ginseng Baby’s transformation raises questions about possession, retainers, evolution, and whether supernatural beings can be treated as property.
• Consequences of supernatural conflict: The damaged road and the Sanitation Bureau’s reaction emphasize that battles have mundane financial and bureaucratic consequences.
• Absorption and transformation: Natural Divine Power changes both French Plane Tree and Ginseng Baby, showing how power can reshape bodies, identities, and relationships.
• Loyalty beneath hostility: Although the characters constantly insult and threaten one another, they protect each other in danger, particularly Nile Doctor’s intervention on Liu Zheng’s behalf.

Character Interactions

• Vampire Girl competes with Guokou Tangzi and Nightingale over her status with Liu Zheng, while Sea Woman joins in mocking him.
• Liu Zheng attempts to stop their romantic theatrics but is repeatedly dragged into them.
• Nightingale, Sea Woman, and Guokou Tangzi cooperate during mahjong to exploit Liu Zheng, intimidating him whenever he protests.
• Nile Doctor protects Liu Zheng from French Plane Tree’s poisonous-looking breath and is temporarily transformed into a plant-covered figure.
• Liu Zheng and French Plane Tree trade insults over the tree’s arrogance, its dependence on others during recovery, and its fear of Fire Mage.
• French Plane Tree protects Ginseng Baby and encourages them to approach Liu Zheng, while Ginseng Baby remains visibly frightened of him.
• Liu Zheng examines Ginseng Baby’s changed condition and begins negotiating—implicitly and opportunistically—over their new value.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• Liu Zheng negotiates with French Plane Tree for valuable items that can help him survive and manage the power of nature.
• After an argument, French Plane Tree gives him the Crystal of Nature’s Resentment, a single-use item that drains life force, attacks the soul with resentment, and can grow a Soul Flower or Soul Seed.
• Although the tree calls it worthless, Liu Zheng recognizes its potential and refuses to return it, insisting that anything placed in his hands becomes his property.
• French Plane Tree then offers a second item, the Half-Withered Yarrow, which can alter Luck for an entire dungeon instance or enhance divination. Liu Zheng accepts it despite uncertainty about the unpredictable nature of Luck.
• The group jokes that Liu Zheng and French Plane Tree resemble a bickering couple. Their argument also reveals how familiar—and mutually insulting—their relationship has become.
• Nightingale teases Vampire Girl about romance, virginity, and Liu Zheng’s preferences. The exchange becomes increasingly vulgar until Sea Woman retaliates by violently shoving a fishing rod through Nightingale’s mouth and stomach. Vampire Girl soon suffers the same fate when she joins in.
• Nile Doctor reflects on Sesha’s future marriage into Liu Zheng’s circle. Concerned about his own weak social position, he becomes motivated to improve his standing through investment and practical contributions.
• After the negotiations, Liu Zheng orders Sea Woman to take Flyman and others to the Sewer to eat and work the next day.
• Sea Woman refuses, prompting Liu Zheng to threaten her with a written declaration absolving him of responsibility for her safety. He harshly reminds her that her recent weakness nearly got everyone killed and that surviving requires following his plans.
• Sea Woman becomes extremely agitated under his verbal assault. The chapter ends with Nightingale realizing that Sea Woman is not about to explode—she is about to “leak,” implying an embarrassing or bodily emotional reaction.

Character Developments

• Liu Zheng becomes increasingly assertive and calculating. He uses intimidation to protect his authority, refuses to be exploited, and values practical survival over sentiment. His willingness to preserve old relationships depends on whether the other party respects and reciprocates them.
• French Plane Tree remains proud, irritable, and greedy, but its continued bargaining with Liu Zheng shows trust and familiarity. Its gifts suggest it values their relationship despite constantly accusing him of robbery.
• Nile Doctor displays his usual sarcastic and vulgar personality, but he also develops a serious motivation: he wants to improve his status so Sesha will be treated well if she marries into Liu Zheng’s circle.
• Sea Woman shows pride and resistance toward Liu Zheng’s commands, but her intense emotional reaction reveals that his criticism affects her deeply. Her refusal to obey contrasts with Liu Zheng’s increasingly controlling protective behavior.
• Nightingale continues acting as the group’s provocative instigator, using sexual jokes to tease others and expose their emotional weaknesses.
• Vampire Girl is revealed to be naïve about sexual matters despite her species’ reputation, and her jealousy toward Nightingale suggests romantic feelings for Liu Zheng.
• Guokou Tangzi and the others become more comfortable with one another after cooperating against Liu Zheng, contributing to the increasingly chaotic group dynamic.

Significant Themes

• Pragmatism versus sentiment: Liu Zheng protects French Plane Tree because of their past, but he makes clear that loyalty has limits and must be mutual.
• Power and authority: Liu Zheng maintains control through resources, threats, and his willingness to abandon those who refuse his instructions.
• Unusual relationships and intimacy: The group’s interactions blur the lines between friendship, rivalry, romance, and mutual exploitation.
• Survival in a dangerous world: Items, alliances, Luck, and obedience are treated as essential tools for staying alive.
• Social status and marriage: Nile Doctor’s thoughts highlight how family background, professional position, and material investment influence treatment within powerful groups.
• Comedy through vulgarity and absurdity: The chapter repeatedly undercuts serious danger with insults, sexual jokes, and bizarre physical humor.

Important Character Interactions

• Liu Zheng and French Plane Tree: Their prolonged negotiation resembles a quarrel between an old married couple. Both insult the other, yet they continue exchanging valuable resources.
• Nightingale and Vampire Girl: Nightingale deliberately provokes Vampire Girl about Liu Zheng and sexual relationships. Vampire Girl responds defensively, revealing jealousy and innocence.
• Nightingale and Sea Woman: Nightingale drags Sea Woman into her jokes, leading Sea Woman to punish her physically with a fishing rod.
• Vampire Girl and Nightingale: Their rivalry escalates when Vampire Girl attempts to mock Nightingale and receives the same punishment.
• Nile Doctor and Niu Daji: Nile Doctor tries to learn whether the group’s chaotic behavior is normal, but Niu Daji is too new to know.
• Liu Zheng and Sea Woman: Their confrontation centers on obedience and survival. Liu Zheng uses harsh words to force Sea Woman to accept his protection, while her intense reaction suggests wounded pride, embarrassment, or deeper feelings.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• Liu Zheng tries to stop Sea Woman from behaving indecently, using exaggerated threats and flirtatious jokes. His attempts to charm her only partly work, and Sea Woman eventually leads the Flymen toward the sewers.
• Vampire Girl asks to sleep with Liu Zheng, but he redirects her to the Bloodstained Restaurant. She reluctantly follows Sea Woman after being reminded of the danger of becoming food.
• Liu Zheng asks Nile Doctor about divination so he can understand the powers of the half-withered Yarrow Stalk and the Black Carp Dragon Grievance Relic. Nile Doctor recommends the Everything Shop in the Black Market, reputed to provide highly accurate divinations.
• Liu Zheng contacts Cow-Horse, who confirms that the Black Market is opening that night. Despite complaining about being dragged out after work, Cow-Horse agrees to meet Liu Zheng at the Delivery Passage.
• Liu Zheng and Nile Doctor discuss humanity’s reputation. Nile Doctor describes humans as the freest and most adaptable race, though that freedom can be dangerous and morally unstable.
• Before leaving, Liu Zheng and Nile Doctor formally affirm their friendship. Liu Zheng vows to defend the Descendants of Ra, while Nile Doctor promises that his people will support Liu Zheng in return.
• Niu Daji and the Ultimate Flavor Group join the pledge. Guokou Tangzi promises that the group will not use the Descendants of Ra as ingredients except in extreme circumstances, establishing a new alliance.
• Liu Zheng visits the French Plane Tree and pressures it into thanking him for his earlier assistance. After receiving the reluctant thanks, he gives the tree dried fish as a snack.
• Liu Zheng returns to the restaurant and sees the tank driver off. Cow-Horse then emerges from the Delivery Passage with a split horn, explaining that it fought a Xiezhi after the creature insulted its horn.
• Cow-Horse demands a “hardship fee” from Liu Zheng for helping him, repeatedly forcing Liu Zheng to hand over more money. The two finally set off together toward the Black Market.

Character Developments and Interactions

• Liu Zheng continues to rely on humor, threats, and shameless bargaining to control difficult situations. Beneath his teasing manner, he is increasingly protective of those who have helped him and is actively building a network of allies.
• Sea Woman remains susceptible to Liu Zheng’s provocative comments, though she eventually becomes irritated and takes refuge in work rather than continuing the conversation.
• Vampire Girl shows her possessive affection for Liu Zheng, but she is also easily intimidated by the possibility of being cooked or eaten.
• Nile Doctor reveals his gratitude and loyalty to Liu Zheng. His speech about the abandonment of the Descendants of Ra emphasizes how deeply he values the friendship.
• Guokou Tangzi moves from a potentially exploitative relationship with the Descendants of Ra to a formal alliance, demonstrating that the Ultimate Flavor Group is capable of honoring mutual trust.
• The French Plane Tree remains arrogant and suspicious, but Liu Zheng’s manipulation reminds it that its path toward freedom and evolution depended partly on his help. Their relationship remains antagonistic but cooperative.
• Cow-Horse continues its role as Liu Zheng’s sarcastic employer and reluctant partner. Its fight with the Xiezhi highlights its pride and combative nature, while its aggressive demands for payment show its practical, self-interested personality.

Significant Themes

• Friendship amid a hostile world: Metropolis is portrayed as a place where betrayal and exploitation are common, making genuine loyalty unusually valuable.
• Reciprocity and gratitude: Liu Zheng insists on being thanked, while the Descendants of Ra and Ultimate Flavor Group establish a relationship based on mutual support rather than exploitation.
• Freedom and possibility: Humanity’s adaptability is presented as both a strength and a danger; having many possible paths does not guarantee that any path will be beneficial.
• Power and negotiation: Liu Zheng often lacks overwhelming strength, so he survives through manipulation, alliances, threats, humor, and clever bargaining.
• Self-interest versus loyalty: Characters frequently act for profit or survival, but the chapter shows that trust and friendship can create stronger and more meaningful bonds.
• The tension between comedy and danger: Vulgar jokes, absurd arguments, and Cow-Horse’s complaints contrast with the serious threats surrounding Metropolis and the uncertain future of the characters.

Overall Significance

The chapter serves as a transitional episode in which Liu Zheng consolidates his relationships and prepares to investigate the supernatural artifacts he has acquired. By forming a formal friendship with the Descendants of Ra and the Ultimate Flavor Group, he strengthens his support network before entering the Black Market, while his dealings with the French Plane Tree and Cow-Horse reinforce his talent for turning conflict into cooperation—or at least into profitable negotiation.

Chapter Summary: “Heaven Butcher’s Commission”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Liu Zheng and Cow-Horse return to the Black Market and decide to visit Boss Oink before going to Everything Shop.
• During their conversation, they discuss Liu Zheng’s successful transformation into a Black Goat’s Young. Cow-Horse explains that such transformations are extremely dangerous: most subjects either become grotesque monsters or lose their personalities.
• At Oink’s slaughterhouse, Liu Zheng jokingly guesses the characters’ ambitions:
  • Cow-Horse wants a better home, education, and a respectable City Hall career for Little Cow-Horse.
  • Oink wants revenge against the person responsible for hanging him.
• Oink reveals the true source of the Pig-headed Man breeding cycle: John Miller, a City Council Councillor, livestock tycoon, and cult leader.
• Miller controls the Pig-headed Man breeding technology and worships himself as a god. His believers are Pig-headed Men, whom he manipulates through promises of salvation, preferential treatment, and brutal punishment of “heretics.”
• Oink asks Liu Zheng to kill Miller and destroy the breeding farms. Because Miller is a sitting Councillor, no assassin dares accept the mission; City Hall treats the murder of Councillors as an absolute red line.
• Liu Zheng agrees to remember the commission but cannot promise when he will carry it out. Oink accepts this, confident that Liu Zheng’s growing strength will eventually make it possible.
• Oink unexpectedly accompanies Liu Zheng and Cow-Horse to Everything Shop.
• At the shop, Oink wakes Everything Shop by stomping the floor. Everything Shop recognizes all three visitors and teases Oink about his roasted meat.
• Liu Zheng presents a half-withered Yarrow Stalk and the Black Carp Dragon’s Grievance Sarira, asking about their uses and whether the Sarira’s negative effects can be avoided or modified.
• Everything Shop produces a strange six-sided die whose numbers constantly change. After reading its description, Liu Zheng is visibly shocked, creating a cliffhanger.

Character Developments

• Liu Zheng continues to display unusual confidence, humor, and recklessness. He openly discusses his racial transformation and casually offers himself as Oink’s “extra meal” if his guess proves wrong. His willingness to accept Oink’s commission shows growing responsibility and ambition.
• Cow-Horse remains sarcastic and practical, often criticizing Liu Zheng’s behavior. Despite her complaints, she continues to accompany and support him. Her protective concern for Oink and Little Cow-Horse reveals a strong sense of loyalty and family responsibility.
• Boss Oink is revealed to have a personal and long-standing vendetta against John Miller. His continued strangulation marks symbolize his unresolved hatred and perhaps his commitment to revenge. He also shows trust in Liu Zheng’s potential by assigning him a mission he cannot complete himself.
• Everything Shop remains mysterious, theatrical, and commercially minded. Its interest in the Yarrow Stalk and genuine surprise at the Sarira suggest that Liu Zheng is acquiring increasingly rare and valuable objects.
• John Miller is established as a major antagonist: a political leader, industrial monopolist, religious fraud, and central figure in the exploitation of the Pig-headed Men.

Significant Themes

• Cycles of violence and exploitation: Oink’s past actions did not end the Pig-headed Man system; they merely allowed it to restart under new leadership.
• Religion as a tool of control: Miller creates a cult centered on himself, using supernatural claims, social hierarchy, rewards, and terror to control the Pig-headed Men.
• Power and political immunity: Miller’s position as a Councillor protects him from ordinary assassination, demonstrating City Hall’s overwhelming authority.
• Identity and transformation: Liu Zheng’s successful change into a Black Goat’s Young contrasts with the horrifying risks faced by others, raising questions about talent, fate, and the system’s influence on his survival.
• Family and personal aspirations: Cow-Horse’s seemingly mundane goals for Little Cow-Horse provide a humanizing contrast to the chapter’s supernatural violence and political corruption.
• Growing power and danger: Liu Zheng’s rare artifacts and increasing connections suggest that he is becoming involved in conflicts far beyond ordinary delivery work.

Important Character Interactions

• Liu Zheng and Cow-Horse exchange constant insults, with Cow-Horse often threatening violence while still following his lead.
• Liu Zheng accurately identifies Cow-Horse’s family goals, embarrassing and startling her.
• Oink challenges Liu Zheng over his knowledge of Oink’s revenge and ultimately offers him the commission against John Miller.
• Cow-Horse refuses to intervene when Liu Zheng accepts the dangerous assignment, reminding him that he created the situation himself.
• Oink and Cow-Horse interact like an authoritarian boss and reluctant subordinate, though their relationship contains familiarity and mutual dependence.
• Everything Shop playfully mocks Oink and addresses Liu Zheng as a valued, increasingly impressive customer.
• The chapter ends with Everything Shop presenting Liu Zheng with a mysterious die that may provide a way to control the Sarira’s dangerous effects.

Chapter Summary

1. Key Plot Points and Events

• Liu Zheng discovers the Shuffled Dice, a single-use item that randomly rearranges the trigger probabilities of another item’s effects. He realizes it could potentially reduce the fatal probability of the Black Carp Dragon’s Grievance Sarira, though the result would remain risky and could even leave the original probabilities unchanged.
• Determined to obtain it, Liu Zheng negotiates with Everything Shop. The price includes his half-withered Yarrow Stalk and the completion of a task.
• Everything Shop offers Liu Zheng membership, which would require him to complete assigned tasks for points. Liu Zheng declines, preferring one-time exchanges because he dislikes being tied to recurring quests and obligations.
• Everything Shop presents several possible tasks:
  • Retrieve Sukuna’s head, apparently for an anonymous client whom Liu Zheng suspects is Peacock.
  • Capture Napoleon, a dangerous chicken, with promised assistance from the client.
  • Blow up a mountain in the Hundred Thousand Mountains.
• Liu Zheng refuses the first two tasks. He cannot betray Si Xue by helping her enemy obtain Sukuna’s head, and he cannot bring himself to hunt White-Feather Chicken, despite their strained relationship and its habit of wanting to cook him.
• He accepts the mountain-destruction task, insisting that he is “not an explosion maniac.”
• Because the task is confidential, Oink and Cow-Horse must leave before Liu Zheng signs the agreement. The contract creates a binding connection between Liu Zheng and Everything Shop.
• Everything Shop gives Liu Zheng a mysterious finger shed by the client. It will guide him to the target mountain.
• The initial instructions are vague: the mountain is somewhere in the Hundred Thousand Mountains and has many apricot blossoms. Liu Zheng questions the practicality of locating it and determining how much explosive power is needed.
• After Liu Zheng points out a flaw in the instructions, Everything Shop consults the client and changes the finger’s guidance from pointing “forward” to pointing downward. The client also reveals that the mountain contains a Mountain Core, whose destruction will destroy the entire mountain.
• Everything Shop suggests that the Stone Spirit Clan may know how to locate Mountain Cores. Liu Zheng immediately thinks of Shi Tiantian, whom he previously manipulated into fainting.
• Everything Shop produces the finger through a magical ring of fire and confirms that Heaven Butcher, or Everything Shop itself, can open the Black Market early if Liu Zheng completes the mission and it is otherwise closed.

2. Character Developments

• Liu Zheng demonstrates strong strategic judgment. Although excited by the Shuffled Dice, he recognizes its limitations and understands that it remains a desperate gamble rather than a guaranteed solution.
• He continues to rely on emotional restraint and performance, presenting a calm exterior while carefully evaluating risks. His role as a Bloodstained Restaurant Deliveryman has made deception and controlled reactions essential skills.
• Liu Zheng shows independence and caution by rejecting Everything Shop’s membership system. He does not want unpredictable obligations, point penalties, or a forced relationship with an unknown power.
• His loyalties become clearer when he refuses to help Peacock acquire Sukuna’s head and declines to hunt White-Feather Chicken. Even though he has complicated relationships with both Si Xue and the chicken, he will not casually betray either of them.
• He also displays practical intelligence by identifying flaws in the task’s instructions, especially the ambiguity over the finger’s direction and the lack of information about the target mountain.

3. Significant Themes

• Risk versus reward: The Shuffled Dice offers an extraordinary potential benefit but cannot eliminate uncertainty. Liu Zheng must decide how much danger he is willing to accept for survival.
• Trust, contracts, and connections: Everything Shop operates by creating links between people who need things and those capable of fulfilling them. The confidentiality agreement demonstrates that deals in Metropolis have supernatural consequences.
• Loyalty and moral boundaries: Liu Zheng refuses tasks that would force him to betray allies or become involved in conflicts he considers unacceptable, even when valuable rewards are at stake.
• Information as power: The task’s vagueness emphasizes how dangerous incomplete information can be. Liu Zheng repeatedly presses for details because success depends on understanding the terrain, objective, and hidden conditions.
• Human adaptability among nonhumans: Liu Zheng’s flexible thinking allows him to notice problems that Everything Shop overlooks. His ability to question assumptions distinguishes him from the supernatural beings around him.
• Comic absurdity amid danger: The deadly task of destroying a mountain is presented alongside absurd details such as a client’s shed finger, apricot blossoms, and Liu Zheng’s insistence that he is not an explosion fanatic.

4. Character Interactions

• Liu Zheng and Everything Shop: Their negotiation is cautious but mutually respectful. Everything Shop admires Liu Zheng’s ability to build connections and solve problems, while Liu Zheng remains wary of its power and the obligations hidden in its offers.
• Liu Zheng and Cow-Horse: Cow-Horse jokes that Liu Zheng’s networking resembles Everything Shop’s own method of weaving connections. Liu Zheng later explains the “bug” in their communication using a metaphor that leaves Cow-Horse confused.
• Liu Zheng and Oink/Cow-Horse: Both companions are excluded from the confidential negotiation. They refuse to sign contracts with Everything Shop because doing so would establish a potentially dangerous connection.
• Liu Zheng and Si Xue: Though Si Xue does not appear directly, Liu Zheng’s decisions are shaped by his awareness of her character and authority. He believes she would view helping Peacock obtain Sukuna’s head as an intolerable betrayal.
• Liu Zheng and White-Feather Chicken: Their relationship is antagonistic and absurd—White-Feather Chicken wants to eat him, yet it has also helped him and provided both of his weapons. This history prevents Liu Zheng from accepting the task of capturing Napoleon.
• Liu Zheng and the unknown client: The client’s poor instructions frustrate Liu Zheng, but the client’s identity and influence remain hidden. Liu Zheng suspects the client is connected to Peacock and continues to question the task’s feasibility.
• Liu Zheng and Shi Tiantian: Though absent from the scene, Shi Tiantian becomes important when Everything Shop mentions the Stone Spirit Clan. Liu Zheng remembers his earlier encounter with her and considers her possible usefulness in locating the Mountain Core.

Chapter Summary: “Metropolis-Style Firecrackers in the Pants”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Liu Zheng finishes his business at Everything Shop and refuses a free fortune-telling offer, remaining wary of hidden motives.
• After Liu leaves, Everything Shop uses the signed confidentiality agreement and yarrow flames to uncover information about “Beyond the domain.” Before it can read further, mysterious powerful forces—gunfire, pale flames, golden magma, and crimson starfire—destroy the document. Everything Shop is intrigued rather than deterred and becomes more determined to investigate.
• Outside the shop, Liu reunites with his boss, Cow-Horse. Cow-Horse decides to visit the Casino and possibly a brothel instead of returning to the Bloodstained Restaurant, while Liu worries about being forced back from vacation.
• Liu and Cow-Horse quarrel playfully until Oink throws them out of the Black Market for making a scene.
• Cow-Horse detects someone following them. After stomping the ground and sending a shockwave through the street, he exposes a powerful female Dark Elf.
• The woman is revealed to be the leader of the group that previously sought the Wood Elf Royal Family’s corpse. She reminds Liu of his promise to take her group to Mount Oe, while Liu insists he has not yet broken his promise because the journey has not begun.
• She demands that Liu sign a blood contract guaranteeing he will take her with him, but he refuses.
• The Dark Elf attacks with blood magic, creating giant claws and arrows from blood. Cow-Horse and Liu easily block or destroy the attacks.
• The woman reveals a claw-shaped dagger hidden beneath her scant clothing and uses it to cast “Blood Claw” and “Blood Arrow.” Despite the exchange, she is primarily stalling and escapes using stealth after warning Liu to fulfill his promise.
• Cow-Horse manages to strike her as she flees, but she survives and disappears. Liu and Cow-Horse then return toward the Bloodstained Restaurant, with Liu promising to massage his exhausted boss.

Character Developments

• Liu Zheng: Continues to display caution, sarcasm, and strategic thinking. He avoids unnecessary contracts and tries to prevent the Dark Elves from becoming permanent enemies, while also admitting that his recent conflicts have made him a likely target. His thoughts about needing the Legendary Deliveryman set show that he is planning for the dangerous journey to the Hundred Thousand Mountains.
• Cow-Horse: Acts impulsively and lecherously but proves highly powerful and protective. He openly admits that stealth and scouting are not his strengths, showing unusual self-awareness. Despite his crude behavior, he supports Liu in the confrontation and is pleased by Liu’s flattery and promise of a massage.
• Everything Shop: Becomes increasingly obsessed with uncovering forbidden information. The destruction of the confidentiality agreement only strengthens its curiosity and desire to challenge the powers guarding “Beyond the domain.”
• The Dark Elf leader/Yaksha: Demonstrates confidence, combat ability, stealth, and a strong commitment to her group’s objective. She refuses to be intimidated by Liu or Cow-Horse and uses the confrontation mainly to pressure Liu into honoring his promise.
• Oink: Functions as the practical mediator, stopping Liu and Cow-Horse’s childish argument and ejecting them from the Black Market.

Significant Themes

• Curiosity and dangerous knowledge: Everything Shop’s desire to uncover “Beyond the domain” suggests that forbidden knowledge is both heavily protected and irresistibly tempting.
• Promises, contracts, and mistrust: The conflict with the Dark Elf centers on whether Liu’s verbal promise is reliable, contrasting Liu’s reluctance to sign formal contracts with the Dark Elf’s insistence on binding guarantees.
• Comedy amid danger: Threatening supernatural conflicts are repeatedly undercut by crude jokes, workplace squabbling, and absurd situations, including the Dark Elf’s hidden dagger and Cow-Horse’s failed plans for entertainment.
• Power and specialization: Cow-Horse is overwhelmingly strong in direct combat but admits weakness in detection and stealth, while the Dark Elf relies on mobility and concealment. Strength is shown to depend on context and specialization.
• Unintended consequences: Liu’s work and past actions continue to attract enemies, even when he is technically on vacation. His casual dealings with different factions create obligations and dangers that follow him through the city.

Character Interactions

• Everything Shop and Liu: Their exchange establishes mutual suspicion. Liu rejects the fortune-telling offer, while Everything Shop secretly exploits his agreement and tries to uncover hidden information.
• Liu and Cow-Horse: Their boss-underling relationship is filled with insults, teasing, and mutual dependence. Liu mocks Cow-Horse’s lustfulness, while Cow-Horse complains about Liu’s tendency to attract trouble.
• Liu, Cow-Horse, and Oink: Oink acts as the frustrated adult figure, ending their public bickering by physically throwing them out of the Black Market.
• Liu and the Dark Elf: They negotiate through sarcasm and threats. Liu tries to avoid escalation, while the Dark Elf pressures him to keep his promise. Their exchange reveals a continuing relationship built on distrust and reluctant cooperation.
• Cow-Horse and the Dark Elf: Cow-Horse responds to her with crude flirtation and direct violence, but he is also impressed by her abilities when she manages to escape.
• Liu and Cow-Horse after the fight: Their return journey restores the chapter’s comic tone, with Liu placating his exhausted boss through praise and the promise of a massage.

Chapter Summary

Plot Points and Events

• After the earlier crisis, Liu Zheng returns to the break room and calls around to confirm everyone is safe. Despite Cow-Horse urging him to rest, Liu Zheng insists on finishing his duties before sleeping.
• Liu Zheng goes to the Kitchen to deliver food and obtain liquor for Cow-Horse. White-Feather Chicken gives him a bottle of cooking wine disguised as liquor, deliberately taking advantage of Cow-Horse’s poor taste in alcohol.
• In the Kitchen, Liu Zheng checks on Calico Cat and gives her two-day-old water from the Legendary Delivery Box. She dislikes it, so he promises to bring her chocolate milk next time. He also learns that White-Feather Chicken likes ice lemon cola.
• Back in the break room, Cow-Horse discovers the “liquor” is cooking wine and angrily accuses Liu Zheng of tricking him. Liu Zheng deflects the blame to White-Feather Chicken, and Cow-Horse grudgingly accepts the drink in exchange for extra dried fish.
• Cow-Horse lets Liu Zheng read a newspaper obtained from the Customer Service Department. Liu Zheng confirms that the Scratch-Off Lottery prize pool has not yet been updated, preserving his intended surprise.
• The newspaper reports that the Deep Sea Empire has protested the abduction and trafficking of Mermaid Princess Kova and many merfolk. City Hall is preparing a coordinated, multi-department crackdown on merfolk trafficking and food smuggling.
• Liu Zheng realizes that Garcia’s Round God Sect, previously involved in trafficking, is likely to be destroyed. Cow-Horse is amused because the sect once trafficked him after catching him escaping from a breeding farm.
• Liu Zheng learns more about Cow-Horse’s past and reflects that Cow-Horse’s apparent indifference hides unresolved resentment, suggested by his possession of the Lucky Clown Card.
• They discuss Cow-Horse’s planned smuggling business. Cow-Horse initially fears the crackdown will delay his plans, but Liu Zheng points out that eliminating rival smugglers could leave the market open to him.
• Just as Liu Zheng begins explaining why the joint operation may not last long, he suddenly notices something—or someone—at the door.

Character Developments

• Liu Zheng remains diligent and compulsively responsible, refusing to rest until his tasks are complete. He also shows loyalty toward Cow-Horse and gratitude for having been protected by him in the past.
• Cow-Horse continues to act abrasive and greedy while showing concern for Liu Zheng’s safety. His history of being trafficked by the Round God Sect adds depth to his hostility toward them. He is also entrepreneurial but easily frustrated when outside events threaten his plans.
• White-Feather Chicken displays his sharp, sardonic personality by giving Cow-Horse cooking wine as a prank. Despite the mockery between him and Cow-Horse, their cooperation suggests a close, complicated relationship.
• Calico Cat behaves affectionately and childishly, enjoying attention and anticipating Liu Zheng’s promised chocolate milk.
• Liu Zheng’s view of Cow-Horse becomes more nuanced: he recognizes that Cow-Horse’s cynical attitude may conceal lingering emotional wounds.

Significant Themes

• Beneath hostility lies loyalty: Cow-Horse and White-Feather Chicken constantly insult and undermine each other, yet they share resources and rely on one another.
• Survival in a corrupt world: Trafficking, smuggling, exploitation, and bureaucratic crackdowns are treated as common realities rather than exceptional events.
• Humor amid danger: Practical jokes, petty arguments, and absurd workplace interactions lighten serious developments involving political conflict and criminal enforcement.
• Unintended consequences: Liu Zheng’s earlier actions helped the trafficking group escape, but the resulting diplomatic incident now threatens the entire smuggling network, including Cow-Horse’s future business.
• Cynicism versus compassion: Cow-Horse claims that most people are “clowns,” yet his past, protective behavior, and attachment to the Lucky Clown Card suggest he has not become completely indifferent.

Character Interactions

• Liu Zheng and Cow-Horse argue over rest, liquor, food, newspapers, and business, but their banter reflects mutual trust.
• White-Feather Chicken pranks Cow-Horse through Liu Zheng, while Liu Zheng is caught between their antagonistic friendship.
• Liu Zheng treats Calico Cat gently, promising her better food and enjoying her playful affection before her owner’s glare makes him stop.
• Cow-Horse admits that he once protected Liu Zheng from White-Feather Chicken, reinforcing their bond.
• The chapter ends on suspense as Liu Zheng detects someone at the door just before revealing why the crackdown may be short-lived.

Chapter Summary:

The Hidden Use of the Honorary Homeowner Medal

Key Plot Points and Events

• Ghost Hand returns to the restaurant to collect a delivery order, but instead of taking the delivery slip, he tries to steal Cow-Horse’s cooking wine and eats a dried fish. Liu Zheng distracts him with more dried fish and retrieves the slip.
• The delivery is for Two-Pepper Mi-go Brain, going to the same apartment—Room 1503 in Building 7 of Jiahe New Residence Complex—as a previous order for Garlic Mi-go Brain.
• Liu Zheng realizes that the Miniature Man has been assigned deliveries twice in a short period, which is extremely unlikely by chance. He concludes that the Miniature Man probably placed the orders deliberately to lure him back.
• Expecting danger, Liu Zheng borrows Cow-Horse’s Memorial Medal as a precaution. He examines the bizarre meal, confirms it is correct, and enters the Delivery Passage.
• He runs through the Passage while carrying his Cleaver and remains alert, though nothing attacks him along the way.
• At Jiahe New Residence, the night-shift security guard stops him. Liu Zheng discovers that the guard is the twin brother of the guard he met previously. The brothers’ species has an unsettling reproduction system: in some cases, one twin consumes the other before birth to gain talent.
• The guard introduces himself as Sheng Lao’er, while his brother is Sheng Lao’da. Liu Zheng bribes Sheng Lao’er with cash, improving their relationship and gaining his cooperation.
• Liu Zheng presents the Honorary Homeowner Medal, which allows him to enter the complex freely and obliges property staff and homeowners to cooperate with him while he is working.
• Sheng Lao’er identifies the mysterious homeowner as Professor Newt, a Municipal First University professor who also works part-time at City Hall. Newt is permitted to keep a dangerous Tindalos Hound as a pet.
• Sheng Lao’er explains that the Hound has repeatedly damaged the complex and injured or unnaturally aged people who tried to walk it. Since no one else will take the job, Newt likely wants Liu Zheng to help with the dog.
• The chapter ends with Sheng Lao’er correcting Liu Zheng: he will not be walking the dog—the dog will be “walking” him.

Character Developments

• Liu Zheng remains cautious and resourceful. He recognizes the delivery as a possible trap but decides to face it rather than avoid it, relying on preparation and previously earned items.
• He demonstrates growing strategic awareness by borrowing Cow-Horse’s Memorial Medal and reassessing the Honorary Homeowner Medal’s true value.
• Liu Zheng also shows social flexibility: he jokes with the security guard, offers him money, and quickly uses Sheng Lao’er’s desire to change his name to secure information.
• Cow-Horse continues to act as Liu Zheng’s irreverent and greedy companion, joking about insurance, funeral meals, and compensation while still lending him the Memorial Medal.
• Ghost Hand is portrayed as mischievous and opportunistic, stealing food and alcohol rather than simply completing his delivery.
• Sheng Lao’er initially appears suspicious and uncooperative, but becomes friendly after receiving money and learning that Liu Zheng may help him change his name. He is candid about his own shortcomings and the dangers of Professor Newt’s pet.
• Professor Newt is established as an influential and eccentric figure: an academic expert on mythological creatures with enough political connections to obtain official permission to keep a Tindalos Hound.

Significant Themes

• Hidden value and overlooked abilities: The Honorary Homeowner Medal initially seems useful only for entry, but its cooperation effect proves extremely powerful. Liu Zheng realizes that earlier sacrifices to obtain it were worthwhile.
• Preparation versus danger: Liu Zheng expects the delivery to be a trap and combines weapons, protective items, and careful questioning to reduce the risk.
• Bureaucracy and social leverage: Access to officials, permits, property staff, and institutional connections shapes what characters can do. Liu Zheng navigates these systems through both legitimate credentials and informal bribery.
• Humor amid horror: Grotesque concepts—stuffed Mi-go brain, twin consumption, limb loss, premature aging, and a dangerous extradimensional hound—are presented through sarcastic banter and absurd everyday concerns.
• Power and exploitation: Ordinary workers bear the risks created by powerful residents like Professor Newt, while official authorization protects Newt from consequences.
• The unpredictability of Metropolis: The city’s inhabitants, biology, institutions, and rules remain bizarre and dangerous, forcing Liu Zheng to adapt constantly.

Important Character Interactions

• Liu Zheng and Ghost Hand: Their silent exchange centers on food theft, with Liu Zheng using dried fish to redirect Ghost Hand.
• Liu Zheng and Cow-Horse: Their conversation mixes suspicion, insults, and mutual reliance. Cow-Horse complains about lending the Memorial Medal but ultimately helps him.
• Liu Zheng and Sheng Lao’er: Liu Zheng wins the guard over through humor, money, and a promise to help with his name change. In return, Sheng Lao’er reveals information about Professor Newt, his official status, and the Tindalos Hound.
• Liu Zheng and the Honorary Homeowner Medal: By rereading its description, Liu Zheng discovers that the medal grants far more than entry—it compels cooperation from everyone in the complex while he is carrying out work, making it a crucial advantage for the upcoming confrontation.

Chapter Summary: “Confiscating Liu Zheng’s Tool of the Trade”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Liu Zheng discusses Professor Niu’s summons with Sheng Lao’er. They conclude that the professor probably wants the Chew Toy, a dangerous item linked to his Tindalos Hound, returned.
• Liu Zheng recognizes that the Chew Toy is both a powerful deterrent and a liability. Since Professor Niu could likely track or retrieve it, Liu decides not to provoke him and voluntarily returns it.
• At Professor Niu’s apartment, Liu delivers the food and places the Chew Toy at the door. Professor Niu is surprised because he had intended to persuade Liu to surrender it.
• Liu explains that he is returning it because the reward did not seem proportional to the work he performed and because Professor Niu had shown him respect by not sending the Hound to threaten him directly.
• Professor Niu invites Liu inside. His Tindalos Hound serves Liu tea, which turns out to be a malicious prank that makes Liu cough up decayed flesh. Despite the attack, Liu remains polite and generously excuses the Hound’s behavior.
• Professor Niu reveals that City Hall asked him to reclaim the Chew Toy because Liu’s casual use of it could cause danger and be traced back to the professor. However, City Hall cannot legally confiscate it because Liu has not used it to commit crimes and is protected by his status as a Bloodstained Restaurant Deliveryman.
• As compensation, Professor Niu offers to fulfill one request from Liu. Liu postpones his choice and begins considering who might benefit from the favor.
• Liu tries to contact Nightingale but cannot reach her. He then calls Wang Manni to ask about the education level of her deputy director’s son, potentially identifying a suitable request.
• During the call, Liu overhears Wang Manni being pressured and sexually harassed by Manager Ma at a celebration party for her promotion. Ma implies that her position depends on pleasing company leaders and urges her to abandon less useful relationships.
• Liu asks Wang Manni whether she actually wants to go home, distinguishing her personal wishes from what she feels obligated to do for work. The chapter ends with this pointed question.

Character Developments

• Liu Zheng demonstrates increasing caution, social intelligence, and strategic restraint. Rather than clinging to a powerful weapon, he recognizes its risks and returns it voluntarily to preserve a relationship with Professor Niu.
• He also shows emotional maturity and a strong sense of reciprocity, emphasizing that respect should be answered with greater respect.
• Liu remains calm and courteous even after Tindalos poisons or pranks him, reinforcing his unusual resilience and ability to navigate dangerous supernatural figures.
• Professor Niu, also called the Miniature Man, is revealed to be calculating but not needlessly hostile. He uses diplomacy first, respects formal rules, and compensates Liu fairly after reclaiming the Chew Toy.
• Tindalos is characterized as playful, mischievous, and dangerous, treating Liu’s poisoning as a joke while still obeying its master.
• Wang Manni appears increasingly trapped by workplace politics. Her hoarse voice, hesitation, and attempts to delay returning to the party suggest discomfort and coercion.
• Manager Ma is exposed as manipulative and predatory, using Wang Manni’s promotion and professional insecurity to pressure her into unwanted social and possibly sexual behavior.

Significant Themes

• Mutual respect and reciprocity: Liu returns the Chew Toy because Professor Niu approached him indirectly and respectfully rather than using force.
• Power constrained by rules: Although the Chew Toy is dangerous, City Hall cannot simply seize it because institutional rules and Liu’s employment status protect him.
• Strategic restraint: Liu understands that possessing a weapon does not mean using it is wise; surrendering it may be the safest and most profitable choice.
• Danger hidden beneath civility: The conversation in Professor Niu’s home is polite, but the tea and the Hound’s prank demonstrate that hospitality in the Metropolis can conceal lethal threats.
• Workplace exploitation and autonomy: Wang Manni’s situation contrasts with Liu’s negotiation. She is pressured to sacrifice personal boundaries for career advancement, leading Liu to ask what she truly wants rather than what she feels forced to do.
• Knowledge and education: Professor Niu’s discussion of books and advanced study presents education as valuable but potentially dangerous in the Metropolis, where forbidden knowledge carries risks.

Important Character Interactions

• Liu Zheng and Sheng Lao’er: They exchange jokes about Liu’s half-human nature before seriously analyzing Professor Niu’s intentions. Sheng provides practical insight that helps Liu decide to return the Chew Toy.
• Liu Zheng and Professor Niu: Their relationship shifts from a simple employer-and-worker arrangement toward cautious mutual respect. Their negotiation remains polite but carries an underlying awareness that either side could potentially use force.
• Liu Zheng and Tindalos: The Hound plays a dangerous prank on him, but Liu responds calmly and even defends it, earning a degree of playful approval from the creature.
• Liu Zheng and Wang Manni: Liu calls to gather information but becomes concerned after hearing her strained voice and the coercive conversation with Manager Ma. His final question encourages her to acknowledge her own desires and agency.
• Wang Manni and Manager Ma: Their exchange reveals a deeply unequal and abusive dynamic, with Ma using professional influence and public pressure to control her behavior.

Chapter Summary

1. Key Plot Points and Events

• Wang Manni secretly contacts Liu Zheng while attending a company “team-building” event at a clubhouse. Manager Ma and other employees are pressuring the female participants into exploitative and dangerous entertainment.
• She asks Liu Zheng whether he will help her, admits that she wants to return home, and gives him the clubhouse’s address and the deputy director’s phone number. She also reveals that several female colleagues are trapped in the same situation.
• Wang Manni asks whether she could become Liu Zheng’s woman if she becomes human again. Liu Zheng does not promise romance, but assures her that she will always be his friend if she lives properly.
• Liu Zheng calls the deputy director and threatens to destroy the company building if Wang Manni is not protected. He accuses the deputy director of using her as an intermediary while allowing others to mistreat her.
• The deputy director explains that Manager Ma is the son of a powerful group-level HR director, making the situation politically difficult. Liu Zheng counters by offering access to a professor who could help the deputy director’s son enter an elite affiliated middle school.
• Under pressure, the deputy director agrees to intervene and ensure that Wang Manni will not be forced into anything against her will. Liu Zheng then orders him to arrange delivery near the clubhouse, implying that he is preparing to retaliate against those responsible.
• While waiting, Liu Zheng and Miniature Man discuss Bloodstained Restaurant, Deliverymen, and forbidden research into the Restaurant. Miniature Man recounts the death of a scholar who was shot in the back over eight hundred times.
• The scholar was a regenerative monster known as a Flesh of Sight, making it extremely difficult to kill. Liu Zheng speculates that it may have escaped from a Restaurant and left research materials or relics hidden in a tomb.
• Miniature Man mentions that the Flesh of Sight once talked about using a tomb in the Cemetery as a vacation site. Liu Zheng becomes interested in locating it and asks for something carrying its scent.
• Miniature Man gives him an enormous book titled Erotic Classic of Mountains and Seas, supposedly connected to the Flesh of Sight. Liu Zheng stores it without reading it because of its bizarre and explicit nature.
• The two exchange contact information so Liu Zheng can report any discoveries. Liu Zheng departs after Tindalos enthusiastically licks his face.

2. Character Developments

• Liu Zheng demonstrates loyalty and protectiveness toward Wang Manni, treating her as both a friend and someone under his protection. He uses intimidation, political leverage, and implied violence to force powerful people to act.
• He also shows increasing curiosity about Bloodstained Restaurant, forbidden knowledge, and the possible remnants of the Flesh of Sight. His identity as a Restaurant employee gives him confidence that he can investigate subjects forbidden to outsiders.
• Wang Manni moves from hesitation and despair to directly asking for help. She openly reveals the danger facing her colleagues and expresses romantic feelings toward Liu Zheng, but accepts his answer that their relationship is currently friendship.
• The deputy director is revealed to be opportunistic and politically cautious. He wants to cooperate with Liu Zheng but fears Manager Ma’s influential father. Liu Zheng’s threat and offer of educational assistance force him to take responsibility.
• Miniature Man is established as a knowledgeable scholar with connections to City Hall and researchers of Bloodstained Restaurant. Although cynical about institutional restrictions, he remains curious and willing to exchange information.
• The deceased Flesh of Sight scholar becomes an intriguing possible future mystery: a nearly immortal researcher whose work may still be hidden in the Cemetery.
• Tindalos appears friendly toward Liu Zheng, despite its frightening nature, suggesting an unusual bond or affinity between them.

3. Significant Themes

• Protection and loyalty: Liu Zheng’s intervention shows that friendship, in his view, carries real obligations. He refuses to let Wang Manni be treated as disposable.
• Power and coercion: The chapter portrays corporate hierarchy as corrupt and exploitative, while Liu Zheng fights coercion with stronger coercion—threats, destruction, and leverage.
• Political compromise and class privilege: The deputy director cannot act freely because of Manager Ma’s family connections. Educational access and elite status become bargaining tools.
• Humanity and transformation: Wang Manni’s desire to become human again and her question about becoming Liu Zheng’s woman reflect her struggle to reclaim identity and dignity.
• Forbidden knowledge: Miniature Man’s story emphasizes the dangers of researching taboo subjects, but also argues that scholars will continue pursuing knowledge despite official restrictions.
• Dark humor amid horror: The absurd image of someone being shot more than eight hundred times in the back, the erotic book, and Tindalos licking Liu Zheng’s face balance the chapter’s violence and disturbing subject matter.
• The unknown legacy of monsters: The Flesh of Sight’s possible tomb and research materials create a mystery involving ancient beings, burial grounds, and the hidden history of the Restaurants.

4. Character Interactions

• Liu Zheng and Wang Manni: Their conversation combines emotional vulnerability, resentment, teasing, and trust. Wang Manni seeks both practical rescue and emotional reassurance; Liu Zheng offers protection without making a romantic commitment.
• Liu Zheng and the deputy director: Their phone call is essentially a negotiation under threat. Liu Zheng attacks the deputy director’s cowardice, offers him a valuable favor, and compels him to protect Wang Manni.
• Liu Zheng and Miniature Man: They exchange information about Bloodstained Restaurant and the Flesh of Sight. Miniature Man’s scholarly curiosity complements Liu Zheng’s practical interest in dangerous relics.
• Liu Zheng and Tindalos: Tindalos behaves affectionately toward him, while Liu Zheng remains suspicious and uncomfortable, especially after being licked by its sharp tongue.
• The deputy director and his lover: Their interruption exposes the deputy director’s hypocrisy and self-indulgence, contrasting with his public concern for hierarchy and reputation.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• Liu Zheng asks Professor Niu/Miniature Man to lend him Tindalos so he can safely travel while being watched by an unknown enemy and rescue Wang Manni. In exchange, he requests help getting an acquaintance’s son into Municipal No. 1 University’s affiliated high school.
• Miniature Man agrees to let Liu Zheng take Tindalos out, though he warns that this is a one-time exception because City Hall disapproves of such arrangements. The student will still need to pass a special admissions exam and pay the standard school-selection fee.
• Liu Zheng persuades Tindalos to escort him to the Bloodstained Restaurant by promising it food. After eating dried fish—and accidentally consuming two of Liu Zheng’s tentacles—Tindalos travels rapidly by blinking through space, protecting Liu Zheng along the way.
• Back at the restaurant, Liu Zheng explains Wang Manni’s predicament to Cow-Horse. Cow-Horse assumes the situation is leading toward a romantic or sexual relationship between Liu Zheng and Wang Manni and panics over losing his “business capital.”
• Cow-Horse demands that Liu Zheng promise not to sleep with Wang Manni. In return for Liu Zheng’s help, he gives him an expired, single-use insecticide that weakens and frightens insects but may explode.
• Ghost Hand delivers Liu Zheng’s next assignment: deliver Longjing shrimp with pork heart to Deputy Director Li in Room 666 on the fifth floor of the Pink Panther Nightclub.
• Liu Zheng rents another vehicle, this time a yellow Chevrolet Camaro. He jokingly expects it to be like Bumblebee, but a note informs him that it cannot transform.
• At the nightclub, Liu Zheng encounters Panther Tiaotiao, a pink-furred leopard doorman with severe face-blindness and poor judgment. Tiaotiao initially attempts to stop Liu Zheng because he has no reservation and is carrying a bloody cleaver and a large delivery box.
• After Tiaotiao’s chimpanzee partner identifies Liu Zheng as a Deliveryman from the Bloodstained Restaurant, Tiaotiao becomes frightened and recites a rehearsed warning about the nightclub’s rules. Liu Zheng teases them about practicing the speech and offers them dried fish.

Character Developments

• Liu Zheng shows resourcefulness and social manipulation. He negotiates with Miniature Man, uses Tindalos’s loyalty to secure protection, and cleverly turns Cow-Horse’s own logic against him. He remains calm and humorous even in dangerous situations.
• Miniature Man demonstrates both authority and flexibility. Though he is constrained by City Hall’s rules, he is willing to make limited exceptions and provide practical assistance.
• Tindalos is portrayed as immensely powerful but surprisingly obedient and food-motivated. Its ability to blink through space makes it an extremely effective escort.
• Cow-Horse remains paranoid, greedy, and comically overfocused on the supposed romantic implications of Liu Zheng’s rescue mission. Despite his complaints, he ultimately helps by providing a useful item.
• Panther Tiaotiao is established as incompetent but endearing. Their family connection protects them from dismissal, while their pride and rehearsed confidence contrast with their fear of the Bloodstained Restaurant’s Deliveryman.
• Liu Zheng and Cow-Horse’s relationship develops through argumentative banter. Liu Zheng increasingly treats Cow-Horse as both an employer and a source of exploitable resources.

Significant Themes

• Improvisation and survival: Liu Zheng constantly solves problems by negotiating, bargaining, and exploiting available relationships and items rather than relying solely on strength.
• Power and dependence: Tindalos is vastly stronger than Liu Zheng, yet he temporarily gains its protection through trust and food. The chapter emphasizes how weaker characters survive by forming alliances with stronger beings.
• Bureaucracy and favors: Miniature Man’s assistance is limited by institutional rules, while Liu Zheng’s request reveals how favors and unofficial arrangements operate within the supernatural city.
• Comedy amid danger: Threatening circumstances—being watched, rescuing Wang Manni, and entering a dangerous nightclub—are undercut by absurd misunderstandings, Cow-Horse’s romantic panic, and Tiaotiao’s rehearsed warning.
• Appearance versus reality: The Camaro resembles Bumblebee but cannot transform; Tiaotiao appears intimidating but is inept; and Liu Zheng’s delivery uniform carries immense authority even when others fail to recognize it.

Character Interactions

• Liu Zheng and Miniature Man: A transactional but cooperative exchange in which Liu Zheng requests both educational assistance and Tindalos’s protection.
• Liu Zheng and Tindalos: Liu Zheng respectfully negotiates with the Hound, offering food in return for escort and protection. Tindalos accepts and efficiently carries out the request.
• Liu Zheng and Cow-Horse: Their conversation is dominated by comedic bargaining. Cow-Horse tries to control Liu Zheng’s actions, while Liu Zheng counters his demands and secures an item from him.
• Liu Zheng and Ghost Hand: Ghost Hand silently delivers the next assignment, reinforcing the restaurant’s impersonal and mysterious workflow.
• Liu Zheng and Panther Tiaotiao: Their first meeting becomes a humorous confrontation. Tiaotiao attempts to enforce nightclub rules, but Liu Zheng disarms them with teasing and an offer of dried fish.
• Panther Tiaotiao and the chimpanzee partner: The chimpanzee acts as the competent counterpart, recognizing Liu Zheng’s identity and preventing Tiaotiao from mishandling the encounter.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• Liu Zheng uses dried fish to distract and manipulate Leopard-Leopard, whose intense craving causes them to lose focus and become unusually compliant.
• He bribes the Black Chimpanzee with money after deliberately dropping his knives, persuading them to help contact the fifth-floor supervisor.
• Leopard-Leopard calls the supervisor, though they are scolded for causing trouble. Sheep Supervisor arrives and recognizes Liu Zheng as a Bloodstained Restaurant Deliveryman, immediately realizing that his presence on the VIP floor suggests either serious staff negligence or overwhelming strength.
• Sheep Supervisor initially refuses to let Liu Zheng enter because the fifth floor requires membership, reservations, and identity verification. Liu Zheng counters with bribes, threats, claims of influential relatives, and an official family certificate.
• When the supervisor resists, Liu Zheng threatens them with a knife. The Black Chimpanzee then suggests taking Liu Zheng’s photograph so the customer inside can verify him. Sheep Supervisor reluctantly agrees.
• After confirming the customer’s identity, Sheep Supervisor personally guides Liu Zheng through the nightclub’s corridors, partly to keep an eye on him.
• Liu Zheng locates Private Room 777—the room Wang Manni had mentioned—but does not enter it. Instead, he proceeds to Room 666.
• Inside, he finds a Worm, revealed to be Deputy Director Li. The Worm dismisses Sheep Supervisor and then warns Liu Zheng that nearby rooms contain assassins waiting for a signal to attack and completely destroy him.

Character Developments

• Liu Zheng demonstrates increasing resourcefulness, confidence, and intimidation. He combines food, money, official connections, and violence to overcome the nightclub’s defenses without directly fighting his way inside.
• Leopard-Leopard remains gullible and easily manipulated by dried fish, though they are perceptive enough to understand that Liu Zheng’s request might be permitted if the customer is a legitimate member. Their tendency to “feel wronged” is emphasized when the supervisor unfairly accuses them of causing trouble.
• Black Chimpanzee proves cautious but ambitious. They follow regulations at first, yet quickly become interested in Liu Zheng’s promise of a government job and ultimately provide the solution that allows him to enter.
• Sheep Supervisor shifts from guarded authority to nervous compliance. They recognize Liu Zheng’s danger, accept his bribe, and personally escort him because they fear what he might do if left unsupervised.
• Deputy Director Li appears calm and prepared, suggesting that Liu Zheng’s arrival was anticipated and that the confrontation may be part of a larger trap.

Significant Themes

• Power through social influence: Liu Zheng’s connections to government officials and influential relatives are nearly as effective as his physical threats.
• Bribery and corruption: Money repeatedly changes the behavior of the nightclub staff, exposing the weakness of its rules.
• Appearances versus reality: Liu Zheng presents himself as an ordinary deliveryman, yet his weapons, connections, and confidence reveal considerable power. Likewise, the nightclub’s professional façade conceals violence and assassination plots.
• Manipulation and greed: Leopard-Leopard is controlled by food, while the Black Chimpanzee and Sheep Supervisor are influenced by money, career prospects, or fear.
• Escalating confrontation: What begins as a comic attempt to deliver food develops into a potentially deadly clash involving hired assassins and political influence.

Character Interactions

• Liu Zheng repeatedly exploits Leopard-Leopard’s obsession with dried fish to make them call the supervisor.
• He bargains with and threatens the Black Chimpanzee, rewarding their cooperation with money and a promise of employment.
• His confrontation with Sheep Supervisor moves from polite negotiation to bribery, intimidation, and implied violence before ending in reluctant cooperation.
• Sheep Supervisor attempts to maintain nightclub rules but ultimately prioritizes survival and damage control.
• In the final exchange, Deputy Director Li calmly confronts Liu Zheng with the threat of surrounding assassins, setting up the chapter’s central conflict.