Chapter Summaries

Liu Zheng fought his way into Room 6037 and forced a threatened manager to accept her delivery in exchange for protecting her position. He returned to the sixty-second floor to discuss business with Golden Beetle, then reacted with concern when Golden Beetle offered tea from the Six-Feather Tea House.

• Liu Zheng bribed the Two-Headed Ogre security guard to let him into Northgold Building and had Golden Beetle arrange a confidentiality agreement.
• Liu Zheng rushed to Room 6037, evaded a woman carrying documents, and battled the manager who answered the door.
• Liu Zheng persuaded the manager to accept her delivery by promising to stop five rivals from taking her position, and she revealed she knew about him through Wang Manni.
• The manager asked Liu Zheng to bury her among blooming camellias if she died, and he left after agreeing to check on her later.
• Liu Zheng joined Golden Beetle on the sixty-second floor to discuss business, then frowned when Golden Beetle offered him tea from the Six-Feather Tea House.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• Liu Zheng visits Golden Beetle to discuss the tea he refused earlier. He claims he heard that Six-Feather Tea House’s quality control had become unstable.
• Golden Beetle realizes that confirmed rumors could cause Six-Feather’s stock price to fall, creating an opportunity to short the company. Liu Zheng considers using the scheme both to profit and to punish Six-Feather, which he suspects was involved in attacking his lottery shop and attempting to abduct his woman.
• Liu Zheng asks Golden Beetle to remain silent and wait until he gives instructions. He then proceeds with a mortgage loan, emphasizing that he wants the arrangement to be fair and that Golden Beetle should receive its proper earnings.
• Golden Beetle prepares the documents. Liu Zheng notices there is no early-repayment penalty and insists on paying one anyway, ultimately giving Golden Beetle 200,000 as a fee. His extravagant spending reinforces how wealthy—and unconcerned with money—he has become.
• After Liu Zheng leaves, Golden Beetle secretly calls President Yuan, reports that the matter is settled, and uses an expensive facial mask as a gift to maintain the relationship.
• Liu Zheng is intercepted by Northgold Building’s security guards, apparently because he was seen running through the building and nearly colliding with an employee. Rather than fight, he uses a single-use elevator button from his system to teleport back to Bloodstained Restaurant.
• Back at the restaurant, Liu Zheng jokes with the elevator and returns to the break room. Cow-Horse mocks him for avoiding a fight, while revealing that she herself was once beaten by Northgold Building’s security guards.
• Liu Zheng tells Cow-Horse that he has recruited an Iron-Eating Beast as an underling and that it possesses a Tiger Soul Fragment. Cow-Horse is interested because she also has a fragment, but their pieces are insufficient to form the complete Tiger Soul.
• Liu Zheng explains Panda’s tragic history: the Panda Clan was exterminated, and Panda wants revenge. He asks Cow-Horse where her Tiger Soul Fragment came from, wondering whether she may have been involved.
• Cow-Horse provocatively claims that she might have killed Panda’s clan for its treasure. Liu Zheng says he cannot kill his own boss for the sake of an underling, but he would expect her not to commit such immoral acts in the future. Cow-Horse denies ever having encountered an Iron-Eating Beast.
• When Liu Zheng presses her about the fragment’s origin, Cow-Horse jokingly says she “picked it up,” then demands alcohol before telling the story.

Character Developments

• Liu Zheng demonstrates increasing confidence and strategic intelligence. He recognizes the financial opportunity in Six-Feather Tea House’s possible collapse and intends to combine revenge with profit.
• He also reinforces his personal principles: keeping promises and pursuing mutually beneficial arrangements. His insistence on paying the early-repayment penalty shows that he does not want to exploit Golden Beetle.
• Liu Zheng’s loyalty is tested when he learns that Cow-Horse could potentially be connected to Panda’s tragedy. Although he wants to help Panda, he refuses to betray or attack his own boss without knowing the full circumstances.
• Golden Beetle becomes more trusting of Liu Zheng and views him as an unusually fair and wealthy client. At the same time, its private phone call reveals that it remains pragmatic and skilled at maintaining business relationships.
• Cow-Horse is shown to be both powerful and cautious. She has a humiliating history with Northgold Building’s security forces, but she also retains her usual sarcastic, morally ambiguous attitude. Her possession of a Tiger Soul Fragment hints at a deeper past that may connect to Panda’s storyline.
• Panda, though absent, gains greater narrative importance through the revelation of its clan’s destruction and its desire for revenge.
• The Iron-Eating Beast is established as Liu Zheng’s new subordinate, strengthening his growing network of allies.

Significant Themes

• Loyalty and competing obligations: Liu Zheng must balance his loyalty to Cow-Horse, his responsibility toward Panda, and his desire to help his underlings.
• Morality in a corrupt world: The characters accept that survival often requires dirty hands or compromised choices. Liu Zheng does not see Cow-Horse as inherently evil, even if she may have harmed others.
• Money as power and freedom: Liu Zheng uses money to solve problems, reward fairness, and potentially destroy an enemy through financial manipulation. His casual spending also emphasizes his detachment from ordinary financial concerns.
• Revenge and justice: Liu Zheng’s plan against Six-Feather Tea House is motivated by both personal anger and his desire to protect those close to him.
• Trust and information: Liu Zheng carefully controls what he reveals, while Golden Beetle and Cow-Horse each withhold information. The chapter builds suspense around the truth of the Tiger Soul Fragment and Panda’s enemies.
• Power versus prudence: Liu Zheng’s teleportation allows him to avoid an unnecessary fight, showing that retreat and cleverness can be more useful than direct confrontation.

Character Interactions

• Liu Zheng and Golden Beetle establish a cooperative business relationship based on trust, fairness, and shared profit.
• Golden Beetle’s later call to President Yuan contrasts its sincere admiration of Liu Zheng with its practical need to manage other clients.
• Liu Zheng and the Northgold security guards have a brief confrontation, but he escapes rather than reveal his full strength.
• Liu Zheng and Cow-Horse exchange sarcastic banter about courage, money, and their past experiences with Northgold Building.
• Their conversation turns serious when Liu Zheng asks about Panda’s revenge. Cow-Horse tests his loyalty by suggesting she may be Panda’s enemy, while Liu Zheng makes clear that he cannot simply sacrifice his boss for a subordinate.
• The chapter ends with Cow-Horse withholding her story about the Tiger Soul Fragment until Liu Zheng provides alcohol, setting up the next revelation.

Chapter Summary: “Farewell, Britannia”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Cow-Horse recounts how, years earlier, it helped Red Pig attempt to cross the border. During one scouting mission, Cow-Horse encountered a suspicious person who was also trying to escape. After the stranger attacked first, Cow-Horse defeated and looted him, gaining resources that contributed greatly to its present strength.
• Liu Zheng asks whether the loot included anything connected to Iron-Eating Beasts. Cow-Horse reveals that it once possessed a complete Iron-Eating Beast hide but sold it to Napoleon.
• Liu Zheng contacts White-Feather Chicken, who confirms that the hide still exists and returns it in exchange for settling an old debt. The hide may have belonged to Abao’s mother or another close relative, making the discovery emotionally significant.
• White-Feather Chicken also offers Liu Zheng another hide suitable for Painted Skin, but demands a Divine Monster hide in exchange. Liu Zheng refuses, remembering how difficult and costly it was to kill the previous Divine Monster.
• Yuan Bao’er contacts Liu Zheng about payment for a previous business arrangement. Liu Zheng asks her to send both the money and takeout, continuing his habit of turning business dealings into opportunities for food and convenience.
• Ghost Hand delivers the takeout order, allowing Liu Zheng to obtain another copy of a powerful but dangerous item: Poached Elephant Penis. Although it permanently improves sexual ability, it can trigger an uncontrollable “in heat” state, so Liu Zheng decides not to use it.
• Wanting to maintain relations with one of the Restaurant’s three major powers, Liu Zheng gives the item to Britannia as a gift. Cow-Horse reluctantly contacts Britannia and extorts Liu Zheng for additional liquor.
• Liu Zheng flatters Britannia excessively, presenting the gift as something suitable only for a “tough man” like them. Britannia accepts the gesture and personally arrives at the clinic to collect it.
• The chapter ends with Liu Zheng opening the door to Britannia, an imposing and refined Minotaur whose restrained appearance contrasts with the more crude and savage Niu Daji.

Character Developments

• Liu Zheng continues to grow in wealth, influence, and social awareness. He understands that maintaining relationships with powerful factions is essential, even when he must resort to exaggerated flattery and gifts.
• He also shows emotional sensitivity when he realizes the Iron-Eating Beast hide may have belonged to Abao’s mother. His recurring role in recovering the remains of others’ relatives reminds him of his own orphaned background.
• Cow-Horse is shown to be far stronger than it usually admits. Its old victory and subsequent looting helped establish much of its current power. It remains sarcastic, greedy, and protective, particularly when it threatens Liu Zheng over its share of profits and liquor.
• White-Feather Chicken demonstrates a practical but somewhat mocking nature. It honors debts and provides valuable materials, yet continues to tease Liu Zheng about his habit of claiming he does not need powerful resources before pursuing them anyway.
• Britannia is characterized as sophisticated, authoritative, and politically astute. Unlike Niu Daji’s brutality, Britannia’s strength is controlled and polished, though they clearly enjoy receiving respect and putting on airs.
• Yuan Bao’er maintains a playful, businesslike relationship with Liu Zheng, teasing him while handling their financial arrangements.
• Ghost Hand remains intimidated by Liu Zheng after their previous encounter and avoids entering the clinic.

Significant Themes

• The value of relationships and favors: Liu Zheng recognizes that gifts and courtesy can create long-term advantages, especially when dealing with powerful organizations.
• Humor amid death and loss: The Iron-Eating Beast hide is treated both as a practical object and as a memorial to an extinct people. Liu Zheng’s repeated involvement in delivering relatives’ remains creates a darkly comic reflection on his own orphanhood.
• Power and social hierarchy: Characters constantly negotiate status through threats, mockery, flattery, and the exchange of rare goods.
• The danger of seemingly beneficial power: The sexual-enhancement item offers clear advantages but carries a severe loss-of-control drawback, reinforcing the chapter’s recurring contrast between rewards and hidden risks.
• Extinction and remembrance: Abao’s species has been wiped out, and the hide becomes one of the few remaining tangible reminders of them.

Character Interactions

• Liu Zheng and Cow-Horse trade insults and jokes, but their banter reflects mutual familiarity and dependence.
• Liu Zheng presses Cow-Horse for information about the hide, while Cow-Horse mocks his questions and exploits his need for assistance to demand more liquor.
• Liu Zheng and White-Feather Chicken negotiate through favors rather than money, with the latter helping him recover the hide and proposing a dangerous trade for another.
• Yuan Bao’er and Liu Zheng maintain a teasing partnership based on business and shared profiteering.
• Liu Zheng and Britannia interact through exaggerated politeness and calculated gift-giving. Liu Zheng flatters Britannia to strengthen their connection, while Britannia knowingly plays along with the performance.

Chapter Summary: “I’m Not Clean Anymore”

Plot Points and Events

• Liu Zheng meets Britannia, the Customer Service Department minister, while visiting Cow-Horse. Britannia jokingly tries to recruit him, impressed by his humor and ability to fit into the Restaurant despite being a newcomer.
• Cow-Horse and Britannia trade insults about their departments. Britannia criticizes Cow-Horse’s failure to train delivery newcomers, while Cow-Horse argues that the Delivery Department has always been plagued by poor recruits. Liu Zheng is presented as an unusually capable exception.
• Liu Zheng gives Britannia a valuable dish, a poached elephant penis, as a gesture of respect. Britannia accepts it and gives him a single-use personal handkerchief in return.
• The handkerchief can remove one player status, including potentially beneficial or harmful effects, making it a highly useful item. Britannia asks Liu Zheng to find suitable candidates for its sexual interests in the outside world, and Liu Zheng reluctantly agrees.
• After Britannia gropes him and leaves, Liu Zheng disgustedly wipes the touched area. Cow-Horse mocks him, and Liu Zheng threatens to create a lifelike sex toy modeled after Cow-Horse for Britannia, immediately silencing the supervisor.
• Liu Zheng examines the food he was forced to take from the Restaurant: roasted lamb kidneys that restore a small amount of stamina but provide no sexual enhancement. He reflects that meals imposed on him seem to be of higher quality than those he orders himself.
• Rather than immediately visiting the clinic, Liu Zheng returns to Northgold Building to check on Manager Huang and locate the dismissed Two-Headed Ogre guard.
• The building’s security team initially confronts him angrily because his previous actions led to the ogre’s dismissal and caused the guards to lose half a month’s wages. Liu Zheng tries to compensate them, but the orc captain refuses, fearing the company would punish them further.
• Liu Zheng asks to contact Manager Huang to confirm whether she is alive. After bribing the captain into considering the request, he speaks with Huang Jie, who is weak but alive. He gives her his phone number and offers future assistance.
• Liu Zheng then asks for the former guard’s address, claiming he intends to recommend the ogre for a security job at Blissful Bathhouse. The guards become more cooperative and provide the address.
• Before leaving, Liu Zheng gives the guards money indirectly and asks them to thank their captain. He then drives toward the clinic.

Character Developments

• Liu Zheng continues becoming more established and influential within the Restaurant’s network. He uses humor, gifts, money, and calculated goodwill to gain cooperation, while maintaining a calm and confident attitude.
• He demonstrates practical kindness by honoring his promise to check on Manager Huang and by attempting to help the dismissed Two-Headed Ogre find new employment.
• Liu Zheng is increasingly wary of relying solely on memory and begins writing down important information, showing greater organization as his responsibilities grow.
• His interactions with Britannia reveal both his opportunism and his disgust: he seeks useful connections but is clearly repelled by Britannia’s behavior.
• Britannia is portrayed as powerful, vulgar, manipulative, and socially perceptive. It appreciates Liu Zheng’s intelligence and humor, rewards him with a valuable item, and begins treating him as a useful outside contact.
• Cow-Horse remains shameless, sarcastic, and fond of mocking others, but its immediate fear of Liu Zheng’s threat shows that Liu Zheng has gained leverage even over his supervisor.
• Manager Huang/Jie is confirmed to be alive but physically or emotionally weakened. Her guarded conversation with Liu Zheng suggests she still resents the circumstances of their previous deal.
• The Northgold security guards, initially hostile, quickly shift to respect and cooperation once Liu Zheng proves he is not there to cause trouble and demonstrates his wealth and connections.

Significant Themes

• Power through relationships: Liu Zheng advances not simply through strength, but by cultivating useful connections with ministers, guards, former enemies, and other figures.
• Transactional goodwill: Gifts and favors are central to the chapter. Liu Zheng and Britannia both recognize that kindness often carries an expectation of future repayment.
• Reputation and influence: Liu Zheng is beginning to develop a reputation, even though he jokingly believes it is not yet widespread enough. His confidence and unusual achievements make others take him seriously.
• Moral ambiguity: Liu Zheng genuinely helps people, but he also uses money, threats, and manipulation to achieve his goals. His kindness is practical rather than purely selfless.
• Adaptation and survival: The chapter emphasizes fitting into a dangerous supernatural society by understanding its rules, exploiting loopholes, and balancing disgust with pragmatism.
• Cleanliness and contamination: The title is reflected humorously in Liu Zheng’s disgust after Britannia touches him, symbolizing his increasing involvement with disturbing people and morally unpleasant situations.

Character Interactions

• Liu Zheng and Britannia: Their exchange is polite on the surface but filled with double meanings, bargaining, and mutual evaluation. Britannia recognizes Liu Zheng’s value, while Liu Zheng tolerates its indecency to obtain useful resources.
• Liu Zheng and Cow-Horse: Their relationship is familiar and combative. Cow-Horse mocks Liu Zheng’s attempt to curry favor, while Liu Zheng responds with a threat that exposes Cow-Horse’s vulnerability.
• Liu Zheng and the Northgold security team: Their relationship shifts from hostility to cooperation. Liu Zheng uses negotiation, financial incentives, and a credible promise to help their dismissed colleague.
• Liu Zheng and Manager Huang: Their brief phone call confirms an unresolved obligation between them. Liu Zheng presents himself as reliable by following through on his promise, while Huang remains skeptical and resentful.
• Liu Zheng and the Two-Headed Ogre: Although the ogre does not appear directly, Liu Zheng’s decision to help it find new work demonstrates that he values those who have aided him and is willing to repay past assistance.

Chapter Summary: “Monster Hunter? Monster Hunter!”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Old Fourth visits Liu Zheng at the clinic and jokingly demands another feast at the Bloodstained Restaurant. Liu agrees to host a proper meal once he is free, and Old Fourth gives him money and a list for purchasing alcohol.
• Liu informs the Panda, Abao, that he has discovered information about the enemy responsible for destroying its clan. The culprit, according to Cow-Horse, may only have been a subordinate rather than the true mastermind.
• Liu warns Nile Doctor and Niu Daji to restrain Abao if it loses control. He then reveals the Panda’s mother’s hide.
• Abao immediately recognizes the hide, calls it “Mom,” and breaks down in grief. Its sorrow turns into rage, causing its body to expand and its animal instincts to surface.
• The hide unexpectedly envelops Abao, forcing it back into a cub-like form and calming its fury. The transformation’s cause and permanence remain unknown, so Nile Doctor prepares to examine it.
• Liu leaves the clinic with Niu Daji to stock up on alcohol and other supplies. Before entering Du Kang Liquor Shop, he decides to prepare a New Year celebration for Feng Jizi, who has not celebrated the holiday in many years.
• Liu and Feng Jizi exchange jokes about celebrating the New Year early. Liu then takes Niu Daji to the Sa Duyou market to purchase New Year goods.
• Hui San offers to provide the goods as a tribute to Liu’s elder, hoping to strengthen their relationship and gain access to future business opportunities.
• While waiting, Liu plays games with Hui San’s son, Little Eight. Little Eight introduces him to a game called Monster Hunter: Pale Star, whose premise involves monsters hunting humanoid beings rather than the usual monster-hunting setup.
• Liu chooses another game, Dream Ape, and plays until Hui San announces that the supplies are ready. Liu and Hui San trade polite but pointed remarks, each recognizing the other’s hidden intentions and negotiating style.

Character Developments

• Liu Zheng: Shows compassion and initiative by arranging a New Year celebration for Feng Jizi, despite having little personal experience with the holiday. He also remains protective of Abao and demonstrates his growing business savvy when dealing with Hui San.
• Abao/Panda: Learns more about its clan’s destruction and confronts the remains of its mother. Its grief triggers a violent transformation, but the hide restores it to a childlike physical state, leaving its condition uncertain.
• Feng Jizi: Reveals loneliness and homesickness beneath his composed exterior. His admission that he stopped celebrating the New Year emphasizes how isolated he has become.
• Niu Daji: Continues to act as a loyal and enthusiastic subordinate, willingly helping Liu with errands and preparations.
• Hui San and Little Eight: Hui San becomes more eager to cultivate Liu as a business partner, while Little Eight provides a lighter, more playful interaction through video games.

Significant Themes

• Grief and family: Abao’s reaction to its mother’s hide shows that its search for revenge is inseparable from unresolved grief and its longing for family.
• The limits of revenge: Liu suspects that the known killer was not the true mastermind, suggesting that Abao’s revenge will involve a larger and more complicated conspiracy.
• Found family and companionship: Liu’s decision to celebrate the New Year with Feng Jizi reflects his belief that companionship can help heal loneliness and alienation.
• Business and mutual benefit: Liu and Hui San’s exchange demonstrates how alliances in their world are built through favors, profit, and carefully veiled negotiation.
• Humor amid darker events: Restaurant taxes, New Year preparations, gaming, and the absurd premise of Monster Hunter: Pale Star provide comic relief after the emotionally intense revelation about Abao’s mother.
• Identity and instinct: Abao’s transformation highlights the conflict between its civilized, humanlike upbringing and the primal instincts of its ancient bloodline.

Important Character Interactions

• Liu Zheng and Old Fourth: Their banter mixes friendship, greed, and mutual reliance, with Old Fourth securing both a feast and funds for alcohol.
• Liu Zheng and Abao: Liu acts as a protector and messenger, carefully preparing Abao before revealing the truth about its mother.
• Abao and its mother’s hide: This is the chapter’s emotional centerpiece; Abao’s recognition, grief, and rage reveal the depth of its attachment.
• Liu Zheng and Feng Jizi: Their conversation develops a warm, almost familial relationship as Liu offers to restore a tradition Feng Jizi abandoned.
• Liu Zheng and Hui San: Their courteous conversation is essentially a negotiation, with Hui San offering tribute in hopes of securing future opportunities.
• Liu Zheng and Little Eight: Their gaming session creates a humorous cultural exchange and introduces the chapter’s “Monster Hunter” joke.

Chapter Summary: “New Year!”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Liu Zheng returns to Feng Jizi’s residence with an enormous supply of New Year’s goods, intending to celebrate with Feng Jizi and possibly his colleagues from Du Kang Liquor Shop.
• Feng Jizi reveals that his home is a two-story bamboo building within a bamboo grove designated as his employee housing.
• The two prepare the residence for the New Year by:
  • Pasting upside-down Fu characters around the building.
  • Hanging ancient Peachwood Talismans alongside modern Spring Festival decorations.
  • Writing and displaying a New Year couplet. Feng Jizi uses his unique “Bamboo Script,” combining elements of several ancient writing styles.
  • Cleaning the house, hanging lanterns, preparing an altar, and arranging offerings.
• Liu Zheng cooks several dishes, including stir-fried beef, cumin lamb, and pig ears.
• Feng Jizi brings out Blue-Heaven Yellow-Springs Wine, a rare wine brewed from the tears of virtuous souls and evil ghosts.
• Feng Jizi realizes that the ritual might allow them to summon ancestral spirits. Liu Zheng contributes Deity-Invoking Incense, which he received from Old Man Hachijo after helping the old man’s granddaughter.
• Feng Jizi asks to use Liu Zheng’s Life Flame to ignite the incense. Though the process will burn Liu Zheng’s essence, spirit, and soul, Liu Zheng agrees because he trusts Feng Jizi and believes his extra life makes the risk acceptable.
• The first attempt to summon the ancestors fails because the Metropolis’s rules restrict Feng Jizi’s power. Feng Jizi then combines his Life Flame with Liu Zheng’s, successfully strengthening the ritual.
• The ancestor Chang Yi appears through the incense smoke. Feng Jizi identifies Liu Zheng as a descendant of the Fire Ancestor despite his nonhuman blood.
• Feng Jizi vouches for Liu Zheng’s character and swears that he will destroy Liu Zheng if Liu Zheng ever dishonors their ancestors.
• Chang Yi accepts this explanation, consumes the spiritual fragrance of the food and wine, praises both, and departs. The incense burns out completely, leaving behind a single jade bead.

Character Developments

• Liu Zheng demonstrates warmth, generosity, and filial respect by making sure Feng Jizi has a proper New Year celebration. He is cheerful, practical, and comfortable teasing Feng Jizi, while also showing strong trust and courage by risking his Life Flame during the summoning ritual.
• Feng Jizi reveals more of his background and personality. Though ancient, somewhat isolated, and unfamiliar with modern customs, he embraces Liu Zheng’s traditions. He is humble about his living conditions, appreciative of Liu Zheng’s companionship, and protective of him during the ancestral ritual.
• Feng Jizi’s oath on Liu Zheng’s behalf shows that he regards Liu Zheng as a trustworthy companion and values his moral character.
• Chang Yi is introduced as Feng Jizi’s ancestor and a powerful spiritual figure connected to the Fire Ancestor and Feng Hou lineages. He is stern and discerning, immediately questioning Liu Zheng’s nature, but ultimately accepts Feng Jizi’s judgment.

Significant Themes

• Tradition and continuity: The chapter blends modern New Year customs with ancient practices, such as Spring Festival couplets with Peachwood Talismans and modern food with ancestral worship.
• Friendship and companionship: Liu Zheng and Feng Jizi celebrate together despite being the only people present, showing that shared effort and affection can create a family-like bond.
• Trust and sacrifice: Liu Zheng willingly risks his soul and life force because he trusts Feng Jizi, while Feng Jizi risks his own standing by vouching for Liu Zheng.
• Moral character beyond appearance: Although Liu Zheng possesses nonhuman blood, Feng Jizi argues that his actions and character make him worthy of respect.
• Ancestral reverence: The New Year celebration becomes an opportunity to honor ancestors and maintain a connection between the living and the dead.
• Cultural adaptation: Feng Jizi, rooted in an ancient era, learns to participate in later customs, while Liu Zheng preserves and combines older traditions with newer ones.

Important Character Interactions

• Liu Zheng and Feng Jizi banter affectionately while decorating, cooking, and preparing the celebration.
• Feng Jizi patiently accepts Liu Zheng’s unconventional decorations and writing ideas, even when he privately finds them excessive or odd.
• Liu Zheng encourages Feng Jizi to write the couplet, while Feng Jizi introduces him to ancient traditions such as Peachwood Talismans.
• During the ritual, Feng Jizi guides Liu Zheng through the dangerous process and reassures him while relying on his Life Flame.
• Feng Jizi firmly defends Liu Zheng before Chang Yi, declaring that Liu Zheng is upright despite his nonhuman nature.
• Chang Yi evaluates both descendants through the ritual, accepts their offerings, and leaves behind a jade bead, suggesting that the encounter may have lasting significance.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• Liu Zheng wakes from the painful backlash of being burned by his own life flame. He and Feng Jizi discuss a line by Tang poet Li He, prompting Feng Jizi to praise the continuity of Huaxia’s literary tradition.
• Liu Zheng examines the jade bamboo/pearl Feng Jizi gave him. Its origin cannot initially be identified, so Feng Jizi splits it with a strand of hair. This reveals it to be a damaged Wind Empress Jade Pearl, a Perfect-quality item that greatly enhances Qimen Dunjia and can grant two related skills if consumed.
• Because the pearl has become linked to both their fortunes, it cannot be restored. Liu Zheng accepts the loss pragmatically and asks Feng Jizi to teach him Qimen Dunjia in compensation.
• Feng Jizi first reveals that learning the art normally requires mastering a vast body of introductory and advanced knowledge. Liu Zheng nearly abandons the idea, but asks instead for a quickly learned long-range killing technique.
• Feng Jizi explains the sinister Myriad Spirits Blood Arrow, which normally requires torturing and grinding up a spirit beast, then allowing its resentment to ferment inside the caster before firing it as a blood arrow.
• Liu Zheng proposes using his own regenerative Flesh as a substitute material. Feng Jizi tests a severed piece of Liu Zheng’s tentacle, successfully transforming it into a blood arrow. Though weaker than the orthodox version, it can be fired repeatedly, making it highly practical for Liu Zheng.
• Feng Jizi agrees to teach him the technique and uses the Wind Empress Jade Pearl as part of a ritual. He grinds the pearl into ink mixed with his own blood, covers Liu Zheng’s body in strange Qimen symbols, and seals them into him.
• The system adapts the technique into the skill Blood-Spitting, allowing Liu Zheng to spit out his own Flesh as blood arrows. Its strength and range depend on the Flesh’s quality and Liu Zheng’s Constitution.
• Cow-Horse calls Liu Zheng back to work. Liu Zheng negotiates for Napoleon to help purchase liquor, but refuses to abandon Feng Jizi during the New Year celebration. He chooses to cook for and keep Feng Jizi company instead.

Character Developments

• Liu Zheng gains his much-needed ranged attack ability, expanding his combat options beyond close-quarters knife fighting. He also demonstrates adaptability, shameless practicality, and a willingness to exploit his unusual regenerative body.
• Liu’s open-mindedness allows him to accept the damaged jade pearl without resentment. However, he is also opportunistic, immediately turning Feng Jizi’s guilt into a request for instruction.
• Liu shows strong loyalty and gratitude. Even after receiving the skill, he refuses to leave Feng Jizi alone and insists on honoring his promise to spend New Year with him.
• Feng Jizi becomes increasingly trusting and affectionate toward Liu Zheng. Though initially reluctant to teach such a cruel technique, he recognizes Liu’s character and adapts the method to Liu’s unique abilities.
• Feng Jizi is physically and spiritually weakened by forcibly manifesting his ancestor and transferring the technique, showing the cost of helping Liu.
• Cow-Horse continues to act as Liu Zheng’s impatient but dependable superior, using threats and insults while still helping him arrange work and supplies.

Significant Themes

• Reciprocity and moral obligation: Liu Zheng follows the principle of repaying kindness with kindness. His decision to stay with Feng Jizi despite being summoned back reinforces the chapter’s emphasis on loyalty and gratitude.
• Practicality versus tradition: Qimen Dunjia normally requires decades or centuries of study, but Liu Zheng and Feng Jizi find a shortcut through ritual transformation and system adaptation.
• The danger of power: Myriad Spirits Blood Arrow is an explicitly cruel, heterodox technique built on torture and resentment. Liu Zheng’s ability to replace its usual materials with his own Flesh makes the power far more efficient and frightening.
• Human ingenuity and adaptation: Liu Zheng’s system and unique body convert an ancient, morally dubious spell into a usable modern-style combat skill.
• Cultural continuity: The discussion of Li He and ancient Chinese traditions reflects the survival of Huaxia’s literary and magical heritage across generations.

Character Interactions

• Liu Zheng and Feng Jizi build mutual respect through conversation, humor, and cooperation. Feng Jizi admires Liu’s open-mindedness, while Liu values Feng Jizi’s knowledge and generosity.
• Their exchange over the jade pearl shifts from compensation to genuine mentorship.
• Feng Jizi’s reluctance to use Liu’s body contrasts with Liu’s fearless willingness to sacrifice his own Flesh for power.
• Liu’s conversation with Cow-Horse highlights their familiar boss-and-underling relationship: sarcastic, transactional, but ultimately cooperative.
• Liu’s final decision to cook for Feng Jizi demonstrates that their relationship has moved beyond a simple exchange of favors.

Chapter Summary: “Cow-Horse: I Will Never Forgive You!”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Liu Zheng spends three hours with Feng Jizi after sharing New Year’s food and playing Gomoku. Before leaving, he gives Feng Jizi his game console so they can play together in the future.
• Feng Jizi reflects on the danger of trading dreams for purchasing quotas. Trading nightmares is harmful, but trading away beautiful memories and hopes can leave someone emotionally empty. Liu Zheng nevertheless insists that sacrificing worthless dreams is worthwhile.
• Liu Zheng collects the large liquor order from Du Kang Liquor Shop. Because it cannot all fit in the hearse, City Hall and Yuan Bao’er send trucks to collect their portions. The remaining liquor is delivered to the clinic, Restaurant, and Jinzi Clan.
• At the Restaurant, Cow-Horse attacks Liu Zheng for returning without immediately handing over its liquor. Liu Zheng complains about the treatment but eventually gives Cow-Horse the promised bottles, along with liquor intended for Napoleon and Salmon.
• Cow-Horse goes to the Kitchen to obtain food. Liu Zheng uses the opportunity to contact Ace and arrange for a replacement game console for Feng Jizi.
• Cow-Horse returns with leftover food, and it and Liu Zheng begin drinking. Their drinking session is interrupted by Hishikibe, who reports that Deer Child has been delivered safely to Izanami’s residence.
• Liu Zheng contacts Red-Crowned Crane and orders it to place a delivery request at the entrance of Green Laurel Garden Crazy City. This allows him to travel there and retrieve Deer Child while avoiding suspicion.
• Ghost Hand suddenly enters the break room and grabs a bottle of Gold Label liquor. Liu Zheng uses the chaos to escape with the delivery order, leaving Cow-Horse furious because Ghost Hand has taken its alcohol.
• Liu Zheng rents the hearse from the driver and travels to Green Laurel Garden Crazy City. He gives the driver additional liquor for the workers who repaired his vehicle, learning that the driver no longer enjoys alcohol as much as he did while alive.
• At the residential complex, Liu Zheng asks the six-fingered security guard to let him in, claiming he was invited by a resident. He offers a bribe but allows the guard to verify his story. The guard permits him to register before entering.

Character Developments

• Liu Zheng continues to show generosity and loyalty. He gives Feng Jizi a game console, distributes liquor among numerous allies, and rewards the hearse workers for repairing his vehicle.
• He also demonstrates adaptability and cunning, using a delivery order as a pretext to reach Green Laurel Garden Crazy City and rescue Deer Child.
• Feng Jizi reveals a more perceptive and sympathetic side. He understands that Liu Zheng’s willingness to trade beautiful dreams reflects a firm, self-sacrificing personality rather than carelessness.
• Cow-Horse remains domineering and violent but also displays attachment to Liu Zheng. Its anger over the liquor and concern about Ghost Hand stealing it are played for comedy, while its dependence on Liu Zheng’s deliveries reinforces their subordinate-boss relationship.
• Red-Crowned Crane shows growing trust and courage by agreeing to place a dangerous delivery order, despite uncertainty about whether it might die.
• The hearse driver is characterized as practical and cooperative. He helps Liu Zheng travel quickly and accepts liquor on behalf of his workers.
• Ghost Hand remains unpredictable and dangerous, especially after drinking. Its impulsive theft creates the immediate reason for Liu Zheng’s hurried departure.

Significant Themes

• Sacrifice and emotional identity: The discussion about trading beautiful dreams raises the cost of purchasing power and questions whether losing one’s happiest memories undermines one’s humanity.
• Loyalty and reciprocity: Liu Zheng continually repays allies, workers, and acquaintances with liquor, gifts, and favors, strengthening his network.
• Comedic workplace hierarchy: The Restaurant’s relationships are framed like an absurd workplace, with Liu Zheng acting as an abused subordinate while Cow-Horse insists on its authority.
• Resourcefulness and survival: Liu Zheng repeatedly turns ordinary deliveries, gifts, and social connections into tools for navigating dangerous situations.
• Danger beneath humor: The playful drinking scenes conceal real threats, including Ghost Hand’s violent drunkenness, the risks faced by Red-Crowned Crane, and the dangers surrounding Deer Child’s rescue.

Character Interactions

• Liu Zheng and Feng Jizi: Their Gomoku game and gift exchange deepen their friendship, while Feng Jizi quietly worries about Liu Zheng’s sacrifices.
• Liu Zheng and Cow-Horse: Their banter combines affection, intimidation, and mutual dependence. Cow-Horse beats Liu Zheng but relies on him for liquor and favors.
• Liu Zheng and Hishikibe: Hishikibe provides the crucial update about Deer Child and impatiently urges Liu Zheng to retrieve him.
• Liu Zheng and Red-Crowned Crane: Liu Zheng asks Red-Crowned Crane to risk placing a delivery order; although hesitant, it agrees.
• Liu Zheng and Ghost Hand: Their interaction is indirect but chaotic. Ghost Hand steals Cow-Horse’s liquor, prompting Liu Zheng to flee before the resulting drunken rampage begins.
• Liu Zheng and the hearse driver: Their relationship is cooperative and increasingly friendly, with Liu Zheng compensating the driver’s workers and relying on him for fast transportation.
• Liu Zheng and the security guard: Liu Zheng uses polite persuasion and a small bribe to gain entry, while the guard cautiously verifies his identity before allowing him inside.

Liu Zheng secured Wachang Ming’s recommendation by trading on a last-wish recorder and a supply of intestines, then obtained another Honorary Homeowner Medal. He left with three medals collected and planned to gather the remaining medals and delivery-set pieces.

• Liu Zheng told Deer Child that Red-Crowned Crane had asked him to rescue him and reunited them at the complex entrance.
• Liu Zheng visited Wachang Ming with Hishikibe and used a last-wish recorder, Gold Label liquor, and Yate the Evil God’s intestines to negotiate for a recommendation.
• Wachang Ming served Liu Zheng Intestinal Bloom Tea, which could add a year to his lifespan, and agreed to write the recommendation.
• Liu Zheng had the Novelist write a third recommendation and obtained an Honorary Homeowner Medal from the property management center.
• Liu Zheng pinned his two Honorary Homeowner Medals together and resolved to collect the remaining medals and delivery-set pieces.

After learning that a hospital had concealed the theft of a large stockpile of Flesh, Liu Zheng suspected the case was connected to Bai Tianshi’s disappearance and arranged to sponsor the Public Security Bureau’s investigation. Bai San agreed to provide three million, while Liu Zheng began arranging a birthday outing for the Logistics Division in the Hundred Thousand Mountains.

• Liu Zheng sent Red-Crowned Crane and Deer Child to the clinic, then placated Cow-Horse with bottles of Gold-Label Liquor after Ghost Hand stole its food and drink.
• Liu Zheng read that a hospital’s Flesh stockpile had been stolen and learned from Ace that Criminal Investigation Division Two suspected the hospital had concealed the theft for months.
• Liu Zheng told Ace that Bai Tianshi had disappeared around the time of the theft and offered to sponsor whatever Criminal Investigation Division Two needed to investigate.
• Ace secured preliminary approval from his superiors, and Liu Zheng proposed organizing a nature outing in the Hundred Thousand Mountains for the Logistics Division chief’s birthday.
• Bai San confirmed that Bai Tianshi’s medical team had researched cloning organs with Flesh and pledged up to three million toward the investigation.
• Liu Zheng asked Shi Tiantian to help find a venue, and she warned that an incident in the Hundred Thousand Mountains could implicate the Stone Spirit Clan and endanger the Logistics Division.

Chapter Summary: The Red Witch Was Being Generous

Key Plot Points and Events

• Liu Zheng continues organizing a major City Hall-sponsored celebration, using it to strengthen Yuan Bao’er’s Blissful Bathhouse and undermine Granny Tang’s Night Parade Bathhouse.
• Shi Tiantian agrees to try persuading her mother to approve City Hall’s involvement, but cannot make the decision herself.
• Liu Zheng secures Yuan Bao’er’s enthusiastic support. She sees the event as an opportunity to:
  • Challenge Granny Tang’s influence.
  • Promote Blissful Bathhouse.
  • Gain City Hall’s support.
  • Unite the Beyond-the-Pass Five Families and expand their influence.
• Liu Zheng coordinates with Jinzi and the Attendant Clan. Jingzi may host the celebration, but she will first train at Blissful Bathhouse. The clan agrees to follow Blissful Bathhouse’s management to avoid organizational conflict.
• He also contacts Sea Woman about having the Board-Game Hall participate. Their boss, the Red Witch, overhears the conversation and summons Liu Zheng through a delivery order.
• Ghost Hand returns injured after stealing liquor for itself. Although Liu Zheng pities it slightly, he considers the punishment deserved and gives it a small dried fish.
• Liu Zheng receives a delivery order from the Red Witch for black billy goat offal soup at the Board-Game Hall. Expecting trouble, he keeps his Memorial Medal in case he needs to escape.
• At the Board-Game Hall, Liu Zheng is reunited with the newly awakened Vampire Girl, who has returned to her tiny form because the Red Witch prefers her that way.
• The Red Witch orders Liu Zheng to challenge a Thought Vortex—a dangerous mass of accumulated ideas that generates unfinished, buggy board games.
• Liu Zheng protests against working without compensation and firmly reminds the Red Witch that his cooperation should not be taken for granted. The Red Witch responds by striking him with lightning, though Sea Woman reveals that she had already intended to reward him.
• Despite being burned, Liu Zheng stands by his words and prepares to see what reward the Red Witch will offer.

Character Developments

• Liu Zheng demonstrates increasing confidence and assertiveness. He remains playful and sarcastic but is willing to confront powerful figures when he feels exploited.
• Shi Tiantian shows responsibility and loyalty by promising to persuade her mother, though she recognizes the limits of her authority.
• Yuan Bao’er becomes more ambitious and strategic. Her feud with Granny Tang motivates her to take significant risks and seek cooperation with City Hall and the Five Families.
• Jinzi proves cooperative and business-minded, immediately recognizing the benefits the celebration could bring to Jingzi and the Attendant Clan.
• Jingzi is presented as someone with potential but insufficient experience for a major event, prompting a period of practical training.
• Vampire Girl awakens early and remains affectionate, childish, and openly enamored with Liu Zheng. Her small appearance is deliberately preserved by the Red Witch because it is considered more appealing.
• Sea Woman acts as the practical intermediary between Liu Zheng and the Red Witch, explaining the Thought Vortex and the Red Witch’s intentions.
• The Red Witch remains domineering and unpredictable, but the chapter reveals that she is capable of generosity and had already planned to compensate Liu Zheng.

Significant Themes

• Power, influence, and cooperation: The celebration becomes a means for businesses, supernatural clans, City Hall, and the Five Families to expand their collective influence.
• Rivalry and revenge: Yuan Bao’er’s plan is driven by her unresolved conflict with Granny Tang, turning a public event into a strategic attack against a rival power.
• Fair compensation and personal boundaries: Liu Zheng insists that loyalty and friendship do not justify exploitation. His confrontation with the Red Witch emphasizes the importance of recognizing one’s own value.
• Humor amid danger: Threats of violence, supernatural punishment, and political maneuvering are repeatedly undercut by sarcasm, awkward conversations, and absurd situations.
• Growth through challenge: The Thought Vortex represents both danger and opportunity, as successfully completing unfinished games can create new, fully developed board games and earn rewards.

Important Character Interactions

• Liu Zheng and Cow-Horse exchange crude jokes about Liu Zheng’s exaggeratedly romantic phone conversations with Shi Tiantian.
• Liu Zheng and Yuan Bao’er form a cooperative business alliance against Granny Tang, with both recognizing the risks and benefits of involving City Hall.
• Liu Zheng negotiates with Jinzi to ensure the Attendant Clan supports—but does not interfere with—Blissful Bathhouse’s management.
• Liu Zheng and Sea Woman maintain a teasing, somewhat awkward relationship, while she serves as the voice explaining the Red Witch’s demands.
• Vampire Girl’s enthusiastic affection for Liu Zheng contrasts with his reluctant but protective responses.
• Liu Zheng directly challenges the Red Witch’s authority, resulting in his being struck by lightning, yet he refuses to retract his statement and proceeds with the challenge.

Chapter Summary: Liu Zheng: I Invented a Perpetual Motion Machine

Key Plot Points and Events

• Liu Zheng follows the Sea Woman to the second floor, where he finds another door marked with an inverted pentagram.
• Before entering, the Sea Woman gives him an important rule: whenever offered a choice between a designated advantage and random advantages, he should always choose the designated option.
• Beyond the door, Liu Zheng is drawn into a glowing vortex inside a massive cauldron and transported into a new game called Killing Train.
• He is offered a choice between three random advantages or selecting one of three specific advantages. Following the Sea Woman’s advice, he chooses the designated option.
• His three choices are:
  • Obtaining a random rare relic
  • Selecting ten cards from a pool of thirty for his starting deck
  • Making the first three enemies have only one health
• Liu Zheng chooses the starting-deck option, believing that a strong and coherent deck will be more valuable in the long term.
• He examines the available cards and begins constructing a deck centered on the interaction between Anger State and

Calm State

• Anger increases offensive power but causes him to take increased damage.
• Calm provides energy and defensive benefits.
• He selects several powerful cards, including:
  • Rage to the Heart, which sacrifices health to gain energy and enter Anger State
  • Wild Punches, a strong multi-hit attack that becomes area damage in Anger State
  • Vent Anger, a damaging attack that can shift him into Calm State
  • Diligent Training, which can upgrade another card if it kills an enemy
  • Two as One, which switches between Anger and Calm
  • Ultimate Sublimation, which grants immense power for one turn but kills him if he fails to win
  • Relentless Rage, which draws cards whenever he enters Anger State
  • Learned Beyond Measure, which fills his hand to its maximum size
• He rejects weaker, overly conditional, defensive, or inefficient cards, while placing several uncertain cards on a shortlist for later consideration.
• Near the end of the selection process, he notices a possible synergy between energy generation, card draw, state switching, and powerful attacks.
• This realization leads him to wonder whether he has effectively created a perpetual-motion machine—a self-sustaining card combination that continuously generates the resources needed to keep attacking.

Character Development

• Liu Zheng demonstrates increasing confidence and expertise as a card-game strategist. He quickly evaluates cards based on energy cost, damage output, conditions, deck synergy, and long-term value.
• He favors aggressive strategies, repeatedly expressing the belief that overwhelming offense is superior to defense.
• His approach becomes more analytical as he identifies the deck’s central mechanic: balancing and exploiting the two opposing states of Anger and Calm.
• His choices also reveal a willingness to accept extreme risks, such as sacrificing health or risking instant death for massive damage.
• Liu Zheng’s playful and somewhat twisted sense of humor appears when he recognizes the synergy between hurting himself, entering Anger State, and then attacking enemies.

Significant Themes

• Strategy and optimization: The chapter focuses heavily on evaluating risk, reward, resource costs, and card combinations.
• Offense versus defense: Liu Zheng consistently prioritizes damage and tempo, though he gradually realizes that an entirely offensive deck may leave him vulnerable.
• Balance and transformation: Anger and Calm represent opposing but mutually necessary forces. Effective play requires shifting between them rather than relying on only one.
• Calculated risk: Many powerful cards involve serious drawbacks, including health loss, delayed energy debt, or instant death if a battle is not finished immediately.
• Self-sustaining power: The idea of a “perpetual motion machine” reflects Liu Zheng’s search for a combination that produces endless energy, card draw, and attacks without exhausting his resources.

Character Interactions

• Liu Zheng and the Sea Woman: Their interaction is brief but important. The Sea Woman provides strategic guidance, and Liu Zheng trusts and follows her advice when selecting his advantage.
• Liu Zheng and the game’s announcer: A childish female voice explains the rules and presents his choices, establishing the mechanical, game-like nature of the new challenge.
• Most of the chapter’s interactions are indirect: Liu Zheng evaluates card images depicting the short-robed warrior, mentally engaging with the imagined combat style and abilities represented by the cards.

Chapter Summary: “A Perfect Item Comparable to a Legendary”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Liu Zheng finalizes a ten-card deck built around a Perpetual Motion loop, using cards such as Rage to the Heart, Meditation, Vent Anger, Relentless Rage, Learned Beyond Measure, and Wild Punches. The deck has exceptional card draw and energy generation but somewhat limited damage.
• He rejects the final available card, Penetrating Strike, because it has no synergy with his deck.
• After entering the game, Liu Zheng chooses the longest route, accidentally triggering a hidden portal that sends him directly to the final boss instead of making him climb the train.
• In the Boiler Room, he faces the Giant Birdman and two smaller birdmen. Although his opening hand lacks an Anger card, Learned Beyond Measure allows him to draw the rest of his deck and activate his engine.
• By cycling Meditation and Rage to the Heart, then using Relentless Rage and Wild Punches, Liu Zheng kills the enemies almost immediately. The smaller birdmen are destroyed by unexplained area-of-effect damage.
• The Giant Birdman enters a second phase, reviving with greater health and damage. Liu Zheng remains confident that his infinite-style card loop will eventually defeat it, regardless of how many turns are required.
• He defeats the boss again and completes the game in record time, earning numerous achievements, including:

Birdcatcher

Perpetual Motion

Git Gud

The Flash

Extraneous Possessions

Straight to the Dragon’s Lair

• As a reward, Liu Zheng chooses the Endless Branches treasure from three options. It has a 25% chance to duplicate consumable items of Fine quality or below and can be taken out of the instance.
• He then chooses the one-time-use card Deification, which raises all of the player’s eligible skills by one level for ten minutes.
• Upon returning to the Board-Game Hall, Liu Zheng realizes the Red Witch expects him to surrender one of his rewards. He gives her Deification, keeping the more valuable and versatile Endless Branches.
• The Red Witch accepts the card without argument, and Liu Zheng leaves after Vampire Girl confirms that the delivery has been received.

Character Developments

• Liu Zheng demonstrates strong strategic thinking by designing a nearly self-sustaining deck and recognizing its ability to bypass the normal progression of the game.
• His confidence grows as he realizes the deck’s loop is powerful enough to defeat even a revived final boss.
• He continues to rely on humor and sarcasm, mocking the game’s poor sound effects and crude interface while remaining alert to potential dangers.
• Liu Zheng shows practical judgment when choosing Endless Branches over the other treasures and later sacrificing Deification to preserve the treasure with greater long-term utility.
• The Red Witch appears unexpectedly restrained and cooperative, though her lightning strikes and mocking attitude preserve her intimidating presence.
• Vampire Girl continues acting as Liu Zheng’s friendly intermediary, despite being struck by lightning for praising the Red Witch.

Significant Themes

• Strategy and preparation: Careful deck construction allows Liu Zheng to overcome severe disadvantages, including a poor opening hand and a multi-phase boss.
• Efficiency and optimization: Liu Zheng bypasses the intended game progression and completes the entire challenge in under twenty minutes.
• Practical value versus immediate power: He chooses the item with broader long-term applications rather than the seemingly powerful short-term skill enhancement.
• Humor amid danger: Liu Zheng treats the threatening game and supernatural setting with irreverence, using jokes to defuse tension.
• Artificial or unfinished creation: The game’s improvised interface, crude sound effects, and the girl’s role as a designer suggest that the world is incomplete or experimentally constructed.

Character Interactions

• Liu Zheng interacts with the mysterious girl, who explains the game, announces its rules, awards achievements, and responds to his jokes with amusement.
• He mentally taunts the Giant Birdman throughout the battle, confident that his card engine makes victory inevitable.
• He negotiates indirectly with the Red Witch by presenting Deification as the delivery item, expecting resistance but receiving none.
• Vampire Girl reassures Liu Zheng about the Red Witch’s character and tells him he may leave the delivery behind, but the Red Witch’s lightning strike immediately undercuts her defense.
• The chapter ends with Liu Zheng successfully completing the delivery, retaining his most valuable reward, and driving away from the Board-Game Hall.

Liu Zheng visited Sunshine Community to offer the Two-Headed Ogre another job, then learned how to earn an Honorary Homeowner Medal by securing maintenance-fee payments. He reached the property center and persuaded the manager to let him pursue Honorary Owner status.

• Liu Zheng offered the old security guard cigarettes and money, then asked how to reach the Two-Headed Ogre’s basement apartment and how to earn an Honorary Homeowner Medal.
• The old guard told Liu Zheng that persuading half the homeowners to pay the community’s forty-something-million maintenance fee would earn him a medal, and advised him to accept the quest at the property center.
• Liu Zheng went to the property center, where the manager initially ordered his employees to attack him before learning he was Old Huang’s nephew.
• Liu Zheng compensated the manager for his ruined clothes, explained that he wanted Honorary Owner status, and received the manager’s agreement to let him proceed.

Chapter Summary: My Mechanism Is Above Yours

Key Plot Points and Events

• After becoming an Honorary Owner, Liu Zheng leaves the property management center and searches Building 7 for the Two-Headed Ogre.
• In a dark corridor, he uses his phone for light and discovers three doors. Only one bears the correct symbol: a bullfrog carrying garlic, identifying it as the “Garlic-Headed Turtle” entrance.
• A ghostly boy playing marbles attacks Liu Zheng. Each marble entering his heart increases his pain and physical weight, gradually immobilizing him.
• Liu Zheng counters by stabbing himself and removing his own heart, causing the marbles to spill out. He intimidates the boy into surrendering a valuable item, the Oversized Marble, which can appear directly inside a target’s heart if they fail a Constitution check.
• He allows the boy to escape and proceeds through the passage to Basement Level One, where he finds apartment 102.
• The Two-Headed Ogre initially complains that Liu Zheng ruined his job and is now pursuing him, but eventually lets him inside.
• Liu Zheng discovers that the ogre maintains an unusually clean and carefully repaired basement despite its poor condition.
• The ogre explains that his mother taught him to take life seriously, though she failed to instill the same values in his younger brother.
• Liu Zheng offers the two-headed ogre a new job as security guards at Yuan Bao’er’s bathhouse on Bathhouse Street.
• Smart Head questions the job’s risks, status, and pay, while Magic Head is more impulsive and less cautious. Liu Zheng explains that he wants to help them after their previous jobs were lost and believes they have potential.
• The chapter ends with Liu Zheng demanding an immediate decision and counting down from three.

Character Developments

• Liu Zheng demonstrates increasing confidence, ruthlessness, and resourcefulness. He remains fearless in supernatural situations and uses his own unusual physiology to outmaneuver the marble-playing ghost.
• His threatening, manipulative humor becomes especially prominent when he frightens the boy into surrendering an item. Despite his harsh methods, he also shows a willingness to help people he considers decent.
• The Two-Headed Ogre is revealed to be responsible and hardworking beneath his disheveled appearance. His spotless basement reflects discipline, pride, and respect for his mother’s teachings.
• Smart Head is cautious, analytical, and interested in risk assessment, but also prone to poor financial decisions and reckless investments. He dominates negotiations and views the employment offer strategically.
• Magic Head is more emotional, submissive, and impulsive. He frequently clashes with Smart Head but sometimes agrees with Liu Zheng’s criticisms of his brother.
• The marble-playing boy appears frightening at first but is ultimately cowardly when confronted with greater force.

Significant Themes

• Resourcefulness and unconventional strength: Liu Zheng wins not through ordinary combat but by exploiting his ability to survive without a heart.
• Fear and intimidation: The chapter repeatedly reverses the expected horror dynamic, with Liu Zheng terrifying supernatural beings instead of being frightened by them.
• Personal responsibility: Liu Zheng criticizes the ogre for blaming him after making his own reckless choices, emphasizing that people must accept the consequences of their actions.
• Appearance versus character: The ogre looks rough and lives in a basement, yet is exceptionally clean, disciplined, and sincere.
• Second chances and usefulness: Liu Zheng offers the unemployed ogre brothers a new opportunity, suggesting that flawed individuals can still be valuable if given suitable work.
• Family influence and internal conflict: The ogre’s mother’s advice shaped his responsible outlook, while the two heads embody conflicting tendencies—caution and recklessness, intelligence and impulsiveness.

Character Interactions

• Liu Zheng and the marble-playing boy engage in a supernatural power struggle. The boy initially immobilizes Liu Zheng, but Liu Zheng turns the situation around through self-mutilation, threats, and psychological pressure.
• Liu Zheng’s conversation with the Two-Headed Ogre shifts from mutual resentment to reluctant cooperation.
• Smart Head and Magic Head constantly argue, with Smart Head attempting to control negotiations and Magic Head interrupting or provoking him.
• Liu Zheng recognizes the ogre brothers’ potential but refuses to flatter them, openly pointing out Smart Head’s irresponsibility.
• By the end, Liu Zheng positions himself as both employer and evaluator, forcing the brothers to decide whether they are willing to accept a risky but promising new opportunity.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• Smart Head and Magic Head agree to work for Liu Zheng because their previous money was confiscated, their wages were withheld, and they urgently need funds for rent. Liu Zheng gives them travel money and orders them to reach Bathhouse Street.
• Before leaving the residential complex, Liu Zheng speaks with the elderly security guard, Uncle Huang, about the “little ghost” he defeated. He learns that the ghost was the child of a prostitute who died after abandoning him, explaining the ghost’s tragic origin and behavior.
• Liu Zheng decides not to consume the Flesh of Sight immediately. Concerned that repeatedly absorbing supernatural materials may transform him into an unknowable creature, he visits Miniature Man to negotiate.
• At Miniature Man’s home, Liu Zheng interacts humorously with Tindalos, feeding him dried fish and liquor. Miniature Man reveals that Tindalos is becoming increasingly attached to him and may become unable to leave Metropolis if he consumes too much.
• Liu Zheng offers Miniature Man the Flesh of Sight. Miniature Man recognizes it as the corpse of an extremely rare species and reflects on his past research.
• Liu Zheng asks about Iron-Eating Beasts, pandas’ atavistic transformation, and the mysterious extinction of the pandas. Miniature Man explains that Metropolis lacks an unknown element necessary for the transformation and that the Biological Management Bureau blocked deeper research.
• Liu Zheng reveals that his adopted “little brother,” Black Skeleton, is an Iron-Eating Beast who successfully underwent atavistic return. Miniature Man agrees to investigate the panda extinction and the broader mystery, provided Liu Zheng funds research and public-relations expenses.
• When Liu Zheng asks what Miniature Man wants in return for the Flesh of Sight, Miniature Man gives him a Ritual Blade and a written Spellskin incantation.
• The ritual can summon a Black Goat’s Young by sacrificing a sufficiently heavy beast in a forest during a moonless night. Liu Zheng realizes that, because he is himself a Black Goat’s Young, the ritual can be used to summon or teleport him across nearly all of Metropolis if someone else performs it.
• Liu Zheng leaves before being forced to walk a drunken Tindalos.
• He then visits the French Plane Tree on Rose Street. The tree uses its innate green mist to scout for nearby people, but demands payment for helping him. Liu Zheng prepares liquor and insists that the tree hand over a supernatural item in exchange.

Character Developments

• Liu Zheng continues to act pragmatically and opportunistically, balancing profit, survival, and long-term dangers. He shows growing unease about his physical transformation and worries that consuming too many supernatural substances may make him something completely inhuman.
• He also demonstrates increasing responsibility toward others, particularly by paying the little ghost’s medical bills instead of killing him and by funding an investigation into the Iron-Eating Beasts’ extinction.
• Smart Head and Magic Head become more dependent on Liu Zheng after losing their money and wages. Smart Head remains cautious and distrustful, emphasizing that their earlier resistance was partly an attempt to prevent Liu Zheng from selling them.
• Miniature Man is portrayed as a powerful but eccentric scholar. He is willing to help Liu Zheng, but carefully distinguishes between favors, paid research, and proper compensation. His strength is unexpectedly immense despite his tiny body.
• Tindalos is shown as affectionate, gluttonous, and increasingly domesticated. His attachment to Miniature Man contrasts with his dangerous nature.
• The French Plane Tree remains proud, argumentative, and greedy, but its willingness to cooperate suggests a developing transactional relationship with Liu Zheng.

Significant Themes

• Survival in a brutal society: The story repeatedly emphasizes that Metropolis is indifferent to suffering, as shown by the abandoned child, unpaid workers, and institutional neglect.
• Humanity versus monstrosity: Liu Zheng’s concern about becoming an “Unnamable” being reflects his uncertain identity and the danger of relying on supernatural power for survival.
• Pragmatism and moral compromise: Liu Zheng frequently chooses practical solutions—negotiating, bribing, funding research, or exploiting rituals—while still occasionally showing compassion.
• Knowledge, ethics, and institutional failure: Miniature Man’s research is obstructed by the Biological Management Bureau, whose failure to investigate the panda extinction suggests corruption, incompetence, or deliberate concealment.
• Power through cooperation: Many supernatural abilities are most useful when paired with allies. Liu Zheng’s new ritual is potentially a powerful teleportation method, but it depends on someone else performing it.

Important Character Interactions

• Liu Zheng negotiates with Smart Head over wages and travel expenses, establishing their relationship as one of mutual dependence mixed with suspicion.
• His conversation with Uncle Huang reveals the little ghost’s tragic backstory and reinforces the harshness of Metropolis.
• Liu Zheng and Miniature Man engage in a witty bargaining exchange over the Flesh of Sight, research funding, and compensation.
• Miniature Man’s interactions with Tindalos reveal both his authority over the creature and his reluctant affection for it.
• Liu Zheng’s discovery that the ritual can summon him demonstrates how Miniature Man’s scholarly knowledge directly expands Liu Zheng’s strategic options.
• His final exchange with the French Plane Tree continues the pattern of sarcastic, transactional alliances, with both parties attempting to gain the upper hand.

Chapter Summary: “Big White Goose: Liu Zheng, Let Me Go”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Liu Zheng argues sarcastically with the French Plane Tree after leaving Rose Street. The tree angrily binds him with its roots and throws him away.
• He discovers a powerful equipment fragment, “Merit Shrapnel,” which greatly improves the accuracy of ranged and explosive attacks. Despite the pain involved, Liu Zheng embeds it in his forehead because it interferes less with his movements than other body locations.
• Back at Bloodstained Restaurant, Cow-Horse mocks Liu Zheng’s swollen forehead, but Liu explains that the swelling is caused by the embedded fragment.
• Red-Crowned Crane informs Liu that Black Swan is taking an extended leave, possibly fleeing because Liu is preparing to attack her. Black Swan is scheduled to perform a solo ballet, Swan’s Lament, that evening.
• Liu decides to use the performance as an opportunity to kill Black Swan before she disappears. He invites Novelist and reluctantly allows Hishikibe to join them.
• Because Black Swan may possess precognition or danger-sensing abilities, Liu consults Nile Doctor and Yaksha about blocking such powers. Nile Doctor cannot help quickly, but Yaksha agrees to perform a ritual if given material from the target or someone mystically connected to her.
• Liu theorizes that, because Black Swan has taken over another person’s body and fate, the original person’s flesh or blood might work as ritual material.
• He asks Big White Goose for body material. Big White Goose provides a bottle of blood and lends Liu a triangle-eyed homunculus connected to its own eyes, requiring Liu to keep it with him until it is returned.
• Liu jokingly suggests that Big White Goose deliver food to Black Swan so he can obtain more material, but the goose refuses, reminding him that delivery would permanently reduce its remaining potential. It gives Liu chewing gum as “hazard pay” instead.

Character Developments

• Liu Zheng continues to show his reckless, pragmatic personality. He willingly embeds a sharp artifact in his forehead and treats the injury as a minor inconvenience if it improves combat effectiveness.
• He demonstrates increasing strategic ability by rapidly planning Black Swan’s assassination, seeking counters to her supernatural defenses, and considering unconventional sources of ritual material.
• Liu also shows social tact beneath his sarcasm. He gives Novelist the choice to attend the operation and respects Big White Goose’s hesitation about donating blood, even though he still tries to exploit every possible advantage.
• Novelist eagerly accepts Liu’s invitation and offers to help, revealing her strong attachment to him. She agrees to let Hishikibe accompany them despite clearly preferring Liu’s company.
• Hishikibe remains proud, competitive, and eager to prove her usefulness. She insists on joining the mission and claims Liu may eventually need her help.
• Big White Goose reveals both its trust in Liu and its caution. Though retired and suspicious by nature, it provides blood and a powerful personal object to support him. Its refusal to make a delivery shows concern for preserving its diminished potential and peaceful retirement.
• Yaksha acts as a cooperative but careful strategic partner, agreeing to help while reserving the right to cancel the ritual if anything seems dangerous.
• Cow-Horse continues to provide comic relief by laughing at Liu’s appearance and being bewildered by Liu’s exaggerated professional flattery.

Significant Themes

• Pragmatism and self-sacrifice: Liu accepts pain, danger, and moral ambiguity in pursuit of his objective.
• Trust and personal boundaries: Big White Goose’s blood is deeply private, and its decision to provide it reflects hard-earned trust in Liu.
• Strategic preparation: The chapter emphasizes that raw strength is insufficient against opponents with precognition or supernatural defenses; information, rituals, allies, and timing are equally important.
• Retirement and lost potential: Big White Goose’s weakened foundation illustrates the cost of past service and the permanent consequences of certain choices.
• Humor amid danger: Sarcasm and absurdity—such as Liu embedding shrapnel in his forehead—continually undercut the seriousness of assassination planning.
• Manipulation versus genuine relationships: Liu often uses clever speech to obtain help, but his interactions also suggest real bonds with Novelist, Big White Goose, and his other associates.

Important Character Interactions

• Liu and the French Plane Tree exchange insults, highlighting Liu’s provocative humor and the tree’s short temper.
• Cow-Horse ridicules Liu’s altered appearance, while Liu responds with deadpan irritation.
• Red-Crowned Crane provides intelligence and helps arrange tickets, demonstrating loyalty and competence.
• Liu invites Novelist to the theater while warning her that they may need to flee afterward. She accepts enthusiastically and offers her assistance.
• Hishikibe forces her way into the plan, leading to playful hostility between her and Liu, while Novelist mediates between them.
• Liu consults Nile Doctor and Yaksha, showing his reliance on specialized allies to overcome Black Swan’s supernatural abilities.
• Big White Goose initially resists giving blood but ultimately supports Liu by providing both blood and its eye-linked homunculus, while humorously objecting to being drawn further into active missions.

Chapter Summary: Verdant Residential Complex

Key Plot Points and Events

• Liu Zheng acquires a Fine-quality Green-Splash Gum, a single-use item that sprays poisonous green water and deals splash damage. He considers combining it with his Blood-Spitting ability but lacks a test subject.
• Big White Goose reports that Ottawa supplied blood for an important ritual, surprising Cow-Horse because Ottawa is normally extremely cautious. Liu Zheng jokes that Ottawa’s cooperation is the result of his good reputation.
• Liu Zheng contacts Yuan Bao’er to obtain an Erotic Suit, which he intends to use as a disguise while assassinating Black Swan without revealing his identity.
• He also arranges for:
  • Jingzi to temporarily train and manage operations at Blissful Bathhouse.
  • A Two-Headed Ogre to work as a security guard there.
• Liu Zheng reflects that his position in the Delivery Department allows him to move between Bloodstained Restaurant and Metropolis, connecting people and resources. Although his work has become endless and exhausting, it suits his energetic, problem-solving personality.
• He receives a delivery order for Deep-Sea Many-Headed Abalone Sashimi at Verdant Residential Complex, Building 3, Room 501.
• Cow-Horse explains that Verdant is a community inhabited mainly by herbivores, where carnivores are treated with suspicion and hostility. Liu Zheng assumes that, as a sheep-like creature, he should avoid serious danger.
• The sashimi is revealed to be an Excellent-quality item that restores stamina and temporarily makes the user function as though they are in seawater. This could greatly enhance Liu Zheng’s aquatic abilities and survivability.
• Before making the delivery, Liu Zheng stops at the clinic to collect:
  • A game console from Hobbit.
  • The Erotic Suit.
  • Ottawa’s blood, which is being supervised by a tiny military representative.
• Liu Zheng and Niu Daji visit Little Town Produce to buy fodder, apparently intended for someone at Verdant Residential Complex.
• The shop owner, Zhen Dongxi, supplies various types of fodder. Liu Zheng orders a hundred jin of every kind, along with equivalent quantities of fruits and vegetables, to be delivered to the complex.
• Liu Zheng then drives toward the Old District, leaving the bulk delivery arrangements to Niu Daji and the shop owner.

Character Developments

• Liu Zheng continues to demonstrate resourcefulness and strategic planning. He combines assassination preparations, personnel management, and delivery work, using his connections to influence events across Metropolis.
• His reputation is shown to be increasingly valuable: people cooperate with him, allow him access to resources, and accept his unusual requests.
• Liu Zheng remains irreverent and playful, frequently teasing others, but his actions reveal a growing sense of responsibility toward his employees, allies, and subordinates.
• Cow-Horse maintains its cynical, defensive personality, mocking Liu Zheng while still providing useful information and acting as a dependable source of advice.
• Yuan Bao’er continues her flirtatious teasing of Liu Zheng, while also proving cooperative and practical in business matters.
• Niu Daji is eager to help Liu Zheng, but his altered senses remain a serious inconvenience. Formerly pleasant smells now seem disgusting to him, while his judgment of food and fodder has become unreliable.
• The clinic’s tiny military supervisor is established as cautious and easily frightened, especially when Liu Zheng jokes about sending it to work in the Sewer.
• The shopkeeper Zhen Dongxi is introduced as a friendly, ordinary businessman whose name unintentionally resembles a phrase associated with fraud, prompting Liu Zheng to make an odd warning.

Significant Themes

• Reputation and social influence: Liu Zheng’s growing reputation enables cooperation from figures who would normally be distrustful or difficult to persuade.
• Resourcefulness and networking: Liu Zheng solves problems by linking people, businesses, and organizations rather than relying solely on direct force.
• Identity and disguise: His plan to use the Erotic Suit reflects the continuing need to conceal his identity while carrying out dangerous actions.
• Factionalism and prejudice: Verdant Residential Complex is divided along herbivore–carnivore lines, showing how species identity shapes social treatment in Metropolis.
• Survival through adaptability: Liu Zheng constantly exploits unusual items, skills, and circumstances—especially the seawater effect of the abalone—to gain advantages.
• Comedic absurdity amid danger: Violent plans, supernatural items, bodily humor, and mundane business transactions coexist, maintaining the chapter’s satirical tone.

Character Interactions

• Liu Zheng and Cow-Horse trade insults over reputation, trust, and the possibility of cooperating on dangerous experiments.
• Liu Zheng and Yuan Bao’er discuss the Erotic Suit, Jingzi’s temporary assignment, and the Two-Headed Ogre’s employment, with Yuan Bao’er repeatedly teasing him.
• Liu Zheng interacts with Nile Doctor and Niu Daji at the clinic, joking about fodder, the tiny supervisor, and Niu Daji’s sensory problems.
• Liu Zheng and Niu Daji work together at the produce shop, where Niu Daji helps evaluate fodder despite his unreliable senses.
• Liu Zheng negotiates with Zhen Dongxi for a large order of fodder, fruits, and vegetables to be delivered to Verdant Residential Complex, setting up the next stage of the delivery and its likely conflict.

Chapter Summary: “The Vegetarian Tiger”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Liu Zheng meets Yaksha at the Old District entrance to complete a mystical ritual involving the blood of a target and a Shadow Crow.
• Yaksha pours the blood into the crow, causing the phantom of a Black Swan to appear in its eyes. The ritual obscures the fates of both the blood’s owner and the person whose fate was exchanged with it, making them difficult to track or foresee through the Shadow Method.
• The ritual’s duration is uncertain because it depends on how long the Shadow Crow survives. Yaksha promises to notify Liu Zheng if it fails.
• Liu Zheng asks Yaksha about obtaining rare, unintelligent creatures with valuable hides. She explains that her organization deals in intelligent slaves rather than “pets,” though she may ask around despite the tensions caused by the species uprising in the Great Desert.
• Liu Zheng then travels with Niu Daji to the Verdant Residential Complex, intending to enter and visit the occupant of Room 501.
• The complex’s guard, unexpectedly a Tiger, refuses Liu Zheng’s meat-based bribe because he is a strict vegetarian. Liu Zheng quickly adapts, offering fruit and vegetables instead.
• Liu Zheng flatters Tiger, claims he plans to buy Niu Daji a home in the complex, and pressures the guard into letting them enter. Tiger contacts his captain, who approves their entry after learning that Liu Zheng appears wealthy and can afford a property.
• Once inside, Liu Zheng and his companions prepare to bribe the property staff with cash hidden in a box.
• At Room 501, Liu Zheng initially pretends to be a promoter offering free food samples, but the resident immediately recognizes him from his Bloodstained Restaurant uniform.
• Their exchange becomes a negotiation: Liu Zheng asks what would persuade the resident to accept his “delivery,” while the resident sarcastically asks what would make Liu Zheng die. Liu Zheng offers a piece of legendary equipment in exchange for his life, but the resident refuses, claiming their own life is priceless.
• Liu Zheng offers specially selected herbivore food to demonstrate his sincerity and is granted ten minutes to make his case. The chapter ends with him waiting outside and monitoring the time.

Character Developments

• Liu Zheng demonstrates adaptability, manipulation, and pragmatic morality. He smoothly changes tactics when his initial bribe fails, uses flattery and threats to enter the complex, and is willing to risk one of his lives for legendary equipment.
• He also shows some concern for his subordinates’ security by seriously considering buying Niu Daji a home. His desire to preserve certain moral boundaries remains conflicted, especially in his interest in obtaining valuable animal hides.
• Yaksha appears recovered and powerful after returning to the Dark Elves’ stronghold. She acts as Liu Zheng’s occult ally, completing the Shadow Crow ritual and explaining its limitations.
• Niu Daji becomes increasingly loyal and cooperative. He immediately supports Liu Zheng’s stories, helps manipulate Tiger, and is visibly moved by the suggestion that Liu Zheng would buy him a house.
• Tiger, despite being a security guard, is portrayed as both proud and easily flattered. His vegetarian identity is treated seriously, and Liu Zheng exploits it to gain access.
• Cow-Horse participates in the operation by carrying the bribe money and appears fully accustomed to Liu Zheng’s unconventional methods.
• The occupant of Room 501 is skeptical, perceptive, and resistant to Liu Zheng’s bargaining. They recognize his deception immediately and refuse to be bought or intimidated.

Significant Themes

• Pragmatism versus morality: Liu Zheng tries to maintain personal boundaries in a brutal society, even while considering smuggling creatures and skinning the dead for valuable hides.
• Manipulation and social performance: Entry into the complex depends not on force but on reading people, flattering them, and presenting the right identity.
• The instability of power and fate: The Shadow Crow ritual shows that supernatural protection is effective but unpredictable, depending on the crow’s uncertain survival.
• Loyalty and security: Liu Zheng’s plan to buy Niu Daji a home suggests that material stability can strengthen loyalty and make dangerous work more sustainable.
• Vegetarianism and hypocrisy: The chapter humorously reverses expectations with a vegetarian Tiger and Liu Zheng’s calculated use of “clean” food to gain access.
• Value of life: The conversation with the Room 501 resident contrasts Liu Zheng’s willingness to trade one life for legendary equipment with the resident’s insistence that their life is priceless.

Character Interactions

• Liu Zheng and Yaksha: Their relationship is cooperative and transactional. Yaksha provides occult services and information, while Liu Zheng supplies the needed blood and asks for access to rare creatures.
• Liu Zheng and Niu Daji: Liu Zheng directs and tests Daji, while Daji responds with complete loyalty, reinforcing their boss-and-subordinate relationship.
• Liu Zheng and Tiger: Their interaction is a battle of persuasion. Liu Zheng turns Tiger’s vegetarianism, vanity, and desire for good performance into tools for securing entry.
• Tiger and the security captain: Tiger reports Liu Zheng’s visit, while the captain prioritizes the possibility of a property sale over concerns about Liu Zheng’s identity.
• Liu Zheng and the Room 501 resident: Their conversation is a tense verbal duel. Liu Zheng relies on deception, bribery, and negotiation, while the resident remains alert, sarcastic, and unwilling to accept his terms.

Chapter Summary: “Liu Zheng”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Liu Zheng returns to Room 501 to complete a takeout delivery. The mysterious resident has eaten the food but refuses to accept the delivery, believing that doing so will put their life at risk.
• Liu Zheng explains that recipients who cooperate usually survive, even if they are badly injured, and promises access to healing through the Imhetem Clinic, the Bai Family, and hospitals.
• To prove his connections, he contacts Bai San. The resident reveals that their ex-boyfriend is Bai Nuli, a member of the Bai Family. Bai San agrees to have Bai Nuli call, hoping to reunite the couple.
• After speaking with Bai Nuli, the resident opens the door and is revealed to be a massive, fierce-looking Snapping Turtle.
• The Snapping Turtle demands that Liu Zheng defeat it before it will accept the meal. It attacks him with powerful claw strikes and then transforms into a flaming, spinning projectile.
• Liu Zheng blocks the attack with his perfect-quality blade, Rusty Blade, then uses the mental skill Witness to disrupt the turtle’s concentration. The turtle crashes headfirst into the wall, allowing Liu Zheng to defeat it without killing it.
• Liu Zheng places the food inside the room, officially completing the delivery. The Snapping Turtle confirms that Bai Nuli has agreed to go on another date.
• Liu Zheng advises the turtle to replace their planned stage-play date with a more elaborate outing and lends it money because its workplace has been withholding reimbursement payments.
• He also suggests obtaining a pearl-woven shawl from Silk-Coiling Cave and giving it to the finance employee as a bribe or gift to resolve the reimbursement issue.
• The cashier’s arrival forces the Snapping Turtle to hide inside its shell. Liu Zheng then goes downstairs to meet Niu Daji at the property management center.
• Niu Daji presents the apartment options he has inspected. Liu Zheng rejects the modest sixty-five-square-meter apartment and insists they choose a larger home with at least three bedrooms and two living rooms.

Character Developments

• Liu Zheng demonstrates persistence, negotiation skills, combat ability, and resourcefulness. He combines threats, social connections, medical guarantees, humor, and practical assistance to complete the delivery without killing the recipient.
• He is shown to be unexpectedly compassionate: he helps the Snapping Turtle repair its relationship, lends it money, and offers a solution to its workplace problem.
• The Snapping Turtle shifts from hostile and defensive to cooperative. Although it initially challenges Liu Zheng to a fight, it accepts defeat, trusts his help, and openly discusses its relationship and financial troubles.
• The turtle is portrayed as powerful but insecure, particularly about its breakup, its nickname “Big Gun Jack,” and its inability to obtain reimbursement from the finance department.
• Bai San treats Liu Zheng with increasing respect because of his efficiency and competence, and he attempts to use his authority to reunite Bai Nuli with the Snapping Turtle.
• Niu Daji continues to behave deferentially toward Liu Zheng, allowing him to make the final decisions about their future home.

Significant Themes

• Cooperation over violence: Liu Zheng repeatedly tries to resolve dangerous situations through negotiation, only fighting when the turtle makes combat a condition of cooperation.
• Practical kindness: Liu Zheng’s assistance is often framed as business or strategy, but he consistently helps others beyond the minimum required—healing them, arranging relationships, lending money, and solving bureaucratic problems.
• Social connections and influence: The Bai Family’s reputation and Liu Zheng’s name function as valuable forms of leverage, allowing him to secure trust and services.
• Identity and acceptance: The conversation about the turtle’s male same-sex relationship is treated casually and without prejudice, presenting the relationship as ordinary while using humor to explore personal insecurity.
• Bureaucratic injustice and corruption: The turtle’s valid reimbursement claims are delayed because of personal friction with the finance department, prompting Liu Zheng to recommend an indirect bribe.
• Strength versus intelligence: The Snapping Turtle relies on overwhelming physical force, while Liu Zheng wins through timing, mental abilities, technique, and adaptability.

Character Interactions

• Liu Zheng and the Snapping Turtle move from negotiation, to combat, to friendly cooperation. Their banter reveals both Liu Zheng’s irreverent humor and the turtle’s prideful but vulnerable personality.
• Liu Zheng contacts Bai San and uses Bai San’s family connections to arrange communication between the Snapping Turtle and Bai Nuli.
• The Snapping Turtle shares its romantic and financial problems with Liu Zheng, who responds with blunt but effective advice.
• Liu Zheng and Niu Daji maintain a boss-subordinate relationship: Niu Daji researches housing, but Liu Zheng retains final authority and demands a more spacious residence.