Chapter Summaries

Chapter Summary: “All Eyes on Me”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Liu Zheng delivers a meal to an office and notices that both the customer and a female employee share the surname Wang.
• He meets Wang Manni, a stylish sales specialist who claims to be Manager Wang’s secretary. She tells him Manager Wang is in a meeting and refuses to interrupt him.
• Since Manager Wang will not come out before the delivery deadline, Liu Zheng decides to persuade Wang Manni rather than argue openly.
• He flatters her clothing and accessories, obtains the tailor’s contact information for his “girlfriend,” and gives her a Bad-Luck Coffee. The performance wins over both Wang Manni and the watching employees.
• Wang Manni agrees to ask Manager Wang to accept the delivery, but Manager Wang angrily berates her and refuses to come out.
• Concluding that waiting is pointless, Liu Zheng turns to the entire office, demands everyone’s attention, announces that “the boss is an idiot,” and kicks open the meeting-room door.

Character Developments

• Liu Zheng demonstrates quick thinking, social manipulation, confidence, and a growing willingness to create a public spectacle. Although he initially considers confronting Wang Manni directly, he follows the security guard’s advice to avoid fighting privately and instead uses charm and humiliation as tactics.
• His comments reveal his unusual situation: he is no longer human, interacts with powerful nonhuman beings, and jokingly refers to a female cat as his girlfriend. Despite his inhuman circumstances, he retains personal preferences and a practical, calculating personality.
• Wang Manni is introduced as attractive, socially confident, image-conscious, and status-oriented. She initially tries to control Liu Zheng and emphasizes her wealth, but his sarcasm unsettles her. His compliments and coffee gradually soften her attitude, and she eventually helps him despite Manager Wang’s hostility.
• Manager Wang is characterized as arrogant, impatient, and disrespectful. He treats his assistant’s time as unimportant and lashes out at her rather than handling the delivery himself.

Significant Themes

• Power and status: Wang Manni relies on wealth, appearance, and workplace popularity, while Liu Zheng challenges her assumptions by implying that he knows people far richer than she is.
• Social performance and manipulation: Liu Zheng uses flattery, humor, and public pressure instead of direct confrontation. He carefully manages the office’s attention to shift the balance of power.
• Respect and exploitation: Manager Wang’s refusal to interrupt his meeting, followed by his verbal abuse of Wang Manni, exposes the unequal treatment of subordinate employees.
• Identity and humanity: Liu Zheng’s interactions with nonhuman beings and his reflections on romance, gender, and social behavior highlight his changing identity while showing that he still understands human emotions and social habits.
• Public versus private conflict: The chapter builds toward Liu Zheng’s decision to make Manager Wang’s disrespect visible to the entire office, turning a private dispute into a public confrontation.

Character Interactions

• Liu Zheng and Wang Manni engage in a tense but increasingly playful exchange, with Liu Zheng’s teasing undermining her superiority and eventually winning her cooperation.
• Wang Manni and Manager Wang reveal a hostile workplace dynamic: she attempts to assist him, but he dismisses and insults her.
• Liu Zheng earns the attention and amusement of the office employees, using their presence to pressure Wang Manni and later to publicly expose Manager Wang.
• The chapter ends on a cliffhanger as Liu Zheng forces his way into the meeting room after declaring the boss an idiot.

Chapter Summary: “Exterminating Insects”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Liu Zheng bursts into a meeting in Office 403 and discovers that the company’s leaders are all insects of different types.
• He identifies Manager Wang as a Giant Isopod and immediately attacks him instead of presenting the expected delivery.
• Using his tentacles, insecticide, and brutal physical force, Liu Zheng captures and severely mutilates Manager Wang. The isopod’s body shrinks each time Liu Zheng breaks one of its limbs.
• Liu Zheng forces Manager Wang to “sign” for the delivery by using its blood as ink and its body as a pen.
• He then offers Wang Manni the chance to replace Manager Wang if the Giant Isopod dies. Although frightened, Wang Manni accepts.
• Liu Zheng gives Wang Manni his delivery bag and his private phone number, along with a cake as a “promotion gift.”
• He sprays Manager Wang with insecticide until the isopod dissolves into blood and pus, effectively killing it.
• Wang Manni transforms after the event: she removes the paper bag covering her head, reveals a blank face, then develops a blood-red iris and insect-like limbs, suggesting she has inherited or awakened a monstrous form.
• Liu Zheng returns to the break room, where Cow-Horse complains about the large quantity of coffee and cake he purchased.
• Cow-Horse reveals that it ate the Bad-Luck Coffee delivery worker and rewards Liu Zheng with a special boning knife called The Fussy One.
• The chapter ends with Liu Zheng asking to return to the kitchen, making Cow-Horse suspicious of his intentions.

Character Developments

• Liu Zheng becomes increasingly ruthless, confident, and inventive. He treats violence as a practical solution, using Manager Wang’s delivery as an excuse to infiltrate the office and manipulate the situation.
• His regenerative abilities and pain tolerance are emphasized when he continues fighting despite being pierced through and torn in half.
• Liu Zheng also shows a growing interest in exploiting workplace hierarchies and supernatural rules, deliberately helping Wang Manni rise to power.
• Manager Wang changes from an intimidating authority figure into a helpless victim. His strength is considerable, but he is completely overpowered by Liu Zheng and ultimately destroyed.
• Wang Manni shifts from a frightened subordinate into an ambitious potential successor. Her acceptance of Liu Zheng’s offer marks a major moral and physical transformation.
• Cow-Horse remains gluttonous, casual, and dangerous. It views the delivery worker as food and treats the expensive meal as compensation for giving Liu Zheng the knife.
• Liu Zheng receives a new weapon, increasing his capabilities and possibly preparing him for future dungeon or workplace conflicts.

Significant Themes

• Violence as power and promotion: Liu Zheng’s murder of Manager Wang directly creates an opportunity for Wang Manni to advance.
• Transformation and identity: Wang Manni’s new insect-like body suggests that power in this world is tied to physical mutation and the destruction of one’s former identity.
• Absurd corporate hierarchy: The scene parodies workplace meetings, promotions, presentations, delivery protocols, and signatures through grotesque insect imagery and extreme violence.
• Predation and survival: Characters constantly consume, exploit, or eliminate one another. Cow-Horse literally eats an employee, while Liu Zheng destroys a manager to secure an advantage.
• Ceremony amid brutality: Liu Zheng insists on obtaining a delivery signature even while torturing Manager Wang, creating dark humor through the contrast between bureaucratic procedure and horrific violence.
• Ambition and moral compromise: Wang Manni’s fear does not prevent her from accepting the manager’s position, showing how quickly survival instincts and ambition can override loyalty.

Character Interactions

• Liu Zheng and Manager Wang have a hostile confrontation in which Liu Zheng dominates through physical strength, regeneration, intimidation, and insecticide.
• Liu Zheng manipulates Wang Manni by offering her Manager Wang’s position, then gives her the delivery bag and his private number, creating a possible future alliance.
• Manager Wang curses Wang Manni for betraying him, but Liu Zheng silences him before he can say more.
• Liu Zheng and Cow-Horse exchange insults and sarcastic remarks about the food deliveries. Cow-Horse’s appetite and Liu Zheng’s resourcefulness define their relationship.
• Cow-Horse gives Liu Zheng The Fussy One, both as a reward and as a warning that losing it would have deadly consequences.
• The final exchange suggests Liu Zheng may be planning another scheme in the kitchen, leaving Cow-Horse wary.

Chapter Summary: “Fishing Without a Rod”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Liu Zheng asks Cow-Horse for help stealing something from the restaurant kitchen. Cow-Horse refuses, worried that another theft will cause Napoleon to blacklist it and damage its future smuggling opportunities.
• Liu Zheng proposes partnering with Dai Lego, the French Plane Tree, to oppose the Round God Sect. Cow-Horse initially rejects the idea because Dai Lego once beat it after Cow-Horse sold it fake liquor, but Liu Zheng argues that profit matters more than pride.
• Liu Zheng reveals that a Wood Elf may be stored in the kitchen. Dai Lego needs the acorns from the Wood Elf’s body to evolve and expand its territory. If Dai Lego’s range grows, Liu Zheng and Cow-Horse can lure the Round God Sect into its territory and eliminate them.
• Cow-Horse consults Napoleon and learns that Liu Zheng can obtain the acorns, but only by trading for a “Giant-Mouthed Whale.”
• The requested creature is not a literal whale but a heavily mutated catfish living in the sewers. The sewers’ concentrated wastewater promotes mutation, making them dangerous but potentially useful.
• Liu Zheng decides to enter the sewers to find the creature. He reasons that his Never Strike Out status, the Heart of the Ocean, and Legendary Disguise should help him survive and successfully “fish” for it.
• Cow-Horse gives him a photograph of the Giant-Mouthed Whale. When Liu Zheng asks for a fishing rod, Cow-Horse explains that the man in the photograph used himself as bait, leaving Liu Zheng horrified.

Character Developments

• Liu Zheng demonstrates increasing strategic ambition. Rather than simply stealing the acorns, he devises a plan that could simultaneously help Dai Lego, weaken the Round God Sect, and benefit himself and Cow-Horse.
• He also shows greater willingness to confront danger. Although disturbed by the sewers, he evaluates his abilities rationally and accepts the mission.
• Cow-Horse remains greedy, cynical, and prideful, but its desire for profit makes it open to Liu Zheng’s proposal. It is also more cautious than Liu Zheng about Napoleon, blacklisting, and dangerous alliances.
• Cow-Horse’s remarks about becoming a Hermit Shrimp reveal its unexpectedly philosophical side: it envies the simple, painless existence of less intelligent creatures, though Liu Zheng mocks it for borrowing the sentiment from Bai Langzi’s poetry.
• Napoleon is established as a powerful authority who controls access to the kitchen’s valuable resources and sets the terms of the trade.
• Dai Lego becomes central to Liu Zheng’s broader strategy, despite not appearing directly.

Significant Themes

• Profit versus pride: Cow-Horse must choose between preserving its dignity and accepting a profitable partnership with Dai Lego.
• Strategic manipulation and alliances: Liu Zheng seeks to turn several factions against one another, using Dai Lego’s evolution to destroy the Round God Sect.
• Mutation and survival: The sewers represent a world where toxic environments produce strange forms of life and possibly new advantages.
• The burden of intelligence: Cow-Horse suggests that simple creatures suffer less because they have fewer desires and worries, contrasting contentment with ambition.
• Absurdity and danger: Ordinary concepts—such as fishing, whales, and bait—are transformed into bizarre survival challenges in this mutated world.

Character Interactions

• Liu Zheng and Cow-Horse argue throughout the chapter, with Liu Zheng using logic and financial incentives to overcome Cow-Horse’s resistance.
• Liu Zheng criticizes Cow-Horse’s pride, its copied philosophical remarks, and its strange fascination with Hermit Shrimp.
• Cow-Horse provides crucial information and negotiates with Napoleon on Liu Zheng’s behalf, but refuses to accompany him into the sewers because the creatures there would attack it.
• Their banter combines genuine cooperation with mutual insults, highlighting their uneasy but effective partnership.
• The chapter ends with Cow-Horse revealing that Liu Zheng will have to use himself as bait, turning the planned expedition into an even more dangerous and ridiculous task.

Chapter Summary: “Brother, You Smell So Good”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Liu Zheng and Cow-Horse plan how to capture a Giant-Mouthed Whale for Napoleon. They discuss using Liu Zheng’s tentacles as bait and fishing line, though Cow-Horse suggests simply stabbing the creature with the knife if necessary.
• Cow-Horse explains that the Sewer has no single entrance: manholes, ditches, and other openings can lead inside. He recommends either:
  • The Sewer beneath the Restaurant, where nutrient-rich water may support powerful Giant-Mouthed Whales.
  • The entrance on Dai Lego’s street, which offers greater protection but may contain fewer valuable creatures.
• Liu Zheng chooses to investigate Dai Lego’s entrance first, prioritizing safety over the possibility of finding a Golden Crown Tier whale.
• Cow-Horse gives Liu Zheng Napoleon’s “Special Powerful Bait.” It releases pheromones that attract Giant-Mouthed Whales and related organisms. However, the bait may also attract far stronger creatures from the same genus, making it potentially more dangerous than useful.
• Liu Zheng decides not to use the bait immediately or risk making himself into living chum. He also realizes that catching and delivering a whale within the available time will require outside assistance.
• He contacts the Novelist and offers editorial help in exchange for a favor. After reading her manuscript, he heavily criticizes its slow pacing, excessive descriptions, overly long sentences, and inappropriate historical-romance style in an urban story.
• Liu Zheng writes a model opening for her. The Novelist recognizes that his version is smoother and agrees to revise her work according to his guidance.
• The chapter ends with the Novelist asking what favor Liu Zheng needs from her.

Character Developments

• Liu Zheng demonstrates caution and strategic thinking. Rather than immediately using the dangerous bait or entering the most rewarding Sewer entrance, he chooses the safer option and gathers information first.
• He also shows confidence and expertise in writing. His harsh editorial criticism reveals a decisive, “tyrannical” mentoring style, but he becomes more encouraging once the Novelist understands the fundamentals.
• Cow-Horse continues to serve as Liu Zheng’s knowledgeable but sarcastic guide. He provides important information about the Sewer, the bait, and the relative strength of Giant-Mouthed Whales.
• The Novelist becomes more receptive to criticism. Initially insecure and defensive, she gradually accepts Liu Zheng’s advice and gains confidence after seeing the improved version of her writing.
• Napoleon, though absent, influences the entire chapter through the mission, reward system, knife, and bait he has provided.

Significant Themes

• Risk versus reward: Liu Zheng must balance the valuable rewards of hunting in the Restaurant’s Sewer against the greater safety of Dai Lego’s territory.
• Preparation and information: The chapter emphasizes understanding an enemy before acting, especially when the bait may attract creatures far more powerful than the intended target.
• Practicality over appearance: Liu Zheng and Cow-Horse focus on how to complete the mission efficiently, while still remembering that Napoleon wants the catch to remain presentable.
• Mentorship and improvement: Liu Zheng’s editorial exchange with the Novelist mirrors his broader role as someone who helps others improve through blunt but useful criticism.
• Genre and audience expectations: Liu Zheng argues that writing style must suit the story’s genre and readers, emphasizing clarity, pacing, and appropriate language over decorative prose.

Character Interactions

• Liu Zheng and Cow-Horse exchange sarcastic, pragmatic advice about fishing, bait, and the Sewer. Their banter highlights both Cow-Horse’s irreverence and Liu Zheng’s growing skepticism.
• Liu Zheng’s conversation with the Novelist shifts from strict criticism to constructive mentorship. He identifies her weaknesses, demonstrates a better approach, and encourages her to develop her own style after mastering the basics.
• The chapter closes by setting up a future collaboration: the Novelist is ready to assist Liu Zheng with his dangerous Sewer mission.

Chapter Summary: “Cow-Horse Really Was a Beast”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Liu Zheng refuses Novelist’s sexual advances, explaining that she is in her “egg-laying period,” and instead asks her to place another long-delivery food order.
• He offers her a cup of Bad-Luck Coffee as payment, showing his desire to maintain a dependable connection rather than exploit her generosity.
• Cow-Horse learns that Liu Zheng was once a novelist and journalist. Liu explains that he lost his career after exposing dangerous construction practices and environmental contamination in a housing development.
• Although the developer offered him money and threatened him with legal action, Liu was diagnosed with ALS before he could accept the bribe. With little concern for his own future, he retaliated against both the developer and his editor-in-chief, causing them to suffer the consequences.
• Cow-Horse recounts his history: he escaped from the “103” breeding farm but was captured by the Round God Sect and sold to the Restaurant. He first served as backup food, then became an employee after Heaven Butcher slaughtered most of the Kitchen staff, eventually transferring to the Delivery Department.
• Cow-Horse reveals that Heaven Butcher effectively saved his life. He also explains that Heaven Butcher came from a separate breeding farm called “Heaven” and was likely stronger than most of the Restaurant’s current fighters.
• Cow-Horse plans to leave the Restaurant after his vacation and build his own business using Restaurant connections, Round God Sect resources, and the Black Market.
• His proposed business involves stealing livestock from the “103” breeding farm and selling them, even admitting he would sell his own family if necessary.
• Cow-Horse explains that he escaped the breeding farm by deceiving other animals into believing he would free them, using their bodies to overload the electric fence and escape. He openly admits he never intended to rescue them.
• Liu and Cow-Horse establish a blunt, mutually suspicious understanding: Liu wants only survival, while Cow-Horse promises protection as long as Liu helps him make money.
• The chapter ends when Ghost Hand delivers the order slip but unexpectedly remains instead of leaving, suggesting that something important is about to happen.

Character Developments

• Liu Zheng is shown to be pragmatic, emotionally detached, and morally complicated. His past as an investigative journalist reveals courage and professional ability, but also a willingness to accept corruption when facing a terminal illness. His later retaliation demonstrates how unconcerned he is with his own survival.
• Cow-Horse is revealed to be ruthless, selfish, and highly calculating. His survival instincts have made him distrustful and mercenary, yet he is also ambitious and capable of recognizing useful alliances.
• Novelist appears eager to maintain her relationship with Liu and happily accepts his offer of coffee, reinforcing her interest in him.
• Heaven Butcher gains greater importance through Cow-Horse’s account. Though absent, it is portrayed as exceptionally powerful and indirectly responsible for Cow-Horse’s survival.
• Ghost Hand becomes a source of suspense by breaking its usual routine and remaining after delivering the order.

Significant Themes

• Survival versus morality: Liu and Cow-Horse both prioritize survival, though their methods differ. Their experiences have pushed them to abandon conventional moral standards.
• Exploitation and the cycle of cruelty: The breeding farms, Restaurant, Round God Sect, and Black Market all operate through the buying, selling, and exploitation of living beings.
• Trust among predators: Liu and Cow-Horse do not truly trust each other, but they recognize that frankness and mutual benefit are more practical than false sincerity.
• Power and dependence: Cow-Horse believes independence is the path to wealth, while Liu understands that weaker individuals benefit from sheltering under stronger organizations.
• Luck and misfortune: Liu’s illness, Cow-Horse’s capture, and his accidental survival reflect the chapter’s recurring idea that fortune often determines who lives and who suffers.
• Moral absurdity: Cow-Horse’s casual willingness to sell friends and family, combined with Liu’s dry reactions, creates a darkly comedic contrast between monstrous behavior and ordinary business planning.

Character Interactions

• Liu and Novelist maintain a transactional but cordial relationship, with Liu carefully trying to preserve her goodwill.
• Liu and Cow-Horse exchange personal histories and test each other through teasing, flattery, and threats. Their conversation gradually becomes a negotiation of mutual advantage.
• Liu challenges Cow-Horse’s morality by calling him a beast, while Cow-Horse responds with humor and implied violence rather than denial.
• Their final agreement is based not on friendship but on clearly stated interests: Liu seeks safety, and Cow-Horse seeks business success.
• Ghost Hand’s silent arrival interrupts their conversation and creates a cliffhanger for the next chapter.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• Liu Zheng negotiates with Ghost Hand, which initially wants his Bad-Luck Coffee. Since he has promised the coffee to the Novelist, he refuses and instead gives Ghost Hand a strawberry pudding. Ghost Hand cuts the pudding in half with a nail and consumes its portion.
• Liu Zheng and Cow-Horse joke about Liu Zheng’s unusual ability to coexist with dangerous creatures. Their conversation turns to Legendary Deliveryman Li, whom Liu Zheng knows is dead but chooses not to reveal that he buried Li’s remains. Cow-Horse warns him not to investigate Li’s mysterious circumstances.
• Liu Zheng receives a new delivery order: a large serving of “Finger-Lickin’ Original Chicken Chicken” for the Novelist, with a three-hour deadline. He suspects the Novelist may intend to eat him and inherit his talent, but decides to complete the delivery.
• On his cart, Liu Zheng discovers a Perfect-quality Chaos Club membership card. Although its description promises anything one desires, a voice warns him that it is fake. When he touches it, pale flames burn him and leave a golden skull mark on his tentacle.
• Liu Zheng cuts off the marked tentacle, but the mark reappears on a replacement tentacle. He accepts that the mark cannot easily be removed and keeps the card, while remaining wary of the Chaos Club.
• The food order turns out to be more than a dozen Armstrong cannons disguised as battered fried chicken. Liu Zheng is disgusted but unsurprised by the Novelist’s bizarre culinary preferences.
• He visits French Plane Tree to ask about the Epoch Acorn. The tree has evolved arms and a more human appearance after drinking Wood Elf milk. It initially refuses to help, but Liu Zheng reveals that the head chef will trade the acorn for Giant-Mouthed Whale.
• French Plane Tree does not recognize the creature in Liu Zheng’s photograph. Liu Zheng decides to search for it by fishing in the Sewer and asks the tree for protection. French Plane Tree warns him that the Sewer is alive.

Character Developments

• Liu Zheng remains cautious, pragmatic, and increasingly resigned to the dangers surrounding him. He values his promises, refuses to investigate matters beyond his ability, and responds to threats with practical solutions—such as cutting off the cursed tentacle.
• Ghost Hand demonstrates strange but non-hostile behavior. It communicates through gestures, accepts only part of the pudding, and continues to be an unsettling but manageable presence.
• Cow-Horse acts as both comic relief and a source of warnings. It mocks Liu Zheng’s ability to cooperate with monsters but also cautions him about Legendary Deliveryman Li and the dangers of digging into the past.
• French Plane Tree has visibly evolved, gaining arms, a more refined face, and greater human-like behavior. Its rude, playful exchanges with Liu Zheng conceal a willingness to help him.
• The Novelist becomes more suspicious and dangerous in Liu Zheng’s eyes. Her strange food orders and possible interest in his talent make him question her true motives.

Significant Themes

• Trust and credibility: Liu Zheng refuses to break his promise to the Novelist, suggesting that reliability is essential in this dangerous world.
• Survival through pragmatism: Rather than pursuing mysteries recklessly, Liu Zheng focuses on staying alive and limits his curiosity when the risks are too high.
• The blurred boundary between human and monster: Liu Zheng communicates and cooperates effectively with nonhuman beings, while supposedly human figures such as the Novelist may be more threatening.
• Curses and unavoidable consequences: The Chaos Club card leaves a mark that cannot be removed, reinforcing the idea that contact with powerful forces creates lasting consequences.
• Absurdity amid danger: The chapter combines lethal supernatural threats with comic situations, such as cannons disguised as fried chicken and French Plane Tree’s middle-finger gesture.

Character Interactions

• Liu Zheng and Ghost Hand establish a tentative exchange based on food, with Ghost Hand accepting pudding after being denied coffee.
• Liu Zheng and Cow-Horse trade insults while discussing Legendary Deliveryman Li and the danger of investigating him.
• Liu Zheng interacts with the Chaos Club card as though it were an object of potential value, but its supernatural defense immediately demonstrates its danger.
• Liu Zheng and French Plane Tree maintain a teasing, adversarial friendship. Their banter eventually leads to a practical agreement: Liu Zheng will search for Giant-Mouthed Whale, while French Plane Tree may protect him in the living Sewer.

Chapter Summary: “Living Sewer”

Key Plot Points and Events

• French Plane Tree explains that the Sewer treats non-native beings as foreign viruses or bacteria, triggering an immune response. The stronger the intruder, the more violently the Sewer reacts.
• This reveals a flaw in Cow-Horse’s original plan: although French Plane Tree can protect Liu Zheng, the Sewer’s response may be too fast for it to intervene.
• Despite the danger, Liu Zheng decides to enter the Sewer. French Plane Tree gives him two of its arms, each capable of helping him once before becoming useless.
• Liu Zheng shows French Plane Tree the Chaos Club membership card. The tree reacts with fear and sentimentality, identifying Chaos Club as a possible “hometown” and perhaps the source of its intelligence.
• French Plane Tree warns that Chaos Club contains an existence capable of erasing it completely, including its body, soul, past, and future. It refuses to touch the card and advises Liu Zheng not to use it.
• Liu Zheng enters through a manhole. He descends through a long, foul-smelling shaft and begins carefully navigating the dark, warm, organic-feeling passage.
• The Sewer differs from the peaceful darkness of the Delivery Passage: it is less dense but carries a faint hostility that makes Liu Zheng uneasy.
• After 576 cautious steps, Liu Zheng reaches an area illuminated by grotesque red moss, which he suspects may be Feces Moss from the ingredients used to make Ascension Hair Moss.
• The system confirms that his Legendary Disguise grants immunity to sanity decline, validating his decision to explore while disguised.
• Liu Zheng discovers a sewage river filled with multicolored waste, foam, toxic bubbles, and reddish-brown gas. He decides the area is relatively safe and close enough to the exit for an easy retreat.
• After eating two feeding lures, he extends his tentacles into the sewage, apparently beginning his attempt to catch whatever the Sewer contains.

Character Developments

• Liu Zheng: Demonstrates caution, adaptability, and a willingness to accept danger when necessary. He reassesses Cow-Horse’s plan, combines conflicting information, and relies on observation and preparation rather than recklessness.
• French Plane Tree: Reveals both its powerful intelligence and its deep connection to Chaos Club. Its fear of the club exposes a rare vulnerability and suggests that its origins may be tied to a much greater, potentially terrifying force.
• Cow-Horse: Though absent, its plan is shown to be incomplete because it failed to account for the Sewer’s immune response.

Significant Themes

• Exploration versus survival: Liu Zheng continues entering dangerous unknown territory, but he balances courage with careful risk management.
• The dungeon as a living organism: The Sewer behaves like a body with an immune system, organic tissues, internal passages, and potentially hostile biological defenses.
• Limits of knowledge: Even powerful beings such as French Plane Tree possess incomplete information. Liu Zheng must piece together partial and conflicting explanations.
• Fear of origins and annihilation: Chaos Club represents both a possible home for French Plane Tree and an existential threat capable of erasing it entirely.
• Adaptation in an absurd world: Scientific language, grotesque biology, and dark humor are used to make sense of an impossible environment.

Character Interactions

• Liu Zheng and French Plane Tree discuss the Sewer’s biology and the danger of entering it.
• French Plane Tree equips Liu Zheng with its severed arms, establishing a temporary alliance and a limited source of protection.
• Their conversation about the Chaos Club reveals a contrast between Liu Zheng’s pragmatic fatalism and French Plane Tree’s deep fear and emotional attachment to its possible origin.
• Their banter—especially about education, graduate school, brushing teeth, and going to hell—lightens the otherwise threatening exploration while reinforcing their unusual but cooperative relationship.

Chapter Summary: “Flayed Monster”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Liu Zheng attempts to cross the Sewer’s corrosive river. The water subjects him to extreme cold and acid-like heat, destroying his tentacles down to their internal cartilage and revealing that they contain bones.
• Despite the pain, Liu Zheng remains rational and plans to advance in stages, attempting to use the river’s effects repeatedly while retreating if he fails three times.
• Before his next attempt, a sticky substance lands on his head. He narrowly dodges an attack from a terrifying creature clinging to the Sewer ceiling: the Flayed Monster.
• The monster has no skin, exposing its muscles, blood vessels, and enlarged brain. Its black eyes, talons, and predatory presence inspire instinctive fear in Liu Zheng.
• Liu Zheng tries to negotiate, offering food from Bloodstained Restaurant and a long-term supply of Baiting Agent that could attract large prey such as Giant-Mouthed Whales.
• The Flayed Monster appears briefly interested but attacks with its barbed tongue instead. The tongue pierces through Liu Zheng’s cheeks, nearly reaching his brain.
• Angered, Liu Zheng retaliates with the Boning Knife. Empowered by the Legendary Disguise’s true-damage effect and the knife’s bonus, he severs the monster’s tongue.
• Liu Zheng removes the still-wriggling piece of tongue from his face and begins viewing the Flayed Monster as a potentially valuable ingredient, not merely a threat.
• The wounded monster circles him from the ceiling, searching for another opening. Liu Zheng protects his head with the Legendary Delivery Box and taunts it while again proposing cooperation.
• The monster ultimately abandons its tongue attack and launches a powerful close-range assault with its talons. Recognizing the creature’s strength as comparable to a Second-Order Gene Lock and fearing being dismembered, Liu Zheng leaps into the corrosive river to escape.

Character Developments

• Liu Zheng: Demonstrates extreme pain tolerance, rapid regeneration, tactical thinking, and an increasingly pragmatic, predatory mindset. He shifts quickly from attempting diplomacy to exploiting the monster as a possible food ingredient after injuring it. His Irritability also becomes a significant combat trigger when the monster violates his attempt at negotiation.
• The Flayed Monster: Is established as a highly dangerous, instinct-driven predator with immense strength, speed, stealth, and powerful regeneration or anatomy. It shows possible interest in valuable resources but appears either unwilling or unable to engage in rational negotiation.

Significant Themes

• Survival and adaptation: Liu Zheng repeatedly endures horrific physical damage and adapts his strategy to the Sewer’s hazards.
• Predator and prey: The chapter emphasizes Liu Zheng’s instinctive fear of the Flayed Monster, while his successful counterattack begins to reverse the power dynamic.
• Communication versus instinct: Liu Zheng believes every intelligent being can be negotiated with, but the monster’s attacks suggest that instinct may override reason.
• Pragmatism and dehumanization: Liu Zheng’s ability to consider the monster’s severed tongue as an ingredient highlights how far his experiences have pushed him beyond ordinary human responses.
• Risk and resource management: Liu Zheng must balance preserving his delivery equipment, testing the river, and surviving a monster whose attacks can potentially kill him instantly.

Character Interactions

• Liu Zheng attempts to establish a mutually beneficial relationship with the Flayed Monster by offering food and Baiting Agent.
• The monster responds not with conversation but with a surprise tongue attack, demonstrating the failure of Liu Zheng’s negotiation strategy.
• After cutting off its tongue, Liu Zheng taunts the monster and renews his offer of cooperation, while also positioning himself defensively.
• Their interaction becomes a psychological and tactical battle: the monster searches for a weakness, while Liu Zheng protects his head and tries to force the creature into a disadvantageous attack.

Chapter Summary: “Rat Swarm”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Liu Zheng enters the sewage river after activating the enhanced Heart of the Ocean. Although the water is unbearably foul-smelling, it no longer causes the intense corrosion and temperature fluctuations he previously feared.
• He confronts the Flayed Monster, only to discover that it has already torn a fist-sized chunk from his side. Thanks to his accelerated regeneration and Heart of the Ocean’s water-based damage reduction, the injury is not immediately debilitating.
• The Flayed Monster’s claws tear through Liu Zheng’s tentacle but are stopped by the bone inside. Liu Zheng exploits the opening, using a tentacle to swing the Boning Knife into the monster’s back. The attack severely wounds it.
• The Flayed Monster flees, and Liu Zheng pursues it to recover the borrowed knife. Before he can finish the fight, a massive Rat Swarm emerges from the darkness.
• The rats form a rolling sphere, catch the wounded Flayed Monster, and devour it completely, leaving only cleanly stripped bones. The monster’s cries sound disturbingly human, raising the possibility that it may once have been a person—or that its apparent humanity was simply a lure.
• The Rat Swarm notices Liu Zheng but does not enter the water. After a tense standoff, it retreats into the darkness, apparently unable or unwilling to cross the river.
• Liu Zheng retrieves the Boning Knife and tests the Flayed Monster’s bones, confirming that they are extremely durable. He takes four bones to use as backup weapons.
• He attempts to fish using the Baiting Agent, but catches nothing. He concludes that there may be no fish in that section of the sewer and considers exploring farther ahead, but decides against entering the passage where the Rat Swarm may be waiting.
• While continuing along the riverbank, Liu Zheng finds scorched baked-potato skins carrying the smell of pine resin. Since such food must have been brought down from the surface, he suspects the remains may belong to the mysterious person previously mentioned by French Plane Tree.

Character Developments

• Liu Zheng demonstrates greater tactical confidence and ruthlessness. Rather than waiting for the Flayed Monster to attack, he deliberately uses his reduced damage in water to create an opening and strikes decisively.
• He shows practical caution when he refuses to provoke or test the Rat Swarm, recognizing that surviving the encounter is more important than satisfying his curiosity.
• His resourcefulness increases when he salvages the Flayed Monster’s bones as additional weapons after realizing the strength of its skeleton.
• Liu Zheng’s investigation of the potato skins shows that he is becoming more attentive to environmental clues and is increasingly focused on identifying other people or forces operating in the Sewer.

Significant Themes

• Adaptation and tactical use of abilities: Liu Zheng’s Heart of the Ocean is not merely defensive; he uses the underwater environment as an advantage.
• Predator versus predator: The Flayed Monster and Rat Swarm illustrate how dangerous creatures may themselves become prey to something stronger.
• Survival over curiosity: Liu Zheng repeatedly chooses caution over unnecessary experimentation, especially regarding the Rat Swarm.
• Mystery of humanity and transformation: The Flayed Monster’s human-sounding cries suggest blurred boundaries between humans and monsters.
• Clues of human presence: The baked potatoes imply that someone has entered or lives in the Sewer, expanding the mystery beyond supernatural creatures.

Character Interactions

• Liu Zheng and the Flayed Monster: They engage in a brief but brutal confrontation. Liu Zheng withstands the monster’s attack, wounds it with the Boning Knife, and pursues it until the Rat Swarm intervenes.
• Flayed Monster and Rat Swarm: The Rat Swarm overwhelms and consumes the wounded monster, demonstrating its superior numbers and lethal coordination.
• Liu Zheng and Rat Swarm: They face one another in a tense standoff across the water. The rats appear to recognize his presence but retreat rather than enter the river.
• Liu Zheng and the unseen person: No direct meeting occurs, but the potato skins provide the first tangible evidence that another human may be active nearby.

Chapter Summary: Fire Mage

Plot and events

Liu Zheng searches the Sewer for the Fire Mage, having learned that the mage may appear anywhere in the city. He follows a trail of food wrappers—first potato-related, then “Five-Spice Chicken Liver”—and is amused that such a feared figure seems to eat ordinary snacks. His thoughts are interrupted when a group of Flayed Monsters approaches. He briefly jumps into the sewage to escape, only to find that it has suddenly become highly corrosive, destroying his chitinous shell. Forced back onto the bank, he prepares to fight, but the monsters ignore him and flee past him instead.
Liu Zheng soon realizes they are escaping something far more dangerous. A powerful wind or unseen disaster sweeps through the Sewer, violently shaking the area and killing the Black Rat Swarm. The French Plane Tree’s arms act independently, creating a root cage to protect Liu Zheng. The force nearly destroys the cage and leaves him close to losing consciousness. As he drifts into a hallucination of meeting his deceased great-grandmother, an unfamiliar man arrives, apparently mistaking the tree roots, dead rats, and wooden cage for materials near a fire. Liu Zheng recognizes the man’s casual discussion of fire and streaming as a possible sign that he is the Fire Mage and calls out to him.

Character development

Liu Zheng remains fearful but resourceful. Rather than surrendering to panic, he investigates the Fire Mage, assesses the Flayed Monsters’ behavior, and prepares to fight when necessary. His survival instincts are demonstrated when he quickly abandons the sewage and relies on the French Plane Tree for protection. He also shows growing curiosity and cautious optimism toward the Fire Mage, reasoning that someone with simple tastes may not be evil. His near-death hallucination reveals both his exhaustion and his lingering attachment to family, even though he never knew his great-grandmother.

Character interactions

Liu Zheng briefly clashes with a Flayed Monster, blocking its attack, but the creature and the others ignore him as they flee. The French Plane Tree’s arms act protectively without his command, forming a cage around him. The Black Rat Swarm’s cries provide him comfort before their apparent death. Finally, Liu Zheng hears and addresses the unknown man outside the cage, creating the first possible contact with the Fire Mage.

Significant themes

The chapter emphasizes the unpredictable danger of the Sewer, where familiar surroundings can suddenly become deadly. It also highlights the fragility of even powerful creatures: the intelligent Black Rat Swarm and the Flayed Monsters are helpless before the unseen disaster. Liu Zheng’s assumptions are repeatedly challenged, particularly when predators flee from a greater threat and the feared Fire Mage appears to be an ordinary, homeless streamer concerned with food, firewood, and personal standards. The chapter ends on suspense, with Liu Zheng risking direct contact in hopes of gaining an ally—or confronting another danger.

Red Ghost — Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• A mysterious Fire Mage unleashes a devastating blast in the Sewer, silencing the water and wind and destroying much of the area.
• When the French Plane Tree’s protective cage releases, Liu Zheng discovers that the Sewer is filled with corpses: Flayed Monsters, rat swarms, giant insects, crab-spider creatures, and dozens of fish. Although he finds no Giant-Mouthed Whale, he is pleased by the potentially valuable quantity of the other fish.
• Before Liu Zheng can figure out how to transport the corpses, the French Plane Tree warns him that the Sewer is about to “lose its temper” and purge itself. Its root is severed when the ceiling suddenly seals.
• A faceless red ghost appears and tells Liu Zheng that all exits have been closed, leaving him with only two choices: live or die.
• The Red Ghost offers to help him escape in exchange for generating electricity. Since the Sewer’s hydropower has stopped, the ghost community requires electricity produced through human labor—and apparently human flesh.
• As the Sewer begins its detoxification process, white, eye-covered tumors spread across the ceiling. Following the Red Ghost’s instructions with his eyes closed, Liu Zheng walks 653 steps to a hidden security door.
• He enters a sealed room resembling a classroom, where emergency lights reveal more than a dozen strangely dressed children. The chapter ends when Liu Zheng realizes that the children are not whole—they have all been cut into pieces.

Character Developments

• Liu Zheng remains practical and opportunistic. Even after witnessing mass destruction, he immediately considers the value of the dead creatures and how to transport them.
• He also demonstrates caution and adaptability by accepting the Red Ghost’s directions despite distrusting it, recognizing that escape is impossible without assistance.
• Liu Zheng’s willingness to negotiate—asking what the Red Ghost wants in return—shows his continued reliance on calculated exchange and survival instincts.
• The French Plane Tree acts as a reluctant guide and protector, warning Liu Zheng of the Sewer’s impending purge. Its crude humor and sarcasm contrast with the seriousness of the danger.
• The Red Ghost is introduced as an enigmatic, philosophical figure. It speaks of truth, sacrifice, and choice, while behaving like a leader responsible for a hidden community.
• Paul, a young boy apparently serving the Red Ghost as “Teacher,” suggests that the underground group has its own organized society.

Significant Themes

• Survival through exchange: Help is never free; Liu Zheng must provide something valuable before receiving protection.
• Human exploitation and sacrifice: The demand for electricity generated through human labor—or human flesh—reveals a disturbing system in which people are treated as resources.
• Truth and power: The Red Ghost suggests that truth is controlled by a minority and suppressed when it threatens those in power.
• The Sewer as a living entity: The Sewer behaves like an organism, reacting violently to injury and attempting to purge itself of contamination.
• Appearance versus reality: The seemingly ordinary classroom and children conceal something horrifying, reinforcing the chapter’s atmosphere of corrupted normality.
• Destruction alongside opportunity: Liu Zheng views the massacre both as a deadly disaster and as a chance to obtain valuable biological materials.

Character Interactions

• Liu Zheng and the French Plane Tree interact as uneasy allies. The tree mocks him but provides crucial information about the Sewer’s coming purge.
• Liu Zheng and the Red Ghost engage in a negotiation centered on survival, obligation, and sacrifice. Liu Zheng challenges the ghost directly, while the ghost responds with unsettling philosophical remarks.
• The Red Ghost commands Liu Zheng through the dangerous passage and later addresses Paul, revealing a teacher-student relationship and the existence of a hidden group.
• Liu Zheng’s first encounter with the fragmented children creates the chapter’s final shock and raises questions about who they are and what role they play in the Red Ghost’s underground refuge.

Summary: “Take Turns Using Hands and Feet”

• Key events: Liu Zheng visits Red Ghost’s classroom, where the children are assembled from mismatched body parts and share limited limbs. One-legged Galiya asks him to repair her broken music box. He discovers its gears are rusted and uses his acidic blood to dissolve the rust, wiping the parts clean with Paul’s clothes. The music box works again, prompting the children to sing together.
• Liu Zheng then repairs several other toys, including a doll and a Rubik’s Cube, making the children unusually happy. Red Ghost rewards him with a bag of fish but still insists that he fulfill his main duty of generating electricity. She leads him to the storage room, where Liu Zheng discovers that the supposed “generator” is actually an electric chair.

Character developments

• Liu Zheng displays practical ingenuity, using skills learned from his orphaned childhood and the unusual properties of his blood to help the children. Although he initially treats the task as an unwanted obligation, he becomes gentler and more emotionally involved, choosing not to disappoint Galiya and patiently repairing the children’s belongings. His cynical, pragmatic personality remains evident in his bargaining with Red Ghost and his refusal to join the children’s ideological song.
• Galiya is portrayed as cheerful, polite, and emotionally resilient despite her grotesque condition and missing foot. She values her music box deeply and privately admits that she cries only when the others are asleep.
• Paul appears mature and responsible for his age, though he is confused and mildly resentful when Liu Zheng borrows his clothes.
• Red Ghost acts as a calm, protective teacher who cares about the children and appreciates Liu Zheng’s kindness, while still maintaining control over him and enforcing his obligation to generate power.
• Themes: The chapter contrasts the children’s horrifying stitched bodies with their innocence, politeness, and childlike happiness. It explores compassion emerging in a grotesque environment, the value of small acts of repair, and the children’s resourcefulness in sharing scarce body parts. Liu Zheng’s practical morality—helping others without faith or grand ideals—stands against the revolutionary imagery on the music box and the children’s song. The ending introduces darker implications of exploitation and sacrifice through the “generator.”
• Character interactions: The children warmly welcome Liu Zheng as an electrician and bombard him with requests. Galiya trusts him with her treasured music box and kisses him after he repairs it. Liu Zheng jokes with her, comforts her, and helps the group despite his initial reluctance. Red Ghost negotiates with him, offering fish as a reward but refusing to release him from his power-generating duty. The friendly classroom atmosphere ultimately gives way to unease when Liu Zheng realizes the generator is an electric chair.

Chapter Summary: “Gospel Returns”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Liu Zheng discovers that Red Ghost’s high-backed, restraint-equipped chair is both an electric chair and a generator.
• The three buttons trigger memories associated with pain, happiness, or fear. The stronger Liu’s emotional response, the more electricity he produces, allowing Red Ghost to consume more “Flesh.”
• Red Ghost claims the process will not turn Liu into an Empty Shell, but Liu remains suspicious. To reassure him, Red Ghost provides several cans of Expired Individual Soldier Emergency Rations, which can restore Flesh after becoming an Empty Shell but inevitably inflict the stackable “Poisoned” status.
• With the Sewer’s anger preventing him from leaving and no time to wait it out, Liu reluctantly sits in the chair.
• Red Ghost first activates the happiness setting. Liu’s memories reveal that he possesses very little genuine happiness, producing less than an hour’s worth of electricity.
• Liu chooses fear over pain, believing his life has contained more fear than suffering.
• The fear button awakens the Gospel within him. He hears worship of Shub-Niggurath, the Black Goat of the Woods with a Thousand Young. His inhuman side experiences overwhelming joy while his human side suffers unimaginable terror.
• The resulting surge of electricity causes Liu’s body to transform rapidly, reshaping him into a form favored by the entity.
• The emergency rations force themselves into his mouth, restoring Flesh but giving him the Poisoned status.
• Realizing Liu is undergoing a transformation beyond its expectations, Red Ghost attacks with a red rifle, filling him with bullets. The damage slows but does not stop the reshaping.
• The chapter ends with Red Ghost summoning a tank and declaring that since God is dead, Liu should die as well.

Character Developments

• Liu Zheng: Remains distrustful and sarcastic toward Red Ghost, refusing to accept its assurances at face value. His memories suggest an emotionally numb life with little happiness or severe pain, but his time in the bizarre world has exposed him to profound fear. The chapter reveals the dangerous divide between his human consciousness and his inhuman nature, as the latter welcomes the Gospel while the former is overwhelmed by terror.
• Red Ghost: Demonstrates unusual practicality and apparent restraint by allowing Liu to choose whether to participate. However, its willingness to use the electric chair, emergency rations, firearms, and eventually a tank shows that its “help” is conditional and potentially lethal. Its surprise at Liu’s transformation reveals that it does not fully understand the forces within him.

Significant Themes

• Trust and coercion: Red Ghost claims it will not force Liu, but his inability to escape the Sewer effectively leaves him no real choice.
• Humanity versus monstrosity: Liu’s human side fears the Gospel, while his inhuman side rejoices in it, emphasizing his unstable identity.
• Emotion as power: Happiness, pain, and fear are converted into literal energy, turning inner experience into a resource that can be exploited.
• Survival at a cost: Liu accepts poisoned rations and the electric-chair experiment because survival requires him to risk his body and sanity.
• Religious and cosmic horror: The Gospel and Shub-Niggurath represent a terrifying, inhuman force that appears to be reshaping Liu into something no longer human.

Character Interactions

• Liu repeatedly challenges Red Ghost’s explanations, especially concerning the chair and the possibility of becoming an Empty Shell.
• Red Ghost counters Liu’s suspicion with supplies and a promise not to restrain or force him, though its ultimatum makes the choice effectively unavoidable.
• Their exchange remains sarcastic and adversarial: Liu mocks Red Ghost’s supposed kindness, while Red Ghost calmly manipulates the experiment.
• Once Liu begins transforming, Red Ghost abandons its role as facilitator and becomes an attacker, using bullets—and finally a tank—to try to stop the change.

Chapter Summary: “Cannons Roared, Bombarding Liu Zheng”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Red Ghost fires an 85mm tank shell at Liu Zheng, then burns his remains with a flamethrower. However, Liu Zheng resurrects unharmed in the electric chair through the Gospel’s power, now marked by grotesque black seaweed-like hair.
• Liu Zheng reveals that he intentionally preserved part of the Gospel’s influence rather than allowing Red Ghost to burn everything away. Red Ghost warns that continued transformation will eventually make Liu Zheng completely nonhuman, forcing it to eliminate him.
• The massive amount of electricity Liu Zheng generated will power the Shelter for more than a decade. Though Red Ghost refuses to grant him extra rewards, it offers him refuge and explains that any Sewer safety door can lead to the Shelter.
• Liu Zheng returns to the classroom and says goodbye to Galiya and the other children. Red Ghost asks him to bring cake and juice for their upcoming “birthday,” which is also the anniversary of their deaths.
• Red Ghost explains that it cannot leave the Shelter because escaping its dreamlike existence would mean sudden death. It chooses to remain with the children, waiting either to decay completely or be reborn.
• The aura of decay surrounding Red Ghost nearly causes Liu Zheng to lose consciousness and abandon his goals. He briefly considers staying in the Shelter permanently, but is abruptly awakened by Red Ghost pointing a rocket launcher at him.
• Red Ghost guides Liu Zheng to a safety door. Liu Zheng exits and unexpectedly appears on the surface, leaving French Plane Tree shocked that he survived and escaped the Sewer.

Character Developments

• Liu Zheng remains irreverent and optimistic despite being destroyed, resurrected, and warned that he may become nonhuman. His survival instinct and greed for powerful rewards continue to motivate him.
• He also shows greater emotional vulnerability when exposed to Red Ghost’s decay. For a moment, he contemplates giving up his dangerous life, but his will to continue ultimately returns.
• Red Ghost is revealed as both ruthless and protective. It can annihilate Liu Zheng without hesitation, yet it cares deeply for the dead children, teaches them, protects them from reality, and offers Liu Zheng a safe haven.
• The children, especially Galiya, treat Liu Zheng warmly and view him as a friendly visitor despite their unnatural existence.
• French Plane Tree appears genuinely astonished by Liu Zheng’s return, emphasizing how unexpected his survival and escape are.

Significant Themes

• Survival and the will to live: Both Liu Zheng and Red Ghost choose continued existence even when life is painful, grotesque, or nearly meaningless.
• Humanity versus transformation: Liu Zheng’s resurrection and partial preservation of the Gospel blur the boundary between human and nonhuman.
• Death, memory, and stagnation: The children remain trapped in a dead world, repeating an existence centered on their deaths, while Red Ghost waits for either decay or renewal.
• Hope amid absurdity: Liu Zheng uses humor, ambition, and opportunism to resist despair, even when facing annihilation or existential decay.
• The cost of safety: The Shelter offers refuge from danger but also represents stagnation, resignation, and a slow death.

Character Interactions

• Liu Zheng and Red Ghost trade sarcastic remarks about resurrection, rewards, hairstyles, and unconventional methods of waking someone.
• Red Ghost gives Liu Zheng practical information and a possible refuge, while Liu Zheng remains suspicious but ultimately appreciates the escape route.
• Liu Zheng shares a tender farewell with Galiya and the children, promising—implicitly or explicitly—to bring them birthday treats.
• Red Ghost and Liu Zheng discuss whether it is better to die slowly in a dream or suddenly after awakening, revealing their contrasting but ultimately similar commitments to survival.
• The chapter ends with French Plane Tree confronting Liu Zheng, stunned that he has emerged alive from the Sewer.

Chapter Summary: “An Anatomically Correct Smile”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Liu Zheng reveals that a mysterious red ghost helped him escape from the underground Sewer, though he does not know its identity.
• He tells French Plane Tree that he encountered Fire Mage, who had split apart the Sewer’s flood and hurricane before leaving. French Plane Tree is terrified because Fire Mage is powerful enough to destroy it or use it as firewood.
• Liu Zheng offers French Plane Tree some fish from the Sewer. The tree refuses the fish but agrees to guard them for one hour in exchange for a bottle of soda.
• Liu Zheng travels to Green Laurel Garden Crazy City to deliver food to Novelist. On the way, he antagonizes the prematurely gray-haired security guard, who still wants revenge after their previous confrontation.
• Novelist accepts a fish Liu Zheng brings as a gift. She jokingly—or possibly seriously—says she is interested in him only for his body and talent.
• Before Liu Zheng leaves, Novelist asks him to take out her garbage. He agrees because she has helped him in the past.
• Liu Zheng discovers that the “garbage” consists of meticulously dismembered human corpses, cut according to anatomical divisions with extremely precise, smooth cuts. Novelist calmly explains that the person who used to dispose of her garbage is no longer available.

Character Developments

• Liu Zheng remains bold, sarcastic, and pragmatic. He openly taunts French Plane Tree and the security guard, but he also shows gratitude and reciprocates favors, such as bringing Novelist a fish and agreeing to handle her unpleasant chore.
• He demonstrates growing familiarity with the supernatural world, casually discussing powerful beings like Fire Mage and Red Ghost while treating dangerous situations as part of his routine.
• French Plane Tree is revealed to be both arrogant and fearful. It rules much of the street but is terrified of Fire Mage and demands compensation even for minor favors.
• Novelist appears polite, cute, and shy on the surface, but her gruesome hobby or behavior is exposed through the corpse-filled garbage. Her careful dismemberment suggests exceptional anatomical knowledge and frightening precision.
• The security guard remains hostile toward Liu Zheng and suspects that Liu Zheng may possess a hidden advantage despite appearing unchanged.

Significant Themes

• Horror mixed with comedy: Threatening supernatural events and mutilated corpses are presented alongside jokes, insults, bargaining, and mundane delivery work.
• Normalization of the grotesque: In this world, eating people and disposing of dismembered bodies are treated as disturbingly ordinary activities.
• Power and survival: Characters constantly assess one another’s strength, from Fire Mage’s overwhelming power to Liu Zheng’s possible hidden abilities.
• Reciprocity and transactional relationships: Favors are exchanged through gifts, food, soda, and services. Even friendship and cooperation are framed as bargains.
• Appearance versus reality: Novelist’s gentle appearance contrasts sharply with her apparent ability to dissect bodies; Liu Zheng’s ordinary appearance may also conceal unexpected capabilities.

Character Interactions

• Liu Zheng and French Plane Tree bicker insultingly but cooperate when necessary. Their exchange reveals mutual dependence beneath their antagonistic banter.
• Liu Zheng provokes the security guard with contempt, escalating their ongoing rivalry.
• Novelist treats Liu Zheng with exaggerated respect and affection while making unsettling comments about consuming his body and inheriting his talent.
• Liu Zheng’s willingness to help Novelist collapses when he discovers the disturbing nature of her request, ending the chapter on a darkly comic and ominous note.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• Liu Zheng is tasked by Novelist with taking a garbage bag containing a bearded man’s body parts outside the residential complex.
• While carrying the bag, Liu Zheng notices that bloody fluid leaks from the bearded man’s eyes, but fortunately the bag remains intact.
• The gray-haired security guard stops him at the entrance but retreats upon seeing the “trash,” warning Liu Zheng that disposing of it may be dangerous.
• The guard reveals that Liu Zheng must sort the garbage correctly among four color-coded trash cans. In exchange for the information, he demands a pack of Zhonghua cigarettes.
• Liu Zheng identifies the cans as hazardous waste, food waste, recyclable waste, and miscellaneous waste. After reasoning that the body parts are technically food waste, he places the bag in the green bin.
• Inside the food-waste can, Liu Zheng discovers a Perfect-quality item, the Cooking Immortal’s Rice Cooker.
• The rice cooker can produce rice with random beneficial effects, always creates perfect-quality rice, and can seal designated targets for a duration based on their strength. It can also be removed from the dungeon.
• Although tempted to take it, Liu Zheng hesitates because the item might be considered City Hall property and could bring consequences. Since it is mainly a utility item rather than a direct combat enhancement, he decides not to risk stealing it.
• Before he closes the trash can, an elderly woman in a burial shroud asks him to retrieve the rice cooker.

Character Developments

• Liu Zheng remains cautious, opportunistic, and pragmatic. He is willing to take risks for powerful rewards but has learned to distinguish between profitable gambles and unclear dangers.
• His analytical ability is highlighted as he correctly interprets the trash-sorting rules despite having no labels or clues.
• His growing awareness of City Hall’s unpredictable authority shows increased survival instincts and restraint.
• The security guard becomes a reluctant source of information. Though hostile and distrustful, he is willing to bargain and demonstrates that he understands the dangers surrounding the trash cans.
• Novelist continues to treat bizarre and dangerous objects casually, maintaining her strange, teasing manner.
• The elderly woman’s sudden appearance introduces a new potentially dangerous resident or supernatural figure.

Significant Themes

• Risk versus reward: Liu Zheng finds an extraordinarily valuable item but chooses caution because its ownership and consequences are uncertain.
• Survival through judgment: Correctly interpreting the trash system is essential; a careless mistake could have led to disaster.
• The absurdity of the supernatural world: Ordinary activities such as taking out garbage involve corpse parts, dangerous residents, supernatural rules, and valuable magical artifacts.
• Greed and restraint: Liu Zheng’s instinct is to claim the rice cooker, but experience and awareness of City Hall’s power make him reconsider.
• Bureaucracy and hidden rules: The color-coded trash cans and the guard’s warning show how survival depends on understanding arbitrary systems and regulations.

Character Interactions

• Liu Zheng and Novelist exchange sarcastic remarks about the garbage and its possible dangers.
• Liu Zheng shows unexpected concern for the bearded man by helping him close his eyes and ensuring the bag does not leak.
• His confrontation with the security guard shifts into a reluctant negotiation, with Liu Zheng promising cigarettes in exchange for guidance.
• Liu Zheng mentally debates the morality and danger of taking City Hall’s property, revealing his internal conflict.
• The chapter ends with the elderly woman directly addressing Liu Zheng, creating immediate tension over the rice cooker and implying that retrieving it may carry its own danger.

Chapter Summary: “No One Was Getting Out Alive”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Liu Zheng is confronted by an old woman in a burial shroud, who asks him to remove a rice cooker. She claims to be helpless and complains that her son and more than a hundred daughters are unfilial.
• The old woman becomes increasingly threatening when Liu refuses, transforming into a grotesque, zombie-like figure. She insists that his refusal means he wants her dead and declares that, if she cannot live, no one else will either.
• Suspecting that the rice cooker is dangerous, Liu deliberately cripples himself to avoid touching it. He cuts off his final tentacle and destroys his own mouth and jaw, then silently demonstrates that he is physically incapable of carrying the cooker.
• The old woman recognizes that she cannot manipulate him, curses him, and leaves. Liu becomes even more convinced that the rice cooker conceals some kind of danger.
• Liu returns to the break room and reunites with Cow-Horse. Their banter reveals that finding new delivery workers is not easy because people without citizenship are treated as food, while citizenship is divided into social classes.
• Cow-Horse explains that he and Liu are Third-Class Citizens, while Liu’s wealthy “mistress” is likely a Second-Class Citizen. Her ability to order food freely is connected to this higher status.
• Liu reveals that he obtained a large quantity of fish after the living Sewer expelled and killed them. He hides the fact that he encountered Red Ghost.
• Cow-Horse admits he failed to tell Liu that the Sewer was alive, arguing that ignorance can prevent fear. Liu mocks him for borrowing the sentiment from Bai Langzi.
• Unsure how much the fish are worth, Liu and Cow-Horse discuss selling them to Napoleon, expecting him to exploit their lack of knowledge. Liu then devises an alternate plan and sends Cow-Horse out with the fish to test it.

Character Developments

• Liu Zheng demonstrates extreme caution, resourcefulness, and a willingness to endure serious injury rather than interact with something he believes is dangerous. His absurd self-mutilation also shows his dark humor and ability to outmaneuver supernatural manipulation.
• He becomes more alert to the hidden dangers of the old district, particularly after realizing that the rice cooker is likely a trap.
• Liu continues to act pragmatically in economic matters, seeking a better way to profit from the fish instead of accepting an unfair price.
• The old woman in the burial shroud shifts from feigned helplessness and emotional manipulation to open violence and monstrous intimidation. Her inability to force Liu to help exposes the limits of her tactics.
• Cow-Horse remains cynical, irritable, and evasive, but he cooperates with Liu and acknowledges that Liu is perceptive. He also reveals more about citizenship and the dangers facing workers in the old district.

Significant Themes

• Manipulation disguised as helplessness: The old woman uses pity, guilt, and moral pressure to make Liu act, but her behavior reveals that her apparent vulnerability is a weapon.
• Survival through absurdity and self-sacrifice: Liu survives by refusing normal expectations and making himself literally unable to comply.
• Social inequality and exploitation: Citizenship is stratified, and those without status are treated as commodities. Even employment at the Bloodstained Restaurant offers limited protection.
• Ignorance versus knowledge: Cow-Horse claims that ignorance can create fearlessness, while Liu insists that knowing the danger beforehand is essential to survival.
• Commerce in a dangerous world: Fish, identities, labor, and even people are treated as goods, forcing Liu to think strategically about value and exploitation.

Character Interactions

• Liu and the old woman engage in a battle of manipulation: she pressures him with praise, guilt, threats, and tears, while he responds with sarcasm and deliberately destroys his ability to help.
• Liu and Cow-Horse maintain a hostile but cooperative relationship, trading insults while relying on each other.
• Their conversation establishes Liu as increasingly willing to challenge Cow-Horse’s secrecy and question the rules of their environment.
• Liu’s final whispered plan shows growing initiative, while Cow-Horse’s willingness to carry it out reflects their practical partnership despite constant bickering.

Chapter Summary: “Hear a Chorus of Holy Shit”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Cow-Horse returns from a successful trade with Calico Cat, having used Liu Zheng’s salmon bribe to determine the true value of kitchen goods. The deal earns them roughly 30% more profit, while Napoleon makes even greater gains.
• Cow-Horse takes several bottles of alcohol and a ham as its labor fee. It complains about boredom and attempts to provoke Liu Zheng, but eventually falls asleep while looking at a Sudoku book—apparently because the book has a powerful sleep-inducing effect.
• Napoleon sends Liu Zheng the promised Boning Knife. Liu inspects the food and drinks obtained from the trade:
  • Premium Bile Tequila can remove severe Poisoned status effects.
  • Bloody Select Braised Offal restores stamina, compensates for deficiencies, and increases Constitution by 5.
  • The products are made from disturbing ingredients connected to farms such as New Heaven Farm.
• Liu Zheng realizes that New Heaven Farm may be connected to the Heaven Farm associated with Oink. He considers using this connection to contact Oink, whose protection could make clearing the instance much easier, but decides to focus first on obtaining the Legendary Deliveryman Set.
• Liu eats the braised offal with alcohol, reminiscing about his former ordinary life of eating takeout and watching videos alone. He falls asleep alongside Cow-Horse’s snoring.
• After waking, Liu discovers that his increased Constitution has caused the seaweed on his head to grow to shoulder length and resemble hair. He worries that White-Feather Chicken might eventually use his unusually high-quality hair as an ingredient for soup.
• Ghost Hand arrives and accepts a bottle of liquor. After drinking it, Ghost Hand becomes visibly intoxicated and performs a finger dance.
• Liu shows Ghost Hand the photograph of Giant-Mouthed Whale. Ghost Hand confirms that it recognizes the creature, exciting Liu.
• Instead of explaining, Ghost Hand suddenly grabs Liu and drags him out of the break room, smashing through the door. Liu and the awakened Cow-Horse both shout in alarm.

Character Developments

• Liu Zheng becomes more resourceful and strategically focused. His successful use of salmon as a bribe demonstrates his ability to exploit others’ interests and build connections within the instance.
• His Constitution increases by five after eating the braised offal, and his body continues to change under the influence of the Divine Descent. The growth of his seaweed-like “hair” raises both comedic and practical concerns about his value as food.
• Liu remains cautious and pragmatic. Although he notices potentially important connections involving New Heaven Farm, Heaven Farm, and Oink, he postpones investigating them so he can prioritize the Legendary Deliveryman Set.
• Cow-Horse continues to act as a crude but relatively loyal companion. It takes advantage of the transaction to claim food and alcohol, complains about boredom, and shows an interest in provoking Liu, but it also seems unconcerned that Calico Cat profited from the deal.
• Ghost Hand is shown to be extremely alcohol-intolerant but may possess important knowledge about Giant-Mouthed Whale and the Legendary Deliveryman. Its sudden violent action suggests urgency or a lack of interest in communicating normally.

Significant Themes

• Trade, leverage, and manipulation: Liu’s success comes from identifying Calico Cat’s love of fish and using that preference to gain accurate information and improve the deal.
• Transformation and bodily identity: Liu’s changing body, including his growing seaweed hair and enhanced Constitution, reflects the continuing effects of the Divine Descent and raises questions about whether he is becoming something other than human.
• Food as power and horror: The chapter repeatedly combines nourishment with grotesque ingredients and dangerous effects. Food restores strength and grants abilities, but it is also made from disturbing creatures and human-like beings.
• The absurdity of survival: Ordinary activities—drinking, eating, napping, solving Sudoku—take place alongside supernatural mutations, bizarre products, and doors being smashed down by a disembodied hand.
• Uncovering hidden connections: The references to New Heaven Farm, Heaven Farm, Oink, and Giant-Mouthed Whale hint at a larger network of entities and locations that Liu Zheng is gradually piecing together.

Character Interactions

• Liu Zheng and Cow-Horse: They joke, negotiate, and trade insults, but their relationship remains cooperative. Cow-Horse’s attempt to provoke Liu fails, and they later react together in shock when Ghost Hand breaks down the door.
• Liu Zheng and Calico Cat: Although Calico Cat does not appear directly, Liu’s earlier bribery of her with salmon enables a profitable and strategically important trade.
• Liu Zheng and Napoleon: Napoleon benefits from the transaction and fulfills his promise to give Liu the Boning Knife.
• Liu Zheng and Ghost Hand: Liu attempts to communicate by showing Ghost Hand the photograph of Giant-Mouthed Whale. Ghost Hand confirms recognition, but instead of answering questions, it physically drags Liu away, ending the chapter on a cliffhanger.

Chapter Summary: “Sewer Play”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Ghost Hand, apparently intoxicated after consuming alcohol, forcibly drags Liu Zheng through the Delivery Passage despite his resistance.
• Ghost Hand deposits Liu Zheng into the Sewer through a hidden entrance inside the passage. Liu Zheng falls onto the Sewer floor and becomes stranded because there is no ladder or escape route.
• Liu Zheng contacts Cow-Horse for help. Cow-Horse confirms that Liu Zheng has not technically violated the restaurant’s rules, but the restaurant will not rescue him. Instead, Liu Zheng must find his own way back.
• Ghost Hand drops a strange, malleable object onto Liu Zheng. The system identifies it as a single-use Bloodstained Restaurant Exclusive Cosplay Costume, which allows the wearer to temporarily gain the abilities of a character currently present in the instance.
• Cow-Horse informs Liu Zheng that Napoleon wants him to collect more fish from the Sewer, irritating Liu Zheng further.
• Liu Zheng considers cosplaying several powerful beings, including the Fire Mage, Red Ghost, Oink, and others. He rejects the most powerful options because he either has not seen them clearly or fears triggering hidden consequences.
• He ultimately chooses to cosplay Cow-Horse, whom he knows well and considers comparatively safe.
• Though Liu Zheng struggles to sculpt a recognizable Cow-Horse costume in the darkness, the item activates successfully.
• Testing the costume by stomping, Liu Zheng discovers that he has gained tremendous strength: his hoof smashes into and penetrates the previously impenetrable Sewer floor.

Character Developments

• Liu Zheng: Demonstrates caution and practical judgment despite his usual tendency toward panic and complaining. He accepts responsibility for Ghost Hand’s rampage, carefully evaluates the risks of copying different characters, and uses the cosplay item strategically. He also discovers that Cow-Horse possesses far greater physical strength than he had assumed.
• Ghost Hand: Acts independently and unpredictably while apparently drunk, dragging Liu Zheng into danger but ultimately providing him with the cosplay costume needed to survive.
• Cow-Horse: Acts as Liu Zheng’s remote adviser, checking the rules and providing information, though he cannot offer direct assistance. His casual request for fish highlights the restaurant’s bizarre priorities. The cosplay reveals that he is extraordinarily powerful.
• Napoleon: Remains offscreen but adds to Liu Zheng’s frustration by treating his dangerous predicament as an opportunity to obtain more fish.

Significant Themes

• Unpredictability and unintended consequences: Liu Zheng’s decision to give Ghost Hand alcohol leads directly to his abandonment in the Sewer.
• Survival through adaptability: Trapped without a clear escape route, Liu Zheng must analyze his options and exploit the resources available to him.
• Appearance versus essence: The cosplay item grants abilities by imitating not only a character’s appearance but also their “soul,” suggesting that identity and power are inseparable.
• Hidden power and mistaken assumptions: Liu Zheng initially doubts Cow-Horse’s abilities, but the costume proves that Cow-Horse is vastly stronger than he appears.
• Absurdity amid danger: The chapter combines genuine peril with comedic elements, including Ghost Hand’s drunken behavior, the Sewer’s foul wind, and Napoleon’s demand for fish.

Character Interactions

• Liu Zheng struggles against Ghost Hand but is helplessly dragged away.
• He communicates with Cow-Horse by phone, seeking guidance after becoming trapped. Cow-Horse investigates the rules but can only tell him to return on his own.
• Cow-Horse relays Napoleon’s request for fish, prompting Liu Zheng to curse them both.
• Liu Zheng effectively interacts with the various absent or nearby characters through his decision about whom to imitate, ultimately choosing Cow-Horse because of their familiarity and lack of dangerous secrets.
• After transforming, Liu Zheng confirms Cow-Horse’s strength firsthand by breaking through the Sewer floor.

Chapter Summary: “We Cow-Horses Are Too Strong”

Key Plot Points and Events

• With the temporary Cow-Horse trial card granting him immense strength, Liu Zheng decides not to leave the sewer immediately. He suspects Ghost Hand sent him to this area because a Giant-Mouthed Whale may be nearby.
• He discovers a wider sewer river filled with thick, oily, multicolored water—an environment likely to contain unusually large fish.
• After taking several Baiting Agents, Liu Zheng enters the river. The enhanced Heart of the Ocean stabilizes him underwater.
• Four enormous, extremely obese fish appear and attack him. Their initial leap fails because of their weight, but they reveal a dangerous ability: each can fire powerful air cannons from its mouth.
• Liu Zheng easily survives and counters with overwhelming physical strength, knocking the fish belly-up and preventing them from escaping.
• The fish emit powerful dolphin-like sound waves, causing their bodies to melt together into a single four-headed, eight-eyed Four-in-One Fishman.
• Liu Zheng defeats the fused creature by shattering its water jets and air bullets, ramming it into the sewer wall, and brutally slapping all four heads until it loses consciousness.
• Just as Liu Zheng prepares to carry away his prize, a furious middle-aged fish-cleaner appears. Liu recognizes him as the man from the Giant-Mouthed Whale photograph.
• The man accuses Liu of stealing his fish and threatens to use him as chum. Liu immediately grabs the unconscious fishman and flees.

Character Developments

• Liu Zheng becomes increasingly confident in his temporary Cow-Horse strength. He views himself as nearly invincible and handles attacks that would previously have been overwhelming.
• His confidence is mixed with practical thinking: he avoids risking his costume, uses bait strategically, and prefers capturing fish alive because they may earn a better reward.
• Liu also displays opportunism and adaptability. Even after the fish fuse into a form that may no longer qualify as a Giant-Mouthed Whale, he decides it can still serve as valuable “fishman” merchandise.
• Despite his strength, Liu remains cautious when he encounters an unfamiliar threat—the fish-cleaner—and chooses retreat rather than fight.

Significant Themes

• Power and overconfidence: Liu’s sudden strength transforms his attitude, making him boastful and eager to test his abilities.
• Absurdity and grotesque transformation: The sewer’s creatures defy ordinary biological rules, with obese fish merging into a bizarre multi-headed fishman.
• Survival and opportunism: Liu treats dangerous monsters as commercial opportunities, prioritizing capture and potential rewards.
• The unpredictability of the sewer world: Even seemingly helpless creatures possess unexpected abilities, reinforcing that appearances are deceptive.
• Food and commerce as conflict: The battle revolves around the ownership and value of rare fish, blending survival with the strange economy of Bloodstained Restaurant.

Character Interactions

• Liu Zheng and the Giant-Mouthed Whales: He initially assumes they are easy prey, but they attack with air cannons and transform into a stronger fused creature. Liu ultimately overpowers them.
• Liu Zheng and the Four-in-One Fishman: Their confrontation is one-sided after the transformation; Liu destroys its attacks, knocks it unconscious, and claims it as valuable cargo.
• Liu Zheng and the fish-cleaner: Their first direct interaction ends in immediate hostility. The man sees Liu as a thief and pursues him, forcing Liu to escape with the fishman on his back.
• Liu Zheng and White-Feather Chicken: Although she does not appear directly, Liu’s actions are motivated partly by the possibility of earning a better reward from her for delivering the fish alive.