Chapter Summaries

Chapter Summary: “Liu Zheng’s Flesh-to-Blood Ratio Was 1:1”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Liu Zheng returns from successfully manipulating Blondie and the Sea Woman, impressing the receptionist, who hopes he will also help her obtain Vlad III.
• When Liu Zheng asks for her real name, the receptionist becomes defensive and briefly reveals her vampiric nature. She eventually tells him that her name is Emile, and he introduces himself by his real name, Liu Zheng.
• To strengthen their relationship, Liu Zheng gives Emile a copied dish from the Bloodstained Restaurant. Flattered, Emile openly suggests becoming his girlfriend.
• Liu Zheng rejects her advances, claiming that he has promised Fisherman he will pursue Sea Woman. Emile accepts that she can wait, emphasizing the long lifespan and patience of vampires.
• Short on money, Liu Zheng asks Emile for a loan. She agrees in exchange for drinking some of his blood rather than requiring an IOU.
• Emile drinks from Liu Zheng using a straw. His regenerative abilities immediately replace the blood she consumes, making the exchange relatively painless for him. However, his unusual blood is difficult for Emile to digest, leaving her intoxicated and overfull.
• Emile offers to give Liu Zheng the money permanently if he accepts her First Embrace and marries her. He refuses the condition and borrows the money instead.
• Liu Zheng leaves the Board-Game Hall and offers food and coffee to the Witch Statue. The statue takes the offerings and marks one of his tentacles with an inverted pentagram after a threatening display of lightning.
• The statue sheds its bronze shell and reveals the Witch within. She observes that humans are useful and begins brewing the God-Defying Elixir in a supernatural cauldron.

Character Developments

• Liu Zheng continues to rely on cleverness, negotiation, and calculated generosity. He uses food and personal information to cultivate Emile’s friendship while firmly maintaining boundaries and refusing to be trapped into romance or marriage.
• His regenerative body is further highlighted: because his flesh and blood regenerate at nearly a one-to-one ratio, he can safely provide large quantities of blood.
• Emile, initially guarded and threatening, becomes more open after exchanging real names. She reveals a playful, flirtatious, and possessive side, though she also genuinely values Liu Zheng’s blood and companionship.
• The Witch becomes more active and sinister. Rather than merely functioning as a statue, she is shown to possess intelligence, agency, and a larger plan involving the God-Defying Elixir.

Significant Themes

• Trust and intimacy: Exchanging real names symbolizes a deeper relationship, though both characters continue to manipulate and test each other.
• Transactional relationships: Friendship, loans, blood, food, and romantic propositions are all treated as forms of negotiation.
• Identity and transformation: Emile’s hidden vampire nature, the Witch’s statue disguise, and Liu Zheng’s abnormal physiology all reinforce the chapter’s focus on concealed identities and altered bodies.
• Humor amid danger: The bizarre blood-drinking arrangement, Emile’s Puritan vampire background, and Liu Zheng’s casual attitude toward supernatural threats create comic relief within an ominous setting.
• Human usefulness and exploitation: The Witch’s remark that humans are “more useful” suggests that Liu Zheng may be viewed as a tool in a larger supernatural scheme.

Character Interactions

• Liu Zheng and Emile: Their relationship shifts from cautious business negotiation toward flirtatious friendship, though Liu Zheng remains wary and refuses her attempts to bind him romantically.
• Liu Zheng and the Witch Statue: Liu Zheng treats the statue respectfully and offers gifts, while the Witch responds by taking his offerings and marking him with an unexplained symbol.
• Liu Zheng and the wider supernatural residents: His plans involving Fisherman, Sea Woman, Blondie, and Vlad III continue to connect him to the strange social and political network surrounding the Bloodstained Restaurant.

Chapter Summary: “Watch Your Attitude, Old Man”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Liu Zheng contacts Fisherman through Fisherman’s severed finger and confronts him about his arrogant attitude.
• He reminds Fisherman that their agreement only involved Liu Zheng dating Sea Woman, not arranging the father-daughter meeting. Liu Zheng threatens to interfere with the competition if Fisherman continues treating him disrespectfully.
• To emphasize his threat, Liu Zheng adopts a deliberately menacing, almost self-destructive attitude, even tearing off and eating part of his own flesh while Fisherman listens over the phone.
• Fisherman eventually apologizes, though awkwardly, and Liu Zheng assigns him several tasks:
  • Order a delayed food delivery to the Sewer.
  • Arrange for Liu Zheng to enter the Sewer through Rose Street.
  • Have someone guide him, since Fisherman cannot leave the fishpond for long.
• Liu Zheng chooses Rose Street because he knows Dai Lego, the unusual tree living there, and wants to avoid the more dangerous or secretive areas associated with Ghost Hand.
• Fisherman admits he cannot keep the Sewer competition secret from Sea Woman, but Liu Zheng says he has another plan. Fisherman threatens to hunt Liu Zheng down and turn him into fish bait if the plan prevents him from influencing his daughter; Liu Zheng responds by joking that this will double his payment.
• Returning to the Bloodstained Restaurant, Liu Zheng speaks with Cow-Horse, who is eating dried arms from the Crowfolk Tribe.
• Liu Zheng explains that he has persuaded Sea Woman and Fisherman to go to the Sewer for a fishing contest. If he defeats “Blondie,” Sea Woman will agree to date him.
• Cow-Horse misunderstands Fisherman’s description of Blondie as a male “golden son-in-law,” then discovers that Blondie is actually female and reacts with amused surprise.
• The chapter ends with Cow-Horse beginning to explain why humans, despite being weak, retain their status as a “Middle-Class Species,” leaving the explanation unresolved.

Character Developments

• Liu Zheng becomes more assertive and manipulative. Rather than tolerating Fisherman’s condescension, he uses calculated threats and psychological pressure to force the older creature to cooperate.
• He also shows a willingness to appear unstable or dangerous when necessary, while privately experiencing excitement rather than fear during the confrontation.
• Liu Zheng demonstrates caution and strategic thinking by avoiding Ghost Hand, selecting a familiar Sewer entrance, and refusing unfamiliar food without a system description.
• Fisherman is forced to acknowledge Liu Zheng’s leverage. Though still hostile and proud, he gives a reluctant apology and agrees to assist with the plan.
• Cow-Horse continues to serve as a comic and curious observer. Its gossip, misunderstandings, and blunt comments highlight the strange social customs of the world.

Significant Themes

• Power and mutual leverage: Liu Zheng is physically vulnerable but gains influence by exploiting Fisherman’s desire to reconnect with Sea Woman.
• Respect versus intimidation: The confrontation shows that survival in this world depends not only on strength but also on refusing to be treated as powerless.
• Unusual morality and survival: Eating nonhuman flesh, threatening violence, and bargaining over relationships are presented as ordinary aspects of life in the setting.
• Cultural and biological differences: The conversation about human sexuality, nonhuman species, and “Middle-Class Species” status emphasizes how alien this world’s societies are compared with human expectations.
• Caution amid the bizarre: Liu Zheng’s reluctance to eat food lacking a system description shows his continued reliance on rules and information to survive.

Character Interactions

• Liu Zheng and Fisherman: Their relationship is openly antagonistic and transactional. Liu Zheng demands respect and cooperation, while Fisherman responds with threats and reluctant compliance.
• Liu Zheng and Sea Woman: Although Sea Woman does not appear directly, the entire plan revolves around Liu Zheng’s attempt to win the right to date her.
• Liu Zheng and Cow-Horse: Their exchange is informal and comedic. Cow-Horse probes Liu Zheng for gossip, while Liu Zheng explains the competition and reacts to Cow-Horse’s assumptions.
• Liu Zheng and Dai Lego: Their prior familiarity makes Rose Street a safer and more practical route into the Sewer.

Chapter Summary: “You Really Are a Succubus”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Cow-Horse explains the city’s species-based citizenship system:
  • Middle-Class Species receive citizenship if their children pass the birth test.
  • Upper-Class Species are automatically citizens, and failed children are usually euthanized, though relatives can pay a large fine to save them as Third-Class Citizens.
  • Lower-Class Species must pay a costly Household Registration Tax, often requiring predatory loans.
  • Pariah Species, such as Pig-headed Men, are born without citizenship and are rarely allowed to obtain it.
• Humans are classified as Middle-Class because of their relatively high intelligence and significant representation in City Hall.
• Cow-Horse reveals that its own species is Lower-Class and that Oink’s species is deliberately excluded from citizenship for political reasons.
• Liu Zheng gives Cow-Horse contact information for a Vampire he met at the Board-Game Hall. The Vampire wants to earn money, and her Blood Father was captured and converted into a dialysis machine.
• Liu reveals that he borrowed 30,000 from the Vampire without agreeing to interest or a repayment date. Cow-Horse is astonished by his ability to acquire money and connections so quickly.
• Liu gives Cow-Horse Bad-Luck Coffee to distribute in the Kitchen and asks it to obtain rare Vlad III liquor for the Vampire.
• To prepare for the next day’s competition, Liu asks Cow-Horse to:
  • Deliver food in his place.
  • Let him use the Black Koi.
  • Lend him the Lucky Clown Card.
  • Find makeup tools similar to those from the Casino.
• Cow-Horse agrees to most requests after receiving money, though it resents Liu’s manipulation and the difficulty of obtaining the makeup tools.

Character Developments

• Liu Zheng demonstrates increasing resourcefulness, confidence, and social manipulation. In less than a week, he has accumulated money, equipment, and useful contacts despite his dangerous environment.
• He skillfully flatters Cow-Horse, presenting his success as the result of Cow-Horse’s protection and guidance. This makes Cow-Horse feel valued and persuades it to help him.
• Cow-Horse is shown to be streetwise and knowledgeable about social hierarchies, rare goods, and supernatural species, despite belonging to a supposedly unintelligent Lower-Class Species.
• Cow-Horse is simultaneously envious of Liu’s rapid success and proud of being treated as an important “boss.”
• Liu’s mysterious ability to borrow money without clear conditions further suggests that he possesses unusual charm or supernatural influence.

Significant Themes

• Institutional inequality and species-based discrimination: Citizenship, family rights, and survival are determined by species classification rather than individual merit.
• Economic exploitation: Lower-Class families must take expensive loans to secure citizenship for their children, reinforcing generational poverty.
• Political oppression: The exclusion of Pig-headed Men is presented as an arbitrary decision imposed by powerful authorities.
• Survival through manipulation and networking: Liu succeeds by building relationships, trading favors, flattering others, and exploiting opportunities.
• Class hypocrisy: Intelligence, citizenship, and social worth are treated as bureaucratic categories, while individuals like Cow-Horse can exceed the expectations imposed on their species.
• Dark humor amid cruelty: Euthanasia, forced exploitation, and transformed prisoners are discussed casually, creating a grotesque contrast with the characters’ banter.

Character Interactions

• Liu repeatedly questions Cow-Horse about the city’s social system, while Cow-Horse warns him not to investigate matters involving powerful authorities.
• Their relationship remains transactional but increasingly resembles genuine companionship. Liu calls Cow-Horse “Boss,” while Cow-Horse enjoys the praise despite recognizing that Liu is manipulating it.
• Cow-Horse mocks Liu as a “succubus” because of his astonishing ability to obtain money and favors, while Liu responds with calculated sincerity and flattery.
• Liu uses cash and praise to convince Cow-Horse to lend him valuable items and perform dangerous errands.
• Their exchanges reveal mutual dependence: Liu supplies money and opportunities, while Cow-Horse provides protection, knowledge, and access to resources.

Chapter Summary: “The Boss Requests Your Presence”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Liu Zheng asks Cow-Horse about the Customer Service Department and learns that Britannia, now missing its lower half, has become dangerously unstable. Although Britannia is feared by the restaurant staff, it behaves professionally toward customers and remains department head.
• Liu Zheng obtains needles, thread, and white paint from the kitchen through Cow-Horse. Napoleon offers either to provide the materials in exchange for a favor or reveal where to obtain them. Liu Zheng chooses the free information to avoid dealing directly with the dangerous kitchen.
• The paint turns out to be White-Phosphorus Moth Powder. It is extremely durable but burns flesh until it is reduced to ash. Liu Zheng accidentally burns part of his tentacles and cuts away the damaged sections.
• Liu Zheng arranges to meet Nightingale and the Fisherman at the Sewer entrance the next afternoon. Nightingale reveals that Liu Zheng was misled about needing to catch fish himself and agrees to prepare fishing equipment for him.
• Cow-Horse claims to have nearly secured Dai Lego’s cooperation and boasts that it can protect Liu Zheng from any danger. Liu Zheng remains skeptical.
• Liu Zheng swallows the Black Koi and experiences an overwhelming sense of impending danger. He modifies his mouth with the Boning Knife and applies the moth powder as makeup.
• The Lucky Clown Card activates, easing the oppressive danger enough for him to function.
• Cow-Horse recounts nearly dying after witnessing a successful Harmony Cult ritual, comparing Liu Zheng’s current terror to that experience.
• Cow-Horse receives a call from the boss and is ordered to bring Liu Zheng in. The chapter ends with the ominous announcement: “The boss requests your presence.”

Character Developments

• Liu Zheng demonstrates caution, resourcefulness, and tactical intelligence. He refuses to spend a favor with Napoleon, carefully tests the dangerous powder, prepares himself physically for the Black Koi’s effects, and uses the Lucky Clown Card to survive the resulting crisis.
• Cow-Horse continues to act as Liu Zheng’s informant and supplier, though its advice is sometimes misleading or dangerously delayed. It also reveals a boastful but anxious personality, especially when reminded of its past encounter with the Harmony Cult.
• Nightingale shows a teasing, playful side while also cooperating with Liu Zheng by preparing fishing equipment. She expresses interest in recruiting him for her future board-game café, suggesting she recognizes his intelligence and usefulness.
• Napoleon remains distant, powerful, and transactional. Its willingness to offer information for free—but charge a favor for direct assistance—reinforces its strict and businesslike nature.
• Liu Zheng and Cow-Horse’s relationship remains marked by sarcasm and mutual dependence. Liu Zheng distrusts Cow-Horse’s claims, but still relies on it for supplies, contacts, and information.

Significant Themes

• Survival through preparation: Liu Zheng survives not through brute strength but through careful planning, improvisation, and effective use of limited resources.
• Danger and controlled madness: Britannia’s extremity, the White-Phosphorus Moth Powder, and the Black Koi all highlight how unstable and lethal the restaurant’s world is.
• Trust and misinformation: Liu Zheng must constantly judge whether others are helping, deceiving, or manipulating him. Cow-Horse’s false information about fishing gear illustrates the difficulty of navigating unreliable allies.
• Luck versus competence: Liu Zheng’s preparation reduces danger, but the Lucky Clown Card ultimately provides the supernatural protection needed to endure the Black Koi.
• Fear as shared experience: Liu Zheng and Cow-Horse bond briefly over their memories of overwhelming danger, showing that even powerful or reckless characters carry trauma.

Important Character Interactions

• Liu Zheng questions Cow-Horse about Britannia and mocks its tendency to be tougher with allies than outsiders.
• Cow-Horse obtains information from Napoleon and helps Liu Zheng gather the materials he needs.
• Liu Zheng and Nightingale exchange playful threats and jokes while arranging the Sewer meeting; Nightingale hints that she wants to recruit him.
• Liu Zheng informs the Fisherman of the meeting and asks for protection, but the Fisherman responds that he is merely there to observe.
• Liu Zheng challenges Cow-Horse’s confidence in persuading Dai Lego and the Fisherman to cooperate.
• Cow-Horse’s conversation with its boss shifts the chapter from preparation to a new, potentially dangerous summons for Liu Zheng.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• Liu Zheng is summoned by Si Xue, the new owner of the Bloodstained Restaurant, leaving him anxious about possible punishment for his recent actions.
• Cow-Horse leaves with a delivery order, while Ghost Hand escorts Liu Zheng to an elevator leading to Si Xue’s hidden office: a vast lava cave containing a Platinum Throne and numerous obsidian pillars imprisoning powerful beings, including a five-colored Phoenix.
• Si Xue orders Ghost Hand to leave, asserting her authority as the restaurant’s owner and warning that anyone who disobeys her rules may share the fate of the creatures sealed in the pillars.
• Liu Zheng crosses the magma alone. His body nearly burns away, but Si Xue provides him with a golden chair and food. Eating the dessert and ice cream restores and enlarges his body.
• Si Xue criticizes Liu Zheng for causing excessive trouble despite having worked at the restaurant for only four days. She then confiscates the Heart of the Ocean, accusing him of collaborating with outsiders to steal from the restaurant.
• Liu Zheng asks for the little mermaid’s soul so he can fulfill his promise to return it to the sea. Si Xue refuses to treat this as a simple request and demands payment.
• She acknowledges Liu Zheng’s past accomplishments—including attacking Mr. Li’s organization and killing one of its managers—but says his merits and recent offense cancel each other out.
• Si Xue jokingly—or threateningly—sets her price: Liu Zheng must lick her foot clean. The chapter ends with Liu Zheng nervously objecting that he has not brushed his teeth.

Character Developments

• Liu Zheng: Becomes increasingly resigned to relying only on himself. Although fearful of Si Xue, he accepts responsibility for breaking the restaurant’s rules and humbly negotiates for the mermaid’s soul. His survival instinct and irreverent humor remain intact even under extreme intimidation.
• Si Xue: Establishes herself as an overwhelmingly powerful and authoritarian boss. She is strict about loyalty and ownership, but she also recognizes Liu Zheng’s usefulness and past achievements. Her teasing, cruel humor reveals a playful yet dangerous personality.
• Ghost Hand: Demonstrates loyalty by escorting Liu Zheng but is immediately forced to retreat when Si Xue asserts her authority. Its mysterious strength is emphasized, though even it cannot resist Si Xue’s command.
• Cow-Horse: Provides brief emotional support but leaves Liu Zheng to face Si Xue alone, reinforcing the latter’s isolation.

Significant Themes

• Power and hierarchy: Si Xue’s control over the lava office, Ghost Hand, the imprisoned beings, and Liu Zheng highlights the enormous power gap between employer and employee.
• Debt and accountability: Liu Zheng accepts that his achievements do not excuse his betrayal of the restaurant’s interests. His request for the mermaid’s soul becomes a negotiation shaped by obligation and punishment.
• Survival through adaptability: Liu Zheng endures the magma, accepts humiliating conditions, and uses humility rather than defiance to survive.
• Moral ambiguity: Liu Zheng does not fully share the restaurant’s values, yet he benefits from its protection and resources. His promise to help the mermaid conflicts with his obligations to the restaurant.
• Dark comedy amid horror: Extreme danger, grotesque imagery, and potential death are repeatedly undercut by Liu Zheng’s sarcastic thoughts and the absurdity of Si Xue’s final demand.

Character Interactions

• Liu Zheng and Cow-Horse: Cow-Horse attempts to reassure Liu Zheng about Si Xue’s summons, though his comments only increase Liu Zheng’s anxiety.
• Liu Zheng and Ghost Hand: Ghost Hand escorts him but cannot remain beside him after Si Xue orders it out, leaving Liu Zheng vulnerable.
• Liu Zheng and Si Xue: Their central interaction combines intimidation, teasing, punishment, and negotiation. Si Xue asserts dominance while acknowledging Liu Zheng’s value; Liu Zheng responds with fear, honesty, and cautious bargaining.
• Si Xue and Ghost Hand: Si Xue decisively reprimands Ghost Hand for listening in and makes clear that no one may interfere when she is addressing an employee.

Summary

This chapter is an author’s announcement and reflection rather than a conventional story chapter.

• Key events: The book will become premium at noon on Friday after reaching 230,000 words, with five guaranteed chapters available to subscribers. Bonus chapters will be added if first-day subscriptions exceed 3,000. The author explains the book’s difficult development: poor early performance, uncertainty about whether to continue writing original fiction, and a period in which the author accumulated many chapters but later felt disconnected from the story. After receiving encouragement from fellow authors, the book was revised, published, and gradually improved through recommendations, eventually reaching the Sanjiang Recommendation.
• Character developments: No major fictional character development occurs. The author jokingly presents themself as an insecure but persistent writer who nearly abandoned the book, then regained confidence through peer support and reader recognition. Liu Zheng is briefly mentioned in a humorous threat/promise to take readers “fishing in the Sewer” while wearing helmets.
• Character interactions: The main interactions are between the author and the author-group members, who tease and encourage the author as readership rises from single digits to double digits. The author also directly addresses readers, thanking them, encouraging subscriptions, and playfully involving them in the book’s strange world.
• Significant themes: The chapter emphasizes perseverance, creative uncertainty, collaborative encouragement, reader-author community, and the value of unconventional writing. It also highlights the book’s deliberately eclectic style, combining mainstream and niche elements into a “strange yet logical” world. The closing appeal frames continued reader support as essential to the book’s survival and future development.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• Si Xue reveals that her feet are covered in Black Water, a mysterious substance that seems to induce suffocation merely by being observed.
• To learn what Black Water is, Liu Zheng is forced to lick Si Xue’s foot. The experience causes him to taste the emotions of countless beings—gratitude from those who receive food and resentment from those consumed as food.
• The Black Water destabilizes Liu Zheng’s body, turning his cells against one another and nearly reducing him to rotten flesh. Si Xue saves him by splashing tea on him, causing his body to die and regenerate.
• Si Xue mocks Liu Zheng’s weakness, confiscates the Heart of the Ocean, and threatens him before kicking him back to the elevator. During the encounter, she secretly gives him a Fishman Hatchling Soul Orb, a valuable item that can be taken out of the instance.
• Liu Zheng reflects bitterly on losing both equipment and dignity, joking that his misfortune should increase his “Lucky Clown” fortune.
• At the elevator, Ghost Hand is waiting for him. It escorts him back to the break room, demonstrating continued friendliness despite its mysterious connection to the Chaos Club.
• Liu Zheng suspects Ghost Hand is manipulating him for some unknown purpose, but accepts that many people already want something from him and that Ghost Hand is simply another potential manipulator.
• Back in the break room, Cow-Horse questions Liu Zheng about his meeting with Si Xue. Liu Zheng avoids describing her Black Water, especially since Cow-Horse insists that Si Xue always appeared noble and elegant to it.
• The restaurant’s employee meal arrives: braised Sewer Fish offal and “douzhi” made from bile and Yama Beans. Both items carry dangerous effects, including malignant mutations and recurring poison statuses.
• Cow-Horse forces Liu Zheng to eat everything, including the broth, punishing him for trying to exploit the restaurant through shady transactions.

Character Developments

• Liu Zheng remains reckless, sarcastic, and opportunistic, but he also shows resilience by surviving the Black Water and its catastrophic effects. His suspicion of others—especially Ghost Hand—deepens.
• Si Xue is revealed to be far more terrifying and unpredictable than her composed reputation suggests. Her domineering side contrasts sharply with the “noble and elegant” image seen by Cow-Horse.
• Ghost Hand continues developing a closer relationship with Liu Zheng. Its assistance appears helpful, but Liu Zheng increasingly suspects that this goodwill serves a hidden agenda.
• Cow-Horse maintains its blunt, greedy, and self-interested personality. It mocks Liu Zheng’s bad luck but also enforces the restaurant’s rules with authority.

Significant Themes

• Power and humiliation: Liu Zheng is forced to sacrifice both dignity and valuable equipment to survive Si Xue’s test.
• Hidden identities and appearances: Si Xue’s frightening Black Water side is concealed from most characters, while Ghost Hand’s apparent kindness may hide ulterior motives.
• Survival through transformation: Liu Zheng’s body is destroyed and reborn, emphasizing the extreme physical and psychological costs of surviving the instance.
• Manipulation and mutual exploitation: Nearly every major relationship is transactional. Liu Zheng expects others to want something from him and accepts this as part of life in the instance.
• Dark comedy amid horror: Grotesque food, bodily mutations, absurd insults, and Liu Zheng’s “Lucky Clown” jokes undercut the chapter’s disturbing events.

Character Interactions

• Liu Zheng and Si Xue: Their exchange is antagonistic and mocking. Si Xue controls the situation completely, forcing Liu Zheng to lick her foot, nearly killing him, then rescuing and ridiculing him.
• Liu Zheng and Ghost Hand: Ghost Hand checks on Liu Zheng, escorts him back, and displays unusual friendliness. Liu Zheng appreciates its help but remains wary of its motives.
• Liu Zheng and Cow-Horse: Their banter centers on Liu Zheng’s dangerous encounter and Cow-Horse’s questionable smuggling. Cow-Horse ends by ordering Liu Zheng to consume the horrifying employee meal.
• Liu Zheng and the restaurant system: The restaurant continues to punish his greed and risk-taking through grotesque food and hazardous effects, reinforcing that his “legitimate transaction” is still dangerous.

Chapter Summary: “The Value of Zero Luck”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Liu Zheng finishes eating the disgusting Sewer braised stew, only to develop a huge tumor on his leg. Although the injury is easily treated, the meal’s unbearable taste reinforces how hazardous and unpleasant his work has become.
• He accuses Cow-Horse of giving him a counterfeit Lucky Clown Card. Cow-Horse denies it, arguing that the card saved Liu Zheng’s life during his previous delivery.
• Liu Zheng recounts his encounter with partying Biohumans, who nearly mutilated him. The experience leaves both him and Cow-Horse horrified; Cow-Horse is especially traumatized and appears to have developed sexual dysfunction.
• Liu Zheng attempts to massage Cow-Horse using his knowledge of massage techniques. Cow-Horse repeatedly kicks him by reflex, sending him into the wall and breaking his ribs several times. Despite Liu Zheng’s suffering, Cow-Horse enjoys the massage.
• Cow-Horse promises to postpone his trip to Paradise Island, apparently because his encounter with the Biohumans left him impotent rather than out of genuine remorse.
• Liu Zheng’s supposed bad luck continues affecting their deliveries. Cow-Horse encounters trouble on every trip, including a gang shootout that damages his recently healing horn. He blames Liu Zheng and extorts compensation from him.
• Later that night, Ghost Hand brings two new delivery orders:
  • Giant Red-Mouthed Whale sashimi to Academy Gardens, with an impossibly short twenty-minute deadline.
  • Squirrel-Pouted Fish to Imperial View Estate, a dangerous and politically sensitive location, with a one-hour deadline.
• Cow-Horse advises Liu Zheng to take the Academy Gardens delivery while he avoids Imperial View Estate. Since walking will not meet the deadline, Liu Zheng rents a Malibu XL 535, a car matching the one he drove in his former life.
• Before Liu Zheng leaves, Ghost Hand bites a wound into one of his tentacles and injects several drops of golden magma into it, suggesting that it is giving him some form of protection, enhancement, or supernatural assistance.

Character Developments

• Liu Zheng remains resilient despite constant injury, grotesque food, and repeated misfortune. He continues to use practical skills—such as massage, driving knowledge, and problem-solving—to survive in the bizarre world.
• His sense of humor and entrepreneurial imagination remain intact. While massaging Cow-Horse, he fantasizes about opening a successful massage business.
• Cow-Horse is shown to be both physically powerful and emotionally exhausted. He suffers repeated accidents, blames Liu Zheng for his bad luck, and responds to his trauma with crude humor and irritation.
• Cow-Horse’s encounter with the Biohumans appears to have damaged his confidence and sexual ability, prompting him to delay his vacation.
• Ghost Hand becomes more mysterious and potentially helpful. Its decision to inject golden magma into Liu Zheng implies hidden knowledge of Liu Zheng’s situation or a desire to protect him.

Significant Themes

• Misfortune and luck: The Lucky Clown Card may be protecting Liu Zheng, but it does not prevent suffering; instead, bad luck seems to spill over onto those around him.
• Survival through adaptability: Liu Zheng repeatedly survives by improvising, whether through physical endurance, specialized skills, or practical decisions such as renting a fast car.
• Humor amid horror: Grotesque injuries, sexual violence, and dangerous deliveries are presented through absurd comedy, emphasizing the surreal brutality of Liu Zheng’s world.
• Exploitation and compensation: Cow-Horse’s demand for money reflects the transactional nature of their relationship, where even supernatural bad luck becomes an excuse for bargaining.
• Uncertain supernatural forces: The Lucky Clown Card and Ghost Hand’s golden magma suggest that unseen powers are influencing Liu Zheng’s fate, though their true purposes remain unclear.

Character Interactions

• Liu Zheng and Cow-Horse argue constantly but depend on each other. Their relationship combines employer-employee tension, mutual exploitation, and reluctant camaraderie.
• Liu Zheng’s attempt to help Cow-Horse through massage becomes another source of physical abuse, though Cow-Horse ultimately appreciates the result.
• Cow-Horse warns Liu Zheng away from Imperial View Estate, showing practical concern despite his complaints and opportunism.
• Ghost Hand interacts silently but directly with Liu Zheng, marking him with golden magma before a dangerous delivery and hinting at a deeper connection or intervention.

Chapter Summary: “Speed Between Life and Death”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Liu Zheng suffers a painful wound from contact with Ghost Hand, similar to the injury caused by pale flames. Ghost Hand silently instructs him to scatter the golden liquid if necessary, then departs.
• Liu Zheng places the meal in the delivery box and leaves the passage, finding a white Chevrolet Malibu waiting for him. He drives toward the delivery destination, Academy Gardens.
• While driving, he plays a garbled song that unexpectedly becomes Alizée’s “La Isla Bonita,” accompanied by an alluring visual projection. Enjoying the freedom of the strange world and pressed by the delivery deadline, Liu Zheng drives recklessly at extreme speed.
• He encounters a Green Vest, an embodiment of City Hall authority, which orders him to stop for inspection. Rather than obeying, Liu Zheng continues driving, knowing that stopping could cause him to fail the delivery.
• The Green Vest takes control of the car, straightening the steering wheel, locking the brakes, and forcing the vehicle to stop. Liu Zheng uses the true-damage effect of his Legendary Disguise to break through the Green Vest’s control.
• The Green Vest transforms into a Red Vest and attacks with red lights that exert overwhelming psychological pressure. Liu Zheng’s Sanity Decline Immunity repeatedly protects him from losing his sanity.
• Liu Zheng narrowly avoids a collision and throws money at the Red Vest in an attempt to appease it. After spending a total of three thousand, he finally satisfies the authority figure enough for it to return to its Green Vest form and let him pass.
• Liu Zheng reaches Academy Gardens with eight minutes remaining on the delivery timer.

Character Developments

• Liu Zheng demonstrates increasing boldness and desperation. Although he recognizes the danger of violating City Hall’s authority, his commitment to completing the delivery overrides his fear.
• He relies creatively on his abilities, using the Legendary Disguise’s true damage to counter supernatural control over the car and his Sanity Decline Immunity to withstand the Red Vest’s mental pressure.
• His recklessness is balanced by practical calculation: he understands that time is limited, weighs the cost of bribery, and accepts financial losses as preferable to failing the mission.
• His frustration over losing three thousand dollars reinforces his competitive and vindictive attitude, particularly toward Fisherman, whom he vows to exploit if he wins.

Significant Themes

• Speed versus survival: Liu Zheng must move quickly to complete his task, even though rushing places him directly in mortal danger.
• Authority and corruption: City Hall’s representatives possess near-absolute power, but their authority can be bypassed or appeased through money and force.
• Resourcefulness under pressure: Liu Zheng survives by combining supernatural abilities, quick thinking, and strategic bribery.
• Freedom and recklessness: The empty roads and stolen car give Liu Zheng a sense of liberation, allowing him to indulge in behavior he would avoid in the real world.
• The absurdity of the bizarre world: Familiar elements—traffic enforcement, music, bribery, and driving—are transformed into surreal and deadly threats.

Character Interactions

• Liu Zheng and Ghost Hand: Ghost Hand warns Liu Zheng about the wound and indicates that the golden liquid may be needed in an emergency, establishing a brief but important cooperative exchange.
• Liu Zheng and the Green/Red Vest: Their confrontation becomes a battle of authority and defiance. The Vest attempts to stop and control him, while Liu Zheng resists, damages its powers, evades its attack, and ultimately bribes it.
• Liu Zheng and the unseen City Hall: Though no direct official figure appears, the Green Vest represents City Hall’s intimidating influence and demonstrates why even powerful organizations such as Bloodstained Restaurant must respect it.
• Liu Zheng and Fisherman: Fisherman does not appear directly, but Liu Zheng’s thoughts reveal resentment over his financial losses and his determination to retaliate if he wins the competition.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• Liu Zheng arrives at Academy Gardens to deliver food to the apartment with the complex’s lowest-ranked elementary-school student.
• The community’s entrance displays residents’ academic rankings, reflecting its intense culture of educational competition and parental judgment.
• The security guard initially refuses Liu Zheng entry because he has not registered. When Liu Zheng offers his honorary homeowner medal as collateral, the guard reluctantly lets him pass.
• Liu Zheng races to Building 1 and knocks on Room 303’s door, hearing shouting and crying inside. With only minutes left before his delivery deadline, he claims to be the child’s tutor to persuade the occupants to open the door.
• A distressed, disheveled mother opens the door. Liu Zheng convinces her of his tutoring credentials by explaining that several of his former students entered prestigious universities and many others significantly improved their rankings.
• He insists that she sign for the food before discussing tutoring. Once the deadline expires, he enters the apartment and meets her pale, overweight son, Xiaobao.
• Liu Zheng observes that Xiaobao seems more comfortable near him than near his mother, suggesting a troubled parent-child relationship.
• Liu Zheng asks the mother to leave so he can speak privately with Xiaobao. She reacts angrily and transforms into a frightening, furry, wolf-like creature, threatening him and questioning whether he intends to flee.

Character Developments

• Liu Zheng is established as resourceful, fast-thinking, blunt, and confident. Despite his casual deliveryman role, he has strong tutoring experience and is willing to confront parents about their responsibility for their children’s failures.
• His memories of the orphanage director reveal that he was raised with little material wealth but intense academic pressure. The director’s obsessive belief in education shaped Liu Zheng’s attitude toward studying.
• The mother is introduced as anxious, hostile, and possibly abusive or emotionally volatile. Her desperation over her child’s academic performance is evident, but her behavior also suggests she contributes to the strained family relationship.
• Xiaobao appears timid and withdrawn, hiding behind furniture and positioning himself closer to Liu Zheng than his mother. His behavior implies fear, alienation, or a lack of trust toward his parent.
• The security guard reinforces the bizarre, academic-centered nature of Academy Gardens, combining strict bureaucracy with supernatural or exaggerated physical abilities.

Significant Themes

• Academic pressure and parental expectations: The ranking board and the mother’s behavior show how educational performance defines status and self-worth within the community.
• The harms of blame and excessive control: Liu Zheng recognizes that parents cannot place all responsibility for poor grades on schools or children.
• Appearance versus reality: Liu Zheng looks like an ordinary deliveryman but possesses valuable tutoring experience and unusual composure. Likewise, the seemingly respectable residential complex conceals fear, violence, and supernatural strangeness.
• Communication and trust: Liu Zheng attempts to create a private space in which Xiaobao might speak honestly, contrasting with the mother’s intimidating presence.
• Civility masking violence: Academy Gardens prides itself on being educated and civilized, yet its guard and residents display threatening, monstrous, or coercive behavior.

Character Interactions

• Liu Zheng clashes with the security guard over registration but resolves the conflict through negotiation and collateral rather than force.
• He manipulates the mother’s expectations by claiming to be a tutor, then uses his professional confidence to make her sign for the delivery and admit him.
• His direct criticism of the mother’s presence creates immediate tension, but it also demonstrates his concern for Xiaobao’s ability to speak freely.
• Xiaobao’s physical positioning suggests an instinctive preference for Liu Zheng’s calm, assertive presence over his mother’s threatening authority.
• The chapter ends with Liu Zheng facing the mother’s transformation, turning a tense tutoring encounter into a potentially dangerous confrontation.

Chapter Summary

Plot points and events

• Liu Zheng confronts the monstrous woman and makes it clear that he is not trying to destroy her family, but he also ends her tutoring job and tells her to leave his home.
• He gives her his phone number and asks for proof that he delivered the takeout, though she refuses to cooperate.
• Tension rises when the chubby boy, Chen Xiaobao, complains of hunger and demands takeout. His mother loses her temper and frightens him so badly that his wax-like body begins to melt.
• Liu Zheng intervenes, reprimanding the mother for humiliating her child and Xiaobao for criticizing his mother. He then offers to cook instead.
• In the kitchen, Liu Zheng prepares scallion-fried noodles with eggs and tomatoes, explaining his cooking techniques while the woman questions his choices.
• The meal impresses both the woman and Xiaobao. Xiaobao eats enthusiastically, even consuming the wax that drips from his own body.
• Liu Zheng learns that the woman has no husband and that Xiaobao is actually a wax figure she purchased, not a biological child.
• When Liu Zheng attempts to leave, the woman transforms into a more corpse-like monster and asks him to stay as Xiaobao’s father. She claims Xiaobao needs a father and appears willing to sacrifice herself.
• Liu Zheng refuses, warning that Xiaobao would lose his mother. The woman then attacks him, forcing him to defend himself with his tentacles and golden lava. The chapter ends during the confrontation.

Character developments

• Liu Zheng: Displays both caution and compassion. Though wary of the mother and child, he intervenes in their argument, teaches them how to treat each other better, and cooks for them. He remains unwilling to become responsible for Xiaobao, especially given his dangerous circumstances, but he shows unexpected emotional insight.
• The woman: Initially hostile and suspicious, she gradually softens after Liu Zheng cooks for her and Xiaobao. Her desperation becomes apparent when she asks him to become Xiaobao’s father, even implying that she is prepared to die or give herself up for the child.
• Chen Xiaobao: Acts spoiled and demanding because he is hungry, but responds to Liu Zheng’s correction by apologizing. He is revealed to be a wax figure with unusual physical traits and a deep dependence on his mother, despite sometimes expressing dislike for her.

Significant themes

• Parenthood and responsibility: The chapter explores whether parenthood is defined by biology, affection, or duty. Xiaobao is not biologically related to the woman, yet she treats him as her son and desperately seeks a father for him.
• Care expressed through food: Cooking becomes Liu Zheng’s way of resolving conflict and showing concern. The meal creates a brief sense of warmth and family within an otherwise frightening household.
• Love mixed with resentment: The mother and child frustrate and hurt each other, but their conflict does not erase their attachment. Liu Zheng points out that love and hatred can exist simultaneously.
• Monstrous appearances versus human emotions: Although the characters are physically grotesque, they display familiar emotions such as hunger, embarrassment, loneliness, parental anxiety, and the desire for companionship.
• Boundaries and survival: Liu Zheng wants to help without being trapped in a dangerous family situation. His refusal to accept the role of father emphasizes the tension between compassion and self-preservation.

Character interactions

• Liu Zheng mediates the mother and Xiaobao’s argument, teaching the mother not to shame her child and Xiaobao not to insult his mother.
• His cooking lesson gradually changes the woman’s attitude toward him, replacing suspicion with reluctant trust and admiration.
• Xiaobao responds warmly to Liu Zheng’s food, creating a temporary bond between them.
• The woman’s request that Liu Zheng become Xiaobao’s father transforms their uneasy relationship into a desperate emotional appeal, which ultimately turns violent when he refuses.

Chapter Summary: “A Slap You’ll Love”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Liu Zheng stops the woman from attacking him and the chubby boy, using one tentacle to threaten her with Golden Fluid and another with a Chew Toy.
• He agrees to continue tutoring Xiaobao, provided the woman stops pursuing him romantically. In return, she offers to take him out of the residential complex.
• In the elevator, Liu Zheng learns how to obtain the complex’s Honorary Owner Medal: tutoring a child to first place overall, tutoring several children to first place in one subject, or significantly improving the rankings of more than ten children.
• The woman insists that Xiaobao is highly intelligent, despite his current last-place ranking. She reveals that he learned advanced mathematics unusually quickly, suggesting that something caused his sudden academic decline.
• At the complex’s exit, the security guard demands that Liu Zheng register by leaving his name and fingerprint in a blood-filled book. The woman explains that Academy Gardens requires intelligence from those who enter or leave, alarming Liu Zheng.
• The guard refuses to let Liu Zheng leave unless bribed. He pressures the woman into surrendering the Hengshui Secret Scroll, a book extracted painfully from her brain, supposedly to help his son improve his exam ranking.
• Angered by the guard’s exploitation and rudeness, Liu Zheng slaps him, literally folding shut the guard’s book-page-like face.
• When the guard threatens to kill him with compass-like weapons, Liu Zheng intimidates him by invoking his future father-in-law’s status as a First-Class Citizen and threatening to expose the guard’s history of accepting bribes.
• The guard agrees to let the matter go and keep the stolen book. Liu Zheng further gives him money while cleverly framing it as an unconditional gift, avoiding the guard’s claim that it violates the rules.
• Liu Zheng warns the guard to treat the woman more respectfully, then leaves the complex in a Chevrolet.

Character Developments

• Liu Zheng remains irreverent, manipulative, and fearless. He uses humor, threats, social connections, and loopholes in the rules rather than relying solely on force.
• His protective or moral instincts become more visible when he reacts angrily to the guard exploiting the woman. His Irritability flares, prompting the slap and confrontation.
• The woman, Ms. Chen, is shown to be vulnerable and humiliated despite her frightening supernatural abilities. She sacrifices the Hengshui Secret Scroll to secure Liu Zheng’s release and appears hopeful that he can uncover the reason for Xiaobao’s academic failure.
• Xiaobao is established as unusually intelligent but mysteriously unable to perform academically. His cheerful innocence contrasts with the oppressive and bizarre adult world around him.
• The security guard is revealed as corrupt and opportunistic. Though initially aggressive and confident in the complex’s rules, he becomes fearful when Liu Zheng threatens an investigation into his bribery.

Significant Themes

• Rules and loopholes: The chapter emphasizes that oppressive systems are governed by rigid rules, but those rules often contain loopholes that clever people can exploit.
• Corruption and abuse of authority: The guard uses his position to extort residents, while Liu Zheng exposes how authority figures manipulate regulations for personal gain.
• Education as power and status: Academic rankings determine privileges, social standing, and even whether guards will respect residents. The Honorary Owner Medal and the Hengshui Secret Scroll reinforce the importance of achievement.
• Humiliation and dignity: Ms. Chen is publicly degraded by the guard, while Liu Zheng retaliates on her behalf and restores some of her dignity.
• Hidden potential and mystery: Xiaobao’s extraordinary intelligence contrasted with his last-place ranking hints at a deeper problem that Liu Zheng may need to investigate.

Character Interactions

• Liu Zheng and Ms. Chen negotiate a strained tutoring arrangement, combining flirtation, threats, and practical cooperation.
• Ms. Chen and Liu Zheng discuss Xiaobao’s intelligence and unexplained academic decline, establishing a possible mystery for future chapters.
• Ms. Chen is forced to bargain with the guard and surrender a valuable, painful possession to help Liu Zheng leave.
• Liu Zheng confronts the guard directly, first through violence and then through psychological pressure, using the guard’s corruption and fear of investigation against him.
• Liu Zheng’s final warning that the guard should respect Ms. Chen—and his reminder that Xiaobao might someday rank highly—shifts the balance of power in her favor.

Summary

Liu Zheng returns safely from the delivery route without seeking the dangerous French Plane Tree, reflecting his awareness that the tree becomes a threat when approached. He examines and eats a copied item, Giant Red-Mouthed Whale Sashimi, which restores stamina and permanently increases his Constitution by one. The gain makes him consider how powerful the Legendary Deliveryman must be after years of similar deliveries, strengthening his suspicion that Ghost Hand may be connected to that figure, though their exact relationship remains unclear.
At the passage entrance, Liu Zheng pays the vehicle driver and negotiates for more powerful transportation. He learns that the restaurant can provide tanks, including one capable of killing Cow-Horse with a single shot, but the cost is two hundred thousand yuan because of outsourced crew labor. By repeatedly “dropping” money as a bribe, Liu Zheng reduces the price by agreeing to find his own six-person crew. He considers asking Red Ghost, who can summon tanks, to help operate one. The driver also offers to act as Liu Zheng’s private driver if provided with a replacement uniform, hinting that his clothing has an unusual, possibly supernatural relationship to him.
Back at the lounge, Ghost Hand is waiting on the food cart. He silently asks Liu Zheng to return the Golden Fluid stored in Liu Zheng’s tentacle to his wound. Replacing the fluid causes Ghost Hand intense pain, suggesting that Ghost Hand may previously have absorbed or suppressed some of Liu Zheng’s own suffering but can no longer maintain that effect. Despite their communication barrier, Liu Zheng thanks him with gestures. Ghost Hand responds with a silent smile before returning to the Delivery Passage.
Liu Zheng reflects on Ghost Hand’s mystery. Unlike Red Ghost, whose identity and motives can be partly inferred, Ghost Hand’s power, purpose, and connection to the Legendary Deliveryman are completely unknown. Liu Zheng recognizes that Ghost Hand may eventually demand repayment for his help, but he accepts the assistance because survival matters more than uncovering hidden schemes.
When Liu Zheng finally enters the lounge, he feels relieved to have survived the encounter with the Green Vest. However, Cow-Horse has not returned, and Liu Zheng realizes that the normally violent creature has become part of his sense of safety. The chapter ends with three widely spaced knocks at the door. Since Cow-Horse possesses a key, Liu Zheng immediately wonders who—or what—is knocking.

Character Developments and Interactions

• Liu Zheng: Becomes more resourceful and pragmatic, using bribery to secure better equipment and considering strategic alliances. He remains cautious of Ghost Hand but is willing to accept help despite possible future consequences.
• Ghost Hand: Demonstrates continued support for Liu Zheng while remaining enigmatic. His severe reaction to the returned Golden Fluid suggests hidden costs or limits to his abilities.
• Vehicle Driver: Reveals access to powerful supernatural or anomalous vehicles and hints at the strange nature of his uniform and identity.
• Red Ghost: Though absent, he becomes a potential future ally because of his connection to tanks.
• Cow-Horse: His absence creates tension; despite being dangerous, he has become an informal protector and source of reassurance for Liu Zheng.

Major Themes

• Survival through pragmatism: Liu Zheng prioritizes useful alliances and resources over moral certainty or complete understanding.
• Power and hidden costs: The sashimi’s stat increase, Ghost Hand’s assistance, and the tank’s destructive power all come with limitations or expenses.
• Mystery and mistrust: Ghost Hand’s unclear motives and the driver’s cryptic statements reinforce the instability of the world.
• Reversed safety: Dangerous figures such as Cow-Horse can become sources of security, while apparently safe places may conceal new threats.
• Suspense and uncertainty: The unexplained knocking creates a cliffhanger, suggesting that an unknown entity may have entered Liu Zheng’s supposedly safe refuge.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• Liu Zheng discovers Cow-Horse horribly mutilated after completing a dangerous delivery to Imperial View Estate. Their body is stripped of skin, embedded with heated iron sand, and their mouth is nailed shut.
• Though in excruciating pain, Cow-Horse remains stoic and asks Liu Zheng to contact Napoleon—White-Feather Chicken—to repay a favor owed to Liu Zheng.
• Liu Zheng offers Napoleon the favor in exchange for medicine or treatment capable of healing Cow-Horse. Napoleon initially says the favor is insufficient, but accepts an additional payment: thirty of Liu Zheng’s eyeballs.
• Napoleon arrives and identifies the attacker or client behind the delivery as No. 1 Peacock, implying Cow-Horse barely survived a deadly assignment.
• Napoleon mocks Cow-Horse for becoming increasingly “human” by taking humans such as Liu Zheng as subordinates and risking themselves for them.
• Liu Zheng undergoes a brutal extraction-and-regrowth process, repeatedly having his eyes removed and regenerated. Napoleon uses the eyeballs as payment, apparently for Mr. Li, who is dining nearby.
• During their conversation, Liu Zheng reflects that Mr. Li, despite her sinister motives, granted him Flesh Rebirth by making him consume Black Goat’s Young’s eyeball. This ability has been essential to his survival.
• Napoleon then places Cow-Horse inside the seemingly ordinary chef’s hat, which becomes immensely heavy. Liu Zheng is ordered to shake it vigorously to accelerate Cow-Horse’s recovery.
• After fifteen minutes, Cow-Horse’s body begins to re-form inside the hat, and Napoleon instructs Liu Zheng to pour them out.

Character Developments

• Liu Zheng: Demonstrates growing loyalty and courage by willingly sacrificing his own eyes to save Cow-Horse. He remains fearful and sarcastic but is increasingly capable of enduring the bizarre horrors of the Delivery Department.
• Cow-Horse: Revealed to be severely injured yet remarkably resilient. Their willingness to take the dangerous delivery for Liu Zheng suggests genuine concern beneath their usual rough exterior. Their continued stoicism emphasizes their toughness.
• White-Feather Chicken/Napoleon: Acts as both healer and tormentor. They honor the favor but demand an extremely painful payment, maintaining their cruel, mocking personality while still providing genuine assistance.
• Mr. Li: Though absent, she is portrayed as a dangerous benefactor whose earlier actions unintentionally gave Liu Zheng a crucial regenerative ability.
• No. 1 Peacock: Becomes more threatening through implication; their connection to the deadly delivery suggests immense power or influence.

Significant Themes

• Debt and repayment: The chapter centers on Liu Zheng invoking Napoleon’s debt and paying an additional, horrifying price to save Cow-Horse.
• Loyalty and sacrifice: Liu Zheng’s willingness to lose his eyes repeatedly, and Cow-Horse’s decision to take the delivery, show a developing bond between human and monster.
• Humanity among monsters: Napoleon mocks Cow-Horse for becoming more human through their relationships with subordinates, suggesting that compassion and attachment are unusual—and potentially dangerous—in this world.
• Pain and survival: Physical suffering is treated as routine, while regenerative abilities and endurance determine who survives.
• Dark humor and absurdity: Grotesque violence is contrasted with jokes about cooking, magic tricks, wealth, and workplace rivalries, creating a bizarrely comedic atmosphere.

Character Interactions

• Liu Zheng and Cow-Horse share a quiet but meaningful exchange: Cow-Horse cannot speak, yet still directs Liu Zheng to seek Napoleon’s help.
• Liu Zheng and Napoleon negotiate the repayment of a favor, with Liu Zheng accepting extreme pain without hesitation.
• Napoleon taunts Cow-Horse about their injuries and growing humanity, while Cow-Horse silently ignores them.
• Liu Zheng and Napoleon discuss Mr. Li, No. 1 Peacock, and the Delivery Department’s power structure, revealing mutual acquaintances and rivalries.
• Napoleon ultimately assists Cow-Horse’s recovery, while forcing Liu Zheng to participate in the bizarre healing ritual by shaking the chef’s hat.

Chapter Summary: The French Plane Tree’s Choice

Key Plot Points and Events

• Liu Zheng empties White-Feather Chicken’s hat, releasing Cow-Horse, whose body has regenerated after being packed with iron sand and nails. Cow-Horse angrily complains about the ordeal, while White-Feather Chicken argues that the painful treatment helped it recover.
• White-Feather Chicken retrieves its hat and leaves after jokingly inviting Liu Zheng to work in the kitchen. Liu Zheng rejects the idea, preferring the freedom of delivering food, while Cow-Horse admits that White-Feather Chicken is actually a capable and fair leader.
• Cow-Horse falls asleep while reading Sudoku, and Liu Zheng also dozes off. He has an unsettling dream about repeatedly chopping and eating White-Feather Chicken.
• Cow-Horse wakes Liu Zheng to inform him that a new delivery order has arrived from Fisherman, described as Liu Zheng’s “father-in-law” because of his connection to Nightingale. The order is for Ants Climbing a Tree, to be delivered to the Sewer Fishing Ground within twelve hours.
• Cow-Horse suggests that Liu Zheng could improve his status by marrying into Fisherman’s family, but Liu Zheng remains realistic, believing Fisherman views him merely as a disposable tool.
• Liu Zheng collects his staff meals and drinks. The food increases his strength and perception. He stores the dangerous snake wine because it may cause poisoning, and also saves another bottle of Hell Rock Cola, which previously granted him powers but transformed him and left him threatened by the hidden danger known as Gospel.
• He begins the delivery, passes through the Delivery Passage, and travels to Rose Street to meet the French Plane Tree.
• Liu Zheng offers the tree several drinks in exchange for an item that can temporarily increase luck, hoping to improve his chances in the dangerous Sewer. The French Plane Tree agrees to search for one.
• The tree’s manner of searching—using hands rather than roots—reveals that it may have chosen to evolve into a Tree Demon rather than a Phoenix, though the chapter ends before the choice is confirmed.

Character Developments

• Liu Zheng remains cautious and pragmatic. He refuses to rely on Fisherman’s supposed family connection and recognizes the danger of being used as a pawn. He also continues balancing the benefits and risks of powerful items such as Hell Rock Cola and snake wine.
• Cow-Horse is shown to be resilient, sarcastic, and perceptive. Despite constantly mocking Liu Zheng, it acknowledges White-Feather Chicken’s competence and understands Liu Zheng’s desire for independence.
• White-Feather Chicken demonstrates authority and confidence. Its teasing offer to recruit Liu Zheng suggests it values his abilities, while its treatment of Cow-Horse shows it is willing to use harsh but effective methods to protect or restore its subordinate.
• The French Plane Tree appears increasingly invested in choosing its evolutionary path. Its attempt to practice using hands hints at a possible decision to become a Tree Demon.

Significant Themes

• Survival and pragmatism: Characters prioritize staying alive and gaining practical advantages over ideals or emotional attachments.
• Freedom versus security: Liu Zheng prefers the risks and independence of delivery work over becoming subordinate to White-Feather Chicken or dependent on Fisherman.
• Transformation and identity: The French Plane Tree’s choice between Tree Demon and Phoenix parallels Liu Zheng’s own uneasy transformation through Hell Rock Cola and his struggle to remain human.
• Power and exploitation: Fisherman’s apparent support may conceal manipulation, emphasizing the danger of mistaking usefulness for genuine affection.
• Risk and reward: Items that provide strength, luck, or special abilities often carry serious consequences, such as poisoning, mutation, or Gospel’s hidden threat.

Important Character Interactions

• Liu Zheng and White-Feather Chicken: Their exchange is playful but revealing; White-Feather Chicken offers him a place under its command, while Liu Zheng declines and asserts his preference for autonomy.
• Liu Zheng and Cow-Horse: Their banter mixes mockery with mutual understanding. Cow-Horse acknowledges Liu Zheng’s intelligence and warns that following a stronger figure could offer him a better future.
• Liu Zheng and Fisherman: Though Fisherman does not appear directly, his delivery order and connection to Nightingale shape Liu Zheng’s thoughts about manipulation, family ties, and social power.
• Liu Zheng and the French Plane Tree: Their trade negotiation shows a continuing relationship based on mutual benefit. Liu Zheng seeks luck, while the tree receives rare alcohol and implicitly reveals more about its possible evolution.

Chapter Summary: “Liu Zheng Was Actually a Rabbit Girl?”

Key Plot Points and Events

• French Plane Tree refuses to evolve into a Phoenix because the transformation would leave her vulnerable as a Phoenix egg. She distrusts Cow-Horse’s ability to protect her and worries that Liu Zheng’s Restaurant might treat her as a valuable ingredient.
• Liu Zheng considers stronger protectors, including Oink, Red Ghost, Fire Mage, and Fisherman, but decides to wait since French Plane Tree can delay her evolution for another month or two.
• French Plane Tree gives Liu Zheng a single-use item, the Lucky Rabbit Ears, which temporarily increase his perception and luck by five points for three hours. The item carries a small chance of causing uncontrollable attraction toward the opposite sex.
• Liu Zheng confirms that this probability is not influenced by luck, while the system indirectly reveals that some other item probabilities may be luck-dependent.
• He attaches the rabbit ears to the sides of his head, gaining an awkward rabbit-like appearance and prompting teasing from Sea Woman and Nightingale.
• At the meeting point, Sea Woman repeatedly pets Liu Zheng’s ears after paying him, openly flirting with him and provoking her father, Fisherman.
• Fisherman becomes furious when Sea Woman rests on Liu Zheng’s shoulder, especially after Liu Zheng reminds him that Fisherman had previously encouraged him to date her.
• Fisherman summons a barnacle-covered ray to transport the group. Sea Woman refuses to stand beside him, forcing Liu Zheng to carry her, which further irritates Fisherman and Nightingale.
• Exasperated by the family’s bickering and hostility, Liu Zheng jokingly threatens suicide with his knife. He then challenges all three, preparing to use the Chew Toy, Golden Finger, and the Black Koi’s enhanced effect to see what powerful creature might be summoned.

Character Developments

• Liu Zheng remains resourceful and irreverent, carefully evaluating risks before relying on powerful allies or items. He also exploits social tension for amusement, though he becomes increasingly frustrated when everyone turns against him.
• French Plane Tree shows caution and distrust, particularly toward the Restaurant and Cow-Horse. Despite her hostility toward Liu Zheng, she assists him by giving him the Lucky Rabbit Ears.
• Sea Woman becomes increasingly bold and openly flirtatious toward Liu Zheng, deliberately provoking her father and asserting control over their relationship.
• Fisherman displays strong possessiveness and protectiveness toward Sea Woman. Though enraged by Liu Zheng, he restrains himself because he still needs the group’s cooperation.
• Nightingale acts as the practical mediator, attempting to keep the mission moving while also joining the others in criticizing Liu Zheng.

Significant Themes

• Trust and vulnerability: French Plane Tree’s fear of being attacked during evolution reflects the dangers of transformation and the difficulty of trusting potential protectors.
• Power and hidden advantages: The Lucky Rabbit Ears and the system’s comment about luck emphasize the importance of concealed attributes, item mechanics, and strategic preparation.
• Flirtation and possessiveness: Sea Woman’s teasing behavior and Fisherman’s anger create a comic conflict over control, affection, and perceived exploitation.
• Absurdity and role reversal: Liu Zheng’s rabbit ears, his demand to be paid for petting them, and his being treated as the object of flirtation invert normal expectations and provide much of the chapter’s humor.
• Comedic tension amid danger: Although the characters are preparing for a potentially dangerous fishing operation, their personal conflicts repeatedly overshadow the mission.

Important Character Interactions

• Liu Zheng and French Plane Tree debate her future evolution and possible protectors.
• French Plane Tree gives Liu Zheng the rabbit-ear item despite their usual antagonism.
• Sea Woman flirts with and physically teases Liu Zheng, while he objects but ultimately allows it for payment.
• Fisherman repeatedly confronts Liu Zheng over Sea Woman, creating a tense but comedic father-daughter rivalry.
• Nightingale attempts to interrupt the conflict and keep the group focused.
• The chapter ends with Liu Zheng confronting the entire group and preparing to test the enhanced summoning power of his items.

Chapter Summary: “How Could Max Luck Lose?”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Liu Zheng, Nightingale, and Sea Woman negotiate with Fisherman over a fishing contest. Fisherman agrees to provide a temporary safe zone in the Sewer, warning that catching fish there will still be dangerous and depend on their abilities.
• Fisherman transports the group inside a giant ray, which functions like a living submarine. After roughly two hundred seconds, they arrive at the designated riverbank.
• The contest rules are established: they have three hours to fish, and the winner is determined by the total value of their catch.
• Nightingale provides identical basic fishing supplies to herself and Liu Zheng. Liu Zheng also asks Fisherman for stools and buckets, subtly calling him “Uncle.” Fisherman responds by bringing three stools, including an old one marked with a crude Human Face drawing. He gives this special stool to Sea Woman, revealing a quiet emotional connection between them.
• At the start of the competition, Nightingale quickly catches a dangerous Shrimp Carp. The fish attacks her like a torpedo, but she effortlessly slams it into the ground, leaving it stuck upright.
• Liu Zheng appears to fall asleep while waiting for a bite and reels in only water. Nightingale mocks him, while he insists he was waiting for the proper moment.
• Nightingale and Sea Woman discuss Liu Zheng. Nightingale claims she is angry at his attitude and plans to punish him after he loses, while her teasing behavior toward Sea Woman makes the latter physically flustered. Fisherman reacts with visible irritation.
• As time passes, Nightingale accumulates a large pile of fish, while Liu Zheng catches almost nothing except a dangerous black rat.
• With only half an hour remaining, Nightingale urges Liu Zheng to concede. He reveals that his luck has been deliberately suppressed until this moment.
• The “Black Koi” effect reverses, restoring Liu Zheng’s luck to its maximum level. He confidently declares that the contest has only just begun and casts his line.

Character Developments

• Liu Zheng: Remains confident, shameless, and provocative despite his poor early performance. He relies on strategy rather than immediate action, waiting until his luck reaches its maximum before making his move. His willingness to tease Fisherman and Nightingale demonstrates his fearlessness and thick skin.
• Nightingale: Shows herself to be an experienced and highly capable angler. She handles the dangerous Shrimp Carp with ease and quickly builds a substantial lead. Her playful cruelty and teasing toward Liu Zheng and Sea Woman reveal both her domineering personality and her enjoyment of psychological games.
• Sea Woman: Continues to maintain emotional distance from Fisherman, deliberately avoiding physical contact with him. However, she shows interest in the relationship between Liu Zheng and Nightingale and becomes visibly flustered by Nightingale’s intimate teasing.
• Fisherman: Although annoyed by Liu Zheng and evidently jealous or protective during Nightingale’s interaction with Sea Woman, he makes considerable sacrifices to help his daughter. Providing the safe zone and the old stool suggests deep, if complicated, paternal affection.

Significant Themes

• Luck versus skill: The contest contrasts Nightingale’s genuine fishing expertise with Liu Zheng’s supernatural maximum luck. The chapter builds suspense by showing Liu Zheng losing badly before revealing that his luck has been intentionally held back.
• Family tension and hidden affection: Fisherman and Sea Woman’s strained relationship is shown through her avoidance and his quiet efforts to care for her. The old stool serves as a symbolic reminder of their shared history.
• Competition and psychological warfare: Fishing is treated not merely as a sport but as a battle of patience, confidence, and manipulation. Nightingale attempts to pressure Liu Zheng into surrendering, while he conceals his true advantage.
• Humor amid danger: The bizarre setting, hostile fish, living transportation ray, Liu Zheng’s insolence, and Nightingale’s provocative remarks create a comedic tone despite the supernatural threats.

Important Character Interactions

• Liu Zheng and Fisherman: Their exchanges are marked by mutual irritation and indirect testing. Liu Zheng deliberately calls Fisherman “Uncle,” while Fisherman silently communicates a warning through the old stool.
• Liu Zheng and Nightingale: They trade insults throughout the contest. Nightingale treats his apparent incompetence with contempt, while Liu Zheng remains confident that his luck will reverse the situation.
• Nightingale and Sea Woman: Nightingale teases Sea Woman about Liu Zheng and uses intimate gestures to make her flustered. Sea Woman is curious about why Nightingale tolerates Liu Zheng’s disrespect.
• Sea Woman and Fisherman: Their strained father-daughter relationship is evident. Sea Woman avoids him physically, yet the stool he provides affects her deeply, suggesting unresolved affection and emotional history.

Chapter Summary: “What the Hell Did You Fish Up?”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Liu Zheng’s fishing float finally plunges, indicating an enormous catch. Despite his enhanced strength, he cannot move it, suggesting the creature weighs several tons.
• Nightingale joins him, motivated both by curiosity and attraction. Sea Woman also helps, and together they slowly pull the catch toward the surface.
• Nightingale gives Liu Zheng a Male Cyclops Potion, which temporarily increases his Strength by 200 points but severely damages his body afterward.
• Liu Zheng drinks the potion and, using the temporary power boost, helps haul the catch onto shore. The catch is revealed to be a massive fleshy sphere attached to a long tube, though none of them can identify it.
• Once the potion wears off, Liu Zheng’s body collapses into shredded flesh and bones. Nightingale uses a restorative capsule to reconstruct his outer form, though his internal body remains damaged and must recover naturally.
• The strange object triggers Sewer’s fury. Tumor-like growths with blood-red eyes spread throughout the area, attacking the group mentally and physically.
• Fisherman realizes the horrifying truth: Liu Zheng has caught Sewer’s testicles.
• Knowing Sewer’s rage will likely kill everyone, Fisherman protects Sea Woman first by enclosing her in a cocoon. He also binds Nightingale and Liu Zheng, sending all three away.
• Fisherman reveals that Sea Woman’s mother was contaminated by the Chaos Club and had to be sent to Landfill to prevent City Hall from destroying their family. He asks Sea Woman to tell her mother that he is dead and encourages her to remarry.
• Fisherman prepares to face Sewer’s attack alone. Before Liu Zheng’s cocoon disappears, Liu Zheng sends Fisherman a black sutra, reminding him that he still owes Liu Zheng payment for their agreement.

Character Developments

• Liu Zheng demonstrates stubbornness, resourcefulness, and reckless courage. He is willing to use a dangerous potion and endure extreme bodily destruction to secure the catch. Despite the situation, he maintains his irreverent attitude, even joking about Fisherman’s unpaid debt during a life-threatening crisis.
• Nightingale shows increasing interest in Liu Zheng, teasing and flirting with him while also cooperating seriously in the fishing effort. Her curiosity about the unknown catch drives her to help, and she proves capable of supporting Liu Zheng both physically and medically.
• Sea Woman participates in helping retrieve the catch and is placed under her father’s protection when Sewer becomes enraged. Her emotional cry of “Dad!” emphasizes her attachment to Fisherman.
• Fisherman shifts from competitive observer to self-sacrificing father. Although he initially wants to preserve his dignity and reputation, he ultimately accepts likely death to save Sea Woman, Nightingale, and Liu Zheng. His farewell reveals guilt over his family’s past and his love for his daughter.
• Sewer is presented as a vast, powerful entity with limited intelligence but overwhelming instinctive rage. Its reaction confirms the immense significance of the object Liu Zheng has caught.

Significant Themes

• Recklessness and survival: Liu Zheng repeatedly risks severe injury because dangerous resources may be necessary to survive.
• Curiosity and the unknown: Nightingale’s fascination with the unidentified catch drives the group into danger, showing how curiosity can override caution.
• Parental sacrifice: Fisherman’s final actions center on protecting Sea Woman, even though he expects to die.
• Debt and obligation: Liu Zheng’s insistence that Fisherman repay him contrasts humorously with Fisherman’s sacrifice and reinforces the importance of promises in their relationship.
• Absurdity amid horror: The grotesque discovery that Liu Zheng has caught Sewer’s “balls,” along with his casual reactions and Nightingale’s teasing, creates dark comedy within an otherwise terrifying situation.
• Secrets and hidden identities: Liu Zheng continues concealing his connection to Gospel and his unusual resilience, preserving uncertainty around his true nature.

Character Interactions

• Nightingale flirts with Liu Zheng, kisses and rubs his rabbit ear, and works with him to pull up the catch.
• Sea Woman and Nightingale cooperate with Liu Zheng despite initially questioning the rules and the nature of the catch.
• Nightingale provides Liu Zheng with the Cyclops Potion and later repairs his damaged body with a recovery capsule.
• Fisherman initially resents the others’ interest in his daughter but ultimately protects all three, particularly Sea Woman.
• Fisherman and Sea Woman share an emotional farewell, revealing the painful history involving her mother and the Chaos Club.
• Liu Zheng preserves their bantering dynamic to the end, sending Fisherman a black sutra and demanding payment even as Sewer’s attack closes in.

Chapter Summary: “Boss: You Always Manage to Make Big News”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Liu Zheng emerges from the Flesh Cocoon after the disastrous fishing incident and finds that the Sewer’s “Lantern” has appeared beside him.
• The Lantern is revealed to be a Perfect-grade piece of equipment with enormous attribute bonuses and the ability to transform into a weakened version of the Sewer, though prolonged use reduces maximum Sanity. It can also be taken out of the instance.
• Before Liu Zheng can contact Nightingale or locate the Sea Woman, Si Xue calls and orders him back to the restaurant immediately.
• While traveling, Liu Zheng notices that the entire city is shaking. Buildings, roads, trees, and hidden creatures are affected, suggesting that the Sewer-related incident has caused a citywide crisis.
• At the restaurant, Si Xue confirms that the Lantern is the source of the disturbance. She reveals that, without her intervention, Liu Zheng would have been imprisoned in the City Hall Secret Prison, from which nobody returns alive.
• Si Xue confiscates the Sewer’s Lantern and orders Liu Zheng to cancel his delivery mission. She hints that negotiations with City Hall may lead to additional rewards.
• Si Xue returns the Heart of the Ocean to Liu Zheng. He uses the mermaid infant’s soul sphere to restore it from the Counterfeit Heart of the Ocean to the Enhanced Heart of the Ocean.
• Si Xue humorously punishes Liu Zheng twice—first by swatting him away and later by kicking him into the elevator—before sending him off.
• Back in the lounge, Liu Zheng talks with Cow-Horse, who learns that he fished up the Sewer’s Lantern and is astonished that he survived. Liu Zheng explains that the Fisherman teleported them away.
• Cow-Horse jokes that the Fisherman, Liu Zheng’s “bargain father-in-law,” may be dead, but Liu Zheng believes the Fisherman could still have survived due to the Dark Bible.
• The chapter ends with Liu Zheng’s phone ringing, leaving the Fisherman’s fate and the next development unresolved.

Character Developments

• Liu Zheng: Demonstrates both reckless luck and growing practical judgment. Although thrilled by the Lantern’s power, he willingly gives it up after recognizing that it is too dangerous and politically sensitive to keep. His relationship with Si Xue remains intimidated but familiar, and he continues to use humor and obedience to survive her temper.
• Si Xue: Acts as a powerful and exasperated employer who protects Liu Zheng while also punishing him for repeatedly creating dangerous incidents. Her ability to retrieve the Lantern and intervene with City Hall emphasizes her influence and authority. Despite her anger, she returns the Heart of the Ocean and promises possible compensation.
• Cow-Horse: Continues serving as Liu Zheng’s comic foil. They are shocked by his survival and secretly pleased by the possibility that the Fisherman may be gone, reflecting their jealousy over Liu Zheng’s connection to a powerful “father-in-law.”
• The Fisherman: Though absent, remains central to the chapter. His teleportation saves Liu Zheng and the others, but the extent of his survival is uncertain.
• The French Plane Tree: Appears only briefly, reacting with weary disbelief to Liu Zheng’s abnormal return.

Significant Themes

• Power versus danger: The Sewer’s Lantern offers extraordinary strength but carries severe Sanity costs and attracts overwhelming consequences. Power is valuable only if it can be safely controlled.
• Liu Zheng’s chaotic luck: His actions repeatedly cause disasters far beyond his intentions, yet he survives through a mixture of resilience, powerful allies, and improbable circumstances.
• Authority and consequences: Si Xue’s intervention shows that individual actions can trigger political and supernatural crises. Liu Zheng’s position as an employee protects him, but it does not exempt him from punishment.
• The limits of possession: Even though Liu Zheng acquires a powerful item, he recognizes that keeping it would be unwise. Strategic restraint becomes more important than simply collecting stronger equipment.
• Humor amid horror: The chapter balances citywide supernatural destruction, deadly prisons, and Sanity loss with slapstick violence, workplace banter, and Cow-Horse’s absurd magazine.

Character Interactions

• Liu Zheng and Si Xue: Their boss-and-employee relationship mixes fear, discipline, sarcasm, and underlying trust. Si Xue scolds Liu Zheng for causing trouble but also protects him, restores his important item, and promises a possible reward.
• Liu Zheng and Cow-Horse: Their conversation highlights their teasing friendship. Cow-Horse mocks Liu Zheng’s recklessness while genuinely questioning how he survived the encounter with the Sewer.
• Liu Zheng and the French Plane Tree: The Tree’s dry disbelief reinforces how unusual Liu Zheng’s methods are, especially his tendency to return from dangerous situations in bizarre ways.
• Liu Zheng and the Fisherman: Though they do not interact directly in the chapter, the Fisherman’s emergency teleportation saves Liu Zheng, and Liu Zheng expresses concern that he may have survived.

Chapter Summary: “A Bloody Incident Caused by an Egg”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Liu Zheng speaks with the injured Fisherman, who confirms that Sewer’s Egg has been taken—probably by City Hall or another official organization.
• Fisherman explains that the egg must be returned to the Sewer before it can be calmed. Returning it immediately would be dangerous, since the enraged Sewer would likely attack whoever brought it back.
• Fisherman asks Liu Zheng to warn Sea Woman not to visit or contact him until further notice. He also tells Liu Zheng to collect Napoleon’s remaining payment and use part of it to buy Sea Woman food and drinks.
• Liu Zheng receives a mysterious call from Red Ghost. Red Ghost reveals that the Sewer’s rampage has disturbed the Shelter and asks why it is angry.
• Liu Zheng admits that he fished up the Sewer’s Egg, shocking Red Ghost. Red Ghost offers compensation for the egg, but Liu Zheng explains that it has already been handed over to someone else.
• Red Ghost gives Liu Zheng a twenty-four-hour ultimatum: if the Sewer situation is not resolved, Red Ghost will intervene personally.
• Liu Zheng relays this warning to Si Xue, who reacts seriously after hearing Red Ghost’s name.
• Liu Zheng discovers that the takeout he was supposed to deliver has decayed into black waste, leaving him unable to complete the delivery normally.
• Sea Woman later calls to ask about Fisherman and invites Liu Zheng to accompany her to the dangerous Garbage Processing Plant. When he refuses, she offers payment and explains that Nightingale cannot go because City Hall has taken her away.

Character Developments

• Liu Zheng remains sarcastic and opportunistic, but he is increasingly caught between powerful supernatural beings and official forces. He begins to recognize how dangerous the consequences of his fishing accident have become.
• Fisherman shows concern for Sea Woman despite his abrasive attitude. He also reveals knowledge of how to calm the Sewer, suggesting that his expertise is greater than he usually admits.
• Red Ghost emerges as a powerful and influential figure. It is capable of communicating with the Sewer and intimidating even major figures such as Si Xue.
• Si Xue demonstrates authority and ruthlessness, but Red Ghost’s warning forces her to take the situation seriously.
• Sea Woman acts aloof and hostile but clearly relies on Liu Zheng and is willing to pay him for help. Her concern for Fisherman is concealed beneath her indifference.
• Cow-Horse continues functioning as Liu Zheng’s protector and practical advisor, warning him about danger while mocking his behavior.

Significant Themes

• The consequences of seemingly minor actions: Liu Zheng’s act of fishing up one egg creates a city-wide supernatural crisis.
• Power and intimidation: The chapter emphasizes the unstable hierarchy among City Hall, Bloodstained Restaurant, the Sewer, Fisherman, and Red Ghost.
• Hidden concern beneath hostility: Characters constantly insult one another, yet their actions reveal loyalty and care.
• Dangerous obligations: Liu Zheng is repeatedly pressured into handling problems far beyond his abilities, often because stronger beings expect him to act as a messenger or intermediary.
• Uncertainty and concealed identities: Red Ghost’s unknown origins and influence deepen the mystery surrounding the supernatural world.

Character Interactions

• Liu Zheng and Fisherman trade insults while discussing the egg, the Sewer, City Hall, and Sea Woman’s safety.
• Liu Zheng and Cow-Horse share a comedic but protective relationship, with Cow-Horse ordering him to lie on the haystack before answering Red Ghost’s threatening call.
• Red Ghost questions Liu Zheng about the Sewer and offers to compensate him, then issues a warning for Si Xue.
• Liu Zheng cautiously passes Red Ghost’s message to Si Xue, fearing punishment if he mishandles the situation.
• Sea Woman speaks coldly about Fisherman but later asks Liu Zheng to accompany her to the Garbage Processing Plant, ending the chapter with the revelation that Nightingale has been taken by City Hall.