Chapter Summaries

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• Liu Zheng and the Gold-Burst Squad encounter two rule-based Ghost Children in the cemetery. Their attacks are ineffective, and their bloody handprints steadily spread across their backs, suggesting an approaching danger.
• Liu attempts to negotiate, offering increasingly valuable grave-sweeping packages. The Ghost Children refuse every offer and reveal that they only want the group dead.
• The team considers using powerful attacks, but each option has serious drawbacks: Sea Woman would lose her combat ability, Nightingale’s attack could injure Vampire Girl, and Vampire Girl would need to drain the others’ essence.
• Liu studies the Ghost Children and notices that one has a depression on the right side of its head while the other has a matching bulge on the left. He deduces that they were once conjoined twins.
• He orders Vampire Girl to force their heads together. The Ghost Children panic, but their heads are drawn together by an invisible rule. The matching parts connect, causing both children to melt away and disappear.
• The squad reaches Cemetery No. 18703, which is actually a three-story Western-style house called “The Dread Archduke’s Cozy Cottage,” supposedly belonging to Vampire Girl’s Blood Father.
• Vampire Girl explains that the grounds contain Rotblood Worms, creatures that produce blood by consuming dirt. Liu becomes interested in capturing some for White Spider and asks Vampire Girl to help him take them later.
• The group attacks through the front door, only to discover there is no ambush. Nightingale’s barrage destroys furniture, which Vampire Girl dismisses as cheap imitations.
• Vampire Girl leads the group to the study and activates a hidden safe by spilling blood onto the floor. A grotesque Human Face emerges and demands a password.
• After Vampire Girl gives the correct password, the safe emits an enormous, painful scream that creates powerful wind and injures the group’s ears.
• The Human Face opens into a passage, but before Vampire Girl can enter, five bats transform into attractive, formally dressed vampires. They appear to be her relatives and emerge as potential enemies. Liu compares their appearance and dark eye circles to people from a pyramid scheme.

Character Developments

• Liu Zheng demonstrates that his greatest strength is not brute force but observation, deduction, and exploiting supernatural rules. His successful solution to the Ghost Children’s weakness reinforces his confidence and reputation as a negotiator—though he is also quick to mock those who refuse his offers.
• Vampire Girl proves obedient and useful despite complaining about Liu’s nickname for her. She shows concern about being trusted by the others, asking someone to accompany her into the safe so she cannot be accused of hiding anything. Her familiarity with the cemetery and her family’s household establishes her importance to the mission.
• Nightingale remains pragmatic and combat-ready, offering a powerful attack even though it might seriously injure Vampire Girl. She also recognizes Liu’s cleverness and openly praises him.
• Sea Woman admits that she has a decisive technique but would be unable to fight afterward, revealing both her capabilities and the limitations of relying on direct combat.
• The squad as a whole remains emotionally stable after nearly losing a member, reflecting their experience with danger and their unusual composition—three nonhumans and one battle-hardened human.

Significant Themes

• Intelligence versus force: The Ghost Children cannot be defeated through ordinary attacks. Liu succeeds by understanding and manipulating the supernatural rule governing them.
• Negotiation and refusal: Liu’s repeated attempts to bargain, though mocked by the Ghost Children, highlight his belief that every strange being has rules or desires that can be exploited. Their refusal ultimately leads to their destruction.
• Family and inheritance: The cemetery belongs to Vampire Girl’s Blood Father, whose house, blood-related secrets, and relatives become the next source of danger. The chapter also humorously questions what is truly inherited and whether the family’s possessions or status are genuine.
• The absurdity of the supernatural world: Terrifying entities coexist with cheap furniture, fake aristocratic décor, obsolete blood-farming practices, and bizarre security systems. Horror is repeatedly undercut by Liu’s sarcasm and practical concerns.
• Trust and accountability: Vampire Girl wants a witness when entering the safe, suggesting tensions within the group and the importance of proving that she is not concealing family secrets.

Character Interactions

• Liu’s negotiations with the Ghost Children reveal his sarcastic but strategic personality, while the children respond with hostility and mockery.
• Liu criticizes the women’s inability to handle a rule-based enemy, provoking their irritation, though they cannot deny his success.
• Liu and Vampire Girl develop a cooperative dynamic: he gives her orders, she complains but follows them, and they discuss capturing Rotblood Worms for White Spider.
• Nightingale admires Liu’s solution, while Sea Woman hides similar respect behind indifference. Vampire Girl openly idolizes him.
• Liu questions Vampire Girl about her Blood Father, leading to an explanation that the old vampire was captured because of his reckless visits to Black Market escort establishments.
• The chapter ends with Liu confronting five suspicious vampire relatives, whose polished appearance and permanent dark circles make them look both aristocratic and ridiculous.

Chapter Summary: “Nightingale: Bear with It”

Key Plot Points and Events

• A group of Vampires arrives at the house claiming to represent the “404 Project,” supposedly a youth entrepreneurship initiative backed by City Hall. Their supposed proof is merely a photograph of the project’s founder, “Applause Bro,” shaking hands with a City Hall official.
• The group is actually pursuing the inheritance left by Blood Father. The male Vampire leader claims that, as the eldest and strongest relative, he should control the inheritance and the house.
• Vampire Girl insists that Blood Father left everything to her, but her brother accuses her of murdering their father and fabricating his final wishes. Their argument exposes deep distrust and rivalry within the Vampire family.
• Liu Zheng dismisses the inheritance dispute and gives the intruders two choices: leave or die. When he reveals Chew Toy, the Tindalos Hound, the Vampires recognize the danger, but the male leader refuses his offer of a partial inheritance.
• Brainwashed by the 404 Project and desperate to avoid being expelled, the Vampires become fanatical and attack.
• Liu Zheng fights the male Vampire. Although the Vampire is physically much stronger and destroys Liu Zheng’s bone club and a tentacle, Liu Zheng uses his “true damage” ability to injure the Vampire’s brain and break his nose.
• The male Vampire quickly recovers because of his supernatural nature. Nightingale restrains Liu Zheng, warning him that he cannot defeat the enemy in his current condition.
• Nightingale then reveals her true combat form: her elegant body transforms into a heavily armed war machine covered in guns and artillery.
• She unleashes an overwhelming barrage of bullets and grenades. The male Vampire counters with supernatural blood vessels that deflect most of the ammunition.
• He neutralizes the grenade by spitting corrosive, filthy blood onto it, impressing Nightingale but failing to defeat her.
• Nightingale escalates dramatically, producing a massive 152mm cannon from beneath her dress and firing a high-explosive shell directly at the male Vampire.

Character Developments

• Liu Zheng demonstrates increased confidence and combat ability compared with his earlier battles. He recognizes the male Vampire’s superior physical strength but uses strategy and true damage to exploit a weakness.
• He also shows practical judgment by yielding the fight to Nightingale once he realizes he cannot win, rather than letting pride endanger him.
• Vampire Girl remains emotionally tied to her family despite their hostility. She is furious at her brother’s accusations but lacks evidence to convincingly defend her claim to the inheritance.
• The male Vampire is established as both powerful and manipulative. He uses legalistic rhetoric to undermine his sister, but his judgment is compromised by fanaticism over the 404 Project and the prospect of wealth.
• Nightingale reveals herself as far more dangerous than her graceful appearance suggests. Her seductive, aristocratic persona conceals an absurdly powerful arsenal and a playful but ruthless combat style.
• The other Vampires are shown to be deeply brainwashed, abandoning fear once the male leader reminds them of the 404 Project’s ideology.

Significant Themes

• Manipulation and brainwashing: The 404 Project functions like a pyramid scheme, using promises of wealth and belonging to turn the Vampires into fanatical followers.
• Appearance versus reality: The “City Hall-backed initiative” is supported only by misleading symbolism, while Nightingale’s beautiful appearance conceals a terrifying arsenal.
• Family betrayal and inheritance: The Vampire siblings’ dispute reveals suspicion, greed, and the collapse of familial trust after Blood Father’s death.
• Strength versus strategy: Liu Zheng cannot match the male Vampire physically, but his tactical thinking and true damage allow him to hurt a stronger opponent.
• Absurdity in danger: Serious threats are presented through comic exaggeration, such as pyramid-scheme rhetoric, vampires becoming bats, and Nightingale flirting while firing military artillery.

Character Interactions

• Liu Zheng mocks the male Vampire’s supposed City Hall connections and questions whether vampirism has made the group even more foolish.
• Vampire Girl and her brother argue bitterly over Blood Father’s final wishes and ownership of the house.
• Liu Zheng assumes authority over the situation, and Vampire Girl and the other allies tacitly accept his decision to negotiate and then fight.
• Liu Zheng and the male Vampire engage in a close-range battle, each attempting to deceive and counter the other.
• Nightingale intervenes physically and verbally, stopping Liu Zheng from overextending himself and taking responsibility for defeating the Vampire.
• Nightingale and the male Vampire exchange escalating attacks: he uses blood-based defenses and corrosive fluids, while she responds with increasingly overwhelming firearms and artillery.

Chapter Summary: “Who Says Sulfur People Can’t Scalp?”

Key Plot Points and Events

• After Nightingale captures the male Vampire, Liu Zheng fights a female Vampire armed with a whip made of bright-red chili peppers. The weapon inflicts severe chemical burns and extreme spiciness, but Liu Zheng’s regenerative abilities allow him to keep fighting.
• Liu Zheng assesses the battlefield:
  • Nightingale has the first male Vampire under control.
  • The other Vampire Girl is evenly matched with her sister.
  • Sea Woman is struggling against two male Vampires.
• Liu Zheng deliberately draws the chili-wielding Vampire toward Sea Woman, enduring repeated injuries while using his regeneration to survive. His attacks gradually wear down the Vampire, while her attacks repeatedly tear away his flesh.
• The female Vampire unleashes her supernatural ability by forcing blood into her hair, transforming it into countless sharp, blood-red needles. She uses the hardened hair to launch herself through the air and repeatedly tear into the back of Liu Zheng’s head.
• Liu Zheng escapes toward Sea Woman, relying on his speed boost, tentacles, and Flesh Rebirth to survive despite having his scalp and portions of his skull stripped away.
• He and Sea Woman devise a plan based on her ability to transform her body into tools. Liu Zheng will hold off the two male Vampires while Sea Woman restrains the female Vampire.
• Liu Zheng blocks two blood arrows, cuts off the infected tentacles before the blood vessels can spread into his body, and throws the severed limbs at the male Vampires to distract them.
• Sea Woman traps the female Vampire in a fishing net and pins the two male Vampires to the ground with chain-linked harpoons.
• With the female Vampire’s powers sealed, Liu Zheng kills her by severing her head and destroying her heart. He then cuts away her blood-infused hair and scalp, finally extinguishing her life and leaving behind a shriveled bat-like head.
• The surviving male Vampire reacts furiously to Helen’s death. Worried that losing a core team member will damage his chances of promotion, he decides to reveal the contents of the briefcase.
• As he opens it, a terrifying aura spreads through the battlefield, alarming Liu Zheng, Nightingale, Sea Woman, and the remaining combatants. The chapter ends before the object inside is revealed.

Character Developments

• Liu Zheng demonstrates adaptability and tactical intelligence despite lacking overwhelming natural combat strength. He relies on regeneration, equipment, improvisation, and battlefield awareness rather than brute force.
• His willingness to endure horrific injuries—especially the loss of much of the back of his head—shows his resilience and growing confidence in using his abnormal body to his advantage.
• Liu Zheng also displays a ruthless streak. After defeating the female Vampire, he ensures she cannot recover by removing her scalp and destroying the source of her blood-hair.
• Sea Woman initially mocks Liu Zheng’s apparent weakness, but she quickly recognizes the value of his plan and cooperates with him. Their teamwork proves highly effective.
• Helen, the chili-wielding Vampire, is revealed to be both cautious and inventive. Her transformed blood-hair is a highly dangerous weapon, but she becomes helpless once Sea Woman seals her abilities.
• The surviving male Vampire becomes more desperate after Helen’s death. His concern about promotion suggests that the Vampires’ mission is tied to a rigid organizational hierarchy.

Significant Themes

• Improvisation and teamwork: Liu Zheng and Sea Woman overcome a numerical disadvantage by combining their abilities creatively.
• Regeneration versus attrition: The battle emphasizes Liu Zheng’s ability to recover from extreme injuries, while his opponents gradually accumulate damage they cannot heal as quickly.
• Resourcefulness under pressure: Liu Zheng uses severed tentacles as improvised weapons and turns his apparent weaknesses into tactical advantages.
• Brutality and survival: The chapter presents combat as grotesque and unforgiving, with victory requiring complete destruction of an enemy’s ability to regenerate.
• Hierarchy and ambition: The surviving Vampire’s anger is motivated not only by grief but also by the loss of a teammate who was important to his promotion prospects.
• Suspense and escalation: The mysterious briefcase introduces a new threat far more frightening than the Vampires themselves.

Character Interactions

• Liu Zheng and the chili-wielding Vampire engage in a prolonged battle of caution and attrition, with each studying the other’s abilities.
• Liu Zheng moves toward Sea Woman for support, while the female Vampire pursues him and nearly kills him with her blood-hair.
• Sea Woman teases Liu Zheng about his weakness, but the two quickly establish a coordinated strategy.
• Liu Zheng holds off the two male Vampires while Sea Woman restrains them and Helen, allowing Liu Zheng to deliver the finishing blow.
• The surviving male Vampire mourns and rages over Helen’s death, blaming Liu Zheng and preparing to unleash whatever is contained in the briefcase.
• The chapter closes with all combatants reacting to the briefcase’s ominous aura, creating a cliffhanger.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• Liu Zheng accepts Vampire Girl Emile’s sacrifice and enters her bloodline coffin, gaining enhanced vampire abilities: fangs, wings, blood-powered strength, and access to some of Emile’s combat experience.
• The male vampire activates the microphone and broadcasts Applause Bro’s brainwashing teachings. Nightingale, Sea Woman, and the other vampires become fanatically obedient.
• Under the microphone’s control, Nightingale and Sea Woman are compelled to attack each other, despite being lovers. The male vampire intends to eliminate them, obtain the old vampire’s inheritance, and use Emile to indirectly control Liu Zheng.
• Liu Zheng emerges from the coffin and chooses not to interrupt Nightingale and Sea Woman’s fight. Instead, he attacks the male vampire directly.
• His Boning Knife pierces the vampire’s supposedly indestructible briefcase, demonstrating the effectiveness of his “true damage.” The vampire transforms into a bat but is ultimately pulverized by Liu Zheng’s tentacle attacks.
• The vampire’s remaining blood vessel attempts to invade Liu Zheng’s body, but Liu Zheng’s Life Essence repels and destroys it. The conflict leaves Liu Zheng’s body severely damaged and partially disassembled.
• Before collapsing completely, Liu Zheng destroys the brainwashing microphone, freeing Nightingale and Sea Woman.
• Now conscious, the two women cooperate immediately. Using Nightingale’s cannon and Sea Woman’s harpoon, they bombard the remaining male vampires with an explosive combined attack.
• Liu Zheng’s body reconstructs itself while he is temporarily blind and deaf. The haunted house is almost completely destroyed, but the safe remains intact.
• After the battle, Liu Zheng has lost much of his stored nutrients and shrunk significantly. Emile exits the coffin in a miniature human form, while the coffin crumbles into ashes.
• Emile enters the surviving safe to retrieve its contents, presumably completing the team’s objective.

Character Developments

• Liu Zheng: Demonstrates increasing mastery of his hybrid body and vampire abilities. He becomes more tactically decisive, identifying the male vampire as the primary threat and exploiting the weakness of his supernatural defenses. His body suffers catastrophic damage, but his regenerative abilities allow him to survive.
• Emile/Vampire Girl: Makes a major sacrifice by sharing her bloodline power with Liu Zheng, risking her own future development as a vampire. Her loyalty to him is made explicit through this action. She ends the battle weakened and reduced to a palm-sized form but remains spirited and argumentative.
• Nightingale and Sea Woman: Their relationship is temporarily twisted by the microphone’s brainwashing, forcing them to attack one another. Once freed, they immediately understand each other and fight as a highly coordinated pair, showing both emotional closeness and strong battlefield synergy.
• The male vampire: Reveals himself as ambitious, selfish, and manipulative. He views his subordinates as disposable tools and is obsessed with promotion and acquiring the old vampire’s inheritance. His confidence collapses when Liu Zheng’s attack defeats defenses he believed were nearly invincible.

Significant Themes

• Loyalty versus manipulation: The microphone creates artificial loyalty through psychological control, contrasting with Emile’s genuine loyalty and sacrifice for Liu Zheng.
• Corporate ambition and greed: The vampire’s desire for promotion, inheritance, and managerial status satirizes bureaucratic ambition and the willingness to sacrifice others for career advancement.
• Partnership and mutual understanding: Nightingale and Sea Woman’s seamless cooperation after being freed suggests that their relationship survives even extreme manipulation.
• Sacrifice and transformation: Emile gives up part of her potential to empower Liu Zheng, while Liu Zheng’s body undergoes repeated destruction and reconstruction in order to survive.
• Violent absurdity and dark comedy: The chapter combines extreme gore with comedic dialogue, miniature characters, workplace satire, and exaggerated supernatural combat.

Character Interactions

• Emile directly empowers Liu Zheng through the coffin and shared bloodline power, while he trusts her instruction not to resist the coffin’s suction.
• The male vampire regards Emile’s sacrifice as disgraceful and plans to punish her, revealing his contempt for her bond with Liu Zheng.
• Nightingale and Sea Woman are forced into a lethal confrontation but resume affectionate, cooperative behavior immediately after the microphone is destroyed.
• Their final exchange—Nightingale asking Sea Woman to “blow it back out of them”—turns their mutual injuries into a coordinated attack against the vampires.
• Afterward, Nightingale teases miniature Emile, while Liu Zheng impatiently urges everyone to focus on retrieving the safe’s contents.

Chapter Summary: “Cow-Horse, Are You Moved?”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Vampire Girl and Human Face finish emptying a hidden safe, throwing out gold bars, cash, antiques, and miscellaneous valuables for Liu Zheng to catch.
• The safe cries as its treasures are removed, revealing that it was created from a miser and can only be used by members of Vampire Girl’s bloodline.
• Liu Zheng refuses Vampire Girl’s invitation to become a Vampire, fearing that the bloodline might interfere with his Flesh Mutation and potentially cost him his citizenship.
• The group divides one million in cash:
  • Vampire Girl: 400,000
  • Liu Zheng: 200,000
  • Nightingale: 150,000
  • Sea Woman: 150,000
  • Cow-Horse: 100,000, temporarily held by Liu Zheng
• The antiques and gold are estimated at another two million yuan, though Nightingale will charge a conversion fee. The proceeds will also cover the cost of the B-rank package.
• After resting and recovering, the Gold-Burst Squad disbands and reforms as the Grave-Sweeping Squad to travel to Red Pig Cemetery.
• Old Cowboy arrives and warns that damaging Underworld Residences violates his administrative duties, though Vampire Girl’s claim that she is demolishing her inherited property is accepted.
• Because the demolition disturbed the Cemetery’s residents, the group pays a fine.
• Old Cowboy sells Liu Zheng a bucket of Netherworld Cow Fresh Milk for 10,000 yuan. The milk restores stamina and temporarily reduces Netherworld Aura erosion, especially benefiting “baby Dead.”
• Liu Zheng realizes the milk may be useful for the children at the Shelter and the Wax Figure Little Fatty. He also plans to contact Red Ghost about renting a tank and learning more about the tank crew.
• The group continues toward the Cemetery, while the others silently react with disgust to Liu Zheng’s increasingly violent fantasies about confronting Cow-Horse and Fire Mage.

Character Developments

• Liu Zheng becomes significantly wealthier, gaining at least 200,000 yuan immediately and an estimated total of 540,000 yuan after the remaining valuables are converted. His sudden wealth fuels both practical plans and absurd fantasies of using money and a tank to intimidate enemies.
• He remains cautious about preserving his human identity and citizenship, rejecting vampirism despite its advantages.
• Liu Zheng also shows unexpected consideration for the Shelter’s children, thinking about bringing them food and milk.
• Vampire Girl is disappointed by the relatively modest profits but remains resourceful, using the safe to store the loot. She also manipulates the situation by presenting herself as the heir of the destroyed residence.
• Nightingale and Sea Woman recover from their injuries, demonstrating their respective technological and Flesh Mutation abilities. Nightingale’s dissatisfaction reflects her wealthy background and high expectations.
• Old Cowboy is established as both an authority figure and a shrewd merchant, enforcing rules while exploiting opportunities to sell Cemetery products.

Significant Themes

• Greed and value: The chapter repeatedly contrasts the group’s expectations with the actual value of the loot, while the safe’s miserly nature and Old Cowboy’s overpriced milk reinforce the theme of exploitation.
• Identity and citizenship: Liu Zheng’s refusal to become a Vampire emphasizes how important legal status and social order are in this world.
• Survival through commerce: Money, loot conversion, fines, and item purchases are treated as essential tools for survival and power.
• Power beneath comedy: Humorous scenes—such as catching flying treasure or buying expensive milk—coexist with serious concerns about monsters, erosion, citizenship, and violence.
• Unexpected compassion: Despite Liu Zheng’s violent thoughts, his interest in helping the children suggests a more caring side beneath his crude and aggressive behavior.

Character Interactions

• Vampire Girl teases Liu Zheng by suggesting he become a Vampire, but he firmly refuses.
• Liu Zheng coordinates the loot division and temporarily safeguards Cow-Horse’s share.
• Old Cowboy interrogates Liu Zheng and Vampire Girl about the destroyed residence; Liu Zheng improvises an explanation, and Vampire Girl nervously supports it.
• The group pays Old Cowboy to avoid further trouble, then Liu Zheng reluctantly buys his milk after initially questioning its value.
• Liu Zheng’s plans to contact Red Ghost create a link between the current mission, the Shelter children, and the mysterious tank crew.
• Vampire Girl, Nightingale, and Sea Woman end the chapter by exchanging disgusted looks over Liu Zheng’s violent and ridiculous fantasies, highlighting the comedic contrast between his imagination and the group’s reactions.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• The Grave-Sweeping Squad—Liu Zheng, Vampire Girl, Nightingale, and Sea Woman—travels to Cemetery No. 10086 to sweep Red Pig’s grave on Cow-Horse’s behalf.
• Red Pig’s grave is marked by an airplane model, reflecting his history as a pilot. His gravestone records that he was executed for illegally flying across the border.
• Liu Zheng offers Red Pig a Class B meal set and red wine. The wine contains a concealed Bronze Rune Nail and has a powerful, mind-numbing effect on those who drink it.
• Red Pig appears from his burial chamber and questions Liu Zheng about Cow-Horse. Liu admits that Cow-Horse was too afraid to come itself because Red Pig might beat it.
• Red Pig tells the story of his death:
  • Three years earlier, his plane crashed near a forest, and he entered a tunnel leading to Bathhouse Street in a strange world.
  • He was cursed and transformed into a pig, then imprisoned and prepared for slaughter.
  • A woman named Chihaya, who pitied him, partially cured him and helped him escape.
  • After returning to Metropolis, Red Pig helped Chihaya, married her, and planned to have a child with her.
  • Chihaya later developed a hereditary illness connected to her people’s migration from beyond the border.
  • Red Pig attempted to fly her back to her homeland during a Blood Moon Night, but the Border Management Bureau shot down his aircraft.
• Before departing, Red Pig entrusted most of his property to Cow-Horse, asking it to preserve Chihaya’s soul and bury her in the Cemetery if they were captured.
• Red Pig awoke to find only his own gravestone. Chihaya was missing, and Cow-Horse had apparently failed to fulfill his final request.
• Furious and heartbroken, Red Pig’s perception shifts, causing him to see Liu Zheng as Cow-Horse. He attacks him with a powerful punch.

Character Developments

• Liu Zheng initially feels afraid but becomes more composed once Red Pig openly decides to confront him. He uses blunt honesty and humor to manage the dangerous situation.
• Red Pig is introduced as polite, refined, and hospitable, but his calm exterior hides profound grief and anger over Chihaya’s disappearance.
• Vampire Girl remains enthusiastic and overconfident despite being physically weak compared with the others. The wine incapacitates her almost immediately.
• Nightingale and Sea Woman show caution but willingly interact with Red Pig, trusting their ability to escape if necessary.
• Cow-Horse’s reputation becomes increasingly questionable. Red Pig does not accuse it of betrayal, but he considers its failure to protect Chihaya worse than betrayal.

Significant Themes

• Trust and betrayal: Red Pig’s rage stems from Cow-Horse breaking a promise tied to his final wish.
• Love and sacrifice: Red Pig risks everything to save Chihaya, while Chihaya risks herself to rescue him from the pig curse.
• Borders and exclusion: The border represents an uncaring authority that separates people from their homeland and denies them the chance to seek healing.
• Appearance versus reality: Red Pig’s elegant, friendly appearance contrasts sharply with his violent grief and destructive power.
• Memory and mistaken identity: Red Pig’s anger distorts his perception, turning Liu Zheng into a visual stand-in for Cow-Horse.

Character Interactions

• Liu Zheng openly jokes with Vampire Girl and challenges her claims of being able to protect him.
• He speaks respectfully but candidly with Red Pig, admitting Cow-Horse’s fear and refusing to pretend he knows the full story.
• Red Pig invites the women to drink with him, revealing his courteous and comparatively gentle attitude toward female guests.
• During the storytelling, Liu Zheng recognizes similarities to familiar curse-and-transportation narratives and interrupts with sarcastic guesses.
• Red Pig’s conversation with Liu Zheng becomes an emotional confrontation when he reveals Cow-Horse’s failure and attacks the figure he believes is responsible.

Chapter Summary: “Sewer’s Egg Was Put Back”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Liu Zheng stops the insane Red Pig from attacking by claiming he knows where Chihaya is. Red Pig initially mistakes him for Cow-Horse, but Liu Zheng exposes the error and calms him by discussing Chihaya.
• Red Pig reveals his real name, Krupp, and asks Liu Zheng to uncover the truth about what happened to Chihaya from Cow-Horse. Liu Zheng agrees to investigate but carefully avoids making it a formal transaction or promise.
• Krupp gives Liu Zheng a replica of Chihaya’s sunglasses as compensation for the Grade B grave-visiting meal. The item, Pilot Sunglasses, can either reveal an enemy’s weakness or protect the user from visual damage, negative effects, and sanity loss for thirty seconds.
• Krupp’s description of Chihaya and the item’s note imply that Chihaya abandoned him, and that her departure deeply damaged him. Liu Zheng suspects there may be a painful hidden truth behind the separation.
• Before leaving, Krupp asks Liu Zheng to punch Cow-Horse when he sees it. Liu Zheng accepts the sentiment but knows he cannot literally fulfill the request.
• Liu Zheng warns Nightingale and the others not to order potato-based food because of the danger associated with it.
• Nightingale explains that the Garbage Processing Plant is the most chaotic and dangerous area in Metropolis. Unlike other districts, it is governed almost entirely by strength and contains unstable, lawless beings.
• Nightingale still intends to visit the plant eventually because it may contain objects capable of disrupting order, which could help her rise from sole heir to family head. Liu Zheng says he may need to go there later, but only after dealing with Fire Mage.
• Nightingale shares information about Fire Mage: he is extremely powerful, impulsive, and once massacred a secret-club banquet before fleeing from City Hall’s pursuit. He may have hidden in the Garbage Processing Plant and later appeared in the Sewer.
• Liu Zheng realizes that searching the city streets for Fire Mage is unlikely to work. He plans to return to the Sewer both to deliver milk to Red Ghost and possibly find Fire Mage.
• Fisherman suddenly calls and reports that the Sewer’s Egg has been put back, causing the Sewer to stop rampaging. However, he tells Liu Zheng that Sea Woman may enter the Sewer, but Liu Zheng cannot, ending the chapter on a cliffhanger.

Character Developments

• Liu Zheng demonstrates quick thinking, psychological insight, and caution. He manipulates Red Pig’s obsession with Chihaya to survive, but remains morally uncertain about uncovering a truth Chihaya may have deliberately hidden.
• Red Pig/Krupp shifts from a violent, deranged figure into a sorrowful and determined man. His memories of Chihaya reveal deep love and grief, while his request shows that he is willing to act selfishly for once after always obeying her.
• Nightingale is shown to be ambitious and protective of Sea Woman. She recognizes the risks of the Garbage Processing Plant but is willing to face them to secure power and protect her future.
• Sea Woman and Vampire Girl appear eager to leave the Cemetery, emphasizing their differing priorities from Nightingale and Liu Zheng.
• Fire Mage, though absent, is characterized through others’ accounts as extraordinarily powerful, unstable, violent, and difficult for City Hall to control.
• Fisherman remains secretive and authoritative, delivering crucial information but imposing a surprising restriction on Liu Zheng.

Significant Themes

• Truth versus protection: Liu Zheng questions whether revealing the truth about Chihaya would help Krupp or violate Chihaya’s wishes.
• Love, grief, and obsession: Krupp’s memories show how love can endure through transformation, separation, and madness, while also driving destructive behavior.
• Order versus chaos: The Garbage Processing Plant represents a world without meaningful social order, contrasting with Metropolis’s rigid but oppressive rules.
• Survival through intelligence: Liu Zheng repeatedly survives by negotiating, reading personalities, and avoiding commitments rather than relying on force.
• Power and ambition: Nightingale’s desire to obtain disruptive items from the Garbage Processing Plant highlights the lengths characters must go to escape their positions and gain authority.
• Uncertainty and restricted access: The chapter ends by emphasizing that even when danger subsides, Liu Zheng’s freedom remains limited by the rules and powers governing Metropolis.

Important Character Interactions

• Liu Zheng and Krupp engage in a tense negotiation that gradually becomes more personal as Krupp recalls Chihaya.
• Liu Zheng accepts Krupp’s sunglasses while deliberately separating the investigation from any binding contract.
• Liu Zheng and Nightingale discuss the dangers of the Garbage Processing Plant and exchange information about Fire Mage.
• Nightingale teases Liu Zheng about needing to break rules to grow stronger, while Liu Zheng explains that he must first resolve his situation with Fire Mage.
• Fisherman abruptly overturns Liu Zheng’s plan by announcing that the Sewer is safe again—but forbidding Liu Zheng from entering it.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• Liu Zheng learns that Sewer still considers him its primary offender for tearing off its “balls,” despite Sea Woman and Nightingale also helping. Because of this, Sewer will not allow him to enter safely and may seek revenge.
• Fisherman offers Liu Zheng a way to regain Sewer’s favor: help a special fish patrol the river and clear Sewer’s “constipation.” If he succeeds, Sewer may grant him unrestricted access.
• To disguise him from Sewer, Fisherman says Liu Zheng needs two or three Bloodstained Restaurant cosplay outfits. Fisherman offers to cover the cost, though Liu Zheng suspects he mainly wants Sea Woman to return to Sewer.
• Fisherman angrily orders Liu Zheng to kill the Blondie, but Liu Zheng refuses, noting that he is currently too weak and that she might kill him instead.
• Nightingale suggests that Liu Zheng secretly cooperate with her siblings, but he refuses to betray his friends. When she asks whether they are friends, he jokingly calls them “wine-and-potato friends.”
• Vampire Girl asks Liu Zheng to obtain spicy blood curd from Bloodstained Restaurant because ordinary blood packs cannot restore her weakened form. She also suggests finding Vlad III. Liu Zheng reluctantly agrees to help.
• Liu Zheng drives Sea Woman, Nightingale, and Vampire Girl back near the Red Witch Board-Game Hall, where they must work night shifts to make up for their absence.
• The driver charges Liu Zheng heavily for the Ferrari ride but provides useful information about Goblin Shells, powerful homing weapons. He claims that five shells can guarantee Cow-Horse’s death.
• Back at the Delivery Passage, Liu Zheng finds Cow-Horse performing embarrassing pelvic-floor exercises. Their banter quickly turns toward Liu Zheng’s money, implying that he may be preparing to purchase something—possibly the Goblin Shells.

Character Developments

• Liu Zheng: Remains pragmatic, shameless, and financially motivated, but also demonstrates firm loyalty. Although he jokes about overthrowing Cow-Horse, he refuses Nightingale’s offer to betray his allies. He reluctantly takes responsibility for helping Vampire Girl and is willing to appease Sewer for future access.
• Fisherman: Acts as an intermediary between Liu Zheng and Sewer. He is manipulative and self-interested, using the threat of Sewer’s anger to pressure Liu Zheng while clearly wanting Sea Woman to return.
• Nightingale: Continues testing and provoking Liu Zheng, but also openly suggests cooperation and appears genuinely interested in their relationship. Her surprise at being called a friend reveals that she may value their bond.
• Vampire Girl: Is physically weakened and dependent on Liu Zheng for blood-based nourishment. Her clingy behavior and exaggerated demands add comic pressure to Liu Zheng.
• Cow-Horse: Maintains its crude, teasing personality and remains comfortable enough with Liu Zheng to discuss absurd personal exercises. Its position as Liu Zheng’s boss is increasingly threatened by Liu Zheng’s thoughts of acquiring weapons.
• The Driver: Provides transportation and specialized weapons while speaking cryptically. His comments suggest that Goblin Shells are unusually dangerous when used in groups.

Significant Themes

• Loyalty versus self-interest: Liu Zheng is constantly offered practical advantages in exchange for betrayal, but he insists that he will not abandon his allies.
• Debt and obligation: Liu Zheng’s actions create consequences with Sewer, Vampire Girl, Fisherman, and the Driver, forcing him to repay favors or repair relationships.
• Absurdity and dark humor: Threats of supernatural revenge, bowel-clearing missions, sexual jokes, and bizarre medical exercises are treated as ordinary problems.
• Power and ambition: Liu Zheng jokes about killing Cow-Horse and becoming boss, while the Goblin Shells introduce a genuine possibility of challenging authority.
• Identity and disguise: The planned Bloodstained Restaurant outfits emphasize how characters use costumes and appearances to navigate dangerous supernatural factions.

Character Interactions

• Liu Zheng and Fisherman argue over responsibility for Sewer’s injury and negotiate a possible reconciliation.
• Liu Zheng rejects Nightingale’s attempt to recruit him against her siblings, though he acknowledges their growing friendship.
• Vampire Girl pressures Liu Zheng into helping her obtain spicy blood curd, while Sea Woman and Nightingale avoid taking responsibility.
• Liu Zheng and the Driver discuss the cost and lethality of Goblin Shells, revealing Liu Zheng’s interest in targeting Cow-Horse.
• Liu Zheng and Cow-Horse exchange crude jokes, ending with Liu Zheng hinting that he may use his newly acquired money to obtain something from his boss.

Chapter Summary: “Help Britannia Get a Set of Suspenders Back”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Liu Zheng gives Cow-Horse his share of the profits from recovering a stolen inheritance: 100,000 in cash immediately, with approximately 1.7 million more expected after the remaining items are sold.
• He asks Cow-Horse about Red Pig’s wife, Chihaya. Cow-Horse reveals that:
  • Red Pig was shot down while attempting to fly.
  • Chihaya was taken by City Hall and later died in front of Cow-Horse, leaving no recoverable trace.
  • Cow-Horse concealed her death from Red Pig because he believes Red Pig’s obsession with finding her is the only thing keeping him from completely losing his soul.
• Liu Zheng questions whether this deception is cruel, but Cow-Horse refuses to allow him to tell Red Pig the truth, threatening violence if he does.
• Liu Zheng asks Cow-Horse for help obtaining two rare cosplay outfits. He needs them because Fisherman plans to use them to disguise Liu Zheng so he can enter Sewer and help remove Liu Zheng from Sewer’s blacklist.
• Cow-Horse explains that the outfits are produced exclusively by the Customer Service Department, are extremely scarce, and require advance reservations—even for council members.
• Cow-Horse contacts Big White Goose, also known as Ottawa, for assistance. Big White Goose agrees to recommend Liu Zheng to Minister Britannia, but demands ten fish from Fisherman and a set of Kitchen knives in return.
• Liu Zheng agrees to the bargain, recognizing that Big White Goose is acting as a broker and that Britannia may impose additional conditions.
• Their conversation includes humorous speculation about Liu Zheng possibly being a Succubus and jokes about his relationships with women of various species.
• Before Liu Zheng can contact Fisherman, Big White Goose calls back with Britannia’s response: the cosplay outfits will be provided without charge, but Liu Zheng must help Britannia retrieve “a dick” that has gone missing.

Character Developments

• Liu Zheng continues to demonstrate his talent for negotiation, networking, and exploiting personal connections. He is willing to trade fish, favors, and Kitchen resources to solve his problems, while remaining alert to hidden costs.
• Cow-Horse is shown to be pragmatic and emotionally hardened. Despite his apparent indifference, his decision to hide Chihaya’s death from Red Pig reveals a willingness to manipulate others because he believes it is necessary for their survival.
• Red Pig remains consumed by his fixation on finding Chihaya. His obsession has become the foundation of his continued existence.
• Chihaya is revealed to have died tragically and irreversibly, making Red Pig’s search futile.
• Big White Goose/Ottawa is portrayed as polite, shrewd, and food-motivated. He helps Liu Zheng, but only after securing valuable compensation and making clear that Britannia may demand something more.
• Fisherman, though absent, becomes increasingly important as a powerful connection whose fish and abilities enable Liu Zheng to negotiate with higher-ranking figures.
• Britannia is established as an influential authority who controls access to rare cosplay outfits and can impose unusual favors in exchange for assistance.

Significant Themes

• Obsession as a source of survival: Red Pig’s fixation on Chihaya keeps him existing, even though it also condemns him to prolonged suffering.
• Mercy versus truth: Cow-Horse chooses deception over honesty, believing that a painful truth would destroy Red Pig completely.
• Transactional relationships: Nearly every favor requires payment, whether in money, fish, food, tools, or future obligations.
• Scarcity and power: The limited supply of cosplay outfits gives the Customer Service Department leverage and shows how access to rare goods reflects institutional influence.
• Moral ambiguity: Characters routinely make questionable choices for practical reasons, such as Cow-Horse hiding Chihaya’s death or Liu Zheng bribing powerful figures with resources.
• Survival through connections: Liu Zheng’s ability to move through the Restaurant’s dangerous social hierarchy depends less on official authority than on friendships, favors, and clever bargaining.
• Humor amid horror: Dark subjects such as death, soul-destruction, and bodily remains are balanced with absurd jokes about cosplay, species, sexual relationships, and food.

Important Character Interactions

• Liu Zheng and Cow-Horse argue over whether Red Pig deserves to know that Chihaya is dead, revealing their different views of loyalty and compassion.
• Liu Zheng repeatedly pressures Cow-Horse for access to rare outfits, while Cow-Horse criticizes his entitlement and exposes the self-serving nature of his request.
• Cow-Horse introduces Liu Zheng to Big White Goose, using polite flattery and their apparent brotherly relationship to secure a favor.
• Liu Zheng negotiates directly with Big White Goose, offering ten fish and Kitchen knives in exchange for a recommendation to Britannia.
• Cow-Horse and Liu Zheng exchange teasing remarks about Liu Zheng’s possible Succubus heritage, his relationships, and the consequences of ordering blood tofu stew for Vampire Girl.
• The chapter ends with Ottawa informing Liu Zheng that Britannia has accepted the request—but in exchange for retrieving a missing “dick,” setting up the next bizarre task.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• Big White Goose reveals that Liu Zheng may be able to obtain a replacement for Britannia’s injured primary sex characteristic, either through:
  1. The Metropolis Black Market, which opens in two days.
  2. A hospital or small clinic that may sell “secondhand” replacements.
• Liu Zheng learns that Metropolis hospitals are not ordinary medical facilities. They “treat” people in the sense of controlling them: patients cannot leave until cured, and those unable to pay are forced to work for the hospital or are disposed of.
• Cow-Horse suggests that a small clinic might be safer and closer, though it warns Liu Zheng that such clinics may be dangerous specifically for him.
• Since he cannot bring bodyguards into the clinic, Liu Zheng plans to prepare life-saving items and visit alone.
• Liu Zheng asks Cow-Horse to buy expensive liquor for French Plane Tree as a possible favor or negotiation tool. Cow-Horse obtains three high-end limited-edition bottles—Centaur-Head Brandy, Snow-Barrel Whisky, and Human-Eye Wine—for 20,000.
• Liu Zheng tries to arrange Bloodstained Restaurant takeout for Vampire Girl, but discovers that the restaurant has strict rules:
  • Food cannot be ordered for unrelated people.
  • Employees cannot order takeout for themselves.
  • The recipient must have an appropriate relationship with the person placing the order.
• He considers asking the Witch statue to order food for Vampire Girl but abandons the idea, suspecting the Witch may be dangerous.
• Cow-Horse identifies a nearby small clinic on the map, less than ten minutes from the Restaurant.
• Liu Zheng decides to use his normal delivery schedule as cover to investigate the clinic. However, he waits through the night without acting. The chapter ends on the sixth day of his dungeon stay.

Character Developments

• Liu Zheng: Remains resourceful and opportunistic, immediately exploring multiple ways to solve Britannia’s problem. He is cautious about the clinic but confident because of his previous survival experiences. His willingness to use liquor as a bargaining tool also shows his increasingly transactional approach to relationships.
• Cow-Horse: Acts as Liu Zheng’s practical guide to Metropolis and provides valuable information about hospitals, clinics, departmental boundaries, and local dangers. Despite complaining and driving a hard bargain, Cow-Horse reliably fulfills requests and helps Liu Zheng locate the clinic.
• Big White Goose: Serves as the source of bizarre but useful information, proposing both the Black Market and hospitals as possible solutions before ending the conversation.
• Fisherman: Displays his usual cold, suspicious attitude toward Liu Zheng. Although he refuses to order food directly, he explains the restaurant’s rules and indirectly helps Liu Zheng understand the restrictions.
• Vampire Girl and French Plane Tree: Neither appears directly, but both influence Liu Zheng’s actions. He tries to secure food for Vampire Girl and fancy alcohol for French Plane Tree, revealing his continued concern for and manipulation of his associates.

Significant Themes

• Absurdity and grotesque world-building: Medical treatment, body modification, food delivery, and alcohol all operate according to bizarre and disturbing rules, reinforcing the chapter’s surreal setting.
• Institutional horror and exploitation: Hospitals are portrayed as places that control, imprison, and exploit patients rather than heal them. Medical care is tied directly to money, labor, and survival.
• Rules and hidden systems: Even mundane actions such as ordering takeout are governed by obscure relationship-based regulations. Liu Zheng repeatedly encounters systems whose logic is strange but internally consistent.
• Resourcefulness and negotiation: Liu Zheng relies on favors, gifts, money, and improvised plans rather than straightforward solutions. His liquor purchase is intended to strengthen his bargaining position.
• Trust and uneasy cooperation: Liu Zheng and Cow-Horse constantly tease, distrust, and bargain with each other, yet they remain dependable partners when practical matters arise.

Character Interactions

• Liu Zheng and Big White Goose discuss possible sources for Britannia’s replacement, with Big White Goose jokingly suggesting hospitals sell secondhand body parts.
• Liu Zheng questions Cow-Horse about hospitals, prompting an explanation of Metropolis’s exploitative medical system.
• Liu Zheng attempts to bribe Cow-Horse into visiting Kitchen for liquor, while Cow-Horse warns that leaving its department could attract Restaurant’s hostility.
• Liu Zheng and Fisherman argue over the technical rules for ordering Bloodstained Restaurant takeout, with Fisherman repeatedly refusing requests that violate those rules.
• Cow-Horse supplies Liu Zheng with expensive alcohol and later points out the location of the nearby clinic.
• The chapter closes with Liu Zheng preparing to investigate the clinic, though his hesitation delays the plan until the following day.

Chapter Summary: “Nightingale, Lend Me Your Big Guns”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Liu Zheng wakes to Cow-Horse announcing a new delivery order: one serving of Man-Bites-Dog for Xiaomei at Sunshine Pet Store, with a one-hour time limit.
• Cow-Horse warns him that Sunshine Pet Store is exceptionally dangerous. The century-old shop sells humans as pets, specifically non-citizens whose embryos are deliberately contaminated so they and all their descendants can never pass the citizenship test.
• The pet store’s main customers are human employees of City Hall, who use the humans as intelligent, secret-keeping assistants and for the unchecked abuse of members of their own species.
• Liu Zheng acknowledges that the practice is technically legal but rejects the idea that legality makes it acceptable. He intends to provoke a confrontation and destroy the shop.
• Cow-Horse explains a loophole in the delivery system: conflicts occurring during a food delivery are treated as ordinary disputes, meaning Liu Zheng can fight the pet store employees without official consequences—provided he escapes before the Public Security Bureau arrives.
• Liu Zheng develops a plan:
  1. Let the pet store workers refuse or challenge the delivery.
  2. Fight them and cause as much damage as possible.
  3. Tear up the delivery slip and return to Bloodstained Restaurant before the authorities arrive.
• He considers using the Chew Toy and summoning Tindalos but recognizes that involving Nightingale and Sea Woman would make that dangerous, since Tindalos recognizes only him.
• Since he expects to face the far more dangerous Garbage Processing Plant later, Liu Zheng decides not to risk a direct fight alone. Instead, he realizes he can use Nightingale’s artillery.
• The chapter ends with Liu Zheng calling Nightingale and asking to borrow her largest, most explosive shells.

Character Developments

• Liu Zheng becomes increasingly willing to challenge the city’s oppressive social order. His moral position is pragmatic: he admits the pet store may be acting within the law, but he refuses to let legality prevent him from intervening.
• His recurring Irritability resurfaces, sharpening his thoughts while also making his violent impulses harder to control. He recognizes that his mind is “broken” during the episode but continues planning strategically.
• Liu Zheng demonstrates growing tactical awareness. Rather than wasting powerful abilities on this delivery, he looks for a safer method that preserves his strength for the Garbage Processing Plant.
• Cow-Horse acts as both adviser and reluctant accomplice. It warns Liu Zheng, explains the legal loophole, threatens him humorously, and ultimately provides the method for provoking the pet store safely.
• Nightingale is characterized as flirtatious, provocative, and dangerous. Her joking reference to her “first time” with Sea Woman contrasts with Liu Zheng’s blunt, utilitarian request for artillery.

Significant Themes

• Legality versus morality: The pet store operates within the law, exposing a society whose legal system institutionalizes exploitation rather than preventing it.
• Citizenship and inherited oppression: Citizenship is shown to be a controlled privilege. Losing it can condemn entire bloodlines to permanent servitude.
• Dehumanization: Humans are treated as property, while the supposedly civilized institutions—including City Hall—actively support the system.
• Violence as resistance: Liu Zheng’s response to injustice is not ideological reform but calculated destruction, reflecting the brutal rules of his world.
• Exploitation of legal loopholes: The delivery system’s rules allow violence to be reclassified as a private dispute, revealing how arbitrary and manipulable authority can be.
• Pragmatism and self-preservation: Liu Zheng balances his desire to attack the pet store against the need to conserve resources for a more dangerous future mission.

Character Interactions

• Liu Zheng and Cow-Horse argue over the delivery, with Cow-Horse trying to dissuade him and Liu Zheng using the unpaid portion of his debt to pressure it into helping.
• Their exchange combines dark humor, mutual dependence, and genuine concern: Cow-Horse threatens to abandon or kill Liu Zheng but clearly does not want to lose the money—or necessarily see him die.
• Liu Zheng challenges Cow-Horse’s cynical explanation of the pet store, forcing it to confront the hypocrisy of City Hall’s human employees.
• Liu Zheng’s final call to Nightingale shifts the chapter from planning to action. He ignores her flirtatious bait and focuses entirely on obtaining the firepower needed to attack Sunshine Pet Store.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• Liu Zheng asks Nightingale for a bomb powerful enough to destroy a house, intending to help with the Sunshine pet shop situation. Nightingale refuses to make another Super Thunder Mother-and-Child Bomb, explaining that doing so would weaken her while her siblings may be searching for her.
• She instead promises to provide something even more powerful and tells Liu Zheng to collect it from her apartment.
• Liu Zheng explains his plan to Cow-Horse, who is surprised that Liu participated in one of Captain Dragonfly’s bizarre competitions. Cow-Horse recalls a past swimming competition held on the roads that rewarded the winner with a vacation voucher.
• Because Liu must visit four locations within an hour, he rents a Ferrari and hires a driver.
• Before leaving, Liu inspects the meal prepared by White-Feather Chicken: a gruesome dish made from a humanoid creature and a dog locked in mutual combat. The item, “Man-Bites-Dog,” restores stamina and strengthens biting and claw attacks for one dungeon.
• Liu visits the French Plane Tree and offers it three bottles of limited-edition liquor as payment. He asks for an explosive capable of helping him deal with the Sunshine pet shop.
• The French Plane Tree questions Liu’s motives, noting that helping it become a Phoenix would end their contract and deprive Liu of its protection.
• Liu says he wants to help because becoming a Phoenix would be “romantic and cool,” and because he believes the tree deserves the chance to evolve rather than remain ignorant and vulnerable.
• The tree admits it has something suitable, though it warns Liu that he may not dare use it. It then uncovers an unidentified object from beneath the black soil.

Character Developments

• Liu Zheng continues to demonstrate boldness, resourcefulness, and a willingness to take extreme risks. He is willing to spend heavily, use dangerous weapons, and manipulate relationships to solve problems.
• His motivation toward the French Plane Tree is revealed as unusually selfless—or at least emotionally driven. He knowingly understands that the tree becoming a Phoenix will end their contract, yet still wants it to gain freedom and power.
• Nightingale is shown to be cautious and vulnerable after exposing herself at the Cemetery. Although she cannot safely produce the weapon Liu originally wants, she remains willing to help him through another, stronger solution.
• Cow-Horse provides background about the strange world and Captain Dragonfly, reinforcing his role as an experienced but easily surprised observer.
• The French Plane Tree becomes more suspicious and emotionally engaged with Liu. It recognizes the contradiction in his behavior and questions why he would willingly help it become strong enough to abandon him.
• The tree also shows its own history of violence and survival, revealing that it destroyed all members of its own species and views plant competition as especially cruel.

Significant Themes

• Freedom versus dependence: The French Plane Tree’s transformation into a Phoenix would free it from its contract with Liu, creating a conflict between mutual benefit and genuine liberation.
• Self-interest versus altruism: Liu’s actions appear irrational because helping the tree ultimately harms his own position, yet he continues because he values the tree’s potential and freedom.
• The absurdity of the setting: Bizarre competitions, sentient trees, grotesque food, dangerous delivery rules, and drivers who fear losing their licenses all combine ordinary logic with surreal circumstances.
• Evolution and the value of intelligence: Liu argues that gaining awareness is worthwhile despite the suffering and danger it brings, challenging the idea that ignorance is safer.
• Trust and suspicion: The French Plane Tree does not fully trust Liu’s motives, while Liu continues to interact with it through humor, gifts, and strategic persuasion.

Character Interactions

• Liu and Nightingale negotiate over the strength and cost of an explosive, with Nightingale setting limits because of her weakened condition.
• Liu and Cow-Horse discuss his plan and Captain Dragonfly’s strange competitions, highlighting the bizarre customs of their world.
• Liu and the driver develop a lightly playful relationship. Liu hints that he may reward the driver with alcohol later, while the driver senses that Liu’s dangerous plans may soon shorten their “plenty of time.”
• Liu and the French Plane Tree exchange liquor and information in a negotiation. Their conversation becomes philosophical as the tree challenges Liu’s reasons for helping it.
• The chapter ends with the tree presenting Liu with a mysterious, potentially dangerous object, setting up the next stage of his plan.

Chapter Summary

Plot Points and Events

• Liu Zheng receives a Suicide Detonation Button, which multiplies an explosive’s power tenfold but requires him to remain within one meter when it detonates. Although it would be ideal for destroying Sunshine Pet Store, the risk of being vaporized makes him hesitate.
• French Plane Tree mocks Liu Zheng’s fear, but he pressures it into giving him the button by arguing that his death would prevent it from evolving into a Phoenix. The tree also gives him a strange black suit, whose front is intact but whose back appears damaged by an explosion.
• Liu Zheng travels to Imhotep Clinic in a Ferrari driven by Bloodstained Restaurant’s driver. Their journey includes reckless driving stunts and comedic banter.
• At the clinic entrance, Liu Zheng encounters an Egyptian Sphinx. After a brief exchange in which the Sphinx corrects his misunderstanding of Greek mythology, it allows him inside.
• The clinic resembles an Egyptian museum, filled with murals, artifacts, sarcophagi, and ancient decorations. Liu Zheng meets Doctor Nile, a living mummy, and Sesha, a female mummy who works for him.
• Nile explains that Sesha suffers from a disease preventing aging but rapidly draining her vitality. Mummification slowed the condition, but caused her to lose citizenship, so she remained at the clinic as an employee.
• Liu Zheng explains that Cow-Horse referred him to obtain special medical supplies. Before he can state what he needs, another patient arrives to have his medicine changed.
• The patient is covered in massive pustules. Nile treats him by urinating golden liquid onto the infected growths, horrifying and surprising Liu Zheng.

Character Developments

• Liu Zheng shows strong self-preservation. He is willing to take risks, but refuses to sacrifice himself for an ineffective gesture. He also continues to rely on shameless bargaining, humor, and manipulation to get what he wants.
• French Plane Tree remains proud, sarcastic, and antagonistic, but ultimately helps Liu Zheng because it wants the possibility of evolving into a Phoenix. Its relationship with Liu Zheng is increasingly familiar despite its insistence that they are not close.
• Doctor Nile is introduced as an eccentric but apparently capable medical professional. His dry manner, Egyptian identity, and bizarre treatment methods establish him as both grotesque and comedic.
• Sesha appears obedient and attractive despite being a mummy. Her poor mental functioning, caused by the loss of her living brain, becomes a source of dark humor.
• The driver is characterized as an extremely skilled and reckless professional who enjoys showing off his driving abilities.

Significant Themes

• Survival versus sacrifice: Liu Zheng recognizes that courage does not require pointless self-destruction. His survival instinct conflicts with the pressure to destroy Sunshine Pet Store.
• Dark comedy and grotesque absurdity: Death, mutilation, disease, mummification, and explosive destruction are treated with casual humor.
• Human weakness and irrationality: The chapter repeatedly mocks fear, greed, poor judgment, and the limitations of living humans, especially through Nile’s comment that Sesha’s “living brain” does not work well.
• Identity and citizenship: Sesha’s transformation into a mummy costs her citizenship, showing how social status in the Metropolis depends on more than physical survival.
• Ancient myth in a modern world: Egyptian artifacts, a Sphinx, mummies, and modern vehicles coexist naturally, reinforcing the chapter’s strange supernatural setting.

Character Interactions

• Liu Zheng and French Plane Tree engage in a sarcastic negotiation over the detonation button, with Liu Zheng using flattery and threats disguised as jokes.
• Liu Zheng and the driver exchange dry comments during the reckless ride to the clinic.
• Liu Zheng challenges the Sphinx with an incorrect mythological assumption, prompting it to distinguish Egyptian tradition from Greek mythology.
• Liu Zheng meets Nile and Sesha through Cow-Horse’s recommendation; Nile immediately treats him as a potential customer while Sesha serves him tea.
• Nile jokingly criticizes Sesha’s poor memory and judgment, indirectly insulting Liu Zheng as well.
• The chapter ends with Liu Zheng silently witnessing Nile’s disturbing medical procedure, emphasizing his outsider status and the clinic’s bizarre nature.

Chapter Summary: Sunshine Pet Store

Key Plot Points and Events

• At the Nile’s clinic, a cloaked patient receives a bizarre treatment: the Nile urinates on him, causing his pustules to burst and disinfecting them through a smoking reaction. The patient is then instructed to burn grime scraped from the Nile’s body, mix the ashes into strong liquor, and drink it.
• Liu Zheng asks the Nile about obtaining a secondhand, installable penis for Britannia. The Nile reveals a preserved organ taken from a former guard who betrayed him and attempted to kill him. The organ can be installed but causes uncontrollable sexual urges toward anyone nearby.
• Liu Zheng purchases it for 100,000, intending to use it for someone in the Customer Service Department rather than himself. Sesha, the Nile’s assistant and apparent adopted daughter, stores the payment.
• The Nile asks Liu Zheng to obtain a substance from Cemetery that increases the intelligence of the dead. In exchange, he offers to perform Resurrection of the Dead once for free, explaining that it can revive most recently deceased people unless their death was “strange.”
• Liu Zheng considers whether the resurrection could be used to save Natasha but decides not to pursue the deal immediately.
• The Nile explains that he cannot search Cemetery himself because he is a poor fighter and worries about leaving Sesha alone. The Sphinx outside the clinic is only an unaffiliated creature that helps guard the entrance.
• Before leaving, Liu Zheng gives the Sphinx a rare piece of dried fish. The animal enjoys it and hints that it would like more.
• Liu Zheng returns to his apartment to collect a high-powered bomb mentioned by Nightingale, then travels to Sunshine Pet Store.
• Inside the store, he discovers rows of cages containing naked human “Pet People,” mostly teenagers. They are treated like animals, fed pet food, and forced to live in cramped cages. When they see Liu, they display submission and sexual interest.
• With thirty minutes remaining before his delivery deadline, Liu Zheng looks toward the clerks with a cold smile, apparently intending to exploit or torment the people in the shop.

Character Developments

• Liu Zheng remains pragmatic, opportunistic, and morally detached. He readily purchases the dangerous organ, weighs the value of resurrecting Natasha, and views the Pet People as potential entertainment rather than victims.
• The Nile is established as an eccentric, grotesque, but highly capable doctor. Despite his brutal methods, he shows concern for Sesha and seeks a way to protect or improve her.
• Sesha appears intellectually limited or unstable, but the Nile treats her like a daughter and gives her small responsibilities to prevent her from deteriorating further.
• The Sphinx is revealed to be intelligent, food-motivated, and somewhat catlike. Its interaction with Liu suggests the possibility of forming a useful relationship.
• Britannia is not present, but Liu’s purchase is motivated by his desire to fulfill the needs of someone connected to the Customer Service Department.
• The Pet People are depicted as humans conditioned or forced into animal-like behavior, emphasizing the cruelty of the pet store’s system.

Significant Themes

• Morality and exploitation: The chapter repeatedly blurs the line between medical treatment, commerce, and abuse. The Nile’s grotesque clinic and the pet store both treat bodies as commodities.
• Dehumanization: Humans are confined in animal cages, fed pet food, and trained to act like pets, while Liu evaluates the situation primarily for personal amusement.
• Death and resurrection: The Nile’s offer introduces the possibility of reversing death, but also raises questions about whether resurrection should be used and whether some deaths are beyond repair.
• Transactional relationships: Nearly every interaction involves payment, barter, favors, or calculated personal gain.
• Dark humor and grotesque absurdity: The chapter combines horrifying situations with comical details, such as the Nile’s medical procedures, the Sphinx’s catlike behavior, and Liu’s casual negotiation over a preserved penis.

Character Interactions

• Liu and the Nile develop a wary, transactional relationship built on mutual usefulness. Liu distrusts the Nile’s methods but recognizes his expertise, while the Nile sees Liu’s wealth and activity as evidence of his competence.
• The Nile and Sesha share a parent-child-like bond. He complains about her limitations but still tries to keep her occupied and safe.
• Liu gains the Sphinx’s tentative goodwill by offering it rare dried fish.
• Liu’s arrival at Sunshine Pet Store contrasts sharply with the clerks’ initial excitement over his expensive car and their disappointment upon seeing he is merely a delivery man.
• The Pet People respond to Liu with submissive and sexualized behavior, while Liu deliberately withholds empathy and prepares to take advantage of them.

Chapter Summary: “Does This Look Like the Takeout You Ordered?”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Liu Zheng visits Sunshine Pet Store disguised as a potential buyer of “pet humans.” The clerk initially mistakes him for a takeout delivery worker.
• He claims to represent Bloodstained Restaurant and invents a story about purchasing pet humans for a workplace Human Fighting League. He also asks about the store’s breeding farm, likely gathering intelligence for a larger investigation or operation.
• Liu identifies the clerk as Xiaomei, the person he was apparently looking for, and manipulates her with flirtation, money, and promises of profit.
• He asks specifically for violent or unruly pet humans. Xiaomei leads him to a hidden room containing several dangerous-looking captives.
• Among them is a twelve- or thirteen-year-old girl, formerly considered the best specimen, whose intelligence supposedly declined after a serious illness. She has been reduced to a nameless serial number, AWM1997.
• Liu chooses her and all the other captive pet humans, naming the girl “Sniper Rifle.” He pays a deposit so he can inspect them outside their cages.
• The store transforms its lobby into an arena. The captives are released into an octagonal cage, but instead of fighting, they gather protectively around the girl and face Liu and Xiaomei.
• When Xiaomei prepares to force them into violence, Liu stops her. He then reveals a food container with one of his tentacles and asks, “Doesn’t this look like the takeout you ordered?” Xiaomei screams, ending the chapter on a threatening cliffhanger.

Character Developments

• Liu Zheng demonstrates strong improvisational skill, using lies, charm, bribery, and his association with Bloodstained Restaurant to gain access to the store’s hidden operations.
• His reaction to the captive humans reveals growing anger and disgust toward the pet-human industry. Although he maintains a humorous and deceptive exterior, his colder gaze and decision to buy every captive suggest that he intends to rescue or protect them.
• Liu gives the unnamed girl the title “Sniper Rifle,” both mocking the store’s serial-number system and symbolically acknowledging her individuality.
• Xiaomei shifts rapidly from professional salesperson to flirtatious accomplice. Her greed and ambition make her vulnerable to Liu’s manipulation, though she remains involved in the cruelty of the store and understands how to provoke the captive humans into fighting.
• The captive humans, especially the young girl, are characterized as traumatized but defiant. Their decision to unite around her shows loyalty, solidarity, and retained humanity despite the store’s efforts to turn them into animals.

Significant Themes

• Dehumanization and commodification: Humans are bred, confined, sold, named by owners, and treated as merchandise. The lack of personal names emphasizes the destruction of identity.
• Humanity versus animality: Liu’s reflection on “losing humanity” and “losing animality” highlights the contradiction of a society that calls humans beasts while deliberately stripping them of dignity.
• Resistance and solidarity: The captives refuse to fight one another and instead protect their apparent leader, demonstrating that compassion and community survive despite systematic abuse.
• Corruption and exploitation: The store’s profitable breeding system and the popularity of Human Fighting Leagues show how violence and oppression have become normalized entertainment and business.
• Performance and deception: Liu’s false identity, fabricated story, flirtation, and humor contrast with his underlying moral outrage. The chapter repeatedly shows how appearances conceal power and intention.

Character Interactions

• Liu and Xiaomei engage in a playful but manipulative exchange, with Liu using compliments, money, and suggestive behavior to gain her cooperation.
• Xiaomei treats the captive humans as “goods,” while Liu’s questions increasingly expose his concern for their condition.
• Liu and the young girl do not speak directly, but his decision to name and purchase her marks the beginning of a potential alliance.
• The captive humans’ collective focus on the girl establishes her as their center and contrasts sharply with the store’s attempt to isolate and control them.
• The final interaction between Liu and Xiaomei reverses their power dynamic: after allowing her to believe she is controlling the inspection, Liu reveals a frightening threat that triggers her scream.

Chapter Summary: “Then Light the Fuse”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Liu Zheng attacks the establishment’s clerk after she shoves him, easily enduring her superhuman strength because of his rapid healing and enhanced body.
• He brutally incapacitates the clerk, severing an arm and a leg while taunting and psychologically tormenting her.
• Liu Zheng forces the clerk to release the imprisoned Pet People by opening the octagonal cage. Although she warns that the manager will arrive within minutes, he accepts the danger.
• He offers the freed Pet People a choice: follow him and work for him rather than remain enslaved. Sniper Rifle, the group’s unofficial leader, initially distrusts him but recognizes that his offer may be better than captivity and orders the others to line up.
• Liu Zheng reveals the Malformed Mechanical Heart, a single-use device capable of producing an explosion equivalent to roughly ten tons of TNT.
• He also equips himself with the Real Man’s Suit, which protects its wearer from explosion damage when facing away from the blast.
• Liu Zheng coerces the mutilated clerk into “signing” for the delivery by using her hand to mark the package as received. He then sarcastically thanks her, making clear that he never intended to let her escape.
• Once the establishment’s lockdown is lifted, the other clerks rush into the lobby. The powerful manager Xiaomei warned about appears, wielding a whip and radiating strength greater than Nightingale’s.
• Rather than retreat, Liu Zheng becomes excited by the prospect of killing the manager. As the manager attacks, he presses the detonation button, igniting the explosive device and ending the chapter on the imminent blast.

Character Developments

• Liu Zheng demonstrates overwhelming physical resilience, rapid healing, cruelty, confidence, and strategic boldness. He views the rescue as an opportunity to acquire loyal subordinates rather than as a purely altruistic act.
• He also reveals a strong will to survive, seriously correcting the clerk’s curse that he will die horribly and insisting that he will continue living.
• The clerk shifts from an aggressive enforcer to a terrified, helpless hostage. Her fear forces her to cooperate, though she remains defiant enough to curse Liu Zheng.
• Sniper Rifle/AWM1997 emerges as the Pet People’s trusted leader. Despite her distrust of Citizen Humans and her damaged mental state, she assesses Liu Zheng’s offer pragmatically and commands the others to follow him.
• The manager is introduced as a major threat, apparently stronger than Nightingale, but her arrival only increases Liu Zheng’s eagerness for confrontation.

Significant Themes

• Oppression and liberation: The Pet People have endured generations of enslavement, creating deep distrust and dependence on Sniper Rifle. Their release represents a fragile first step toward freedom.
• Freedom versus exploitation: Liu Zheng saves the Pet People, but openly admits that he wants them to work for him, leaving the nature of their “freedom” morally ambiguous.
• Power and reversal: The clerk and other Citizen Humans normally dominate the Pet People, yet Liu Zheng reverses the power structure through superior strength and terror.
• Ruthlessness and survival: Liu Zheng treats violence as an efficient tool and shows little concern for mercy, deception, or collateral damage.
• Destruction as a solution: The Mechanical Heart embodies the chapter’s escalating extremity: when escape and negotiation are uncertain, Liu Zheng chooses overwhelming destruction.
• Defiance of fate: Liu Zheng’s insistence that he will keep living highlights his relentless self-confidence and refusal to accept death or defeat.

Character Interactions

• Liu Zheng dominates the clerk physically and psychologically, using torture and threats to force her cooperation.
• He negotiates with Sniper Rifle by offering the Pet People a chance to leave, but his stated intention to employ them makes her wary.
• Sniper Rifle’s authority becomes clear when the other Pet People obey her command to line up behind Liu Zheng.
• The clerk warns Liu Zheng that the manager will arrive and kill everyone, but he dismisses the warning and accepts the risk.
• Liu Zheng’s final interaction with the clerk is deliberately deceptive: after implying she will complete the delivery, he mutilates her further and signs for it himself.
• The chapter ends with Liu Zheng facing the arriving manager and triggering the explosion rather than allowing her to attack him.

Chapter Summary: “Art Is Fucking Explosion”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Liu Zheng detonates the mechanical heart’s red gemstone, triggering a chain of one hundred powerful heartbeats and a massive explosion.
• The blast completely destroys the pet store and creates a huge crater, exposing the stone ceiling and bluish-green mold of the Sewer beneath it. Nearby shops, roads, sidewalks, and trees are also badly damaged.
• Liu Zheng protects the Pet People from the explosion, though they remain terrified by the destructive force.
• He orders them to find a Sewer entrance, avoid the Wastewater River, and tell any Red Ghosts or Fishermen that they were saved by someone with four tentacles. When they hesitate, he slaps Sniper Rifle to force them to move.
• Liu Zheng then returns to the Bloodstained Restaurant, while a security patrol briefly investigates the crater before leaving.
• Back at the Restaurant, he jokes and interacts with Cow-Horse while massaging it.
• Liu Zheng contacts Big White Goose to report that he obtained the requested item. However, he reveals that the item has a dangerous flaw: once installed, it will enter an uncontrollable mating state and attack almost anything available.
• Big White Goose ends the call to consult Minister Britannia, while Cow-Horse gleefully imagines the trouble this will cause the Customer Service Department.

Character Developments

• Liu Zheng demonstrates both overwhelming destructive power and unexpected compassion. Although he originally intended to kill the Pet People, he saves those who retain some humanity and gives them a chance to survive and grow stronger.
• He shows a developing sense of responsibility toward people he has met, especially Sniper Rifle, asking Cow-Horse to avoid conflict with her group.
• Liu Zheng remains irreverent, shameless, and humorous, using flattery and crude jokes even when dealing with dangerous or powerful figures.
• Sniper Rifle begins acting as a leader for the rescued Pet People, taking charge and guiding them toward the Sewer after Liu Zheng orders them to flee.
• Cow-Horse continues to play the role of a cynical, teasing companion, though it ultimately helps Liu Zheng contact Big White Goose.
• Big White Goose is portrayed as a weary Customer Service worker who recognizes Liu Zheng’s exaggerated flattery but still handles his request professionally.

Significant Themes

• Destruction as art and spectacle: Liu Zheng treats the catastrophic explosion as beautiful music, embracing destruction with enthusiasm rather than fear.
• Compassion in a brutal world: Despite the violence of the setting, Liu Zheng chooses to save vulnerable Pet People and preserve the possibility that they may one day resist their oppressors.
• Hope versus cynicism: Cow-Horse argues that even family members betray one another for profit, while Liu Zheng insists that impossible hopes are worth pursuing.
• Absurdity and dark humor: The chapter repeatedly contrasts apocalyptic destruction with casual jokes, workplace complaints, flirtatious teasing, and the ridiculous side effects of the acquired item.
• Identity and resistance: By sending the Pet People into the Sewer and giving them a message identifying their rescuer, Liu Zheng helps establish a possible future resistance against the breeding farm.

Character Interactions

• Liu Zheng commands the terrified Pet People and physically forces Sniper Rifle to lead them to safety.
• He jokes with Cow-Horse about treating the Restaurant as home, then massages it while discussing the rescued humans.
• Liu Zheng asks Cow-Horse to warn Big White Goose and the Restaurant’s forces not to attack Sniper Rifle’s group.
• Cow-Horse dismisses Liu Zheng’s idealism, but Liu Zheng counters with examples of seemingly impossible achievements.
• Liu Zheng flatters Big White Goose over the phone before reporting the item’s disastrous flaw.
• Cow-Horse and Liu Zheng joke about the consequences for the Customer Service Department, especially since Centaur is still assigned there.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• Big White Goose arrives to collect a historically old bandage sling after Minister Britannia approves its transfer. He inspects it, then leaves with a small suitcase associated with the Customer Service Department.
• Big White Goose invites Liu Zheng to help with the department’s increased workload. Liu declines, using Cow-Horse’s supposed illness as an excuse. Cow-Horse reluctantly pretends to be seriously ill after Liu secretly offers him money.
• Liu jokes that he will bring Cow-Horse “Nile Doctor’s foreskin grime” as medicine, prompting Cow-Horse to kick and threaten him. Their quarrel highlights their familiar, brother-like relationship.
• Liu opens the suitcase and confirms that it contains a cosplay disguise. Fisherman warns him not to imitate anyone too powerful, since Sewer has become unusually sensitive and might detect the disguise.
• Liu considers several possible identities. Powerful figures such as Si Xue, Mr. Li, Red Ghost, Ghost Hand, Oink, Fire Mage, and Fisherman are unsuitable. Cow-Horse, White-Feather Chicken, Britannia, and Red Pig are weaker enough to imitate, but the disguise must balance strength and concealment carefully.
• Ghost Hand arrives, sees the costume, and exchanges approving thumbs-up with Liu, reinforcing Liu’s pride in acquiring rare items himself.
• Liu receives Fisherman’s order: one serving of blanched mealworms delivered to Sewer Fishpond within four hours. He realizes the worms might help lure Tailor Spider out and alleviate her social anxiety.
• The delivery box still contains an old serving of Man-Bites-Dog, but Liu ignores it after confirming that the box passes inspection.
• On Rose Street, French Plane Tree asks Liu to bury a dead boy in exchange for a dog. Liu places the boy in a meal box and has the tree bury him beside Natasha in the black soil.
• Liu names the boy “Wangsheng,” but French Plane Tree renames him “Bonaparte.” She also names the dog, asserting her authority as their protector. Liu suspects her insistence on naming them may relate to a future ability to revive them after evolving into a phoenix.
• After preparing the disguise, Liu jumps through the manhole toward Sewer Fishpond to complete Fisherman’s delivery.

Character Developments

• Liu Zheng remains opportunistic, irreverent, and resourceful. He manipulates Cow-Horse for money, obtains a rare disguise, and immediately thinks of ways to use the mealworms for another personal goal.
• Cow-Horse is shown to be both irritable and loyal. Though he threatens Liu, he cooperates with the scheme and accepts payment, reinforcing their comedic but affectionate partnership.
• Big White Goose appears practical and helpful, serving as the link between departments and handling the bandage sling.
• Fisherman demonstrates caution and strategic awareness by warning Liu to weaken his disguise so Sewer will not notice him.
• French Plane Tree displays growing independence and protectiveness. She treats naming the buried children as her right and may possess a larger plan involving their eventual revival.
• Ghost Hand silently acknowledges Liu’s successful acquisition of the costume, giving Liu confidence that he can obtain high-level resources through his own efforts.

Significant Themes

• Improvisation and survival: Liu constantly turns limited resources, strange orders, and dangerous circumstances to his advantage.
• Power versus concealment: The cosplay disguise must be strong enough to protect Liu but weak enough to avoid attracting Sewer’s attention.
• Morbid humor and absurdity: Death, corpses, bodily substances, and dangerous monsters are handled through jokes and everyday bargaining.
• Companionship beneath hostility: Liu and Cow-Horse insult and threaten each other, but their behavior resembles affectionate siblings.
• Identity and naming: Names appear to carry emotional or supernatural significance, especially in French Plane Tree’s treatment of the dead children.
• Potential rebirth: The phoenix imagery and French Plane Tree’s naming of the children hint at future resurrection or transformation.

Character Interactions

• Liu and Cow-Horse argue over Liu’s excuse, exchange threats, and maintain a playful but trusting relationship.
• Big White Goose interacts with Liu and Cow-Horse in a straightforward, professional manner, while Liu uses Cow-Horse’s fake illness to avoid helping him.
• Liu and Fisherman discuss the limits of the disguise and coordinate the delivery through the manhole.
• Liu and Ghost Hand share a brief, wordless moment of mutual approval over the costume.
• Liu bargains with French Plane Tree by offering a dog in exchange for burying the boy, then disputes her renaming of the child. Their exchange shows Liu’s familiarity with her temper and growing role as guardian of the graves.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• Liu Zheng returns from the shaft after transforming into Blondie, a powerful female form he selected because she was the strongest available option beneath Cow-Horse.
• He reunites with the Fisherman, who has killed the Sewer’s giant janitor fish. The fish had gone mad from consuming toxic waste, making it unusable for cleaning the Sewer.
• Because the janitor fish is unavailable, the Fisherman tells Liu Zheng that he must replace it and help clean the Sewer—apparently by eating its waste.
• Liu Zheng protests, but the Fisherman explains that the Sewer’s rules cannot be avoided. However, he offers an alternative: Liu Zheng can undertake a dangerous, game-like mission involving an old seaplane.
• In this mission, the surroundings become an arcade-style flying game. Liu Zheng must pilot the plane, destroy obstacles, and achieve a required score. Failure may result in punishment or even death.
• The Fisherman reveals that a perfect score could earn a much greater reward because the Sewer is suffering from severe “constipation.” Liu Zheng realizes this reward might allow him to contact or summon powerful acquaintances, including Fire Mage, City Wanderer, Wandering Master, or the Man Who Feels Up Bears.
• After learning that the mission is preferable to eating waste—and that it may help him locate powerful allies—Liu Zheng decisively chooses to pilot the plane.

Character Developments

• Liu Zheng remains sarcastic, pragmatic, and survival-focused. Though disgusted by the idea of eating Sewer waste, he is willing to consider any option that improves his chances of survival.
• His transformation into Blondie creates both physical inconvenience and comedic humiliation. He struggles with the form’s weight and altered center of gravity, particularly the exaggerated body proportions.
• Liu Zheng demonstrates increasing ambition and strategic thinking by negotiating for a perfect-score reward rather than merely seeking survival.
• The Fisherman continues to act harshly and mockingly toward Liu Zheng, taking particular delight in his transformation. However, he also provides useful information and clearly has some investment in Liu Zheng’s survival.
• The Fisherman’s attachment to Sea Woman becomes evident. He wants Liu Zheng to accompany her on a journey to find her mother but refuses to let Liu Zheng and Sea Woman become too closely bonded, fearing the “Suspension Bridge Effect.”
• The Fisherman also reveals limited knowledge of the Sewer’s deeper nature and hints that powerful supernatural entities—such as the Bloodstained Restaurant and the Sewer—may possess consciousness.

Significant Themes

• Survival versus dignity: Liu Zheng must choose between the humiliating prospect of eating waste and the potentially fatal challenge of piloting the Sewer’s game-plane.
• Rules and coercion: The Sewer functions according to powerful, unavoidable rules, forcing characters into dangerous tasks regardless of their preferences.
• Power and hierarchy: The conversation establishes a hierarchy among Metropolis’s major supernatural forces. City Hall is strongest, while the Sewer and Bloodstained Restaurant belong to a small group of similarly powerful entities.
• Identity and transformation: Liu Zheng’s forced change into Blondie creates both tactical advantages and personal discomfort, emphasizing how unstable and absurd his circumstances have become.
• Negotiation and manipulation: Both Liu Zheng and the Fisherman attempt to use information and emotional leverage. Liu Zheng invokes Sea Woman to gain better treatment, while the Fisherman uses the threat of punishment and Liu Zheng’s fear of humiliation to control him.
• Hidden consciousness: The chapter hints that major supernatural locations may be living or conscious entities rather than ordinary places, suggesting deeper mysteries about the world.

Character Interactions

• Liu Zheng and the Fisherman exchange constant insults and threats, but their hostility is tempered by mutual dependence: Liu Zheng once saved the Fisherman, while the Fisherman controls Liu Zheng’s access to the Sewer’s rules and rewards.
• Liu Zheng tries to pressure the Fisherman by mentioning Sea Woman’s planned journey to find her mother. The Fisherman initially resists but reveals that he actually wants Liu Zheng to accompany her.
• The Fisherman mocks Liu Zheng’s new appearance, while Liu Zheng retaliates with sarcasm and threats to summon the Sewer.
• Their discussion shifts from crude humor and personal antagonism to serious revelations about the Sewer, the Bloodstained Restaurant, and the relative strength of Metropolis’s supernatural powers.
• The chapter ends with Liu Zheng taking control of the situation emotionally: instead of reluctantly accepting punishment, he enthusiastically declares that he will attempt the dangerous airplane-game challenge.

Chapter Summary: “Fire at the Sewer’s Hemorrhoids”

Plot Points and Events

• Fisherman warns Liu Zheng that, given his weakened condition, he may struggle even to pass the sewer-themed flying game, let alone achieve a perfect clear. If Liu fails, Fisherman can only help preserve his corpse.
• Liu insists on proceeding because he has limited time and still needs to meet Fire Mage afterward.
• Fisherman explains the game’s enemy types:
  • Feces Meteors, which can be destroyed for points.
  • Intestinal Asteroid Belts, which must not be damaged but may conceal bonus targets.
  • Excrement Galaxies, which require bombs to destroy.
  • Garbage Meteor Showers, which are rare, dangerous, and may contain useful items.
• He also explains that bosses vary by game and are characterized by different combinations of health, weak points, bullet patterns, speed, and numbers.
• Before starting, Liu uses his single-use perfect-quality item, the Golden Finger, which offers three cheats:
  1. Plane invincibility.
  2. Infinitely upgradable bullets.
  3. Infinitely stackable bombs, with bomb pickups doubled.
• Liu rejects invincibility because it would not help him safely destroy targets for a perfect clear. He rejects infinite bullets because excessive firepower could accidentally damage the asteroid belts. He chooses the bomb-related cheat because bombs can affect every enemy type and offer the greatest flexibility.
• The game begins, transporting the plane into a cosmic landscape where Liu realizes the “stars” are enormous flesh-like growths. He suspects they are Sewer’s hemorrhoids and considers destroying them.
• Fisherman warns him not to attack Sewer’s hemorrhoids, though Liu jokes that Sewer should accept treatment.
• Fisherman’s guidance ends when the first enemy wave arrives. Liu is immediately confronted by streams of enormous, steaming feces-shaped meteors and begins firing.

Character Developments

• Liu Zheng demonstrates determination and confidence despite his poor condition. He is willing to expend a rare, powerful item when necessary, overcoming his hoarding instincts.
• His strategic thinking is emphasized: rather than choosing the most obviously powerful cheat, he selects the one best suited to achieving a perfect score without causing accidental damage.
• Liu also copes with fear and pressure through absurd humor, joking about treating Sewer’s hemorrhoids and questioning whether he is being punished for sins from previous lives.
• Fisherman acts as a cautious guide and adviser. He provides detailed instructions, warns Liu about the consequences of failure, and understands the game’s dangers, but cannot directly intervene once the challenge starts.

Significant Themes

• Resource management and sacrifice: Liu must decide whether to consume a rare, irreplaceable item in order to improve his chances.
• Strategy over brute force: The chapter stresses that the strongest-looking ability is not necessarily the most useful; precision and flexibility matter more than raw power.
• Absurdity and dark comedy: A deadly trial is presented as a bizarre space-shooter involving feces, intestinal structures, and Sewer’s hemorrhoids.
• Courage under pressure: Liu proceeds despite the possibility of death and the overwhelming ridiculousness of his situation.
• The unknown nature of the Hell Game: Liu’s uncertainty about whether the dungeon system can truly be “cleared” reinforces the larger atmosphere of danger and unpredictability.

Character Interactions

• Fisherman and Liu engage in a tense but familiar exchange: Fisherman repeatedly warns him, while Liu dismisses the danger with confidence and jokes.
• Fisherman’s practical explanations contrast with Liu’s irreverent commentary.
• Their interaction shows limited but genuine cooperation: Fisherman cannot save Liu from the challenge, but he equips him with knowledge, while Liu takes responsibility for his own choices.
• The chapter ends with Liu alone in the game, forced to put his chosen strategy into action against the first wave of fecal meteors.