I'm Going to Plant You in the Ground!

"Cough... cough, cough..."

Under the fertilizer's incredibly powerful effects, the previously dying Poison Ivy quickly recovered. After a couple of violent coughs, she regained consciousness.

"I... where am I?"

Having just woken up, she was still a little dazed and wasn't quite sure what had happened.

"You're awake! Congratulations, you're now a mother of three!"

"Ah!"

Zuo Ci's little scare instantly snapped the groggy Poison Ivy wide awake.

Then, upon discovering that she was actually inside her target's shop, she immediately realized something was wrong and instinctively tried to get up and escape.

But the moment she strained against her restraints, she discovered that she had been tied up!

"Ta-da! Surprise! I prepared this rope especially for you. Take a look and see if you like it."

"You bastard, let me go!"

Sensing trouble, Poison Ivy struggled desperately, but she soon discovered that this so-called "rope" was actually several bent steel rebars!

"Come on, that's just ungrateful. I even painted them green so you'd like them."

Looking at Zuo Ci's innocent expression, the green rebars wrapped around her, and the still-wet green paint sticking to her body, Poison Ivy felt ready to bite someone's head off.

"Don't look at me like that, okay? You can't blame me for the paint not drying in time. Blame yourself for waking up too soon."

Faced with this shameless bastard, Poison Ivy gritted her teeth in fury and immediately activated her powers, sending several long vines lashing toward Zuo Ci.

Then Zuo Ci pulled out a spray can.

Psssh~

"Ta-da-da-da! Extra-strength Herbicide!"

This was a little gadget Zuo Ci had picked up from the store. As its name suggested, it was exceptionally effective at killing weeds.

As for what counted as a weed, that depended on what the user thought.

As the green mist touched the vines, their vibrant growth instantly withered. Although Poison Ivy's powers kept them from dying outright, they were clearly on their last legs.

"What did you do to my children?!"

Seeing her beloved plants hurt, Poison Ivy immediately lost her cool and shouted at Zuo Ci, her eyes reddening with fury.

"Come on, what's with all the yelling in the middle of the night? You're disturbing the neighbors' sleep."

With a psssh, Zuo Ci sprayed her right in the face.

"You fucking..."

Psssh~

"I fucking..."

Psssh~

"Enough, enough! Stop..."

Psssh~

"Oops, my hand slipped."

Zuo Ci lowered the spray can somewhat awkwardly and saw Poison Ivy glaring at him with red eyes. He couldn't tell whether it was from the spray or sheer indignation.

"What the hell do you want?!"

"What do I want? Shouldn't I be asking you that? Why did you attack my weak, pitiful, helpless employee in the middle of the night for no reason? Do you have any idea how much harm your criminal behavior caused him?"

Zuo Ci spoke with such heartfelt sincerity that it sounded completely genuine, as though Jack really had suffered some terrible injury.

Jack: "Me... you mean me?"

He sounded so sincere that even Jack began to question himself, unconsciously pointing a finger at his own chest.

As for Poison Ivy, she truly couldn't take it anymore.

"Weak, pitiful, and helpless? Why don't you open your fucking eyes and take a good... mmph!"

Before she could finish, Zuo Ci raised the Herbicide again and sprayed her in the face.

"No swearing. We wouldn't want to set a bad example for the children."

"You... you..."

"Hmm?"

Seeing Zuo Ci raise the Herbicide again, Poison Ivy turned so red she was practically purple. Her neck went rigid, and she looked as though she was about to suffocate.

"Back to the point. Why did you target Jack? Don't tell me you picked him at random. I'm not that easy to fool."

Honestly, Poison Ivy didn't want to say another word to this bastard. But after seeing the Herbicide in his hand, she decided to cooperate.

"It was the Maroni Family. They paid a fortune to hire me to deal with you."

Upon hearing this, Zuo Ci was thoroughly... unsurprised.

After what he had done, it was perfectly normal for Maroni to want revenge.

Still, he hadn't expected their retaliation to come so quickly, or for them to recruit Poison Ivy.

"Wait, that doesn't add up. You shouldn't have much need for money, right? So what exactly did they offer you?"

"They promised to plant greenery on all the land they controlled and donate to environmental organizations."

Ah, that made sense.

As everyone knew, ever since Poison Ivy had gone from an innocent, clueless college girl to a plant-obsessed fanatic, pretty much the only things she cared about were making the world greener and Harley Quinn.

So it was perfectly reasonable for those promises to suck her in.

"I've told you everything you wanted to know. You can let me go now, right?"

At this point, her mission had clearly failed, so there was no reason to keep tangling with them.

After all, she didn't have any deep-seated grudge against them. Surely they wouldn't make things difficult for a defenseless woman like her.

"You want me to let you go? Sure. Just pay off what you owe first."

"What... what I owe?"

For some reason, Poison Ivy suddenly had a bad feeling.

"Exactly. Just look at what you did to our Jack. How terrifying! Shouldn't you compensate him for emotional distress, property damage, medical expenses, service fees, lost wages, refreshments, tips..."

Listening to Zuo Ci rattle off this incomprehensible list, Poison Ivy was dumbfounded.

"Wait, do I really have to pay for all that? I'm the victim here!"

"What kind of talk is that?! Sure, Jack beat you into partial paralysis and left you quadriplegic, but honestly, don't you bear any responsibility? Don't forget, you were the one who harassed him first.

"Oh, right, speaking of which, I put a lot of effort into saving you and used up plenty of precious items. My service fees, lost wages, emotional damages, and so on all need to be included too."

"Heh, heh..."

Poison Ivy appeared to be laughing, but in truth, she had simply run out of options.

Only after droning on for over ten minutes did Zuo Ci finally finish reading out the bill.

"Let's see. The total comes to a hundred and eight thousand dollars. Of course, I'm not a monster, so I'll round it off for you. You only need to pay us a hundred and twenty thousand dollars.

"Well? Aren't I merciful?"

Having witnessed someone round a bill up instead of down for the first time, Poison Ivy truly couldn't take it anymore. She simply closed her eyes, tucked in her neck, and adopted the defiant air of someone with nothing left to lose.

"I have no money. Not a single cent. Kill me or cut me up, whatever you want."

Hearing this, Zuo Ci wasn't angry at all. Instead, he clapped his hands happily.

"No money? Great! Then you can work off your debt.

"I happen to have an extra-large flowerpot right now. Come on, Jack, give me a hand. Plant her in the pot and put her outside to welcome customers. Every customer she brings in earns her one cent. She can stop once she's paid everything off.

"Of course, no slacking on the job. From now on, forget about eating or sleeping. Just photosynthesize every day. And don't worry about starving. I guarantee I'll water you daily with the most natural, additive-free fertilizer there is, scooped fresh out of the toilet that very day and still steaming hot.

"If you're lucky, you might even find a shrimp in there!"