Chapter Twenty-Three: The Black Market

"I have no interest in men, especially when you aren't even human."

The Ox-Horse cast a sidelong glance at him.

"Got it, so you're into..."

"If you dare to finish that sentence, I'll beat you until you're the same size as them." The Ox-Horse pointed toward the rat-man heads in the pot.

Liu Zheng wisely kept his mouth shut.

"Hmph, this pot of soup is for the black market tonight," the Ox-Horse said.

"The black market?"

"That's right. As long as you have the money, you can buy anything in the black market," the Ox-Horse explained.

"Is this the 'extra money' opportunity you were talking about?" Liu Zheng recalled their previous conversation.

"Exactly. How much could you possibly make trading with that tree? In one night at the black market, you could earn ten times its entire net worth," the Ox-Horse tempted him.

"Then why are you still so poor?" he asked sincerely.

"Bullshit! Who are you calling poor?" the Ox-Horse roared.

"You can't even afford to change your vest, you got beaten half to death over a bottle of red wine, and you even have to mooch your staff meals off me," Liu Zheng listed the evidence as if he knew it by heart.

"That's called a compliance test, you understand? You bumpkin human," the Ox-Horse retorted with conviction. "I can even afford to drink Moutai; do you really think I care about a few of your staff meals?" it grumbled.

"Sure, sure," he said dismissively.

"You really look down on me, but I won't hold it against you. Just tell me, do you have the guts to go or not?" The Ox-Horse rolled its eyes at him.

"Is it dangerous?"

"You have a ninety-nine percent chance of dying," the Ox-Horse replied.

"Well, then I suppose I have no choice but to go," Liu Zheng laughed.

"Sometimes I really don't understand you humans," the Ox-Horse scratched its head. If he were a coward, he wouldn't dare go to such a dangerous place. If he were brave, he wouldn't be so quick to back down every time.

"High risk, high reward," Liu Zheng said with a calm expression. He knew that for a dungeon of this difficulty, simply hiding wouldn't cut it. If he hadn't risked his life several times already, would he even have his current stats? Besides, there was still the Sword of Damocles hanging over his head in the form of that gambling agreement.

"Hmph, it's not as easy as you think. The black market only opens after midnight, and by then, there are no delivery orders left," the Ox-Horse said.

*Rule two for delivery riders: Do not leave the breakroom unless you have an order.*

"But?"

"But as an outstanding employee, not only can I go out, but I can also take you with me," the Ox-Horse continued.

"But... but?"

"But regardless of how much you earn at the black market, I get half," the Ox-Horse glared at him before adding, "That’s non-negotiable."

"Very reasonable," Liu Zheng nodded.

"Don't think I'm just being greedy," the Ox-Horse said, seeing through his thoughts. "Without an order, you aren't considered a restaurant employee, and anyone could try to kill you. Especially at night, when filthy things crawl all over the streets. Without me covering for you, you're just a big slab of fatty meat."

"Boss, you just said there are no delivery orders at night—is it that people can't order, or that no one does?" Liu Zheng asked, shifting the topic.

"No one orders. There's only one person on duty in the kitchen at night, and even I think the food that guy makes is disgusting," the Ox-Horse replied.

"I see." Liu Zheng thought for a moment, took out his phone, and dialed a string of numbers. The Ox-Horse watched him silently, waiting to see what kind of scheme he was cooking up.

"Who is it?" A sound of typing on a keyboard came from the other end of the line.

"It's me, the delivery guy," Liu Zheng said.

"Ah, Senior!" The typing stopped abruptly. "Is there something you need, Senior?" The novelist's voice became slightly flirtatious.

"It's like this: could I trouble you to place a delivery order at midnight?" Liu Zheng asked. "And the longer the delivery time, the better."

"Sure, I can do that," the novelist agreed readily. "But if I do, Senior won't be able to look at my body anymore, okay?"

"That's truly a pity," Liu Zheng hung up the phone and turned to see the Ox-Horse staring at him as if he had seen a ghost.

"What's wrong?" he asked, puzzled.

"You've only been here for two days, and you're already flirting with the customers?" the Ox-Horse said in shock.

"Flirting is too strong a word; we just have a purely transactional relationship," Liu Zheng corrected.

"Are tentacle-men in fashion now?" The Ox-Horse looked at its own hooves, feeling a bit of an existential crisis.

"It's mostly personal charm. So, can I go to the black market now?" he asked.

"Hmph, fine, you win this round," the Ox-Horse said grumpily.

"Don't be like that. The conditions remain the same, and you'll still get your share of the profits," Liu Zheng smiled.

"What kind of devious scheme are you plotting now?" The Ox-Horse looked at him warily. It didn't believe for a second that this human had suddenly become generous.

"You said there are scalped tickets for Paradise Island, right?"

"That's right," the Ox-Horse nodded.

"How much does a single vacation voucher cost?" Liu Zheng asked.

"I think it's five hundred thousand," the Ox-Horse mused.

Five hundred thousand. His monthly salary was one thousand, which meant he would have to work for over forty years without eating or drinking to afford one.

"And you said you only needed to save for a dozen years or so to afford it," he noted. A single voucher cost five hundred thousand, so a double occupancy voucher must start at a million.

"I'm an outstanding employee; how could you compare yourself to me?" The Ox-Horse looked at him with disdain. If the pay wasn't so high, it wouldn't be working here either.

"Oh. Can you buy those scalped tickets at the black market?" Liu Zheng asked again.

"It's possible, but for goods of that level, you need someone to vouch for you," the Ox-Horse replied.

"Then let's do this: if I earn enough to buy a single vacation voucher, you help me get one, and you keep all the remaining money," he proposed.

"And if it's not enough?"

"If it's not enough, we split it fifty-fifty," Liu Zheng said.

"What makes you think you can earn that much money?" the Ox-Horse asked.

"Well, you have nothing to lose, do you?" He shrugged his tentacles. "Besides, you must have a way to help me earn that money, right, Boss?" Liu Zheng smiled. Otherwise, it wouldn't have brought it up in the first place.

"Hmph." The Ox-Horse rolled its eyes and went back to eating its stewed rat-man.

Watching it eat with such relish, Liu Zheng couldn't help but lick his teeth. "Is there anything to eat? Boss." He had expended a lot of energy, and he didn't think the standard staff meal would be enough to recover.

"No, you were the one who didn't want it earlier." The Ox-Horse blocked the pot with its massive body.

"I'm not going to fight you for it, is there anything else?" Liu Zheng said, speechless.

"No, if there were, would I have to steal your food?" the Ox-Horse said without hesitation.

"That canned food from last time..."

"Gone. Every last can is gone. If you're hungry, go gnaw on yourself," the Ox-Horse shouted before he could finish.

"If there's no food, at least give me something to drink. I haven't had any water all morning," Liu Zheng said, unwilling to give up.

"That's your own fault for trading it all to that tree," the Ox-Horse showed no sympathy.

"There must be some kind of game or something. You don't want me staring at you while you eat, do you?" he persisted.

"Why are you so damn annoying?" The Ox-Horse was so bothered that it finally stood up, opened a cabinet, and pulled out a book. "Here, take it. If you bother me again, I'll boil you." It threw the book at Liu Zheng and went back to its meal.

Liu Zheng picked it up and saw that it was a Sudoku magazine. "This works too." He took a pen out of his pocket and returned to his stool. Although it wasn't a prop, doing Sudoku puzzles was indeed effective for restoring his Sanity.

He spent the entire day doing them.