Chapter 47: Riding on the Coat-Tails of Power

"Is that even a question?"

Liu Zheng smiled.

"Of course, I'll keep delivering food."

Free room and board with zero actual work—where else would you find a deal like that? Anyone offering such a thing was either selling pyramid schemes or leading a cult. Chanting toward the starry sky every single day, would he even still be himself by the end of it?

Instance clearing required his own active application. If he lost his sense of self and remained trapped in this instance world day after day, was he truly dead or alive?

"Then we have nothing more to say."

Garcia shook his head and prepared to leave with his cultists.

"Did I say you could leave?" Liu Zheng asked.

"A couple of beasts like you cannot stop us. As for Your Excellency, you are merely trying to stop a chariot with your bare arms." Garcia looked at him with undisguised contempt.

He was nothing more than a vessel used to record the gospel; did he really think he was somebody important?

Liu Zheng looked toward the beast-headed man.

"I didn't expect this bird-man to show up in person."

The beast-headed man shook his head. Generally speaking, transactions involving the Circle God Cult at most involved a priest leading a team. Garcia had originally been a priest, his mask bearing three quarter-circles.

Liu Zheng then looked at the calico cat.

"The Head Chef said I'm not allowed to fight for you, meow."

The calico cat also expressed its helplessness.

"Well, nothing can be done then. Be on your way." He sighed.

Since even the kitchen staff weren't willing to exert themselves, why should a mere delivery guy worry about it?

"We will meet again, Your Excellency."

Garcia drew a quarter-circle in the air toward Liu Zheng.

Liu Zheng narrowed his eyes slightly. This fellow seemed to be threatening him.

Just as he was wondering whether to hurl some harsh threats back, a voice as thin as a mosquito's buzz pierced his ears.

"Save me, I beg you."

"Hm?"

Without changing his expression, Liu Zheng shifted his gaze into the block of ice.

"Save me, I beg you, please save me."

The voice grew slightly louder.

Liu Zheng looked at the beast-headed man and the calico cat, but they seemed completely oblivious.

"Are you that mermaid?" he tested the waters in his mind.

"Yes, I am Princess Kova of the mermaid royal family. I am communicating with you through telepathy," the mermaid replied.

Telepathy? Surely she hadn't also been snacking on garlic-butter Mi-Go brains? Liu Zheng thought with a bizarre expression.

"I have never eaten Mi-Go brains. This is an innate ability given to me as a daughter of the sea."

"You can even hear that? This is getting a bit creepy," he frowned.

"I'm sorry, but I can't control it." The mermaid princess apologized immediately.

"Forget it. Make it quick. What's in it for me if I save you?"

The mermaid princess was still a fish, and his benevolence didn't extend across species lines yet.

"Take me back to the sea, and my royal father will grant you countless treasures," the mermaid princess said.

"Not interested."

Setting aside whether the mermaid princess would honor her promise, the precondition itself was impossible. Take her back to the sea? Without his delivery job, he couldn't even make it out of this street.

"Then... I can take human form and marry you." The mermaid princess said with a touch of shyness.

"Even less interested."

He wasn't some protagonist from a romance drama.

"Then... I can give you this."

The mermaid princess hesitated for a few moments before speaking. A faint shimmer suddenly flickered from within the ice, catching Liu Zheng's eye. It was the pendant resting on the mermaid princess's chest—a blue, heart-shaped gemstone.

"Name: Heart of the Ocean (Counterfeit)"
"Type: Equipment"
"Quality: Excellent"
"Effect: Increases movement speed in water by 50%, allows free breathing underwater."
"Remark: You jump, I keep."
"Tradable outside the instance: Yes"

Now that was a decent item.

Liu Zheng felt a pang of temptation. Looking at it from another angle, this was essentially a survival item. If the land became too dangerous, he could simply dive into the water to hide. However, acquiring this item didn't necessarily mean he had to save the mermaid.

"The Heart of the Ocean is bound to my life. If I die, it will shatter as well," the mermaid princess quickly added.

Damn it, he had forgotten that this creature could hear his inner thoughts.

"Even if I snatch you away from the Circle God Cult, you'll just end up cooked into a dish at the Bloody Restaurant," Liu Zheng thought of another problem.

"You don't need to worry about that. You just need to buy me," the mermaid princess replied. "Aside from the Heart of the Ocean, I have another gift for you, though I cannot tell you what it is just yet."

"Fine then." He shrugged.

Initially, Liu Zheng had wanted the mermaid princess to release the Mermaid's Tears first so he could inspect the goods, but on second thought, inspecting goods wasn't his job, so he dropped the idea.

"Hey, we're buying this fish," Liu Zheng called out.

"Oh?"

Garcia, who was overseeing the cultists packing the crates, turned his head, a strange glint flashing across his iron mask. "You speak too late, Your Excellency. Just moments ago, a representative from the black market confirmed their purchase of this item."

He pulled out his phone and shook it.

"Don't you even understand first-come, first-served? How do you call this doing business?" Liu Zheng complained with dissatisfaction.

"If I recall correctly, Your Excellency just told us to leave a moment ago?" Garcia smiled.

"Right, I told *you* to leave, I didn't say the cargo could go," he argued with absolute confidence.

"A pointless war of words. Your Excellency, it is better for all of us to part ways amicably." Garcia shook his head.

"What if I insist on buying it?"

Liu Zheng reversed his grip on the chef's knife.

Garcia looked at Gluttony, a trace of wariness flashing in his eyes, but his voice remained resolute. "Then we shall have to see how much weight Your Excellency truly carries."

"Fine! Beast-Man, Salmon, go get 'em."

He took a large step backward, shielding the two behind him.

"Why the hell should I take orders from you?!" the beast-headed man cursed loudly.

"The Head Chef won't let me fight, meow," the calico cat chimed in.

"Nothing I can do then." Liu Zheng shrugged, and then pulled out the teething bone of a Hounds of Tindalos. "Looks like I'll just have to unleash the hounds."

He held the bone high, as if brandishing a grenade.

"Holy shit!"

The beast-headed man's eyes crossed in sheer terror.

"Meow meow meow!!!"

The calico cat's fur stood completely on end, its body arching until it was almost folded in half.

"What are you doing?!" The calico cat's owner also revealed himself.

"Your Excellency... is this really necessary?" Garcia asked with difficulty.

The symbols on his mask warped and bunched together, clearly terrified out of his mind. Were Hounds of Tindalos really that terrifying?

Even Liu Zheng was startled by their dramatic reactions.

"Yeah, you're just helping out in the kitchen, does the kid really have to go this far? Is Napoleon your biological father or something?" the beast-headed man cursed.

"Big Boss, you know how I am. Whatever I do, I must do it to the absolute best of my ability," Liu Zheng said with a straight face.

"You won't let me inspect the goods, and you won't sell it to me. You're making things very difficult for me." He turned back to Garcia, a trace of icy chill creeping into his smile.

"This is merely a transaction. I refuse to believe Your Excellency would risk mutual destruction with us over this." Garcia gradually regained his composure, his intelligence retaking the high ground.

"You can tell I've heard the gospel, yet you couldn't tell I've already lost my mind?" Liu Zheng said leisurely.

Then, abruptly, he thrust his knife straight toward Garcia.

Garcia's figure flickered as he attempted to dodge the blade.

"Don't move, or I'll throw the bone." Liu Zheng shook the teething bone.

Faced with the threat, Garcia's eyes turned cold, but he froze in place.

Gluttony plunged into Garcia's shoulder, and his flesh was instantly devoured in massive chunks by the demonic kitchen knife.

"Take this wound as our settlement. If Your Excellency continues to press us, we will have no choice but to drag you down with us in mutual ruin," Garcia said through gritted teeth, enduring the agonizing pain.

"A settlement? How is that possible?"

Liu Zheng flashed a grin.

Garcia's gaze turned gloomy. The four quarter-circles on his mask converged toward the center, looking as though they were about to snap together into a complete circle.

"This is only the beginning."

Bursting into wild laughter, Liu Zheng drove Gluttony deep into his own chest, burying it all the way to the hilt.