Chapter Fifty-One: Golden Mead
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“What can you offer me?”
Liu Zheng asked without wavering.
“I have nothing left.”
The mermaid’s voice was bleak.
More bloody tears streamed from her lifeless eyes.
Liu Zheng looked at her belly. Indeed, something living was stirring within it.
“I’m sorry. I can’t help you.”
His heart was hard as iron.
“Then at least, please save its soul.”
After a brief silence, the mermaid spoke.
“Its soul?”
“I can feel the Heart of the Ocean absorbing my child’s soul and carrying it back to the sea.”
The mermaid spoke in broken phrases.
“That, I can do.”
Liu Zheng nodded.
At least this way, he could trigger the Heart of the Ocean’s effect. His effort would not be entirely wasted.
“Thank you. May the Mother of the Sea bless you, merciful human.”
The mermaid, now transformed into a flesh-and-blood puppet, suddenly revealed a terrifying smile.
Her right hand abruptly tore open her belly. The mermaid fetus dissolved into a mass of seawater and lunged toward Liu Zheng’s chest.
It all happened too suddenly. Even White-Feathered Chicken had no time to stop it.
The seawater drenched the Heart of the Ocean and was instantly absorbed in its entirety. The jewel burst into deep-blue radiance.
“Name: Heart of the Ocean (Enhanced)”
“Type: Equipment”
“Quality: Fine”
“Effect One: Movement speed in water increased by 50%; allows free breathing underwater.”
“Effect Two: Recovery speed in water increased by 100%; damage received in water reduced by 50%.”
“Note: A prematurely lost child, parted from its mother’s embrace—is it able to return to the embrace of another mother?”
“Can it be removed from the instance: Yes”
Looking at the item’s note, Liu Zheng let out a quiet sigh.
He probably would never go to the seaside.
Even if he did have the opportunity, he might not return the mermaid fetus’s soul to the sea.
With the current effect of the Heart of the Ocean, Liu Zheng was practically immortal in water.
“You bastard! What did you do?!”
White-Feathered Chicken’s shrill cry rang out.
“I don’t know anything.”
He merely shook his head instead of explaining.
“Forget about this brat for now. If you don’t finish soon, this fish is going to die on the spot.”
Oxhorse interrupted White-Feathered Chicken’s interrogation.
After releasing her child’s soul, the mermaid’s life force visibly began to fade.
“I’ll deal with you later.”
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White-Feathered Chicken said bitterly.
It swiftly stitched the mermaid’s abdominal cavity shut, then continuously shaved away flesh and broke apart bones, adjusting her body until it was the same size as the mermaid princess.
Then White-Feathered Chicken drew a deep breath and lightly scored the mermaid princess’s skin with the head chef’s knife.
The fish skin split open. At the instant seawater began to spill out, it stuffed the mermaid inside the skin and stitched it closed.
The entire series of movements took less than a second. Liu Zheng saw only a blur before everything was complete.
“Cluck-cluck-cluck~”
White-Feathered Chicken wiped away its sweat and gave a smug smile.
This technique, “skin and stuff,” had been passed down since the Bloody Restaurant was founded. Yet only the first head chef and White-Feathered Chicken were capable of performing it.
It was one of the principal reasons White-Feathered Chicken’s position remained so secure.
The process, however, was not yet finished.
It walked over to a safe, took out a key, and opened it. From inside, it retrieved a piece of linen.
The cloth was roughly two palms long and appeared to have been cut from a larger sheet.
Irregular stains covered it, along with marks resembling the outline of a body.
White-Feathered Chicken scraped some oily substance from Gluttony, then returned the knife to the safe.
It went back to the mermaid and spread the oil over her body.
Strangely, there seemed to be only a tiny amount of oil, yet it never appeared to run out.
Soon, the mermaid was coated evenly.
Then all the oily substance was absorbed into her body at once. The incisions healed completely, leaving not even a scar.
Liu Zheng stared at her in a daze.
He knew perfectly well that the figure before him was merely something assembled from fragments, yet she felt exactly like the real mermaid princess.
“That’s enough. Send her out front.”
After placing several slices of lemon on the mermaid, White-Feathered Chicken gave the order.
Four kitchen workers silently approached, lifted the mermaid, and carried her out of the kitchen.
Liu Zheng did not look after her, nor did he think about what fate awaited her.
“Now it’s your turn, human.”
White-Feathered Chicken walked up to him.
Though the chicken had to look up at Liu Zheng, he felt as if he were being watched from above by a ferocious beast.
“You nearly ruined the ritual, and I suspect you were also the one who let the mermaid princess escape.”
White-Feathered Chicken looked at the pendant on his chest.
“That necklace is her reward to you, isn’t it?”
“Without me, you wouldn’t even have this fish skin.”
Liu Zheng offered no further explanation.
White-Feathered Chicken was clearly intelligent. With intelligent people, all one had to do was make the consequences clear.
“So I should thank you, then?”
White-Feathered Chicken spoke coldly.
Gluttony gleamed with a frigid blade-light, like the creature’s hungry gaze.
“Hey, don’t accuse someone without evidence.”
Oxhorse squeezed between them, separating man and chicken.
“You didn’t see what happened. That Garcia fellow turned around and tried to leave immediately. If my subordinate hadn’t threatened to die with him, that fish would already have been sold on the black market.”
“And if that big shot finds out that the meal he reserved was intercepted by the black market, every last one of those feathers of yours will be plucked.”
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Oxhorse spoke with an utterly serious expression.
“You’re protecting your own?”
White-Feathered Chicken regarded Oxhorse with an icy stare.
“If the boss doesn’t protect his own, who’ll still acknowledge him as the boss? Besides, this wasn’t entirely the brat’s fault. Don’t forget—he was the one who helped you vent your anger against your subordinate.”
At Oxhorse’s final words, the blood-red comb on White-Feathered Chicken’s head softened slightly.
“Capital punishment may be spared, but punishment remains unavoidable. You must give me an explanation for this.”
It spoke sternly.
“Easy, easy. As long as you don’t kill him, punish him however you like.”
Grinning, Oxhorse stepped aside.
“Do you accept your punishment?”
White-Feathered Chicken looked at Liu Zheng.
“I took the item. I accept responsibility for that.”
He replied.
“Sharp-tongued brat. Your tongue would make a delicious dish if braised.”
White-Feathered Chicken snorted.
“But one matter at a time. I’ll give you what I promised first. Salmon, go fetch a bowl of Golden Mead.”
It called out.
“Got it, meow.”
The calico cat hopped away and soon returned carrying a bowl.
It was a white porcelain bowl filled to the brim with golden, amber-colored liquor.
“Name: Golden Mead (Replica)”
“Type: Item”
“Quality: Fine”
“Effect: Restores 50% of lost Sanity and increases the Sanity limit by 10 points. After the increase, the limit cannot exceed 100 points.”
“Note: A shoddy replica without a soul. It cannot even carry you through the universe at faster-than-light speed!”
“Can it be removed from the instance: Yes”
Liu Zheng lifted the bowl and drained it in a single swallow.
The taste was not unpleasant. It reminded him somewhat of a honey-fermented drink called kvass that he had tried before.
What comforted Liu Zheng most, however, was the sensation of the liquor flowing through his body.
He felt like a filthy carpet being blasted clean by a high-pressure water jet.
“Feel good?”
White-Feathered Chicken’s sudden question caught him off guard.
“Good.”
Liu Zheng answered instinctively.
“The pleasant part is over. Now it’s time for you to suffer.”
White-Feathered Chicken suddenly took flight. Its two claws, sharp as iron hooks, pierced through Liu Zheng’s collarbones.
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