Chapter 52: Tallying the Spoils

"Drip."
"Drip."
Fresh blood continuously flowed from Liu Zheng's wounds, dripping onto the cage beneath him.
A litter of white-haired rats with blood-red eyes craned their necks in eager anticipation, rushing forward to lick every single drop of blood as it fell.
Their actions were carried out with strict discipline; each rat was only allowed one lick before making way for the next.
The only exception was a rat flecked with a few patches of gray fur, which was permitted two licks.
Liu Zheng noticed that its gaze was not only older than the other rats' but also much clearer.
He even counted them—the rat had a total of fifty-three whiskers.
There were two more on the right side than on the left.
The reason he was engaging in such a boring activity was, of course, that Liu Zheng was terribly bored.
At that moment, he was hung up on the wall by the White-Feathered Chicken, with several drill bits piercing his limbs and chest.
Those drill bits kept spinning continuously to prevent his blood from clotting.
"When are you going to let me down?"
After counting the gray rat's gray fur yet again, Liu Zheng finally couldn't hold it in any longer.
The pain was secondary; the real issue was how excruciatingly boring it was.
Besides, being displayed in such a posture made him feel a slight sense of shame.
Given that he was already a tentacle monster, if anyone mistook him for a BDSM enthusiast, he would never be able to clear his name.
"Just hang there honestly and wait until kitchen-prep duty is over."
Niu Ma replied while tossing a flying pancake.
It certainly had some genuine skill when it came to pastry-making; the pancakes it tossed could easily double as bedsheets.
"When will kitchen-prep be over?"
"Another five or six hours, I suppose."
Niu Ma glanced at the wall clock.
"Sigh, delivering food is so much better."
Liu Zheng lamented.
It was free, relaxing, and he could chat and joke around with the London plane trees.
"Now you know. If you had entered the service department or the kitchen from the very beginning, I could have already eaten an employee meal made out of you."
Niu Ma mocked.
"I feel like you're gaslighting me, and I have proof."
"If you're not happy, transfer departments then. I'll help you talk to the boss; she'll definitely agree."
Niu Ma rolled its eyes.
"There's no need for that. Once a delivery driver, always a delivery driver. No matter how nice other places are, they cannot accommodate my soul."
Liu Zheng said with a devout expression.
"Souls can be made into dishes, too. Care to give it a try?"
The White-Feathered Chicken lowered the radish it was halfway through carving and cast a sharp glare at the two slackers.
"..."
Liu Zheng tilted his head to the side and drifted into an infant-like slumber.
Niu Ma exerted even more force in tossing its pancakes, looking as though it intended to knit a carpet for the kitchen.
"Hmph, trash from the delivery department."
After flexing its tyrannical authority to its heart's content, the White-Feathered Chicken buried its head back into carving the radish.
Judging by the shape, what it was carving appeared to be the Eighteen Arhats.

When the clock struck ten in the evening, kitchen-prep finally came to an end.
By the time Liu Zheng was taken down, he had shrunk to half his original size.
"Serves you right."
Niu Ma showed not a shred of sympathy.
Liu Zheng rolled his eyes, too lazy to bicker with it.
"Are you leaving now, meow?"
The calico cat hopped over.
"Yes. It was very nice meeting you."
Liu Zheng smiled, extending a hand to scratch it under the chin.
He strongly suspected that the calico cat actually knew what he had been up to and simply hadn't reported him for unknown reasons.
"It was very nice meeting you too, meow."
The calico cat squinted its eyes comfortably.
The man's face surfaced once more, watching him with wary vigilance, but said nothing further.
"Napoleon, I'm heading out."
Niu Ma called out a casual greeting.
The White-Feathered Chicken gave a perfunctory wave and walked toward the straw nest in the corner.
Returning to the breakroom, Niu Ma extended its hoof once again.
"Hand it over."
"What?"
Liu Zheng played dumb.
"The toll for saving your life. If I hadn't protected you, the White-Feathered Chicken would have slaughtered you for sure."
Niu Ma glared at him.
"It didn't have any evidence, so why would it slaughter me?"
He argued reasonably.
"Evidence? The restaurant only requires rules, not evidence."
Niu Ma sneered.
"Hurry up. No money means a beating."
"You extortionist bull."
Liu Zheng muttered discontentedly, yet still produced the banknotes.
"It's bull-horse."
Niu Ma emphasized, beaming brightly as it returned to its nest and fell fast asleep.
Having spent the entire day making pastries, it was thoroughly exhausted.
Liu Zheng sat down on his own stool; now that his body had shrunk, sitting on the stool was considerably more comfortable.
Niu Ma's snoring shook the rafters, and since he couldn't fall asleep for the moment, he simply began sorting through his gains.
Currently, he possessed a total of eight items.
The first item: "Human Bone Cane."
This was the first item Liu Zheng had acquired, and its effect was both simple and practical.
A 10% speed boost didn't sound like much, but once all his stats had increased substantially, this bonus became very objective.
During normal food deliveries, it was merely the icing on the cake, but when pulling off an escape, whipping it out could prove immensely useful.
The second item: "Legendary Delivery Driver's Vest."
This was the first Perfect-tier item Liu Zheng obtained, as well as his most powerful piece of equipment.
Its effect was unpretissously powerful; without the Legendary Vest, he wouldn't even be able to walk upright in this dungeon world.
The third item: "Legendary Delivery Driver's Delivery Box."
The second Perfect-tier item Liu Zheng obtained, and also part of the Legendary Delivery Driver set.
This could be considered a developmental prop; as long as he delivered enough food, the benefits brought by this item might even surpass its original quality.
The fourth item: "Sick Leave Note (Single-use)."
This was a double-edged sword type of prop, avoiding one risk while simultaneously introducing another.
Whether or not to use it was something Liu Zheng still needed to ponder.
The fifth item: "Jiahe New Residence Honorary Homeowner Medal."
By collecting five Homeowner Medals, one could move about unhindered in the vast majority of residential communities in the city, and the meal orderers would no longer reject food deliveries.
Once he possessed both the Legendary Delivery Driver set and the Honorary Homeowner Medal set, delivering food would basically become a breeze.
He even felt confident enough to compete for the title of "Outstanding Employee," which made him a little excited just thinking about it.
The sixth item: "Tindalos Teething Stick (Single-use)."
This prop was formidable. Although its tier wasn't particularly high, its destructive power was top-notch.
The kind that could take both him and his enemies out together.
Unless he was backed into an absolute dead end, Liu Zheng definitely wouldn't use it.
Of course, occasionally taking it out to scare people was also quite effective.
The seventh item: "Token of the Circle Cult."
This was given to him by High Priest Garcia, and needless to say, there was definitely something fishy about it.
However, Liu Zheng had no intention of throwing it away either.
What if it came in handy one day?
After all, even a piece of toilet paper had its uses.
The third item—wait, the eighth item: "Heart of the Ocean (Upgraded)."
After being upgraded twice, this item's effects had become quite impressive.
Although it was only of Fine quality, its effects in specific environments were scarcely inferior to a Perfect-tier Legendary Vest.
Moreover, because the absorbed souls could be replaced, it could barely be considered a growth-type item.
The main point was that it could be taken out of the dungeon.
Among the items Liu Zheng currently possessed, only the "Heart of the Ocean" and the "Human Bone Cane" could be taken out of the dungeon.
No matter how good the other props were, they would simply expire and become useless once outdated.
He wondered if there would be any subsidies during the dungeon settlement; otherwise, it would genuinely feel a bit like a loss.
After organizing his items, Liu Zheng felt that he was utterly badass.
Though he didn't know how other players were doing, his intuition told him that his dungeon's difficulty was definitely abnormal.
From the moment he stepped into the dungeon, his journey could only be described as fraught with danger at every step.
Relying on thirty percent wit, seventy percent ruthlessness, and ninety percent luck, Liu Zheng had managed to survive until now.
However, luck wouldn't favor him forever, even if he truly were a clown.
To clear the stage with a rating of Grade A or higher and satisfy the conditions of the "gambling agreement" to avoid being purged, the minimum requirement of surviving for seventy-two hours fell far short.
He had to secure the Legendary Delivery Driver's hat to piece together the first puzzle of success.
Liu Zheng's gaze pierced through the doorway of the breakroom, looking out at the perilous world beyond.