Chapter 57: Spitting Everywhere, Ruining the Family Fortune

It didn't take much time for Liu Zheng to reach his destination.

West River Center.

This was a small building of about eleven floors, quite short for an office building.

However, office buildings like this actually had higher rents, much like how garden houses were more expensive than tower blocks.

The people entering and leaving the building were neither too many nor too few.

Most of them were dressed in business suits or exquisite matching skirts.

Their exposed limbs and skin looked completely normal.

Yet, over their heads, every single one of them wore a paper bag with a face drawn on the front.

The paint, brushes, and techniques used for each face varied entirely; some were simple line drawings, while others resembled classical oil paintings.

Unsurprisingly, the more exquisite the face painted on the bag, the better the clothing worn by the person, some even sporting gold watches or jewelry.

As Liu Zheng walked toward the entrance, they cast curious glances his way.

That was right—these drawn faces could actually move, and they were even more flexible than genuine facial features.

"What are you looking at?"

He stared right back without showing the slightest weakness.

When dealing with people in this bizarre world, one had to act like an African hyena.

If you have the strength, you bite; if you don't, you run.

You couldn't be too reckless, nor could you be too cowardly.

Just like now, when Liu Zheng glared at them fiercely and even coiled his tentacles in preparation for a fight, those white-collar workers immediately averted their gazes.

"Hmph, petty bourgeois trash."

He spat on the ground.

However, Liu Zheng also noticed something rather interesting.

These people didn't seem to be looking at him at all; instead, they were staring at his food delivery box.

What, had none of them eaten breakfast?

Liu Zheng was slightly puzzled, but he didn't dwell on it.

Just as he was about to step through the doors of the office building, a woman wearing a red armband blocked his path.

Judging by her attire, she must have been a cleaner.

The face drawn on her bag was in a sketched style and looked rather delicate; she probably wasn't even thirty years old.

"Littering. A one-hundred-dollar fine."

She held out her hand, speaking in a flat, expressionless tone.

"I didn't spit inside the building."

Of course, Liu Zheng wasn't about to hand over the money just like that.

His cash hadn't fallen from the sky, after all.

"Outside isn't allowed either. Everything all the way to the curb falls under the designated sanitation and maintenance zone."

The cleaner insisted relentlessly.

"Where on earth did you pull that rule from?"

"Property management regulations."

"You're using property management regulations against a food delivery guy?"

Liu Zheng was rendered somewhat speechless.

"Fine. Lend me a mop, and I'll clean it up. Would that work?"

"No."

Faced with his proposal, the cleaner flatly refused.

"Alright, whatever."

Helplessly, Liu Zheng pulled out a hundred-dollar bill and handed it to her.

Though he felt this money shouldn't necessarily have to be paid, since he had cash on hand, there was no need to take unnecessary risks.

"Furthermore, you are responsible for cleaning the entire sanitation zone out front."

The cleaner accepted the money, but she had no intention of letting him off the hook.

"Are you serious?"

Liu Zheng looked around; this area was at least a thousand square meters.

If he finished cleaning it, it would probably be dark by then.

"That's right. That's also a property regulation."

The cleaner nodded.

Liu Zheng was now certain she was purely looking for trouble.

"Then I'll pay another hundred, and you help me clean it."

He made another attempt at a peaceful resolution.

"No."

The cleaner shook her head.

Just as Liu Zheng was marveling at her integrity, she spoke again.

"At least two thousand."

"Heh."

Liu Zheng sneered.

Two thousand was enough to buy the cleaner outright.

Since reasoning was getting nowhere, there was nothing left to say.

Just to be safe, he decided to give Niuma a call.

"What?"

Niuma's voice sounded somewhat rushed, as if it were doing sit-ups again.

"The building cleaner stopped me and said spitting on the ground incurs a two-thousand-and-one fine."

Liu Zheng stated concisely.

"Then just pay it."

Niuma replied with utter indifference.

"I can pay it, but will paying it solve the problem?"

He asked.

"No."

Niuma's answer was equally concise.

"Look inside the main entrance."

Liu Zheng looked over as instructed. A person wearing a security guard uniform was silently watching him.

"Is a security guard looking at you?"

Niuma asked.

"Yes."

"The property management of these office buildings are all cut from the same cloth, always finding ways to squeeze money out of us delivery workers. Even if you didn't spit, you'd still be fined because your left foot stepped into the lobby first in violation of regulations."

Niuma said.

"Isn't that a bit too targeted?"

Liu Zheng said speechlessly.

Compared to the property management of this office building, the security guards at residential compounds practically looked upright and honest.

"Actually, it wasn't like this originally. There's a rumor that the behind-the-scenes boss of every office building in the city is the same person, and that person doesn't get along with the current Bloody Restaurant."

Niuma explained.

Doesn't get along with the current Bloody Restaurant...

Liu Zheng felt an implication in those words and quickly deduced the answer.

What was the difference between the current Bloody Restaurant and the old one? According to the intelligence he had gathered, there was only one thing.

The restaurant owner had been replaced by Si Xue.

When immortals fight, mortals suffer the collateral damage.

He shook his head helplessly.

"Think about it yourself. If you want to use money to avert disaster, it won't be less than ten thousand."

"Then how did other delivery drivers make their drops before?"

Liu Zheng asked.

"Why do you keep asking such idiotic questions? If they had managed to deliver, would you even be able to get in?"

Niuma retorted.

What it said made so much sense that Liu Zheng was left entirely speechless.

"Then the restaurant's turnover rate must be ridiculously high."

Niuma scoffed. "It's always been like that, or why do you think I ran away? Even so, countless people are dying to get in. Take the employee meals that you hate eating every day—if you took them outside, they'd be enough to start a turf war. Look at that tree outside; it's stronger than I am, yet what does it eat and drink every day? If it weren't counting on you to scrounge up food from the restaurant for it, do you think it would tolerate you so much and let you take advantage of it?"

Liu Zheng thought about it, and it was true.

When they first met, the London plane tree had even craved his urine.

With that thought, an inspiration suddenly struck him.

"Thanks, boss."

Liu Zheng politely hung up the phone.

"I am definitely not giving you the money."

He said to the cleaner.

"Then according to the regulations, I'll beat you to death."

The cleaner's drawn face instantly morphed into an angry expression, and three flames even appeared above her forehead.

Simultaneously, her cleaning uniform ballooned instantly, her entire upper body expanding until she looked more massive than a bodybuilding champion.

Her traps, in particular, looked like they couldn't have been built without consuming two truckloads of protein powder.

"Holy shit!"

Liu Zheng was completely astounded.

With that kind of strength, why be a cleaner? Wouldn't entering the Olympia be a better career choice?

"However, I can treat you to a cup of coffee. Bad Luck Coffee."

"Oh, wait, two cups."

He glanced past her toward the security guard inside the doors.

Hearing Liu Zheng's words, the cleaner hesitated.

She cast a furtive glance at the security guard, who gave a barely perceptible nod.

"One iced Orange C Americano, half sugar. One hot coconut latte, standard sugar."

The anger vanished from the cleaner's face, replaced by a bizarre smile.

"No problem."

Liu Zheng nodded.

"Bad Luck Coffee is over there."

The cleaner pointed the way, and her exaggerated pectoral muscles deflated back to normal.

"OK."

He walked toward the side of the office building, where a striking sign came into view.

It depicted an inverted deer head, its severed neck constantly gushing blood that pooled on the ground.

Yet the deer's eyes remained clear, a trace of sorrow mingling within that clarity.

It gazed at Liu Zheng, shedding a single tear that burned with black flames.