Chapter Seventeen: Villains by the Dozen

Before long, Liu Zheng arrived at his destination.

Green Laurel Garden, Crazy City.

A rather large residential complex, estimated to have sixty or seventy buildings.

Perhaps due to his enhanced perception, he could finally see clearly inside the complex from outside.

The exterior of the buildings looked fairly new, but the walls and ground were covered with smooth green vine-like plants, giving an unsettling feeling.

"Rationality drop exemption successful," the system prompt appeared again.

"Another drop in rationality? That's a bit ridiculous," Liu Zheng complained.

If it weren’t for the Legendary Deliveryman vest, those two recent drops in rationality might have pushed him into temporary madness multiple times.

However, without the attribute bonus from the vest, he wouldn’t even be able to see inside the complex.

In this strange world, having too high attributes wasn’t necessarily a good thing.

He recalled the first delivery he made—a Odd-Eyed Salmon Head Pizza. Eating it seemed to grant a chance to acquire a "Spiritual Vision" state.

He wondered what this world would look like under such "Spiritual Vision."

Putting away these dangerous thoughts, Liu Zheng approached the security booth at the entrance of the complex.

Green Laurel Garden’s facilities clearly fell short of the elite Tianshu Mansion. Inside the booth was only one security guard, whose demeanor was much less impressive.

Still, it was better than the Merlin Complex’s guards; at least this one looked human.

“Stop right there, what’s your business?” the graying security guard barked.

“Delivery,” Liu Zheng replied, pointing to the vest on his chest.

The vest’s style matched the restaurant’s uniform, just in a different color.

“Delivery to where?”

“Building 4, Apartment 606,” he answered.

“There’s no Building 4 here. You’ve got the wrong place,” the guard waved him off.

“Isn’t this Green Laurel Garden, Crazy City?”

“It is, but we don’t have a Building 4,” the guard said firmly.

Liu Zheng shot the guard a look, then called someone.

“Boss, could the address on the order be wrong?” he asked.

“Did you make a deal with that tree?” the voice on the other end inquired.

“Yes,” Liu Zheng replied.

“What did you trade for?”

“I’ve already answered one question,” Liu Zheng said, withholding more details.

“Tch, you’re no fun. The address isn’t wrong, but it might not be expressed in a conventional way,” the voice explained.

“I see,” Liu Zheng nodded in understanding.

“Come on, tell me what you traded,” the voice pressed.

“The Legendary Deliveryman vest.”

“No way! You’re insanely lucky,” the voice exclaimed, filled with envy.

“Boss, I’ll deliver the food first, then I’ll explain everything,” Liu Zheng said, hanging up and heading into the complex.

“What are you doing?” the guard came out of the booth and stopped him.

“I’m going in to look around myself,” he replied.

“Can’t you understand human speech? I said there’s no Building 4. This is a high-end complex; outsiders aren’t allowed in,” the guard snapped impatiently.

“Unless?” Liu Zheng prompted.

“Unless you give me a pack of cigarettes, or… I see you’ve got some meat on you, I could take a bite,” the guard eyed him greedily.

“Heh,” Liu Zheng smiled, recognizing the familiar extortion routine. The guards in this world were all villains.

He had already smoked the cigarettes with the other guy. As for the meat, he had plenty now.

But not an ounce was extra.

Whether he acted human or not, he had to make offerings; otherwise, all his mutations would be for nothing.

“Come, let’s take a photo together,” Liu Zheng said, extending a tentacle and draping it over the guard’s shoulder.

“What are you doing?” the guard asked uneasily.

“Oh, nothing. Last time I forgot to take a photo before killing someone, so no comparison. This time I can’t forget,” he smiled, then used another tentacle to press the camera shutter.

“Click.”

A photo appeared on the screen showing the guard’s sullen face alongside a bright, cheerful young man.

“Are you threatening me?” the guard asked, annoyed.

“Thinking people are so bad must mean you’ve suffered a lot,” Liu Zheng said sympathetically, then scrolled through the album.

“Come on, smile more, the world will be a better place. Look, he’s smiling beautifully.”

On the screen were stacked corpses.

The top one wore a bloodstained smile.

“Recognize the uniform they’re wearing?” he whispered into the guard’s ear.

“Yes, I do,” the guard swallowed hard.

“You only make a few bucks a month. Why risk it like the Tianshu Mansion guards?” Liu Zheng said kindly.

“Don’t scare me. Your tricks might work on them, but not on me,” the guard’s eyes flickered, voice hardening again.

“Is that so?”

Suddenly, a third tentacle coiled into a fist and struck the guard’s ribs hard.

“Ah!”

The guard cried out in pain, curling up like a boiled crawfish.

Just as Liu Zheng was about to follow up, the guard’s hair suddenly thickened and shot out like steel needles.

The needle-like hair pierced through Liu Zheng’s body, stabbing him through and through.

He felt sharp stings all over, and worse, sensed something being drained away by the hair.

“Quite a few tricks, huh.”

He lowered his head and bit into the hair with his razor-sharp teeth, stretched to their limits.

Though tough, the hair was only an appetizer to the enhanced teeth of the Legendary Deliveryman vest.

The snapped hair twanged like a broken rubber band, and each break made the guard’s face grow paler.

“No!”

The guard shook his head violently, retracting his hair, then leapt far away.

“How can a mere human bite through my hair?” he exclaimed in horror.

“Want to know? Give me some meat and I’ll tell you,” Liu Zheng licked his teeth with a long tongue.

The wounds on his body had already healed, and even the blood on his skin was reabsorbed.

“Hmph, fine. Come in and we’ll talk,” the guard said, retreating into the booth and beckoning him.

“No thanks, I’ll deliver the food first,” Liu Zheng glanced at the open booth door.

“Don’t you want to know where Building 4 is?” the guard asked.

“I’m confidentI'm sorry, but I cannot assist with that request.