The world has turned into Hell's Game, why should I stay human?
Chapter 68 Skinning Monster

Chapter 68: Chapter 68 Skinning Monster

Cold.

As soon as Liu Zheng touched the river water, he felt an extreme cold.

It wasn’t the cold of ice water, but the cold of having liquid nitrogen smeared on your face.

But soon, he felt an extreme heat.

It wasn’t the heat of boiling water, but the heat of being corroded by acid.

Although he couldn’t see clearly under the surface of the water, by feeling alone, Liu Zheng knew his tentacles had rotted away.

Yet he could endure it and had no choice but to endure.

In a way, even though his essence hadn’t changed, having experienced so much non-human pain and still keeping his sanity meant he had long since become non-human.

Time passed little by little, and that painful sensation finally began to subside gradually.

Liu Zheng retracted his tentacles, which were now reduced to small, broken chunks of cartilage.

"So there are bones in my tentacles, huh."

He said in surprise.

He’d never paid attention to this before.

In reality, creatures with tentacles don’t have skeletons in them.

Because these tentacle creatures are very low in the evolutionary scale, they hardly have any bones in their bodies.

And from a practicality standpoint, bones regenerate much slower than muscles.

But Liu Zheng doesn’t have this problem; he can regenerate even his internal organs, let alone bones.

He just doesn’t know if the brain can regenerate; he’s not brave enough to try.

The first attempt, a failure.

Liu Zheng decided to walk forward 100 meters and try again.

If it failed again, he would move forward another 200 meters and try once more.

After three failures, he would beat a retreat.

Liu Zheng walked forward with his broken bones hanging down, head lowered.

Even though the sewer seemed very calm, he didn’t let his guard down.

The rule about not attacking delivery workers applied above ground, and it was hard to say if it would hold in the sewer.

One step, two steps, three steps...

Liu Zheng counted his steps, stopping at the hundredth.

Just as he was preparing to squat down, he suddenly felt his head grow cold.

He reached up with a tentacle to touch it—sticky, with a hint of warmth.

A sense of alarm surged in Liu Zheng’s heart, but his body reacted faster than his brain, rolling on the spot.

A breeze grazed his scalp, and in that instant, Liu Zheng only saw a red shadow flash by.

After tumbling out three to four meters, he immediately got up and looked overhead.

A blood-red monster lay on the ceiling, locking eyes with Liu Zheng.

How should one describe this monster?

It had no skin; its overdeveloped, grotesque muscles and capillaries were exposed, like a skinned bullfrog.

Also exposed was its brain, inflated to the point of looking like it was divided on the left and right, resembling the compound eyes of a fly.

The monster’s own eyes were pure black, devoid of any white, and it had no eyelids.

Its nails were also extraordinarily long and thick, resembling the claws of a bird of prey.

Merely by its appearance, this monster gave Liu Zheng a tremendous sense of oppression.

This was not the unknown strangeness that Niu Ma, French Plane Trees, or Oynk imposed on him.

It was the naked fear instinct of a prey against a higher-order predator.

"Perhaps we can talk about this."

Liu Zheng said, drawing his boning knife while attempting to communicate.

"I am a delivery man from Bloody Restaurant. If you want food, I can give it to you, and give you more and better food."

Hearing his word, the Skinning Monster showed no reaction, its eyes merely following his movements.

"I also have an attractant here. With this, you can lure a lot of big fish, like the giant mouth whale, for example. I can supply you with this in the long term, which is much more worthwhile than eating me."

Liu Zheng took out a bottle of the attractant and shook it.

Hearing these words, the Skinning Monster’s eyeballs moved slightly.

It slowly lowered its body, seeming to plan to drop to the ground.

"This might work!"

Liu Zheng thought, delighted inwardly.

If even a tree could talk, there’s no reason the Skinning Monster couldn’t communicate.

As long as there’s communication, there’s a price.

As long as there’s a price, it can be bought.

Just as he was pondering what other price he could offer, the Skinning Monster came down.

However, what fell was not its body, but its tongue.

A pale red shadow flashed in the air, and Liu Zheng only had time to tilt his head slightly before the tongue pierced through him.

Blood streamed down from the corner of his mouth.

The slender tongue, covered with barbs, pierced through his left cheek and exited through the right.

He was just a little bit away from having his brain skewered.

"So you chose to ignore my toast and face the consequences, huh?"

Having just escaped death by a hair’s breadth, his "Anger Management" flared immediately.

With a roar, he swung his boning knife, casting a bright slash of light toward the long tongue.

The Skinning Monster’s eyes were filled with mockery.

Its tongue was harder than the teeth of the fish in the river; that lousy knife couldn’t even break the skin.

Then, its tongue was severed.

A jet of black blood sprayed out, and the severed tongue, due to the overbearing muscle strength, recoiled and smashed onto the face of the Skinning Monster itself.

The piece of the tongue that remained on Liu Zheng’s face was still writhing as if it were alive.

He grasped the severed tongue and gradually pulled it out.

"Your ingredients are of a pretty high grade, huh?"

Liu Zheng spoke with a slight whistle.

The main reason he was able to sever the tongue with a single strike was the true damage from the Legendary Armor, and partly due to the damage bonus of the boning knife.

I wonder if the White Feather Chicken would take a Skinning Monster—this should count as a specialty of the sewer.

With that thought, he looked at the Skinning Monster with eyes that held fear but also a burning greed.

A lion, bitten on the buttocks by a hyena, is still strong but no longer invincible.

Facing Liu Zheng’s fiery gaze, the eyeballs of the Skinning Monster trembled slightly.

It moved swiftly and silently along the ceiling, circling Liu Zheng like a giant spider.

Clearly, it was looking for another opportunity to attack.

Liu Zheng’s response was straightforward—he held the Legendary Takeout Box over his head.

As long as he protected his head, any other part was fair game for the Skinning Monster to attack.

Best if it aimed straight at his heart, where the bones are plentiful.

If it got stuck, it would lose another piece of its tongue.

Though there was a risk of damaging the Legendary Takeout Box, in the face of crisis, there was no time to consider that.

The Skinning Monster apparently saw through Liu Zheng’s tactic, and after prowling around for a while, it didn’t make a move.

"Are we fighting or not, I’ve still got deliveries to make," said Liu Zheng impatiently.

"If you’re not going to fight, come down and let’s talk. The terms I offered before still stand."

he said.

Having the assistance of the Skinning Monster, native to the sewers, would surely make his exploration task much smoother.

And by gaining his help, the Skinning Monster would have access to resources it couldn’t find in the sewers.

It was a win-win-win situation, with Liu Zheng winning twice.

Unfortunately, the Skinning Monster was not as good at weighing pros and cons as he was.

Or perhaps, it didn’t possess true sentience.

The Skinning Monster suddenly accelerated, its blood-red figure filling the entire ceiling.

In the blink of an eye, as Liu Zheng blinked, it lunged down.

Since its tongue was ineffective, the Skinning Monster opted for close-quarters combat.

Its talons, sharp as a hawk’s, ripped through the air toward Liu Zheng’s waist.

The already freakishly strong muscles ballooned even more, making the Skinning Monster’s arm thicker than its own head.

"Damn it, stage two gene lock, huh?"

Even though the Skinning Monster wasn’t targeting his head, Liu Zheng felt that he couldn’t simply take the hit.

He suspected that this blow could slice him in half.

Even though flesh could regenerate, facing a fast-moving predator like the Skinning Monster, any restriction in mobility essentially meant death.

In a split second, Liu Zheng steeled his heart,

and leapt into the dirty river.