CHAPTER 35: CHAPTER 35: BECAUSE I AM HUMAN

"Yo,"

Liu Zheng greeted from a distance.

The French Plane Tree glanced at him and then turned its face away.

"Hey, is there really a need to dislike me so much?"

he said speechlessly.

"Don’t you have any idea? You artifact thief!"

The French Plane Tree cursed.

"I traded for them,"

Liu Zheng denied.

"Pah, the value isn’t equal at all."

The French Plane Tree spat a mouthful of sap at him.

"Rarity is what makes things valuable. Who else could bring you a drink every day like I do?"

he smiled.

"And who else could be honest with you and not be fooled by you?"

"Go away! I don’t want to trade with you today,"

The French Plane Tree pursed its lips and said.

"Really? A whole case of fifteen-year-old Mao Tai."

Liu Zheng raised the case he was holding.

"Damn! How did you get that?"

The French Plane Tree widened its eyes, its branches shaking with fright.

"Brother made a little fortune yesterday, nothing worth mentioning,"

he said with feigned modesty.

The French Plane Tree looked at the case of Mao Tai, its expression changing unpredictably.

It definitely wanted the alcohol.

But the money, it really couldn’t afford.

A case of fifteen-year-old Mao Tai was worth at least one and a half bottles of Vlad III limited edition.

Where could it get another legendary delivery man’s vest?

Even if it was willing to sell, legendary delivery men wouldn’t come to buy anymore.

The French Plane Tree still had perfect-grade items, but those were useful, and missing any would decrease its strength.

In this survival-of-the-fittest world, a decrease in strength was equivalent to slow suicide.

"I, can’t afford that,"

After struggling for a long time, it spoke with difficulty.

"Not so expensive, they’re all sub-par products,"

Liu Zheng opened the case and took out a bottle of Mao Tai for the French Plane Tree to inspect.

"Huh?"

Dai Gaole looked at the stains on the bottle, surprised and uncertain.

It extended its roots to snatch the bottle away, opened it, and took a sniff.

"Smells like the Chaos Club."

"Chaos Club?"

Liu Zheng frowned slightly.

He had heard from Niu Ma that the place was very dangerous, even City Hall couldn’t handle it.

"Yes. It smells like the Chaos Club,"

The French Plane Tree asserted.

"Why are you so sure?"

"Because I originally grew in front of the Chaos Club, before I was transplanted to this street,"

The French Plane Tree replied.

"I see. What exactly is the Chaos Club?"

Liu Zheng asked curiously.

"Hard to say, can’t say, dare not say. Ask me again when you get an order from there one day,"

The French Plane Tree was deliberately vague.

"Hey, I kindly brought you alcohol, and you damn well set me up with a death flag. That’s so inhuman,"

he complained, veins throbbing on his forehead.

"I’m not human. I’ll take the alcohol, let me see what I have to trade,"

The French Plane Tree closed its eyes, its roots churning beneath the black soil.

Though sub-par, a whole case of fifteen-year-old Mao Tai was still quite valuable; it really needed to put some effort into finding a suitable trade.

"Let’s not rush that, take a look at this first,"

Liu Zheng put down the black cloth bag and took out the contents.

"A young human female corpse. This isn’t worth much, I have no preference for humans,"

The French Plane Tree opened its eyes and said after a look.

What Liu Zheng took out of the black cloth bag was indeed a packing box containing the body of a little girl.

"It’s not for a trade, I want to bury her under you,"

he explained.

"You think I’m a cemetery?"

The French Plane Tree exploded in anger.

"Is black soil necessarily a cemetery? That’s color discrimination, you know?"

"Niu Ma said that if buried anywhere else, it would be dug up and eaten. I figured this place was the safest."

Liu Zheng said.

"Then you’re merely wishful thinking. I’m just not biased towards humans, which doesn’t mean I don’t eat them. If you weren’t so cunning, you would’ve already become my snack."

The French Plane Tree sneered at his naivete.

"I’ll cover the management fee instead of just burying her for nothing," he added.

Liu Zheng raised a bottle of Mao Tai and waved it.

"One bottle isn’t enough. The Black Soil is preservative, and with her buried in it, it works like bait that continually attracts scavengers."

The French Plane Tree shook its head.

Even though it was the boss of this street, there were always desperate souls starved to the point of madness.

It did not want to invite trouble.

"How about a whole case then?"

"That would be enough, but is it necessary?" the French Plane Tree asked doubtfully.

"She’s already dead, what’s the use of preserving the flesh?"

When trees die, some rot and turn into nutrients, others get buried deep and turn into coal, but either way, all return to dust.

No tree ever insists on making a specimen out of itself.

"Because I’m human, and humans are just selfish," Liu Zheng answered calmly.

"Soon you won’t be. It’s not just your appearance changing, your essence is transforming too," the French Plane Tree said mockingly.

"What happens after the essence transforms?" he asked.

"I don’t know, but from what I know about the Black Mountain Goat Cub, you’ll probably dig her up and chew her up without a second thought," the French Plane Tree said, its tone filled with deep malice.

"Oh, what does that have to do with me right now?" Liu Zheng said indifferently.

If his essence had changed, he wouldn’t be himself anymore.

Moreover, once he cleared the instance, he could purify the ’Flesh Deformation’ status.

"Hmph, stubborn human. What’s her name?" the French Plane Tree suddenly asked.

"Are you asking me?"

"Of course I’m asking about her, you presumptuous foolish human."

Today it seemed especially irritable towards Liu Zheng.

"I really don’t know. Why do you want to know that?" Liu Zheng looked at it curiously.

"I need it for the tombstone, of course. Are you the human here or am I?" the French Plane Tree replied sarcastically and then peeled off a piece of its bark.

"If you don’t know, then I’ll just write ’The idiot corpse trusted to me by the foolish human.’

While saying this, it proceeded to carve into the tree bark.

"Stop, stop, stop!"

Liu Zheng hurriedly interjected.

If he really carved that, the little girl wouldn’t be able to lift her head in Hell.

"Let’s just name her Natasha," he suggested, looking at the little girl’s typical East Slavic features.

"That’s an ugly name," the French Plane Tree complained as it etched the name onto the bark, then added another name beside it.

"Marceau."

"French names just sound better," it said, pleased with itself.

"Heh," Liu Zheng held back his urge to retort, watching this tree with names Dai and Gaole.

"Hey, do you want to eat this?" he asked, showing the garlic brains from the delivery box.

"You managed to get a hold of the delivery box too?" the French Plane Tree said, interested in something else.

"Won it last night," Liu Zheng replied.

"Now you’re just missing the hat to complete the Legendary Delivery Man set," it said enviously.

With the complete set, it would rise several places among the city’s collectors.

"I have a lead on the hat too," Liu Zheng stated.

Although the Demon would rather eat them alive, it had not defaulted on the deal.

This was obviously due to its good reputation, and not because Oynk had a Slaughter Knife pressed against its throat.

"Where is it?" the French Plane Tree asked eagerly.

"In..."

Just as Liu Zheng was about to answer, he suddenly looked towards the distance.