Suddenly, golden dots of light moved and transformed before his eyes, forming a line of text.

"Probing the City Hall is prohibited. First-time offenders will be fined one thousand."

Then, the golden dots changed again.

"Please pay the fine at the police station or lottery store within fifteen business days. Late payments will incur an additional daily penalty of five percent interest and may result in detention for a period of more than one month and less than one thousand years."

"Goodness!"

Liu Zheng exclaimed, "Goodness."

Just a glance incurs a fine, and the late penalty interest rate is as high as five percent, almost like a loan shark.

As expected of you, City Hall.

As for the maximum penalty of a thousand-year detention, considering Metropolis is teeming with Immortal Species, it's actually quite normal.

Withdrawing his gaze, Liu Zheng continued to climb upwards.

"Screech!"

A bird's cry suddenly came from afar.

An alarm went off in his mind, and he immediately drew his knife.

Luckily, he had four tentacles, so losing one to secure his body wasn't a big deal.

And just as Liu Zheng drew his knife, a shadowy figure shot out from the clouds, sweeping toward him with a fierce wind.

Despite the fierce wind, the figure was shrouded in a cloud of darkness, making it impossible to see its form, only glints of cold light could be seen.

"What sort of strange creature is this?"

He swung his knife at the shadow while biting off a piece of flesh from his shoulder and holding it in his mouth.

The fury burned brightly, unable to be extinguished even by the fierce wind, yet it also failed to illuminate the shadow.

"Clang!"

He didn't know where he struck, but the sound of metal clashing rang out suddenly.

Two beams of blood light burst forth simultaneously, one large and one small.

The large one came from Liu Zheng, with a talon the size of a human head piercing straight through his chest.

The small one came from the shadow, where the Dragon Scale Blade carved a red arc, spraying Blood Pearl in the air.

"It can break through defenses, then it's manageable."

Even with half a lung gouged out, Liu Zheng was unfazed.

A mere serious injury was nothing to him; what he feared least was exchanging wounds.

"Your claw is nice, give it to me."

He grinned menacingly and swung his knife at the creature's leg.

The leg was about as thick as a wrist, covered with downward-growing dark green scales.

"Screech!"

Perhaps fearing Liu Zheng could truly sever its leg, the creature let out another cry and flew above his head.

A giant, hook-like beak emerged from the clouds, aiming to peck at his skull.

The pale yellow beak, as clear as glaze, left no doubt it could crack Liu Zheng's skull in an instant.

This time, Liu Zheng couldn't ignore it. His regeneration ability was strong, but he hadn't reached the point of having nine brains like an octopus.

Should he gamble with the "Iron Block," or defend with a backward swing?

Liu Zheng chose a third option.

He performed a carp-style flip, raising his hoof high to kick at the bird's beak, releasing three tentacles to let his body fall.

The hoof struck the beak, but the thick keratin layer offered no obstruction; the beak directly pierced through his foot.

"Whew!"

Liu Zheng exhaled a long breath, as a sudden buoyancy kept his body aloft.

Then he tensed his body, and with four tentacles gripping the knife handle, he thrust into the clouds with full force.

"Grrk!"

A hoarse cry was heard, and the once dense cloud quickly dispersed, revealing the true body of the assailant.

"Wow, it's actually an owl."

Before him was a creature with a fluffy cat head on a body full of feathers, and what he once assumed to be a beak was actually a horn on the cat head's forehead.

At this moment, the "true owl's" large eyes had already lost their light, the Dragon Scale Blade pierced through its mouth and exited through the back of its head, the fire from the blade roasted its brain.

"Whew~"

Liu Zheng exhaled evenly as he pulled the beak and claw of the "true owl" out of his body, then tucked the whole creature into his Headless Mandarin Duck Pouch.

He planned to ask White Feather Chicken if it wanted it, if not, he'd give it to the Jiwei Group; maybe they could make some kind of baked eagle dish.

Once again flinging out his tentacles to bind onto a vine, he took a deep breath.

"If there's anything else craving my body, hurry up and come on, once I get there, you'll lose your chance."

He shouted at the endless clouds.

The sound dispersed into the air, yet no response came.

"Tch, no fun."

Liu Zheng pouted, putting away his "Anger," and continued climbing.

Blood dripped down from his wounds, but lessened as the wounds healed. By the time he climbed another hundred meters, the chest wound had scabbed over, and the injury on his hoof was nearly healed.

"Tsk, truly a terrifying ability."

Liu Zheng couldn't help but sigh.

A terrifying ability for both himself and his enemies alike.

Putting away his thoughts, Liu Zheng focused on climbing the vine.

After climbing a few hundred more meters, he finally saw the root of the vine.

He extended a tentacle to probe, only to encounter a mass of air.

Liu Zheng looked up at the clouds, at least another thousand meters away.

"Surely I don't have to fly up there?"

he pondered.

"Or maybe..."

He thought of a movie he'd watched in reality, where the abyss beneath a cliff seemed bottomless, but if one jumped with eyes closed, it was a straight path down.

"Let's give it a try."

Liu Zheng made his decision.

After all, with "Kun Absorption Peng Hu," he could fly back up even if he fell.

"Hey!"

He used all four tentacles to swing himself like a swing.

"Bang!"

After a brief moment of weightlessness, Liu Zheng's vision blurred, then he crashed heavily to the ground.

But the ground was soft, so the fall didn't hurt much.

Liu Zheng got up and looked around; he was in the middle of a flower field.

Red, yellow, white, pink, blue, purple—various flowers vied for attention, chaotic yet orderly, with almost no weeds or fallen petals, evidently well-tended.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

The sound of heavy footsteps came from afar. He thought for a moment and chose not to run but stood his ground to wait.

Before long, a giant wearing a straw hat and holding a gardener's shears approached.

This giant was at least five or six meters tall, with a large, flat red nose bigger than Liu Zheng's head.

He bent down, staring at Liu Zheng with his bright eyes.

"Hello there."

Liu Zheng greeted him casually.

"Hello."

The giant mumbled a greeting back, sounding not very bright.

But the sound pressure was strong, making the flowers in the field tremble continuously.

"Who are you?"

The giant asked.

"I'm a delivery man from the Bloody Restaurant."

Liu Zheng replied.

"Oh. What are you here for?"

The giant asked again.

"To deliver food."

"We're not allowed to have deliveries here."

The giant scratched his navel and said.

"I know."

"Then why tell me?"

The giant asked, confused.

"Because you're polite, and I don't want to deceive polite people."

He said candidly.

"Really? I would have thought you guessed the Sky Garden wouldn't have a fool as a guard."

The giant smiled slightly.

With a slight upward shift at the corner of his eyes, his gaze turned from clear to shrewd.

"I'm used to treating others as smart unless they treat me as a fool first."

Liu Zheng shrugged and said.

"Indeed, those who think others are fools are the real fools. So, smart guy, how do you plan to convince me to let you deliver instead of throwing you out?"

The giant asked with interest.

"Is this convincing enough?"

He took out the "Lianyan Wind Chime" from the System Space.

"Is this... some kind of lily of the valley?"

The giant's attention was immediately drawn.

"No, it should be a hybrid of lily of the valley and orchid. This shimmer, was it fed with the flesh and blood of extraordinary creatures with water attributes? Or was water spiritual power artificially injected?"

The giant carefully prodded the "Lianyan Wind Chime" with his fingertips, murmuring to himself.

"Well, big guy, I understand your love for this flower pot, but my delivery time is running out."

Liu Zheng reminded.

"Then go about your business."

The giant said without looking at him.

"But, the flower has to stay."