I'm The Only One With Cancer-Chapter 177: Mysterious Item

[Book of ???

Grade: ???

Tier: ???

Effects: ???

Description: ???

Note: The item is currently sealed.

Note: Certain requirements must be met to unseal it and see its details.]

Even if Ren and Rina took turns trying to see the status panel of the book, it only showed question marks and nothing of value.

"Well, it has a status panel, so that makes the item worthy of the System’s recognition at the very least..."

Ren commented thoughtfully, to which Rina nodded in agreement.

"What do you think we should do?"

He said ambiguously while glancing at his wife.

Rina thought for a moment and replied, "I don’t really know. Although the Black Board has some immoral quests, unlike the ones available on the Quest Board, this one’s just stealing, so it’s not really that big of a deal. Normally, I’d say that we should just complete this quest and be done with it, but seeing your gaze..."

"Yes."

Ren chuckled, knowing the thoughts on his wife’s mind, "I feel like exploring this item may be worth more than the rewards for completing the quest..."

"Oho, really?" Rina tilted her head in interest.

She thought for a moment and added, "Then, what should we do? We don’t know the commissioner for the quests, so they might send some people to pursue us once they learned that we chose to steal the quest item."

"That’ll be fine. Among the quests on the Black Board, there’s also one that requires us to pretend to be bodyguards for an important figure before finding the right time to kill them. Do you remember?"

"The one that involves the boss of one of the biggest slave traders in Cordelia?"

Ren nodded, "Yes."

The two of them soon wore their hoods and masks again as they blended in with the bustling crowd in the dirty streets that looked more like the slums.

Ever since the time they first descended in the Free World, Ren and Rina had explored most of what was known as the Free City of Cordelia.

On the outside, it was a peaceful city.

The City of Love, where the the temples of the Goddess of Love ran prominently.

It was also popular for its tradition of marriage, as the Temple of Love is the only religion among all others in the world that oversees marriage.

In fact, the ceremony of marriage here was not merely a verbal agreement between two parties.

Depending on the trials that the couple completed, the stronger the blessing of love would be on them.

However, Cordelia was not just known as a Free City.

Beneath its facade of peace and love, there was an extremely repulsive side that permeated all of its corners.

Aside from being known as the City of Love, its active underworld also granted it the name City of Crime.

From the Temples of Love that preached peace, to the Underworld Society where all kinds of immoral acts were being committed, everything was merely the two sides of the same coin.

After all, its title as a Free City only meant that it was independent from the governing bodies of other nations and kingdoms.

Naturally, it had its pros and cons.

Added to the fact that the Marriage Trials of the Temple of Love were quite difficult for most couples, making the forces of the temple shrink by the day.

In turn, this led to la ack of manpower, which then became insufficient to the point that they were no longer able to stop the growth of the underworld.

Right now, Ren and Rina were walking on the tightropes known as the borders between the Underworld Society and the districts still under the control of the Temples of Love.

***

Free City of Cordelia, Red Light District, Love Sanctuary...

In a room filled with pink lights, a big bed, and smoke from various pink-colored candles...

A scantily dressed lady with a voluptuous body and all the right proportions took a puff of her smoking pipe.

"Haa..."

In her hand was a black envelope that gradually opened by itself while floating in mid-air.

As she read the details written inside it, her lush eyebrows formed a slight frown.

Her droopy eyes seemed to have a hint of impatience as she spoke, "Huh... Don’t tell me the ones tasked with stealing that book from Keshak failed again...? Useless..."

Before she could speak any further, knocks sounded from the door, interrupting her thoughts.

Knock— Knock—

"Come... in..."

Her lazy voice carried a hint of seductiveness as she looked at the door.

Creak—

A beautiful woman, who was also scantily dressed, kept her head low as she reported, "My Lady, the servants from the Temple of Love are here again..."

Before the she could even finish her words, the woman she addressed as "My Lady" let out a nasal sound.

"Hmmm... Those... idiots..."

She tossed and turned on her big bed as if throwing a tantrum.

"Just treat them... like the ones before..."

The woman still kept her head low as she answered, "Understood, My Lady."

Creak— Thud!

Seeing her servant exiting the room, the woman let out a puff of smoke from her lips.

The smoke strangely had a pink and gray color combination that gradually took the form of a heart in mid-air.

Looking at her creation, the woman lazily stretched her body over the big bed and smiled.

Her smile was strange.

It was a smile, yet not quite one.

A smile with hints of longing, anger, desperation, indignation, and other complicated emotions.

"Love, huh? What love? Hypocrites..."

Her lazy and seductive voice echoed in the room as she turned to her side and seemed to have fallen asleep.

Sob... Sob... Sob...

Yet after merely a few minutes, the sounds of crying could be vaguely heard from the room.

***

Kingdom of Light, Capital City of Lumina...

A figure clad in iron armor waited at the gates beside the great walls of the city.

Huff— Huff— Huff—

Huffing sounds could be heard from the figure clad in iron armor.

"Shit, I wanted to look cool, but..."

The figure clad in iron armor was none other than Zen, who was currently having a hard time breathing.

’I don’t understand, I have high stats, so why is breathing so difficult...’

Zen was just feeling indignant when he realized something, "Wait, my stats are currently Strength, Constitution, Agility, Dexterity, and Intelligence... Now that I think about it...’

’My stats don’t really have any connection to being able to breathe in a large set of armor...’

After all, even though he was currently a monstrous human-revenant, his physiology was still like that of a human.

No matter how monstrous a human could be, they can only breathe from their nose and lungs.

’Wait, I have that skill from my Immortal Cells, right?’

Zen suddenly remembered that he seemed to have quite the skill for his current situation.

[Cell Control]

He focused for a few minutes, imagining every fiber of his being— his very cells taking in oxygen through all parts of his body, including his skin.

It seemed both illogical and impossible.

’Whoa...’

To his surprise, however, it worked.

’I really love this game!’

Zen could not help but exclaim in his mind.

It was at this moment that a gentlemanly middle-aged man approached him.

"Um, excuse me..."

Zen looked at him, ’Hmmm, he wears a black suit that looks a little different from modern ones. His graying hair is neatly combed into a slickback, and even his moustache is well-groomed.’

’Could he be... a butler!?’

It was only now that he finally felt like he was in a world with a medieval-like fantasy setting!

The ocean of thoughts in Zen’s mind lasted for only a second as he seamlessly responded in a respectful manner, "How may I be of assistance to you, sir?"

"???" The butler-looking middle-aged man looked like he was taken aback.

Fortunately, it took him only an instant to recover, "May I ask if you are Deadman?"

"Yes, Sir. That is my name indeed." Zen deepened his voice further, mimicking the nobles and knights from the movies and shows he watched before.

The butler-looking man sighed in relief and said as he placed his white-gloved hand over his left chest.

"Pardon me for my late introduction. I wanted to make sure that I got the right person."

The butler-looking man smiled in a gentlemanly manner and said, "We were the ones who commissioned the quest for the escort mission from here to Listarte. You may call me Ferd."

"Nice to meet you, Ferd," Zen responded, his voice deepening further.

But deep in his mind, he shouted with all his heart, ’Young Master!?. Is it the same young master from those kinds of novels who’re all arrogant!? I’m excited!"

He then paused for a moment and asked, "By the way, where’s the person that I’ll be escorting?"

"Let me lead you to our carriage. Young Master is already waiting for us."

Zen then followed behind Ferd with all sorts of thoughts running amok in his mind.