Broken antiques, clay sculptures, old coins, and rusty keys?
Renji looked at the random items in the guy’s bag and was confused. He couldn’t figure out what it all meant.
On the other side, the shady gangster seemed to get his groove back. He sized up Renji’s unfamiliar face, also frowning, and then began to question:
“Hold on! Who are you? I’ve never seen you before!”
“Oh, we’re new recruits under Sir. Simon,”
Renji casually replied. Simon was the name of the warehouse supervisor.
Hearing that Renji was just a low-ranking, new member, the man’s face darkened. He quickly took back the bag he had shown to Renji, and his attitude completely changed.
“What the hell! You scared the crap out of me! Didn’t Simon teach you any manners?”
“What are you planning to do with all this stuff?” Renji ignored the man’s curses and asked directly.
“Ah, my luck sucks today! Running into you two rookies! Fine, whatever, I have extra ‘goods’ today. You guys can help me carry some!”
‘Goods? ‘
‘This is considered ‘goods’?’
“What are you waiting for, take it!”
The grumbling man divided the trinkets between Renji and Eileen, then commanded: “Listen up, newbies. You’re lucky. There’s a chance to make some quick cash. Do as I say, and we’ll all be rich. First thing, go back to your warehouse, grab any test subject, and make sure you’re not seen. Got it?”
After hearing the man, Renji hesitated for a moment, then signaled to Eileen. The girl nodded, turned around, and left, while Renji stayed to make sure the gangster didn’t escape.
“You’re smart, I like that, my name is Artur, do you want to team up with me?”
“Sure,” Renji quickly agreed.
Artur: “Uh…”
In less than a minute, Eileen returned, carrying a body bag on her shoulder. Artur looked at Eileen’s brisk pace and swallowed hard.
“You’ve got some muscle.”
“So, what’s the plan now?”
“Hold on! Bring the body bag and follow me. I’ll tell you once we’re inside the ‘factory.'”
And just like that, with Artur leading the way, Renji and Eileen easily got to a big factory deep inside the compound.
As they got close to the factory, both Renji and Eileen frowned at the same time. They could feel Tainted Miasma coming from inside the factory.
And this pollution was definitely not low-level; it was at least around C-rank. To envelop such a large factory, Renji couldn’t even imagine what kind of horrific source of pollution must be inside.
Security was clearly tighter at this Miasma factory. Even at this hour, several gangs were patrolling the vicinity, and a large number of gang members guarded the entrance.
Fortunately, thanks to Artur, they didn’t face much questioning from the guards. He seemed to have made some arrangements in advance. As they were allowed to pass, the guards gave them three crosses.
“Take these, make sure to wear them. These are lifesavers,” Artur said, handing two to Renji and carefully placing one against his own chest.
Examining the crosses, Renji felt a faint aura of divine light emanating from them. This was the power of Suthia, one of the rare forces capable of purifying and neutralizing Tainted Miasma.
Now it was clear. The reason Callewa could run such a heavily polluted factory without many of its members going rogue or mutating was probably these crosses, serving as a sort of “protective gear.”
‘However, crosses? If it were just a few, that could perhaps be explained as coming from a special source. But if they were being used up like consumables, possibly hundreds every day, there was only one organization that could produce such crosses imbued with Suthia’s power: [the Church]’
The thought that Suthia’s power was now being used in this manner made Renji’s gaze toward the factory even colder.
After they successfully entered, Artur led Renji and Eileen into a blind spot, hidden from the usual line of sight within the factory.
“Okay, now all you need to do is take out the stuff I gave you earlier. Hopefully, we’ll get lucky this time and catalyze some good products!”
‘Catalyze?’
‘So that’s what it….’
Renji finally started to understand.
The factory was full of Tainted Miasma, but that could also be useful. If they brought in other things and kept them away from the crosses, they could get tainted by the factory’s polluted Miasma. Maybe then they’d turn into tainted Items.
No, judging by Artur’s demeanor, even if they weren’t genuinely Tainted items, it didn’t matter. As long as they were imbued with a Tainted Miasma energy, he could sell them in the black market for a big profit later. This was the get-rich-quick scheme he had originally mentioned to Renji.
On the side, Eileen was stunned. .𝘤𝘰𝑚
The girl stared blankly at the “clay sculpture” item she’d been handed. It felt like a cruel joke, a haunting reminder of the past.
Six years ago, her father had been equally excited about obtaining what he thought was a “valuable” item tainted with Miasma from the black market. That fateful decision had turned him into an Eclipse, triggering a series of tragedies that followed.
Eileen never thought she would find herself in a similar situation.
“So, Artur, have you ever thought about the disasters that could happen when these Miasma-tainted items make their way into public places?” Renji asked, taking a deep breath.
“Haha! Are you serious? What’s it to me what happens to the people who buy this stuff? If something bad happens, they had it coming; they asked for it!”
“Have you considered that by not doing this, you could prevent a lot of tragedies?”
“Look, you’re funny, you know that? You think I’m the only one doing this? Get real! There are plenty of people in Callewa doing the exact same thing to make some quick cash!”
Artur looked somewhat annoyed. He had kindly offered them a chance to make money, and now they were questioning his morals? Could morals pay his bills?
“Listen, if you’re such a saint, why don’t you shut down this factory? Then none of us could do this even if we wanted to. Do you have the guts for that? Do you even know what’s kept in this factory? If you can’t do it, then stop giving me a fucking hard time!”
“What is kept in this factory?” Renji asked.
Seeing Renji stand his ground, Artur let out a mocking laugh.
Then, with a tone full of pride and arrogance, he mockingly said to Renji, “Listen up, newbie. What’s stored here is the ace up our sleeve, the reason why we, Callewa, are so powerful and the rulers of Blackhole Plains!”
“It’s an artifact from the legendary ‘Great Emperor’ that we dug up from the Relic Cave!”
Artur’s face lit up. Just talking about the ‘Great Emperor’ got him all excited. Even getting a tiny bit of power from this item had changed his life. It was something a lot of people in Callewa were bending the rules to get a piece of.
Just by getting a small “taste” of the artifact, he had already gained so much. It’s a taste that many in Callewa were risking breaking the rules to get a sip of.
Just imagine the wealth if one could actually possess the ‘Great Emperor’s artifact’ itself! Unfortunately, that remained a fantasy. Even they, in Callewa, had not yet figured out how to use the artifact they’d dug up. Otherwise, they wouldn’t need to build this massive factory and collect “test subjects” in an attempt to awaken it.
However, Artur believed that one day, they would succeed in activating the artifact and unleashing its true power. And when that day comes, they won’t just be rulers of Blackhole Plains; they’ll be the top gang in the entire Holy Kingdom.
Just as Artur was lost in thoughts of a promising future, the young man beside him, who had been silent for a while, spoke up again.
“So that’s why,” Renji said, his voice full of mixed feelings.
“What do you mean, ‘that’s the reason’? Hey, hold on! Where are you going?”
Watching Renji get up to leave, Artur became anxious. Drinking the ‘soup’ from the artifact was an unspoken rule within Callewa. Getting caught could lead to severe punishment.
However, in response to his anxious pleas, the young man turned around, as if giving it some serious thought, and finally said,
“I guess it’s time to take back what’s mine.”
This content is taken from 𝘪𝘦.𝘤𝑜