The world has turned into Hell's Game, why should I stay human?
Chapter 264 - 260: It’s not that he can’t be the Pope, it’s just that delivering food has a better cost-performance ratio.

Chapter 264: Chapter 260: It’s not that he can’t be the Pope, it’s just that delivering food has a better cost-performance ratio.

"Name: Miracle of Suffering’s Golden Ointment (Disposable)"

"Type: Item"

"Quality: Perfect"

"Effect: Upon application, it reduces damage taken by the player (including intellectual degradation), and increases recovery speed. The magnitude is directly proportional to the player’s level of suffering, lasting three minutes."

"Note: The more suffering one can bear, the more endless the suffering becomes."

"Can it be taken out of the instance: Yes"

Wow, a perfect quality item.

But then again, it would have been unlikely for City Hall to specifically request just some ordinary item.

Too bad, though the item is good, Liu Zheng still needed to rely on City Hall to deal with the Peacock issue.

Moreover, he already had a Heart of the Ocean that reduced damage and increased recovery speed, even though it came with restrictions, it was nonetheless usable.

Plus, using a perfect-grade disposable item like this was actually inconvenient.

It would be too precious for small encounters, and there wouldn’t be time to use it in major battles. He might end up stockpiling it until death, making it less useful than superior-grade equipment.

"That’s right, it’s just like that."

Liu Zheng hypnotized himself as he stored the Twisted Holy Grail in the system space.

"So, um, do I return this to you?"

He asked, pointing to the Hook Armor he was wearing.

"The Great Baptism is complete; you may remove the armor now,"

said the old woman.

"Oh, alright."

Liu Zheng took off the armor, revealing his body, riddled with countless wounds.

Anke looked on with a pained expression, but the old woman’s face showed shock.

She was well aware that the man’s condition should have been far more wretched.

"A miracle! This is a miracle of suffering!"

She knelt on the ground, continuously kowtowing to Liu Zheng, not stopping even when her forehead bled.

The helmet man also knelt down, and while he didn’t kowtow, he kept his head close to the ground.

"Calling it a miracle isn’t wrong, but unfortunately, it’s not any kind of suffering miracle,"

Liu Zheng muttered to himself.

Of course, he was emotionally intelligent enough not to say it out loud.

"Get up, if you knock yourself out, who’s going to open the door for me?"

Liu Zheng said.

"Sir, where will you be going?"

The old woman looked up as she asked.

"I’m here to purchase goods for a restaurant from Yate, and he’s my hired guide. Since I’ve fulfilled my promise and delivered his family to the Suffering Church, naturally, I should continue with my work,"

he said, pointing to Anke.

"Restaurant? Purchase?"

The old woman was utterly baffled.

She found it hard to imagine someone who could easily pass the Great Baptism working as a purchaser in a restaurant.

Is talent really so undervalued in the outside world?

"Sir, if that’s the case, why not stay at the Church? Once we welcome back the Twisted Saint’s true body, you can succeed to the position of Pope. With a living Saint like you who passed the Great Baptism, the Church will surely flourish once more,"

the old woman quickly said.

"Forget about it; how could you possibly thrive?"

Liu Zheng rolled his eyes.

"Not everyone has miracles like me. With your doctrine, the more devout the believers, the faster they die. In the end, you will either be left with nothing but hypocritical believers or everyone will be dead."

He said bluntly.

"Once you become Pope, you can naturally offer new interpretations of the doctrine,"

the old woman took the opportunity to say.

"Don’t have the time for it. It’s not that I can’t be Pope, delivering food is just more cost-effective,"

Liu Zheng said, shaking his head.

In seven days, he would either return to Metropolis or directly conclude the instance; he surely wouldn’t continue to stay in Yate.

Even counting Anke’s family and Flora, that made just seven people in total.

A Pope with only seven followers would be a joke.

"Then at least please help retrieve the Twisted Saint’s true body,"

the old woman implored, her motives laid bare.

"No time."

Liu Zheng continued to refuse.

"There are still some treasures in the Church’s treasury. If you retrieve the Twisted Saint’s true body, I can gift them all to you,"

the old woman said through gritted teeth.

"That’s a bit interesting, keep talking."

He nodded and said,

"Then I don’t know if there are any other goods you need to purchase, sir; we can help you acquire them."

The elderly woman pondered before speaking.

"Common items are sufficiently handled with the assistance of the tavern keeper. However, I do have a list that I need your help with."

Liu Zheng took out a notebook and flipped it open.

"Can you see the content on it?"

He asked.

"I can only see a blank page, sir."

The elderly woman shook her head and said.

It seemed this was the effect of "shielding cognition."

Liu Zheng nodded, took out Bai Langzi’s poetry drafts, and copied a portion of the City Hall’s list onto it.

"How about now?"

He handed the notebook to the elderly woman.

"Now it’s visible, sir."

The elderly woman took the notebook and scrutinized it closely.

"Sir, I might know where this is."

She quickly pointed to a line and said.

"Oh?"

Liu Zheng looked to the place she indicated, which was the Tommer Holy Grail.

"Where?"

He inquired.

"There’s a golden cup in the Church’s treasury, unearthed from an underground relic. It’s a relic of an ancient civilization, and it seems that the people of this civilization were called the Tommer."

The elderly woman explained.

"Seems?"

"Yes... This is the research result of Carcarens Academy, and the Church learned of it through certain methods,"

The elderly woman hesitated before responding.

Since the Twisted Saint was hypothesized to be the true identity of what Carcarens Academy had stolen, the Suffering Church naturally wouldn’t just sit idle and do nothing.

After all, it was once the only Church in Yate, and although it had declined, it still had a bit of a congregation.

While they were powerless to take direct action, they could still manage to gather some intelligence.

"I see, then bring it here for me to inspect,"

Liu Zheng said in a laid-back manner.

"Yes, sir. Please wait a moment,"

The elderly woman nodded at the helmet man.

The helmet man stood up and walked into the depths of the church.

Shortly after, he returned with a golden cup in hand, approaching Liu Zheng.

"Sir, this is the golden cup excavated from the Tommer Ruins,"

The elderly woman took the golden cup from the helmet man’s hands and presented it to Liu Zheng with both hands.

"Why didn’t he just hand it to me directly?"

Liu Zheng casually asked.

"This... he is a man of sin and does not have the privilege to touch the venerable Saint,"

The elderly woman replied somewhat awkwardly.

"Just two members in the church, and one of them is a sinner... What did he do?"

He asked with a hint of speechlessness.

"Sir, could you please lower your head?"

The elderly woman asked with a tinge of difficulty.

"Oh,"

Liu Zheng complied and lowered his head.

"He committed an act of indecency before the statue of the Twisted Saint,"

The elderly woman whispered as softly as a mosquito.

"Hiss~"

He looked at the helmet man with newfound respect.

Good grief, to be moved in such a manner?

This fellow is wasted in a place as small as the Suffering Church. If he were in the Metropolis, he might’ve been able to work as a manager at the Chaos Club or something.

"Can I grant him absolution?"

Liu Zheng inquired.

Although a bit perverted, he was harmless to others.

Having a sinner in a church of merely two people was simply nonsensical; consider it a good deed for the day.