Hearing Malrik's words, the young man hesitated much less. Only now did he realize that the other person's face looked a bit familiar—as if they'd met before.
"Ah, you're that lunatic from earlier!" he exclaimed in surprise.
"Lunatic? What are you talking about? I'm a delivery man. As long as the reward is reasonable, a delivery man can complete any task. That's the hidden passive of a delivery man. I clearly completed the task you gave me last time," Malrik replied.
The young man thought about it and realized Malrik really had done it. Even though he'd been beaten half to death, those two groups had indeed gone silent afterward.
"I'll join. Now will you help me?" the young man asked.
"Are you afraid of death?" Malrik questioned.
"Are you kidding me? If I weren't, why would I come to you for help?"
"What if death only comes if you're terribly unlucky, but in exchange, you gain the chance to rise to the top of the world?" Malrik continued.
He was referring to the mysterious box. If this young man truly had enough guts, Malrik would take him there. If not, he'd just remain an ordinary member—Malrik's interest in him had already waned significantly.
Coming from a wealthy family, how could the young man not have courage? Risky investments were nothing new to him.
Even if the price of failure this time was death, he knew that the greater the risk, the greater the reward.
Besides, without a major opportunity, his chances of surviving in the future were slim.
"Then what's there to be afraid of? Hurry up and give me that opportunity," the young man said decisively.
Malrik was clearly very pleased with this attitude. His key members naturally had to have this kind of boldness.
"I'm Malrik, Cult Master of the Cult of the Evil God. Pleased to meet you."
"I'm Lucien, your former client. I'll be relying on you again in the future."
"Can you still speed up? We're almost there, but we need to widen the gap behind us," Malrik said.
Lucien had already run several hundred meters by now. If it weren't for the fact that he exercised regularly, this would've been absolutely unbearable.
"Do I even have a choice? Screw it, all or nothing!" Lucien gritted his teeth and picked up the pace to follow Malrik.
The two of them sprinted straight toward the cafeteria—only to be met with an unexpected complication. The large doors were slowly closing right in front of them.
A vein bulged on Malrik's forehead. Someone dared to close the door in his face? Where was his dignity supposed to go after that?
"Help me!" He shouted, then burst forward and leapt into the air.
Lucien took one look at the situation and Malrik's movement and instantly understood what he was about to do.
Without hesitation, he sped up and leapt into the air as well. At the same time, both of them launched powerful kicks at the nearly shut doors.
With a loud bang, the force of the impact blew the doors wide open. The person trying to close them was sent flying and landed flat on his back.
Looking down, they saw a chubby middle-aged man writhing on the floor. But neither of them had time to care. Lucien quickly followed Malrik and approached a delivery man.
"This is a delivery man. He'll let you open a mysterious box. Do it now," Malrik said.
The delivery man had intended to follow the formal procedure—maybe offer a brief introduction first—but clearly Malrik had done that for him already, so he simply presented the mysterious box.
Lucien wasn't in the mood for small talk either. He immediately opened the box. A faint glow flashed once more, and he felt something fairly heavy land in his hands.
Looking closely, he realized it was a sword—beautifully crafted, elegant in design. Just one glance was enough to confirm that this was high-quality gear.
"What is that? A weapon?" Malrik asked.
"Not entirely sure. Based on the info I got, it's a one-star weapon. I don't really know how good that is," Lucien replied honestly.
"One-star is the first tier in the power enhancement system. For someone like you right now, this is basically a divine weapon. With this, zombies won't be a threat to you anymore—of course, assuming you've still got enough stamina to swing it," Malrik explained.
Lucien looked at the sword in his hands, then glanced at the two high-quality daggers Malrik was holding. It was clear that his own gear was on a completely different level.
"You're not wrong. Having an early advantage is crucial," he nodded and replied.
"I plan to train him into a proper delivery man. Not bad, right?" Malrik said.
The delivery man glanced briefly at Lucien, then nodded.
"Can't say how far he'll go in the future, but your eye for people isn't bad."
Lucien was slightly stunned. Why did these two sound so familiar with each other? Then again, they were talking entirely about being delivery men. Maybe they just clicked because they shared the same mindset.
"Let's go. This place is bound to turn dangerous soon. No reason for us to stick around," Malrik said.
Just as they were about to leave, Malrik suddenly thought of something and turned to the delivery man.
"Are you taking on extra jobs right now?"
"I can, but only while I'm still here," the delivery man replied.
"I want to commission uniforms for the Cult of the Evil God. The symbol should be a wheel with a goat skull in the center. The wheel, obviously, because in this world it's essential for all delivery men. Make the primary color black—something that fits the vibe of our organization. I need two sets. Use decent-quality material; no need for anything supernatural. How much do you want for it?" Malrik said, describing the uniform he had just imagined in his head.
Lucien felt like his brain short-circuited for a moment. At a time like this, why the hell was Malrik concerned about uniforms?
Seeing the look on his face, Malrik immediately understood what he was thinking.
"Hmph. A proper delivery man must have a uniform. Otherwise, how would anyone even know we're delivery men?"
Lucien didn't argue. At the moment, he didn't feel any particular attachment to being a delivery man.
But seeing that the one who handed out mysterious boxes was also a delivery man, he realized that in this world, being a delivery man clearly wasn't so simple.
"Ten one-star cores. If that works for you, I'll do it," the delivery man said after a few seconds of thought.
That was clearly an outrageous price. Others might not realize it, but how could Malrik not know? Still, it wasn't impossible—he could manage it.
"Alright. I'll try to gather them as quickly as I can." Malrik nodded, then looked over at Lucien and gestured for him to come along.
The two were just about to leave when the fat man from earlier suddenly stormed in front of them, roaring in fury.
"You lowlifes—do you even know who I am?! You dare hit me like that? Hand over what you're holding, and maybe I'll consider letting you off!"