Chapter 576 - 566: Sound Source Pollution 18

Just as the two were contemplating how to silently eliminate the man—after all, he’d already shown his intent to kill them.

Leaving such an unpredictable threat alive just wasn’t their style.

At that very moment, accompanied by a faint sound, a white screen unfurled between them and the young man.

The screen materialized out of thin air, completely blocking both sides from view.

From Moira Lynch and Hugh Finch’s perspective, there was nothing and no one behind them. From the perspective of the young man engulfed in flames, his targets had suddenly vanished.

A battle on the verge of breaking out was thus forced to an end in an unexpected fashion.

Moira Lynch and Hugh Finch were safely transported back to their room.

Their earlier talk in the supermarket about having hot pot for dinner wasn’t just idle chatter.

The two prepared the ingredients, communicating via the Communication Corridor.

"That must have been the chameleon screen just now. It seems pretty useful, I just wonder how long it lasts," Hugh Finch said.

The white screen that had appeared so suddenly was on that list they had written earlier. It was an item that granted Invisibility on demand.

The items they’d acquired from the basement were almost all designed for battlefield use, like the chameleon screen, high-temperature perfume, and molten lava lipstick.

"We can test it when we get back to find out," Moira Lynch said, placing the meat on the table.

"Judging by their reaction, those people must have known about Talents for a while."

Moira Lynch nodded. "The man just now, the one covered in flames... I believe that’s a Talent called Fire God Body."

"Fire God Body?" Hugh Finch asked. "I remember seeing a similar Talent online, but that person was enveloped in water. It didn’t seem very useful—at most, they could probably just stay underwater a little longer."

"That’s the Water Divine Body," Moira Lynch explained. "How should I put this... That kind of Talent isn’t very powerful early on. But as it levels up, the user’s body gradually undergoes Elementalization. By level five, their body can become completely elemental. That’s when the Talent’s true power becomes apparent. It’s a late bloomer."

"I was thinking," Hugh started, "since this world has people who fail their Talent awakening, do you think this planet could be like our Caelus? Are the people here experiencing what we once went through?"

"It’s very possible," Moira Lynch nodded. "But wouldn’t that mean a System will descend here, too? We only started awakening after the ’game’ arrived. And for us, even if someone failed to awaken, nobody died. At most, they just lost their eligibility to play."

Later on, though, some people who weren’t players suddenly developed high fevers—the first sign of a Talent awakening.

Some people actually died back then, but that situation gradually faded away after Moira Lynch introduced the Awakening Potion.

"When I communicated with the game’s System before, it told me there are many kinds of Systems. Its kind, a ’salvation’ System, is relatively benevolent. But other Systems are ruthless. They don’t care if life on a planet dies, so long as the planet itself is saved."

"Some Systems even find the pace of natural awakening too slow. Unwilling to expend their own energy, they resort to spreading a virus—dubbed Virus X—to force the planet’s inhabitants to awaken."

"Virus X? What’s that?" Moira Lynch had a bad feeling.

Just as she expected, Hugh Finch explained in the next moment, "Virus X is also known as the Zombie Virus. It’s basically the original Awakening Potion—incredibly potent, but with massive side effects."

"The infected fall into a coma. A few will successfully awaken a Talent, but most will become zombies—stuck in a state between life and death, mindless, driven only by the primitive instinct to feed."

"They’re called ’incomplete awakened forms.’ To achieve a full awakening, they need to constantly devour other zombies or even Talents."

After hearing Hugh Finch’s explanation, an indescribable expression crossed Moira Lynch’s face. "These Systems are so cruel."

’In that case, even if those ’incomplete awakened forms’ did manage a full awakening by devouring others, they’d have a hard time accepting the reality of it, wouldn’t they?’

’After all, the people they devoured could have easily been their own friends and family.’

’Even if they don’t remember, the other survivors would never accept them.’

"Thinking about it now, the System on our Caelus was actually pretty lovable," Moira Lynch said sincerely. "It’s a good thing we had it. A really good thing."

Hugh Finch nodded in agreement.

「On the tenth day.」

After waking up, Moira Lynch turned on the TV to watch the news, as was her routine.

"Riots are breaking out in a lot of places today."

Later, when the two arrived at the dining hall to eat.

The moment they neared the dining hall, they sensed something was off. The faint smell of blood hung in the air, and traces of a fight were scattered about.

It looked like a brawl had just taken place.

The pair finished their meal in silence and returned to their room.

Fights had broken out several times recently over the use of the elevators, leaving them damaged. As a result, everyone had to take the stairs.

Moira Lynch and Hugh Finch didn’t mind, treating it as a bit of exercise.

The hotel had thirty floors. As they were climbing to the twenty-first, someone suddenly appeared in their path.

Most people would be gasping for breath after climbing twenty-one flights of stairs in one go, but Moira Lynch and Hugh Finch weren’t even flushed or winded. They looked completely unbothered, as if they had energy to spare.

The person sitting on the stairs brightened the moment they saw the pair. They stood up, blocking their way. "Hello there. I’m a guest on the twenty-fifth floor. My name is Luna Morgan. Could you two do me a favor?"

"What kind of favor?" Moira Lynch asked.

Luna Morgan heard Moira’s question and seemed to take it as a yes. Pointing to a pile of things on the ground, she said, "It’s just this stuff. Could you help me carry it to my room on the twenty-fifth floor? I accidentally bought too much, and after climbing all these stairs, I’m completely out of energy."

As she spoke, Luna Morgan put on a frail act, looking at the two of them with pitiful, pleading eyes.

"We can, but not for free," Moira Lynch replied. "What’s the compensation?"

"What? You want to be paid?"

Clearly, Luna Morgan hadn’t expected such a question. Her eyes were wide with astonishment and shock.

"I’m just asking for a little help, and you actually want to be paid for it!" Luna Morgan’s voice suddenly shot up several octaves, echoing in the narrow stairwell and sounding particularly grating.

The next second, a loud BANG echoed from the floor above, and a man came charging down the stairs.

The man was of average build, but the expression on his face made it clear he hadn’t come down to talk things out.