Chapter 596 - 586: Sound Source Pollution 38

Hugh Finch held a Compass, walking with clear purpose in a specific direction.

He arrived at a neighborhood of villas and quickly found an undamaged SUV in a private underground garage.

After going inside the villa and looking around for a bit, he smoothly found the car keys. But just as Hugh Finch was preparing to leave, he suddenly felt his body start to float uncontrollably.

At the same time, a teasing voice sounded from behind him. "Hey, handsome. Taking people’s stuff without asking is a very naughty thing to do, you know."

"And you’re all bundled up, too. Do you know stealing is wrong, so you’re too ashamed to show your face?"

As he spoke, Kai York made a gesture, and Hugh Finch’s sunglasses, hat, and mask were all pulled away, revealing a head completely covered by a white hazmat suit.

How should one put it? At first glance, he looked rather like a hard-boiled egg.

Seeing this, Kai York burst out laughing.

But upon hearing the familiar voice, Hugh Finch struggled to turn his body, reached up, and yanked off the hood covering his head, revealing his true face.

The moment he saw Hugh Finch, Kai York’s laughter stopped dead.

"Hugh Finch? What are you doing here?"

"Who else did you think it was? Now hurry up and put me down!" Hugh Finch said, his face devoid of expression.

’I was actually pretty happy to run into Kai York here, but now that feeling is completely gone.’

’If this weren’t such an inappropriate place, I’d really love to punch him right now.’

After setting Hugh Finch down, before he could even ask a question, Kai York beat him to it. "Are the boss and Moira with you?"

...

Moira Lynch wasn’t surprised that Hugh Finch had found a car. But she was genuinely surprised to see two people get out of it.

Sensing a familiar presence, Moira Lynch asked tentatively, "Kai York?"

"Moira! I’ve finally found you!"

An excited Kai York pulled Moira Lynch into a tight hug, holding on for a long moment.

Moira Lynch managed to push him away and looked to Hugh Finch for an explanation. "What’s going on?"

Hugh Finch just pointed at Kai York. "Ask him yourself."

And so, Kai York recounted everything that had happened to him since they’d been separated.

"You guys had it so good, meeting up right when the game started. Me? I nearly got a warrant out for my arrest. Good thing I’m a fast runner, or you might never have seen me again."

Moira Lynch shot him a look, completely at a loss for words. "I literally gave you a gold bracelet before we even started the game."

At the mention of this, Kai York looked a little guilty and rubbed his nose.

"Hey, you can’t blame me for that! Who would’ve thought the pickpockets here would be so damn good?"

The main issue was where his Teleportation dropped him: a brand-new water park. The place was packed.

He just went with the flow, changed his clothes with the crowd, and wandered into the water park in a daze.

It wasn’t until he finally got out that he realized the gold chain on his wrist was gone.

With his source of funds gone, he couldn’t find a job. No money meant no way to buy supplies, and he didn’t even have a place to stay. Kai York was well and truly destitute for several days.

He spent those days living under a bridge, getting by with a group of vagrants.

That is, until he spotted his big gold chain on the wrist of a small-time punk.

He originally planned to just snatch the gold chain back, which wouldn’t have been hard for someone like Kai York.

But while he did manage to get it back, he hadn’t expected the punk to have some serious connections.

After several days of battling wits and brawn against them, Kai York knew he couldn’t keep it up. Deciding to go all in, he raided the gang’s headquarters, plundered everything he could, and fled the cursed city overnight.

Fortunately, the Cosmic Consciousness hadn’t set any rules preventing people from leaving the city they had teleported into. Otherwise, Kai York would have had no choice but to fight them to the bitter end.

After a great deal of trouble, Kai York finally arrived in Portmire—on the very day Moira and the others were leaving the city for the bomb shelter.

He arrived almost as soon as they had left.

"Right, where are you guys heading? And why are you collecting all this gasoline?" Kai York asked.

Moira Lynch sealed the last drum of gasoline and said, "We’re planning to head to Novus with the survivors from here. You should come with us."

"Novus... I’ve heard of it. They supposedly set up a survivor base there. Sounds like they were prepared. Going there is definitely a good choice."

After waiting a while longer, Wyatt Lewis and his group returned, having found several undamaged vehicles—including an RV—at a car dealership.

Once everyone was in the vehicles, the convoy departed from The City of Portmire.

Once the main convoy was safely on its way, the driver of the lead vehicle let out a long sigh of relief. "Man, we’re lucky today. Didn’t run into a single monster."

Meanwhile, if Moira Lynch, riding in the middle of the convoy, had heard him, she probably would have sneered. ’Lucky my ass. The only reason you haven’t seen any monsters is because I’ve been getting rid of them before you even spot them.’

Just then, Moira Lynch slowly opened her eyes and exhaled. "We’re finally out."

"If you ask me, Moira, you shouldn’t have bothered with them. People need to learn to fend for themselves. You know the old saying, ’Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.’ If you keep protecting them like this, they’ll just become useless."

Kai York said, speaking from the back seat.

Because of his recent experiences, he didn’t have a shred of goodwill for the locals.

"I wasn’t planning on protecting them forever, but we can’t afford to lose half our people before we’re even out of the city, can we? I’m thinking about our safety, too."

Hearing this, Kai York gave her a look that said, ’I can’t win an argument with you.’

"By the way, Hugh Finch told me you two exposed your identities to one of the natives here. What’s your plan for him?"

When he found out that Moira and Hugh had actually revealed their identities as aliens to a native, Kai York had been shocked. He’d wanted to pry their heads open to see if their brains had turned to mush.

’Is that the kind of thing you can just go around telling people?’

’Aren’t you afraid of getting captured and dissected for research?!’

"It’s not a problem for now. Barry Wallace is trustworthy. Besides, Hugh Finch said he’s our fated benefactor and that we must be completely honest with him."

Hearing this, Kai York sneered. "Fated benefactor? Honest? And what was the result?"

"The facts proved him right."

Meanwhile, in a car farther back, Barry Wallace stared at the lead SUV with a pout on his face, looking for all the world like a puppy abandoned by its master.

’Who the hell is that guy who popped up out of nowhere? How dare he just show up and take my spot.’

Suddenly, a thought flashed through his mind. ’Could that guy who just appeared... also be one of... them?’