Chapter 565 - 555: Sound Source Pollution 7

By the time the piercing sound of alarms rang out behind her, Moira Lynch was already long gone.

Following the surveillance blind spots she had discovered while scouting during the day, Moira Lynch made it back to her residence without a hitch.

After returning to her room, Moira Lynch took off her hat, slung her backpack onto the floor, and removed the two earphones she was carrying before diving headfirst into her blankets.

It took quite a while for her surging excitement to finally calm down.

’No wonder so many people love chasing thrills and extreme sports. This kind of adrenaline rush is truly addictive.’

Before, with her spiritual power and space, getting what she wanted was a matter of a single thought. This was the first time she’d had to do something like this.

Once she had rested enough, Moira Lynch began to sort through her haul for the day.

She took all the earphones out of her space and laid them out in neat rows.

Moira Lynch counted them. Including the seven in her backpack and on her person, she had brought back a total of seventy-five earphones.

Not counting today, she still had to stay in this game for another twenty-eight days. This many earphones should be enough.

Looking at the outer packaging of the earphones, Moira Lynch felt that putting them back into her space like this would be a waste of the Space Button’s capacity.

So, Moira Lynch spent another ten-odd minutes unboxing all the perfectly packaged earphones, taking them out before storing them back in her space.

This process indeed saved a considerable amount of space.

Afterward, Moira Lynch spent some more time breaking down and flattening the empty earphone boxes, storing them in her space to be disposed of the next day.

「The next day.」

Moira Lynch woke up early. She first went to the bathroom to wash up, then headed to the living room, turning on the news while eating breakfast.

Sure enough, the story of yesterday’s mall theft was already on the news.

[It is reported that the suspects who robbed the mall were all apprehended two hours after the incident. Under interrogation, it was revealed that all of them were sufferers of Noise Sickness who resorted to desperate measures because they could not afford earphones.

...

However, when the police recovered the stolen goods from the suspects, they discovered a discrepancy in the quantity. After multiple interrogations, the suspects’ stories remained consistent: all the loot was accounted for, and nothing had been hidden away.

...

Therefore, it is speculated that there were two separate groups of thieves who entered the mall. The police are now searching for the other group.]

Moira Lynch was very confident in herself. ’They will never trace this back to me.’

After that news report ended, the next one began.

This story was about noise-canceling earphones.

’Looks like the higher-ups have noticed the price gouging by those merchants.’

In fact, if those people weren’t stopped, last night’s incident would be just the beginning.

As the symptoms of Noise Sickness worsened, those who couldn’t find relief would completely lose their minds.

And there’s no telling what a person without reason might do.

Moira Lynch ate the last bite of her bread, dusted off her hands, and got up, ready to head out.

’There’s nothing to do at home anyway. I might as well go for a walk and see if I can find any clues about Shane Rhodes and the others.’

Walking down the street, Moira Lynch could clearly feel that there were far fewer people out and about.

She knew the reason for the empty streets.

Her wrist-screen had pushed a news alert to her as she left.

It was an article published by an expert.

The expert had conducted detailed research and observation on Noise Sickness, ultimately concluding that the illness was likely contagious. The method of transmission was unknown, so everyone was urged not to go outside.

Regardless of whether the article was true or not, everyone was hiding at home, too scared to go out, operating on the principle of "better safe than sorry."

Moira Lynch walked around outside for a long time but found no trace of Shane Rhodes and the other two.

’If only I had a local ID,’ she thought. ’I could file a report at the police station.’

After giving up on the idea of searching for them, Moira Lynch suddenly felt a bit lost.

She had a place to live, enough food, and plenty of earphones. The safest option now was to find a secure spot and just hunker down until the game ended.

However, Moira Lynch felt that doing so would be a bit of a waste, and she couldn’t bring herself to be content with it.

As she walked, Moira Lynch suddenly stopped in front of a large chain supermarket.

A hiring notice was posted next to the supermarket’s entrance.

[URGENTLY HIRING: Temporary Cashiers, age 18-36. 200 daily wage, paid daily. Meals provided, no accommodation.]

Moira Lynch stared at the hiring notice for a moment, then walked into the supermarket.

She found the manager’s office. The manager was a middle-aged woman, slightly plump, with black-rimmed glasses.

Seeing Moira Lynch walk in, the woman looked her up and down before asking, "Can I help you?"

"I saw the hiring ad outside," Moira Lynch said.

"You’re here to apply? Are you eighteen yet?" the woman asked, her face stern. She looked Moira Lynch up and down again, her expression doubtful.

Moira Lynch nodded. "I am."

As she said this, Moira Lynch was actually nervous. Not about her age, but because she was afraid the woman would ask for her ID, which she didn’t have.

Just as Moira Lynch’s heart was pounding, the middle-aged woman suddenly asked, "You don’t have Noise Sickness, do you?"

Hearing this, Moira Lynch shook her head decisively. "No."

The middle-aged woman studied Moira Lynch carefully again. Seeing that she wasn’t wearing earphones, she nodded. "Alright, you can start today. We’re in desperate need of cashiers lately. All our previous ones got Noise Sickness and had to take leave."

And just like that, Moira Lynch successfully became a cashier at the chain supermarket.

Moira Lynch had worked as a cashier long ago.

Although the system here was a bit different, after an experienced cashier demonstrated it a few times, Moira Lynch had more or less gotten the hang of it.

The cashier in charge of training Moira Lynch was surprised by how quickly she learned, an appreciative expression appearing on her face. "Young people really are something else. You learn so much faster than us old folks."

Hearing this, Moira Lynch put on a shy expression and lowered her head bashfully, though her hands never stopped moving.

The store originally had seven cashiers. Five had fallen ill one after another recently, leaving only two to struggle on. Moira Lynch’s arrival immediately took a significant amount of pressure off them.

But even with three people, they were still busy from noon until late afternoon, when the number of customers in the supermarket finally started to dwindle.

Only then could they finally catch their breath.