Chapter 318: Chapter 217: Old Acquaintance (Part 2)
Quentin Sutton recovered from his shock, his eyelids drooping in sorrow.
’I’d finally managed to secure a truce, and even an alliance, with Paige Summers by poisoning myself. I thought I could finally see a glimmer of hope, but who knew something like this would happen!’
’Levi Young’s skill in creating medicine was something even he had to admire.’
’He’d tried to cure the poison in his own body countless times, but he simply couldn’t.’
’But now that he was missing, how could they possibly find him just by looking?!’
’He knew all too well what going missing meant in the apocalypse!’
’We still have a year... no, not anymore... only a few months. Can we really do it?’
Seeing his dejected expression, Paige Summers suddenly grew irritated.
’What’s with that look? Does he think Andy is never coming back?’
’How ridiculous!’
’Sheldon Reid wouldn’t be willing to kill such a valuable hostage until the very last moment. As long as he and Erin Quinn were alive, she would go to the ends of the earth to rescue them!’
’She couldn’t stand people who admitted defeat before they even started!’
She shot him a glare and asked through gritted teeth, "Is Nora Lowell with Shawn Monroe, or did she disappear with Sheldon Reid?"
"Shawn Monroe has her locked up."
"Okay. That’s all I have to say. Get it done as soon as you can. You can go."
Her tone was harsh, but Quentin Sutton was in no state to care, not even to grumble internally. His mind was consumed with thoughts of Andy’s disappearance and his incurable poison.
At her words, he simply got out of the car in silence.
Paige Summers immediately started the car and sped off.
In an instant, Quentin Sutton was the only one left on the already deserted street.
He watched the car disappear into the distance, a sudden, indescribable complexity welling up inside him.
’He still remembered first seeing Paige Summers at The Citadel in The Dead City. She was just a First or Second Order Speed Superpower User, living with a small Hunting Party, and she’d nearly gotten herself killed on a low-level mission. It was thanks to Shawn Monroe, who still had a soft spot for a pretty face back then, that she was rescued...’
’I had a good impression of her back then and even gave her a medical text. She would take every opportunity to ask me questions.’
’But now, things were completely different.’
’Especially after arriving in Central City. She and her Bloodfall Hunters had forcibly carved out a path for themselves here!’
’And as for us...’
Quentin Sutton’s lips twisted into a bitter smile.
’Ever since Jayden Yeats died and Nora Lowell betrayed them, their team had been reduced to just him and Shawn Monroe.’
’With few Crystal Cores to their name, life grew increasingly difficult. After enduring all sorts of humiliations, the refined, polite, and gentle doctor from The Citadel was long gone. In his place stood this disheveled, ill-tempered wreck.’
’In truth, things didn’t have to get this bad.’
’Both he and Shawn Monroe were Superpower Users with decent strength; they would have been welcome in any Hunting Party in District Four. It would have meant shedding the pride that had initially prevented them from stooping so low, but when a man can’t even guarantee his next meal, what face is there left to save?’
’But none of them had expected that woman, Nora Lowell, to be even more ruthless than they had imagined!’
’When Shawn Monroe failed to kill her that day, she immediately used Sheldon Reid’s influence to spy on them and even issued an order to have them killed. They were unaware at first, but after being ambushed twice and barely escaping with their lives, they grew suspicious. Eventually, they managed to buy information that revealed the source of the attacks.’
’But what good did knowing do?’
’Those people wouldn’t let them off the hook.’
’Any time they showed their faces in public, their lives were in danger!’
’Under such circumstances, forget joining a Hunting Party—even his private plans to find odd jobs in the city fell through.’
’They had skills but couldn’t earn Crystal Cores, forced to hide in this hovel just to stay alive. They were living worse than dogs, while Nora Lowell, the traitor, was enjoying a meteoric rise... It was an indignity no one could swallow!’
’But for them back then, revenge was nothing more than a pipe dream! The road from District Four to District One was dangerous enough to get them killed ten times over!’
However, just as the two of them were nearing despair, he met someone.
A man who, like them, had been forced to hide here after offending someone powerful.
After accidentally seeing the man carrying a portrait that looked strikingly like Nora Lowell, Quentin immediately took notice. He tried every method he could think of to get close and gather information. Though the man was wary, Quentin found that with enough time and effort, he could piece a lot together from mere fragments of conversation.
The man was in love with a woman.
’—This had to be Nora Lowell. Why else would he be carrying a woman’s portrait around, and looking at it so preciously?’
The man had offended a powerful figure because of this woman.
—And Quentin’s gut told him this "powerful figure" was Sheldon Reid.
The man was resentful and wanted revenge.
’—But he obviously couldn’t do it alone. If he could, he wouldn’t have ended up in a place like this. So, he must be planning to ally himself with another powerful figure!’
’If this man could do it, then he and Shawn Monroe could too!’
’Quentin Sutton suddenly felt they had been too narrow-minded! Sheldon Reid must have plenty of enemies. There had to be someone willing to work with them!’
’It was a good idea, but the key problem was that they didn’t know anyone like that, nor did they have any way to meet them. Except, of course, for the man right in front of him.’
And so, by claiming he was also being hunted by Sheldon Reid, he forged a strange friendship with this man, Milton Faraday.
It was precisely with Milton Faraday’s help that they had managed to avoid Marcus Monroe and get in touch with Paige Summers.
