I Explore Urban Legends - Chapter 118: The Mastermind in the Shadows (Patreon)

After listening to the entire discussion, Liam calmly said,

“The Reptilians want to wipe out humanity, while the Western European Vampires want to gain power. This is the result of them working together.”

Balankov scratched his head in frustration.

“This is terrible. It’s the worst news I’ve heard since our leader died.”

Leslie asked curiously,

“Aren’t you all Vampires? Why do you think that’s so terrible?”

Balankov looked up and explained impatiently,

“Sorting out the feud between our two factions would be extremely complicated. I’d have to give you an entire night’s worth of history lessons.

“All you need to know is that although we descend from the same ancestor, we eventually became enemies.”

“Oh, I get it. Like rival religious sects.”

After explaining, Balankov turned to Liam.

“This is no small matter. Thanks for bringing us this information. I’ll report it to our clan leaders and see what they think.”

“Is there anything your side can do?”

Balankov shook his head.

“No. If we were still in Eastern Europe, we could go to war immediately. But we fled from there and lost our homeland. We barely have any influence here.”

Then he remembered something.

“But I’ll warn our people. If anyone comes across something similar, I’ll make sure you hear about it as soon as possible. You’re the only person I know who both has the ability to deal with this and actually wants to.”

Liam understood the Eastern European gang’s position.

They were struggling just to survive here. They simply didn’t have the strength to deal with something this serious.

If the Western European Vampires succeeded with their plan, the Eastern European faction would probably be among the first to be wiped out. But right now, many of them could barely keep themselves afloat. They had no choice but to deal with their immediate problems first.

Liam sighed.

“Either way, thanks for your help.”

“No need to thank me. This concerns all of our survival. We’ll do everything we can to help.”

Liam gathered the others and prepared to leave.

Just as Leslie stood up to follow them, Balankov stopped him.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

Leslie looked completely confused.

“Home, obviously.”

“You think we’re going to let you wander around outside now that you’ve become a Blood Servant?”

Sergei and Oleg immediately stepped forward and put their arms around Leslie’s shoulders.

“You’re staying here with us until we figure out exactly how that drug you took works.”

Leslie looked at Liam in panic.

“Mr. Liam, help me.”

“Just stay here. Weren’t you short on money? You can work here while you’re at it.”

Without another glance back, Liam led everyone out of the bar, completely ignoring Leslie’s pleading look.

On the way back to the TV station, Evan said nervously,

“When I get home, I’m throwing away all my cold medicine. No, forget that. I’m throwing away every medicine I own.”

Liam smiled.

“Good. You’re already developing the proper level of professional caution.”

“I’m starting to miss the version of myself from this morning who didn’t know any of this.”

After everything that had happened that day, Evan felt as though his entire worldview was being rebuilt from the ground up.

“Someday, you’ll miss the version of yourself who only knows what you know now.”

Liam teased him before taking everyone back to the TV station.

Once he had assigned the remaining work, it was time to deal with the orphans’ housing problem.

After asking James for advice, Liam decided to buy two large mobile homes on the secondhand market.

Mobile homes were extremely cheap, costing roughly one-fifth as much as an ordinary house.

And because transporting and installing them was such a hassle, used ones could sell for less than half their original price.

Buying a piece of land or an existing house out in the countryside would have been even cheaper, but there were two problems.

First, it would put them too far from Boston.

Second, Liam didn’t trust real estate.

A house couldn’t move.

If an emergency happened, what was he supposed to do, simply abandon it?

He wasn’t going to tie up his assets in something like that.

After a long round of bargaining, Liam bought two large mobile homes for around twenty thousand dollars and paid several hundred more for transportation.

His other shows had recently begun bringing in broadcast fees, along with advertising revenue, but even so, the purchase nearly emptied his available funds.

Liam wasn’t worried.

With these children, he would be able to produce more large-scale programs in the future. He could also expand the TV station’s broadcast range, increase its ratings, and bring in more advertising money.

Liam led the trucks carrying the mobile homes into the forest.

He found Goldman and rented a large enough plot of land from him.

Goldman smiled when he heard what Liam needed it for.

“Looks like you’ve got quite the big family now.”

“That’s right. I’ve taken in a lot of orphans.”

Goldman sighed in admiration.

“You really are a good man.”

He still charged Liam the full rent, of course.

Before Liam left, Goldman added,

“I’ve set up a visitor center at the station. Stop by when you have time and give me some suggestions.”

“No problem. I’ve actually got plenty.”

Several vehicles rolled into the RV campground in a long convoy.

Bob and Bobby came running over excitedly with the children.

“Look! The house is here!”

“This is great! We finally don’t have to sleep in trees anymore!”

For the past two days, the brothers had given up their RV to the others and slept outside in trees instead.

Maria said there was nothing wrong with that. After all, there had once been a baron who spent his entire life living in the trees.

The brothers didn’t understand what a baron had to do with trees, but once their mother assured them that people really could live up there, they stopped complaining.

Now, though, they finally had a better place to live.

Liam directed the trucks to bring the homes to the designated area.

One of the drivers still looked uneasy.

“Are you sure you don’t need us to install these? This isn’t exactly like putting together building blocks.”

Liam didn’t seem concerned.

“It’s fine. I have enough people to handle it. Just unload everything and head back.”

The real reason was that Liam had run out of money.

Still, putting the homes together wasn’t particularly difficult for him.

“All right, if that’s what you want. But just so you know, if you can’t assemble them and have to call us back, you’ll have to pay another transportation fee.”

“Thanks for the warning, but we’ll be fine.”

Still doubtful, the drivers unloaded the sections onto the open lot and left.

Liam stood there admiring the unusual structures when he saw Bob and Bobby approaching with the children.

“Come on, everyone. Give me a hand. This is where we’ll be living from now on.”

An ordinary mobile home wouldn’t need to be assembled at all. It would leave the factory as a single complete unit.

But the ones Liam had bought were much larger.

Each home had four bedrooms and two bathrooms.

Naturally, they had been transported in separate sections and needed to be joined together on-site.

Liam first removed the concrete foundation sections, positioned them where he wanted them, then drove them into the soil with a single punch.

Once the foundation was firmly set, he used nothing but brute strength to push the wheeled sections of the house into place on top of it.