Chapter 113: Artificial Anomalies

Brutal, gorey, extremely impactful, deafeningly loud...

Those were the most direct feelings that Adam experienced after watching this "grand sporting event" of Shadow City. This was a place that allowed one's most primal evil urges to flourish. Even for someone like him, a mentally stable individual who had only just come from the civilized world, he still couldn't help but be struck by a peculiar combination of discomfort and excitement after watching such a match.

The stimulation of simultaneously watching a battle between mechas and a murder being committed right before his eyes had sent his heart rate shooting through the roof.

However, it was clear that the battle between the cyborgs wasn't the grand finale. What the spectators wanted to see the most was a psychic battle.

Surely the psychic battle won't be as gorey and violent as the cyborg battle...

With his limited imagination, Adam couldn't fathom a battle more brutal than the one that he had just witnessed.

After all, no matter how much money and influence the organizers had, there was no way that they could recruit an adapter of Masao Yamamoto's caliber to participate in their matches. In Adam's eyes, only a battle between level three anomalies at the very minimum would be able to present a visual spectacle more impactful than the cyborg battle that had just taken place.

He had already fought in a psychic battle outside, and there weren't any particularly powerful combatants, nor was the level of brutality anything to write home about, so why were the spectators so excited?

Hailey could see what Adam was thinking, and she gave him a mysterious wink as she said, "Just keep watching."

A short while later, the arena was cleaned up, and the host took the stage. After briefly warming up the crowd, he began to introduce the upcoming match.

"Next up is what you've all been waiting for: the clash between psychic anomalies! The two combatants for today have both been meticulously curated by our stadium. The first combatant is one that we like to call the Skinned Anomaly!"

The Skinned Anomaly? What the hell is that supposed to be?

Adam was just as curious as everyone else, and as the host continued with his introduction, Adam rose to his feet before casting his gaze toward the passageway leading into the arena. A short while later, a "monster" was wheeled out from the passageway.

The "monster" was laying on a sickbed with all types of medical equipment attached to its body in order to ensure its survival, including catheters, oxygen cylinders, and different types of liquid medicine.

Upon closer inspection, Adam discovered that this was no monster. Instead, it was a person!

However, most of this person's skin had been peeled away, revealing the bright right muscles and sinews underneath. His limbs had also been severed, making him resemble a bright red ball of flesh, and it was a truly horrific sight to behold.

"This combatant has was skinned and delimbed several months ago, and during these past few months, his agony has been slowly fermenting. At this point, the anomaly in his psychic world has already reached full maturity, and we've confirmed this by connecting his psychic world to a projection device to see what's inside. Now then, without further ado, I present to you the Skinned Anomaly!"

With an enthusiastic roar from the host, a machine was connected to the combatant's head, and a massive three-dimensional projection that encompassed the entire stadium was produced.

Inside the projection was an anomaly that resembled a skinned frog. Even though the anomaly had no skin, its limbs were very long and powerful, and it was clear from its physical appearance that it possessed exceptional mobility.

"We've collected extensive data on this anomaly. Due to the mutation of the combatant's desire to have his limbs and mobility restored, this anomaly is extremely fast. Let me give you all a demonstration."

While the host was speaking, a thug that was completely tied up from head to toe was dragged into the arena. The thug had a horrified look on his face, and he was repeatedly yelling phrases such as "I didn't attack the stadium director", "I've been framed", and "please clear my name", but no one was listening to him, and his desperate pleas were quickly drowned out by the raucous voices of the spectators.

The thug was dragged over to the sickbed, following which a spiked helmet was placed onto his head. The spikes in the helmet instantly punctured his skull before piercing into his brain.

Adam recognized this type of helmet. It was the very same type of helmet that was used to temporarily grant normal people the abilities of adapters, and it was used by all of the combatants outside.

After the helmet was placed onto the thug's head, the host connected him to the same machine as the gruesome ball of flesh on the sick bed.

After that, the most commonly used warehouse venue was selected.

In the instant that the two entered the psychic world, the image in the giant three-dimensional projection began to change, and soon, the Skinned Anomaly and a horrified human appeared in the warehouse.

The thug's psychic body was very weak. Just like the majority of normal people, his psychic body was just as weak as the average human's physical body. In the instant that he appeared in the warehouse, Adam could clearly see the intense horror deep in his eyes.

The thug was trembling uncontrollably as he desperately tried to escape from the warehouse, but as soon as he made a move, the Skinned Anomaly instantly flashed past as a red blur, then drew to an abrupt halt.

None of the spectators were able to see exactly what had happened, and by the time everyone could see what was happening again, the thug was already being brutally mutilated by the Skinned Anomaly.

So fast!

Adam's attention wasn't focused on the gorey scene that was driving the spectators into a bloodthirsty frenzy. Instead, he was replaying the previous instant in his mind.

The Skinned Anomaly was truly extraordinarily fast. Adam had already witnessed many powerful anomalies and adapters, but the Skinned Anomaly definitely ranked near the top in terms of speed.

Of course, that wasn't the only thing that he was stunned by.

In the past, all he knew was that people who were suffering from difficult life circumstances or psychological trauma would develop emotional baggage that would slowly give rise to emotional aberrations, which would then evolve into emotional anomalies if they were allowed to develop unchecked.

However, never had he considered that anomalies could be artificially created by intentionally inflicting severe torture onto someone. The one who had thought of this idea had to be more terrifying than any anomaly in existence.

"That man who's been skinned, where did his original persona go?" Adam asked.

"What original persona?"

"Even if an emotional anomaly has appeared in his psychic world, his original persona should still be there."

"Who knows? Maybe it was devoured by the anomaly? Either that or the organizers have some type of special method that they can use to kill off his original persona. Right now, he is nothing more than the anomaly, an embodiment of hatred and destructive tendencies."

While the two of them were speaking to one another, the Skinned Anomaly had already killed its victim, and the thug's body in the real world had also stopped moving. At this point, he was nothing more than a braindead vegetable.

"Did you all see that? The Skinned Anomaly is one of the stars that'll be featuring our grand finale today!"

The host gave a dismissive wave of his hand, instructing the workers to take the thug's body away, then began to deliver a grand introduction for the Skinned Anomaly's opponent.

"I'm sure all of you will agree that you'll be getting your money's worth watching the Skinned Anomaly in action. Now then, I'm sure some of you are curious: what kind of opponent could possibly be a match for such a powerful anomaly? Without further ado, allow me to introduce the Thousand-eyed Anomaly, a being even more horrific than the Skinned Anomaly!"

Another severely mutilated individual was wheeled out of another passageway amid a chorus of booming music.

The Skinned Anomaly had been created by skinning and delimbing its host, while the second combatant was one who had had his eyes, ears, mouth, and nose removed, thereby stripping him of his senses. After that, he was locked away in a completely isolated space for several months to give rise to another terrifying anomaly.

After witnessing this pair of artificial anomalies, Adam suddenly developed a deep understanding of what type of place Shadow City was.

This place really is a shithole!

While Adam was lamenting the state of this underground city, a three-dimensional projection of the Thousand-eyed Anomaly had already appeared.

As its name suggested, the Thousand-eyed Anomaly had 1,000 eyes growing all over its body. Its arms, legs, head... Every single part of its body was riddled with eyes, and even its body resembled a giant eyeball.

The brief introduction of the second anomaly drew to a conclusion amid thunderous cheers from the spectators, following which another sacrificial lamb was dragged onto the stage as the victim used to demonstrate the second anomaly's powers.

This second subject didn't appear to be a local of Shadow City. His face was very clean and devoid of tattoos, and he was wearing a very stylish set of casual clothes. Judging from the material used, the set of attire seemed to be from a high-end luxury brand.

"My dad's rich! He has more money than you can dream of! Let me go and he can pay you any sum you want! I can pay for all of your tickets! You have to believe me! Just let me make one all and I guarantee you I'll be able to get you all the money you want!"

The sacrificial subject was screaming with all his might, and his voice was amplified by the speaker in the arena so that it was clearly audible to all of the spectators, who only became more excited the more he pleaded.

Compared with sacrificing a local, they would much rather see an outsider from the civilized world be sacrificed, particularly someone like this, who clearly came from a privileged background. The thunderous cheers ringing out within the stadium was a clear indication that the spectators were very pleased with this appetizer event.

However, Adam was rather perplexed.

"Aren't the organizers arranging these matches to earn money? Why does it seem like they have no interest in verifying whether that rich kid is telling the truth or not?"

Looking at the expression on the subject's face and considering the life-or-death situation that he was in, Adam didn't think that he was lying.