Chapter 122: The Target

Where would they be able to find the greatest number of outsiders in Shadow City? The first place that sprang into Adam's mind was the subway station.

He had arrived in this city by taking that form of transport himself, and the entrances and exits of the subway stations were also the largest passageways that connected Shadow City to the outside world, so there had to be a relative abundance of outsiders there.

Thus, Adam and Shae immediately sprang into action, taking a bronze horse, a form of transportation that was unique to Shadow City, to the subway station, then stood in wait on an inconspicuous part of the plaza.

They had learned during their exploration of the city over the past two days that a train would pass through the subway station once every 20 to 30 minutes.

Sure enough, after just a few minutes, the first train arrived, but unfortunately, it was carrying nothing but corn.

The second train was an open-top carriage that resembled a mine cart, and close to half of the passengers were outsiders, identifiable by their darting eyes and their panicked demeanors.

"Do we strike?" All of the outsiders who were exiting the subway station were filled with apprehension and wariness.

"How? We can't just use our synapse transmitters. That would cause way too much chaos that could blow the situation up in our faces!"

Abducting someone was a rough job, but abducting someone without incurring backlash required technique and finesse.

"They're getting off the train now. Let's take a look first..."

Adam and Shae continued to observe as most of the passengers exited the train.

Just like Adam and his group, many of the passengers were first-time arrivals, and most of them had guides. Those who didn't have guides but were also calm and composed were the ones who clearly weren't visiting the city for the first time.

Among this group of people, there were a few who attracted Adam's attention. It was clear that they were first-time visitors of the city, but they had no guides, and their eyes were as sharp and piercing as the eyes of a hawk. Most importantly, Adam could sense something familiar about them.

"Look over there!"

"Yeah, I've noticed them as well."

Shae was also observing the same group of people in secret. Their attire was quite casual, but all of them stood ramrod straight and walked with firm, purposeful footsteps. Even though they weren't particularly tall or physically imposing, they gave off a sense of danger.

Perhaps the average person wouldn't be able to detect this sense of danger, but as an adapter who had already experienced countless life-and-death situations, Adam had a vague sense that this group was not to be messed with.

"Don't you feel like they're familiar somehow?"

"I do. I don't recall ever seeing them before, but it feels like I have."

"Could it be that we've met them in the psychic world?" Adam theorized. "There are five men and one woman in that group... Could they be Oni no Hanzou, Oni no Miko, and their allies?"

"Surely it's way too much of a coincidence encountering them here."

"Who knows? Don't make eye contact! They're looking this way." Regardless of whether it was a coincidence or not, Adam didn't want to take the risk, and he hurriedly lowered his head right as the group turned in the direction that he was in.

Thankfully, he and Shae were hiding in a corner of the plaza, and the plaza was quite large with many other people around, so Adam and Shae didn't attract the group's attention.

All of a sudden, the woman in the group stopped in her tracks, and she spread her hands open as her nose twitched slightly as if she were sensing something through her telegnosis. "I'm feeling a familiar sense of danger. Do you feel that?"

"There's danger at every turn here, so sensing danger is nothing out of the ordinary. This is that guy's territory, so make sure to keep a low profile."

"Got it." The woman opened her eyes before continuing on her way.

Only after the group had passed them by did Adam raise his head.

"I feel like that's them."

"If they're here, then I'm even more convinced that the footage in this city." The arrival of the Oni Organization's hitmen instilled within Shae a sense of both fear and excitement. "In any case, we finally have some hope now."

We can't afford to lose again.

A determined look appeared in Adam's eyes as he cast his gaze toward the passengers.

After a while, Adam's gaze finally settled on a straggler with a disoriented look in his eyes.

He was a short and stubby man, and his attire was quite expensive, but also a little dirty and ragged. He seemed to have fled to Shadow City on very short notice, and he didn't even have a guide.

After emerging from the subway station, he looked around and was horrified to find that the entire plaza was filled with thugs with facial tattoos. He immediately fled the scene in a blind panic, but little did he know that not only was Adam onto him, two other groups of thugs also had their eyes on him.

There was never a shortage of thugs in Shadow City.

After following the man into a dead-end, Adam finally crossed paths with the other two groups of thugs. At this point, the man that they were following was already completely cornered.

"What's going on here? We were the ones who spotted him first." A thug with a green crocodile tattooed on his face emerged from one of the other two groups, and as he stepped forward, his green crocodile tail also began to whip from side to side.

The crocodile tail was his prosthetic limb, and it was filled with weapons

These weapons were very flashy and menacing to behold, but most of them were far less dangerous than they looked. Even so, Adam was definitely no match for him in a physical brawl.

Right as he was hesitating about whether to fire his transmitter, a thug from the other group with a red turtle tattooed on his face suddenly spoke up.

"Who cares if you spotted him first? That's not how things work in this city. The one with the bigger fists always gets to make the rules. If you want him, you can have him for 20,000, or you can give us his kidneys and we'll split him. As for these two..." Red Turtle turned to Adam and Shae before asking, "Where are you two from?"

"We..." Adam was temporarily stumped by this question.

After listening to that brief conversation, Adam had developed a rough grasp on how the people here liked to do things.

Both sides were afraid of retaliation, so the locals were more reserved and civilized with one another, only resorting to violence if negotiation didn't work out. Sure enough, even amid the chaos, there were some rules to be followed.

Having come from the civilized world, Adam knew that if some rules were broken, the consequence would be catastrophic, and it would become extremely difficult for him to do anything in this city.

Hence, after a moment of contemplation, he replied, "I'm from the Green Gang."

"The Green Gang? Don't you guys only run convenience stores and dabble in selling intelligence? Since when did you start doing human trafficking?"

"That's not our objective, we only need some information."

"I see..."

Crocodile and Red Turtle both contemplated the situation in silence for a moment.

"What do you want to do?"

"I just need to ask him some things. It won't take very long, and he's all yours once I'm done."

The two thugs didn't stand to lose anything, so they both nodded in agreement, telling Adam to wrap things up as quickly as possible.

"Keep an eye on them for me. If they show any signs of aggression, don't hesitate to drag them into the psychic world!" Adam said in a low voice as he led Shae into the alley, then crouched down to inspect his target.

The target was a short and chubby middle-aged man dressed in formal and slightly outdated attire. His hair was a little disheveled, but Adam could tell that his original hairstyle would've been quite immaculate and well-groomed.

Judging from his appearance, he was most likely a government employee.

"What do you want?" The man was trembling slightly as he looked at Adam with a fearful expression.

"I want to find out some things about you."

Adam wasted no time with words and immediately invaded the man's psychic world.

Upon reopening his eyes, Adam discovered that the setting around him had changed from a filthy and muddy underground alleyway to a spacious and well-lit room in an office building. The chubby middle-aged man was conducting some official duties in front of Adam, and in the instant Adam appeared, the man immediately closed the document that he was about to sign.

In the instant that the document was closed, Adam caught a brief glimpse of the text on the cover.

It looks like he works for the National Medical Products Administration.