Chapter 169: Allies

All of the names that Hook had provided were of combatants who hadn't joined any teams and weren't affiliated with any powers at the moment.

The day after reviewing all of the footage, Adam tracked down these people one by one through the Green Gang.

The first person that he approached was Midget, who was dining at a high-end restaurant at the time of Adam's visit. He had booked an entire booth for himself, and he was dining on dishes from a mish-mash of different cuisines. Aside from him, there were also six or seven extremely tall women in the booth.

These women weren't particularly beautiful, but they were strikingly tall, with all of them standing at over two meters in height. It seemed that only women of this height could satisfy Midget's peculiar fetish.

"Well, well, well, to what do I owe this honor?"

Midget didn't put on a cocky display in the presence of Adam. In Shadow City, power was championed above all else. Furthermore, the two of them were both going to be participating in the battle royale in a few days, so Midget naturally had no intention of antagonizing Adam.

"Take a seat. Would you like to order something to eat? The dry fried crab here is delightful."

"I'll pass." Adam sat down onto the sofa, then took a glance at the fruit juice in front of Midget before taking a sip. "I came here because I want to recruit you onto my team. What do you think?"

"I would love to be on your team," Midget replied with a smile. "However, my goal is not to become champion. Hence, if that is your ultimate goal, then I may not be the best teammate."

"You don't want to become champion?" This was the first time that Adam had heard anyone say this. "Then why are you even participating in the battle royale?"

"Most of the people participating in the battle royale don't have the objective of becoming champion. Otherwise, the death rate would be raised to over 90%, and no one would want to participate. I may be putting my life on the line, but I don't have a death wish!" Midget tossed a fried crab into his mouth as he spoke, then began to crunch on it as he continued, "I know what I'm capable of, and I'm not prepared to take excessive risks to become champion."

"What is your goal then?"

"My top priority for the battle royale is the prize money. The prize money offered in the battle royale is very high. After entering the game, I can obtain some resources from all of the locations, and I can exchange those resources with the director for a lot of good stuff, including money. I could earn more in a day in the battle royale than I do from half a year of matches, so I'm mainly in there just to survive for as long as I can."

Midget smiled as he spat out a crab shell onto the hand of the woman beside him.

"Regardless of whether it's the private currency used in Shadow City, or money from the civilized world, both can be obtained in the battle royale. Earning this prize money will be more difficult than working as a hitman in the outside world, but you won't end up with a criminal record with Mechguard."

"I see." Adam was able to develop a better understanding of the battle royale after hearing what Midget had to say. "Before talking to you, I thought everyone was going for the win."

"There aren't many teams at all aiming to become champion," Midget said with a smile. "Having said that, it's only to be expected that you would think this way. After all, you're not a local resident of Shadow City. Our goals are different and I'll only drag you down, so I suggest you go find someone else to recruit to your team. Otherwise, if we form a team and go into the battle royale with conflicting objectives, it'll only be detrimental to both of us."

"I suppose."

Adam nodded in response, then thanked Midget for his advice before preparing to depart.

"Hold on a second. I have two suggestions for you, would you like to hear them?"

"I would love to."

"If you're looking for teammates, you can go pay Ikkaku a visit. He has a vendetta against the Oni Organization, and you just killed one of the Oni Organization's top hitmen. On top of that, his objective in the battle royale is also to become champion, so there's a chance he'll be willing to join you."

"I see. Thank you for that. What's your second piece of advice?"

"My second suggestion is that we can look after each other if we run into one another in the battle royale. We have completely different objectives, so there's no need for us to fight."

"Sure." Adam nodded in response.

Even though he hadn't managed to recruit Midget as a teammate, this was certainly not a pointless visit.

"Great! As long as I have enough money, I'll have women and immortality! I love money!" Midget buried his face into the chest of the woman beside him before inhaling deeply as an intoxicated look appeared on his face, then stuffed another crab into his own mouth. "Life is good..."

……

After departing from the restaurant, Adam approached Ikkaku next.

At the time of Adam's visit, Ikkaku was training in his own dojo. The dojo accepted no disciples, but it was built exactly like the dojos from 200 years ago. There were many pieces of training equipment inside, and the overall style bore a strong resemblance to the island that Nie Yiyi trained on in her psychic world.

However, what was different from that island was that Ikkaku's dojo had a lot of high-tech equipment as well, but all of those pieces of equipment were disguised as antiquated relics.

As Adam made his way into the dojo, Ikkaku was in the process of shocking himself with a taser that resembled a bamboo rod, using the pain to stimulate his muscles and hone his willpower.

"You're the kid that's being wanted in the outside world, right?"

With Ikkaku's acute telegnosis, he had already sensed Adam's arrival, and he made no secret of the fact that he already knew Adam's true identity.

"All of the attention surrounding you has already faded. The news channels are all reporting new stories now, and your status as a fugitive on the run is pretty much set in stone at this point, so there's no need to hide your identity any longer. You have too many prominent traits that can expose your identity anyway. What have you come to visit me for?"

"I want you to join my team."

"I'm not opposed to that, but if I become champion, my wish is to have the Oni Organization eradicated. If that's not possible, then I want the director to cause as much trouble for the Oni Organization as possible. Are you willing to follow such an agenda?"

"I'm afraid not."

Adam had his own wish that he had to fulfill.

"In that case, it looks like we won't be able to work together."

The two of them had completely different objectives. Ikkaku's goal was revenge, while Adam wanted to clear his own name, and neither side would be able to convince the other.

"You're very strong, and you've helped me out by killing Oni no Hanzou. How about this? I won't join your team, but we can be allies in the battle royale, nonetheless. Seeing as we have a common enemy, how about we join forces and prioritize killing Oni no Miko?"

Adam thought about this proposal for a moment before nodding in agreement.

"I have no reason not to accept that."

"Alright, then I'll see you during the battle royale."

After departing from Ikkaku's dojo, Adam paid Medusa a visit.

However, just like Midget, Medusa had no intention of risking her life to become champion, and she certainly didn't want to join Adam's team, given how many powerful enemies Adam had.

In her words, joining Adam's team would've been a decision that would send her to an early grave.

Hence, in the end, Adam hadn't made any progress in the recruitment of teammates.

Thankfully, even though he wasn't able to recruit anyone, he had reaped alternative benefits through all of his meetings with the S tier combatants thus far. Hence, even though he had already given up on his search for teammates at this point, he still decided to visit the final person that Hook mentioned, the adapter by the name of Dragon Knight.