Chapter 23: The Third One

This was a very clear and concise explanation, and Adam was able to easily wrap his head around it.

"Then what can we do?"

"There is a type of training method for adapters that can allow them to slowly accept prosthetic limbs, but only a small number of adapters successfully master this method. That's not because the training method is very difficult, the problem is that it's simply not worth pursuing in many cases. After all, each adapter possesses different abilities."

Having worked extensively in this field, the boss of the retrofitting shop knew more about this subject than even the teachers at the academies.

"Hence, most people choose to pursue the option of supplementary retrofitting, such as adding an additional arm without amputating any of the existing arms, or adding a tentacle. You get the idea."

"I see." Adam nodded in response as he thought of the spider legs on Red Spider's back. Those were clearly supplementary prosthetics. "Are those types of prosthetic limbs expensive?"

"They are. All prosthetics that involve limbs are very cheap, while the opposite is true for prosthetics that involve the brain. It's easy to laser amputate limbs and use the existing nervous system in the body to establish psychic connections because there are already reflex zones in the brain that correspond with those limbs. However, supplementary prosthetics require modifications to the brain, thereby making them very expensive. Thankfully, adapters like yourself are all quite wealthy, so you can afford these special prosthetics."

Despite what the boss of the shop was saying, it was clear from his expression that 100,000 wasn't going to get Adam anything of value.

𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

"How many types of retrofitting are there? I need something that can save my life in dangerous situations."

"Are you being hunted down by someone? Actually, forget it, I don't want to hear about it," the boss said. "I can see that you don't have a lot of money, so I'll be honest with you... By the way, are you really a fan of Deranged Pig's music?"

"Not only am I a fan of his music, I know him personally as well. In fact, I can even get you some memorabilia."

"Really? How does someone as poor as you know Deranged Pig?"

"Here, I'll prove it."

Adam dialed Deranged Pig's number as he spoke, and a hologram of Deranged Pig soon appeared above his arm.

The hologram wore a slightly grumpy expression as it asked, "What is it? You only just left, didn't you?"

"This isn't some implanted program, is it?" the boss asked as he waved excitedly at the hologram.

"Who the hell is that?" Deranged Pig took a moment to inspect his surroundings. "You're in a retrofitting shop? Ah, that makes sense, you really do need some retrofitting done. Otherwise, you're way too weak. I still have some stuff that I'm busy with at home, so if you don't have anything important to say, I'm going to hang up now!"

"That was definitely Deranged Pig's signature short temper!" The boss was extremely excited to be seeing his idol. "My name is Weber. This time, I'm really going to tell you the truth..."

"Hold on, were you not telling the truth just now?"

"I was, but now, I'm gonna tell you the actual truth. There's a difference. Integrity is key in business, after all," Weber chortled.

"Can you give me a discount?"

"I'm very happy to have met my idol, but even if my own father comes here to negotiate for you, there's no way I'm offering any discount!" Weber tapped on his own arm as he spoke, projecting a menu, and he pointed at one of the items on the menu as he said, "Given your current budget, this is the only thing that you can start with. The implanting process is very simple and doesn't require surgery. This is a man-made neuron transmitter..."

"But I already have a transmitter in my arm."

"That's different. This transmitter can transmit something akin to a bunch of tiny cell towers, and each cell tower is a mechanical neuron electrical synapse transmission device. The function of those devices is to capture a large area of your consciousness. If someone wants to hurt you, you'll obviously be at a severe disadvantage in the real world due to your lack of powerful prosthetic limbs. However, with this transmitter, you'll be able to avoid fighting in the real world altogether and engage your enemies in the domain of your consciousness instead. No matter how powerful the average person is, there's no way they'll be a match for an adapter in the psychic world, and that's the key to an adapter's power."

"That sounds fantastic," Adam said with a pleased expression. "How much will that cost?"

"1.75 million."

"..."

"I told you, all pieces of equipment for adapters are very expensive. Thankfully for you, each adapter can apply for a loan of a maximum sum of 2,000,000 from the congressional bank. Having said that, the interest rate is quite high, of course. It's up to you whether you want to pursue that option."

"I'll do it!"

After witnessing the human farm, Adam was feeling exceedingly vulnerable. Even though he was an adapter, in the real world, he would struggle against even a common street thug. With this transmitter implanted in his body, his self-preservation abilities would receive an unfathomably massive boost.

As for the loan, that was something that he was just going to have to pay off in the future. For now, his top priority was to keep himself safe.

After confirming the deal, Weber wasted no time with words and immediately began his work.

For him, a job worth 1.75 million was an enormous one that was almost equivalent to his total annual revenue.

In the following three days, Adam spent all of his time in this shop. Students of Layton Academy enjoyed a high degree of freedom when it came to their classes, so all he had to do was notify the academy that he was going to be absent.

Those three days were entirely dedicated to implanting the transmitter into his body, and at the conclusion of the process, he had a device that resembled a spear gun attached to his arm.

The transmitter was designed to be collapsible, so it could be folded down into what appeared to be a bracer. The transmitter was very simple to operate, and after the installation was complete, Adam tested it out to find that it was extremely effective.

Even at the lowest setting, once the "cell towers" were transmitted, all of the passersby on close to half of the entire street were dragged into his psychic world.

Of course, this was illegal, and to further compound his financial woes, he was issued a fine of 30,000 by Mechguard.

Due to the fact that most of the work conducted over the course of the three days had been done by Weber, he was left completely exhausted and bedridden, as if he had been afflicted by some type of serious illness.

Of course, Adam didn't waste all of this free time. Instead, he spent it absorbing the fruits of his labors from the last mission.

Inside his psychic world, Adam still couldn't help but be elated as he gazed upon the flower pots before him.

Even though it had been three days, his joy and excitement had barely waned. This was because a new member had appeared in his secret base, which meant that he now had three anomalies.

I can't believe the anomaly of fear has been transferred into my psychic world!

A gargantuan creature had emerged from the array of flower pots in front of him. The creature was a scarecrow that was six meters tall, standing at roughly the same height as a two-story building. The scarecrow had appeared in his plantation area, and at this moment, it was resting with its eyes closed in one of the flower pots.

In contrast with the enormous scarecrow, even Mummy in its giant form was made to look petite and almost adorable. The other anomalies resembled bonsai plants in their flower pots, while the anomaly of fear stood like a full-sized tree.

As for why the anomaly of fear had appeared here, that was something that Adam couldn't explain. However, what he did know was that even though his two anomalies had devoured all of the scarecrow's anomalic power on that day, the amount of power that they actually managed to digest was very limited. Even taking the amount that was distributed to Adam into account, the three had only managed to absorb less than 20% of the scarecrow's anomalic power.

The anomaly of fear had resided in Kim's heart for many years, and the scarecrow that it had manifested was far too powerful, certainly far beyond 10 times more powerful than Adam. If it weren't for Deranged Pig's assistance and the weakening effects suffered by the scarecrow, it would've been able to crush the trio of Adam, Nie Yiyi, and Hook with ease.

The amount of power that it had left behind was too enormous, to the point that the two anomalies were unable to digest it. As a result, they were forced to cough it back up, and it manifested itself into this reborn anomaly of fear.

However, due to the fact that the scarecrow wasn't manifested from Adam's emotions, there was no emotional link between them, so he didn't know how to use it. In any case, it certainly couldn't be a bad thing that it had appeared in his plantation area.