Chapter 248: Shivani's Justice

"I heard that you have a powerful enemy coming after you. What are you planning to do?" Baldie Lin asked as he continued to operate on Adam. "By the way, these materials are all from the pawn shop, so you have to pay for them."

"I know, I know, just put it on my tab for now," Adam yawned. "What can I do? I'll get a bunch of Mechguard units to accompany me everywhere I go, then think of ways to make myself more renowned as a figure of justice."

"How will that help you?"

"It'll be extremely helpful. If I can pull this off well, even the southern congress would be forced to help me, but if I screw up, everyone will want to kill me, including the northern congress."

Adam had no trust in the ethics and morality of politicians, but the good thing about politicians was that they didn't let emotions and personal ties get in the way of their decision-making, and they would keep someone around as long as that person was still of value to them.

Hence, in a way, it made them more predictable and less complicated to deal with.

After having all of the prosthetics retrofitted, Adam called up Diana and the three psychic mutants, and the four of them traveled to Shivani's home under the protection of a group of Mechguard units.

Shivani was the real-world equivalent of the camera anomaly, which was the manifestation of Samit's fear.

Samit was previously an official who worked at the National Medical Products Administration, but he found himself caught in Shivani's crosshairs due to his crimes of corruption and embezzlement.

Samit was actually a very weak-willed man, and a significant factor behind the political crimes that he had committed was due to the pressure exerted upon him by those above him. After being targeted by Shivani, he lived in constant fear of being arrested, to the extent that his quality of life had been reduced to shambles.

Ever since the police force had been replaced by Mechguards, there had been a huge surge in popularity in investigative journalism. In a way, investigative journalists partially performed the role that police officers once did. As long as they had concrete evidence that they could submit to Mechguard, those who infringed on the law would be punished for their crimes.

Shivani was an investigative journalist, but she was not in a very good place at the moment.

Ultimately, this world was governed by a series of powerful entities, and after exposing the dark underbelly of the National Medical Products Administration, she had made herself an enemy of two powerful organizations, one of which was the National Medical Products Administration itself, while the other was Sweet Energy Foodstuff company.

This was one of the largest food companies in Sandrise City, and it worked closely with smart apartments. The company's main selling point was that it could provide convenient and healthy food items to all residents of smart apartment complexes within three minutes at the press of a button.

The company was a massive powerhouse, and after Shivani exposed their shady dealings, the website that she worked for immediately came under immense pressure, forcing them to fire her.

After that, she found it extremely difficult to find further employment, forcing her to turn to independent media, trying to continue in her past line of work using her previously accumulated fanbase and her active journalist license.

Unfortunately, things hadn't been very easy for her.

The paltry income that she received from her independent media endeavors meant that she struggled just to make ends meet, and most importantly, without the backing of a company, she had lost her information sources.

For the average journalist, knowing where issues arose and what those issues were was more important than investigative ability. Without information sources, an investigative journalist would be like a headless fly with no sense of direction.

As for purchasing information, that was completely out of the question for her.

All large intelligence organizations like the pawn shop sold their information at astronomical prices that were completely unaffordable for a struggling independent journalist like her.

On this day, Shivani was sitting in her small apartment, looking at the falling rain outside in a dejected manner. All of a sudden, she received a call on her communicator from an unknown number.

The average person was very unlikely to take calls from unknown numbers, but an investigative journalist would definitely answer such calls because they could be tips that contained her next big scoop.

"Hello, you've reached the preacher of truth, Shivani. How can I help you?"

"Hello, my name is Adam. You may have heard of me from the recent news."

As a journalist, Shivani naturally kept up very closely with current affairs, and a thought immediately occurred to her upon hearing this.

"Are you one of the recently instated special psychic police officers?"

"That's me."

Shivani was rather skeptical about this claim, but she didn't say anything. She was just a struggling independent journalist, while Adam had become one of the most renowned public figures of late. According to her knowledge, Adam also had ties with several powerhouse organizations, such as the northern congress and the pawn shop.

Thus, it was very perplexing to her that someone of his status would contact a virtually completely unknown journalist like herself.

"There's no need to be surprised, I've heard about some of your past exploits." Prior to contacting Shivani, Adam had already requested the pawn shop to gather information on her for him. "I really liked your report on the food safety case, and I'm a big fan of your desire to pursue justice."

Indeed, Adam was quite fond of Shivani. If she hadn't traumatized Samit so severely, Adam wouldn't have been able to obtain Camera, and he would've most likely already perished in his match against Oni no Hanzou.

Hence, even though the two of them had never met before, it could be said that Shivani had indirectly saved his life.

"Can I help you?"

Shivani was slightly more convinced after hearing Adam mention the food safety case.

"Let's talk face to face. I'm at the foot of your apartment building right now."

Shivani immediately turned to look out her window upon hearing this, and sure enough, she discovered five people and several Mechguard units outside, and one of those people was waving at her.

At this point, Shivani was completely convinced, and after a brief glance in the mirror to ensure that she was presentable, she immediately rushed downstairs to meet Adam.

"You look a little different from how you do on the news."

She was referring to his recently retrofitted exoskeleton and spider legs.

While his face remained unchanged, he had become far more physically imposing with all these prosthetics installed.

"It's a dangerous world out there, I had to get some prosthetics retrofitted to protect myself."

"I see."

Shivani turned her attention to the four people beside Adam, only to find what appeared to be a mentally impaired trio and a middle-aged woman with a furious look on her face, none of whom appeared very normal.

However, the presence of the Mechguard units confirmed Adam's identity to her. Aside from special psychic police officers, no one could command these Mechguard units.

"Why have you come to see me?"

A sense of excitement was beginning to well up in Shivani's heart after confirming Adam's identity. She had a feeling that an opportunity for her to make a comeback was about to be presented to her.

.

Sure enough, what Adam said next had her heart practically soaring out of her chest.

"I really like your journalistic style. Are you interested in collaborating with me? I'll give you firsthand information on all of the cases that I investigate, and you can report the stories to the public."

"Are you being serious right now?"

Shivani's heart was pounding so hard that she could barely hear what Adam was saying. This was the opportunity that she had always dreamed of!

As one of the currently most renowned public figures, Adam carried enormous clout. In addition to that, the occupation of special psychic police officer had only just arisen, and it was a completely unexplored territory.

Journalists were always looking for new developments in the world as these new developments generated vast interest in themselves.

Furthermore, if she could receive regular tips from Adam, then all of her shortcomings would be compensated for. She was confident that if she were to agree to this collaboration, all of her problems would be resolved, and she would instantly receive an enormous amount of attention, perhaps even catapulting her to become one of the top journalists in the entire nation.

"I'll be honest, I'm extremely excited right now, and I really, really want to accept your offer, but I have to make one thing clear: I'm not going to report any false stories." Shivani was determined to uphold her values. "I only do the right things."

"Perfect! That's why I came to see you. I like people who are determined to do the right thing, and I anticipate a very happy and fruitful collaboration between us."