Chapter 288: Botox

After leaving Darvaza Prison, Adam and the others arrived in Area 45 to await further news.

They had chosen to wait here for the sake of flexibility. If they were somehow exposed, they could choose whether to run or await judgment.

Area 45 was a very chaotic place with terrible law and order, much like an old industrial area like Area 9, and most importantly, it was an artists' paradise.

Artists didn't like to be restricted, and they were different from the thugs in Area 9 in that they had more rights and influence in society. Hence, they were able to campaign against the government to successfully have the number of surveillance cameras and Mechguard units in their area reduced.

As a result, many businesses that skirted the boundaries of the law had taken root here, and there were even companies that could smuggle people out of the city.

At this moment, Adam and the others were attending a strange underground concert.

Loud, unintelligible music was blaring all around them, and they were huddled together, watching a performance with very low attendance.

It was so loud here that they could barely hear one another, even though they were right next to each other.

"Has there been any news?" Shae yelled right into Adam's ear.

"No."

While Adam was giving his reply, a physical altercation broke out between Rabbit and someone else.

It seemed that someone had groped her from behind, and a short-tempered psychic mutant like her certainly wasn't going to hold back, immediately giving the man the beating of his life.

Mole also joined in on the brawl just to vent some frustration, stomping the man viciously in the face.

Adam merely turned a blind eye to all of this. The environment here was extremely loud and dimly lit, and he couldn't be bothered to babysit them as long as they didn't kill someone.

Right as Adam was watching the unfolding brawl, his communicator suddenly lit up, and an encrypted message from Cowboy appeared on the screen.

"Everything has already been sorted out. Make sure you dispose of that warden."

It was clear that Cowboy was referring to Ryan here.

Aside from Ryan, everything else had been taken care of, so the logical next step was to kill Ryan so that no one else would know about what had happened in Darvaza Prison.

At the moment, Adam was under intense scrutiny from the southern congress, and it wasn't going to take long before news of Sima Kai's death reached them.

If Adam hadn't visited Darvaza Prison, then no one would've paid any attention to the death of a criminal like Sima Kai. In fact, even the news wouldn't have reported the incident. After all, inmates were dying virtually every day in Darvaza Prison, and it really wasn't newsworthy at this point.

However, the fact that Sima Kai had died so shortly after meeting Adam was undoubtedly going to attract the southern congress's attention.

If they were to send an adapter to investigate the situation, then they would definitely be able to uncover the truth from inspecting Ryan's memories.

Hence, the best choice was to have Ryan killed.

With that in mind, the cruel and ruthless side of Adam's personality that belonged to Clown gradually surfaced. It was both a blessing and a curse, whittling away at his humanity, but also allowing him to make difficult decisions with a clear conscience.

……

"What's up? Has everything been sorted out?"

"Yes. Go and buy a throwaway communicator, then call Ryan to come and meet us. Tell him that everything has been sorted out, and he can come to collect his money."

A hint of skepticism appeared in Shae's eyes upon hearing this, but she didn't say anything and did as she was told.

There were always many illegal transactions taking place in the dark underbelly of society, and as long as one had enough money, they could buy anything in Area 45.

Around three hours later, Adam and the others arrived in an illegal motel. There were no surveillance cameras here at all, and it was inhabited almost solely by drug-addicted artists.

Ryan arrived around an hour after Adam's group.

He had experienced far too much on this day. In fact, he had endured more emotional turmoil than he had the entire past year.

In the morning, he met his idol, currently the biggest internet celebrity going around, but in the afternoon, he saw his idol kill someone, and he had somehow become an accomplice.

No more than an hour after he had carried Sima Kai back to his cell, he received news that a physical altercation had taken place between two of the factions in the prison. In the ensuing melee, around a dozen people were injured, while two inmates were killed.

According to his colleagues, they had no idea who had instigated the brawl. Both factions had received insider information that the other faction was preparing to make a move against them, and both sides had decided to take the initiative.

In the past, Ryan wouldn't have given this incident a second thought.

However, on this day, chills had run down his spine as soon as he heard the news as one of the two inmates that had been killed "just so happened" to be Sima Kai.

Ryan knew that in his physical condition, there was no way that Sima Kai could've gotten involved in a brawl, which meant that all of this had been set up to cover up Sima Kai's death.

The entire incident had cast a huge shadow over Ryan's heart, and he felt like he had been swept up in a vortex that he was unable to escape from.

By the time he received the message from Adam, it was already 3 AM, and after extensive consideration, he decided to go and meet Adam as he was instructed.

Deep down, he still believed that Adam wouldn't hurt him.

This is a really shady place...

Upon arriving at the entrance of the motel, Ryan immediately spotted two people laying motionlessly next to some trashcans.

It seemed that they were dead.

In a place like this, it wasn't a rare sight to see dead people on the street.

Area 45 was an extremely chaotic place, and many people were dying on its streets every single day.

Why did he ask me to meet him in a place like this?

Ryan was feeling rather uneasy as he knocked on the door of Room 405 in the motel.

The door quickly swung open to reveal Adam with a friendly look on his face.

𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

"Come in!"

After Ryan was dragged into the room by Adam, he saw a bunch of familiar faces, namely Mole, Shae, Armadillo, and Rabbit.

However, there was also someone that he didn't recognize, a strange man who resembled a wax figure seated on the filthy bed.

"May I ask who this is?"

"I'm sure you were taught in school about the war between the north and the south that took place several decades ago, right? At the time, a bunch of domestic robots went on a riot, sowing a great deal of mistrust between humans and machines.

Simultaneously, a global economic crisis swept over the entire world, culminating in the perfect storm for a war to erupt. We call it the North-South War on an informal basis, but it's technically known as World War III. This man was the second-in-command of the resistance army in that war."

"That war happened 30 year ago, so he should at least be 50 by now. Why does he still look so young?"

"Can't you see how stiff and waxy his face is? I'm guessing he injected too much Botox!"

Adam didn't know why Wax Figure looked like this, either, and he was making up a story on the spot.

"You seem to think that you're very funny."

Wax Figure stood up from the bed as he adjusted his immaculately combed hair.