Chapter 295: The Return of Raven

Sandrise City was a metropolis with a population of over 300 million, and every day, an enormous amount of waste products had to be processed in the city.

Hence, the city was split up into two levels, one on the surface, and one underground.

The sewage system responsible for processing the waste matter produced by over 300 million people was like a massive, convoluted ant kingdom, and there was no lack of strange occurrences taking place in there.

.

On this day, two people arrived in this sewage system.

"It's just up ahead, Boss."

A man who appeared to be around 40 years of age was wading through the putrid sewage, but he wasn't displaying much discomfort.

Trailing along behind him was a young man who appeared to only be in his twenties, and he was far less accustomed to this environment. It was clear that he was used to living the good life, and the putrid stench in the sewage system was unbearable to him.

However, he had no choice but to endure this. At the moment, he was in grave danger, and if he couldn't take Adam out of the picture, then everything that he had built up would instantly come crumbling down around him.

This young man was named Chen Yiran.

In the eastern world, this was a name was rather negative connotations related to playing with fire.

However, he was a superstitious person, he had gone to an eastern fortune-teller, who had told him that he was missing fire in his five elements, so if fire could be injected into his life somehow, then he would live a long life that was filled with wealth and prosperity.

"Is this place safe?" Chen Yiran asked as he cautiously inspected his surroundings. "There aren't any Mechguard units here, are there?"

"The sewage system is one of the areas under Mechguard's surveillance, and there are spider-like Mechguard units constantly patrolling the system, but this place is far too convoluted, so there's no way that Mechguard can cover everything. Rest assured, this area is definitely safe, and some parts have already been sealed using concrete," the middle-aged man replied with a fawning expression.

He knew that if he could get this job done, then he would earn a huge sum of money, enough for him to live out a very comfortable life, even a comfortable afterlife in the Metaverse.

There were many places that he had always wanted to visit, like the Sex Planet, but had never been able to do so as they were too expensive, but everything would change if he could complete this job.

"Is this a reliable organization that you've found?" Chen Yiran asked.

Even though he dabbled in illegal human trafficking, he was far from well-versed with the dark underbelly of society, so there were many things that he didn't know.

"Definitely. You heard about what happened with Carlin Asylum a while ago, right? Many of the escaped psychic mutants were captured, but there are still some dwelling underground right now."

"Will they be able to get the job done?" Chen Yiran asked with a skeptical expression as he thought back to the files that he had read.

It was clear that Adam was currently more powerful than the average psychic mutant.

"They're definitely well equipped for the job. They're way more powerful than the average adapter, and if one can't get the job done, then they'll attack in a mob. I'm sure they'll be able to make it happen. Also, I heard that they have a new leader, and that new leader should be very powerful."

"Will we be able to employ their services with money?"

Money was sought after by everyone in the civilized world, but it wasn't guaranteed to be alluring to psychic mutants.

In any case, Chen Yiran was prepared to give this a try.

As the two of them were speaking with one another, they arrived at a bend in the sewage system. The pipe here led downward, and it was like a ?bottomless abyss down there. Even the torch couldn't illuminate the bottom.

"Be careful, Boss. We're not far away now."

The middle-aged man slowly crawled down the sewage pipe using his prosthetic limbs, and Chen Yiran's prosthetics were even more advanced, allowing him to crawl down like an insect.

The two of them made their way downward for over 100 meters before they finally reached flat ground.

This deep under the ground, the darkness was so absolute that it seemed to be capable of devouring all light, and their torches could illuminate a distance of a few meters in front of them.

Upon arriving here, the middle-aged man was also feeling rather apprehensive, and he didn't say anything further as he continued to lead the way.

After walking for another seven to eight kilometers, some light finally appeared in the distance up ahead.

"We're almost there, Boss!"

The middle-aged man began to run as he spoke, and Chen Yiran immediately followed suit.

Soon, the light in the distance began to expand further and further, until they emerged into a well-lit area at the end of the pipe.

After taking a moment to adjust his eyes to the bright setting, Chen Yiran discovered that he had arrived in a plaza of sorts.

Countless pipes converged in this one place, making it resemble a central traffic hub that could lead anywhere in the underground sewage system.

Down below as a huge vacant area, and there were already some people gathered there.

Thump!

Before Chen Yiran even had a chance to catch a clear glimpse of those figures, a small chunk of the pipe beside him was suddenly sent flying through the air.

"Don't shoot! I'm not your enemy!" the middle-aged man hurriedly yelled. "Boss Raven, we've met before."

Thump!

Yet another shot was fired, but this one was also off the mark.

Chen Yiran saw one of the figures down below make his way over to the shooter before laying a hand on his arm.

"Your aim is terrible, Lizard. You need to practice more."

It was a young man in his twenties, while the shooter appeared to be in his forties.

The young man then called out to Chen Yiran's duo.

"Come on down."

"That's their new leader, Boss. Apparently, he only recently came to Sandrise City, and he appears to be more normal than the other psychic mutants."

How did he manage to tame so many psychic mutants if he only recently arrived in the city? Does that mean he's even more powerful than Director Li Pengfei of Carlin Asylum?

Despite his qualms and concerns, Chen Yiran still scaled his way down the pipe wall with his prosthetic limbs to meet the group of people gathered down below.

Only then was he able to catch a clear glimpse of the people gathered on the plaza, and they were clearly deranged psychic mutants.

One of them was laying on the ground with drool pouring out of his body, while another was keeping a bunch of maggots, allowing them to crawl all over his body as they pleased. There was also someone who appeared to be a mathematician, scribbling a bunch of unintelligible symbols down onto the ground.

The shooter from earlier clearly wasn't normal, either. His eyes seemed to be unable to focus, and one of them was turned to the left, while the other was turned to the right, making him truly resemble a humanoid lizard.

There were around 17 or 18 people gathered here, and not all of them appeared to be abnormal. At the very least, their so-called new leader seemed to be a normal person.

"Greetings, Mr. Raven."

Chen Yiran was displaying an unprecedented level of respect toward the young man. His survival depended on Raven, so he was naturally being extremely earnest and respectful.

"Hello, can I help you with something?" Raven was very polite and respectful, but his words were rather unforgiving. "Let's not waste any time here. I'll give you one minute. Tell me what you want, and I'll decide whether it's worth my time."

"One minute?"

"57 seconds now," Raven said as he glanced down at his watch.

1. The name Yiran (翼燃) in this case is a homonym to the Chinese term for 'flammable" (易燃), hence the negative connotations related to fire.

2. In Chinese superstition, everyone has a set of "five elements" determined by the time and date of their birth, and it's considered favorable to have all five elements in one's life, so those that held this belief and were missing certain elements would go out of their way to add those elements through various means.