Chapter 296: Peace

"I want you to take care of a man by the name of Adam for me."

Given the time constraints, Chen Yiran was speaking a lot faster than he previously did.

The mention of Adam's name seemed to have attracted the attention of a young woman in the corner of the plaza, one who appeared to be relatively normal compared with the rest.

"Is the Adam that you're referring to the one who's frequently been featuring on the news of late?" Raven asked, and the tone of his voice had softened quite a bit.

"That's right."

"Good. You've successfully drawn my interest," Raven said. "What would you like me to do to him?"

"I want you to kill him."

"Are you not afraid of the consequences? He's a special psychic police officer right now, and the most renowned public figure in all of Sandrise City."

"If I don't kill him, then he'll kill me. Besides, we're not the only ones after his life right now. I hear that there's a Japanese woman by the name of Hebi no Miko going after him as well. She used to be a military spy, but she later suffered from some mental problems, and I heard that she's extremely powerful. If it isn't for the fact that Adam is being protected by Mechguard, he would already be dead by now. Hence, we can just kill him and pin the blame on that woman."

"It sounds like you know a lot about him." Raven approached Chen Yiran with an intrigued expression, then leaned in so close that their faces were almost touching before asking, "Can you tell me about the history between the two of you?"

Peering into the insanity burning deep within Raven's eyes, Chen Yiran suddenly realized that he had made an error in judgment.

Raven definitely wasn't the most normal person in this group. Instead, he was the most deranged one!

The combination of evil, calmness, and insanity in his eyes made one feel as if they were looking into the eyes of a demon.

Chen Yiran gulped nervously. At this point, he had no choice but to do this, even if it meant having to work with a demon.

"Alright, let me start by telling you who I am. I am the largest shareholder in the Compassion Company, a very lucrative medical company. Of course, our biggest source of income isn't the medical services that we provide, and that's why we're being targeted."

……

Things had been very relaxing for Adam over the past few days.

Of course, time was constantly of the essence for him, so he could never afford to truly relax, but overall, it had been a very peaceful time.

Aside from working on his investigations, he even had the spare time to pay Twerking Karen a visit in the Metaverse to let off some steam.

Adam transferred some money to Karen's account before preparing to depart.

"Leaving so soon?"

"Yeah, it's not safe to stay with me. At the moment, danger follows me everywhere I go."

Adam put on his clothes as he glanced at the picture on the bedside table.

It was a photograph of Karen and Chloe.

"How is she?"

"She's completely fine now. Nowadays, she's very cheerful, and she no longer resents me. Considering how much you've helped me and Chloe, I really shouldn't be charging you any money."

"Those are two different matters. I shouldn't even be here as just being with me puts you in danger, but if we stick to the straight and narrow all the time, life will be pretty bland. By the way, I like your ass."

"Thanks."

"I'm going now."

"Will you be back?"

"I don't know."

"You'll be able to survive whatever it is you're dealing with, right?"

"Again, I don't know."

With that, Adam departed from the apartment using the elevator outside.

At this point, he had sufficient confidence to act on his own. Ever since Sludge's most recent evolution, he had determined that even if Hebi no Miko were to come after him again, it would take a certain amount of time for her to kill him, so he would be safe as long as he was in sufficiently close proximity to Mechguard units.

This was most likely one of the reasons why Hebi no Miko had remained in hiding for so long. Her first failure and the injuries that she had sustained at that time had forced her to keep a low profile.

Recently, Adam had done a great deal of research into Hebi no Miko on the dark web. Her psychic body was Yamata no Orochi, which was an extremely destructive entity, and she was a psychic mutant, so there was no way that she would possess much patience and self-restraint.

With that in mind, Adam determined that it was about time for Hebi no Miko's next attack to arrive.

At the moment, he was being scrutinized by the southern congress, Hebi no Miko, and the Compassion Company, placing him in a very perilous position.

I really don't have much time left,?Adam thought to himself as he dialed Diana's number.

"..."

The call was connected, but Diana was never the first one to speak. In fact, she was only carrying a communicator as Adam had insisted on giving her one. Both of them had a common enemy, so it was a good idea to be able to contact one another at all times.

"How is your training with Sadou going?"

"Fine..."

"Have you grown stronger?"

"Yes..."

"I'm going to investigate a medical organization, and I have a feeling that Hebi no Miko will attack again soon. Do you want to face her again or continue in your training for now?"

"I'll fight..."

"Alright, then go to the veterinarian hospital."

After that, Adam ended the call. Speaking with Diana was a real pain, and he didn't want to extend the call for any longer than necessary.

That night, Adam arrived in Area 8 to meet Red Spider at the specified time and location.

Just like Area 9, Area 8 was also an old-school industrial area. Back when the city was first being constructed, many industrial areas had popped up at the center of the city in order to facilitate the production of certain construction materials.

However, in the instant that construction on the city was completed, these industrial areas began to fall into decline.

Back then, these areas had been viewed as integral cogs to the city's operation, yet now, they were shunned and despised.

Hence, almost all of these old areas were synonymous with chaos and darkness.

In contrast with the chaos of the artistic areas, these industrial areas were home to illegal gangs and underground organizations. The surveillance cameras here were constantly being destroyed, and any place that wasn't patrolled by Mechguard was always filled with all types of lawless factions, including old Mexican gangs, ethnic Chinese gangs, prosthetic retrofitter gangs...

These people would form all types of factions based on certain shared traits, such as their ethnicities or nationalities, and the person that Adam was going to meet on this day was someone from the Hong Kong faction.

The pawn shop and Red Spider generally refrained from getting involved in matters with illegal implications. All they did was provide the necessary information and help set up meetings with contacts.

However, that was already enough for Adam.

After arriving in a dark alley at the agreed time, Adam saw a group of people approaching from afar. The leader of the group was a very short man, but he walked with an extremely exaggerated and arrogant swagger.

The man was a perfect match with the description provided by the pawn shop, and Adam immediately approached him with a smile.

𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

"Big D Bro?"