Chapter 297: Electricity Networks

"That's me. What was your name again? Adam, right? What a boring name!"

The man swaggered over to Adam while sizing him up, and Adam was also looking back at him.

The man was bald with some old-school tattoos on his arms. He was no more than 165 centimeters tall, but he had a very thick and stocky build. There were any signs of retrofitting on his body, and overall, it seemed like he was a very old-fashioned guy.

"That's not very polite of you, Big D Bro. Are you not scared of me?"

"Why should I be scared of you? Just because you're a police officer? Imma be honest, I've never been scared of the police. I'm scared of Mechguard, but I'm not scared of human police officers like you."

Even though Big D Bro's words were quite scathing and abrasive, his loud and boisterous voice made it so that he wasn't unpleasant to deal with.

"I may only be in my thirties right now, and I haven't seen the world before Word War III, but I've seen a ton of movies, and back then, it wasn't like this between the police and the gangs. Nowadays, Mechguard are the cats, while we're the mice, and we're having to play a game of cat and mouse every day.

“Back in the day, police officers were people, and all people have different needs. That's what sets us apart from those Mechguard units. Today, we've come together to satisfy each other's needs. Isn't that what this world should be like?"

"The vast majority of people still prefer to interact with machines. If possible, I would much rather have all of the politicians in government be robots as well." Adam didn't agree with Big D Bro's opinion, but that hardly mattered in this situation. "I'm sure you've already been told what I want, right? Have you got the information?"

"I do. Chen Yiran's old man was an old-school Chinese Malaysian, and he's taken after his father. They always like to turn to family whenever they need anything done, so I began my investigation by looking into people with the same Chen surname.

“Not only do they like to rely on family members, even when they're on the run, they like to hide in places with large Chinese populations. We just so happen to have some Chinese factions here, and a group of people of Chinese descent recently came into hiding here. If I'm not mistaken, one of them should be the person that you're looking for."

The Compassion Company was a medical organization with many departments, and it was possible that every single one of those departments was dabbling in some form of illegal activity.

For example, their sales department was selling illegal drugs, but for crimes of this nature, they could simply rely on their lawyers to keep them out of trouble.

The illegal activity that their lawyers couldn't take care of naturally had to be kept strictly confidential, so there was no way that Chen Yiran would just entrust those jobs to anyone. Given the way that he liked to do things, his family members would've definitely been his primary choice.

These jobs included selecting children, conducting physical examinations, delivering those children...

There had to be dozens, if not hundreds of people involved in such an elaborate process, and Adam couldn't capture all of them, but it was also unrealistic to expect him to be unable to capture even a single one of them.

As it turned out, one of those people was hiding here.

"Where is he?"

"Give me the money first. The deposit is 150,000, and once it's confirmed that we have the right person, you give us another 150,000."

"What if it's not the right person?"

"We'll return your deposit to you. Rest assured, Officer Adam, we wouldn't try to swindle you. Gangs like ours would never make enemies out of the police unless we have a death wish, especially in this day and age. If we scam you, you'll just send Mechguard units here to wipe us all out, isn't that right?"

"That's true."

Adam nodded in response before promptly issuing the payment.

After that, he followed Big D Bro into a dark alley, and after walking for a full 20 minutes through what felt like a maze of twists and turns, they finally arrived at their destination.

"Be careful. Right up ahead is their territory. Make sure you don't touch the electric cables on the ground, the metal barrels, or anything conductive. All of that stuff has electricity running through them!"

"Got it."

In these areas that were filled with illegal gangs, many objects on the ground often had electricity running through them in order to keep out Mechguard units.

Destroying surveillance cameras and establishing electricity networks were the keys to the survival of these gangs.

Mechguard units were fearsome law enforcers, but ultimately, they were still automatons, and electricity was the bane of their existence. These electricity networks couldn't completely destroy a Mechguard unit, but they could slow down those units and grant everyone sufficient time to escape.

While walking through the dark alley, Adam noticed all types of metal screens overhead, and even flying Mechguard units would have to strip off all of their equipment if they wanted to enter.

By then, everyone would've already been long gone.

This does look like a good hiding place.

At the end of the alley was a factory, which was so dilapidated at this point that it was impossible to tell what it had originally been used for.

However, the interior was relatively well maintained, and it resembled a makeshift motel, but in contrast with normal motels, there were tattooed guards who were armed to the teeth outside, as well as cyborgs with illegal prosthetics retrofitted onto their bodies.

"This motel is one of their gang's properties, and there are many fugitives and debt evaders living here."

"Is this a safe place?"

"Not really, but if you're a fugitive on the run, what choice do you have?"

Big D Bro was clearly a familiar face around these parts, and the guards stationed in front of the motel granted him entry without any fuss.

The group made their way into the living area at the back of the factory before arriving in front of a certain room.

"He's in there. Our people have been keeping an eye on him to make sure that he hasn't gone anywhere."

"Alright, thanks."

After opening the door of the room, Adam was greeted by the sight of a very cramped space.

There was only a bed, a toilet, and a tea table inside the room.

A pair of burly men were seated beside the tea table, eating peanuts washed down with beer, while a thin and frail man wearing a dress shirt was seated on the bed.

Adam only took a brief glance at his surroundings before making his way directly over to the man on the bed.

His shirt was filthy and drenched in sweat, but it was clearly a high-end product, and there was a mixture of fear and dread in his eyes.

"What's your name?"

"Chen Yanyan," the man replied in a slightly hoarse voice.

Adam could tell that in all likelihood, this was one of the people that he was searching for, and he issued the final payment to Big D Bro as he said, "I want to speak to him alone."

"I understand. Adapters usually don't like to do things with other people around."

After the transaction was settled, Big D Bro gestured toward his lackeys and prepared to leave the room, but right as he was about to close the door, Adam suddenly called out to him again.

"What is it now?"

"Pick up someone from Area 9 for me."

"Who?"

"You'll know once you get there. Rest assured, I'll make sure to compensate you well."

"How much are you giving me?"

"Don't worry about it, I guarantee that you won't regret this," Adam replied with a meaningful expression.

Big D Bro faltered slightly upon hearing this, then nodded in response before departing from the room.

Adam didn't waste any time with Chen Yanyan and immediately knocked him unconscious.

"Let me see what secrets you're hiding!"