Chapter 355: The Monsters in the Artwork

This psychic module seems to be from a time before the nuclear war.

Adam looked at the picturesque city around him as he made his way down the street.

He saw many people who were strolling around, doing nothing in particular, and all of the nearby shops had been taken over by a type of service robot with a "T" logo imprinted upon them.

These service robots were making meals and beverages and brewing coffees for customers, and the nearby cars and aircrafts were all driverless vehicles.

The street was very clean and tidy, and the T robots were responsible for pruning the trees as well.

These T robots were very different from Mechguard units. They seemed to purely be service robots, and even though they weren't armed like Mechguard units, they still weren't very popular around these parts.

As Adam continued to make his way through the psychic module, he saw many homeless people on the side of the street. Even though these people were being served by these T robots, they were eager to damage these robots in any way that they could at any given opportunity.

Some of them were loudly denouncing these robots for stealing their jobs, some were pouring coffee onto them, and some were picking up rocks from the side of the street before hurling those rocks at the robots.

If these robots had been Mechguard units, these people would've been executed on the spot, but these T robots were like completely docile servants, continuing to serve their abusers without any complaint or retaliation.

Adam could sense an atmosphere of despair in the air, and despite the fact that the robots were the ones being abused, this despair was coming from the people, not the robots.

"Hey, how about you do something useful for once in your life?"

"Scum!"

Occasionally, passengers passing by in luxury cars would wind down their windows to hurl insults at the homeless people on the side of the street, and it seemed that the world from 30 years ago wasn't in a much better state than present-day society.

Society was still crippled by oppression, discrimination, and the ever-widening wealth gap.

𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

It was in a setting like this that a long-awaited revolution finally came.

While Adam was still observing his surroundings, the sound of air sirens suddenly rang out up above, and it didn't take long before Adam spotted a missile flying through the sky overhead, followed by a dazzling eruption of light in the city up ahead.

Adam heaved a faint sigh as he watched the beginning of the nuclear war unfold before his eyes. This was the war that had claimed the most lives out of any war in human history.

It was a war with countless names. Those in Asia called it the War of Vengeance, and those in North America called it the Second North-South War, but in the rest of the world, it was commonly referred to as World War III.

In the instant that the nuclear explosions commenced, Adam immediately invoked Sludge before fusing with it. Thankfully, in the psychic world, these small nuclear missiles were far less powerful than Yamata no Orochi's forbidden techniques.

Yamata no Orochi's All-encompassing Furnace could reduce this entire city to a sea of lava, whereas the nuclear missile was only able to destroy a small area of the city, as well as contaminating the entire city with its nuclear radiation.

Even so, this was still far beyond what the average person could withstand. At the moment, Adam was situated quite far away from the epicenter of the explosion, and he could see everyone fleeing the city in a blind panic in the aftermath of the nuclear explosion.

Some people were fighting over cars that could still be driven, while others were frantically taking medication and pouring salt onto their own heads, as if doing so would keep out the radiation in the air.

Following his transformation, Adam stood on the street like a massive stone statue. People were somewhat fearful of him, but they were far more horrified by the nuclear radiation behind them. Countless people were screaming in panic and alarm, and the picturesque sky had been concealed behind a dense layer of dust particles.

If had had sufficient time on his hands, Adam would've explored more of the old man's psychic modules to see what the world was like three decades ago, but he couldn't afford to do that now.

In the real world, he was still in the shower area of Darvaza Prison, and even though there weren't many people around, there was no guarantee that no faction members would suddenly stumble upon them, so it was definitely not a good idea to be wasting time.

Adam looked down at all of the people fleeing the city, and he knew that the fact that these people were in the old man's memories indicated that he had to be nearby. Adam had no scouting abilities, so he could only invoke his other anomalies to search the area manually.

Hellhound, Camera, Nun, Clown, and even the ogre anomaly that he had recently obtained were all invoked before scattering in all directions to search the area at Adam's behest.

A short while later, Adam received some information through his telegnosis that had been transmitted back to him by Ogress.

Ogre had a concealment ability, so it was able to search through the area in a more stealthy and discrete manner. As a result, it was naturally more likely to uncover useful information.

Looks like he's a bit further away from the city.

Adam followed the information stream transmitted back to him by Ogre, and it didn't take long before he spotted the anomaly in front of a small mansion.

As expected, this guy has already fused as one with his anomaly.

Adam was very pleased by the sight of this anomaly. The fact that it was able to completely devour the psychic body of its host indicated that it had to have at least been a level five anomaly, and that was exactly what Adam was looking for.

The anomaly was quite imposing in stature, and it had the head of a horse, but the most perfect arms and hands in the world. Its fingers looked as if they had been perfectly carved out of a piece of jade, and with a brush clasped in its hand, it was clear at first glance that this anomaly was a true artist.

Directly in front of the horse-faced anomaly was a massive sheet of paper that was hovering in mid-air, and it was comparable in size to the murals in ancient Roman churches. Adam watched as the anomaly grabbed onto one of the people who were fleeing for their lives, then slowly peeled off the skin of the man's face before plastering it onto the sheet of paper. \

With its exceptional artistic ability, it was able to perfectly replicate the despair on the man's face in his dying moments with just a few strokes of its brush.

You're an interesting anomaly, but that doesn't mean I'm going to spare you.

Up to this point, Adam had seen enough, and he charged directly at the anomaly like a moving fortress.

All of the cars in his path were flattened, while all of the trees were snapped, and Adam crashed into the anomaly with tremendous force.

The anomaly was furious that its artistic process had been disrupted, and it immediately tried to retaliate.

However, melee combat didn't seem to be its forte, and it was unwilling to let go of the brush in its hand. As a result, it was quickly sent flying through the air, howling as it did so.

The horse-faced anomaly had only just clambered to its feet when it saw Adam charging at it again, and it hurriedly whipped out its brush and began drawing something in the air.

It was extremely fast in the creation of its artwork, creating an extremely life-like piece of art in virtually just a single sweep of its brush. However, the colors of the artwork were quite dark, and the style was rather grim and oppressive, striking the beholder with a sense of discomfort.

Adam had never seen this type of ability before, but he remained unfazed. Given his immense physical defenses in this form, he was confident that he could withstand anything that was thrown his way.

Thus, he paid no heed to the artwork as he continued to rush at his opponent, but right as he arrived in front of the horse-faced anomaly, his momentum drew to an abrupt halt, and he discovered that his entire body was bound by countless tentacles.

He look down to find that it was none other than the artwork that was impeding him.

To be more accurate, it was the monster depicted in the artwork, which had somehow sprung to life.