Chapter 398: Impregnable Fortress

Slam!

A person fell off the sky before falling onto the ground like a limp ball of dough.

The buildings in Sandrise City were so tall that the person who had jumped off this particular building was reduced to a completely unrecognizable state upon landing.

He passed through the neon lights in the sky before being captured by the roadside surveillance cameras, following which Mechguard units arrived to clean up the scene, as well as to send the data they had gathered to the Dataist Union.

This was the 361st suicide on this day, and in total, 382 people had passed away, out of which 21 had been crushed to death by those committing suicide.

After Adam revealed the extent of damage, the Fujiwara Corporation also released a public statement two hours later, confirming that the databases had been destroyed, and that some virtual idols were unrecoverable.

After the list of unrecoverable virtual idols was released, there was another spike in the suicides taking place.

"You shouldn't have released the news before the Fujiwara Corporation."

Standing in front of Adam was an Asian man by the name of Toshiyuki Matsumara, and he was a high-level consultant in the electoral team that Cowboy had assembled for Adam.

At this moment, he appeared to be quite displeased, and there was a serious look on his face as he said, "Releasing bad news like this will impact your public image. You should've waited for someone else to do this. The Fujiwara Corporation didn't release any public statement for fear of invoking the wrath of the general public, and now, you're the one who's going to be targeted."

"But he's received more votes because of this," Cowboy said as he examined the live vote counter on the website.

"Of course that's a good thing, but that's only a short-term impact. The best course of action would've been to hide your knowledge of what happened last night and exert pressure on the Fujiwara Corporation to force their hand." Toshiyuki Matsumara was a very cautious man, and he continued, "Having said that, what's done is already done, and from here, our priority is to manipulate the resulting consequences to be in our favor. Did you record footage of what you did last night?"

"I did. The entire process was recorded, including even the psychic battles," Adam replied with a nod.

He had sought out those killers for the objective of securing votes, so evidence of his involvement was of the utmost importance.

"Alright, in that case, what we need to do now is to draw more attention to your involvement in last night's incident, informing more people of what you did, rather than what you failed to do. It was thanks to your intervention that the real-time data of hundreds, perhaps even thousands of virtual idols was saved. We have to promote this notion as much as possible, and we have to split this promotion up into several stages, but there's a problem right now..."

"What is it?"

"We don't have enough funds. Our team has received some political donations recently, but the total sum isn't very significant, so we're still missing a lot of money if we want to promote this incident and use the media in our favor."

"Have you still not paid a visit to those two major companies?" Cowboy asked.

𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

"I haven't had time..."

"You should go as soon as possible. I'll contact them for you now. Also, your footage and the footage captured by Flame and the others have to be submitted to the team to be edited."

After giving those recommendations, Cowboy dialed the number of the assistant to the chairman of Orto Technologies to arrange a meeting.

Meanwhile, Adam merely turned and departed.

After Adam left the room, Toshiyuki Matsumara was silent for a while, and after Cowboy ended his call, he asked, "Mr. Adam doesn't seem like a rash person, so why didn't he consult his team before making this public statement?"

"Because there are certain factors driving his decisions. He's a rather obsessive person, and he's very fixated on uncovering the secrets behind his past and his identity, which is why he doesn't like to keep secrets from the general public.

“As for the consequences, all of the people involved are adults, so the decisions that they make are entirely up to them. To him, it's much more important that they make an informed decision, rather than be kept in the dark and misled."

Toshiyuki Matsumara was silent for a moment, then nodded as he mused, "I suppose his openness and insistence on spreading the truth will be our main weapon for this election. I was too focused on political maneuvers and lost sight of the big picture. The people of Sandrise City have already gotten sick of those spotless political declarations long ago, and they need someone like Mr. Adam."

……

Perhaps it was due to Adam's identity, or perhaps it was due to the fact that he was rapidly gaining popularity as a mayoral candidate. In any case, it would've normally taken very long to arrange a meeting with the chairman of Orto Technologies, but on the very same day that he was contacted by Cowboy, the chairman invited Adam to his home.

Cowboy accompanied Adam on the visit, and the two of them arrived in Area 77, the wealthiest area in all of Sandrise City.

Prior to coming here, Adam had been to quite a few affluent neighborhoods, including the areas that Deranged Pig and Lamp Keeper Herman lived in.

However, Area 77 was completely different. It was virtually completely isolated, and there were no forms of public transport leading to the area, not even a void rail track.

Even Adam and Cowboy had to go through a check-in to enter the area.

As the two of them arrived on the outskirts of Area 77 in a hover car, they were greeted by the sight of a moat.

To be more accurate, it was more like a vast ring-shaped inland sea.

It was said that the bodies of water around Area 77 led straight to the sea, and a series of tall spires could be seen on the other side.

Upon the arrival of Adam's group, they were immediately met with Mechguard units that gathered their basic information before transmitting to the people inside, and only after the information was confirmed were they granted passage.

"It seems like Mechguard units have become personal belongings of theirs," Adam couldn't help but remark.

"Ever since a century ago or even further back than that, there have always been more police officers and better security measures in affluent areas than impoverished areas," Cowboy replied. "People have always been like this, and it won't change in 100 years, 1,000 years, or even 10,000 years. Some people will inevitably take up more resources than others."

"Does the Dataist Union permit the privatization of Mechguard units?"

"I forgot to tell you how those people obtained their resources. All of them obtained their resources while acting within the boundaries of the rules. These things are all legally permitted, and those people are the ones who make the rules. The law permits them to do this, and the Dataist Union has no right to intervene."

As Cowboy was speaking, a smart airship flew over from the massive moat.

The airship was traveling extremely quickly, but its flight was very stable, and it was impossible to find such a technologically advanced airship anywhere else in Sandrise City.

Following the airship's arrival, the artificial intelligence program invited Adam and Cowboy to take a seat before the airship set off toward the true Area 77.

After flying quickly over the inland sea, the airship arrived in the air above Area 77, and the tall spires that had appeared murky and indistinct from afar gradually became clearer.

As it turned out, those tall spires were all mansions, and the spires themselves acted only as bases for the hovering islands above them.

Each island had a complete ecosystem, and the owner of each mansion was also the owner of one of the hovering islands.

Not only that, but unmanned aerial vehicles and all types of mechanical security enforcement units were flying over all of the islands.

At this point, it was no exaggeration to say that Adam was a master among adapters, but even he felt completely powerless in the face of these security measures. These islands were impossible to infiltrate.

"High-speed elevators are connected to the underside of these aerial islands, and the elevators can descend dozens, even over 100 meters into the ground, where there are complete doomsday survival bases inside.

“Lead slabs are fitted onto the ceilings of all of these survival bases, and with the ground above them being several dozen meters thick, they would be able to survive even nuclear missiles completely unscathed.

“Furthermore, there are warning systems above the islands, and all of the residents have connections with the National Department of Defense, so if anyone were to fire a nuclear missile at Area 77, they would immediately be notified and flee into the survival bases with at least a minute to spare. This place is a true impregnable fortress."