Chapter 425: Debate and a Major Power Boost

Oni-faced Dragon was captured.

In contrast with before, the southern congress couldn't help him this time even if they wanted to.

He was an extremely notorious criminal with crimes committed all over the world, so no one could exonerate him.

After realizing that the southern congress was going to abandon him, Oni-faced Dragon confessed a great deal of useful information in exchange for his own life, and through this information, Adam was able to dig up a lot of dirt on the southern congress.

In the days following Oni-faced Dragon's arrest, negative press on the southern congress was regularly being released, so the support for the southern congress's mayoral candidates naturally fell as well.

As a result, Adam was able to shrink the gap between himself and Clyde somewhat, but this still wasn't enough.

However, another opportunity soon presented itself.

There were two debates held between the two mayoral candidates with the most number of votes to be held live on television during the election, and the first of those two debates was coming up soon.

The viewership for this debate was unprecedentedly high, primarily due to the fact that the two candidates involved were the most peculiar mayoral candidates that Sandrise City had seen in the past dozen or so years. Furthermore, both of them were very influential in their own right.

Adam had gone to prison multiple times and was deemed to be a deranged criminal more than once. His story could easily be adapted into a riveting television series.

As for Clyde, he was the first-ever mayoral candidate from the Dataist Union, so despite his status as a complete amateur politician, he was extremely popular.

"I don't trust in human nature" was his election slogan, and it echoed the thoughts of many of Sandrise City's citizens.

They didn't believe in politicians, or anyone else, for that matter.

"Mr. Adam, do you think humans are good or evil by nature?"

This was the first question that Clyde raised during their televised debate.

"Evil," Adam replied in a truthful manner. "My past experiences make it impossible for me to believe that humans are kind."

"Do you think a police officer can change this world? Of course, I'm not discounting your many heroic deeds, but I don't believe in heroism or anything related to human qualities. The digitization of politicians and the legal system is an inevitable trend and the only answer."

"Unfortunately, the process of digitization is one that humans must be involved in. There must always be some extreme individuals in the world to ensure that this process is as foolproof as possible. Otherwise, the end product will inevitably be flawed and fail to achieve the intended outcome. You believe that digitization is the solution to everything, but that's only because you don't know how dark and twisted those who are in power are."

"Of course I'm aware of this, and what I'm saying is that digitization can put an end to all of this."

"No, you don't understand. Perhaps you'll be a better mayor in the future, but right now, I'm the better choice. You need someone to dig up all of the filth in this city and cleanse it. Only after that will your vision be possible to achieve."

"Prove it!"

"What do you mean?"

"Prove it! If you can prove to me that what you're saying is the truth, then I can even withdraw from the election."

……

In the wake of the first debate, Clyde was able to win back some support.

Just as he said, before Adam could prove all of his claims, his method was the more effective one, even though the southern congress had fallen into a great deal of controversy of late.

Following the debate, Adam continued to follow the plans he had laid out for himself.

First, he paid a visit to the Green Heaven Retirement Home, and he discovered that there were far more anomalies in there than in Darvaza Prison.

These people were still living in the retirement home even after the incident considering Noah, so they were essentially being treated like discarded trash.

The aura of death and despair permeating throughout this place was even more suffocating than in Darvaza Prison.

The automatons that were supposed to have been looking after the retirement home's residents had been in disrepair for years, and the elderly were rotting in their beds with bedsores all over their bodies.

Aside from the overhead feeders that occasionally provided them with water and the needles that injected them with nutrient solutions, this place was no different from hell on earth.

Adam was the first living person to have visited the retirement home in a very long time, and upon his arrival, the retirement home's elderly residents immediately begged to be put out of their misery.

"Please kill me!"

The elderly residents were so feeble that they were physically unable to even commit suicide.

"Please put an end to this torture..."

The elderly residents were so neglected that maggots had infested their bodies, but no one cared.

They had no value, no wealth, and even their organs were unwanted. They had truly been abandoned by society.

"Set me free! I don't want to suffer anymore!"

These tormented voices were what Adam was hearing the most here, and he duly obliged.

At night, he made his way into the retirement home in disguise and put an end to the lives of all of the elderly residents that wanted to die.

He arrived in their psychic worlds and slew their anomalies to put them out of their misery.

The psychic bodies of the majority of the elderly residents had already fused as one with their anomalies, and all of those anomalies had been born from pain and despair.

After receiving an entire retirement home's worth of sustenance, the Angel of Judgment had already gone beyond the former peak of its powers.

Furthermore, due to the fact that it had absorbed an excessive amount of pain and despair during this process, the Angel of Judgment's form had been altered. Its mace had turned black, while its previously holy and pristine body had transformed into that of a fallen angel.

In the face of this massive boost in power, Adam made an astonishing decision.

He sought out Commander in the shadow council and declared, "I'm going to expose the entire human farming production chain."

"Aren't you targeting those people causing chaos in the city? Safety and order are the main themes of our campaign."

"It's not going to work. Do you think that on its own will be enough for us to win?"

"..."

"This election is different from previous ones. If we still can't win with the southern congress in such a compromised position, then there's no way we'll ever win."

"If we expose that, then we'll essentially be declaring war on not just the southern congress, but the entire world's upper class. No one will support us, and even those who previously gave you political donations will instantly turn on you. What you're planning to do will put an end to immortality for the upper class, and the backlash is not something that you can handle."

"I want to give it a try. Has anyone in the northern congress participated in this?"

"Definitely."

"Have you?"

Prior to coming here, Adam had done some research into Commander, so he knew that Commander had tried to do something similar in the past, but had ultimately failed.

"I haven't."

"In that case, I want your support."

"You will die. You're still too weak right now."

"Even so, I still want to try."

Adam was naturally aware that his current level of power still wasn't sufficient to back up? what he was about to do, so prior to carrying out his plan, he visited all of the retirement homes in the entire city, particularly the bottom-dwelling ones.

He discovered that his previous thought process had been incorrect. The places that were filled with the most despair in this world weren't prisons.

All prisoners had a choice before they were locked up, whereas the elderly people who had lost the ability to move had no choice when they were abandoned in those decrepit retirement homes.

No one cared about them, and they couldn't even choose whether they lived or died.

Journalists were eager to report any riots that took place in Darvaza Prison, yet everyone turned a blind eye to these retirement homes, and their residents were essentially considered to be dead.

Through visiting these places, Adam had managed to absorb a huge amount of anomalic power.

During this time, Succubus Beth had carried out countless terrible crimes, resulting in a massive downturn in support for Adam, but he didn't care. He had to attain sufficient power to keep himself safe even if he became the public enemy to everyone. Only then could he make his return.