Chapter 459: Thrive in the Face of Death

"Is he insane, or is his ego so inflated that he thinks he can keep scoring victories like this?"

This was a question that had sprung into the minds of countless people who were scrutinizing Adam from the shadows. They were completely incredulous that he was tackling another powerful enemy while the battle at hand hadn't even been won yet, and in their eyes, this was no different from committing suicide!

Some of the voters who were truly concerned for him were repeatedly cautioning him to be more patient and prudent, instead of simply rushing full steam ahead.

"No one has ever been willing to go so far for us, so you've already done more than enough, and certainly far more than we could've ever imagined. It's about time you got to enjoy your life for once."

All humans had desires that had to be fulfilled, and the general public didn't want to see Adam become a saint who was completely detached from humanity. That would only make them fear him and to distance themselves from him.

Adam was already the best mayoral candidate that the city had ever seen.

There was also a tiny fraction of the general public who harbord ulterior motives, or didn't care whether Adam lived or died, or were social anarchists who only wanted to see the world go up in flames, and they were cheering Adam on enthusiastically, hoping that he would make even faster progress.

In their eyes, the ideal situation would be for Adam to kill all of the wealthy and powerful individuals in the world so that all of the wealth could be evenly distributed among everyone.

These people certainly didn't comprise the majority, but they were an extremely vocal minority, and their voices were intentionally being pushed to the forefront by those pulling the strings behind the scenes.

The Adam Eradication Group had already dedicated an enormous amount of resources into amplifying the voices of these social anarchists, and their objective was to push Adam toward an unattainable pedestal so that he would inevitably fall.

The media corporations under the umbrellas of the Kim Group and the northern congress had all been trying to silence these voices to different extents, but they weren't able to make much of an impact on the situation.

It seemed that Adam had truly become so full of himself that he was more than happy to make more powerful enemies, and Blake was ecstatic to see this, but also a little perplexed and uneasy.

He felt as if he had drawn the best possible hand in a poker game, and he would win no matter how he played his cards.

Is he really so conceited that he would knowingly step into such an obvious trap?

People like Blake didn't believe that there were true idealists in this world who would be willing to sacrifice themselves for the sake of others and the greater good.

Hence, he was very suspicious of Adam's actions, and he was meticulously pondering whether there was something that he had missed in his plan.

The next day, Adam and his team of special psychic police officers arrived on the border of Shadow City, escorted by a group of Mechguard units. There, they received Liu Shouyi, who had been held prisoner by Crocodile this entire time.

"You've become a real bigshot now. I hope your run of good luck continues and you live to the end."

This was clearly a malicious "blessing" from Crocodile, who was very happy to have finally received the final payment and been freed from the burden that was Liu Shouyi. Meanwhile, Liu Shouyi was still rather dazed and confused, completely oblivious to how he had suddenly become a commodity for a transaction.

After catching a clear glimpse of Adam's face, some memories suddenly flooded back into his mind, and he immediately tried to flee in alarm.

However, he had already fallen under the supervision of Mechguard, so every single move that he made was being closely monitored.

Independent media content creators like Shivani weren't the only ones that had been following Adam this entire time. Instead, many of the large mainstream media outlets were also watching eagerly to see what he was going to do next, yet after making such a big fuss, all he did was arrest a single person, one who appeared to have been quite ordinary, and everyone couldn't help but wonder if he was just putting on a show.

However, Adam then revealed Liu Shouyi's identity.

He was a former technician at the Gaia Organization, and in order to conserve storage space, he had personally compressed the memory bodies of countless deceased individuals in the Metaverse, contributing to the enormous immortality scam.

Liu Shouyi knew that he was in no position to resist, and he complied obediently, revealing everything that he knew to the camera, including even some tidbits of information in his memories that Adam had deemed to be unimportant.

It seemed that he had been tormented by similar interrogations while being held by Crocodile and his gang.

It was very simple to verify the authenticity of his claims. The Gaia Organization had only fired him, but his file hadn't been destroyed, and prior to setting off to Shadow City, Adam had already secured some materials that could be used as indirect evidence through public avenues.

𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

As for the rest of the criminal activities of the Gaia Organization, that would be left for the general public to dig up, and he had already completed his objective of shedding light on this matter.

So he really is declaring war on the Gaia Organization, and he's landing a lethal blow from the get-go!

Blake was astonished by what he was witnessing. He had never seen anyone do things like this before. It seemed that Adam wasn't going to rest until either he died or those at the very top of the pyramid were completely brought down.

Even his allies, including May and Cowboy, hadn't anticipated that he had already made such extensive preparations and would strike so quickly and aggressively.

We're in trouble now. I don't even know how to help him anymore. The Gaia Organization is even more troublesome to deal with than the Guild of Immortality.

The Guild of Immortality possessed enormous overall power, but due to the fact that it consisted of the vast majority of the figures at the very top of the world, no one was willing to concede inferiority to anyone else, so it was possible to target the guild's members one by one.

However, the Gaia Organization was different in that it was a super corporation that controlled the Metaverse, so its decision-making was more flexible and decisive, and it was more direct and brutal in the way that it did things.

Following a discussion between Cowboy, Wax Figure, and Commander, they decided that there wasn't really anything they could do aside from to dedicate more resources to protecting Adam, and as a safety precaution, it was best for him not to visit the Metaverse anytime soon.

If he were to enter the Metaverse, he would be completely at the mercy of those in power at the Gaia Organization. Adam thanked everyone for looking out for him, then led a team of people to crack down on the nearest branch of the Gaia Organization.

The data compression immortality scam was one that affected the entire world, so he could begin his crusade against it anywhere.

In response to his accusations, the Gaia Organization had released a public statement, announcing that Adam's claims were fake news, that he had used psychic manipulation techniques on a past employee of the organization, or he had simply found a disgruntled employee of the organization and was using him to further his own political campaign.

It was a very standard way of counteracting controversy, and Adam wasn't able to gather any concrete supporting evidence from his surprise search of the Gaia Organization branch. In the meantime, the enemy crosshairs were beginning to hone in on him.

Raven had sent him a message over the dark web:

"Someone's offering an astronomical reward of a billion dollars for your head in the Shadow City black market. To be honest, even I'm a little tempted to come after you."

This appeared to have been nothing more than a joke from Raven, but Adam knew that it was very much possible that Raven could betray him. However, a monetary award alone most likely wasn't enough to truly tempt him.

"'My sources tell me that Hebi no Miko has already left Japan. Some say she's hired to exact vengeance for Masao Yamamoto, and others are saying she's been hired specifically to hunt you down," Raven's message continued.

So Hebi no Miko is finally showing up again.

Raven was unable to provide further information as even he had no way of tracking that deranged woman, and he certainly couldn't predict what she was going to do next.

Adam immediately notified those around him, particularly Shae and Diana, to remain by his side for at least the near future as he didn't trust anyone else for their protection.

Sure enough, it didn't take long before what Adam feared the most arrived. The very next morning, Adam received a call from none other than Hebi no Miko.

"Come to the veterinary hospital in half an hour. You know which one I'm referring to. Don't bring any helpers aside from those two women. Otherwise, your three little friends won't be alive for much longer."