Chapter 60: Cruel Past

Adam began to read through the information on Lilian.

As it turned out, her situation was much the same as Mice King's. She had lost her parents at a very young age, and as an introverted child, she stayed with her aunt until she was about four or five years old.

Lilian had always had a peculiar hobby, which was to keep all types of strange insects as pets, and she was especially partial to maggots. This was a hobby that naturally didn't make her very popular with others. The children at the kindergarten she went to were always mocking her, and her aunt and her children also despised her.

One time, one of her aunt's children gathered all of her insects into a net while she wasn't home, then dug a hole in the backyard before tossing in the net and setting it alight.

Lilian just so happened to return home right as this was happening, and after seeing her precious insects being burned alive, she leaped into the fire pit without any regard for her own safety to try and put out the flame.

However, the fire had been started with petrol, making it extremely difficult to put out for a child like her, and as a result, she suffered burns all over her entire body, turning her into a hideous monster.

After that, she disappeared for some time. There were no records of her life during that time, and by the time the records resumed, she was already about seven or eight years old and had somehow befriended Mice King.

This was the story of how a psychic mutant had come to be. However, what was rather strange was that at the end of the file on Lilian was a footnote, which stated that she was a kind person, a kind psychic mutant.

"How could that maggot monster slaughtering people on the street possibly be a kind person? It says here that the author of this footnote is Reverend Li Pengfei. Who's that?"

"You don't even know who that is? You should be ashamed to call yourself a student of our academy?"

"Does he have something to do with our academy?"

"What organization does our academy belong to?"

"The Psychic Church."

"Right, and Li Pengfei is one of the 12 bishops who stand at the pinnacle of the Psychic Church. He's also the director and one of the supervisors of the Carlin Asylum." When it came to the history of the academy and matters related to the Psychic Church, Hook knew far more than Adam did. "He's one of the main groups of people being held accountable for this incident. Theoretically speaking, people like Mice King and Lilian should've been constantly locked up in Carlin Asylum, so it's inexplicable that they suddenly appeared on the streets. In addition to that, they were clearly acting as an organized unit with a premeditated plan."

"How did that happen?"

"How am I supposed to know? Only people on the inside are privy to information like this. You should be asking the pawn shop. People from the pawn shop know far more than those journalists outside. If I recall correctly, the pawn shop has a collaborative relationship with Mechguard..."

While Hook was still speaking, a notification tone suddenly rang out from Adam's communicator, and he was being contacted by two people at the exact same moment.

One of the calls came from Red Spider, while the other was from Cowboy.

"What do you know? Speaking of people from the pawn shop..."

Adam made his way into the bathroom, then locked the door before opening his communicator, and a hologram of Red Spider quickly appeared.

"You're not with anyone, are you?"

"No."

"Alright, put me on confidential mode."

Adam did as he was told, adjusting the settings on his communicator so that the soundwaves it was emitting were funneled in a way that they were audible only to him. "Done."

"I saw the news, and I heard about what happened to you. Our pawn shop needs to work with Mechguard to capture the escapees from the Carlin Asylum, and we require your participation in this operation."

"Me? I'm no match for those psychic mutants," Adam said in a candid manner. "I saw quite a few psychic mutants at the time, and all of them looked very powerful."

"I'm not asking you to take on those psychic mutants alone. Our pawn shop, the congresses, and the Psychic Church will all be sending people for the job. All we have to do is round up and capture the escapees, so the task is simple and carries minimal risk," Red Spider explained. "At the end of the day, there are only very few psychic mutants, and we'll outnumber them at least 5:1, perhaps even 10:1. You're only going to be a participant in all of this."

"Alright, I can do that," Adam replied with a nod.

This was a good opportunity for him to witness the abilities of psychic mutants. In any case, there were going to be many powerful adapters on the case, so there was no need for him to take any risks.

"That's all. I'll keep you updated once I receive further information. I'm hanging up now."

Red Spider ended the call.

Adam took a moment to process his thoughts, then gave Cowboy a call.

"Put me on confidential mode."

That was the first thing that Cowboy said once the call was connected.

"Already done."

"I heard about what happened to you..." Cowboy's opening statement was identical to Red Spider's, but what he said next was far more of a bombshell than what Red Spider had told Adam. "Those psychic mutants were intentionally released by people from the congresses. Their goal is to manufacture a large-scale attack, or perhaps even several attacks, in order to evoke hatred among the people."

"What?"

Adam pretended to be quite surprised to hear this, but in reality, he had already received similar intel to this in the Metaverse.

"Those people want to gain more power, but they've been thwarted by the strict and unyielding programming of the Mechguard officers. Due to the existence of Mechguard, they've been stripped of much of their power, and if they want to recover the power and authority that they've lost, then they can only target adapters. They want to establish an official adapter supervision organization, but it'll be very difficult to pass legislation on something like this, so they need to stir up the emotions of the general public to set things into motion."

"That's the reason why they released those psychic mutants?"

"That's only the first step. The next step is to get the media to cooperate with them and release hateful and emotionally provocative content on a widespread basis. After that, all of the celebrities will make their stance known as well. They have to ensure that the emotions of the general public are riled up to the point that they boil over, and before that, I have a feeling those psychic mutants won't be easily captured."

"Why are you telling me all of this?"

"We are in the same organization, so we need to share intel. Also, you've already told me that you have some ties with Golden Teeth Incorporated, so there are some things that I must inform you of," Cowboy said as he stroked the stubble on his chin. "We are about to strike back at hostile media. If they want to spread hatred and misinformation, then we have to reveal the truth. We have to draw the attention of the people to the reasons why there has been such a large outbreak of escapees from Carlin Asylum."

"How do we do that?"

"In order to accomplish this, we need to control the media and seize speaking rights. We need speaking rights in the Metaverse, on the internet, and in traditional media. Our organization has many people planted in the media, and one of Golden Teeth Incorporated's shareholders is also a member of our organization. What we need to do now is to clear out all of the incumbent decision-makers in Golden Teeth Incorporated, then foster our people to take their place."

"Are you referring to the Kim Family?"

"That's right. If you have ties with them, then you can do the honors."

𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

"What happens if I have to kill them?"

"We'll help you pin the blame on the psychic mutants. If they want to stir up turmoil, then we'll use the chaos to our advantage!"

A peculiar smile appeared on Cowboy's face as he hung up the call.

Adam fell into deep thought after receiving those two consecutive calls.

The congresses, the Psychic Church, the psychic mutants, the pawn shop, and the mysterious person who had contacted him in the Metaverse... With so many parties involved, it seemed like Sandrise City was about to go through a period of intense turmoil.

However, this was also a great opportunity for him to find out more about his own past.

His mind wandered to Shae Kim, his supposed blood relative, and he knew that she would have to be the starting point for his investigation.