Chapter 65: Life is Too Long

"I'm only strong because of my invoked entities. When it comes to the power of my psychic body, it probably can't even match up with yours." Adam revealed, but he refrained from disclosing his secret to her. He didn't want to tell anyone about those strange flowerpots in his psychic world. "I'm an invocator. I have many anomalies, all of which are very powerful. I can fuse as one with any of them, and that naturally makes me more powerful as well."

As a junior student, Shae only had a very vague concept of what the invocator class was.

She had started studying at the academy very late, and that was by her family's design. They were restricting her exposure to knowledge related to adapters in order to intentionally delay her development for fear that she would find out the truth someday.

Hence, her base of knowledge was very limited, and she would often raise some questions that went against common sense.

"If you have so many powerful invoked entities, can you give me one? Our enemies are very powerful, but as I am now, I'm really weak and won't be of much help to you. What do you say?"

Adam stared at Shae in silence with a resigned expression.

"You started attending the academy quite a bit earlier than I did, how do you not know that that's not possible? An invoked entity is a manifestation of one's personality. Those invoked entities all belong to me, how could I possibly give one to you? Even if we set aside the fact that this is impossible, if I were to give you one of my invoked entities, my personality would be incomplete. There's no way this is viable."

"How do you know if you don't try?"

"If abilities could be transferred at will, then I want that warlock's magic and the regenerative abilities of psychic mutants! I'm telling you, it can't be done! This is a fact that has been verified through the experiences of countless people, and that's why it's in our textbooks. Put more effort into your studies..."

While Adam was giving Shae an exasperated explanation, a message from Kim Hee-cho arrived.

He opened his communicator to find a short message.

"Hey, how've you been, Brother? I heard about what happened a few days ago on the news, so I decided to let you take a break, but now that you've had some time to rest, we gotta get back on the grind! The mission that we took on last time still hasn't been completed, and our client has already contacted me multiple times. We've also got a catalog of excellent missions stockpiled during your absence, so make sure to contact me after you've had a chance to rest and recover."

Shae sidled over to Adam as he read through the message.

"Whatcha doing?"

"I have to take on mission and work," Adam replied as he showed her the message. "I have to earn money. Otherwise, I won't be able to support my own spending. It takes me a long time to earn enough for just a single piece of equipment."

"How do you not have enough money when you're a part of such a powerful organization? Also, don't you earn a wage from the pawn shop?"

"The organization doesn't give me any money, and I don't get any money from the pawn shop, either, because I've signed an indenture with them," Adam replied with a resigned shake of his head. He couldn't help but feel a little annoyed whenever he thought about how the pawn shop had taken advantage of him. "I've been able to survive to this point thanks to their protection, and it's a fair trade, but I don't receive any wages from them."

"How about I go on these missions with you? It'll be a great opportunity for me to hone my abilities in battle."

Shae had always been obsessed with the pursuit of power. Otherwise, she wouldn't have been the most powerful adapter in her year level.

She had spent all of the time that should've been allocated to learning about adapter-related knowledge to learning about how to become more powerful instead, and that was why her knowledge base was very skewed.

"How much compensation do you want?"

"I don't need any compensation," Shae replied with a shake of her head as a complex look appeared in her eyes. "My parents were never that good to me. I never felt very close with them, and they never let me get involved with the operation of the company. They also told me that they weren't going to give me the right of succession, but I was never short on spending money. I still have over 2,000,000 in my account, and that's enough for me to use for a long time."

"Alright, I'll bring you with me," Adam replied with a nod, then contacted Hook and Kim Hee-cho and resumed his psychotherapy career.

At the same time, this was also training.

He wanted to become more powerful before he went on missions with the elite adapters of the pawn shop to capture psychic mutants so he could better protect himself.

……

Upon their reunion in the Metaverse, Kim Hee-cho gave an excited smile that was seldom ever seen on his face.

"Look at you! As the old adage goes, 'those who transcend the severest of tribulations will be blessed with the greatest of fortune'."

Kim Hee-cho approached Adam and gave him a warm embrace, then turned his attention to Shae.

"Who's this?"

"She's a good friend of mine. She's here for some hands-on training."

"Have you worked out how she's going to be compensated?"

"She doesn't want compensation."

Kim Hee-cho became even more excited upon hearing this. Perhaps there were some performance elements to the excitement that he had displayed just now, but the excitement that he was currently displaying was 100% genuine and came straight from the heart.

"I love brave young people who are up for a challenge! Rest assured, you won't be disappointed. You will receive the very best training experience on the job!"

"So about the job..."

"Ah, yes. All of the terms have already been finalized, but the client is most likely still working overtime right now. You can go find him after 9 PM. He's living that 996 lifestyle, if you know what I mean."

"What's the 996 lifestyle?"

Shae had never heard of this concept.

"It means he works from 9 AM to 9 PM, six days a week."

"Isn't that illegal?"

"They voluntarily subject themselves to such a rigorous work schedule in order to earn more money. Otherwise, why would he have developed mental problems that necessitate our services? Essentially, our industry is a consequence of the grueling lifestyle that people like him lead, so let's not go around pointing fingers at anyone. We should be happy as long as there's money to be earned."

Kim Hee-cho was still sticking to his philosophy of money above all else.

Having lived her entire life in the very upper echelons of wealth, Shae naturally struggled to accept this concept. In fact, she felt it to be inherently flawed.

"If they work that much, doesn't that mean that they have no life?"

"Their work?is?life! In the past, before immortality technology was released, only idiots or people who were in desperate need of money would've voluntarily chosen to live the 996 lifestyle. After all, life is short, and you have to live it up while you still can. However, things are different now. Everyone's thought process is that as long as they can earn enough money, they'll have plenty of time to enjoy themselves in the future. While they're still alive in the material world, they have to work hard so that they can enjoy their eternal lives in the cyberworld! In the past, life was too short, but now, life is too long!" Kim Hee-cho lamented, displaying a rare glimpse of humanity. "There are countless classes in society, and our client and I are the same type of people. We can see the hope of a blissful and eternal life, so of course we want to pursue that goal."

Shae was still of the opinion that there were some logical fallacies in the so-called 996 lifestyle, but she didn't say anything further on the subject. Instead, her thoughts were drawn to the sentiment that life was now too long rather than too short.

Similarly, Adam was also contemplating the same concept.

He had only been living this new life for a very short time, but he had already witnessed countless things that supported the notion that life was too long.

Those in the lower classes of society had to work themselves to the bone in order to support their deceased loved ones in the Metaverse, while the deceased had to degrade themselves and serve as playthings for others in the Metaverse for the sake of survival.

Those who had the ability to earn money did so as if it were their sole purpose in life, sacrificing their mental health and all of their energy for the promise of an eternal life of bliss.

As for Adam and Shae, they were but two of the countless victims of this present-day society.

If the pursuit of immortality didn't exist, then he and Shae wouldn't have been turned into blank slates, nor would the human farm have ever come into existence.

Never had Adam felt the term "immortality" to be one that harbored such sinister connotations. To put it more accurately, in his eyes, the concept of unfair immortality was the root of boundless evil.

Furthermore, if this immortality technology were a lie in itself, then this evil would be compounded to the point that it would be nothing short of a global infestation.

Among the population of close to 10 billion on this Earth, perhaps no more than several thousand people would be able to enjoy true immortality and access to blank slates. As for everyone else, they could only live in the fraudulent dream of immortality in the Metaverse, while in reality, their energy, their intelligence, their souls, and their very lives were going to be dedicated to supporting the true immortals of this world.

In the past, the wealthy stripped others of money, while nowadays, the wealthy stripped others of their lives.

All of a sudden, an extreme thought surfaced in Adam's mind.

Perhaps killing all of them would liberate the entire human race on a fundamental level.