Chapter 234: Departure
Chapter 234: Departure
Chapter 234: Departure
"Are you alright? You seem a little... off..." Shae said in a concerned voice.
"What do you mean?"
"I just feel like you've changed. I saw what happened to you in the battle royale, but that's not you!"
Shae knew Adam better than everyone else, and she had been very concerned about Adam's display during the concluding stages of the battle royale.
Those sinister tentacles and the sadistic pleasure that Adam took in backstabbing his own allies and taunting his enemies had come as a very worrying sight for Shae.
"I am who I am, end of story!" Adam replied with a nonchalant smile, putting an abrupt end to the conversation.
While it was indeed true that they had to leave as soon as possible, Adam chose to delay their departure for a day.
There were some allies that he didn't want to leave behind, and after leaving this city, there were many things that he had to do, but far too little time.
He definitely wasn't going to leave the three psychic mutants behind. Prior to departing from the stadium, he had exchanged contact details with the trio, and they had agreed to leave Shadow City together.
In addition to them, there was one more person that he was determined to bring with him, and that was King Arthur, or Diana, to be accurate.
In her completely mutated form, her psychic body was even more powerful than those of the three psychic mutants. That almighty black dragon had left a very deep impression on Adam. She came from Carlin Asylum, and she was very interested in uncovering the asylum's secrets.
Thus, her goals partially aligned with Adam's who aimed to investigate a whole host of powerful organizations, including Carlin Asylum, the congresses, the Psychic Church, the Gaia Organization, the Compassion Company, the human farm, the Ark Learning Children's Fund...
He could delegate the task of investigating Carlin Asylum entirely to Diana, and he was certain that she would agree.
When Adam found Diana that night, she was surrounded by several lifeless bodies.
They were the bodies of Diamond's family.
"Jeez, you really don't hold back, do you? Everyone in the underworld knows not to get families involved in personal vendettas, but you've thrown that rule completely out the window!" Adam crouched down and dipped a finger into Iron Man's blood before giving it a taste, then spat it out as he continued, "Having said that, I like what you did here."
.
"Why... are you here?"
In contrast with the confident and eloquent King Arthur, Diana had some speaking difficulties, seemingly due to the mental problems that she had suffered as a child. As a result, she spoke in a rather unclear, stammering fashion.
"I came here to see you. I can understand why you did this. Diamond was the one who landed the final blow on King Arthur, but there's a very good chance that King Arthur was already dead by then. Don't forget that the main culprit was Oni no Miko. If you want to avenge King Arthur, I can point you to some more people that you can go after."
"Who?"
"Oni no Miko is from the Oni Organization, and she came here under orders from the organization. If you want to avenge King Arthur, you have to weed out the Oni Organization in its entirety."
"You're not... lying to me... are you?"
"I certainly wouldn't be so foolish as to lie to you in your current state," Adam replied with a shake of his head. "If you don't believe me, you can do some research yourself. It'll be a very simple task. The Oni Organization is not some obscure organization with no information available, just search for them on the dark web.
“Oni no Miko is ranked third among the eight Onis of the organization. If you want to avenge King Arthur, you'll have to take out six people who are about as powerful as she is, and the leader of the organization, who is far superior to her in power."
Diana nodded in response without offering a reply, but the fury in her eyes was a sufficiently clear indication of her newfound hatred for the Oni Organization.
Adam didn't speak any further about the matter. He knew that his work was already done, and there was no need to say anything else.
"I mean no offense to you, but given your... handicap, how about we work together?"
Adam had learned about Diana's condition from King Arthur. Given her mental problems and the fact that she had grown up in Carlin Asylum, she was suffering from many problems in behavioral competence.
When it came to things like conducting research and tracking people, her skills were very lackluster, and she had only been able to track down Diamond's residence because Shadow City wasn't a very large place, and Diamond was one of the most renowned people in the city.
Diana didn't seem to be very open to this idea, so Adam added, "The Oni Organization will be sure to send hitmen after me, so as long as you follow me, the Oni Organization will come to you."
A hint of intrigue appeared in Diana's eyes upon hearing this.
Adam could tell that she was being roped in, and he continued, "You already know why I came to Shadow City. You and King Arthur have seen my memories in my psychic world, and while it's true that I was framed by the southern congress, the Oni Organization was the one that took the evidence that would've cleared my name, so the organization was already a sworn enemy of mine.
“Now that I've killed two of their eight Onis, our vendetta has only deepened further. In contrast, you're nothing more than a nobody to them. The Oni Organization wasn't to exact revenge against me, just like how you want to exact revenge against them."
The mention of vengeance immediately resonated with Diana.
"I have a vendetta against them, so they'll definitely come to me. Ultimately, the Oni Organization is an underground entity that won't be easy to find, so it'll be much better for you to follow me and have them come to us, rather than search for the organization aimlessly yourself, wouldn't you agree?"
Diana was finally convinced by Adam, and she nodded in agreement.
With that, Adam had another powerful ally on his side.
After recruiting Diana, Adam contacted the psychic mutant trio, and when he found them, they were playing with a bunch of stray cats beside a junkyard. Even though they now had a collective net worth of 200 million, they didn't have anything to spend it on.
They detested humans and the way that humans lived, but they all loved animals, and they had bought a lot of food to feed these stray cats and dogs with.
"Let's go!" Adam called out to them from afar. "It's time for us to leave this city! Once we're done with everything, we'll buy an island and fill it with animals!"
Adam couldn't help but be a little amused at the sight of the three psychic mutants.
If Midget were still alive and had emerged from the battle royale 200 million richer, he would've definitely begun splurging on the finest foods and the most beautiful women, yet these three were content just to feed a bunch of stray cats.
"When are we going?"
Mole was the first one to arrive in front of Adam. It was very easy for Adam to discern between the three of them.
Mole was the shortest one in the group, Armadillo had those burn scars on his head, and Rabbit was the only woman out of the trio.
"Right now."
"Already?"
"Life is short! Who knows if all of us are suddenly going to drop dead someday? That's why if we want to do something, we have to do it as quickly as possible, wouldn't you agree?"
"That was really well said! You really are a smart guy! Almost as smart as me!" Mole chuckled.
Thus, Adam gathered everyone and prepared to leave the city that night.
Prior to their departure, they asked Baldie Lin to contact the outside world and inform the pawn shop and the northern congress of their plans.
Once they left Shadow City, there wasn't going to be anyone around to protect them.
Here, they were all powerful adapters who were near untouchable, but in the outside world, they couldn't even deal with a single Mechguard officer.
Seeing as they were going to return to the civilized world, Adam had no intention of continuing to be on the run.