Hunter of Immortals

Chapter 241: Telegnosis

Chapter 241: Telegnosis

As the largest non-official adapter organization in Sandrise City, the pawn shop specialized in resolving problems, so it naturally had a wealth of intelligence in its grasp.

The pawn shop had informants all over Sandrise City, and not only did May have adapters working for her, there were also ordinary people from all walks of life constantly keeping her updated on the city's important affairs, so it was no exaggeration to say that she was the queen of intelligence in Sandrise City.

It didn't take long for Adam to learn some useful information from the pawn shop.

The Compassion Company was a privately owned hospital that was a legal business on the surface, but engaged in many shady dealings in private.

Firstly, the organization was involved in hundreds of lawsuits, and it regularly charged excessive medical fees, slapping patients with exorbitant bills that were impossible for them to pay off.

In addition to that, they also worked with certain loan companies and private banks to grant patients high-interest loans.

Everyone wanted to receive the best possible treatment for their illnesses and injuries, and the Compassion Company was constantly preying on this mindset.

As for those lawsuits, with a professional team of lawyers covering their bases, they weren't going to be facing any legal repercussions for at least the next few decades.

Those weren't the Compassion Company's only shady dealings. Essentially, they dabbled in any lucrative areas of business as long as it had to do with the medical field.

For example, May had provided Adam with leads pertaining to the Compassion Company's sales of illegal medicines, and he was certain that as long as he followed this lead, he would definitely be able to uncover the organization's filthy underbelly.

After learning all of this information, Adam began to launch an investigation while waiting for the onboarding process.

Using the information supplied to him by May, he was able to find a contact by the name of Carl. On the surface, Carl was just a street thug, but in reality, he was actually working for the pawn shop.

"The leader of the Flying Car Guild in there is a drug dealer. According to sources, all of the illegal drugs that they've obtained are from the Compassion Company."

Carl was pointing at an abandoned carpark as he was speaking. At the moment, there was an old-school bare knuckle fist fight taking place inside, and the first to fall would be deemed the loser.

There were some spectators gathered around to watch the fight, and Adam also took a brief look, but quickly lost interest. Compared with the brutality of Shadow City's arena matches, this fight may as well have been a wrestle between toddlers.

"Do you have any other information?"

"That's it. I'm not a member of the Flying Car Guild, and they're quite wary of outsiders, so it's very difficult to get into their inner circles," Carl replied. "That's all the information that I have for you. I'm leaving now."

"You're leaving so soon?"

"Why would I stay any longer?" Carl asked. "I was instructed by the pawn shop not to get too close to you. My sole job is to provide information, and I've already done that. Also, you really need to work on your disguises. Did you really think wearing a hat would be enough to make you unrecognizable?"

After that, Carl immediately left without any hesitation, leaving Adam feeling rather deflated.

He had a good group of extremely powerful adapters working with him, but he didn't have a single collaborator that could gather information for him. In fact, he barely even had any sane people in his circle.

Getting the psychic mutant trio or Diana to investigate cases or gather intelligence would've been a terrible decision that could’ve easily resulted in catastrophic consequences.

Adam had considered recruiting Red Spider's help. She was a very smooth operator, and she was also quite a powerful fighter in the real world thanks to her prosthetics, but May didn't want her to get involved in Adam's mess, so she had turned down Adam's request to have Red Spider work with him.

Adam could only shake his head with a resigned expression as he made his way down into the underground carpark.

The times were changing, and many people were searching for entertainment on the internet, but there was never a lack of people in this world who were fans of old-school entertainment.

Electronic drugs were extremely stimulating, and the Heaven series was already up to its sixth generation, but there was still quite a large fanbase for old-school pills.

The Metaverse was an exciting place, but those who enjoyed watching bare-knuckle fist fights were never going to completely die out.

Adam pretended to watch the fight with keen interest for a while, then began to try and strike up a conversation with a red-haired man next to him.

"Who do you think is going to win?"

"Do I know you? Get the fuck away from me!"

"Don't be so cold! If you ask me, I think that shorty is going to win."

"Bullshit! His opponent's already won three fights in a row! That runt can't do shit!" The red-haired man rolled his eyes at Adam in a disgruntled fashion. "Do you even know what you're talking about? And who are you? I don't recall ever seeing you before."

"It doesn't matter who I am. I'm convinced that the shorty is going to win. Just trust me. If you bet on him and win, you can keep the money. If you lose, then I'll pay for your bet."

"Really?"

"You can beat the crap out of me if I don't follow through," Adam confirmed with a smile.

"Alright, I'm holding you to that." The red-haired man immediately placed a bet. "I'm betting 1,000 on the shorty!"

"1,000? Don't you usually only bet 20?" The person who was taking the bets turned to him with a puzzled expression. "What's going on with you today?"

"That guy says he'll pay for my bet if I lose."

"And you're just gonna trust him?"

"I trust in my fists! He's on our territory, so if he tries to weasel his way out, we can kill in 100 different ways!" The red-haired man gestured to the other Flying Car Guild members as he turned to Adam with a menacing expression. "Those are all my brothers, so you better not mess with me!"

Adam nodded in response as he feigned a fearful expression.

"If this idiot's covering your bet, then why don't you bet a bit more? Go for 5,000!"

"Nah, he doesn't look like he can scrounge together 5,000 even if he sells everything he owns! I'll just bet 1,000 for now. 1,000 on the shorty!"

"Alright, it's your call."

The fight soon began, and generally speaking, in these bare-knuckle fist fights where none of the fighters had any combat prosthetic limbs, the larger fighter generally had the advantage.

The shorty's opponent was significantly larger, and he immediately swooped in to try and end the fight in a short time.

Given his significant size advantage, all he needed to do was land one good hit on his opponent or catch him in a grab, and his victory would've been all but assured.

However, the shorty clearly possessed a great deal of battle experience, and he was constantly weaving left and right, dodging his opponent's attacks while also wearing his opponent out.

It seemed that he was extremely passive, but that was only to the untrained eye. Anyone with any combat experience knew that he was seizing the initiative in this fight with his superb evasion skills.

"Damn, he's actually really good! Do you know him?"

The red-haired man was beginning to get a little excited. His bet was being covered, so he wasn't going to lose any money, but winning money was naturally far more alluring than simply not losing money.

"I don't, but I can tell that he's still full of energy and vigor, while his opponent is already quite exhausted after three consecutive fights."

Completely fusing with Clown was a double-edged sword for Adam.

The downside was that he couldn't fuse with any other one of his anomalies, but the upside was that his telegnosis had been significantly elevated, to the point that it had reached the same level as Oni no Miko and Oni no Hanzou.

At this level, his telegnosis was so potent that he could even sense danger from a kilometer away, and it was far too easy for him to assess a person's mental state and energy levels.

A fighter's breathing rhythm, muscular elasticity, energy levels, and even their confidence were all virtually tangible to Adam, and with this information at his disposal, he was all but certain to pick the winning fighter, barring any severe mishaps.