Hunter of Immortals

Chapter 243: Fahai

Chapter 243: Fahai

Initially, Iron Skull was unconvinced by Adam's police badge, thinking that it was nothing more than a bluff, but as he turned to look at the surrounding Mechguard units, he discovered that not a single one of them had their guns aimed at Adam, and he no choice but to believe Adam's claims.

"There haven't been any human enforcers for a very long time!"

"The times have changed. Nowadays, there are more and more crimes being committed by adapters, and it's time to crack down on that. Also, there are certain things that adapter enforcers can do that Mechguard units can't, such as interrogation." Adam reached into Iron Skull's pocket once again as he spoke to pull out some pills. "What are these?"

"Painkillers. I suffer from chronic back pain, so I regularly take painkillers. What's wrong with that?"

Adam searched the Flying Car Guild members one by one, and all of them were carrying large numbers of pills, but to Adam's dismay, these pills were all just painkillers.

Consuming large dosages of painkillers had virtually the exact same effect as taking drugs, but compared with actual drugs, it was far more difficult to prosecute someone for possession of painkillers.

"There's quite a large quantity of pills here. Are they all for you? Where did you get these from?"

"We bought them from the drugstore."

"These are prescription medicines. How did you manage to get so much? Which drugstore did you go to?"

"Just normal drugstores. All we had to do was go to a bunch of drugstores and..."

Iron Skull was still spouting nonsense, but Adam had already run out of patience. He dragged Iron Skull away to the side, then immediately invaded his psychic world.

After searching through his psychic modules for a short while, Adam was quickly able to track down the memory that he wanted to examine. It seemed that these drug transactions were something that Iron Skull engaged in very often, so his memories of them were quite clear.

In his Clown form, Adam followed Iron Skull and watched him meet up with a man dressed in a professional suit in an extremely dimly lit nightclub. After issuing the man a payment using cryptocurrency, the man gave him a suitcase of drugs.

All of the drugs inside the suitcase were painkillers, and after taking a few to ensure that the drugs weren't counterfeit, Iron Skull departed with the suitcase.

Even though the nightclub was very dimly lit, Adam was able to get very close to the two men using his concealment ability, so he was able to get a good look at the man who had sold Iron Skull the drugs.

After confirming the appearance of the seller, Adam visited several more psychic modules, and he was able to ascertain the transaction time, the seller's communicator number, and the secret signal that they used with one another.

So all I need to do is send an encrypted text that says "Is the Mapo Tofu good?", and that'll be the signal. The transactions take place on the 7th and the 23rd of each month... One of those days just so happens to fall on the day after tomorrow!

After confirming the transaction dates, Adam followed the seller for a while to try and dig up more information, but the seller didn't interact much with Iron Skull outside of their transactions, and both sides were rather wary of one another, so Adam wasn't able to glean much useful information.

After leaving Iron Skull's psychic world, Adam discovered that the Mechguard units had already detained everyone outside. Some of them were selling drugs, some of them had engaged in illegal gambling, and some of them had participated in illegal fist fights, so at the very least, they were going to be locked up for a few days. Hence, none of them were going to be able to raise the alarm, and no one dared to try any funny business under the scrutiny of the Mechguard units' super cameras.

Hence, Adam wasn't at any risk in the immediate future.

"I'm going to complete the next transaction in your stead." Adam declared to Iron Skull, then immediately departed, leaving him to the Mechguard units.

In order to ensure that the operation was a success, Adam visited a dilapidated theater the next day and watched a spectacular stage play.

The story that was being enacted was an ancient eastern story by the name of "Legend of the White Snake", which told a love story between a snake spirit and a doctor.

The acting was superb, but there were very few audience members in attendance.

This was because the theater wasn't particularly renowned, and stage plays weren't very popular in Sandrise City to begin with. Everyone much preferred exploring the wild and exciting world in the Metaverse, rather than watching an outdated art form like this. Furthermore, the story that was playing out wasn't a traditional western story, so it failed to garner much interest.

However, Adam was enthralled by the performance, and after the stage play concluded, he approached one of the actors.

This actor played the antagonist of the story, a tall and imposing monk who opposed the relationship between the two main characters.

"That was a brilliant performance."

"Thank you. I visited the east as a child, so I'm a big fan of the culture there."

The actor was quite friendly and approachable, but there was a clear hint of dejection in his eyes. Only seven or eight people had shown up to watch their stage play, and the theater was on the verge of closing down.

"Can I help you with something? If you want a signature from Lady Bai, you can just go straight to her, there's no need to come to me."

In all forms of performance media, it was generally the case that the actors who played the antagonists weren't very popular, particularly when the antagonist of this story was a clear-cut villain with the sole purpose of drawing the distaste of the audience so they could have someone to root against.

"No, I'm here for you. I want to offer you a job," Adam replied as he sized up the actor.

The man was over 195 centimeters tall with a bald head and a muscular physique. It would only take a slight makeover for him to develop quite a close resemblance to Iron Skull.

"What's the job?"

"You'll be playing a convict."

"How much money are you offering?"

"1,000 dollars. and you only need to work for a day."

"That's a lot of money!" A hint of disbelief appeared in the man's eyes. "There's no need to pay me that much. I only get 100 per day here, so even if I have to go somewhere and incur travel costs for the job, 300 will be enough."

"I'm offering you 1,000 dollars because the script is a little dangerous. You will be facing an actual convict as part of the act," Adam explained. "Are you still interested?"

"Is the job illegal?"

"No."

"Alright, then I'll take it," the man said as he extended a hand toward Adam. "I've always wanted to challenge myself, and this is a perfect opportunity."

"What's your name?"

"You can just call me Fahai."

……

Fahai was a professional actor, and he adapted to his roles very quickly.

On that same day, he organized a set of clothes identical to the ones worn by Red Skull, as well as a metal mask, and that makeover, coupled with his change in demeanor and attitude, made it almost impossible to discern him from Iron Skull unless he came under very close scrutiny.

Adam also used Fahai's disguise skills to give himself a makeover, transforming himself into a complete nobody, which was very convenient, considering his face was currently still being plastered all over the news.

After Fahai was given a rundown of the time and content of the mission by Adam, the two of them traveled to the nightclub where the deal was set to take place.

This was a rather strange nightclub where people danced in complete darkness.

The entrance fee was very cheap, at only five dollars a pop, and free beer was provided inside, so it was clear that the nightclub didn't rely on entrance fees for profit.

The biggest selling point of these lights-out nightclubs were the dancers.

In contrast with strip clubs, all of the dancers here sat at the bar, and a patron could dance with any of the dancers for one song for 10 dollars. Due to how dark the environment was, it was inevitable that there was going to be some groping taking place.

This type of high-volume, low-margin business model attracted a lot of customers, and upon making his way into the club, Adam discovered that most of the patrons were either elderly men or young people who had only just graduated, while middle-aged people with higher spending power were quite rare.

At his age, Adam resembled a recent graduate, so he didn't attract any attention in the crowd.

1. The female lead of the story, Bai Suzhen, is often referred to as Lady Bai.

2. Fahai is the name of the antagonistic monk in "Legend of the White Snake".