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Chapter 83: The Concealed Farm

After leaving Li Qi's psychic world, Adam was feeling extremely exuberant and well-rested.

He was just about to say something, but he noticed that Li Qi had awakened as well. Li Qi sat up on the bed, and in the instant that he stood up, tears were already streaming down his face.

A few seconds later, his silent weeping escalated into agonized bawling, and it was as if he were trying to vent all of the negative emotions that had been bottled up in his heart for all these years.

"Li Qi, are you alri..."

Principal Howard wanted to step in, but he was stopped by Adam.

"He's suppressed these emotions for far too long. He couldn't cry before, so we should let him cry now he can finally let go of everything," Adam said.

Principal Howard faltered slightly upon hearing this, then nodded gratefully in response.

"Thank you."

"There's no need to thank me. We were just doing our job."

"No no no, this is philanthropic in nature to begin with. The compensation you're receiving is far less than what you should receive," Howard disagreed. "Of course, our organization can offer you alternative forms of compensation. While you were administering Li Qi's treatment, I spoke to Mr. Kim about you, and he told me that there's been a philanthropic element to every job you've done so far. If you need a boost in your reputation, our organization would be happy to help you."

The missions released by the Ark Learning Fund had always been aimed primarily at those who valued reputational enhancement over monetary compensation.

"I'm not really concerned about my reputation at the moment."

Indeed, Adam didn't require any boost in reputation at the moment. However, the Ark Learning Fund was a huge non-profit organization, and there were certainly other areas in which Adam could seek assistance from them.

"If possible, I would like your help in investigating something."

"I'd be happy to help," Howard replied with a nod. "What would you like to know?"

Of course, Adam's objective was to find out more about the human farm, but he wasn't going to directly disclose that to Howard.

He pulled Howard to the side, then asked in a voice that was audible only to the two of them, "Can you help me check if there have been any cases of missing children in non-profit organizations?"

"Missing children?"

"That's right."

This was not a thought that had suddenly popped into Adam's head. In reality, he had been pondering this matter as soon as he learned about the existence of the human farm.

The purpose of the human farm's existence was to produce blank slates.

However, adapters were very rare, and demand for blank slates far outweighed supply. Outside of human farms, there was another even larger source of blank slates in the form of orphanages, welfare homes, and non-profit organizations.

Ever since the concept of immortality in the Metaverse came into existence, more and more people became crushed by their work, and more and more people began to develop mental problems. Due to the rise in mental health problems among adults, more and more children were abandoned by their parents.

In Sandrise City alone, the annual newborn population was around 4,000,000, but the rate of abandonment was close to 3%, and there were even examples of kids like Li Qi, who were abandoned later in life.

Every year, welfare institutions adopted hundreds of thousands of children, and that was only in Sandrise City. In a global context, this number was downright astronomical, and not even 10 human farms could produce such massive numbers.

Given the vast number of abandoned children, there were definitely adapters among them, and the average person had no way of examining whether their child had the potential to be an adapter.

If certain powers could infiltrate these welfare organizations, then they would have access to a massive source of blank slates.

"I do recall some cases of missing children."

Howard was a very righteous person, and he was truly dedicated to the betterment of public welfare. He loved children with all his heart, so he remembered every single child that had gone to his school.

"Nine years ago, there was a child at our school. If I recall correctly, his name was Tosei Ito, and he was taken away."

"Was he an adapter?"

"I don't know, but every year, there are physical examinations conducted on the children at our school." Howard was no idiot, so he was naturally aware of what Adam was alluding to. "The physical examinations are conducted in the name of health, and they're done by an outsourced healthcare company, but I feel like there are higher-ups in our organization working with them."

Having worked his entire life with the Ark Learning Fund, Howard knew that the organization wasn't as righteous and pristine as it appeared on the surface. He had always had his suspicions even before hearing these questions raised by Adam, but he had no evidence, nor did he have any way to investigate the matter, so he had never spoken to anyone else about it.

However, now that someone was actively raising the subject, he was inclined to tell him everything he knew so that there was a possibility that this issue could be resolved for the children.

"They conduct physical examinations every year, but there's a suspiciously high number of brain parameters that they test for," Howard recalled. "If I'm not mistaken they're most likely searching for adapters."

"Has Tosei Ito ever come back?"

"No. After that physical examination, I was told that he had a malicious tumor growing in his brain, so he had to be taken away for treatment." Howard was clearly not convinced by this. "He was always really healthy, and after their examination, I wanted to take him to another hospital for a second opinion, but my supervisor at the time prohibited me from doing so. Back then, I wasn't the principal of this school, and two days later, Ito was taken away."

"Did you try to contact the child after that?"

"I did, but I never managed to get in contact with him. At a later point, I went to that healthcare company to ask about what happened, and they told me that Ito had passed away due to a failed surgery, but they couldn't show me any proof, no grave, no ashes, nothing!"

It was clear that this was something that had always been weighing on Howard's mind, and that he considered himself to be reprehensible for this.

"I was too foolish and na?ve back then. If I had been just a bit more prudent, that child wouldn't have been taken away." Howard shook his head as a depressed look appeared on his face. "I only realized that many things were amiss after I carefully mulled them over after the event. That healthcare company, the principal at the time, and some of the high-ranking supervisors of our foundation... There was clearly something wrong with many of the people in the system, but I didn't know exactly what was wrong. Do you know where those children were ultimately taken?"

In the face of Howard's question, Adam didn't know how to respond, nor did he know whether he should respond.

"Tell me. I'm already an old man, I can handle the truth no matter what it is. To me, knowing the truth is more important than anything else because it tells me what I should be fighting for. "

"Alright." Adam nodded in response. "Would I be able to examine your mental condition? There are certain secrets that I can only share with people who I trust the most."

"Go ahead," Howard replied as he spread open his arms.

Thus, Adam invaded Howard's psychic world. Up to this point, Adam had seen the psychic worlds of many people.

There was the rigorous training ground that was Nie Yiyi's psychic world, the strange psychic worlds that belonged to himself and Shae, the abhorrent junkyard that was Peter's psychic world, and the likes of Li Qi and Kim Garcia's psychic worlds, which were completely enshrouded in darkness.

However, never had he entered a psychic world that had made him feel so welcome and relaxed. Warm sunlight was shining down on him from above, and a warm spring breeze was caressing his cheeks.

Is this what the psychic world of a kind and serene person looks like?

Adam inspected the green pastures and lush forest around him, then cast his gaze toward the lakes and mountains in the distance. Even just standing here instilled within him a sense of warmth, and he could feel a great deal of pressure being lifted from his shoulders.

Of course, as Adam discovered after taking a casual stroll, even Howard's psychic world wasn't completely devoid of darkness, and the core of the darkness stemmed from the remorse that he felt for his failure to prevent Tosei Ito's abduction.

Here, Adam saw a boy with black hair being taken away.