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Chapter 294: The Three Major Metropolises

The man on the other end of the line fell silent for a long while upon hearing this.

Adam also waited patiently in silence. He wanted to hear what this mastermind behind the Compassion Company was going to say next.

"I don't know exactly what you want, but I think I have a decent guess." I don't know exactly what you want, but I think I have a decent guess. "I'm assuming you want to uncover the truth behind blank slates, but I'm telling you now that your efforts are futile. It's very unwise to go after powerful figures, and it's particularly unwise to go after so many powerful figures at once."

"So many?" Adam chuckled. "Do you represent more than just yourself?"

"Perhaps I haven't made myself very clear, so let me reiterate. If you expose the secrets behind blank slates, you will be encroaching upon the rights of everyone in positions of power, and you'll be making yourself the public enemy of all of those powerful figures.

“Wealthy businessmen, politicians, high-ranking military officials, the southern congress, even the northern congress or the leaders of any of the most powerful private organizations. No one, and I mean no one, will turn down the prospect of attaining immortality. I am just an errand boy for them.

“All I do is send children that can potentially be made into blank slates to them. Even if I didn't do this, someone else would, and if you try to disrupt this process, everyone will want you dead, even those in the northern congress."

"You know what? That is actually something that I have to keep in mind," Adam replied with a nod.

Adam had considered this problem before. When faced with the temptation of immortality and being able to return to a youthful body, there were indeed very few people who would have the willpower to refuse, and those who were in positions of power were even less likely to turn down such an alluring prospect. Those people had a far greater desire for power and resources than the average person.

"That's why I've decided that I'm not going to keep a relatively low profile for now. I'll proceed with my plan step by step, and I'll take care of you first. Given my current reputation and public image, no one will be targeting me anytime soon."

Adam was certain that this mastermind behind the Compassion Company wasn't situated very high up on the pecking order. Otherwise, they wouldn't be calling him to try and negotiate a compromise.

"Mark my words: you will die before I do. The best course of action for you would be to give up everything here and run away. Otherwise, I will find you. If you're going to run, it's not going to be enough to just leave Sandrise City, you'll have to flee the entire North American Continent."

There were a total of three metropolises on the continent of North America, and they contained a total population of a billion, which was over 80% of the entire continent's population.

Following Word War III, large sections of land had been contaminated by nuclear radiation, and most of the remaining "clean" land was occupied by farming towns and villages. The people living in these places are extremely xenophobic, and they made sure to constantly scrutinize outsiders, conducting even more comprehensive surveillance than Mechguard did.

Hence, aside from lawless places like Shadow City, there really weren't many places that fugitives could escape to.

"Given the current state of the world, it's most likely not very peaceful outside of North America, either. You're like a fat lamb that's loaded with money, so there's a very good chance that you'll be slaughtered even after you start a new life elsewhere."

It was clear that Adam's goading was finally beginning to get to the person on the other side of the line.

As the largest shareholder in the Compassion Company, he appeared to be at the top of the world, but compared with the powerful figures behind him, he really was nothing more than an errand boy.

If he were to die, then the Compassion Company would be purchased or abandoned, and there would be more than enough people to replace him and continue with what he was doing.

Child trafficking was an extremely shady business, and from the very first day he decided to take on this role, he knew that there was a chance that he would be cut off.

No one would be willing to go against such a popular public figure like Adam for his sake, so if he wanted to live, then he would have to save himself.

"It seems like you're determined to follow this path to the bitter end. In that case, we'll just have to see which one of us dies first!"

The voice on the other end of the line seemed far too mature and bitter to belong to a young man in his twenties. Even though the man possessed the body of a 25-year-old, he had actually already lived for over a century.

Back when he was first born, phones had still been running on 4G networks.

In the past century, he had endured several financial crises, crises of confidence, wars, and worldwide revolutions, and he was confident that this wasn't going to be his downfall.

"What are you going to do? Are you going to find someone to kill me?" Adam chuckled.

In the past, he would've been afraid, but he was no longer his past self.

After absorbing the anomalic power of the seven-headed anomaly, he had well and truly become an elite adapter.

By his definition, adapters of Oni no Hanzou's level could be referred to as elite adapters, but they only just barely made the cut.

In contrast, the likes of Hebi no Miko and the director stood at the pinnacle of elite adapters. At the moment, Adam was situated somewhere between them.

Given his current level of power, even the top hitmen on the black market wouldn't take on a job to assassinate him. Even if Oni-faced Dragon were to come after him, he would have nothing to fear.

Perhaps he couldn't defeat Oni-faced Dragon right now, but given the privileges that he enjoyed as a special psychic police officer, he didn't fear Oni-faced Dragon. No matter how powerful he was, there was no way that he was as powerful as Hebi no Miko, and Adam was confident that he would be able to survive long enough against him for Mechguard to intervene.

"If you want to kill me, then you can give it a try."

"I will."

The call was abruptly ended there.

After a few seconds of contemplation, Adam turned to Shae before asking, "Did you record all of that."

"I did," Shae replied with a nod. "That conversation was quite the bombshell. This is the true head of the Compassion Company, and he's already admitted to trafficking children. Should we expose him to the media?"

"Not right now," Adam replied with a shake of his head. "While it's true that we're enemies, he did say something that was very correct, which is that what we're doing pits us against far too many powerful figures. At the moment, we're still being hunted by Hebi no Miko. We should focus on weathering this storm first before we try to take any significant strides.

“The plan has to be carried out one step at a time, and a recorded phone call alone won't be enough to bring him down. We'll keep this as evidence, then continue to accumulate more evidence over time. Someday, once we've pieced together the entire truth, we'll reveal everything to the public all at once."

Having experienced so much, Adam was completely different from back when he first woke up.

Back then, he was easily swindled by a hobo, but now, he had already completely matured.

"What we're trying to accomplish is very difficult, and the worst thing that we can do now is to be overly hasty. We have to dig up the entire ugly truth behind the Compassion Company first. I'm going to contact the pawn shop and get them to help me find some people.

“Adapters are extremely rare, so in order to find adapters among orphans, they would have to conduct physical examinations on a massive scale. That requires the involvement of a huge number of people, and there will definitely be some who are aware of what's actually happening. They will be our next targets."