BXBX NOVEL Chapter 311: Handler
Chapter 311: Handler
"You're saying they're the ones behind those random murders? Surely there has to be a mistake."
Even though Raven had discussed the subject of killing people with Adam, it was difficult for Adam to imagine that the cunning and calculating Raven would go around carrying out random killings.
In past instances of such crime sprees, the perpetrators had generally all been deranged nutjobs.
Of course, Raven wasn't exactly the most mentally stable individual, but there was a fundamental difference between someone like him and indiscriminate serial killers.
Raven was more like a sinister demon that was slowly hatching plans in the shadows, obtaining what he wanted in a controlled and calculating fashion, whereas random murders were generally carried out by completely deranged individuals with no intelligence or foresight.
.
This seemed to be something that would only have a detrimental effect in the long run, and it was rather difficult for Adam to believe that Raven would do something so unreasonable and foolish.
"I can't say for sure whether he's one of the perpetrators, but he looks a lot like one of the people that's been on my radar lately." Compared with this subject, May was clearly much more concerned about Hebi no Miko, and she quickly changed the subject. "Did he tell you how he was going to be preventing Hebi no Miko from coming after you?"
At the moment, not only was May concerned that Hebi no Miko could seek vengeance against her, it would be extremely detrimental to the pawn shop's business if news were to spread that she had made an enemy out of Hebi no Miko.
"He told me that he was going to put Hebi no Miko in a predicament where she would be too busy dealing with other matters to come after me, but he didn't tell me any specific details. My guess is that he hasn't come up with a concrete plan yet himself."
"I see. Make sure you don't reveal what happened yesterday to anyone. I didn't show myself throughout the entire incident, so as far as everyone's concerned, I wasn't involved."
"Got it."
"Also, about your lifetime servitude promise..."
"That still counts."
"Good. At least I got something out of that."
After chatting with May for a while longer, Adam changed the subject, enquiring about some information pertaining to a few people before departing from the pawn shop.
Having secured the information of the handlers involved in the orphan trafficking case, Adam assigned all of them an internal ranking in terms of importance, then arrived at an orphan shelter under the Ark Learning Children's Fund.
The Ark Learning Children's Fund was a massive non-profit organization, and there were all types of establishments under its umbrella, including schools, orphan shelters, food provision factories, and employment centers.
The orphan shelter that Adam was visiting was one of the establishments under the Ark Learning Children's Fund where one could most directly come into contact with orphans.
After taking in orphans, the Ark Learning Children's Fund would send them to orphan shelters for a few days for some simple checkups in order to determine their age and physical condition, then send them to schools and welfare homes.
Of course, this wasn't the only orphan shelter under the Ark Learning Children's Fund. All in all, the children's fund had a total of 17 orphan shelters all over Sandrise City, and this was only one of them.
As soon as Adam stepped through the doors of this shelter, he was immediately stopped by a staff member.
It was a portly middle-aged woman who had a very benevolent and approachable appearance.
"How can I help you today?"
"We're here to see Quinn Reed. We've met him before, and we're here to discuss some details regarding adoption with him."
Aside from making basic registrations and logs on the orphans that were taken in, the orphan shelters were also responsible for various other procedures, such as the initial phase of the adoption process.
The woman took a glance at Adam and Shae to find that they were of a similar age and were quite fashionably dressed. As a result, she came under the false impression that they were a couple, and that convinced her to let down her guard.
"Quinn took a day off today. He appears to be feeling unwell and has some private matters to attend to. If you want to explore adoption options, I can recommend someone else for you to see."
"I see. Would you be able to tell me his address?"
"I'm afraid I can't..."
Before the woman had a chance to finish, Adam gave Shae a subtle glance, then immediately invaded her consciousness.
There were other people in the orphan shelter, and it was very suspicious that Adam and the woman had suddenly fallen completely still, while Adam was resting a hand on her shoulder. Hence, Shae hurriedly positioned herself so that Adam and the woman would be obscured from everyone else as much as possible, then began to have a conversation with herself.
"Yes, that's exactly right, we're here to look into adoption... I have some idea of what the process entails. I'll tell you what my thoughts are, and you can correct me if I'm wrong. I know that the current legal process for adoptions isn't very complicated. Not many parents are willing to go through natural births, so many children are born through IVF..."
Shae was constantly talking in order to keep up a facade of normalcy and ensure that no attention was drawn to Adam and the woman.
Thankfully, a chatty young woman was quite a common sight, and much to her relief, no one was paying any attention to them.
Meanwhile, Adam had entered the woman's psychic world and had already begun searching for the information that he wanted.
The first piece of information that he wanted to find was naturally Quinn's address.
Thankfully, the woman did remember his address, and after searching through some work-related memories of hers, he saw the address in a memo on her communicator.
The second order of business for Adam was to see whether the Ark Learning Children's Fund was a completely rotten, illegal organization all the way through like the Compassion Company, or if it had only been partially corrupted.
Adam was leaning toward the latter option as he recalled that the people at the orphan's school under the Ark Learning Children's Fund in the town of Ash had been very good people.
In particular, Principal Howard had the kindest and most pristine psychic world that Adam had seen out of anyone.
The portly woman was clearly also a very kind person, and she sometimes liked to yell at the orphans in the shelter, but she really did look after them as if they were her own children. Most importantly, she had no idea about the orphan trafficking that was going on.
After securing this information, Adam promptly departed from the woman's psychic world. Both of them quickly returned to their senses in the real world, and she had no idea what had just happened.
It was very rare for the average person to come into contact with adapters, so very few people knew what it was like to have their psychic world invaded.
From the woman's perspective, it seemed that she had suddenly spaced out for a second, and she hurriedly apologized, "Sorry, what were we talking about just now?"
"You were just telling us that Quinn isn't here today. It's alright, we'll come back tomorrow."
After putting an end to the conversation, Adam departed from the orphan shelter with Shae.
"Can you give me some warning before you invade someone's psychic world next time?" Shae began to complain as soon as they left the establishment. "You're always doing whatever you want, and you never think about the feelings of those around you."
"Aren't you talking about yourself there? When we first met, your temper was way worse than mine. We share the same genes, so perhaps neither of us are very good people," Adam retorted while hailing a taxi.
Quinn lived quite close to the orphanage, so it wouldn't take very long to get to his address.
"Besides, these things always happen on the spur of the moment. How am I supposed to give you any forewarning?"
"I suppose you're right..."
……
Inside his home, Quinn was feeling very anxious.
Ever since he heard about the Compassion Company incident, he had been feeling extremely uneasy, and his fears were only exacerbated when he lost all contact with Chen Yanyan, his former handler at the Compassion Company.
He had considered running away, and as a handler, he did have some illegal income, but he wasn't as wealthy as Chen Yanyan.
It would've taken a huge sum of money to find a gang that would smuggle him out of the country, and not only was there a chance that he could encounter danger along the way, even if he could leave the country, he would have to lead an impoverished life. Furthermore, he had heard that foreign nations weren't very safe to live in.
There were dictatorships where the common folk could only live under the oppressive rule of the kings and their automatons, forced to toil and work without rest. These automatons had become the best enforcers for rulers, and they were far more effective and easier to manage than human soldiers and police officers.
Hence, he didn't dare to run away, and he was still hoping against hope that all of this would simply blow over.
What if this has nothing to do with me? Even if it does, there's no guarantee that they'll come after me! It's the Compassion Company that was exposed, how does that have anything to do with me?
Quinn was desperately trying to reassure himself, but in the next instant, three crisp and distinct knocks rang out on the door of his apartment, and he was so frightened that his heart skipped a beat with each knock.