Chapter 310: Random Killings
"I see."
Looking at the group of people before him, Adam had a feeling that he wasn't going to be able to get out of this so easily.
Politicians were solely focused on self-interest, so their decisions could be altered as long as sufficient benefits were granted to them.
As for the law, it was extremely rigid, and one couldn't be punished by the law as long as there wasn't sufficient evidence.
However, the Dataist Union fell somewhere in between and focused on serving the people while enforcing a policy of common sense.
They didn't care about things that the general public didn't care about, but they were determined to expose all things that the general public had a problem with, and that made them extremely difficult to deal with.
"What do you intend to do about this?"
"Your prior actions aren't illegal, but they're very suspicious, and we've come here today to issue you with a warning. You will only get one verbal warning, and if you continue to violate the regulations, we'll release the footage onto the internet. We have the right to regulate and release all footage captured by Mechguard."
"Wait, so all of you came here just to issue me with a warning? Surely one of you would've been enough, why are there 12 of you here at once? Is this supposed to be some kind of jury?"
"If only one person comes, it's very easy for corruption and shady dealings to take place. With 12 complete strangers coming at once, we'll be supervising one another, so none of us will be able to do anything out of line. We supervise people far more strictly than we supervise code. In a sense, the essence of supervising data is also human supervision."
The 12 people were wearing identical clothes, but none of them were familiar with one another, and there was only one speaker. This was a very strange combination, but it made sense to Adam.
This was indeed the best way to ensure that no underhanded deals took place.
"So is that all for today?"
Adam respected these people, but he really didn't want to have to deal with them for any longer than necessary.
In the context of society as a whole, Adam respected these people far more than he did politicians, but on a personal level, he much preferred to deal with politicians like Wax Figure than these strange and uncompromising individuals.
"That's all for today. The warning has been delivered. If you continue to violate the regulations, then we'll be releasing the footage to the public next time."
The 12 people didn't even tell Adam their names, and they left just as abruptly as they had arrived.
However, Adam knew that he really was in big trouble this time. Mechguard was the most powerful resource that he had at his disposal, but from now on, he was going to have to be extremely careful in the way that he used this resource.
Right as he was about to return to the veterinarian hospital, he suddenly felt as if he were being watched, but after looking around, he didn't discover anyone.
On the corner of the street, a figure slowly walked past outside of Adam's field of view.
Now that the Dataist Union is onto you, you won't be able to abuse your power anymore. Let me see what you're going to do now,?Thilan thought to himself as a faint smile appeared on his face.
The more he investigated Adam, the more interested in Adam he became.
For someone like him, who was naturally extremely inquisitive, there was nothing more fun than getting to the bottom of a good mystery.
For Thilan, nothing could compare with the thrill of uncovering the secrets of others, and he couldn't derive the same joy from good food, sex, games, or anything else. Adam's origins, his objectives, and his inexplicable rate of development were all extremely intriguing to Thilan, constantly making him want to dig deeper.
Now that you won't be able to use Mechguard as freely as before, I'm assuming you're going to switch to a different identity to continue your investigation...
……
As it turned out, Thilan was correct.
Upon returning to the veterinarian hospital, Adam immediately began to work on a disguise. He pulled together a random assortment of clothes from the three psychic mutants, then made some strange modifications to his prosthetics using spray paint canisters, posing as an artist as he prepared to go out.
"Where are you going?"
"I saw the names and appearances of some of the non-profit organization representatives from Chen Yanyan's memories yesterday, and I'm going to meet them now."
"Why aren't you asking me to tag along?" Shae asked.
"Because I have to go and apologize to May at the pawn shop first, and it wouldn't be appropriate to have you with me."
"Would you be embarrassed if I was there to watch?"
"No, I..."
"If the answer is no, then let's go together."
Shae also began to adopt a disguise as she spoke, and before long, what appeared to be an artistic couple made their way out of the veterinarian hospital.
Their first stop was naturally the pawn shop, not just because Adam had to apologize to May, but also because he required intelligence from the pawn shop.
They arrived on the familiar commercial street, then made their way into the pawn shop before taking the elevator to the fourth floor. As the elevator door opened, Adam discovered that Red Spider and May were already waiting for them.
"You better watch out! It's been a long time since I've seen May this angry!"
Despite the cautionary nature of Red Spider's words, her expression suggested that she was very much looking forward to seeing how this meeting was going to play out, and she stood off to the side to watch the show.
Adam was dreading this meeting, but he had no choice but to confront it.
"I'm here to apologize. Yesterday was an accident, I'm sure neither of us wanted to see that outcome."
This was the first time that Adam had ever seen May angry, and she didn't appear to be much different from normal. She wasn't in a violent rage, nor did she appear to be particularly worked up, but the look in her eyes was extremely cold, as if she were a vengeful hunter glowering at her prey. Even for someone with immense psychic power like Adam, he couldn't help but feel rather intimidated by her cold glare.
"Was it really an accident?" May asked as she looked straight into Adam's eyes. "Do you really not know that man?"
"I don't..."
"I'd advise you not to try and deceive me. The pawn shop specializes in resolving problems, but most of our income actually comes from dealing in intelligence. Let me ask you this again, and you better give me a proper answer this time: do you really not know the man who rescued Hebi no Miko?"
"Fine, I do know him, but what happened yesterday really was an accident."
Adam had let Raven go the day before, and the fact that the Dataist Union had been able to secure this piece of information meant that the pawn shop was definitely privy to it as well. Given the decentralized nature and enormous scale of the Dataist Union, it was very difficult to bribe them, but it was a much simpler task to plant someone in the union.
May nodded in response, waiting silently for further elaboration, and Adam hurriedly explained.
"It really was an accident! Neither of us are happy to see Hebi no Miko get away. She's constantly after my life, so it doesn't benefit me at all to let her escape."
"Judging from what you did, it seems like you struck some type of deal with her rescuer."
"He promised me that he would get Hebi no Miko off my back, and that's why I let him go."
Adam didn't tell May about how Raven had removed those parasitic tentacles from his psychic body, nor did he reveal Raven's promise to kill people for him.
However, even though he didn't mention anything about killing, May brought up the subject.
"I suggest you keep your distance from those people. You are a special psychic police officer, while they're some of the worst criminals currently going around. Recently, there have been random murders taking place in Sandrise City and several other metropolises."
This was something that Adam had already heard about on several past occasions. He had initially thought that these crimes had been carried out by certain mentally disturbed individuals, and he intended to look into the matter and collect footage so that Shivani could churn out more hard-hitting stories, but it seemed that things weren't as simple as he imagined them to be.
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