Hunter of Immortals

Chapter 106: Shithole

What a wild place this is!

The underground city was completely different from Adam's image of the world.

Ever since he first awakened, he had spent all of his time in Sandrise City.

Even though there was a great deal of shady business going on in the city's dark underbelly, on the surface, everything was in good order. If it weren't for the recent psychic mutant attacks, there were virtually no crimes that could be seen taking place on the streets.

Mechguard was simply too powerful a force to oppose. It was the embodiment of order and justice, enforcing the law in the most rigid and unforgiving fashion, and no one dared to step out of line.

Hence, the atmosphere in the entirety of Sandrise City was very oppressive.

Everyone was working, and everyone led exhausting lives, but no one was able to vent any of their pent-up stress for fear of repercussions.

In contrast, Shadow City was the embodiment of chaos, and everything that was suppressed in Sandrise City was allowed to flourish freely here. It seemed that every single person in the city was out to pick a fight with someone.

"Let's go."

The two men accompanying Adam called out to him, then led him through the chaotic plaza before arriving in a small alley.

The sewage system here wasn't very well-developed, presumably because this was an underground city, and as soon as they arrived in the alley, Adam was immediately beset by the foul odor of urine and fecal waste. The ground in the alley was absolutely filthy, and the air quality here was also terrible due to the lackluster ventilation system.

The entire city was filled with gray smog, and after passing through a few streets in the alley, they arrived in front of a shop at the end of the alley.

"We're here."

Adam looked up to find that the shop's name was "Uncle Lin's Fire Shop". There was no way to tell what kind of shop this was from the strange name alone, but looking at the items behind the display windows and the adornments on the storefront, it was clear that this was a prosthetic limb retrofitting shop, and one that catered to heavy artillery retrofitting, at that.

Situated at the storefront was the barrel of a cannon, while the items on display were either gatling guns or laser weapons, all of which were extremely illegal.

If one were to be caught by an electronic eye in Sandrise City with parts like these retrofitted onto their body, they would instantly attract countless Mechguard officers that would wipe them off the face of this world in seconds.

This is clearly an illegal business, so it looks like it wasn't the pawn shop that picked me up.

Adam opened the door and entered shop, upon which he was greeted by the sight of a bald and burly Asian man.

"Hello."

The burly man merely nodded in response, then turned to the two thugs who had brought Adam here, and after verifying their identities, he gave them a sum of money before sending them away.

"Take a seat."

Adam took a glance at the messy shop to find that there was barely anywhere to stand with all the parts littered all over the place, let alone any place to sit, so he remained standing on the spot as he asked, "Can I ask who brought me here? Also, where are my friends?"

As soon as Adam's voice trailed off, another group of people entered the shop. This time, it was a different pair of thugs accompanying Shae.

"What's going on?" Shae was initially elated to see Adam, following which a dumbfounded look appeared on her face. "When did you get here?"

"I just got here, and I don't know anything, either. I don't even know who it was that asked us to come here." Adam gestured toward the bald Asian man as he spoke. "You can ask him."

"I'll tell you everything once everyone's here. I don't want to have to waste time saying things more than once."

The bald man pulled out an accessory that was as thin as a needle as he spoke, then began to repair a machine using the accessory in a sewing motion like a tailor. Despite his rugged appearance, he was doing a very fine and delicate job, but it was still quite a strange sight seeing a burly man who was over two meters in height holding such a tiny tool.

Adam didn't say anything further upon hearing this, and he waited patiently in silence. It didn't take long before Hook, Shota Sato, and Nie Yiyi arrived one after another.

"Why are you here?" Adam was rather surprised by Hook's arrival. "You didn't even attack Prince at the time."

Hook didn't feature at all in the video file released by Prince. In reality, he really did refrain from joining in on the attack against Prince. As a professional coward, Hook never engaged himself in any direct battle.

"I've already been deemed to be on the same side as all of you. If I don't run away, they'll capture me and force me to speak against you," Hook replied.

He knew himself very well, and he was aware that he would've definitely folded to the demands of the enemy had he been captured.

"Why isn't Shi Feng here?"

"As a congressman, the procedure required to detain him is a lot more complicated." It was Shota Sato who replied on this occasion. He was a member of the Psychic Church and was older than Adam and his friends, so he was far more familiar with how the government operated. "On top of that, he can't afford to run away now. If he does that, then it'll be an indirect confession to the court and to the general public that he's at fault, and that would be detrimental to the northern congress's cause."

"What do we do now?"

"Ask him."

Seeing as everyone had arrived, the bald Asian man heaved a faint sigh as he stood up amid a pile of parts, then gave a self-introduction. "My surname is Lin, and my name was changed because I was previously a fugitive on the run. Nowadays, everyone calls me Baldie Lin. I'm a mechanic, and I was the one who sent out the people who brought all of you here."

"Who asked you to bring us here? Is this place safe?"

"I can't tell you who asked me to bring you here, and this place definitely isn't safe, but at the very least, it's out of Mechguard's reach."

"Why is that?" Adam was rather perplexed. Even though this place was underground and had a retrofitted army, Mechguard possessed a regular army that far outnumbered the retrofitted army here and had access to an enormous amount of resources. Thus, if Mechguard were to attack this place, it would've been very difficult for everyone here to weather the storm.

"Because this place is a giant shithole! If they dare to attack this place, shit will splatter everywhere!" Baldie Lin chuckled. "Think about how many shady underground industries a massive city with a population in excess of 300 million would give rise to. These industries are like human excrement, they'll inevitably be produced wherever there are people. There's no end to it, and it's impossible to prohibit.

“This city used to be just a set of ruins. In the past, there used to be all types of gangs, underground businesses, drug dens, organ traffickers, illegal retrofitting workshops, sex workers... You name it! All of that used to run rampant in Sandrise City, but after the Dataist Union took over Mechguard, it became very difficult for these shady industries to survive in Sandrise City, so all of the excrement flowed here to form this massive shithole.

“This shithole has ties with everyone, including the northern and southern congresses, high-ranking government officials, and countless major companies. Every organization has dirty work that needs to be done behind the scenes, and that is why this shithole exists. No one wants to blow up this shithole because it won't be good for anyone."

"So we'll be able to avoid being captured by Mechguard here?" Adam asked, identifying the crux of the issue.

"That's right."

"What about other people like hitmen organizations?"

"We can't do anything about that. This place is a shithole to begin with, so it only makes sense for there to be a few maggots around, isn't that right? That's why you were all sent to me. I'm going to conduct some retrofitting on all of you, and when I'm done, I guarantee you that no one will be able to recognize you anymore. As for what happens after that, all we can do is wait for the outcome of the tug of war between the northern and southern congresses."

"I suppose there's no other way."

Thus, under Baldie Lin's care, Adam and his group began to undergo a series of retrofitting.

Firstly, they were given facial tattoos that were a signature of Shadow City. After that, they were equipped with some fake prop prosthetic limbs, and finally, they were given a change of hair color and attire. At the end of the process, they were completely unrecognizable.