Hunter of Immortals

Chapter 24: Immortality Support

"What are you still standing here for? The job's done, so get out of here. Don't delay my business." While Adam was examining his own condition for the final time, he was roused by Weber. "Hurry up and get out. Don't forget to issue your monthly loan repayments. In this money-driven society, if you get a bad credit rating, it'll become difficult for you to get anything done. Oh, and don't forget to bring me some memorabilia from Deranged Pig next time!"

"Thanks, Boss."

During the three days Adam had spent with Weber, he had come to discover that Weber had offered him a very reasonable deal. Not only had he charged Adam a very competitive price, he hadn't installed any superfluous parts into Adam's body.

Throughout this entire process, he had been spared all unnecessary expenses.

Of course, even so, he was still in severe debt.

The loan he had taken out, which totaled less than 2,000,000, was to be repaid in 30 installments, and with each installment, he had to pay an extra 100,000 in interest. This meant that he would have to allot some time every single month to take on an additional mission with a relatively high level of danger in order to repay this loan.

I only woke up not long ago, yet I'm already a slave!

After leaving the shop, Adam had nowhere else to go, so he planned to return directly to the academy.

Emerging onto the street outside, he caught sight of a giant 3D hologram depicting a human figure. It was a 3D advertisement.

The figure in the advertisement was over 100 meters tall, and he was in the process of delivering an impassioned description of the Mars Immigration Plan. According to the figure, there were boundless resources on Mars, making it a far better place to live than Earth, where resources had all but completely dried up.

Adam stared at the advertisement for a long time, and a sense of absurdity welled up in his heart.

After that advertisement came another giant advertisement, which declared: "In order to grant immortality to the entire human race, the implementation of Metaverse version 12.0 is in full swing. All you need to do is upload your personality and your memories, and you will forever remain in the Metaverse in your entirety. You can reunite with your loved ones and be with your friends for eternity. You can even slay giant dragons, or put on intergalactic armor and..."

Right as Adam was staring absentmindedly at the advertisement, a young man carrying a prosthetic limb repair toolbox passed by while cursing to himself, "This accursed system is the reason why I'm having to spend all of my money to support my grandma! The fees are way too expensive! They're charging so much money even for the people in there to live just a normal life, and if you don't pay, they'll block all personality data. They make the advertisement sound so alluring, talking about you can reunite with your loved ones forever in there, but I'm having to spend so much money to support the dead that I barely have enough to survive myself! Money, money, money, everyone's asking for money!"

The young man sighed as he strode away into the distance. It seemed that he had far too many negative emotions bottled up in his heart, and he didn't know how to vent them.

This was supposed to be technology that granted immortality, but it was proving to be a massive burden on the living.

Adam watched as the young man faded into the distance, and he was suddenly struck by the feeling that the young man was just another blank slate.

Mars, immortality, promises of wealth... Those are all just tools used by the wealthy to swindle others. They're all just dangling pieces of bait that are as dangerous as they are alluring.

While Adam was still absorbed in his own thoughts, someone suddenly approached him from the end of the street. As soon as Adam cast his gaze toward the approaching figure, he discovered that all of the passersby on the nearby streets had vanished. He then looked up to find that the advertisement hologram had also become completely still.

My psychic world is being invaded!

Adam was no longer a complete newbie, and he immediately understood what was happening after quickly assessing the situation.

The man at the end of the street continued to approach Adam, and as he drew closer and closer, Adam was able to make out the man's features.

This was a middle-aged man in cowboy attire with a pair of guns strapped to his waist. He had thick facial hair that perfectly complemented his casual and unrestrained expression, and it looked as if he had strode directly out of a western cowboy film.

While Adam was watching the middle-aged man, another person also began to approach him from the other end of the street.

"Oi, Cowboy, I was the one who discovered him first!"

That man was wearing ninja garbs with a pair of blades on his back, and his face was entirely obscured, making it impossible to glean his features.

He had a deep voice, and there was formidable psychic power emanating from his entire body. All of the tall buildings and skyscrapers that he passed by shattered like mirrors in his wake.

Cowboy immediately burst into laughter upon hearing this.

"You think this is a kid's game, Oni no Hanzou? You can't just call dibs on a target like a coin on the ground!"

The man then whistled to summon a mighty stallion, leaping onto the horse's back as soon as it galloped out of thin air.

“If you want to steal this mission from me, then we'll have to see if your kunai knives are faster, or if my bullets will get the job done first!"

"You asked for it!" Oni no Hanzou harrumphed in a cold voice, then abruptly tipped forward to a sharp angle, reaching top speed in the blink of an eye.

All Adam saw was a blur flash past his eyes before the ninja had already passed him by. Immediately thereafter, the blur began to split up as it raced along, with one splitting up into two, two splitting up into four, and eventually, the entire street was full of his clones.

What on earth is going on here? Are they on a mission to hunt me down? Was the mission released by the person who purchased my body?

It was clear that these two were both extremely formidable hitmen, and Adam had no intention of staying to watch their battle. Instead, he was eager to get away as quickly as possible.

.

However, as soon as he tried to leave, he was struck in the back by a bullet that resembled a laser beam. The bullet didn't inflict any harm upon him, but the restrictive light erupting from the projectile rendered him completely immobile.

After rooting Adam to the spot with that bullet, Cowboy pulled out another pistol like lightning before firing off a rapid sequence of shots.

Instead of aiming at 's clones, all of the bullets were fired up at the sky.

As a result, a change immediately took place in the sky, with dark clouds shrouding half the street before bullets fell like rain.

Rumble!

In the wake of the storm of bullets, everything on the section of the street that was enshrouded beneath the dark clouds was reduced to dust, including the shops, the pavement, the neon lights, and every single one of the shadow clones had also been struck. At the same time, the other half of the street began to ripple violently like the surface of a lake under a torrential storm.

Adam had never seen such powerful adapters, and he was in awe of their devastating might. Cowboy's destructive capabilities were superior even to those of the scarecrow anomaly at the height of its powers.

However, his opponent was also a very formidable adversary.

After all of Oni no Hanzou's shadow clones were eradicated, he suddenly emerged from the shadow right beneath the belly of Cowboy's warhorse, following which his twin blades were slashed through the air like lightning in an attempt to slice both Cowboy and his steed in half.

The warhorse let loose an alarmed neigh before it was sliced into two by the twin blades, but Cowboy had leaped up into the air from the horse's back to avoid the attack, then fired a barrage of bullets into the shadow down below.

The bullets that he fired on this occasion possessed even greater force, and every single one of them exploded like a cannonball upon striking the ground, decimating the entire area and also destroying his own steed.

However, after being torn to shreds by the explosions, a new steed emerged into the sky like a phoenix being reborn from the flames, catching Cowboy right as he began his descent.

"Aka Oni, go!"

Oni no Hanzou's voice rang out in mid-air, and immediately thereafter, his body began to gradually expand and mutate amid the smoke and dust that were rising up from the ruins of the explosion. Soon, a half-human half-oni samurai with an entirely bright red body and an oni mask on its face emerged from the wreckage.

Following its emergence, Aka Oni let loose a furious roar, then swung a mace that was burning with scorching flames at Cowboy up in mid-air.

Cowboy tugged on the reins of his steed, and hoof marks appeared beneath the warhorse as it began to gallop through the air, rising up to a higher altitude to evade the fearsome strike.

1. Aka Oni in Japanese roughly translates to Red Ogre.