BXBX NOVEL Chapter 86: The Dragon and the Eight Onis
Chapter 86: The Dragon and the Eight Onis
In the short-term future, the two things that Adam was most concerned about were the hunt for psychic mutants and Shae\'s fight for the right to succession. Out of those two things, the latter was the first to take place.
On the third day after they returned to Sandrise City from Ash, Adam was in the midst of helping Hook film a video when both he and Shae received a call at the same time, instructing them to go to the Feurs Estate.
The Feurs Estate belonged to the Kim Family, and in Shae\'s memory, it was a place that even her parents had very rarely visited. According to them, the Feurs Estate was her grandfather\'s house, and also the place where he liked to stay the most.
That so-called grandfather was the original host of the parasitic psyche in Shae\'s psychic body, and it was unclear whether he still retained any sentient will.
As Adam and Shae arrived at the designated address, the former was stunned by what he saw.
"I can\'t believe a place like this exists in a place as modernized as Sandrise City!" Adam inspected the trees around him as he reached out to stroke the rough trunk of one of the trees. "This tree has to at least be hundreds of years old!"
This place had a completely different atmosphere from the noisy and debaucherous environment in Sandrise City, and it was also completely different from those cramped apartment buildings.
This was a place that took up a huge area, and it was right next to Sandrise University. There were no tall buildings in the entire area, and everything had been left untouched.
It wasn\'t that Adam hadn\'t visited any homes of wealthy individuals since his awakening. Deranged Pig, Cowboy, and Sadou could all be considered to be wealthy people, but their residences all had the same style as the city. However, the style of this estate was completely different from that of the entire city. Not only did it take up a massive area and present a severe waste of resources, most striking of all was the fact that it looked like a relic that belonged to several centuries ago.
"Coming here, I feel like I\'m very close to the top of the human social hierarchy," Adam jibed as he walked over the soft and loamy soil, but there was a very serious look on his face. "Looks like your grandfather was no ordinary person. At the very least, he seems to have been far wealthier and more powerful than your parents."
"Indeed. The fact that he was able to come into contact with the human farm at such an early stage indicates that he was most likely a core member of some very powerful organizations."
Talking about this clearly put Shae in a very bad mood.
Out of everyone in her "family", her so-called grandfather was the one that she hated the most.
Not only was he the main perpetrator who had directly disavowed her entire existence, even now, he was still clinging to her psychic body like a disgusting parasite.
Ever since Shae found out that there was another "person" in her brain, she would always unconsciously touch her own head, as if doing so would allow her to evict the unwelcome parasite.
The two had only been walking along the dirt road for a short while before a sightseeing car pulled up next to them.
"Get in the car. It\'ll take you close to 20 minutes to walk there." The one calling out to them was Cowboy.
"Why are you here? Whose car is this?"
"I stole it from the mechanical valet. As for why I\'m here, I came to help you, of course." Cowboy pulled out an electronic contract and handed it to Shae as he spoke. "Get a lawyer to take a look at this. We had to work hard to secure this for you."
Shae took the contract from Cowboy, and she quickly discovered that it was a very complex document that was littered with jargon such as "stock inheritance", "stock split", and "right to succession breakdown". Shae was virtually completely unable to understand these professional terms, but she could roughly tell that this was an agreement that transferred her parents\' assets over to her.
"This is too complex for me to understand."
"That\'s alright, our organization wouldn\'t work against you, so you can rest assured. If you can\'t understand, then find a professional lawyer to take a look for you," Cowboy replied while driving. "What we want are power and speaking rights. We\'re not interested in money. By the way, your cousin and Masao Yamamoto are also going to be in attendance, so you have to be more forceful and assertive during the meeting."
The name "Masao Yamamoto" was one that was firmly entrenched in Adam\'s memory, and if he recalled correctly, this was already the third time that he had heard this name.
The first time was from Deranged Pig, the second time was when he was informed that Masao Yamamoto was a major shareholder in Golden Teeth Incorporated, and this was the third time.
Masao Yamamoto was also the only living person that he knew of that was definitely privy to the human farm\'s location.
After riding in the sightseeing car for four or five minutes, Adam and his group arrived in front of a large house. There were some tables, chairs, and benches placed on the lawn in front of the house, and tables were laden with fruits and other food items, giving the setup an appearance that resembled a casual family gathering.
There were already some people on the lawn who were immaculately dressed in professional attire, and they were chatting with one another in small groups. Shae\'s arrival immediately caught the attention of one of those groups.
"That\'s my cousin," Shae said as she subtly gestured toward a man who appeared to be around 30 years of age with her eyes.
The man\'s skin tone was rather similar to Shae\'s, but aside from that, they bore no resemblance whatsoever.
Shae had a round face with round eyes, while her "cousin" had a very angular face with a hook nose, and it was clear from his appearance alone that he was quite a sinister character.
There was another man who appeared to be around 50 to 60 years of age standing beside him, and he looked to have been cast in the exact same mold as Shae\'s cousin. Hence, it was safe to assume that this man was Shae\'s uncle.
However, those two weren\'t the focus of Adam\'s attention. Instead, his attention was drawn to a man who appeared to be roughly 50 years of age with a mustache on his face. The man was very short, but also very well-built. He was wearing a Japanese kimono, giving him a vintage appearance.
What intrigued Adam the most was the man\'s eyes, which were as black as ink and resembled a pair of abysses. The stiff muscles on his face also made him appear very rigid and violent.
There was no need for an introduction for Adam to identify this man.
In the instant that he caught sight of Masao Yamamoto, a flame of resentment was instantly ignited in Adam\'s heart. He was even struck by the urge to invade Masao\'s psychic world and uncover all of the secrets that he wasn\'t yet privy to, then kill him on the spot.
"Keep yourself in check. There are surveillance cameras here that are directly connected to Mechguard\'s data center, so you better not do anything rash," Cowboy cautioned.
"Don\'t worry, I won\'t do anything stupid. Do you know much about Masao Yamamoto? I\'m assuming he\'s an adapter, right? How strong is he?"
"I\'ve never fought him, so I don\'t know, but I\'m assuming he\'s quite strong. Not only has he invested in many media companies, he also has close ties with the Oni Organization. With its Dragon, eight Onis, and 36 Tigers, the Oni Organization is one of the most powerful hitmen organizations in the world, and they have a resounding reputation in the black market.”
"What\'s this dragon and eight onis?"
Adam had conducted some research on the Oni Organization following that assassination attempt from Oni no Hanzou, but the information that he was able to gather through normal internet searches was very sparse. In fact, most of it was related to games, and there wasn\'t much useful information at all.
"The hitmen in the Oni Organization are ranked in a hierarchy of five tiers, namely Dragon, Oni, Tiger, Wolf, and Dog, in descending order. Oni no Hanzou, the man who was sent after you last time, is one of the eight Onis of the Oni Organization, so there are seven more hitmen just as powerful as him in the organization. There are 36 hitmen in the organization who are slightly inferior to him, but still very fearsome in their own right, and the so-called Dragon is the leader of their organization. I\'d say he\'s on about the same level as Boss May."
"May? Is she really that strong?"
"Why else do you think the pawn shop can do whatever it wants without any fear of retaliation?" Cowboy made his way out of the sightseeing car as he spoke.