Immortal In A Death Game

Chapter 253: Are You Serious?

Several minutes ago, before Adam’s... unfortunate kidnapping, the situation was actually quite warm.

"I’m... I’m so tired. Are you guys sure we’re not even inside the actual Leak, yet?"

"I’m sure."

The sky had already darkened, with only the rays of the moon slipping into the cracks of the leaves above them. The forest and beyond, however, were still incredibly bright since the Nightraptor guild had set up lights every ten meters or so.

Everything was convenient now—was Adam’s thoughts as he’d just finished disassembling and processing another boar, and was now loading it into the basket in front of him.

"Okay..." he whispered, looking up as he tapped on the basket several times. "You can take it away now."

Something flashed above, and the basket started to lift from the ground as the drone it was attached to flew higher, avoiding all the obstacles as it hovered away. This convenience was one of the many reasons why Heroes now opted to go into guild-owned Leaks—they didn’t even have to join other guilds anymore to gain some of their benefits.

Adam placed his hands on his waist, shaking his head. And while he sighed like an old man, Selene’s party members all looked at him.

"Selene... are you sure your uncle’s a famous Hero?" Nica asked. "He... does kinda look familiar. Why don’t you just tell us who he is?"

"I can’t do that." Selene wagged her finger. "I already made the mistake of bragging about him being famous. If I knew he was going to introduce himself with a fake name and wear a mask, I wouldn’t even blurt that out."

"So his name isn’t Nathan!" Stifler pointed at her.

"Ah!" and Selene realized her mistake too late, clamping her mouth. "I... I didn’t say anything!"

Stifler squinted at her, then pulled out his phone to try to search for Adam’s true identity. Selene could really only sigh at this—these people would know who he was sooner or later, anyway. While it was true that Adam’s presence on the internet was well-kept and almost non-existent, once you know what to search for, it was impossible to escape from his... popularity.

"Ugh... why can’t I find him anywhere?" Stifler groaned in frustration. He then opened up his phone’s camera and quickly pointed to where Adam was... but he was no longer there and was instead sitting beside Selene.

"When... did you get there?" Stifler’s eyes widened in shock. Still, that didn’t deter him from taking his photo. But when he did so... Adam’s face was a complete blur, not even the color of his eyes could be seen.

Adam glanced at him for a moment, but didn’t seem to mind what he was doing at all as he placed several skewers of meat next to the fire.

"You’re... going to eat that?" Selene asked, lightly gasping as she stared at the tough-looking meat.

"Yes." Adam shrugged, watching as the juices started to drip from the wild pork. "If you want to maximize your earnings in guild dungeons, you have to learn how to cook whatever the Leak can provide."

"R-really?" Selene gulped, not knowing if she could eat the meat from a monster that seemed to be confused about itself, whether it was an insect, a reptile, or an actual pig.

"Yes. And this is one of the most important lessons I can impart to you and the others..." Adam paused for a moment, then pulled something out from his pocket.

"That’s..." Selene stared at the things in Adam’s hand. She thought they were vials at first, but they were... powder.

"Always bring seasoning when you can," Adam said proudly before sprinkling the seasonings on the meats. "Be careful not to put them too early."

Selene could really only stare at Adam, a small chuckle escaping her lips before she sighed and stared at the fire. And after a few more moments—

"Did... you and mom have to eat a lot?" she asked.

"Of course, not." Adam quickly answered, blinking. "The only times we eat were if it was a Civilized Leak."

"Ah! You’re part of the RLRD!" Stifler quickly pointed at Adam as he said that. "That narrows it down."

Adam glanced at Stifler, still not minding what he was doing at all.

"Hmm... I sometimes forget you’ve known Mom since like... forever," Selene whispered. "Does that mean... you know who my father is?"

The other party members all paused whatever it was they were doing, and for a moment, only the sound of the fire crackling between them could be heard. Who... in their right mind would ask something like that while on a dungeon run? They all thought.

Adam didn’t seem to be fazed by that question at all.

"I do," he answered.

"Then—"

"But it’s not my place to tell you." He cut Selene off. "You should ask Leona."

"She’s not telling me. She told me she was going to tell me once I turned eighteen. I’m twenty now."

"You’re... twenty?" Adam’s eyes widened. "

"Yes, Uncle. I look even older than you, now."

And with those words, Stifler, who’d been searching everywhere for Adam’s identity, gasped. He almost dropped his phone, his eyes trembling as they slowly focused back on Adam.

"You..." Stifler whispered. But with his breath locking up, his voice almost cracked. "You—"

And before he could actually utter another word... Dave grabbed Adam and lifted him up, almost strangling him in the air.

"Dave. What are you doing?!" Except for Selene and Stifler, the others all reacted wildly, backing away as they all asked what he was doing. Nica drew out her whip, and the quiet man quickly leaped onto one of the trees and aimed an arrow at Dave.

Selene, however, just looked confused. She calmly stood up, blinking several times at Dave’s actions.

"Uh... what are you doing?" she asked.

"You will send ten million dollars to my account!" Dave pointed at Selene before jabbing his iron-like finger at Adam’s temple. "We all know you’re loaded!"

"Are you... serious?" Selene raised an eyebrow. "Just let my uncle go, and we’ll forget this ever happened and just... eat the monster. Seriously? This is my first Leak as a Hero... you’re ruining my experience."

"Shut up!" Dave started backing away. "If you care about your uncle... you will send money to my account, and you won’t report any of this to the police!"

Dave then threw a card at Selene’s feet.

"My account number’s there," he bellowed. "Deposit it within six hours... or I’ll kill your uncle!"

"...You didn’t think this through, did you?" Selene scratched her chin. "Even if I had that kind of money, which I don’t—do you think I can just deposit that and we won’t get flagged by the authorities? You should’ve asked for cash."

"S-shut the fuck up!" Dave pressed his finger harder on Adam’s temple. "Of course, I’ve thought about that! You don’t worry about that and just send me the money!"

Selene blinked a couple of times before turning her focus to Adam, whose legs and arms were just listlessly flailing as Dave moved around. Their eyes met, and he only shrugged in response.

"Just send it!" Dave repeated. He was about to back away even further to disappear into the forest when Stifler suddenly raised his voice and pointed at Adam.

"You’re Adam the Endless!" he blurted out, seemingly oblivious to everything that was happening since he blacked out trying to process whether the planet’s fourth X-tier Hero was with them.

"Your uncle’s Adam the Endless?!" he repeated. He was about to repeat it again due to his shock, but then finally realized there was something wrong about the situation they were in. "Uh... what’s happening?" he asked. "Why... are you hugging The Endless? Even if you were a fan... I don’t think that’s right."

Dave didn’t respond. He couldn’t. He froze as soon as Stifler’s revelation hit his ears—but after a few moments, he thawed himself out of it. He slowly looked down, and Adam also looked up at him at the same time, the two staring at each other.

"That—that’s impossible!" Dave roared. "Why would one of the X-tier Heroes even be here?! Just stop—"

Before Dave could finish his words, a loud snap cracked in the air, he wondered what it was at first, but then once again gazed down... only to see Adam casually prying his iron-like arms open.

"You!" Dave quickly leaped back, and then just once again lunged at Adam while he still had his back turned, clasping his hands together and clobbering violently on the back of Adam’s head.

A loud thunder exploded, lightly rippling away the leaves and causing the fire to trickle—but as the light once again settled...

...Adam hadn’t even moved a single inch—not even his neck was bent.

It was as if the entire scenery froze, and not even a single one of them moved. As for Selene, she only winced, her eyes darting back and forth between Adam and Dave.

"Well..." Selene sucked in a breath. "...I did tell you to just forget about all—"

And before Selene could finish, Nica suddenly moved behind her—her whip, crawling and tightening around Selene.

"Wha..." Selene gasped. "You... were a part of this, too?"

"L-let us go!" Nica screamed, tugging on the whip and causing Selene to grit her teeth from the thorns pricking into her skin. "Let us go... or I’ll kill your niece!"

"Seriously...?" Selene sighed in frustration.

"Why are you guys still even doing this? This isn’t a novel, you guys. This is just... outright irrational."