Immortal In A Death Game-Chapter 193: Found

"Dr. Fielding told me everything."

A day after the incident, Adam sat across from Chase, the USA Country Manager for the IBAA. The office was dimly lit, with sharp lines of shadow cast by the blinds, and Chase’s desk was disorderly, piled high with reports.

"As you may have been made aware, Dr. Fielding is one of the top researchers studying Hero biology—she is one of the best in the world and has worked with Gordon to develop the tests in the Hero Evaluation Wing. They’ve seen all the weird things Heroes can do..." Chase leaned forward, his fingers crossing.

"...and she said she’d never seen anything like what happened to the Silent Brawler before. The mutations, the regeneration patterns, the sheer brutality of what was done to that man."

Adam nodded. "I’m quite aware of Dr. Fielding."

"That..." Chase chuckled awkwardly, then caught himself. "Right. Sorry. Dr. Fielding can be quite eccentric. The academics all tend to be."

"It’s alright." Adam sighed, remembering how Dr. Fielding’s eyes had lit up during their conversation the other day. She’d asked if she could have a sample of his blood to compare to Bjorn’s. Adam had refused, of course—the last thing he wanted was to be experimented on just for curiosity.

"I guess I have my answer now." Chase sighed as well. "Of whether the Hospital was successful in their endeavors. They failed miserably."

"Yes. It... shouldn’t have happened."

"Bjorn’s body was tougher than most Heroes in the same tier. If whatever concoction they made did that to him, I can’t imagine what it would do to a normal person."

Adam nodded. He’d thought the exact same thing. "Is... this why you called me, Sir? If so, I told everything to Dr. Fielding."

"No." Chase stood up from his chair, moving to close the blinds on the windows. The office dimmed considerably. He grabbed a remote from his desk and pointed it at the large TV mounted on the wall.

The screen flickered to life, showing grainy footage filled with static and noise. Adam squinted, trying to make out the shapes moving on screen. But soon, the unmistakable silhouette of the Administrator showed itself to him.

"Is this bodycam footage?" Adam asked.

"From one of the soldiers."

The audio crackled as the video played. Adam watched himself on screen, standing before the massive form of Vaydrael. The sound quality was poor, but he could make out his own voice asking the Administrator a question.

<...have met... before?>

The video stopped there.

"What did you mean by that?" Chase turned to face Adam. "Have you... met an Administrator before? Outside the Games? I’m begging you to answer truthfully."

Adam blinked. "I don’t really see any reason not to answer truthfully."

"I could think of a hundred reasons." Chase chuckled, shaking his head. "And even without going through what you did, I think most people still wouldn’t tell, Endless."

"I’m just tired of hiding. I’ve been doing that for twenty years." Adam shifted in his chair. "There’s also the fact that I don’t know the entire truth, so there’s no point in hiding."

"Hm."

"I have visions, or maybe memories, of meeting the Administrators. Four, or five of them."

"Four...?" Chase’s entire body shook. He gulped, and his hand holding the remote trembled. "Five... you’ve met five Administrators?"

"Maybe." Adam shook his head. "I can’t be sure. I learned lately that my memory is incredibly unreliable."

"We need that memory." Chase’s voice was urgent. "Adam, I don’t know if you truly know the magnitude of what you just did. We found out more about the Game and the Administrators in just minutes because of you than we ever did in the last twenty years."

"I’d be happy to help, but as I said, my memories are unreliable." Adam sighed. "I don’t know how to recover them, or if they were even real. Leona tried something, but it didn’t work."

"Leona?" Chase asked. "She’s a member of the RLRD, correct?"

"Yes. She was a paleontologist, or was it an archaeologist...?" Adam muttered.

"What?" Chase blinked, shock evident on his face. "You’d need an archaeologist to refresh your memory? How old do you think you really are?"

"Leona said I might be more than a thousand years old."

Chase became even more shocked. He turned quiet for a moment, then walked back to his desk and began writing on some paperwork.

"Adam, could you help the IBAA further?" Chase looked up from his writing. "It’s not an exaggeration, but you might be the key to figuring out more about everything. Maybe even a way out. You—"

He paused when he saw Adam’s confused expression, but continued on eitherway. "I know I’m asking for too much, but I want you to find out more about your memories. I’ll give funding for it, maybe even a new department next to the RLRD."

"A new... department?"

"I would understand if you refused, after everything you’ve been through, I know trust is—"

"I’ll do it," Adam said before Chase could finish.

"Huh...?" Chase looked confused and shocked. "Are... you sure?"

"If it would help people, why would I refuse?"

"These memories..." Chase hesitated, resting his chin on his fingers. For once, the confident director sounded uncertain. "They may prove... painful for you. You don’t know what they’ll reveal."

Adam exhaled slowly.

"I’m used to pain, sir." His voice was calm, almost detached, but his hands tightened faintly at his sides. "It hurts. A lot. Even now."

He paused, searching for the right words. "But if I ever learned the Hospital was actually helping people, if everything they did to me actually saved lives, I would go back there myself."

"That..." Chase frowned.

"I’d lie down on that cold table..." Adam continued quietly, eyes unfocused as if staring into an operating room only he could see. "I’d tie myself to it willingly. No hesitation."

Silence filled the office. Then Adam’s gaze sharpened.

"But they’re not," he whispered.

Chase shifted forward. "Then—"

"But not yet." Adam met his eyes. "I’ll help however I can. Truly. But the Hospital comes first. Whatever they’re doing with my DNA... whatever atrocities they’re creating..."

His voice lowered. "If I don’t stop them, then every victim after this feels like my fault. And also, dealing with the Hospital first might just give me the memories that we need."

Chase stared at him for a long moment before letting out a quiet breath.

"That..." A faint smirk tugged at his lips. "You really are something else, Adam the Endless."

He stood and extended a hand.

"I’ll give you every resource I can. Though I suspect you’d rather face this alone."

Adam shook his hand firmly.

"No," he said plainly. "I’d actually appreciate all the help you could give."

Chase blinked, caught off guard.

"You—"

"But I won’t ask for it."

"Huh? Why?" Chase frowned. "There’s plenty we could—"

"The IBAA is compromised."

"What?"

"Chip told me no one should’ve known where we were going," Adam continued. "He disabled the helicopter’s tracker himself. Which means someone added another one."

Chase’s expression hardened instantly.

"I’ll investigate immediately," he said, already reaching for his tablet. "And I’ll send someone to the RLRD to coordinate with Leona, so everything will be ready for you."

Adam nodded once. Their handshake lingered a second longer before Adam turned and left.

A guard waited outside the office door, nodding to him and gesturing for him to walk ahead.

"Where to next, sir?" the guard asked.

"Back to the RLRD."

The guard tilted his head. "Already? Aren’t we moving a little fast?"

Adam blinked. The voice felt... familiar. He quickly looked back, and the guard lifted his cap and winked.

"Hello, darling."

"You..."

It was the Forger.

"I know I’m handsome," the man said with a grin, "but there’s no need to stare."

Adam had imagined the Forger countless times—thin, sly, maybe even a woman. Someone ghostlike.

Instead, the man before him was... built.

A full, carefully groomed beard framed a confident smile. His build was lean but strong beneath the uniform, long crimson hair tied loosely behind his neck, glowing almost like embers against dark skin.

There was nothing... subtle about him at all.

"We should leave." The Forger leaned closer. "Preferably before someone realizes I’m not supposed to exist here."

***

Half an hour later, they sat across from each other in a crowded food court.

The Forger now wore a long trench coat over a sharp designer shirt, oversized sunglasses resting casually on his nose. A heavy laptop occupied half the table, its cooling fans humming loudly as his fingers flew across the keyboard.

He sipped a matcha latte between keystrokes.

"Uh..." Adam looked around uneasily. How could he not? Everyone was looking at them. Families, strangers, everyone—first they noticed the Forger, and then Adam, because, well, he was Adam the Endless.

Adam leaned forward, lowering his voice. "Shouldn’t we be somewhere more private?"

The Forger didn’t even look up.

"Are you the tech genius expelled from MIT at thirteen for stealing a billion dollars and donating it?"

"...No?"

"Then kindly shut your beautiful little lips and stop giving me advice, darling."

Adam leaned back, scratching his chin.

Fair enough.

"We would be somewhere private," the Forger continued, fingers dancing faster. "But the Hospital is vast. Paranoid. Persistent. They’re watching you constantly."

Keys clattered rapidly.

"The safest place," he added, "is where hiding makes no sense."

Adam frowned. "So... we let them watch us?"

"Oh, not let." The Forger smiled faintly. "Encourage. And while they’re watching us...

...we are watching them."

And then, one final tap, and he exhaled in satisfaction.

"...and there we go."

Adam blinked. "There we go... what?"

"I have the Hospital’s location."

"Huh...?" Adam blinked, then looked at the tracking chip that was still in his hand. "But... I haven’t given you this?"

"Oh, darling. That’s cute. But I don’t need that..." The Forger lowered his sunglasses.

"...I just traced the people watching you."