Chapter 87: Pattern

Angela drove to the location that the officer under her relayed to her and on the scene, there were already police and ambulance.

There was blood everywhere and it was at the place where Adam beat up the gang that were previously involved in rape.

She was shocked by how ruthlessly they were beaten, but what shocked her more was the knowledge that only one man was capable of taking that many people, that were armed, down.

There was yellow police tape all around the area as they gathered information about what happened, and Angela after showing her NYPD badge that showed them that she was a detective, was allowed in.

"Is there anybody still conscious, or any witnesses that know what happened?" asked Angela to the officer that was first to the scene.

"We have no eye witnesses other than the victims that are currently getting medical attention, but we have received reports that this hooded male has been moving all over the rough areas of Brooklyn, apparently forcing them to join his organisation" informed her the officer, telling her everything that he knew.

Angela listed down all the areas that were reported down, then with a map that she had formed over the years of her police service, that showed her all the known criminal areas, she found a pattern with all the areas that the hooded criminal was going to.

"He is going to gangs that have no current convictions or allegiances with larger criminal organisations" exclaimed Angela within her car as she found the pattern in Adam's appearances over the past day.

Her precinct and many others in Brooklyn, that were all part of NYPD, had brief knowledge of the areas with small criminal groups.

However, with money and good lawyers, it was very hard to convict them without concrete evidence, which was why there were still so many known criminal organisations that could always get away with their crimes without facing consequences.

While cultivation families were completely above the law and could overwhelm the authority of the government with their strength and power, that they had behind the scenes, which the higher-ups within the government made sure to be wary of.

As long as there was a balance in power, both the cultivation families and the governments benefitted each other.

The cultivation families acted as protection for the country and could be seen as military power against any other countries, while the government would cover the tracks of the cultivation families, while allowing them to do as they please.

However, the peace and balance of New York were beginning to waver as the friction between the largest families continued to increase.

"Following this pattern, the next probable gangs needs to be one of the ones in this area" mumbled Angela to herself as she tried to figure out the hooded criminal's next location.

She had 3 probable gangs that Adam could be headed to and didn't know which one between them, so had no choice but to head to all three of them one by one.

Not all the gangs that Adam went to had been reported and she only went off the police calls, but the three locations were the most probable that she could see on her map.

Driving as quickly as she could without crashing, Angela headed towards her first possible location and after arriving was disappointed to find that he wasn't there.

But what frustrated her most was that she found a few gang members unconscious on the ground, while the rest of the gang and the hooded criminal were nowhere to be seen.

"Damned bastard, I will arrest you and find out who you are" vowed Angela in frustration as she headed towards her second location.

"This is taking too long and I might not be able to get there in time" muttered Angela as she reached the second location to find the same thing.

"The only place left is that gang that are bigger and were the opposing gang to the Wolf Fang Gang, that has now dispersed" stated Angela as she hurriedly headed towards it.

Angela had quite detailed information about the small-time criminal organisations, that she had collected over her time as a detective, however, she had no information on the larger criminal organisations that were out of the public eye.

However her information wasn't enough to warrant any arrests or convict them as it was merely hearsay in court without evidence, and finding evidence was hard for a lone detective to do, especially in the current underfunded state of the NYPD.

Angela didn't want to keep on her siren while driving to the final possible location that she knew of, but she had no choice if she wanted to be able to skip past traffic and drive quickly.

To collect all the information and reports that she needed, while also finding the pattern in the hooded criminal's appearances, Angela had used up a lot of time.

Then to drive to two possible locations to not find him, Angela had used up a few hours.

In the few hours that Angela was trying to find where the hooded criminal was, Adam had passed on Elizabeth's message to dozens of small gangs, and had reached the top floor of the building that was the base of the final gang on his list.

Adam charged into the top floor, knowing that his presence had already been revealed and everybody was already alerted of it, and was shocked by what he saw.

There was a single door on the top floor that led to an enormous flat that took the whole floor.

Kicking down the door, it was as if he had suddenly been transported to China as the decorations and style of the flat were completely different to what he expected.

There was a large hall-like room that had all kinds of training equipment and weapons and in the middle of the room was a large muscly man that was making unusual movements and seemed to be training in martial arts.

"I was wondering what the commotion was, but it seems we have an intruder that has been coveting my method" narrated the man.

From a single sentence of his speech, Adam could tell that he had an old-fashioned and uptight personality that one would expect from a cultivator.

However, after coming across his master, who was the strongest cultivator that Adam had come across, that had a lazy and pompous attitude which didn't befit what one would expect from a cultivator, Adam no longer aligned personality with strength and felt that the man before him was quite weird.

Adam didn't affirm or refute his assumption, but as he mentioned a method Adam suddenly was interested in what it was and confirmed his thought of there being something valuable on the top floor.

"If you battle me and win, you may take my treasures, my legacy and my men as your reward" declared the man as he held a staff in his hands.

[Is there any cultivator that doesn't have a weird personality] thought Adam to himself as he was yet to come across a normal powerful cultivator.

"Stop acting weird, just hand over your method and submit to me, then there is no need to battle and you can actually do something with your said life" mocked Adam.

"This is only a small step of mine in my journey to the peak, and through training and meditation I can reach a state where Iam one with the world's energies" stated the man as he approached Adam.

What shocked Adam was that although he was approaching him for battle, his status wasn't appearing and that meant he was either too strong for the system to register or didn't have malicious intentions towards him.

Reading the aura around his body, Adam could tell that he wasn't stronger than himself, so it must mean that he didn't have malious intent towards him.

[It seems that this weird guy is actually crazy, and doesn't seem to be such a bad guy] thought Adam to himself.

He was a bald man and everything about him was similar to what one would expect from an ancient monk, apart from his tall and muscular build.

"How about this, if I beat you, you must submit to me and hand over your method" offered Adam.

Although his offer wouldn't be accepted by any sane person with common sense, Adam could see that the monk-like man was unusual and would stake his treasure over a worthless duel.

"I accept your offer" declared the stupid monk.

Adam couldn't help but chuckle at the ease at which the man would submit to him, and Adam could see that he only secured his position with his strength.

But Adam could also see that he didn't have interest in the gang and was more focused on the improvement of himself, while the monk's temperament made Adam feel as though he was trustworthy.

"Okay, then we must be fair and you must be fight with our fists" stated Adam, exploiting the monks righteousness and ignorance.

The monk nodded and threw away his staff, but in that moment, without alerting the monk, Adam attacked, exploiting the opening that revealed itself.