A Scientific Urban Detective

"To be precise, it's a chimera formed by combining a certain fungus and the cells of a herbivore." Perhaps knowing they weren't competitors, the man in the white coat didn't hide anything, roughly introducing his work, "You're with the security force, so you should know that STUDY R\u0026D is developing the next generation of powered armor. My technology can be used to mimic artificial muscles, which can help reduce the weight and energy consumption of the powered armor..."

After saying that, the man in the white coat seemed to suddenly remember that the people standing in front of him were the security force—STUDY Corporation's main customers—so he quickly pulled out a business card from his pocket.

"If you have time, you're welcome to visit my research institute! My research results are really useful!"

The security guards were speechless at this man who had suddenly entered sales mode, and could only deal with him politely.

But in reality, unless this man was involved in a case in the future that required investigation, they probably would never visit his research institute, right?

Lin Wuming, however, became somewhat interested in the man's research results after hearing the description.

The reason was simple: the description given by the man in the white coat sounded familiar—according to his introduction, this "artificial muscle" cultivated from a combination of fungal and herbivore cells was very similar to the tool used by Kozaku Ryoko's robot clone in the original work.

In the original work, Kozaku Ryoko's robot clone used it to imitate "soul possession," creating an exaggerated spectacle.

But now it seems that the "artificial muscle," which can only survive in a laboratory environment, still has a long way to go before it can be put to practical use.

"A lifespan of less than an hour is a bit too short, isn't it?" Lin Wuming asked.

"The lifespan issue can be optimized by adjusting the corresponding genome," the man explained, "Moreover, my artificial muscle cells proliferate very quickly, and enough can be proliferated in a short period of time, so it won't delay too much time in actual applications. From this perspective, its short lifespan is actually an advantage..."

"...Hello? Hello? Where are you? Come quickly, there's a new discovery!"

Just as the man in the white coat was talking eloquently, a call came from the security guard's communicator.

"Sorry, we're on duty, we have to leave!" The security guards, already feeling annoyed, found an excuse and immediately said goodbye and left.

Kogawa Meiwei and Torafushi Toumi, who were also impatient with the man in the white coat's sales pitch, took the opportunity to leave together.

Lin Wuming was interested in learning more about the specific technical details of "artificial muscle," but he was still dragged away by Torafushi Toumi.

"There are too many individual researchers like this in this city..." one of the security guards complained, "And most of them only do some strange research, trying to get investment through unconventional methods."

His words were full of disdain.

Lin Wuming understood. The security guard meant that these wild researchers were probably what were called "folk scientists" in other places. However, with the overall quality of Academy City being what it is, even a "folk scientist" would need to have some real skills to make a name for themselves in Academy City.

Lin Wuming wasn't a professional researcher, so he couldn't even tell if someone was a "folk scientist."

After understanding this, Lin Wuming stopped dwelling on it. It was still unknown whether the man's research results were the "artificial muscle" he knew, so there was no need to waste too much time and energy on it.

The group returned to the "Silver City Insurance Company" building, and according to feedback from the security guards left behind, they had made a new discovery.

"What's with these three kids?" The security guard who stayed behind immediately noticed Lin Wuming and the others who had followed them.

"Uh..." The security guard scratched his head, "They're Disciplinary Committee members cooperating with the investigation. They made a discovery earlier, so they're investigating together."

In fact, Kogawa Meiwei also subconsciously chose to leave with the security guards in order to get rid of the man in the white coat as soon as possible.

The security guards didn't object, so they just followed along...

The male security guard at the insurance company frowned, then suddenly looked at the three Disciplinary Committee members.

"Are you Lin Wuming?" He recognized the boy among them.

"That's me." Lin Wuming nodded.

"Alright, then come along and take a look," the male security guard nodded, then warned, "But don't mess around."

"Don't worry, I won't." Lin Wuming assured.

Kogawa Meiwei was very interested in the case, and urged Lin Wuming to follow her inside.

The group arrived at the monitoring room located underground, from which they could see the images from all the surveillance cameras in the building.

"Haven't the surveillance footage already been checked?" Lin Wuming said softly, "What new discoveries have been made?"

"Because some of the camera footage was missed," a security guard operating the computer explained, "Next is the footage we obtained from the robot's memory."

Barrel-shaped robots are a unique sight in Academy City. In addition to serving as cleaning robots, these robots also become good helpers for the security forces at critical moments. Strictly speaking, they are actually a type of "security equipment."

What most people overlook is that the robots' "eyes" are essentially cameras.

The interior of the insurance company is private territory, and barrel-shaped robots generally do not enter. However, the company has its own purchased cleaning robots.

With a search warrant, the security forces can also inspect the memory of these robots.

It was these cleaning robots, because they were so ordinary and almost blended into the background, that they were initially overlooked—even by the perpetrator.

Therefore, even though he was careful enough along the way, he was still "seen" by two passing cleaning robots.

And what was seen was the most crucial scene...

"Our investigation direction has been misled," the male security guard said, "Because the perpetrator should not be human."

In the computer screen, the black-robed figure who was suspected of being the suspect in the previous surveillance footage was seen sneaking along the wall.

His movements were very strange. One side of his body was almost completely against the wall, and he used the clothes on his body as camouflage—turning the original black clothes inside out, which became a silver-white color very similar to the wall.

A primitive but surprisingly effective method.

"What kind of superpower is this?" Torafushi Toumi asked, pointing to the suspect's posture in the video.

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