A Scientific Urban Detective

Hearing Kofuku Miwei's plea, Tora-Bami Honeybee on the side couldn't help but nod repeatedly.

Of course, in reality, Tora-Bami Honeybee didn't want Lin Wuming to get involved in this incident, because Lin Wuming seemed very unwilling – Tora-Bami Honeybee herself hated being forced to do something, and also hated Lin Wuming being forced to do something; moreover, Kofuku Miwei's relationship with them hadn't reached the point where they could help unconditionally.

But Tora-Bami Honeybee strongly agreed with Kofuku Miwei's evaluation of Lin Wuming.

From an outsider's perspective, Lin Wuming's performance had always been very befitting of a role like a famous detective.

"Please, Wuming-san! My former comrades have also been caught up in the underground arena, if we don't do anything, they might die in the matches!" Kofuku Miwei bowed deeply and pleaded, "If we're talking about rewards, I…"

Speaking of this, Kofuku Miwei's words stalled, thinking about the amount of savings in her account, and then thinking about the huge sums of money, often in the hundreds of millions, involved in this "underground arena" case, she suddenly felt a sense of frustration.

But she didn't hesitate for too long, only paused for a moment, and then continued smoothly: "Hei-tsuma and I will give you a number that will satisfy you!"

"Stop, stop, stop," Lin Wuming quickly interrupted her, "Don't mention rewards anymore…"

Sighing helplessly, Lin Wuming said: "Let's first summarize the known information, and then I'll think about how to break through."

Kofuku Miwei's eyes lit up, overjoyed: "Wuming-san, you agreed? Thank you so much!"

As she said that, she bowed deeply again. Remembering the "hero" title Lin Wuming had previously obtained, she felt that he truly lived up to his name – willing to help others, and not accepting any money or benefits, if this isn't a hero, then who is?

However, Lin Wuming also had his own considerations, if he accepted a reward, it would become a job, and there would be pressure to "must complete" it.

In simple terms, it's "take people's money and help them avoid disaster."

Of course, not being blamed for taking the money and not getting things done doesn't align with Lin Wuming's beliefs.

Most importantly, not accepting a reward also means absolute freedom, Lin Wuming can say "no" at any time, and refuse to continue this commission.

Because Lin Wuming currently has no financial worries, he values this freedom and autonomy even more.

"Kofuku-san, let me state this first, I may not be able to investigate any valuable clues, don't have too high of hopes," Lin Wuming gave a heads-up in advance.

Kofuku Miwei nodded repeatedly, but her expression clearly didn't believe that Lin Wuming couldn't find anything.

Thus, the three of them established a temporary investigation center in an empty room at the Judgment Office headquarters, and moved in all the collected data.

Among them, the focus was on Shibata Saburo's interrogation records from yesterday – he is the person who has provided the most information so far.

According to Shibata Saburo, the "underground arena" matches have been held six times, as far as he knows, averaging once every two to three months, which is why there is talk of "seasons."

However, before him, the organizers must have had other collaborators providing prize money, so it can be judged that the actual number of matches held must be more than six times.

This also means that at least six final victors have been born in the underground arena.

Moreover, in this kind of unrestricted, no-rules deathmatch, espers naturally have an advantage. Therefore, the ultimate victor is likely to be an esper.

Hundreds of millions in prize money… espers… very strong fighting espers…

Lin Wuming asked: "Is there any way to find out about espers who have suddenly become rich recently? It would be even better if they are espers who are good at fighting."

"Are you saying, investigate from the winners of the underground arena?" Kofuku Miwei asked.

"It seems that this is the only way for now," Lin Wuming said, "Also, you can search from the list of policyholders of Ginyo Insurance Company, the winner should be the only one who survived and did not receive compensation – of course, they probably didn't use their real identity information when they took out the insurance."

But at least it's a line of thought.

Moreover, Lin Wuming felt that the organizers might not be so meticulous. It is difficult to forge an identity in Academy City, unless it is at the level of the Board of Directors, otherwise, forging fake identities on such a high-frequency and large scale, and still being able to hide it from the insurance company's professional system, is not easy at all.

"That makes sense, I'll go check it out now!" Kofuku Miwei ran out in a hurry.

Before long, she came back excitedly with a hard drive obtained through various channels.

"I got the data, let's take a look!" Kofuku Miwei said, "Also, the chairman said that we can focus on investigating this case and don't have to patrol the streets for the time being."

Now I know where the data came from… Lin Wuming also gained some confidence. With the entire Judgment Office's strength as a backing, even if you investigate in a mediocre direction, you can always find something with a large-scale search.

The investigation proceeded in a conventional manner, not only Kofuku Miwei, Lin Wuming, and Tora-Bami Honeybee, but in fact, under the chairman's instructions, many Judgment Office members who were good at investigation joined the work.

In less than a day, more than 300 insured competitors were screened out – along with their death certificates stating "accidental death."

But the most critical information, the information of the survivors, that is, the ultimate winners of the underground arena, has not made any progress.

At the same time, the Anti-Skill forces are also working with the insurance company to conduct a secret investigation, and they have indeed gained something, but they still cannot directly connect to the underground arena.

This made Kofuku Miwei even more anxious.

Until night fell, Lin Wuming and Tora-Bami Honeybee were ready to "get off work" and go home, but Kofuku Miwei decided not to go back tonight, she wanted to stay and continue investigating these materials.

Seeing her so persistent, Lin Wuming didn't try to persuade her much, but he didn't plan to "work overtime" with her either.

"Honeybee, let's go back first," Lin Wuming called out.

Tora-Bami Honeybee had long been impatient with this paperwork, and had been sleeping on the table since halfway through.

Hearing Lin Wuming's call, the girl instantly woke up and shook her ponytail: "Okay, let's go!"

Kofuku Miwei sighed, but didn't say much. After all, this wasn't a Judgment Office mission, and she couldn't force people to work hard.

"Wuming," on the way home, Tora-Bami Honeybee suddenly spoke.

"I know," Lin Wuming said, "You can do whatever you want tomorrow, I'll just accompany Kofuku-san to investigate."

"How could that be!" Tora-Bami Honeybee responded without hesitation, "I wanted to say, we should charge a reward, it's a bit of a loss to waste our time on her for nothing."

"It's not a loss," Lin Wuming couldn't help but smile, "If we do find something on our side, it will also be helping Teacher Yomikawa and the others."

Although he was afraid of trouble and didn't want to investigate deeply, but in all fairness, if something like the underground arena could be destroyed, Lin Wuming would definitely support it with both hands.

So, it's good to help if you can…

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Thanks to Zi Ma's bride for the monthly ticket support!!!!