A Scientific Urban Detective

Kogawa Mii and Misaki Shokuhou weren't very familiar, having only interacted once during the previous "escort" mission.

Even though she knew that Misaki Shokuhou and Lin Wuming were good friends, seeing the girl acting so naturally here, their relationship must be quite good…

Kogawa Mii thought to herself as she opened her bag—just as Lin Wuming had said, since it was "Mental Out," there was no need to hide it from her.

"Wuming, I've brought the materials you wanted," Kogawa Mii said, taking several thick file folders from her bag. "Also, while the chairman didn't object, she told me to tell you to act according to your capabilities."

"Don't worry, I know what I'm doing," Lin Wuming said.

"Wuming, what are these?" Komori Tomomi frowned, realizing that she seemed to be the only one present who didn't know what was going on.

"Some files and records," Lin Wuming replied. "Recent hot topics in Academy City related to 'ability level improvement'."

They mainly consisted of urban legends and information on fraudulent organizations, with a few legitimate ability development studies.

Of course, most of the organizations that were registered and filed by Judgment were not legitimate.

Lin Wuming was eager to become stronger, so he wasn't willing to let go of even these unorthodox methods.

On the other hand, from Judgment's perspective, Lin Wuming was once again preparing to act as an undercover agent, infiltrating some illegal research facility.

Komori Tomomi immediately understood his intentions: "Which target are you aiming for this time, Wuming? Are you acting alone again?"

"Of course," Lin Wuming said. "As for which one to choose… I'll decide after I've read the materials."

Seeing that Lin Wuming wasn't taking her along again, Komori Tomomi felt a little gloomy.

For Lin Wuming, the failure of the ability level test, coupled with the crushing defeat against Accelerator, provided him with the perfect excuse—an excuse to use any means necessary to become stronger.

This perfectly matched his previous mode of action, and also facilitated his next actions…

"Wuming-senpai, you…" Misaki Shokuhou's eyes glistened with tears as she reached out and stroked Lin Wuming's face, suddenly saying, "I won't let Mikoto Misaka get away with this!"

She was the one who caused the trouble, but now I and Wuming-senpai are the ones suffering and even getting hurt. How can I not feel unbalanced!

Lin Wuming shook his head and looked at Misaki Shokuhou: "Don't think too much about it. We need to do things one step at a time."

Accelerator, or rather, the "Level 6 Shift Project," was the most important thing, but precisely because of this, it should be dealt with last.

Before that, the other small troubles had to be resolved to prevent them from interfering with the final and most important action.

It was like clearing out the small fries and mid-bosses in a game before fighting the final boss.

For example, Kihara Gensei and Tsutsumi Dousan—according to the original story, Misaki Shokuhou knew that she would encounter several tribulations, and the culprits were these two people.

Keisei Kikuchi was already on their side, and Miyama Aiyu's relationship with Misaki Shokuhou was neither good nor bad, but not to the point of becoming enemies, so there was no need to worry too much. Therefore, the threat they posed in the original story could be ignored.

According to the timeline and the difficulty of the enemies, Misaki Shokuhou and Lin Wuming planned to start with Tsutsumi Dousan.

He had been allowed to roam free for too long after the Artificial Crystal incident. It was time to settle things.

With a certain resolve, Misaki Shokuhou didn't linger any longer and got up to leave the hospital room.

Following that, Kogawa Mii also bid farewell and left.

Only Lin Wuming and Komori Tomomi were left in the hospital room.

"I hate Misaki Shokuhou," Komori Tomomi said, "because I don't understand what you guys are talking about."

"Sorry," Lin Wuming apologized.

The girl didn't respond, but suddenly pulled down her collar, revealing the bandages wrapped around her body, and leaned towards Lin Wuming as if showing them off.

Although she wasn't wearing underwear under her uniform, the bandages served a similar purpose, so she wasn't exposed.

"What's this?" Lin Wuming was confused.

"My treatment is almost over, and my body parts have been repaired," Komori Tomomi said, flicking her hair to reveal the right side of her face. "Only my face is left—once the surgery here is complete, I will act with you."

The girl declared, "No matter what reasons or excuses you use, don't even think about getting rid of me then!"

After the declaration, Komori Tomomi turned around neatly and left the hospital room.

So, only Lin Wuming was left in the room.

Lin Wuming breathed a sigh of relief and lay down on the hospital bed.

"That's right, things need to be done one step at a time… First of all, I still need to find a way to improve my strength."

He glanced at the file folders placed beside his pillow—as expected, there was basically no valuable information.

Even in illegal experiments, it seemed that there were very few that could actually improve one's esper level.

Until night fell, Lin Wuming's hospital room remained quiet, giving him ample time and space to think about problems.

Then, an uninvited guest broke the silence.

The visitor pushed the door open first, and then knocked.

"Excuse me, Lin Wuming," a young man wearing a suit-style uniform stood at the door. "I hope I'm not disturbing your rest."

"Who is it?" Lin Wuming asked calmly, while his Nen ability had already become active, and Nen tentacles surrounded the visitor, ready to move.

The suit-clad young man was calm and composed. He seemed to be able to sense the threat around him, looked up at the air in front of him, and then bowed slightly.

"Please rest assured, I have no malice." As he spoke, he took out a student ID from his pocket. "My name is Matsumoto Sugito. You can check my identity through Judgment's channels."

"There's no need," Lin Wuming sat up. "What do you want?"

"I'm here to recruit like-minded companions," Matsumoto Sugito said. "Lin Wuming, please join our organization and fight against the injustice of this city together!"

"You… know that I'm a member of Judgment, and before that, I was a 'hero' for a while, right?" Lin Wuming asked.

"Of course I know," Matsumoto Sugito didn't waver in the slightest. "But so what? What we want to do is not to subvert Academy City, but on the contrary, to save the future of this city!"

"So," Lin Wuming asked, "what exactly is your organization? And what is your purpose?"

"'Deadlock'," Matsumoto Sugito said. "Our members are all like you—people whose futures have been taken away by Level 5 espers."