A Scientific Urban Detective

Having actually interacted with five Level 5s, Lin Wuming deeply felt that while the real Level 5s might differ in other aspects, they all shared one common trait: confidence.

As the top-tier espers reigning over Academy City, Level 5s, regardless of their personality or nature, possessed an inherent confidence in their bones.

This wasn't surprising, as at least at this stage, Level 5s could be directly equated with 'the strongest humans'.

After ascending to Level 5, every esper either actively or passively accepted this fact.

Whether they activated their superpowers or not, the confidence in the bones of Level 5s couldn't be concealed.

However, the impression that Misaka Komaki gave Lin Wuming at this moment was more like smugness and arrogance than confidence.

How should he put it? It felt like she lacked the magnanimity of a true Level 5.

However, since the identity of the sixth-ranked was always unknown, people had historically exploited this characteristic to impersonate him.

Another character like Misaka Komaki didn't make a difference.

Seemingly noticing Lin Wuming's teasing, Misaka Komaki raised her eyebrows and unleashed a shockwave, attacking Lin Wuming.

The psychic barrier easily blocked the attack—it was just a slightly stronger gust of wind.

Misaka Komaki didn't expect this attack to actually harm Lin Wuming; she merely used the shockwave as cover to rush in front of Lin Wuming.

Repeating her trick, she easily tore through the psychic barrier with her fingers and pressed a palm against Lin Wuming's chest.

Thump! Lin Wuming felt a pain in his chest, as if something had exploded inside him, and his vision went dark.

When he came to his senses, he realized he was already on the ground. Misaka Komaki was kneeling on one knee on his chest, while raising her hand to strike the side of his head!

Regardless of whether she was a real Level 5, one thing was certain: this girl's attack power was indeed sharp!

He didn't know if her attack could pose a 'lethal threat' to him, but Lin Wuming's survival instinct refused to just 'sit and wait for death'.

Psychic power erupted; no matter what, he had to push the enemy away first!

However, Misaka Komaki slightly adjusted the angle of her palm strike, used both hands to pry, and tore through Lin Wuming's psychic ability once again.

Lin Wuming couldn't help but feel a burst of helplessness. Could it be that the enemy's superpower had a special effect against psychic abilities?

He couldn't just rely on psychic abilities to fight.

In a flash, Lin Wuming's reaction was not slow; he immediately used his psychic ability to grab the wreckage of a motorcycle beside him, using it as a weapon to smash towards the enemy.

Misaka Komaki raised her hand to block; at this close range, Lin Wuming finally saw clearly…

Before the psychically controlled motorcycle wreckage actually touched the girl's body, it was affected by some kind of force, causing its trajectory to deviate, sliding along her arm to the side.

This was Misaka Komaki's superpower! A power that could 'deflect force', a manifestation somewhat similar to Accelerator's 'vector manipulation', but a degraded version, not to be compared with 'vector manipulation'.

In that case, the problem with the psychic barrier could also be understood; the enemy didn't 'tear' through the psychic barrier, but used her superpower to 'deflect' the psychic power.

Lin Wuming understood in his heart. Taking advantage of the enemy raising her palm to strike him again, he also raised his hand to meet the other's palm.

As if he was going to grab her hand.

Then, as expected, Lin Wuming felt his right hand receive a strong pushing force, irresistibly being pressed to the side.

But then, Lin Wuming's right hand retaliated, snapping back in Misaka Komaki's astonished gaze, tightly grabbing her wrist.

"Got you!"

Lin Wuming tightened his fingers, and with the enhancement of psychic power, his right hand transformed into iron pincers, firmly locking the girl's slender wrist.

Psychic abilities could be deflected, but what about this kind of physical lock?

Confirming that he had caught the opponent, Lin Wuming forcefully pulled Misaka Komaki off of himself.

Regaining his freedom, Lin Wuming did a carp jump to get up, but didn't relax his grip on the enemy's right hand in the slightest.

Restricting the enemy's range of motion, Lin Wuming showed no mercy, clenching his fist and punching towards the girl's face.

As a result, this punch was of course deflected, sliding to the side. Misaka Komaki only slightly tilted her head to dodge the attack.

At the same time, Misaka Komaki flew up with a groin kick.

Lin Wuming had already noticed her small movements, and immediately raised his knee, blocking this insidious attack with his shin.

Taking advantage of Lin Wuming's distraction, Misaka Komaki seemed prepared to continue attacking, but was grabbed by the wrist by Lin Wuming, who executed a trip, throwing her to the ground.

Misaka Komaki didn't really fall to the ground; her superpower seemed to be able to deflect even impact damage.

She even grabbed Lin Wuming's wrist in return, and used her leg to wrap around Lin Wuming's arm, executing a juji-gatame…

Lin Wuming snorted coldly. With the enhancement of psychic power, his physical strength was greatly improved. He easily lifted the girl, who weighed less than fifty kilograms, swung his arm, and smashed her against the nearby wall.

Misaka Komaki decisively gave up the juji-gatame, agile like a gymnast, using Lin Wuming's arm as support, somersaulted to avoid hitting the wall, and then used her feet to step on the wall, using the force to make Lin Wuming fall instead.

At the moment of seizing the initiative, she didn't forget to strike Lin Wuming's right hand with her knee, trying to force him to release her.

But Lin Wuming accepted all of her attacks without changing his expression, without the slightest intention of letting go.

"Clinging to a girl like this and refusing to let go will make you disliked!" Misaka Komaki said with some helplessness.

"No, after catching prey, of course you can't let go easily; that's common sense," Lin Wuming replied while continuing to throw punches.

The punches were still distorted by an invisible force, and even with the correction of psychic power, they still couldn't hit the enemy's face according to Lin Wuming's will.

"Always attacking a girl's cheeks is not the behavior of a gentleman!" Misaka Komaki was also unwilling to be outdone, bending her fingers into claws and grabbing towards Lin Wuming's face.

Because Lin Wuming refused to let go, the two had to engage in close combat within the distance of their arms. It was like dancing a tense and exciting face-to-face dance.

What made Lin Wuming feel depressed was that although Misaka Komaki, this big BOSS, was troublesome, her attack power didn't seem to be very good.

She hadn't been able to make me enter 'bullet time'.

Although she could break through the psychic barrier, she didn't seem to be good at attacking.

Lin Wuming didn't know that Misaka Komaki's superpower was called 'Killing Pressure', a Level 4 power.

Its principle was based on fluid dynamics—the flow of particles like water, air, and magma all have viscosity and spontaneously flow to areas with lower resistance. Therefore, as long as a pressure difference is created, the movement trend of various particles can be controlled, thereby causing corresponding phenomena at the macroscopic level.

Air pressure differences create wind, water pressure differences create water flow, and potential differences create electric current…

Even solids, to some extent, can be manipulated by 'Killing Pressure'.

Further expanding, even 'psychic power', which doesn't exist in nature, is within the scope of what 'Killing Pressure' can manipulate.

The reason why Misaka Komaki could 'tear' through Lin Wuming's psychic barrier was based on this principle—she used her superpower to guide the psychic power from areas of 'high concentration' to areas of 'low concentration'.

The indirect effect was that the psychic barrier was torn apart.

Similarly, Lin Wuming's attacks—punches or psychic shocks—were distorted before touching the target's body because they were affected by 'Killing Pressure'.

Psychic power, air, tiny dust particles in the air, and even the opponent's intentions—were all within the scope of what she could manipulate and interfere with.

But in a sense, Lin Wuming's guess wasn't wrong; her ability effect could indeed be regarded as a kind of 'deflection'.

In short, Misaka Komaki's superpower and fighting style belonged to the 'borrowing force' type; the stronger the opponent's attack power, the more power she could exert. She could even deflect Level 5 attacks!

Now, encountering an opponent like Lin Wuming who also wasn't very good at attacking, belonging to the 'defense and counterattack' type, it was also difficult for Misaka Komaki to truly exert her power.