A Scientific Urban Detective

Continue to think of ways to eliminate that Lin Wuming, but without strongly demanding that he be killed—Kihara Gensei gave a rather perplexing instruction.

Despite being full of confusion, both Amata and his assistant dared not ask Kihara Gensei again, so they had no choice but to follow the instructions according to their literal meaning.

“I’ll go look again to see if there’s anyone willing to take the job.” The trusted assistant ran out with a pig-like face.

Amata calmed himself down: “Since there’s no strong requirement, then let him handle this matter. What I really need to do is perfectly implement the ‘Absolute Power Evolution Project.’”

Amata knew the priorities and what his most crucial mission was.

If Lin Wuming really had nothing to do with their experiment, then there was absolutely no need to waste energy on him.

——As long as I can complete this experiment, even Kihara Gensei can’t easily kill me!

Amata cheered up and was about to devote himself wholeheartedly to his work.

“Huh?” But he suddenly froze, “But the problem now is that Accelerator refuses to cooperate with our experiment, and the reason he refuses to cooperate is because that Lin Wuming took it upon himself to issue the armband ranking system!”

After going around in circles, Amata suddenly realized: “Isn’t the key point still that Lin Wuming!”

...

Lin Wuming was unaware that he was already on Amata and Kihara Gensei’s blacklist.

These days, besides his daily patrols, he spent his time in the Judgment office’s archive room, flipping through various kinds of information.

Lin Wuming was trying to find other cases similar to “Level Upper”—in other words, other “legends” that could raise ability levels.

According to Ruiko Saten, Lin Wuming was “addicted to playing undercover” and wanted to play the game of infiltrating the enemy again.

Of course, such opportunities were not to be found casually.

It wasn’t a lack of information; on the contrary, in Academy City, the one thing that wasn’t lacking was schools and research institutions, and then all sorts of cram schools and training institutions.

Cases involving schools and training institutions were even more numerous; the Anti-Skill and Judgment forces received countless reports and emails every day.

However, a considerable portion of these were student pranks or urban legends heard through the grapevine, and their authenticity could not be determined without on-site investigation.

Even Judgment’s vast organizational network, spread throughout the city, couldn’t verify each and every one of these reports.

Lin Wuming’s efforts were no different from searching for a needle in a haystack; it would be better to consult Ruiko Saten than to place his hopes on the database!

At least the urban legends she knew were eventually confirmed to be true events.

However, Lin Wuming didn’t ask Ruiko Saten for her contact information that day, so it was a bit difficult to find her.

It also wasn’t appropriate to use the Anti-Skill or Judgment’s information network to find an elementary school girl; it would be very suspicious.

“Right,” just as he saw his partner, Kazari Uiharu, walk into the archive room, Lin Wuming suddenly asked, “Uiharu, what have you been busy with lately?”

Because of Harumi Hiyama’s constant absence, Uiharu also had to balance her studies, and the original trio existed in name only.

However, besides going to school, Uiharu seemed to be busy with something else recently; even when she came to participate in Judgment activities, Lin Wuming rarely saw her.

“Well, helping to train a few new recruits.” Uiharu said, “Although I’m also a newbie who just became a Judgment member not long ago, the chairman seems to think I’m suitable for this kind of work, so she’s also entrusted the new recruits who joined this semester to me.”

The first half of each semester is the normal recruitment period for Judgment.

Lin Wuming quickly asked, “Is the girl named Kuroko Shirai the one you’re in charge of guiding?”

“You know her?” Uiharu asked.

“A genius hacker, how could I not know her.” Lin Wuming said.

This wasn’t strange; Judgment had strict requirements for physical strength and athletic ability, but Kuroko Shirai’s physical strength was only slightly better than Misaki Shokuhou’s. Such a physically weak and athletically inept person could become a formal member of Judgment entirely because of her superb hacking skills.

It could be said that, apart from Lin Wuming and Harumi Hiyama, Kuroko Shirai was the only “specially recruited talent” in Judgment this year, and she was quite a topic of discussion among the Judgment members.

“Yes, I have something I want to ask her.” Lin Wuming said, “Or rather, I want to find Kuroko Shirai’s friend, Ruiko Saten…”

...

“Urban legends? Wuming-senpai is also interested in urban legends?” Ruiko Saten’s eyes sparkled, looking excited as if she had met a kindred spirit.

——No, to be precise, I’m only interested in the urban legends you’ve screened.

Lin Wuming thought to himself.

Urban legends and Skill-Out groups were both special products of Academy City. While there were certainly commendable aspects, most of them were just worthless junk information.

Lin Wuming valued Ruiko Saten’s unique talent—"Script Grasp," which allowed her to accurately filter out valuable parts from the vast amount of information.

“Do you know what kind of urban legends are popular recently? Something similar to that ‘Level Upper’ training class from last time.” Lin Wuming asked.

“That,” Kuroko Shirai, wearing a flower crown, actively raised her hand from the side, “If Wuming-senpai wants to filter information, I can also help!”

“That’s a good idea,” Lin Wuming showed a surprised expression, “Then I’ll have to trouble you too, Shirai!”

When it came to keyword search capabilities, probably no one could compare to this genius hacker girl, Kuroko Shirai, right?

Lin Wuming was also blinded by a leaf, only thinking about relying on Ruiko Saten’s "script" and neglecting this BUG-level figure who was closer at hand.

So, Kuroko Shirai happily fiddled with the computer in her hand.

Undisturbed, Ruiko Saten said with great interest: "Speaking of recently popular urban legends, there are many—mythical creatures under the night, runaway ghost bikers in dark tunnels, exam paper dust sprites, W’s super-inflated french fry monsters…"

Seeming to be talking about topics she was interested in, the black-haired girl was radiant and talked endlessly about the news she had heard from various places.

After listening patiently for a while, Lin Wuming couldn’t hold on any longer and could only put on a serious face as if he was listening attentively, but he couldn’t help but sigh deeply in his heart.

——I miscalculated. It seems that it’s not that this girl, Ruiko Saten, has a talent for filtering urban legends, but rather that the original author and screenwriter are filtering information.

After all, worthless urban legends wouldn’t appear in the work.

Only when she had finished speaking to her heart's content did Ruiko Saten stop, pick up the water glass in front of her, and gulp it down.

Only then did Lin Wuming sort out his thoughts and, with a try-it-and-see attitude, asked: “Then, are there any legends that can raise ability levels?”