Zongman I fight weirdness in everyday world

“War, disease, manipulating hearts to win elections, assassinations, infiltration… Psychic abilities are abilities of the mind, which means they have infinite possibilities. As long as you have the corresponding ability, you can accomplish everything you want to accomplish, even…”

“Control the entire world.”

Chapter 381: People Influencing the Worldline, SERN in Desperate Straits

“Control the entire world…”

Sakurajima Mai frowned slightly upon hearing this.

“These people's ambitions are too great. How could they possibly do such a thing with just psychic abilities…”

“No.”

Futaba Rio shook her head, pushed up her glasses, and said in a flat tone.

“The difference between psychics and ordinary humans cannot be detected by any technological means. Moreover, the Soul's True Form, like evil spirits, follows the law of ‘observation.’”

“In other words, as long as a psychic gets close to an important figure, they can summon their Soul's True Form to assassinate them. The surrounding guards and bodyguards, in a situation where the Soul's True Form only appears in front of that important figure, might not even understand what happened, unable to ‘observe’ the existence of the Soul's True Form.”

“Not to mention, there are also brainwashing abilities like Rikka Sakuragawa's. If they had her kind of ability, controlling an entire country would only be a matter of time.”

“Including us here, in fact, any one of us possesses the ability to completely overturn this world. Not to mention the distant future, just take Yang Nai. She could completely use her Hienma to assassinate all of the Snow Corporation's competitors, thereby obtaining huge benefits.”

“This is actually what most ordinary people would do after obtaining psychic abilities. On the contrary, the practice of not using psychic abilities for personal gain, like we do, is rare.”

Hearing Futaba Rio's words, the members present all had a thoughtful look on their faces, their eyes flickering, without saying a word, and the room fell into silence.

Using psychic abilities… to change their situation in reality?

To be honest, they hadn't even thought about this.

Because the difficulties the members encountered in reality could not be solved by mere power.

Futaba Rio's withdrawn personality, Yui Yuigahama's desire to integrate into the group, Yukino Yukinoshita's pursuit of "genuineness", Sakurajima Mai's recognition of her own identity…

Even Saki Kawasaki, who often worked part-time because she needed money to attend cram school, had never used psychic abilities for personal gain.

That being said, that doesn't seem quite right either.

After all, the generous rewards for exorcism requests are divided equally among the club members, but that's just a special kind of part-time job, right?

“So…”

Yozora looked at Amane Suzuha and said with a chuckle.

“The future worldline will be us fighting against that SERN?”

“No.”

Unexpectedly, Amane Suzuha actually shook her head, her eyes looking somewhat complicated, and slowly opened her mouth.

“To say it's a confrontation… is an exaggeration…”

“The adjective that should really be used…”

“Is a one-sided and complete crushing, ‘Mask’ and its collaborators, occupying an absolute advantage.”

Amane Suzuha organized her words, held the coffee cup with both hands, and said softly.

“About three years after Izanami was destroyed, SERN began to try to recruit psychics in secret.”

“In the seventh year, SERN's first batch of artificial psychics were born, with a certain grasp of the laws of psychic abilities.”

“In the eleventh year, the number of psychics loyal to SERN reached more than a hundred, spread all over the world.”

“And in the twelfth year…”

“The psychics lurking in various cities within SERN were all wiped out the day before the plan began.”

Hearing this, Yotsuya Miko couldn't help but ask suspiciously.

“Why? As long as psychics don't actively expose their abilities, they shouldn't be discovered. Hundreds of psychics, spread all over the world, wiped out in a single day? Did some powerful evil spirit appear?”

“Not an evil spirit.”

Amane Suzuha blew on the coffee in her cup, took a shallow sip, and then looked at the members, saying something that surprised everyone.

“It's ‘Hundred Eyes.’”

Yotsuya Miko's expression and eyes didn't fluctuate in the slightest, she just said lightly.

“‘Hundred Eyes’? Who is ‘Hundred Eyes’?”

“Eh?”

Amane Suzuha looked puzzled.

“This… if I haven't had any memory confusion due to a concussion… at this point in time, ‘Hundred Eyes’ should already be one of your collaborators… no, ‘Hundred Eyes’ was the earliest batch of ‘Mask’'s collaborators… or are you not calling them that… never mind, let me continue.”

“‘Hundred Eyes’ possesses the unique ability to identify psychics. Even the psychics secretly dispatched by SERN to various cities, lurking in unknown places, even in cities with millions or even tens of millions of people, ‘Hundred Eyes’ can quickly find all the psychics within the city and then eliminate them.”

“Precisely because it possesses such an ability, SERN calls ‘Hundred Eyes’…”

“‘Mask’'s eyes.”

Hearing this, Futaba Rio nodded slightly, giving the other members a look.

Everything this girl claiming to be Amane Suzuha said matched the facts.

The current Yotsuya Miko doesn't have the skill to directly identify psychics, she can only observe traces of psychic power more keenly.

However, Amane Suzuha also said that it was something that happened nearly twelve years from now, and the increase in power would naturally awaken new abilities.

This also explains why the members dispatched by SERN would still choose to assassinate Yotsuya Miko even knowing that “Mask” was present.

Because of the existence of “Hundred Eyes”, all of SERN's plans could not be carried out, and any psychics hidden among the crowd had nowhere to hide.

“Okay, you continue.”

“Okay.”

Amane Suzuha nodded and continued.

“In the thirteenth year, the collaborators around ‘Mask’ publicly announced their code names in the pre-announcement of exposing SERN's crimes.”

“In the same year, SERN realized that even if they mastered the technology to create psychics, as long as ‘Mask’ and its collaborators existed, they would never be able to control the world through psychic abilities.”

“With the financial support of multiple countries, they continued their research on psychic abilities, while at the same time, they tried to create public opinion around the world, saying that ‘Mask’ and its collaborators were not righteous, but selfish people who only wanted to monopolize psychic abilities, thereby ensuring their supreme status.”

“But, all of this was meaningless.”

“In the following twenty years, SERN tried many times to have the psychics they created attack and assassinate ‘Mask’ and its collaborators, but each time it ended in complete failure.”

“During this process, dozens of secret bases of SERN around the world were destroyed, and they once reached a dead end.”

"Therefore, SERN speculates that 'Mask' possesses some kind of ability to read or steal memories, which is why they can pinpoint the exact location of their secret bases after each attack."

"Ultimately, SERN, driven to desperation, initiated its final plan, diverting all the power originally intended to counter 'Mask' to an earlier point, namely this timeline, in an attempt to alter the course of the world line."

Amane Suzuha paused, took a few breaths, and looked at the Overload Society members sitting in front of her, especially Yosuke sitting opposite her, her eyes revealing a look as if she were in a dream, as if she couldn't believe any of this was real.

"It's really 'Mask'… you're really a person…"

Hearing this, Yosuke couldn't help but frown slightly.

"No, what you're saying is a bit harsh. Are you sure you're not a SERN agent? Where does all this hatred come from?"

Amane Suzuha was stunned for a moment, then quickly waved her hand to explain.

"No, no, that's not what I meant. It's just that in the timeline after I was born, not only 'Mask', but also 'Kira', 'Hundred Eyes', all of you are like gods throughout the world."

Hearing this, Yosuke's face showed even more displeasure.

"Too dirty, you little girl, you speak too dirty."

"Eh?"

Amane Suzuha looked blank, but the other members present understood that, for the members of the Overload Society, after seeing too many true faces of so-called gods, this word…

It really doesn't sit well.

"So, what's the deal with the so-called Supernatural Countermeasures Action Group?"

Amane Suzuha patiently explained.

"This was when I was little. As 'Mask's' reputation grew higher and higher, even becoming like a god, supported and believed by the people, in order to deal with the frequent strange incidents in Sakuragi Prefecture, the so-called Supernatural Response Act was introduced, led by Councilman Yagami."

"The specific content of the act is actually very simple. After the Metropolitan Police Department investigates and believes that a case is highly likely to involve supernatural phenomena, it will not need to follow the Metropolitan Police Department's confidentiality principles, but will be directly disclosed to the outside world, and then solved by spiritual ability users."

"After the act was passed, special investigation teams were established in police departments across the country, specifically responsible for investigating supernatural phenomena cases, which is the Supernatural Countermeasures Action Group I belong to."

Futaba Rio noticed a familiar surname and couldn't help but ask.

"Councilman Yagami is…?"

"Oh, you may not know him yet."

Amane Suzuha smiled.

"Yagami Light, graduated from the Faculty of Law at Tohto University, the youngest person in the history of Sakuragi Prefecture, only thirty years old, to become a member of the Diet. When he was in his early forties, he once again broke the record in Sakuragi Prefecture, becoming the youngest Prime Minister in history, and also 'Mask's' most famous supporter."

Yosuke thought, no wonder, so Yagami Light in the future world line actually became such an important figure, and also a public supporter of "Mask". No wonder SERN still regarded him as a target to be prioritized even without knowing that he was "Kira".

"By the way, speaking of which…"

Amane Suzuha looked at Touma Kazusa.

"World-class pianist Kazusa Touma, and… the two from Yukinoshita Company, famous scientist Rio Futaba, you are all very well-known figures in my timeline, and you are all supporters of 'Mask'… Now I understand why…"

Futaba Rio did not respond to this, but pushed her glasses up, thoughtfully.

"If we want to change the world line… wouldn't the world line have already changed the moment SERN appeared in front of us?"

"No, it's not like that."

Amane Suzuha explained seriously.

"Actually, the formal term is not timeline, but world line, and after our research, we found that this kind of thing called world line cannot be easily changed."

"Admittedly, because SERN members traveled through time, it caused some changes in some things, but only to this extent, it cannot change the destined future of the world line."

"The world line has the characteristic of self-convergence, which means that unless it is someone important enough to affect the progress of the entire world, or an event that has a major impact on the world changes the result, otherwise, in the self-convergence effect of the world line, the overall direction of the future will not change."

"By the way… this…"

Amane Suzuha seemed to suddenly remember something, and took out a data sheet from the hidden compartment of her black combat suit.

"This is a list of some of SERN's assassination targets, that is, the people they believe are enough to affect the world line."

Yosuke took the data sheet and looked down. Every name on it was familiar, and he had met them all.

"Rio Futaba, Kazusa Touma, Setsuna Ogiso, Haruno Yukinoshita, Yukino Yukinoshita, Light Yagami, Natsumi Suka, Takeshi Aoki, Kaguya Shinomiya, Chika Fujiwara, Eriri Spencer Sawamura, Utaha Kasumigaoka, Nichizuru Minamikata…"

"That's right."

Amane Suzuha nodded, her face showing a serious expression.

"The people on this are all people who have a very high reputation in the future and support 'Mask'."

At the end, Yosuke saw a familiar name, but the only one he hadn't met in person.

"Kurisu Makise…"

"Yes, Kurisu Makise…"

Amane Suzuha seemed to think of something, and a complex look appeared in her eyes.

"She is the most important person, because it was she… who proposed the theory of time travel, which inspired SERN to research the technology of time travel, thereby triggering this series of events."

Hearing this, Kazusa Touma said lightly.

"In other words, as long as she is killed, the matter will be resolved, right?"

"This…"

Amane Suzuha looked hesitant and pursed her lips.

"What has already happened may not be changed, such as those SERN members who have already entered the river of time, but Kurisu Makise's importance to the world line is indeed crucial, there is no doubt about this…"

"No."

Rio Futaba shook her head and said in a flat tone.

"Killing Kurisu Makise is an option that I personally think is not feasible. In the final analysis, why should we let the world line change? Clearly, that kind of future is a situation where we have completely gained the upper hand. It is SERN who wants to change the world line."

"Killing Kurisu Makise, on the one hand, is inconsistent with our principles. Just because she will propose the theory of time travel in the future, we should take her life? We are not gathered together for this kind of thing."