Academy City's Puppet Master

"Okay," Hitomi Shiranui reassured, "It's because Xingye couldn't do it, so I asked you to help put out the fire."

"What can't be done?" Misaka Mikoto expressed incomprehension, "Also, it would be more appropriate to hand over work like firefighting to Wannai Kinuho and Pafu Wanbin?"

"Because you are closer, it's not a particularly troublesome thing anyway, so don't bother others." Ling Xingye turned back and said.

Together with Misaka 10001, they fetched water from the creek with a bucket, and when they carried it to the side of the fire, Misaka Mikoto suddenly realized.

"Xingye... is it because he is afraid of getting close to the water that he doesn't want to draw water to put out the fire himself?"

"I really didn't expect it," Misaka Mikoto was taken aback by her speculation, "His hydrophobia is so serious, is he even afraid of the stream?"

Hitomi Shiranui laughed beside him and said, "It's just that serious. Xingye won't get close to water that's deeper than his crotch, and he even refuses to take a bath. He always takes a shower."

"Shouldn't you be so exaggerated!" Not only Misaka Mikoto, but also the other people who had already sat at the table were surprised at the same time.

Noticing the girls' gazes, Ling Xingye gave Shiranui a helpless glance: "I've said it all, I'm not afraid of water, I'm just not used to the deep water environment."

"Even a creek that's no bigger than your knees can be considered deep water?" Shirai Heizi asked with a sneer, "You actually ordered my sister and my sister to do such a rough job, you really are a bad character."

Ling Xingye could only remain silent.Because of psychological repulsion, he didn't pay attention to the water depth of the creek at all, and of course he didn't know the fact that the stream was actually very shallow.

Ling Xingye, who knew he was wrong, simply kept silent about it and offered to distribute curry for everyone.

===Chapter 98 Childhood Shadow===

However, Ling Xingye's silence does not mean that others will let him go - especially if there are only girls here.

Not only Shirai Kuroko was chasing after him, but even Misaka Mikoto and even Wannai Kinubao and the others were curious about Ling Xingye's "hydrophobia".

Wannai Juanbao, Pafu Wanbin, and Yakushiji Miyu are all members of the swimming club. In their eyes, it is completely incomprehensible to be afraid of swimming and even refuse to take a bath.

Among all the people present, only Hitomi Shiranui knew the real reason.Everyone else, including the earth guard, was aroused by curiosity.

Looking at the undisguised curious eyes around him, Ling Xingye felt the taste of curry in his mouth was like chewing wax.

——Looks like it's impossible to eat with peace of mind if I don't give a good explanation today.

Ling Xingye silently swallowed the curry in his mouth: "Okay, let me explain first, I'm not afraid of water, I really just don't like it, and I'm not used to all water bodies that may submerge me."

The girls couldn't help being stunned for a moment, and then they thought about it carefully, whether it was the bathtub or the crystal-clear stream next to it, if they were really not careful, they might indeed drown someone.

But... If you reject all water environments for this reason...

"Ling Xingye, you don't have persecution paranoia, do you?" In the end, it was Meililu who expressed the doubts in everyone's mind.

Shiranuo Tong helplessly shook his head beside him, but he didn't take the initiative to speak. Instead, he focused on Ling Xingye like everyone else, waiting for his explanation.

Seeing that even Shiranui Huotong didn't intend to help him, Ling Xingye could only raise his hands in a gesture of surrender: "Okay, okay, it's not really important anyway, so it doesn't matter if I tell you guys."

"First of all, you need to know that before I came to Academy City, I was a circus performer." Ling Xingye began to talk like this.

Because I said it before, the girls more or less know about it.

Even the post-marriage Guangzi and others who saw Ling Xingye for the first time today were "popularized" by Misaka Mikoto and the others when they saw the sprites.

It seemed that in order to increase his persuasiveness, Ling Xingye also manipulated the monsters to come over and bow to them.

"It's called a circus, but it's actually just a traditional juggling troupe. Because the performances are similar to the current circus, it's called this..." Ling Xingye continued, "But it doesn't matter. Closer to home, let's see You can tell by appearance that I am a puppeteer who is in charge of puppet show performances... But at the same time, I am also the troupe master—that is, the youngest disciple of the circus director, that is, the junior brother."

Mentioning the identity of "little junior brother", Ling Xingye showed a toothache expression: "Because I am a junior junior brother, so I am often cheated by senior brothers and sisters..."

"Wait a minute," Shirai Heizi interrupted, "Although it's interesting to hear about life in the circus, what does this hydrophobia have to do with it?"

"It's not hydrophobia, it's because I don't like water." Ling Xingye retorted habitually, and then continued, "In short, what I said just now is the main premise, and the next thing is the key point."

It turned out that the original Lingjia troupe was a traditional juggling troupe, and the tricks and acrobatics performed in it were also traditional programs.However, Team Leader Ling and other seniors are not conservative. In order to keep the program fresh, they also actively introduce and launch various new forms of programs.

Including but not limited to various dramas - domestic Peking Opera, Henan Opera, Huangmei Opera and even Hebei Bangzi... to modern dramas, Shakespeare abroad, and even "Phantom of the Opera" have also performed some fragments.

In short, it all depends on what the talented actors in the troupe can learn.

Likewise, acrobatics and juggling are actively borrowed from new programs from modern and foreign circuses.

The only problem is that because they don't like to collect information on the Internet, the channels for the troupe to obtain these "new program" ideas basically rely on outdated newspapers and magazines, as well as some video tape clips.

"What is especially frustrating is tricks or magic," Ling Xingye couldn't help complaining, "Because all we found were public reports and program videos, all we can see are programs that are normally presented to the audience Effect."

"So?" Misaka Mikoto asked along the way.

"How many people do you think can learn how to perform that magic just by watching a magic show?" Ling Xingye asked back.

Indeed, the biggest problem that their Ling family class encountered at the beginning was that they were not spectators, but watched those videos as "performers".

"We were asked to restore the magic performance method and the secret mechanism behind it from the videos with mediocre quality and the reports of ordinary reporters." Ling Xingye spread his hands and said helplessly, "As a junior, there are many cheating performances." In the project, I am the only test subject!"

Ling Xingye put down the plate in his hand and looked up at the sky: "For a while, the class leader decided to perform a magic show. Brothers and sisters decided that I would perform the show on the grounds that they were the smallest in size."

"Uh..." Seemingly having seen what Ling Xingye said next, Yuan Shanyao showed a dumbfounding expression.

Ling Xingye also looked at her and nodded: "That's right, they decided to perform 'Underwater Escape' at that time!"

Hearing the title of this program, everyone present looked embarrassed.They are no strangers to this type of program, at least they have seen it on TV programs.

"Is that the performance where the magician is handcuffed in the water tank, and then the water tank is also covered and locked, allowing the magician to escape within a limited time?" Saten Saten asked.

Everyone else can already guess what will happen next.

Even Baijing Heizi, who had always disliked Ling Xingye, showed him sympathetic eyes.