Academy City's Puppet Master

"Yes."

"Is it serious?"

"no."

"Is he still in Academy City?"

"Yes."

"He's in District Seven?"

"...Insufficient information to judge."

The answering machine makes a third answer.

"This means it's possible, but it's not certain." Lu Cun explained aside.

……

Next, Hitomi Shiranui and Haruka Toyama asked many questions one after another.

But due to reasons such as "insufficient information", the only valid information they got was "Ling Xingye is still alive" and "Ling Xingye is in Academy City".

Everything else is unknown.

After confirming that they could no longer get any useful information, the two of them stopped staying and left.

Before leaving, Lu Cun made an appointment with them to exchange information and find Ling Xingye and Yu Qinglan together.

Of course, neither side trusts the other, so reservations are bound to be made.

Not long after Shiranui Hitomi and Yuan Shanyao left, Lu Cun suddenly turned his head to look at the corner of the wall.

"What do you think of this disappearance? Any updates, Spider?"

From the shadows in the corner, a huge mechanical spider slowly crawled out.

Silver.Spider——Active in Academy City, an intelligence collector whose identity is unknown.

The spider climbed onto the table and faced Lu Cun directly.

"I probably figured it out," the spider murmured, "It was Mari Kihara who kidnapped Ling Xingye and Yu Qinglan."

"The Muyuan clan?" Lu Cun frowned.

"Is that the whole family of mad scientists?" Kumiko Yanaka said.

"It's just Kihara Truth." The spider said, "Even among 'Kihara', he is an extremely special existence."

"What does this mean?" Lu Cun said dissatisfiedly, "Since when did you like to play machine striker?"

"Because I can't describe that guy specifically either. Just need to know he's a huge nuisance."

"Oh, you really think highly of him." Lu Cun said, "Do you have any more specific information?"

"Of course not, even everything about him is just hearsay." Spider replied decisively.

"Hey, isn't this like you?"

"Do you know what the ultimate meaning of intelligence warfare is?" Spider asked himself and answered, "It's 'hiding yourself'—to prevent the other party from knowing your existence, and then you can collect enough intelligence secretly."

"In my feeling, once I take action on that Kihara Mari, it means that my existence will be exposed. Then I will be finished."

"Is it so scary?"

"It's that scary—my gut tells me that."

"In short," after thinking for a while, the spider finally reminded, "I will give you a piece of advice, don't believe anything he says."

===Chapter [-] Hitomi Shiranui's plan===

On the morning of October 10th, Class 7, Grade [-], Senior High School, Changdian Shangji Academy.

At the morning meeting, Sachiko-sensei looked at the empty seat in the classroom in perplexity.

"Student Ling Xingye is also asking for leave today..."

The atmosphere in the class was a bit depressing. Although Ling Xingye was not active in the class, because of him, the class leader, Shiranuo Tong, fell into a depression, and the atmosphere in the whole class became like this.

Teacher Xingzi sighed secretly, the situation in her class is still good, after all, only one Ling Xingye is missing.Students in other classes have already started to ask for leave, and even applied to transfer schools to leave Academy City.

A week ago, the aftermath of the "puppet invasion" war in School District No. 13 finally started to show.

Although Academy City once achieved good results in managing public opinion and citizens' emotions, as time went by, more and more information and rumors spread from outside the city, and finally detonated this hidden mine.

Just like Misaka Misuzu wanted to take her daughter away after the Daihasei Festival, parents all over the world now want to take their children back from this war-shrouded city.

Once again, the "puppet invasion" is a war that is exposed to the eyes of the world. As long as they have access to the media, no one is unaware of it.

Its impact is far beyond the comparison of the last Orthodox Church invasion.

The tide of dropping out of school and the wave of panic are surging in Academy City.

To make matters worse, the No.13 school district that was destroyed was mainly kindergartens and elementary schools, which can be said to be the "foundation" of Academy City.

Now that the "foundation" has been shaken, people's distrust of Academy City has been exacerbated.

Even after school hours, the laughter on the streets of Academy City has decreased a lot, and the turnover of entertainment facilities such as shopping malls, playgrounds, and cinemas has dropped at a speed that can be discerned by the naked eye.The citizens walking on the street were in a hurry, and went straight to their residences after leaving the school, unwilling to stay outside too much.Only a few barrel robots patrol the streets as usual.

This is the calm before the storm.

Especially the daughters of the "School House", many of them received the news from home and were about to leave immediately.This caused an uproar among the student community.

Those young ladies' families were either rich or expensive, so they must know many things that ordinary people don't know. Their evacuation undoubtedly aroused a lot of speculation from others.

However, Academy City has always insisted that "Academy City is the safest city in the world", and tried its best to prevent this wave of dropouts.

Among them, there is no shortage of violent methods used against Misaka Misuzu.

As the guardian of order in the underground world, the "Law Enforcement Squad" is caught in civil strife and has no time to take care of others.As a result, Academy City at night became even more chaotic.

……

Of course, it's not all bad.

Although the whole city is full of panic, if the nerves are strong enough or dull enough to ignore the environment, good things may not be found.

For example, Class [-], the first grade of a certain high school where Kamijou Touma works, went out to have dinner together after school today.

Because of the recession, class leader Fukiyose Seri got a [-]% discount coupon from a barbecue restaurant, so the whole class decided to have a good meal together.

Kamijou Touma called home? He wanted to bring Index, but it happened that Kanzaki Kaori answered the phone and expressed his willingness to take care of Index's dinner so that he didn't have to worry.

"Finally I can eat with peace of mind!" Kamijou Touma cheered after hanging up the phone.

It's not that he doesn't want to take Index with him? It's just that if she is here, it will definitely develop into a situation of grabbing food with him in the end...

"Huh? Because I lost my wallet? The bank left work early because of the recent turmoil? Mr. Kamijou's pockets have been empty for a long time." Kamijou Touma cried, "I feel unlucky again!"

"Heh, haven't you always been so unlucky?" Tsuchimikado Motoharu said.

"Of course not!" Kamijou Touma denied? "I wouldn't be so unlucky when Xingye was around. Speaking of which, I haven't seen him recently, it must be for this reason!"

Tsuchimikado Motoharu rolled his eyes, and then said leisurely: "Then you should really pray for his return as soon as possible——that guy seems to be missing."

"Don't worry? Xingye is so powerful, he must be fine." Kamijou Toma said nonchalantly.

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Just when Kamijou Touma and his classmates were having dinner together happily? Hitomi Shiranui came to Ling Xingye's apartment door alone.

Standing in front of the door? She knocked on the door tentatively, hoping that someone inside would open the door.

But waited for a long time? Sure enough, there was no movement.

"Miss Shiranui, are you here to look for Ling Xingye?" The door next door opened, and Kanzaki Kaori leaned out to look over, "He's not at home, and I haven't seen him back in the past few days."

"Well, I know." Hitomi Shiranui said softly.

"I heard he disappeared?" Kanzaki Kaori showed a regretful expression, "I'm sorry, I should have protected him..."

"No, it's not your fault." Hitomi Shiranui shook her head quickly, "And Xingye just disappeared, I think he should be fine."

"Yes, he is very strong, so you don't have to worry too much." Kanzaki Kaori agreed, and then asked, "I made dinner, do you want to eat something together?"

"No, I'm not hungry. Thanks."

Declining the other party's invitation, Hitomi Shiranui took out the key and opened the door.

The inside of the house is still the same as it was before Ling Xingye left. The small space of the single-person apartment is full of various tools, materials and parts, all of which are used by Ling Xingye to maintain and debug sprites, or to make new puppets. .

This room is not so much an apartment as Ling Xingye's puppet workshop, which makes it almost impossible for people to settle down.

Hitomi Shiranui shook her head helplessly——if Ling Xingye was allowed to live alone, the room would become like this.

She walked through various parts and tool materials with ease, and walked to the bedside.

There are two semi-finished puppets leaning against the edge of the bed, which seem to be Ling Xingye's half-finished new work.

Hitomi Shiranui carefully removed the puppet, and threw herself on the bed.

"Xingye...everyone says you are amazing, don't worry. But where are you..."

Without crying, Hitomi Shiranui closed her eyes, her brain was still running at high speed, recalling all the information obtained in the past few days, trying to analyze useful clues.

Unknowingly, she was immersed in the memories of being with Ling Xingye in the past...

When she came to her senses, Hitomi Shiranui realized that she had fallen asleep, and it was already three o'clock in the morning the next day.

It was as if he had a dream, dreaming of the days when he was with Ling Xingye before, and dreaming of the day when he returned safely in the future.

"No, I have to think of a way to collect more information, and I must find Xingye!"

She clenched her fists and made up her mind.

However, even the "Fantasy Royal Hand 2.0" system was used, and the members of the flower group were also asked, and in the end they even found Lu Cun... I have tried all the methods and channels that can be used, but so far there is still nothing. progress.

"Since it is confirmed that Xingye is still in Academy City, then we must be able to find him!" Hitomi Shiranui pondered, "There are nearly 2.0 active users of the 'Fantasy Royal Hand 80,000' system, so there is no useful information; Many people will do."

In the entire Academy City, there is only one organization with such a large-scale mobilization force.

——A group of armed incompetents under the leadership of Ling Xingye.

But unfortunately, this largest organization in history was only a flash in the pan.The main reason for this result was Ling Xingye's disappearance, which made the group of armed incompetents leaderless, and there was no second person who could convince the crowd.