Academy City's Puppet Master

"Of course others don't, but Starry Night is an exception!"

===Chapter [-] False Calm===

In the early morning of the next day, Academy City regained its vitality, and the students got up to go to school as usual.

During the morning commute, the streets were as bustling as ever, without the cloud of war at all, as if all the big events that happened yesterday were just a dream.

But this is just the appearance after all. Beneath the calm surface, people are tense and the atmosphere is very depressing.

The citizens of Academy City are mainly students, and going to school is an inseparable part of their daily life for them, and they have long been accustomed to it.

Since no notice of class suspension has been received, it means that studies will continue.

Even if a world war is about to happen, you still have to take the classes that should be taken, and you still have to hand in the homework that should be handed in.

This is the fate of students-it is also the means they use to divert attention and "deceive" themselves that everything is normal.

It is true that the citizens of Academy City are almost all children or teenagers, but in terms of the overall quality of the citizens, Academy City is probably the best existence in the world.

The wisdom of the citizens of Academy City must not be underestimated just because of the lack of average age.

Leaving aside the pope's speech, they are all too clear about Russia's declaration of war and the power of the giant Russia.

Walking on the way to school, Ling Xingye silently observed the pedestrians around him.Under the seemingly normal scene, there is an atmosphere of tension and anxiety.

Regardless of age, under the calm smile on everyone's face, there is a string that is about to break.

"People are very disturbed." said Hitomi Shiranui who was walking beside her.

Ling Xingye looked up at the airship in the sky again, on which the morning news and weather forecast were broadcast as usual.

The surrounding shops, businesses, research institutes and other institutions are also open for business normally.

"Everything is as usual." Ling Xingye said, "But in this case, it seems a little abnormal."

"This is the countermeasure adopted by Academy City," Hitomi Shiranui said, "Large-scale group psychological hints carried out on the stage of the city-as long as the surrounding environment does not change, the individuals in it can also remain calm and adopt Act as usual."

"As expected of Academy City, there are really ways to deal with this kind of thing." Ling Xingye shook his head, "However, in this case, even pretending to be calm is better than collapse and chaos."

After thinking about it, he added: "As long as today is over, the situation will get better."

Because of the meeting last night, the specific measures involved will be gradually implemented starting today.It should be able to effectively appease people's hearts, right?

As a resident of Academy City, and in a certain sense, high-level officials, although he disagrees with many dark sides of the city, Ling Xingye has absolute confidence in Academy City only in terms of war power.

During the daytime class hours, the school as a unit, teachers and Academy City's official special psychological counselors cooperate to comfort the students' emotions.

And because of the announcement of the adjustment of the curfew time, it is more intuitively realized that the situation is not as serious as they imagined.

As a result, it only took half a day, and the atmosphere of the whole city gradually relaxed, and the previous vitality was truly restored.

Except for the increased frequency of disaster prevention drills in various schools, the students hardly noticed any other abnormalities.

Even the prices on the market have not risen.

However, there are still some other influences outside of the student body.

First of all, the entry and exit control has been raised to the highest level. Except for the necessary personnel and materials for the operation of the city, the urban "customs" is completely closed.

Secondly, the airport in the No.20 Third School District became busier, and a large number of tourists and visitors "fleeed".

But there are also many people who choose to stay - except for the spies, those who are determined to stand on Academy City's side.

In order to distinguish between the two, the law enforcement team, which had just been given a new function, began to get busy.

Ling Xingye had classes at school in the morning, and in the afternoon he asked for leave to go to the command center of the underground bar to start working as a "leader".

Since the perfect arrangements had already been made in his mind last night, after arriving at the headquarters, Ling Xingye made all kinds of arrangements cleanly, which made Qifan, who has been in charge of such affairs for a long time, look at him with admiration.

In the end, Ling Xingye looked at the last item recorded in the notebook - automatic puppet, "Silver 0" - and felt a little troubled.

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In the past, the purpose of the automatic puppets who came to Academy City was very clear, which was to participate in the book competition.So basically there is no need for Ling Xingye to bother, they will come to the door by themselves.

But now, the identities of the hunter and the prey are reversed. If you want to search for an automatic puppet that looks like a human in the vast sea of ​​300,000 people, it is tantamount to finding a needle in a haystack.

What's more, even the more professional Sister Yao and the others failed to find the automatic puppet hidden in Academy City.

After thinking about it carefully, Ling Xingye decided that he could only use the old method, the simplest and most brutal method - crowd tactics.

He took out his mobile phone and began to edit the task email.

Just like before, use the guise of "vampire" to collect relevant information.

Then, through the "mail sending and receiving" system, send mass mails to the whole city.

All that's left is to wait...

But it didn't make him wait too long.Strictly speaking, after 15 minutes, a phone call came directly.

"Master Xingye! Are you looking for the legend of vampires?"

It was Saten Leizi, the girl's uplifting tone gave Ling Xingye a strong sense of déjà vu.

"Do you know anything?" Ling Xingye asked cautiously.

"Yes, yes, I just saw some related legends recently!" Saten Ruiko said hastily.

"Sure enough, it's still an urban legend..." Ling Xingye said speechlessly.

"Urban legends are also an important source of information!" Saten Ruiko argued, "Also, according to the latest information, the legend of 'vampires' is outdated, and 'ghouls' are popular now! It is said that there are many aliens. Those who have become victims..."

After Ling Xingye hung up the phone, he immediately called Qifan.

"Have there been any cases of missing foreigners recently?"

Although I have been complaining about the urban legend of Saten Ruiko, I still remembered the important point after all.

Qifan looked up the information and shook his head: "Including people who smuggled in from various channels, although there are cases of suspected disappearances, they are generally not serious."

"However," Qi Fan changed the topic, "If it is put in the entire Academy City, there are indeed a lot of abnormal disappearances of people."

"Didn't you call the police? Why didn't you hear any wind?"

Qifan shook his head: "We can't call the police, because those guys are 'people who shouldn't exist'."

Since Ling Xingye unified the armed group of incompetents and became the "leader" of the underground world, it indirectly contributed to the collapse of the original "Anbu" system.

However, all kinds of dirty work still needs someone to do it.

Thus, a new Anbu came into being.

And it is such a group of people who seem to have become the prey of the automatic puppets.

Ask Qifan to sort out the relevant information, and Ling Xingye returns home from get off work with the information.

"Let's go take a look at the crime scene at night." Ling Xingye thought about it, "But before that, we have to finish dealing with the family affairs..."

===Chapter [-] The Omniscient Queen===

Back downstairs in the student apartment, Ling Xingye raised his head and looked at the top floor.

Hitomi Shiranui and Misaki Shokuhou must be here today, right?

Although he was "living together" with two beautiful girls, Ling Xingye only felt tired for a while.

"I said, should Shokuhou-san go back too? The kids in your faction are very worried."

As soon as he stepped out of the elevator, Ling Xingye's keen hearing caught the sound in the house.

In the room, two girls stood at opposite ends of the dining table, facing each other.

"This is someone else's house." Shokuhou Misaki emphasized, "Student Shiranui is the one, should I go back?"

"Xingye is my boyfriend." Hitomi Shiranui said calmly.

"Tsk! We lost." Shokuhou Misaki muttered, "It's just a little bit ahead, what's there to be proud of."

"You guy" Shiranui Hitomi had a headache expression, although he had also had trouble with her before, but it was the first time he found that she was far more difficult than he expected.

Just about to continue to say something, Hitomi Shiranui suddenly turned her head, and her ears moved slightly.

"Starry Night," he turned and walked towards the door, the expression on his face softened instantly, revealing a heartfelt smile, "Welcome back"

"Master Xingye, you're back." Beside him, Shokuhou Misaki walked around the dining table at her extreme speed and rushed to him.

With a stiff smile, Hitomi Shiranui glared at him fiercely.

But the latter acted gracefully and curtseyed as if he didn't realize it.

"Uh, I'm back." Ling Xingye looked at the two people in front of him awkwardly, "By the way, aren't you tired?"

"No, I'm not tired." Looking at Shokuhou Misaki beside him, Hitomi Shiranui hesitated a little, "Don't worry about us, you are Xingye, you have worked hard."

"Master Xingye," Shokuhou Misaki said first, "Would you eat first? Or take a bath first? Or first!"

Hitomi Shiranui slashed her head with a knife.

"Stop messing around," Shiranui Hitomi said with cold eyes, "You can stay if you want, and it's okay to mess around with me, but the bottom line is don't add pressure to Xingye."

Shokuhou Misaki, who had been hit by a blow, let out a "Wow", crouched down with his head in his arms, and looked over with teary eyes: "Squad leader is so strict!"

"It's you who went too far, and don't call me the squad leader!"

Looking at the small theater in front of him, Ling Xingye could only say: "You two have such a good relationship."

"Stop joking, Xingye." Hitomi Shiranui said seriously, and then smiled wryly, "Dinner is ready, go and change your uniform."

As he spoke, he took the schoolbag from Ling Xingye's hand.

The travel bag was too heavy, so she didn't let her take it, and just left it in the entrance hall.

Looking at the travel bag, Hitomi Shiranui was thoughtful: "Do you still want to go out at night?"

"Well, it is said that there are still automatic puppets in the city, I am going to check it out."

"is that OK?"

"Don't worry, I'm the stronger one now, so they're avoiding me, and it's not certain whether they can be caught."