A Scientific Urban Detective.

Chapter 1002 Where did Mom go?

"Please help keep an eye on my mother, Misaka Misuzu"—this was the request that Misaka Mikoto suddenly made to Lin Wuming over the phone not long ago.

After final confirmation, it was found that only Misaka Misuzu, the mother from the Misaka family, would be attending the Daihasei Festival in Academy City; as for her father, Misaka Bakuka, he was still on a business trip in the Americas and could not come.

For Misaka Mikoto and the others, this was undoubtedly good news. After all, one person is always easier to fool than two. Moreover, compared to her more meticulous and serious father, Misaka Tabikatsu, her mother, Misaka Misuzu, was also easier to deal with. Although it was a bit unfair to say this to her mother, Misaka Mikoto couldn't afford to worry about anything else at this point.

Originally, everything was planned well, and Misaka Mikoto and Lin Wuming had prepared contingency plans. However, things didn't go as planned. It seemed that they wanted to avoid the peak hours, so Misaka Misuzu changed her itinerary and would arrive at Academy City a little later.

Calculating the timeline, Misaka Mikoto was having a competition at that moment and couldn't meet her mother in time. Moreover, at that time, almost all the students at Tokiwadai Middle School had their own competitions to participate in, causing Shokuhou Misaki's original plan to have members of the Shokuhou faction accompany her aunt Misaka Misuzu throughout the event to fall apart…

To prevent her mother from wandering around Academy City and encountering people she shouldn't, Misaka Mikoto had no choice but to urgently contact and ask Lin Wuming, who possessed a "clone," for help, hoping to find her mother who had entered Academy City as soon as possible!
The idea was wonderful, but in reality, Lin Wuming was unable to find Misaka Misuzu.

After all, even with a "clone," finding a specific person in a metropolis of over two million people is like finding a needle in a haystack.

The first thing Lin Wuming could do was to ask the border entrances and the airport in the 23rd school district to keep an eye out for a woman named "Misaka Misuzu".

On the other hand, she is just an ordinary parent, no different in essence from the millions of parents flocking to school cities today. It is indeed quite difficult to get staff or equipment to accurately locate her in a hurry.

After all, Misaka Misuzu's decision to postpone her trip was made at the last minute. By the time Misaka Mikoto informed Lin Wuming, it was too late to ask the Border Management Bureau for help.

Unless she uses her connections with the security forces, there might be no way she could find Misaka Misuzu in the crowd... But no matter what, Misaka Mikoto couldn't bring herself to treat her mother as a wanted criminal.

Finally, having no other choice, they could only place their hopes on Lin Wuming.

"By the way, Misaka Mikoto, did you and your aunt agree on a meeting place?" After searching unsuccessfully, Lin Wuming had no choice but to contact Misaka Mikoto by phone, hoping to obtain more information.

“There was an agreement, but my mother…” Misaka Mikoto hesitated for a moment before continuing, “is rather active, and might stray from the plan and go somewhere else on a whim…”

This was mentioned in a previous countermeasures meeting, so the plan at the time was to have someone accompany Misaka Misuzu throughout the trip and to control her schedule as much as possible.

Now, because Misaka Misuzu suddenly changed her plans, their plans have been facing a crisis of potential collapse from the very beginning!
A few minutes later, Misaka Mikoto called again.

“I just contacted my mother again, and she’s already inside,” Misaka Mikoto said quickly. “So I told her to go to the Family Side apartment building. You should be able to pick her up there, Mumei-senpai!”

"Family Side? Why are we gathering there?" Lin Wuming couldn't help but ask.

“We can’t just send her straight to the schoolyard, can we? Dolly and Dolly are right here!” Misaka Mikoto said. “Besides, it’s the guard unit’s base, so using it as a meeting point makes sense.”

“Okay, I know that place well…” Lin Wuming said, “I’ll be there right away.” “Please!” Misaka Mikoto said, then quickly added, “Also, Wuming-senpai, you’re going in person, right? Please don’t let your ‘clone’ do it!”

If you're looking for someone, sending out a clone to save time is understandable, but if you're meeting the parents, the person in person must be present to be in accordance with etiquette.

Of course, Misaka Mikoto's reasoning was also quite sound: "The nameless senior's 'clone' seems to be quite unstable. It looks like a semi-transparent holographic projection, or something like a ghost or phantom. There are already urban legends about it circulating..."

Misaka Mikoto didn't want her mother to be frightened; moreover, she didn't want her mother to make any connections because she saw the nameless senior's "clone"—did her own daughter, who was also a Level 5, have a "clone"?
"Anyway, I'm really counting on you, Nameless Senpai!" Misaka Mikoto said. "I have a match coming up, and if I'm lucky enough to make it to the finals, it might take more than an hour! During that time, I'm counting on you, Nameless Senpai. Please don't let Mom run into the sisters!"

The upcoming competition is a team event for female junior high school students. Since Dolly and Dolly will also be participating, it's obviously impossible for Misaka Misuzu to go and watch.

It's unclear how Misaka Mikoto managed to convince her mother to let her meet up in a place where there are absolutely no competitions.

"You've really worked hard," Lin Wuming said with a wry smile. "Leave this to me, and I'll make sure your aunt and sisters don't run into them."

Lin Wuming made this promise, but it was already too late.

……

"Strange, I clearly saw Misaka just now, how come she disappeared in the blink of an eye?" Misaka Misuzu took off her sunglasses and looked across the street with some confusion.

Because this section of the road was occupied for a three-legged race, she was unable to get to the other side of the road for the time being.

When she looked up again, her daughter was nowhere to be seen.

"Didn't that girl say on the phone that she was busy and didn't even have time to pick me up? How come she's here?" Misaka Misuzu muttered to herself in confusion.

Although she only saw it for a moment, she didn't think she was seeing things.

After all, she is her own biological daughter. How could a mother possibly admit her mistake?

She has the same brown hair as me, a face that's nine-tenths or even ten-tenths similar, and the iconic uniform of Tokiwadai Middle School...

If someone possesses all of the above qualities, then it is undoubtedly Misaka Mikoto herself, right?
Apart from the strange black device she was wearing on her head, there was nothing else suspicious about her.

—This is Academy City, so it's normal to have all sorts of high-tech equipment. Maybe Mikoto is using one of them?

(End of this chapter)