A Scientific Urban Detective.

Chapter 1028 Passive Response
Lin Wuming looked up at the low-hanging dark clouds in the sky, and then looked left and right at the streets on both sides.

The sudden bolt of lightning, though it didn't cause me any real harm, did render all the streetlights in a large area unusable.

In milder cases, the protection circuit may trip due to overload; in more serious cases, the lamp may explode.

Fortunately, Lin Wuming consciously chose to travel on roads with few pedestrians, so he didn't have to worry about accidentally injuring or frightening innocent people.

But then Lin Wuming noticed that not only the streetlights, but even the buildings along the roadside were plunged into an abnormal darkness.

This area is a commercial office district, with office buildings lining both sides of the road. Logically, not everyone should be off work by now, but not a single window is lit.

After a while, some of the room lights came back on—this must have been because the backup power had been activated.

Without a doubt, this was also affected by Misaka Mikoto's lightning attack earlier.

"Mikoto, those large-scale moves of yours aren't meant to be used in an urban environment!" Lin Wuming exclaimed in astonishment. "Regardless of whether they hit the target or not, the first thing they do is create a strong electromagnetic interference to the city's power system and electronic equipment!"

Recalling the original story, almost every time Misaka Mikoto went all out and used a powerful attack like "Lightning Strike," it would cause a large area of ​​Academy City to lose power.

Now is no exception.

Misaka Mikoto didn't care about any of that. She moved around the rooftop of the building, looking down from above, seizing every opportune moment to unleash lightning attacks on Lin Wuming.

Each attack causes a power outage affecting at least one city block.

This wasn't Misaka Mikoto's intention; it was simply because the attack was too powerful—equivalent to the superposition of natural lightning and her Level 5 electric shock psychic ability, the resulting power was naturally not to be underestimated.

The lightning protection systems of most buildings are simply no match for such enhanced attacks; even a slight aftershock is enough to cause serious damage to the entire power system.

Fortunately, Academy City is, after all, a futuristic city with a technological level thirty years ahead of the outside world, and its power grid construction level is far superior to the ordinary standard. Moreover, each school district in Academy City has its own power supply system, and even most neighborhoods and critical facilities such as hospitals have their own backup power supply systems. Therefore, the power outage caused by Misaka Mikoto's attack did not cause large-scale chaos and riots.

The hardest hit areas are office buildings, apartment buildings, and hotels—power restoration to these areas is not a priority due to the need for immediate action.

There are not many people working overtime during the Daihasei Festival, and because there is a fireworks display tonight, most citizens and tourists are out enjoying themselves and don't even feel the impact of the power outage for a while.

Having once again blocked a lightning strike from above, Lin Wuming looked at the building beside him that was simultaneously going dark and couldn't help but shake his head helplessly.

—If viewed from above, the thundercloud summoned by Mikoto looked like a monster that devoured light, extinguishing all the lights in its path…

Lin Wuming held the small steel ball in his hand, but hesitated to fire it.

Misaka Mikoto was too far away, exceeding the optimal range of the "Psychic Acceleration Cannon".

It's not that he couldn't reach that distance, but that after two hundred meters, Lin Wuming could no longer effectively control the small steel ball.

In other words, if the "psychic acceleration cannon" were actually fired at Misaka Mikoto, it would be possible to hit and injure her! Although the possibility of hitting the "Railgun" with a small steel ball is very low, Lin Wuming is still unwilling to take the risk.

Misaka Mikoto naturally saw Lin Wuming's concerns, which made her even more dissatisfied. She felt that Lin Wuming was underestimating her and not treating her as a worthy opponent for a fair fight.

As a result, her offensive became increasingly intense and frequent.

Lin Wuming could actually guess what Misaka Mikoto was thinking. After all, they had spent quite a bit of time together, and they were fairly aware of each other's thoughts.

But there's just no way around it. Now that he's made clear about his true feelings and has already considered Misaka Mikoto his lover, there's really no way he can be serious about her anymore.

This has nothing to do with strength; it's just Lin Wuming's wishful thinking.

Just as Misaki Shokuhou said, in today's duel, this conflicted and contradictory mindset is his biggest opponent.

—That's the only way. After finding a suitable battlefield, lure Mikoto closer and then subdue her in close combat.

Lin Wuming was making plans in his mind.

Just then, Lin Wuming sent out a telekinetic signal to scout ahead—there were people ahead, and the route needed to be adjusted…

But then Lin Wuming slowed down his movement; according to the information transmitted by his telekinetic scan, the people moving in front of him at this moment were none other than Kamijou Touma and his group.

To be precise, it was Touma Kamijou and Index who joined forces with Stiyl, Motoharu Tsuchimikado, and Saiji Takemiya, and the five of them together attacked Orianna, the "delivery person".

With the addition of the expert magician, Touma and the others easily found and surrounded Orianna, and after a fierce battle, defeated her without any suspense.

When Lin Wuming discovered them, Tsuchimikado Motoharu and Steel were interrogating the whereabouts of the "Apostle Cross".

—If nothing unexpected happens, the "Apostle Cross" should now be with Lidovia at some observatory, waiting for the stars in the night sky to align and reach their corresponding positions.

Lin Wuming knew that Oriana had not brought the "Apostle Cross" into Academy City today. The real reason she was wandering around Academy City was to find a suitable location to activate the "Apostle Cross".

Powerful magical artifacts like the "Apostle Cross," which can trigger "miracles," have extremely demanding activation conditions; both time and space must be perfectly aligned.

Lin Wuming remembered that in the original story, Sister Lidovia finally decided on the location to launch the attack near the observatory in District 23... No, this was a deliberate misdirection by Oriana, setting up the wrong location.

The correct location should be an observatory outside Academy City...

Lin Wuming didn't know which observatory it was, as the original work didn't specify. Moreover, Lin Wuming was terrible with directions, so if he wanted to find Sister Lidovia and the "Apostolic Cross," he would have to use exhaustive search to search all the observatories outside the city.

Lin Wuming had been thinking about giving Touma and the others a hint, but now that he thought about it carefully, he realized that he himself was still completely confused, so it was better not to bother them.

(End of this chapter)