A Scientific Urban Detective.

Chapter 1048 The Calm Lin Wuming
At this point, Misaka Mikoto had already stepped into a higher realm, and it was hard to say how much of her humanity remained in her consciousness.

In fact, Misaka Mikoto's only bottom line is "I cannot kill the nameless senior," and she has no other taboos!
At this moment, Lin Wuming was trapped in the iron sand and could not see the outside scene. He was also unaware that Misaka Mikoto had begun to evolve to a higher realm, just like in the original story.

Lin Wuming's telekinetic scanning could do something similar to electromagnetic scanning, but he had no time to deal with that at the moment.

The "quantity" of psychic power has always been Lin Wuming's biggest weakness. After all, in terms of psychic ability alone, he is only a level 4 psychic.

It's not a big deal when fighting other people, but in battles between level 5 players, the difference in "quantity" is enough to determine the outcome.

Surrounded by iron sand, Misaka Mikoto's attacks never stopped; therefore, Lin Wuming had to expend a lot of energy on defense.

The physical attacks from the iron sand itself are manageable, but with the enhancement of his psychic power, Lin Wuming can transform his clothes and even his skin into armor to withstand the attacks. If the attack is too fierce, he can also use the diamond sand for targeted defense.

However, the omnipresent electric current is different. Simply strengthening physical defenses cannot stop electric current attacks. The only reliable method is a psychic barrier.

In order to conserve mental energy and maximize defensive efficiency, Lin Wuming had to mix diamond sand into the mental energy barrier at the beginning—building a grid-like defense with physical objects as the fulcrum allows for the maximization of limited resources.

However, the amount of diamond powder was far too small; even if it were all spread out, it wouldn't be enough to cover Lin Wuming's entire body.

Therefore, this layer of defense is also constantly in motion, like a fire brigade. It's difficult to cover the entire body at the same time.

It was simply because Misaka Mikoto's offensive was too fierce and fast, and at the same time, she was very "considerate" in avoiding Lin Wuming's fatal weaknesses, choosing to surround him rather than attack him first, thus preventing Lin Wuming from entering the "bullet time" state.

Mikoto is acting strangely today—now that things have come to this, how could Lin Wuming not see the problem?
Even the most aggressive Tiger Bee Honeybee, though it had recently launched a deadly attack with a sword, could no longer pose a real threat to Lin Wuming in his current state.

Misaki Shokuhou possessed a trump card, but she didn't use it. Instead, she chose the most ordinary method to fight Lin Wuming.

Misaka Mikoto, however, has been the only one who has taken this battle to the very end with utmost seriousness, and this is the second time already.

Lin Wuming knew that while Misaka Mikoto, as an Electromaster, possessed formidable combat power, she also had a weakness in prolonged battles. After fighting at full strength, she was prone to running out of power.

I thought that after the previous battle, Misaka Mikoto was "out of energy" and had lost the ability to fight again; but I didn't expect her to come back so quickly...

Ironically, it's now Lin Wuming's turn to be in dire straits.

—Should we just take a gamble, abandon defense, and see if we can get into "bullet time"?
Lin Wuming pondered to himself that this strategy wouldn't be bad against anyone else; it was just a pity that he was facing Misaka Mikoto, who knew him well and might not fall for it; moreover, the electric shock already had a "paralyzing" effect, and he didn't want it to backfire, causing him to not only fail to enter "bullet time" but also completely lose his fighting ability...

As he faced the increasingly perilous battle situation, Lin Wuming's mind was filled with countless thoughts. One strategy after another flashed through his mind, only to be rejected one by one.

Under intense mental pressure, Lin Wuming didn't notice that his thinking speed was accelerating.

Because of his trump card, "bullet time," Lin Wuming had long been accustomed to fighting in this super-accelerated state.

To outsiders, Lin Wuming might appear reckless, impatient, and quick-witted, specializing in fast-paced, high-speed combat and "life-or-death" tactics. However, in reality, Lin Wuming is an extremely calm and strategic thinker, whose mental abilities often outweigh his Nen abilities in battle.

Because in the "bullet time" state, Lin Wuming has ample time to think and come up with the most effective tactics; moreover, the long-standing problem of insufficient Nen ability also forces Lin Wuming to devise sufficiently ingenious tactics in order to achieve victory in battle.

It can be said that rapid thinking and decision-making are Lin Wuming's magic weapons for defeating his enemies. Even when he occasionally does something that seems out of his mind or crazy, it is based on absolute confidence, and in Lin Wuming's own view, it is not a risk at all.

At this very moment, although he hadn't entered "bullet time" mode, Lin Wuming's thought process was already approaching the rhythm he was most familiar with...

—Insufficient Nen power means that when facing a Level 5 opponent, relying solely on Nen ability still presents a significant gap.

So, should we activate magic to actively enter "bullet time," or... think of another way?

In Lin Wuming's preconceived notion, as long as the battle situation hadn't reached a fatal point, there was still time; if a fatal crisis was truly looming... then there would be even more time.

So don't give up thinking. Just like doing research or solving a problem, think about whether there are better solutions. Insufficient Nen ability is an objective reality, and unless you advance to Level 5 Nen, this problem will continue to bother you for a long time.

Then, having accepted this reality, we begin to think about ways to solve the problem.

— Mikoto's iron sand attack is not a threat; in a confined space, there is only so much she can do. What we really need to be concerned about is the electric shock.

After all, Misaka Mikoto is an "Electromaster" rather than a "Metalmaster".

—If my telekinesis could be like that of the board-shaving general… regardless of whether he actually possessed telekinesis or not, as long as the quantity increased, then everything would be fine.

Unfortunately... if Lin Wuming had level 5 psychic power, he could have blocked the surrounding electric shocks with just his psychic barrier.

Now, with insufficient psychic power and the characteristics of "electric shock" not giving Lin Wuming many opportunities to set up multiple layers of psychic barriers, he can only use diamond sand to form a physical insulating layer for defense.

—If we change the conductivity of the skin, making it an insulating layer like rubber…

However, this technique is too overpowered, and Lin Wuming has not yet mastered it.

So, as a second choice, what else can serve as an insulation layer?
The answer is obvious, and it's everywhere around us.

—Nitrogen, which makes up more than 78 percent of the air.

Nitrogen is an inert gas and a good insulator under normal conditions.

Therefore, using nitrogen, which is ubiquitous around us, as a raw material to build a protective layer against electric shock is the best solution at present.

(End of this chapter)