A Scientific Urban Detective.

Chapter 800: Reflections of Longing
"By the way," Misaka Mikoto asked again, "any news from Therese?"

“She must have been busy. I’ve already shared the information with her,” Lin Wuming said. “She’s investigating whether her informant was killed by Ellie. We should have results soon.”

“However, this does not affect what we need to do,” Lin Wuming continued, “We can just do it at our own pace.”

"Is there any progress on Kihara Gensei's news?" Tomiko suddenly asked.

She never forgot her true goal.

“Based on the information we can gather,” Misaki Shokuhou said, “that old guy is still keeping a low profile, but everything is normal. He’ll be attending a forum tomorrow, where he’ll be giving a 90-minute lecture. Nameless-senpai, why don’t you go check it out?”

“Okay.” Lin Wuming nodded. “There shouldn’t be any danger if it’s a public lecture. However, I doubt whether it’s really him who will be giving the lecture tomorrow.”

After all, Kihara Gensei used a Stand in the original story.

However, this was Kihara Gensei's first public appearance recently, and the opportunity was rare. Even knowing that it might be a fake, Lin Wuming still decided to go and meet him in person.

……

While Lin Wuming and the others were having breakfast, Ellie had already left her apartment.

She still chooses to have breakfast at a convenience store.

She had no mood or appetite. If it weren't for the fact that today's mission required her to have enough energy, Ellie wouldn't have bothered to eat breakfast at all.

Unfortunately, once you're in the world of martial arts, you're not in control of your own destiny.

"The final battle is coming up, I have to be on my toes..." Ellie muttered to herself.

Misaki Shokuhou and the Archer Tiger's unbridled investigation yesterday could not escape the notice of professional assassins.

Ellie herself may have been careless and didn't notice anything amiss. But her agent was a professional.

Although they reacted a beat too late, they still noticed that someone was investigating Ellie's case and immediately traced the investigation back to discover the investigator's identity.

—They are the people of the “nameless forces”.

Of course, there's also the reason why Misaki Shokuhou didn't deliberately hide it.

After all, Lin Wuming originally planned to go directly to his door. At this time, efficiency was the priority. As for secrecy... what was the point of keeping it a secret when they would be face to face in a few hours?
So, an hour ago, after confirming the information, the agent urgently woke Ellie up and told her to prepare for the battle.

The assassination turned into a direct confrontation and a strong offensive—such an development was inherently disadvantageous to the assassin's side.

But Ellie's situation is special; as long as she doesn't care about her own safety, this kind of development doesn't have much of an impact on her.

"Cheer up, Lin Wuming has mobilized all his forces," the agent said anxiously on the phone. "If all else fails, we might as well abandon the mission and go into hiding."

"Why should I hide?" Ellie yawned and said lazily, "Based on the analysis just now, this should be my only chance."

“If it were just Lin Wuming, a Level 5, I certainly wouldn’t stop you,” the manager said. “But the current situation is that ‘A Certain Scientific Railgun’ and ‘Mental Mastery’ are with him too. With this lineup, let alone you, even if the two from ‘The School’ and ‘The Gadgets’ teamed up, they might not be able to win!”

“I’m an assassin, I don’t need to beat them,” Ellie said. “I only need to kill Lin Wuming.”

“But if you do that, you’re dead!” the agent warned.

Regardless of whether Ellie's assassination attempt succeeds or not, her agent sees no chance of her survival.

This didn't unfold as expected—there's a difference between a killer and an assassin.

"So... I'm going to die this time?" Ellie asked.

"Yes!" "Hmm~~" Ellie wandered among the convenience store shelves, "It seems pretty good."

"Huh? What did you say?"

“I can finally die, can’t I?” A strange and twisted smile appeared on the girl’s face. “Thinking about it, I’ve tried to commit suicide so many times, using all sorts of methods, but I just couldn’t succeed… Sometimes I even thought about hiring other hitmen to kill myself! If I can really get my wish this time, isn’t that a good thing?”

"You..." the agent exclaimed in surprise, "You're actually serious?"

“Of course,” Ellie replied matter-of-factly. “Otherwise, why would I have attempted suicide time and time again?”

"Isn't it all for accumulating your superpowers...?"

Ellie interrupted the agent before he could finish speaking.

"Sorry, I'm busy chatting right now."

Hearing the girl's suddenly serious tone, the manager immediately shut up.

"I'll contact you again later." Ellie hung up the phone.

I don't know when it started, but there were seven or eight thugs in suits in the convenience store.

They appeared to be early-rising office workers coming to the store to buy breakfast, but before they knew it, they had surrounded and occupied all the passageways around Ellie.

"Ellie..." one of the men in a suit, who was closest to her, said, "I hope I haven't gotten the wrong person."

“It’s me,” Ellie nodded.

—They are complete strangers, so there's no problem.

The man in the suit nodded, and without uttering a word, pulled a pistol with a silencer from his pocket.

For a fleeting moment, Ellie even considered just standing there and watching the other person fire—that way, they would surely kill her, right?

However, the conditioned reflexes she had developed over a long period of time caused her body to move on its own.

As long as you are not afraid, can calmly assess the situation and take the right action, within three steps, drawing a gun and aiming is indeed not as fast as dodging to the side.

Ellie sidestepped the line of sight and moved closer to the gunman, then reached out and grabbed his gunman.

—Physical contact, conditions met, ability activated.

—"Reflection of Longing"!
puff!
Blood spurted from the wrist of the man in the suit holding the gun.

Ellie had anticipated this, and without pausing, she had already circled behind the man in the suit, thus avoiding the spurting blood.

The sudden turn of events caused the man in the suit to cry out in surprise, followed by belated screams of pain.

But his screams didn't last long; he soon clutched his throat and collapsed to the ground in agony.

It wasn't until then that the other men in suits around them realized what was happening, and muffled gunshots echoed throughout the convenience store.

Ellie didn't deliberately dodge; the store shelves were the best cover. The girl's petite figure moved among them, and the gunmen lost sight of their target, causing all their randomly fired bullets to miss.

Ellie knew that her luck had worked again—the stray bullets wouldn't hit her.

(End of this chapter)