A Scientific Urban Detective.

Chapter 849 The Man Who Wants to See Lin Wuming

“Trying to treat? Let’s skip it today, I’ll save you some money.” Misaki Shokuhou refused, “If you really want to treat us, Saten-kun, it would be more sincere to cook for us yourself another day.”

"I'm sorry, Ruiko~" Misaka Mikoto also clasped her hands together in an apologetic gesture, "We already made plans with Mumei-senpai to celebrate the start of the school year..."

The reason doesn't matter, as long as they're with Lin Wuming, that's all that matters. For this reason, Misaki Shokuhou and Misaka Mikoto always manage to find all sorts of excuses to celebrate.

Saten Ruiko was certainly not angry about this, especially after hearing that they had made a prior agreement with the nameless senior, she wholeheartedly supported them.

“Since it’s a celebration, Saten and Haru should come along too,” Tomiko suddenly said.

"Huh? This..." Saten Ruiko hesitated, "Should we participate too...?"

"What's inappropriate about it?" Tiger Bee Honey said calmly. "Of course, the more people there are at a party, the more lively it is."

Misaki Shokuhou, standing to the side, silently rolled her eyes—when did tiger bees become so fond of "liveliness" when they were pecking at honey?

"Let's have Hofuu and Shirai join too," Tomiko Tobi said, glancing at the two Level 5s beside her.

Junko Hokaze was already tied to Misaki Shokuhou, so she nodded without hesitation.

"I'm sorry, I must excuse myself and cannot attend," Shirai Kuroko politely declined. "It's because school just started, so the disciplinary committee is quite busy."

Unlike Hu Feng Toumi and Lin Wuming, Shirai Kuroko takes this responsibility very seriously.

"Huh? Is there another event later?" Shiori Uiharu, who was also a member of the disciplinary committee, panicked.

“It’s not the 177th branch,” Shirai Kuroko waved her hand, “it’s the affairs of the 003rd branch within the Academy Garden.”

Although Shirai Kuroko frequently appears in Branch 177, as a rare disciplinary committee member in the Academy, she also serves as the branch manager of Branch 003.

However, the school rules inside the Academy Garden are much stricter than those in other places, and the students there are mostly rich young ladies, so there are basically no incidents that require the intervention of the disciplinary committee.

Therefore, Shirai Kuroko was able to focus most of her energy on the outside of the schoolyard.

However, it is undeniable that Shirai Kuroko, who has to take care of the affairs of two branches, is indeed busier than other disciplinary committee members.

"Do you need my help?" Shiori Haru asked.

“Not yet.” Shirai Kuroko shook her head. “Don’t worry about it, Haru. When the time comes to help, I won’t hesitate to lend a hand.”

"That's good..." Shiori Haruhi finally felt relieved.

“Well then…” Shirai Kuroko stood up, “I’ll take my leave now. Have fun, Onee-sama—I’ll help you deal with the dorm supervisor if you need anything.”

She bowed slightly, and then Shirai Kuroko vanished instantly. When she reappeared, she was already on the sidewalk outside the store.

—On one hand, there's the disciplinary committee activity based on her own sense of justice; on the other hand, there's her beloved older sister; and then there's… her nameless senior.

In order to break free from this increasingly complex vortex, Shirai Kuroko decided to keep her distance and deliberately distance herself from others on a daily basis—perhaps this would be better for everyone.

Without looking back at the family restaurant behind her, Shirai Kuroko activated "spatial teleportation" and headed towards the direction of the schoolyard.

In the family restaurant, Misaki Shokuhou's gaze followed Shirai Kuroko's retreating figure until she was completely swallowed up by the crowd on the street.

"Junko-nee," Misaki Shokuhou suddenly asked, "Has anything happened at the Academy Garden lately?"

Junko Hokaze shook her head: "No, everything is peaceful." "Then what are you busy with?" Misaki Shokuhou muttered, somewhat regretting not having properly examined Kuroko Shirai's thought process.

“I do know something about that,” said Uiharu Kazari, raising her hand. “It’s said that there was an internal information leak at the Academy, so they are taking action to conduct an internal investigation.”

It is precisely because it involves information from inside the school that we try our best to resolve it internally and will not seek help from outside unless absolutely necessary.

"I see." Upon hearing this explanation, the girls present nodded in agreement.

The Academy Garden is often compared to "the Academy City within the Academy City"; just as it is difficult for outsiders to directly obtain various information about the Academy City, information within the Academy Garden is also strictly controlled and rarely leaks to the outside world.

However, this has only fueled people's curiosity about the mysterious inner workings of the Academy Garden.

Even without any direct benefit, people will try every means to find out information about the inside of the Academy Garden simply to satisfy their curiosity.

However, in Misaki Shokuhou's view, this was a trivial matter.

"So something really did happen..." Misaki Shokuhou muttered to herself, slightly relieved. "Alright, we should get moving and meet up with the nameless senior!"

—I just received an email. The nameless senior has finished his training and is preparing to go home. If I rush over now, I might still be able to meet him in the park.

Meanwhile, after returning to the schoolyard, Shirai Kuroko immediately attended a joint meeting.

Representatives from the guard force, the disciplinary committee, and the internal management committee of the school dormitory participated.

Although they were reluctant to make a big fuss, the intelligence leak involved the outer areas of the school grounds, so the cooperation of the guards was indispensable.

On the contrary, the disciplinary committee members were really just "participating" as representatives.

There are only four or five disciplinary committee members inside the school dormitory, and since they don't have much to do on weekdays, they have basically become "ghost members".

The management committee doesn't expect the disciplinary committee members to do anything.

Therefore, after the meeting ended, Shirai Kuroko found herself with nothing to do.

"Okay, where should we go to kill time now?"

Just as Shirai Kuroko was sighing listlessly, a man in his thirties suddenly approached her.

"Shirai Kuroko, may I bother you for a few minutes?" The man was wearing a dark blue uniform from the security forces and was one of the people who had just attended the meeting.

Therefore, Shirai Kuroko did not refuse: "Is there something you need, teacher?"

"I don't deserve it, I don't deserve it. I'm not a teacher." The man waved his hands repeatedly, then took out a business card from his pocket. "Although the outside world thinks that we are also classified as part of the guard force, we are actually two different functional departments."

Gao Pinghongliang is a mid-level officer in the border guard force and the person in charge of the eastern gate—in short, a so-called "gatekeeper".

Because information about the Academy Garden was showing a tendency to leak further out of Academy City, he was invited to participate in this meeting as a frontline administrator at the border.

The border management of Academy City is handled by a specialized force that is not actually a guard force, but rather a professional security force or a professional soldier.

“Well… Mr. Takahira,” Shirai Kuroko looked at him with a puzzled expression, “what can I do for you?”

"Actually, it's like this," despite being facing a girl much younger than himself, Kohei Hongliang remained extremely respectful, even to the point of being somewhat obsequious, "I have something I'd like to discuss with Mr. Lin Wuming, so if it's convenient, I hope Shirai-san can help introduce us..."

(End of this chapter)