A Scientific Urban Detective.

Chapter 947 Hostage Coercion
"I'm really no match for Lord Lin Wuming. No matter how much you threaten me, I just can't beat him," Kinuhata Saiai said patiently.

"Stop talking nonsense. If you don't want your friends to suffer, then you'd better behave!" A middle-aged man standing next to her said impatiently.

Similar conversations have taken place countless times along the way.

"So..." Kinuhata Saiai also sighed deeply, "An amateur is an amateur, utterly ignorant. What kind of insurmountable gap exists between Level 4 and Level 5? You non-espers simply cannot comprehend it!"

"We don't need to understand, nor do we want to understand, your strange and unclean forces," another man in front responded. "Shut up, or don't blame me..."

"I really can't beat Lord Lin Wuming," Kinuhata Saiai argued weakly. "I might even be defeated in an instant—is that alright? Won't it alert him and cause a lot of trouble for your plans?"

"You don't need to worry about these things. Just listen to me and obey my instructions," the man said impatiently, his expression fierce.

How could I possibly listen to him obediently?
Kinuhata scoffed inwardly – ​​if my companions hadn't been taken hostage, how could I have obediently stayed here and let them do whatever they wanted?
Kinuhata Saiai also felt a pang of regret—she should have listened to Mugino Shizuri's advice and completely severed ties with the survivors of the "Dark May" plan.

That way, I won't be so easily caught and manipulated like I am now.

“I say,” Kinuhata Saiai continued, “why are you so obsessed with assassinating Lord Lin Wuming?”

"Mind your own business!" came the enemy's impatient reply.

Kinuhata Saiai suddenly seemed to transform into a chatterbox, desperately trying to strike up conversations with the enemies around her.

"...Lord Lin Wuming is a Level 5, the strongest esper in this city," Kinuhata Saiai said. "The best way to deal with a Level 5 is to send out another Level 5. So, if you are willing to pay to hire our 'tools,' with the help of 'Atomic Collapse,' which is also a Level 5, it shouldn't be too difficult to defeat or even actually kill Lin Wuming."

The enemy remained unmoved by her suggestion: "Shut up, little girl. Who doesn't know that your Dark Side organization are all Aleister's dogs?"

"..." Kinuhata was usually silent, because in a sense, what the other party said was indeed true!
That's why she was so eager to urge the enemy to go after Mugino Shizuri; she actually wanted to "use someone else to do her dirty work" and take the opportunity to escape.

"That's not entirely true. Actually, our Dark Side organization values ​​monetary rewards more than so-called loyalty." Kinuhata Saiai, recalling Frenda's face, also revealed an expression of being blinded by greed. "As long as you can afford it, even Mugino Shizuri wouldn't mind making some extra money..."

“What you said makes a lot of sense,” the man behind him said. “In the end, organizations like the so-called Dark Side are made up of shady characters who are more interested in profit than loyalty.”

Kinuhata loved hearing this, and couldn't help but frown slightly—self-deprecation was one thing, but hearing others evaluate oneself like that still made her feel uncomfortable.

only……

Kinuhata is always on high alert—is it just my imagination? I have a feeling that what that man said just now was implying something…

He didn't seem to be deliberately speaking ill of the Dark Organization; rather, he was stating facts. It was as if he had genuinely witnessed "Dark Organization members who valued profit over loyalty"...

"Has one of the Anbu betrayed us?" Kinuhata Saiko thought to herself. "It's not surprising, after all..."

Looking down at the handcuffs on her wrists—explosive handcuffs containing high explosives, special restraint devices used only against the most dangerous and heinous criminals—she found them cuffed to her hands. "These guys are incredibly arrogant; it would be unbelievable without the cooperation of people inside Academy City," Kinuhata Saiai thought silently. "After this incident, I'll definitely not let them off—I hope they're still alive then, at least giving me a chance to take revenge myself!"

In fact, Kinuhata most "voluntarily" wore these explosive handcuffs, as well as the collar around her neck and the belt around her waist, all of which were similar devices with built-in explosives.

Because the enemy used the children from the orphanage as leverage, Kinuhata Saiai was forced to agree to their demands.

Even now, there are still enemy accomplices guarding the orphanage. If Kinuhata Saiai makes the slightest unusual move, not only will the explosives on her body be detonated, but her companions in the orphanage will also be in danger.

Kinuhata Saiai had no choice but to accept the enemy's threats—because she was "wiped out" by the enemy on the spot when she returned to the orphanage to visit everyone; so even if Kinuhata Saiai insisted that she had no connection with the orphanage and did not care about their safety, she could not deceive the enemy.

"I never expected that the enemy's target would be Brother Kobayashi!" Kinuhata Sai'ai felt helpless and bitter at the same time.

Lin Wuming had almost no contact with the orphanage, and seemed to have long forgotten his former companions who shared the same plight. He never visited them once.

Following this trend, even if an enemy wanted to deal with Lin Wuming, it wouldn't involve the "unrelated" orphanage.

Unfortunately, among the survivors of the “Dark May”, there was one Kinuhata who loved it the most!
Kinuhata Saiai has always been active in the orphanage as the "big sister" who takes care of everyone.

On the other hand, for various reasons, Kinuhata Saiai and her ANBU "Giku" maintained a certain connection with Lin Wuming.

Perhaps because Kinuhata Saiai had already transcended the ranks of the "weak" and possessed considerable strength, Lin Wuming did not deliberately keep his distance from her.

As a result, with Kinuhata Saiai as the intermediary, the enemy ultimately achieved the plan that Lin Wuming and Kinuhata Saiai least wanted to see.

They used Lin Wuming's former companions as hostages to coerce and harm this powerful man!
—Look what a great thing I did! I feel like I'll never be able to face Brother Lin and everyone else again...

Feeling frustrated, the man at the front suddenly turned around and said, "Get ready, we've received the latest intelligence. Lin Wuming is most likely not far ahead!"

"It's up to you, Miss Psychic." The man behind her gave Kinuhata Saiai a hard shove. "You know Lin Wuming, right? We don't need to teach you, do we? Go closer and kill him."

"Eh...I see..." Kinuhata Saiai replied absentmindedly.

"Don't try anything funny, little girl!" the man behind her warned. "Think about your friends. If you don't want them to die, you'd better behave."

"Eh?" Kinuhata Saiai's voice rose a few decibels. "Really?"

Kinuhata stared wide-eyed as a figure hurriedly hid behind a wall at the corner across the street—Hamazumi Shiage, an unofficial member of the ANBU "Tools" unit, and their personal errand boy.

What really elicited the strongest reaction from Kinuhata was the news brought by Hamazura Shiage.

(End of this chapter)