A Scientific Urban Detective.

Chapter 971 Unconventional and Corrective Force

“Hahaha,” Chairman Aleister chuckled a few times in a monotone tone, “Lin Wuming cooperated quite well. If he can continue to cooperate like this, I wouldn’t mind handing the city over to him.”

In Aleister's view, Academy City was merely a means for him to achieve his goals.

The city itself, and even the people in it, are not important; what matters is only the "Imagine Killer."

Therefore, as long as Lin Wuming can continue to draw fire and act as bait to cover Kamijou Touma, Aleister really wouldn't mind stepping down and giving way...

“However,” Chairman Aleister continued, “it is too early to say anything about this now, and I have no intention of looking for a successor.”

Kihara Brainstem wagged his tail, neither confirming nor denying.

"How's the investigation going?" Chairman Aleister suddenly changed the subject, or rather, returned to the topic before Lin Wuming's call.

“I’ve already said that the truth is exactly the same as what Lin Wuming knows,” Kihara Brainstem said. “There is indeed the presence of the Roman Catholic Church behind it, but they only made a small, impulsive move and didn’t reveal any other flaws.”

“No, I’m not asking about these trivial matters,” Aleister said. “I’m asking about the things you’re really in charge of.”

The Kihara Clan is the largest and strongest ANBU organization in Academy City, and naturally, they bear different professions and missions than other ANBU organizations.

As the leader of the Kihara clan and Aleister's longtime partner, Kihara Brainstem carries a special mission.

In areas incomprehensible to ordinary people, Kihara's brainstem functions as a kind of "safety valve".

In layman's terms, these are things and phenomena that cannot be explained even by the worldview of "superpowers"—when such existences affect Academy City, it's time for Kihara's brainstem to take action.

Initially, Kihara Brainstem, this "safety valve," existed only for "special situations" within Academy City. However, as friction with the magical side intensified, especially with the increasingly sharp conflict with the Roman Catholic Church, the scope of Kihara Brainstem's management gradually expanded to include "abnormalities" on the magical side.

For example, what if the "Right Seat of God" had appeared again during yesterday's "major riot"...

This is exactly the situation that the Aleister Board Chairman asked about.

“As you can see,” Kihara said, shaking his head, “there was no ‘extraordinary’ presence involved in this incident.”

Rather, the most "unconventional" figure in the entire incident was Lin Wuming.

Like Aleister, Kihara's brainstem possessed the most comprehensive intelligence, so it was clear that Lin Wuming was definitely not a normal Level 5.

From the perspective of the superpower system, Lin Wuming is even more "unreasonable" than Xiaoban Junba, who is a Stone user.

—Although Kihara Gensei understands Lin Wuming's superpower as a completely new ability that possesses both Nen and time-related properties... it is clear that this explanation is not perfect; even that old guy Kihara Gensei probably doesn't completely believe in this explanation, right?
Kihara's brainstem lights a cigar, a recharge for when it needs to think seriously. As its understanding deepens, Kihara's brainstem becomes increasingly curious about the true nature of Lin Wuming's abilities.

"Student Lin Wuming..."

“This is not the time for academic discussion,” Chairman Aleister said promptly, interrupting its thoughts. “Besides, there is no point in studying the nature of his abilities. Since he behaves no differently than a superhuman, then treat him as a superhuman.”

“Aleister, this isn’t like you…” Kihara Brainstem said, then shook his head. “No, this is the real you.” Aleister was a researcher, but even more so, an extreme pragmatist—at least when it came to his fundamental goals, everything else could be ignored and discarded.

"So..." Kihara's brainstem had already realized what was going on, but it was still unwilling to give up on the topic. As "Kihara," it was a thorough researcher. "According to your theory, is there a possibility that Lin Wuming could advance to level 6? If we consider him as a superpowered person."

"Let's wait and see, that's exactly what Lin Wuming is doing," said Chairman Aleister, then projected a paper into the air in front of him.

“This is…” Kihara’s brainstem glanced at it quickly, “one of your unpublished papers.”

“Yes,” Aleister said, “because it involved the Misaka Network and the Imaginary Number Zone, the paper was sealed away after it was completed.”

This paper, personally completed by Chairman Aleister, is more like an experimental report or an experimental instruction manual; it is one of the plans that Chairman Aleister conceived for the "Evolution of Absolute Ability Users" project.

Since Aleister built the entire superpower system himself, this task was not difficult for him.

It's like someone who writes a textbook taking a test. While they can't be 100% sure their answer is correct, at least their general approach to answering the question is unlikely to be wrong, and their chances of finding the correct answer are much higher than others.

Although it was an unpublished paper, Kihara's brainstem had already read it, so it only needed to skim through it to recall the entire content of the paper.

"You just said that Lin Wuming is doing what was mentioned in this paper?"

“That’s right,” Aleister said. “Lin Wuming has gathered all the necessary elements. This is the only path he can take now.”

This is an inevitable result—Misaka Network, Imaginary Number Zone, Kazakiri Hyouka, Level 6 Evolution... It is difficult to gather all of the above elements, but once all the conditions are met, a smooth road lies ahead.

It would be even more difficult to avoid taking this path.

"Your paper hasn't been leaked, has it?" Kihara Brainstem asked.

“Of course not,” said Chairman Aleister. “Lin Wuming came up with it himself, which proves that my thinking was correct.”

Aleister seemed quite satisfied with this development. Just as he had said before, as long as both sides had the same interests and could cooperate, he would not object to Lin Wuming becoming stronger, or even advancing to level 6!

“In that case,” Kihara Brainstem asked again, “why not just publish this paper to Lin Wuming directly?”

In Kihara's view, reinventing the wheel is a waste of time and energy.

“No,” Chairman Aleister rejected the proposal. “Conclusions drawn by oneself are more credible, especially for intelligent people.”

Kihara's brainstem did not object: "Then, next..."

“Since nothing unusual has happened, let’s continue with the plan,” Aleister said. “Yesterday’s commotion was unexpected, but it didn’t disrupt the original plan—Lin Wuming has corrected it, and it seems we can continue to look forward to this corrective power in the future.”

(End of this chapter)