The Legend of Level 0 in Academy City

Thinking of this, Misaki Shokuhou's entire arm under her shoulder, and the two fists that were clenched tightly connected to it, began to tremble violently.

She bit her lip hard, suppressing the emotions that were about to erupt within her.

He said—I don't need it…

"shut up……"

Unable to hold back any longer, Misaki Shokuhou interrupted Meido Tsurugi's suppressed, deep voice.

Her pale knuckles clenched even tighter, and her delicate body seemed to be about to burst forth with something. Misaki Shokuhou opened her mouth again and whispered a plea:

"Please, please stop talking... is that alright?"

"Ugh!"

The Soul Chaser of the Underworld sighed deeply, turned to look at the girl whose face was grim and uncertain, and said with a wry smile:

"Forget it, the future is ultimately in the hands of you young people. I'm getting old! There's no way I can outsmart you young people anymore! But, I still want to give you a piece of advice..."

Suddenly remembering the death of Yuu-ryu earlier that day, the Soul Chaser lost all interest in saying anything more. He looked earnestly at Misaki Shokuhou before offering his final piece of advice:

"The chances of that boy named Kamijou recovering his brain are less than 0.01%. If one day he hears about your story with him, he will surely advise you to forget him before he forgets you again. After all, even without considering Inoue, your kind of love is not only hurting yourself, but also causing a heavy pain to that boy named Kamijou."

Misaki Shokuhou listened quietly to Meido Tsurugi's words without responding.

Head bowed, silent, a sentence suddenly flashed through my mind:

Both loving and being loved can lead to being hurt.

Misaki Shokuhou couldn't help but ask herself: If this is what I want to say to that idiot, then...

I wonder if the spiky-haired boy, now that he understands his own feelings, would say the same thing to himself?

……

After a long silence, Misaki Shokuhou finally calmed down, raised her head to look at Meido Tsukito, but did not offer any opinion on Meido Tsukito's advice. Instead, she returned to the previous topic.

"I'll handle that idiot. I just ask that the doctor not mention the experiment in front of him again. Can you promise me that?"

"I understand. Ideally, you could persuade him to stop the experiment."

"Thank you, doctor! I'll take my leave now. Please forgive me for disturbing you!"

Misaki Shokuhou politely bowed to Meido Tsurugi and slowly left the room.

------

Located in the western suburbs of Academy City, the 17th School District is a vast industrial area, mostly consisting of unmanned automated factories with an extremely sparse population.

Towering, windowless industrial buildings stand in neat rows, offering no sense of life whatsoever.

Although the factory operates 24 hours a day, the soundproofing is so good that you can't hear any noise at all.

And because of the sparse population, you can't feel the hustle and bustle of the city here.

It was for the reasons mentioned above that the weapons expert that Inoue Hideka was looking for set up his research institute in this absolutely quiet place.

Following Yuki Rikawa to an underground entrance, Inoue Hideka discovered that as soon as they reached the door, the closed door of the underground entrance opened by itself.

Inoue Hideka didn't find it strange, because according to Yuuki Toshikawa, he had already spoken with this expert, who was ranked among the top ten in the entire Academy City, and the expert was willing to improve his weapons.

Upon entering the research institute, one is greeted by a long, dimly lit corridor.

Squeak...

As soon as Inoue Hideka stepped inside, a robot that seemed to have been waiting there for a long time squeaked and turned, ran in front of Inoue Hideka, and slid forward a few steps like a guide.

It seemed that seeing that Inoue Hideka and Yuki Toshikawa had not followed, they stopped in place again.

Inoue Hideka didn't know how the robot determined that she hadn't kept up. Perhaps it could scan some kind of substance unique to the human body, or perhaps it could sense heat sources or something like that. In any case, Inoue Hideka tentatively took a few steps forward.

Then, the robot began to move forward again.

Following the robot, we passed two forks in the road and made three turns before finally stopping in front of a tightly closed tempered glass door.

As Inoue Hideka stood at the door, the tempered glass door opened automatically again.

Looking through the open door, Inoue Hideka saw a thin man wearing glasses and a white lab coat sitting behind a huge laboratory table.

He quickly fiddled with the intricate little parts, seemingly engrossed in studying something.

Inoue Hideka glanced at Yuki Toshikawa beside her, hesitating whether to go in and disturb them, when a deep, cold voice came from the man who hadn't raised his head the entire time:

"Hello, my name is Tang Jinyu! Please wait 1 minute and 23 seconds, my work will be finished soon."

Chapter 342 The So-Called Researcher

Tang Jinyu?

Upon hearing the man's words, Inoue Hideka subconsciously repeated his name in her mind.

The surname Tang gave Inoue Hideka the feeling of meeting someone from the same hometown.

However, this was just a feeling. Inoue Hideka knew that the surname Tang was not only found in his hometown, but also in countries such as Japan, South Korea, and Vietnam, just not as many as in his hometown.

Thinking this through, Inoue Hideka wisely refrained from replying.

The other party was clearly studying something. Since they said to wait another minute, it wouldn't hurt to wait a little longer.

Quietly staying in place, Inoue Hideka looked around.

This is a research institute with gray and white as its main colors.

White walls, white floor tiles, and a white ceiling, followed by gray machines and gray robots.

There were many robots wandering around inside the research institute, seemingly on patrol, but apart from the man who called himself Tang Jinyu behind the testing platform, Inoue Eika did not see any other living people.

The corridor was lined with rooms separated by transparent glass doors, and the rooms contained all sorts of machines that Inoue Hideka had never seen before.

If you look closely, you'll find that almost every room has machines running, but strangely, Inoue Hideka can't hear any sound.

This transparent glass is probably not as simple as it looks; at the very least, its sound insulation effect should be quite good.

"Sorry to have kept you waiting!"

A minute passed as Inoue Hideka surveyed the research institute.

Upon hearing this, Inoue Hideka turned her head and looked at the man who walked out from behind the experimental table, speaking expressionlessly and extending his right hand to her.

"Let me reintroduce myself. I am Tang Jinyu, director of the Advanced Equipment Research Institute."

"It's alright, no need to worry about it. I'm Inoue Hideka, nice to meet you!"

As Inoue Hideka spoke, she took off the gloves she was wearing, extended her right hand, and gave the other person a light handshake.

"I think the white gloves Mr. Inoue is wearing are what are called magnetic gloves, right?"

After a brief introduction, Tang Jinyu ignored Yuki Toshikawa standing behind Inoue Eika and went straight to the point. With a hint of interest in her eyes, she looked at the white gloves on Inoue Eika's hands and... the red cross on Inoue Eika's back.

"That's right, that's it. From what Mr. Tang is saying, you knew about this before?"

“I have indeed heard of it. It is said that there are only two pairs of these gloves in the entire Academy City. While they are not the most practical, they have considerable research value. Many people want to figure out how such a complex mechanism and such a strong magnetic force are incorporated into this thin fabric. Oh! I'm so sorry, Mr. Inoue, please have a seat here…”

Seemingly finally snapping out of her research, Tang Jinyu slapped the back of her head in frustration and headed towards another room as she spoke.

A look of annoyance appeared on his expressionless, stiff face, which looked rather comical.

Inoue Eika caught up with Tang Jinyu and was about to say it was nothing when Tang Jinyu brought up the magnetic gloves again, seemingly very interested in them.

"But unfortunately, after these gloves were created, their maker accidentally lost the design drawings, and shortly afterward, the maker also died a violent death. The whereabouts of both pairs of gloves are unknown, and I never expected to see them in person today. If Mr. Inoue is willing to entrust them to me for research, I will definitely give Mr. Inoue a satisfactory answer!"

"Of course! After all, it is I who need Mr. Tang's help. May I ask what Mr. Tang's request is?"

"Well, as for requirements... you know, I'm just a researcher. My dream is to develop equipment that's groundbreaking and transcends the mortal realm! As for other things... I don't really care about them. Money? With such a large research institute, I don't seem like I'd be short of money, do I? As for power... if I were greedy for such worldly things, this research institute wouldn't be so deserted... Mr. Inoue, this way please!"

After turning a corner and walking a few more meters, Tang Jinyu pushed open the glass door and stepped into a room that could be described as extremely simple.

The room contained only a desk and chair set, two single sofas, a round wooden table between the sofas, and a water dispenser and shelf placed in the corner of the room.

Upon entering the room, Tang Jinyu first pointed to the sofa and said to Inoue Eika, "Please sit down." Then she went to the shelf, took two water glasses, and filled one glass with water.

As he placed it on the other side of the round table, he said, seemingly without any sense that there was anything wrong with serving the guest plain water:

"Therefore, I have only one request for Mr. Inoue: please allow me to examine the magnetic gloves in your hands and the weapon on your back."

"Oh? Why would Mr. Tang be interested in an ordinary sword?"

Inoue Hideka asked with great interest, having just noticed that the other person's gaze had been lingering on his back.

I initially thought he was interested in the assistant behind him, but Yuuki Rikawa didn't follow me in. Instead, he stood guard at the door, while the other man's attention remained on the person behind him.

So that's the reason.

"Hmm... Mr. Inoue, you must be joking. After hearing your assistant's request, I investigated that sword. To be honest, I don't think a sword capable of blocking the berserk third-rank lightning strike and the second-ranked elemental matter is an ordinary sword!"

"Ah! I apologize for making you laugh, Mr. Tang. Please forgive my overconfidence. If Mr. Tang wishes to study this, that's perfectly fine, but..."

Inoue Hideka stroked the water glass in her hand and said hesitantly.

"Mr. Inoue, please feel free to make any requests you may have."

"However, I hope Mr. Tang will prioritize me as the first trading partner for the weapons you design. Also... Mr. Tang should also know that these two items are my core assets, so..."

"Are you worried I'll run off with the stuff? No problem, Mr. Inoue can arrange for someone to monitor me; I understand that."

"Forehead……"

Are all researchers this blunt?

Hiding the embarrassment on his face, Inoue Hideka asked directly:

“In that case, it’s settled. However, I am just a powerless person and cannot be without weapons for too long. Please set a time, Mr. Tang, and I will come to collect them.”

“Oh, that’s easy. It will only take one night. I will scan the structure of the gloves and sword, save the data, and then conduct a detailed study. Then tonight I will gild the sword according to Mr. Inoue’s request, and Mr. Inoue can take the items away tomorrow morning.”

"Then I thank Mr. Tang for his understanding."

Inoue Hideka politely said something to Tang Jinyu, then stood up and called out to Yuki Toshikawa outside the door:

"Yuki!"

"Yes, Minister!"

The door was not closed. After hearing Inoue Hideka's call, Yuki Rikawa stood at the door and respectfully replied.

"Send someone over immediately."