“Huh? Defeat me?” Upon hearing Kamijou Touma’s words, Lin Wuming was even more confused. “What does that mean?”
“Please just answer me ‘yes’ or ‘no’.” Kamijou Touma said with a serious expression.
“Whether I defeated anything or not…” Lin Wuming said helplessly, “Rather, have you and I ever fought?”
“So, no?”
“Nonsense,” Lin Wuming rolled his eyes, “Or are you saying you want to compete with me for a win?”
Kamijou Touma ignored Lin Wuming’s last sentence and excitedly stood up, loudly saying, “That’s right, this is it! When did I ever defeat Lin Wuming? And how could I possibly win?”
“So can you tell me what exactly happened?” Lin Wuming couldn’t help but ask.
In fact, if he really had to fight Kamijou Touma, Lin Wuming truly had no good way to deal with his Imagine Breaker.
After venting his emotions, Kamijou Touma finally calmed down, sat back in his wheelchair, and said while rubbing his throbbing ankle.
“It’s all over the place outside—rumors that I defeated Lin Wuming.”
“Huh?” Lin Wuming was also stunned when he first heard this.
According to Kamijou Touma’s explanation, this seemed to be a “city legend” that had recently become popular—the lowest-level Level 0 defeating the highest-level Level 5.
And the protagonists of the topic were Kamijou Touma and Lin Wuming!
“I’m at a loss!” Kamijou Touma couldn’t help but complain, “I was just walking normally on the street when suddenly a few delinquents picked a fight with me. They seemed to think that defeating me was equivalent to indirectly defeating Lin Wuming, and their enthusiasm was unusually high!”
“…” Lin Wuming became even more speechless.
He was very familiar with this development; wasn’t it the situation Kamijou Touma faced in the original plot—after he defeated Accelerator?
But the difference was that in the original work, Kamijou Touma had indeed personally defeated Accelerator and stopped the Absolute Power Evolution Project.
But the reality now was that he had not defeated Lin Wuming; in fact, there had never been a real battle between the two of them.
Thus, this related city legend was very problematic.
Lin Wuming knew that the “city legends” of Academy City were, to some extent, deliberately manipulated by people.
So, Lin Wuming picked up his phone and logged into the city legend forum, finding that, as Kamijou Touma had said, the city legends about himself and Kamijou Touma occupied almost the entire forum, and there were more than a dozen different versions.
But the only common point was the core idea that “Kamijou Touma defeated Lin Wuming.”
“Could it be that someone is deliberately slandering me?” Lin Wuming muttered.
After all, only a very small number of people knew about Imagine Breaker. In the eyes of most people, a dignified Level 5 being defeated by a Level 0 was the greatest disgrace!
“Who says it isn’t?” Kamijou Touma said with a wry smile, “It’s not just those delinquents, but also your supporters, Lin Wuming—in fact, to protect the ‘hero’s’ reputation, your fans are even more terrifying…”
No wonder Kamijou Touma was desperate and could only hide by Lin Wuming’s side in the end.
After all, outside right now, neither those who supported Lin Wuming nor those who disliked Lin Wuming would let Kamijou Touma off the hook.
Lin Wuming pondered for a moment and asked, “Kamijou, have you… recently offended anyone?”
Lin Wuming didn’t care about the rumors of himself being “defeated.” As an observer, he saw very clearly that the current situation was obviously that Kamijou Touma was in an overwhelming disadvantage.
Information and rumors could be manipulated, especially the city legends of Academy City.
So Lin Wuming’s first reaction was that someone was targeting Kamijou Touma!
“No, right?” Kamijou Touma said with an innocent and indignant expression, “Me, an ordinary high school student plagued by bad luck, who could I offend?”
Kamijou Touma’s resentment was quite justified. He knew very well that although he often had minor conflicts with delinquents, that level of minor conflict wouldn’t lead to such a “prank,” would it?
Moreover, those delinquents didn’t have the ability to cause such a large-scale commotion.
“Never mind, I’ll ask about the specific situation first.” Lin Wuming didn’t stand by idly.
In fact, after hearing Kamijou Touma’s account, a certain name immediately popped into Lin Wuming’s mind—Aleister!
In Academy City, the only one with the ability and interest to play such a “prank” on Kamijou Touma was probably Chairman Aleister.
Lin Wuming had no evidence, but he had already developed a conditioned reflex—whenever he encountered something incredible, his first suspicion was Aleister, and the accuracy rate was very high!
“Yes, yes, yes, quickly ask what exactly happened!” Kamijou Touma nodded repeatedly, looking at Lin Wuming with hope.
He believed that with Lin Wuming’s connections, he would definitely be able to find out the real reason.
Lin Wuming shook his head and casually said, “Don’t get your hopes up too high. I’m really just asking, not investigating.”
As he spoke, Lin Wuming dialed Saten Ruiko’s number.
City legends, huh? When this was mentioned, the first person that came to mind was indeed that girl, Saten Ruiko, right?
“Senior Lin Wuming! Good morning!” The call was answered quickly, and Saten Ruiko’s energetic voice came through the phone signal.
“Good morning, Saten.” Lin Wuming greeted her while looking at Kamijou Touma in front of him, “Sorry to bother you, I have something I’d like to consult you about.”
“Consult—is it about city legends after all?” Saten Ruiko was self-aware and immediately guessed Lin Wuming’s intention.
—After all, besides things related to “city legends,” there wasn’t anything else she could help Senior Lin Wuming with, right?
“It seems Senior Lin Wuming has also heard the rumors about you!” Saten Ruiko was like a switch had been flipped, talking non-stop, “A topic that suddenly spread these past two days—that Senior you were defeated by Senior Kamijou!”
“That’s it!” Lin Wuming quickly said, “Do you know where this topic started to spread from?”
“Ha, in the end, that Lin Wuming also cares about this matter!” Another girl’s voice vaguely came from the other end of the phone.
“Alright, alright, don’t disturb me while I’m on the phone!” Saten Ruiko seemed to be chasing away the person who had just spoken.
There was a small commotion from the receiver, and it became quiet again after a while.
“Sorry, Senior Lin Wuming, that was my friend messing around just now, don’t mind it, don’t mind it…” Saten Ruiko continued, “I might have to disappoint you, regarding this rumor, I don’t know too much either…”
