“Good, you’re Judgment?” Noticing Shirai Kuroko’s armband, the operator in the drive armor immediately asked, “What’s the situation now? Is anyone injured?”
She then noticed the unconscious Sherry Cromwell and Lin Wuming: “Don’t worry, the passage is open. You can send the injured up right away.”
Shirai Kuroko quickly explained the situation she had grasped.
“There are six more trapped people ahead? I’ve already scanned them.” The drive armor took steady steps forward, its tall frame seeming a bit cramped in the underground space that had experienced an earthquake, but at the same time giving a very reliable feeling. “You guys go up first; leave this to me.”
Seeing this, Shirai Kuroko and Misaka Mikoto confidently handed all subsequent rescue operations over to this drive armor.
Afterward, Misaka Mikoto manipulated the iron sand cloud, taking several people with her to leave the underground space.
Upon reaching the surface, they found that the ground level was also in disarray.
The sudden earthquake seemed to have considerable destructive power, causing severe damage to the surface buildings.
The scene was bustling, with Anti-Skill and Judgment members constantly moving, urgently dealing with the disaster area’s situation.
It was also thanks to the collective mobilization of the two major organizations today that so many people could be gathered in a short time to maintain the situation in the disaster area.
Among the busy crowd, the three-meter-tall drive armors were particularly eye-catching.
These blue machines had uniform paint and numbers, belonging to the same model as the cherry blossom-painted machine they encountered underground.
“Anti-Skill… when did they get so many drive armors?” Misaka Mikoto asked in surprise.
Anti-Skill indeed had a certain number of drive armors, but they rarely deployed those large machines for daily tasks within Academy City.
This time, it was unclear whether it was to deal with the invader or for emergency disaster relief, but more than twenty drive armors were dispatched at once.
“Advanced Situation Rescue Squad?” Shirai Kuroko inquired briefly, “A special operations team recently formed? No wonder I haven’t heard much about them.”
Although Judgment and Anti-Skill, the two major organizations, often cooperated, it was impossible for them to inform each other of every matter. Especially Anti-Skill, being “adults” and “teachers,” it was even less likely for them to communicate every detail to “children” and “students.”
Shirai Kuroko and Misaka Mikoto had no interest in this either; after handing the invader Sherry Cromwell over to the Guard Teacher, the two went to the Hospital with the ambulance.
…
Lin Wuming woke up in a Hospital room.
Seeing the familiar ceiling, he immediately knew where he was.
Feeling the familiar aura beside him, Lin Wuming also knew that he had made them worry again.
“Student Wuming.” The first to discover that Lin Wuming had woken up was always Shokuhou Misaki; the girl rushed to the bedside, looking down at Lin Wuming, “How are you feeling now?”
As Shokuhou Misaki spoke, the girls guarding the room gathered around.
“I… I feel pretty good, there’s nothing much…” While speaking, Lin Wuming tried to get up, but failed.
—The girls forcefully pushed him back down.
“The doctor said Student Wuming needs rest now,” Misaka Mikoto said seriously, “Student Wuming’s appearance just now scared Our!”
“Yes, Student Wuming is really too reckless!” Shokuhou Misaki continued, “I always thought Student Wuming was very rational, but sure enough, every time the facts prove that it was just my illusion.”
“That’s right. Lin Wuming loves to take risks.” Hu Feng Toumi also nodded in agreement, “Clearly, he hates illegal experiments the most, but he still personally conducts all sorts of dangerous attempts every time.”
Facing the girls’ abundant resentment, Lin Wuming intended to explain— “This was forced by the situation, the situation was urgent at the time, there was no other better way”… and so on.
But by now, even Lin Wuming himself felt that such an explanation was getting tiresome.
Although Lin Wuming himself genuinely believed this, it seemed that being so “genuine” every time was not justifiable.
—Such an explanation, surely, would not convince them, right?
“It’s great that Student Wuming has such self-awareness,” Shokuhou Misaki quipped, “It seems Student Wuming is indeed reflecting.”
After hearing that Lin Wuming had woken up, Heaven Canceller also came to the room to check: “It hasn’t been long since we last met, and you’ve already come up with new tricks for me… Lin Wuming, in a sense, I really admire you.”
Heaven Canceller rarely encountered injuries from Esper’s backlash due to using magic.
“I really have to thank you for letting me review the treatment plan for related injuries,” Heaven Canceller said.
The doctor’s sarcasm was like adding fuel to the fire, making the girls in the room look even more serious.
“Wait… wait!” Lin Wuming quickly raised his hand to interrupt everyone’s emotional buildup, struggling to sit up, “Where’s my phone? I need to file a complaint first!”
To complain about Chairman Aleister’s tutoring class—the side effects of using magic were much stronger than Lin Wuming had expected.
In fact, although Lin Wuming had now woken up and showed no obvious injuries or sequelae, there was still a lingering sense of fatigue from his entire being.
It was a very peculiar feeling, a bit strange, making him uneasy.
Lin Wuming felt that he needed to consult the tutor as soon as possible to feel at ease.
Of course, this reason was also formal enough to make the girls around him temporarily let him off the hook.
As expected, even Shokuhou Misaki, who had seen through Lin Wuming’s ulterior motives, did not stop him.
After all, this was indeed an urgent problem that needed to be solved.
Facing Lin Wuming’s inquiry, Chairman Aleister was very calm.
“Ultimately, it’s still a lack of proficiency,” Chairman Aleister explained, “You’ve only had one lesson, and you haven’t undergone any strengthen training. There are flaws in the timing and coordination of the rituals and incantations.”
“Moreover,” Chairman Aleister had clearly observed Lin Wuming’s battle throughout, “because of the failure during the first attempt, your own state also had problems, further affecting the precision of the ritual, and the final result was…”
Lin Wuming was very disappointed by such a generic explanation, but Chairman Aleister’s answer was not beyond his expectation—ultimately, it was a lack of training, and once proficiency increased, these problems would be easily resolved.
For Lin Wuming, confirming this point was actually enough.
Confirming that the general direction of the path he was taking was not wrong, all that remained was to continue to strive for improvement.
