Chapter 800: Thought Mapping
“By the way,” Misaka Mikoto asked again, “Is there any news from Terestina?”
“She should not be idle. I have already shared the information with her,” Lin Wuming said. “She is investigating whether her informant died at the hands of Ailei, and there should be results soon.”
“But this does not affect what we need to do,” Lin Wuming continued. “Just proceed at Our own pace.”
“Has there been any progress on Kihara Gensei’s information?” Hu Feng Toumi suddenly asked.
She never forgot the true objective.
“According to the information we have collected,” Shokuhou Misaki said, “that old man’s activities are still low-key, but everything is normal. He will be attending a forum tomorrow and will give a ninety-minute lecture. Senior Lin Wuming, should we go and see it?”
“Yes,” Lin Wuming nodded. “If it’s a public lecture, there should be no danger. However, I suspect whether it will be him in person tomorrow.”
After all, in the original plot, Kihara Gensei used a body double.
But this was Kihara Gensei’s first public appearance recently, a rare opportunity. Even knowing it might be a fake, Lin Wuming still decided to meet him in person.
...
While Lin Wuming and his group were enjoying breakfast, Ailei had already left her apartment.
She still chose to get her breakfast at a convenience store.
No mood, no appetite. If it weren't for today's operation requiring her to ensure sufficient physical strength, Ailei would have been too lazy to eat breakfast.
It was just that when one is in the pugilistic world, one is not one's own master.
“Next is the final battle, I must cheer up…” Ailei murmured to herself.
Shokuhou Misaki and Yumizuru Hyouka’s unrestrained investigative activities yesterday, of course, could not escape the notice of a professional assassin.
Ailei herself might have been careless and didn't notice anything unusual. But her agent was a professional.
Although he reacted a beat late, he eventually noticed that someone was investigating Ailei and immediately traced back, discovering the investigators' identity.
—It was someone from the Unnamed Faction.
Of course, part of the reason was that Shokuhou Misaki did not deliberately conceal it.
After all, Lin Wuming already planned to confront them directly. At such a time, efficiency was the priority. As for secrecy… they would be face-to-face in a few hours, so what was the point of further secrecy?
So, an hour ago, after the agent confirmed the information, he urgently woke Ailei and told her to prepare for battle.
Assassination turned into a direct confrontation and forceful assault—such a development was inherently disadvantageous to the assassin’s side.
But Ailei's situation was special. As long as she didn't care about her own safety, such a development had no impact on her.
“Cheer up, Lin Wuming’s side has come out in full force,” the agent said anxiously on the phone. “If it’s really not possible, just abandon the mission and hide first.”
“Why hide?” Ailei yawned and said lazily, “According to the analysis just now, this should be my only chance.”
“If it were just Lin Wuming, a Level 5 esper, I certainly wouldn’t stop you,” the agent said. “But the current situation is that Railgun and Mental Out are also with him. With this lineup, let alone you, even if the two from School and Item teamed up, they might not win!”
“I am an assassin, I don’t need to win against them,” Ailei said. “I just need to kill Lin Wuming.”
“But if you do that, you will be dead!” the agent warned.
Regardless of whether Ailei's assassination attempt would succeed, the agent saw no possibility of her survival.
This was not the expected development—there was still a difference between an assassin and a killer.
“So… I’m going to die this time?” Ailei asked.
“Yes!”
“Eh~~” Ailei wandered among the convenience store shelves, “That seems good.”
“Huh? What did you say?”
“I can finally die, can’t I?” The girl’s face showed a strange and twisted smile. “Thinking about it, I’ve tried to commit suicide so many times, using all sorts of methods, but I just couldn’t get my wish… Sometimes I even wanted to hire other assassins to kill myself! If this time I can really get my wish, isn’t that a good thing?”
“You…” the agent said in surprise, “You’re actually serious?”
“Of course,” Ailei replied as if it were obvious. “Otherwise, why would I repeatedly try to commit suicide?”
“Isn’t it to accumulate for your esper ability…”
The agent’s words were cut off by Ailei.
“Sorry, no time to chat right now.”
Hearing the girl's suddenly serious tone, the agent on the other end immediately fell silent.
“I’ll contact you later.” Ailei hung up the phone.
Unbeknownst to her, seven or eight men in suits had appeared in the convenience store.
They looked like early-rising office workers, coming to the store to buy breakfast, but imperceptibly, they formed a siege, occupying all the passages around Ailei.
“Student Ailei…” one of the closest men in suits spoke, “We got the right person, didn’t we?”
“It’s me,” Ailei nodded.
—They were unfamiliar strangers, so there was no problem.
The man in the suit nodded, then, without another word, pulled out a silenced pistol from his Pregnant.
For a moment, Ailei even wanted to just stand there and watch the other party shoot—that way, she would surely die, right?
However, long-established conditioned reflexes caused her body to move on its own.
As long as there is no fear in one's heart, and one can calmly judge the situation and take correct action, within three steps, drawing a gun and aiming is indeed not as fast as sidestepping to dodge.
Ailei sidestepped to avoid the line of sight, then actively moved forward to close in on the gunman, and then reached out and pressed down on the hand holding the gun.
—Direct body contact, condition met, ability activated.
—Thought Mapping!
Pfft!
Blood immediately spurted from the wrist of the suit-clad man’s gun-holding hand.
Ailei had already anticipated this and her figure did not stop for a moment, having already circled behind the suit-clad man, incidentally avoiding the spurting blood.
The sudden turn of events made the suit-clad man exclaim, followed by a belated cry of pain and agony.
But his screams did not last long, and he soon clutched his throat and fell to the ground in pain.
Only then did the other men in suits around him react, and dull gunshots rang out in unison throughout the convenience store.
Ailei did not deliberately dodge; the shelves in the store were the best cover. The girl's small figure weaved through them, and the gunmen lost track of their target, all their wild shots missing.
Ailei knew that her luck had once again played its part—the aimless stray bullets would not hit her.
