Chapter 827: The New Urban Legend
"Ah~~ we're finally home!" The girls cheered in unison, then all pounced onto the living room sofa.
Although they encountered almost no decent battles today, running through more than half of Academy City in one go, such a wide range of maneuvers brought a different kind of fatigue.
Even the energetic Misaka Mikoto felt exhausted, collapsing onto the sofa upon returning home, unwilling to move.
Not to mention Shokuhou Misaki—even though she was being pushed around in a wheelchair by Hokaze Junko, a whole day of commotion still drained all her strength.
On the other hand, Hokaze Junko still felt no fatigue at this time. After cheering and celebrating with the others, she quickly got up from the sofa and even had enough energy to help Lin Wuming prepare dinner.
As for Hu Feng Toumi, who always exercises, she certainly wouldn't be defeated by this level of activity. And since she lives in this house, taking advantage of this, Hu Feng Toumi didn't stay in the living room for too long. She calmly returned to her room, and then went into the bathroom.
After washing and changing, she returned to the living room feeling refreshed.
At this time, Lin Wuming had also finished making today's dinner.
Although his Nen Ability was still a bit lacking, unable to perform more than ten operations simultaneously as before, Lin Wuming's own cooking proficiency made up for it all. So, the efficiency of cooking was not affected.
"Alright, dinner's ready," Lin Wuming called out to the girls. "Let's consider this a small celebration, to commemorate the success of today's operation."
"Success?" Misaka Mikoto asked in confusion, "But didn't we fail to catch the real Kihara Gensei? All we found were masked doubles."
"It's enough," Lin Wuming said. "After this public execution, it's enough to make that Kihara Gensei socially dead."
In today's operation, Lin Wuming and his group didn't actually kill anyone.
Every "Kihara Gensei" they found had their disguise exposed, and then Shokuhou Misaki reverse-brainwashed them—to obtain information and expose Kihara Gensei's schemes.
It was impossible for so many "Kihara Gensei" to appear simultaneously. Only one person openly acted on the surface, and there seemed to be a scheduling mechanism among them, arranging different doubles for public activities according to actual needs.
The one who appeared publicly today was giving a speech at a university in Academy City 5th District.
Lin Wuming and his group, along with two other "doubles" found elsewhere, directly stormed into the speech venue, exposing the "doubles'" disguises in front of everyone.
They had intended to stage a play of "the real and fake Kihara Gensei," but it turned out that the one giving the speech on stage was also a "double"!
Failing to find Kihara Gensei's true body made Lin Wuming feel depressed, but it also had an unexpected effect.
The simultaneous appearance of three "Kihara Gensei" who were proven to be disguised fakes caused a huge impact on the audience at the speech.
Someone even live-streamed the entire process online, which sparked heated discussions across the entire internet.
Then, people naturally began to wonder—does this Kihara Gensei person really exist?
Kihara Gensei has been famous for a long time, a revered elder in Academy City's scientific research community, highly respected, and of extremely high social standing. But the more so, the more intense the impact when three fakes appear simultaneously and are exposed in public.
What decent family would use such doubles, and three of them at once!
Coupled with the fact that this truth was personally revealed and exposed by the "Hero" Lin Wuming, it further fueled people's imaginations. And because of the influence of "Nameless Board Member," for a time, there was even no information control, allowing these messages to spread freely online.
Public opinion quickly fermented, and by the time Lin Wuming and his group returned home, there was even an urban legend saying that "Kihara Gensei" didn't exist at all; he was an external image promoted by an organization, which was why he could achieve so much on his own!
At this point, even if Kihara Gensei himself suffered no harm, he was in fact socially dead and wouldn't be able to appear in public for a short while.
Lin Wuming considered this a victory for his side.
"But this doesn't solve the fundamental problem, does it?" Misaka Mikoto asked. "The enemy hiding in the dark will be even harder to find."
"I know," Lin Wuming sighed. "But isn't there no time left? School starts tomorrow, so the operation can only pause for now."
The main problem was the lack of clues; the operation couldn't proceed any further.
Misaka Mikoto also clearly understood this in her heart, and she could only accept reality, helpless...
Just then, Misaka Mikoto's phone suddenly rang.
"It's Shirai Kuroko!" Misaka Mikoto seemed to remember something suddenly and quickly answered the call. "...Sorry, I'm at Unnamed Senior's house... Yes, yes! Sorry... Please, please help me..."
After hanging up, Misaka Mikoto looked troubled and sighed, "Curfew..."
With school about to start, dorm curfew management became even stricter.
Misaka Mikoto and Shirai Kuroko, as habitual curfew violators, were especially targeted by the Dorm Supervisor.
It was Shirai Kuroko who had just called to remind her.
"Then hurry up and eat. I'll take you back later," Lin Wuming said.
"I wish I could skip grades and just go straight to high school," Misaka Mikoto grumbled.
"Impossible," Shokuhou Misaki rolled her eyes. "We should have all signed a contract when we enrolled, stating that we must study at Tokiwadai Middle School for three years."
It's no wonder, after all, they are Level 5s. As long as they wear the Tokiwadai Middle School uniform for one day, they are the School's best image spokespersons!
The Tokiwadai Group would never give up this opportunity to increase its influence.
Although it wouldn't be difficult for Misaka Mikoto and Shokuhou Misaki to break the contract with their abilities, there was really no need to do such a thing for such a small matter.
Feeling her good mood disturbed, Misaka Mikoto ate her dinner with some annoyance.
Immediately after, another phone rang, and she instinctively looked at her own phone.
Then she breathed a sigh of relief.
"It's mine," Lin Wuming took out his phone and said with some surprise, "Saten Ruiko?"
The girls at the dining table quieted down, looking over with great interest.
Everyone then breathed a sigh of relief. As expected, Saten Ruiko was calling about the "urban legend."
Many urban legends about Kihara Gensei were born today, and these certainly didn't escape Saten Ruiko's ears.
Moreover, strictly speaking, Saten Ruiko could also be considered a party to this incident, so she immediately thought of the source of the urban legend and called to verify.
"And also to complain," Lin Wuming added after hanging up. "Saten Ruiko complained that we forgot to bring her along again during the operation..."
Losing the chance to witness the birth of an "urban legend" firsthand filled Saten Ruiko with resentment.
