Xyrin Empire
Chapter 362 - Chapter 362 Chapter 362 Unexpected Guest

Chapter 362: Chapter 362: Unexpected Guest Chapter 362: Chapter 362: Unexpected Guest “You tell me, I’m listening.”

I urged again impatiently.

The eerie silence still filled the air around us, I couldn’t read any expression on Aresta’s face. In fact, I doubted whether the muscles on his face still had the ability to move. There I was, sitting on the stool, locking eyes with the toppled man Aresta for quite a while. Our reflections mirrored in each other’s pupils, then that ambiguous voice of his sounded once again in the air.

“… You’re quite interesting. Was that your ability just now? A Space Magic user? But as far as I know, you used a method to suppress energy to stop a secondary explosion inside a shopping district, and according to the Tree Diagram Designer’s calculations, the existence of a Dual Ability User is impossible…”

This guy had been able to see everything from the start after all. Well, we hadn’t been very low-key from the beginning anyway.

“The Tree Diagram Designer is just a primitive simulation machine, its performance so poor it’s unbearable. That thing can’t even support Devil May Cry 4–and it doesn’t have controller drivers either.”

To me, the Tree Diagram Designer was of course quite primitive. Any one of my copy bodies, Bubbles, could outsmart that machine. More importantly, due to some otaku mother’s personal hobbies, every cloned Bubbles supported an insane 10800kbps high-definition output and full console emulation, and they all came with built-in controller drivers and Golden Finger modules. Usually, when I was bored, I would just call over a clone body Bubbles to serve as the console, then curl up in the living room with Qianqian playing King of Fighters…

Yeah, I definitely got sidetracked.

The air was once again filled with silence. Aresta clearly needed more brain cells than usual to process what he had heard. Of course, if I was a conspirator, I would now suspect that the guy was considering how to take out the person in front of him.

“It seems we are not discussing the same thing.”

Finally, Aresta spoke in a tone as if giving up, finally confirming that this stranger in front of him was not that easy to deal with. Well, if your thinking wasn’t quirky enough.

I grinned slightly, “We are talking about the same thing, but if you don’t get to the point soon, I might go off on a tangent. I tend to get sidetracked easily.”

Aresta fell silent. Clearly, my reaction was not what he had expected. It could be said that since the establishment of Academy City, it had been a long time since Aresta faced something unforeseen, which confused the man in the tube. However, he quickly discarded these pointless feelings and focused on his original purpose.

“So, to avoid wasting time, can you answer my question?” Aresta’s voice echoed in the air, “Who are you, where do you come from, and why are you here? I’m very curious about these questions.”

“You could check the Library; it has our complete information.”

I didn’t immediately answer his question. I wanted to know how much this guy had figured out on his own.

“If you’re referring to the information stored in the database, they are indeed impeccably crafted. You even created a fake family history for yourselves that goes back three hundred and twenty-seven years. But I know that those are merely false appearances.”

“Who are you people, really?”

“We are Outsiders,” I answered ambiguously, “rest assured, you can’t find out our origins by any means.”

“Outsiders, huh…” Aresta repeated in a low voice, his tone seemed to imply something more, but it was difficult for me to discern anything from his rigid voice, which was stiffer than Pandora herself, “Then, as the host here, I believe I at least have the right to know your purpose for coming. Can you answer that?”

I shrugged, “Would you believe me if I said we’re just here to sightsee?”

“Our communication seems to be quite difficult… but I think I can assume you don’t have any hostile intentions since various phenomena indicate that you seem to have no intention of shaking the foundations of this city. So, now there’s one last question I’m particularly interested in. In the Seventh District, there is a little girl named Zuotian Tsuruya, who according to records, is a Powerless with less than a 0.01% chance of awakening a Superpower. Yet, three days ago, she suddenly acquired a Level 3 Ability, and it’s a type of ability that’s never been seen before. This girl awakened her abilities after undergoing Ability Development from an establishment named ‘Xyrin Research Institute,’ and that institute, it seems, you have ‘created’ as well.”

“Zuotian Tsuruya?” I thought for a moment before nodding, “That was indeed a small experiment we did out of boredom. Why, you want this technology? First of all, you can have it, but I absolutely won’t give it to you!”

“Is that so,” Aresta murmured in a low voice, then sighed, “It seems you have some prejudice against me. Our communication has been quite difficult from the start. Well, I think our conversation can end here.”

“Oh,” I nodded, then packed up the stool, “Then I’m leaving–aren’t you going to find that ‘Guide’ to take me out?”

This time Aresta’s silence lasted even longer, and then suddenly the neutral voice rang through the air around us. Hmm, this time it seemed to have a hint of desperation: “Do you really have nothing else to say?”

I flashed an innocuous smile: “It was you who wanted to talk to me in the first place. I have nothing to say!”

Aresta: “…You may go.”

I was about to turn around, then stopped as if I remembered something: “Ah, right, I have a question for you.”

This time the emotional fluctuation was more evident: “I thought you had nothing to say!?!?”

I snorted: “Didn’t I just remember?”

Lights flickered on the surrounding equipment for a while, then finally calmed down. Aresta’s voice, listless but audible, arose: “Then, speak.”

“Well, I’m just a bit curious, what did you really want by bringing me here today?”

Theoretically speaking, it shouldn’t be just to ask me a few inconsequential questions and then harvest a bunch of messy answers, right?

“The main reason was to see what kind of person could so easily invade Academy City and even rewrite reality here. But now it seems that our communication is doomed to be difficult, so consider this greeting–since an uninvited guest has no custom of greeting the host, as the host I at least had to show my face.”

I curled my lip: “I thought you were planning to get rid of me.”

“I don’t deny I had such a thought initially. Here, an unmanageable element of instability is very dangerous.”

“So why did you change your mind now?”

Question after question, I let this old guy come at me aggressively with questions first. Meow, I can do that too!

Of course, Aresta would not know that the person in front of him, whom he treated cautiously and found bewildering, had such simple thought processes. He thought for a moment, then feeling that answering this question was harmless, said: “It’s merely out of curiosity. There are many things about you that I cannot comprehend. Even if they cannot be used by me, I wouldn’t rashly eliminate such existence before they shake the foundation of this city. However, I hope you understand that I don’t mind eradicating all uncontrollable elements at a critical moment. Although I don’t know what emboldens you to such confidence, the power of Academy City has not yet been fully revealed to you.”

The power of Academy City? Can it survive an all-out bombardment from outer space?

Aresta’s words sounded noble as if his true goal was to protect this city. But unfortunately, I had him completely figured out. Thus, I naturally wouldn’t be moved by such false righteousness.

Space fluctuated around us, and something abruptly added to a certain coordinate, then the little girl who acted as the “Guide” appeared beside us. She looked at the stool in my hand with a curious gaze, then nodded in acknowledgment towards Aresta.

“Then I’m off.”

I waved from afar to the man in the test tube with the green liquid, and in the next second, the view in front of me had changed to the blue sky and white clouds outside the building.

“This is more comfortable. I really don’t know how that specimen tolerates an existence without daylight.”

I sighed to myself and went on my way.

What was that specimen thinking about?

Today’s meeting was really inexplicable, and the conversation was inexplicable. To be honest, there was almost not a single word I could believe 100% of what Aresta said. As we all know, within Academy City, a power that can’t be grasped or even known where it came from is not allowed to exist. Aresta’s words sound nice, but could he really let us uncontrollable elements mess around in his life’s work?

There will probably be some incidents happening soon, that’s for certain. To that man who wouldn’t hesitate to use everyone to achieve his own ends by any means necessary, a power that suddenly popped up on his turf–if it couldn’t be used, then destruction is the only option left.

But let him fuss. Pandora and Visca have been complaining about boredom lately anyway…

Here’s a reminder for everyone: daydreaming while walking is not a good habit, especially when an angel, who can make your thoughts slow to an absurd degree, is residing in your spirit sea. That’s when you’re likely to encounter what’s known as “Kamijou Phenomena.”

“Bang!”

“Eiya–”

With such an exclamation, I felt some soft body being… knocked away by me.

Speaking of which, I should be walking no more than 30 miles per hour, so why did she fly away? Hmm, it could be because I didn’t move at all, so all the force was taken by the other person. If I calculate using physics formulas–getting off topic.

After my brain uncontrollably skipped ahead with one ridiculous thought after another due to inertia, I finally focused my attention and saw a woman, probably no more than twenty yet with long silver hair, rubbing her head and sitting up from the ground. Judging by her outfit, she looked like a store clerk of some kind?

How did this cheesy plot, where I get distracted while walking and bump into a beauty, creating a fairy-tale encounter, even come about?

“Sorry, sorry.”

I apologized while quickly stepping forward to help her up. It seemed my guess was correct: the woman in front of me swayed for a few seconds before finally steadying herself. I figured she might have a mild concussion…

“Are you alright?”

I asked cautiously. Even though it was just a minor accident from walking into someone, seeing the buzzing circles in the woman’s eyes, I couldn’t help but wonder if I really did exceed 30 miles per hour.

“Ah, I’m fine–”

The silver-haired woman slowly began to speak, truly slowly. Each word was drawn out with a lengthy drawl that bizarrely felt normal for her, as if this slower pace of speech suited her completely.

“Uh, but you have quite a bump on your forehead…” I said, pointing out the obvious. She seemed like the kind who wouldn’t react much faster than Alaya, that natural type who, if left alone, you’d worry might starve to death.

“It’s okay–” The silver-haired woman still spoke at her leisurely pace. “My recovery ability is very strong–”

Continuing this conversation made me feel like my brain was slowing down too, though it wasn’t often fast to begin with.

“Ah–right–” Even her exclamations of remembering something suddenly were in that languid tone. She pulled out a small piece of paper from the pocket of her service uniform and handed it to me. “If you have time–please visit Little Xi’s Jewelry Store–So, goodbye–”

With that same slow-motion vibe, the silver-haired woman bowed to me, then turned around, taking a full ten minutes to vanish around a street corner not far away. With such a sluggish pace, and me having knocked her flying, could I really have been going 30 miles per hour?

There certainly are a lot of eccentrics in Academy City. That’s my final thought.

Little Xi’s Jewelry Store, huh?

I lowered my head, looking at the white card handed to me. Exquisitely made, it bore beautiful patterns and the name of Little Xi’s Jewelry Store written in bold, slanted size-three Chinese calligraphy, and then… nothing else.

I lifted my head, tearfully staring into the distance.

At the very least, remember to write down the damn address and contact number, idiot!!!

Could someone more clueless than Alaya and even more bubbleheaded than Little Baobao really survive in this brutal society? Was the owner of that store’s head filled with nothing but Wang Zhihe Tofu?!

Or could it be that the silver-haired waitress’s actual role in the store was just that of a decorative mascot? Only this explanation made any sense!

Shaking my hair, I tossed aside my musings about the mascot and continued on my way.

Then, a somewhat familiar energy fluctuation suddenly came from not too far away, making me stop in my tracks.

“Sure is a lot going on today.”

I muttered under my breath, yet I couldn’t ignore that kind of energy that absolutely shouldn’t exist in Academy City, and started walking toward a rarely frequented street.

If I remembered correctly, that should be the force of magic, but it didn’t seem to be fluctuations from any magic technique being activated, just meaningless magic power release, with the apparent sole purpose of drawing attention. But, to release such “bait” in a place where no one could recognize magic fluctuations, was someone from the Magic Side up to something in Academy City again?

With that perplexing thought, I passed through several streets until I reached an area that was rarely visited. This should be the site of a construction project that had been abandoned for some reason. Despite the most efficient and comprehensive scheduling, the phenomenon of unfinished buildings still existed in Academy City. The several tall buildings in front of me were only skeletal structures, and steel and concrete were strewn messily about. All the machinery had been removed; now, this place was an empty, forgotten land.

The magic fluctuation was obvious, and there seemed to be runes around, probably to dispel any random passersby like Kamijou Youth, who might happen upon the meeting. There were also some kinds of barriers I’d never seen before, disrupting a large area of information flow, but not being an expert in that field, I wasn’t sure about their use – they were probably for concealment, right?

“Come out; it’s quite boring to hide like this.”

As soon as I spoke, footsteps emerged from the shadow of a building, just as I had expected. Whoever wanted to attract someone here was indeed looking for me.

Of course, I wouldn’t admit that I thought of this only after scanning the energy fluctuations in the entire Academy City and realizing there wasn’t a second source of magic power besides this place.

“Old Smoke… cough, Stier?”

Though I anticipated who appeared, I was still slightly surprised when I saw the towering figure. The familiar, exaggerated height, the red hair, the barcode on the face… cough, the retail price, and the ever-burning cigarette – wasn’t this none other than our chain-smoker, Stier?

Following behind Stier came another person.

She wore a rather conservative pink long dress and had long, golden hair. And when I say long, it’s because… I’ve never seen anyone whose hair, even when tied up, still dragged down to their ankles.

Upon seeing her, one name was ready to spring to mind.

Lola Stewart, otherwise transliterated as Lola Stuart – yeah, I’ve got several versions of it… uh, you probably don’t want to hear them. Anyway, it’s that Fox Woman, the archbishop of the Church of Necessary Evil, the de facto supreme ruler of the British Puritan Church, who could sit on a par with the Queen of England and amazingly take half an hour just to make a video call with an inverted man, forgetting to turn on the camera because she’s a total tech dummy.

Look at this summarizing talent!

“Yo, we meet again, Stier.”

I waved from a distance at the approaching red-haired priest, not at all surprised that they had come looking for me.(To be continued, for more details please visit www.NovelFire.net. More chapters, support the author, support genuine reading!)

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