Xyrin Empire
Chapter 364 - Chapter 364 Chapter 364 Sister Misaka

Chapter 364: Chapter 364 Sister Misaka Chapter 364: Chapter 364 Sister Misaka “Legion Strike!”

A clear female voice resonated across the spacious underground testing facility, followed by a loud “bang” of a gunshot. Zuotian Tsuruya gripped a silver-white strange gun in both hands, clearly a model unlike those commonly used by humans now, measuring nearly twenty centimeters in length. With the recoil from the firearm’s discharge, the girl, who already lacked physical strength, was pushed back several steps. Meanwhile, the seventeen targets in front of her shattered into a myriad of pieces.

“A single bullet simultaneously locked on and destroyed seventeen targets, ability level assessed as intermediate.”

Vega blinked and, after recording the just-observed data, said,

“You can take a break now.”

“Phew…”

Zuotian Tsuruya let out a long breath and then set down the clearly too-heavy-for-her large gun, shaking her sore arms as she slowly walked back.

“Today’s performance was not bad,” I encouraged her, patting her shoulder, “You’ve just mastered this skill, and you’ve already managed to reach an intermediate level.”

Although she was merely human and thus unable to use most of the Storm Commander’s advanced skills, Zuotian Tsuruya’s talent for these more universal skills was astonishing enough to amaze Sivis when he heard about it.

“But your physical strength still needs to be strengthened,” Vega followed up, carrying the long silver-white “pistol” that Zuotian had just used, “Dead Wood-Thorny Dual Pistols are already the lightest model of gun available, and half your abilities are related to shooting. The fact that you still need both hands to hold a gun is really saying something.”

“It’s alright,” Zuotian laughed a bit sheepishly, then scratched her hair, “That gene enhancement stuff, I’m still a bit scared of it… I just always think it’s strange, can these really be called superpowers? They’re abilities that ordinary people don’t have, but with so many bizarre skills, it doesn’t seem like the usual superpower users.”

“That’s why I told you not to go blabbering outside,” Lin Xue, still in her researcher’s white coat, even though she was usually only causing trouble for those unfortunate scientists, said, “Having such abnormal talents isn’t a good thing. It can bring you all sorts of trouble. And as a smart kid, you must have noticed that many things we research should be kept as the highest secret, so just keep it to yourself.”

“Ah, haha, right…” Zuotian Tsuruya laughed somewhat unnaturally. Without much effort to keep secrets, her interactions over the past few days had certainly revealed to her many things abnormal about us. Although we always explained it away with the highly confidential nature of the research institute’s projects, which would seem mysterious to a civilian, Zuotian was not dumb. She knew that she must have gotten mixed up with some pretty incredible people. At the beginning, she was naturally a bit panicked, but now…

“Luckily, you are all good people. So even though it feels like I’m getting involved in something incredible, I’m not worried about you guys harming me.”

That was it. Everyone at the Xyrin Research Institute was metaphorically handed a Good Person Card…

“Speaking of which, I haven’t seen Chichun and Baiji coming over these past few days, only Misaka Mikoto comes by often.”

“Ah, that’s because the work of the Disciplinary Committee is really busy, so obviously they can’t enjoy the leisurely life of a civilian,” Zuotian Tsuruya said this, a hint of envy on her face. It seemed she also quite admired the sound of the impressive-sounding title of “Disciplinary Committee,” “By the way, Director Bro, just yesterday at school our teacher mentioned my name. He said it was a remarkable feat rising from a LEVEL 0 to a LEVEL 3, and therefore, everyone should take me as a role model…”

Watching Zuotian Tsuruya’s cheerful smile, my mood improved too. This innocent girl really couldn’t hide her own feelings at all.

Ahem, and at the same time, ignoring Lin Xue’s muttered “congratulations on winning another sister” and Qianqian’s clearly malicious gaze from the other side.

“By the way, Ah Jun, come shopping with me later.”

Just as we were about to leave the testing area, Qianqian suddenly spoke up.

“Shopping?”

I became puzzled. In fact, because I’d been tormented by Qianqian’s variety of bizarre ideas these past few days, her suddenly talking about something as normal as shopping was quite unexpected–the girl suggesting we go catch little monsters together would have been easier to believe.

“It’s just buying–stuff!!!” Qianqian enunciated each word deliberately, her face wearing a mysterious expression, “Why do you look so surprised, Ah Jun?”

“It’s nothing, just wondering if you’ll get a sudden inspiration to open a few shops while shopping, hence my reservations.”

“Eh, Ah Jun, that idea isn’t bad at all! Where’s Pandora?”

“You really shouldn’t take it seriously, baby!”

Having spent nearly a month in Academy City, I had become very familiar with everything around me. Now, when I go out for a stroll, I can’t find that fresh feeling I had at the beginning – it’s like I’m just temporarily living in some city abroad. Except when I looked up at the airship with its huge display screen and the nearby spinning wind turbines, I was reminded this place is the Otherworld, but really, there’s hardly a sense of having crossed over.

Of course, it also has to do with this place being so close to Earth.

“Ah Jun, Ah Jun! Look at this!”

Qianqian was darting energetically between the shop windows on the shopping street, her vitality like that of an eight-cylinder engine, full of power. I just didn’t understand where this girl got so much endless physical strength from.

“Coming, coming…” I promised as I followed her. “Qianqian, could you keep it down a bit? You’re attracting way too much attention…”

As said before, with that excessive attention-attracting energy – not to mention Qianqian’s appearance – just her exuberant darting about should make her the center of attention, right?

“Hmm?”

Glancing around by chance, I noticed a very familiar figure reflected in a glass shop window. But when I turned my head back, I only saw a bustling crowd.

“What’s wrong, Ah Jun? Did you see something?”

Qianqian came over curiously, scanning the environment rapidly with her eyes following my gaze. Thank heaven there wasn’t a bikini-clad beauty or something to bring me unwarranted trouble.

“It’s nothing, I might have seen it wrong.”

I shook my head and then casually pulled the energetic Qianqian into my arms to at least calm her down a bit.

“Ah, Ah Jun, this, this, I think I saw it on TV yesterday!”

“Ah Jun, over there, let’s go take a look, there are so many people!”

“Wow! Ah Jun, Ah Jun, so the place we talked about the other day is here…”

I take back what I said just now…

Well, anyway, this kind of surplus energy is just Qianqian’s usual cute point. Seeing her happily hopping around is a kind of enjoyment in life, I guess. Every guy who goes shopping with his girlfriend should have such an awareness to save the world, right?

I entertained various thoughts in my mind to distract myself, yet from the corner of my eye, that familiar figure flashed by again.

“Misaka?”

“Hm? What did you just say, Ah Jun?”

Qianqian curiously tilted her head and looked up at me.

“Wasn’t that Misaka Mikoto who just passed by?”

“Just now?” Qianqian touched her lips with her finger, then gave a mischievous smile. “Time Sand cycles over and over…”

The scenery around us rapidly went backward, as if a film was rewinding to one minute ago.

Hey! Is it really okay to reverse time for such a trivial thing?

“It is Misaka indeed!”

Though I privately scolded Qianqian for using her power in such a wasteful way, I managed to locate that hurried figure in the crowd. Even though I couldn’t see the face, judging by the back, it was unmistakably Misaka.

However, it was just a flash before Misaka Mikoto disappeared again into the crowd, her haste leaving my loud calls unanswered.

Weird, what was she in such a rush for?

Since there was a decent distance between us, there was no need to freeze time and wade through the masses just to greet her. Qianqian and I continued our shopping journey–and truly, for me, it was indeed a trek, and based on Qianqian’s current energy levels, this marathon wasn’t likely to stop anytime soon.

Maybe it was fate’s cruel joke seeing me get through the day unscathed, just as I was beginning to think my time today would quietly dissolve away shopping with Qianqian, I suddenly ran into an acquaintance.

Misaka Mikoto, I knew it, I had seen her wandering this district earlier. I didn’t expect to run into her outside a pastry shop.

As we passed by, the girl with chestnut hair was leaning intently against a shop window, completely engrossed in something inside. She didn’t even notice us approaching. Following her gaze, unsurprisingly, it was a frog charm–placed next to a massive birthday cake, seemingly a freebie with the cake.

Such a fierce obsession, I thought, watching Misaka Mikoto drooling over it. I heaved a silent, exaggerated sigh, and held my forehead in despair.

“Misaka, what are you looking at here?”

I hesitated but finally decided to greet her.

“Wow!”

Her reaction was quite exaggerated, like a kitten jolted by a sudden noise. Misaka Mikoto nearly drifted sideways, and only after she steadied herself into a defensive pose did the girl–whose senses were dulled from the allure of Gutai’s trinkets–breathe a sigh of relief.

“Ah, it’s Director Uncle… ow!”

“It’s Director Brother!” I corrected her.

Being referred to as an uncle by Misaka Mikoto, idol of countless otaku, was a profoundly disheartening matter. It was the one thing that I would absolutely not give in on, damn it!

“Oh,” Misaka Mikoto muttered, glossing over my title, then cheerfully greeted Qianqian, “Sister Qianqian, you’re here too.”

Why did she so gladly call her sister? Age-wise, aren’t brother-in-law and uncle on a completely different scale?

“Were you just looking at this cake?”

Qianqian skillfully avoided the frog charm at the bottom of the cake, and pointed suggestively at the huge birthday cake beside it.

“Ah… no… I just thought this shop… um, the window display is pretty, haha… ahaha…” Misaka Mikoto laughed awkwardly, her cheeks getting increasingly redder. The high-temperature steam that often appeared above Pandora’s little head seemed like it might make an appearance above Misaka Mikoto’s as well. Such a reaction… was she being foolish?

“If you like it, you should just buy it,” I said with a twisted smile, not understanding Mikoto’s train of thought at all. To want something so badly but to just drool beside the display window made no sense. As Changpan Platform’s missy, shouldn’t you at least demonstrate some of that stature? A real missy would buy the whole pastry shop without batting an eye just for that charm, right? If Lin Xue… uh, that might be possible too. If she had even a bit of a missy’s air about her, she wouldn’t be messing around with us all day.

“I… I don’t want it. Who would like such froggy stuff anyway… it’s not like any girl would like it, right…”

Hey hey hey, I was talking about the cake, you know. Your auto-complete brain is too powerful!

“By the way, Misaka, what were you running about earlier? We called you several times from behind, but you didn’t hear.”

With a slight sigh over this heart-mouth mismatched individual’s foolish response, I recalled the sight of her panicking at the street corner earlier and casually mentioned it.

“Just now?” Misaka Mikoto repeated, puzzled, her face full of question marks.

“Over there,” I gestured vaguely towards the distant street, “didn’t you run over here from that direction?”

“No, I’ve been here watching…” Misaka Mikoto shook her head, but her words were cut off midway as she suddenly froze, the fake smile that had been on her face shattered instantaneously, replaced by a look of blind panic that surged from deep sorrow that had been heavily suppressed in her heart, “Sorry… I’m feeling a little unwell…”

“Wait!”

I grabbed the girl who tried to run away, as a certain hypothesis quickly took shape in my mind.

“What’s wrong, Misaka? You look very pale.”

“It’s nothing…” Misaka Mikoto struggled in vain, then shook her head with a pale face. It seemed that the incident I had abruptly brought up had finally rendered her self-delusion ineffective. What did she want to do now? Run, but where to? To weep softly all alone?

“Has that bastard’s experiment still not stopped?”

With no room for return, I suddenly spoke in a low voice.

The girl in my hand stopped struggling and then trembled slightly. Misaka Mikoto looked up incredulously with unconcealed panic in her eyes.

“What… what are you talking about? What experiment…”

“Silly girl,” Qianqian shook her head helplessly, “the 20,000 military-grade clone Sisters Misaka, who do you think we are?”

It was that plan, to break through the ability level of the strongest superpower user, “One-Way Street,” by continuously killing the clone Sisters Misaka, thereby creating the most powerful existence at LEVEL 6. Such an inhumane plan.

The girl standing before me with a pale face, Misaka Mikoto, could be considered one of the cornerstones that made this plan possible, as well as the plan’s greatest victim. Because she believed the lie “to save people from terminal illnesses,” she provided her own DNA sample. This led to the birth of 20,000 clone sisters. The initial purpose might have simply been to test whether it was possible to artificially replicate a LEVEL 5 superpower user. However, after such attempts failed, everything took an unbelievably sinister turn. Flesh-and-blood clones were treated like killing fodder for a certain LEVEL 5 to level up, and Misaka Mikoto, the sister to those 20,000 clones, fell into the deepest despair.

But now, it seems, that’s not even the worst-case scenario…

“Misaka, listen, our identities are not as simple as you imagine, so we are one of the informed persons about this inhumane experiment, but at the beginning, I thought all of this had been stopped. I didn’t expect that…

“Stopped?” Misaka Mikoto repeated blankly, “Who’s going to stop it? Who has the power to stand against Academy City? With just my power…”

“Ah Jun, we’d better change locations,” Qianqian suddenly tugged at my sleeve, signaling me to pay attention to the passersby who had started to gather around.

Noticing more and more people being drawn towards us, with some pointing at the “family of three” that seemed to have gotten into trouble, I immediately pulled Misaka Mikoto into a side alley.

Thank God, the author finally knew to provide us with an alley that was omnipresent, always available for concealment…

About that plan, Misaka Mikoto had never mentioned it to anyone. Although numerous times in corners where no one was there, she longed for someone to rescue her, knowing how dangerous it was to confront the dark side of Academy City, this overly kind-hearted girl had no choice but to face it all alone. She didn’t want her loved ones dragged into danger. However, the situation seemed to have changed now. That mysterious research institute might actually possess powers beyond her understanding?

Even if it was just a faint hope, Misaka Mikoto, who was on the brink of her limits, seemed to suddenly see a glimmer of light, and finally let down her barrier of self-protection.

“Never thought I would end up asking for help from another research institute,” after laying out everything, Misaka Mikoto seemed to finally breathe a sigh of relief, leaning her head back against the mottled cement wall, “But that’s as far as it goes. Even if you are one of the few research institutes in this city that make me feel an affinity, stopping the plan that is protected by the dark side of Academy City…”

I didn’t wait for her to finish, but instead turned my head away, “Qianqian, has it been arranged?”

As time was of the essence, as soon as I confirmed that the plan was still ongoing, Qianqian and I had already begun making arrangements separately.

“I’ve already notified Pandora to take over the surveillance system of Academy City and to search for that Sister Misaka’s location at full capacity. Vega and her Scorpion soldiers?”

“They are ready… Wait, what happened to Visca’s connection?”

(To be continued, if you want to know what happens next, please visit www.NovelFire.net, more chapters are available, support the author, support genuine reading!)