Xyrin Empire
Chapter 374 - Chapter 374 Chapter 374 Fantasy Master Eruption

Chapter 374: Chapter 374 Fantasy Master Eruption Chapter 374: Chapter 374 Fantasy Master Eruption After a stressful period of studying, the weekend that followed was something every student still in their school days looked forward to.

The location was a popular lakeside park in the summer, where several girls hid in the shade of the trees, comfortably enjoying the coolness brought by ice cream.

“Ah… on a sweltering summer afternoon, eating ice cream in the shade at the park is probably the greatest happiness in life!”

After stuffing the last of the semi-melted ice cream into her mouth, a girl with long black hair, adorned with a sakura hair ornament, said in an exaggerated tone, as she tossed the empty ice cream container towards a trash bin twenty meters away.

“Striker Mark!”

“Clang!”

A direct hit!

“Zuotian, your ability really is filled with all sorts of weird aspects…”

Bai Jing Heizi twitched the corners of her mouth and then let out a long sigh.

“If it’s about attaching various special attributes to a target, the range of application is indeed quite broad… but I hope at least you don’t misuse your ability in front of me, a member of the Disciplinary Committee, okay?”

“Ah… sorry, sorry…” Zuotian Tsuruya scratched her head belatedly, “Because the Director said my ability was improving too quickly and it’s somewhat unstable, he advised me to use it often in everyday life, as long as it doesn’t affect others, and I got into the habit…”

“Oh, I see,” Bai Jing Heizi nodded her head upon hearing this special circumstance. Although there were regulations in Academy City against students casually using their abilities, in fact, as long as it did not cause too much trouble, even the Disciplinary Committee and the security forces would turn a blind eye. But no sooner had Bai Jing Heizi finished nodding than she suddenly realized something and turned with a weird look to scan Zuotian Tsuruya, “The Director–brother? Have you finally been conquered by that guy with a bunch of sisters, becoming one of them?”

“Huh?” Zuotian Tsuruya was initially startled and then immediately applied the chop attack she had learned from someone else, tapping it onto the head of the girl in front of her, “What are you talking about! He is just a brother! And he already has Sister Qianqian, doesn’t he?”

While Zuotian and Bai Jing Heizi were busy getting physical, Misaka Mikoto, who had been pondering by the side, slowly spoke up: “But speaking of which, even though I initially thought he was a schemer, he turned out to be a good person.”

Because of Bai Jing Heizi’s mention of “the sisters,” Misaka Mikoto began to think of certain things, her mind filled with myriad thoughts.

That experiment was indeed stopped, and the manner of its termination was quite suspicious: Almost overnight, all plans related to the “Absolute Ability” were halted, and many related research institutes were disbanded overnight. The sisters were then transferred to the custody of “Xyrin Research Institute,” and these series of changes showed one thing–the “Absolute Ability Project” had been forcibly disrupted by a powerful external force. The upper echelons of Academy City did not even put up token resistance before hastily turning over the related materials, including the guardianship of “the sisters.”

The cause of all this was undoubtedly “Xyrin Research Institute,” or more precisely, that Director she had recently met, a man she couldn’t see through.

His actions were all inscrutable, almost as if he was playing a game, but the only consolation was that he was a good person.

Misaka Mikoto recalled her visit to the research institute the day before to see her sisters. That visit had thoroughly dispelled her doubts. Although nominally a research institute engaged in Ability Development experiments (and, of course, tons of other varied and unspeakable “research scopes”), it seemed that aside from the project Zuotian Tsuruya was involved in, the institute wasn’t conducting any other research. Her sisters led quite a relaxed life there; a certain “Director Uncle” even organized for a few researchers to enthusiastically give them music lessons… Well, although that was somewhat inexplicable, at least her sisters were being taken care of well.

And they hadn’t been dragged into new experiments, as she had feared.

“Big Sister?”

“Big Sister…”

“Big Sister!!” A sudden shout exploded next to her ear, snapping Misaka Mikoto back to reality, and then she felt a petite figure suddenly clinging to her. This was followed by Bai Jing Heizi’s exaggerated exclamation, “Why does Big Sister fall into such a weird trance upon mentioning that Director Uncle!? Could it be that the worst has happened? Could the challenge Black is about to face actually be this mysterious mature man appearing out of nowhere? Could Big Sister have been… ah oh…”

Accompanied by a sudden burst of dazzling electric light, the object known as Bai Jing Heizi had already slowly slid off the bench, smoking all over.

“This perverted, shameless guy…”

Misaka Mikoto’s forehead still sparkled with erratic lightning, her face flushed with either anger or stimulation from Bai Jing Heizi’s explosive remarks, her fists tightly clenched. She lowered her head, trembling all over, and it was unclear whether she intended to give the twitching Bai Jing Heizi on the ground another strong electric shock.

“Um, Bai Jing’s Life Force is really tenacious.”

Watching the habitually-paralyzed Bai Jing Heizi, Chichun Shili, wearing a garland on her head, smiled awkwardly without any intention of helping her up. Clearly, everyone had become quite accustomed to calmly observing such a situation.

“By the way, Chichun, has the Fantasy Master incident been resolved? I remember the Disciplinary Committee should still be very busy around this time, right?”

Zuotian Tsuruya suddenly remembered something that had been a headache for Bai Jing and Chichun a few days ago and asked curiously–speaking of which, she had also almost decided to seek out the Fantasy Master to increase her own power. Luckily, she had met the kind-hearted “Otherworldly Saviors” in time. She still felt an unreal, dreamlike sensation.

“As for the Fantasy Master incident,” the mention of work immediately brought a serious expression to Chichun Shili’s face, “although we haven’t found the mastermind behind it, it has calmed down a lot recently. Also, after determining the essence of the Fantasy Master to be an audio file, we’ve made great progress through computer networks to block and trace its spread…”

“That’s why Black and Chichun were able to enjoy this rare holiday after working overtime to finish the Disciplinary Committee’s work and then join Big Sister, uh, on a discounted date…”

Fully revived on the spot, Bai Jing Heizi puffed out her chest and plunged back into her fanciful, indefinably weird state–a state that made Misaka Mikoto’s hair stand on end.

Watching her headache-inducing junior burst into dangerously high levels of yuri pheromones in all directions, the brown-haired girl couldn’t help but feel secretly relieved, “This girl… fortunately, I had the foresight to invite Chichun and Zuotian over or who knows what terrible plan she’d be planning to execute.”

At that moment, the relaxing girls had no idea that the very next day, a catastrophic event involving thousands of students would unfold, exposing them to the darkest parts of Academy City.

The incident began with the first student who used the Fantasy Master to forcibly enhance their powers suddenly falling into a coma. It then spread like a plague that had suddenly erupted: a large number of students inexplicably sank into deep comas, and no examination method could identify any physical abnormalities in them. The only clue was that they had all used the “Fantasy Master.”

In just two short days, the number of victims involved in the comatose incident had surged to tens of thousands, and the number was still skyrocketing rapidly.

Facing the sudden incident, the security team and the Disciplinary Committee had fallen into a great passivity. Firstly, they had not yet been able to find the culprit behind the “Fantasy Master” event and naturally could not talk about solving the problem from the root. Secondly, besides the possibility that the outbreak of the Fantasy Master event might be related to the AIM diffusion fields, no one had a clear understanding of its principle and the causes of the resulting comas. An event so complex and with such broad implications had truly exceeded the handling capabilities of the security team and the Disciplinary Committee.

Disciplinary Committee Branch 177, which was also the workplace of Bai Jing Heizi and Chichun Shili, saw several girls gathered together, each with expressions clouded by worry.

Although not members of the Disciplinary Committee, Misaka Mikoto and Zuotian Tsuruya were there for various reasons, and they had both put in considerable effort in investigating the Fantasy Master event.

“The students who have fallen into comas can now be confirmed to have no physical problems,” said a seemingly mature and steady senior with black chin-length hair, intelligent-looking female glasses, and a serious and earnest expression. Despite her appearance of being just a student, the girl exuded decisive and reliable vibes, “The cause of the coma is still unclear, but one thing can be certain, their brains have stopped responding to external information, akin to a state of deep shock.”

“If we could find the original documents of the Fantasy Master or the initial research data from its creator, it might be possible to awaken these students, but now… we’re completely without a method.”

“In that case, won’t the students remain comatose forever!?”

Chichun Shili, upon hearing what her senior had reported, couldn’t help but exclaim in alarm.

“How could this happen…” Zuotian Tsuruya, hearing Chichun Shili’s words, suddenly showed an expression of disbelief, and at the same time, a frightening thought crept into her mind: If they had not encountered those kind “Otherworldly People,” would she now be one of those comatose in the hospital?

“Tsuruya,” while Zuotian Tsuruya was mired in such grim contemplations, Bai Jing Heizi suddenly spoke up, “If possible, we can ask for help from the research institute!”

“Eh?”

Zuotian Tsuruya, who had been lost in thought, had not quite caught Black’s words and responded in surprise.

“That’s right, the research institute,” Chichun Shili immediately brightened up, “You could ask the Xyrin Research Institute for help, as you have been participating in the Ability Development research there, right? So making some small requests should be alright, shouldn’t it? As an official research institution, especially mainly focused on superpower development, they’re bound to have a way to deal with such matters. Even though some research institutions we’ve been working with have already begun analyzing the coma incidents, having more help is always for the better, isn’t it?”

“That’s true, then I’ll go talk to the Director,” Zuotian agreed.

“Hold on,” Kushida Meiwei finally found an opportunity to interject, “Which research institute are you talking about? Do you have access to such resources?”

“It’s not us,” Misaka Mikoto realized that the senior in front of her was directing a puzzled gaze at her, a member of Academy City’s top seven Level 5 power users known as the Super Electromagnetic Cannon, and quickly waved her hand dismissively before pointing at Zuotian Tsuruya, “It’s Tsuruya. She’s working with a research institute on a superpower development project. It seems like a very capable institute, and their help might be able to awaken those students who have fallen into comas.”

“Really?” Kushida Meiwei immediately showed a look of relief and joy, “That’s fantastic. Who would have thought the usually inconspicuous Zuotian Tsuruya could have such depth! In that case, we are all counting on you! But… will a large institution like a research institute agree to help just because you ask?”

“There’s no problem with that,” Bai Jing Heizi immediately crossed her arms and nodded, adding confidently, “The Director there has a little sister complex, so if Tsuruya steps in…”

Everyone: “…”

Anyway, in the end, the Imperial Commander named Zuotian Tsuruya came to the base camp to request support…

“That’s pretty much what happened.”

Zuotian Tsuruya, who had rushed over early in the morning, brought us some rather unpleasant news.

“Huh… I thought this wouldn’t happen after all.”

After listening to Tsuruya’s story, I scratched my head and turned my gaze behind me–Misaka 10031 was there, deeply engrossed in researching with Visca how to successfully disassemble and assemble a Vector Coil in three minutes. It seemed that a certain cat-eyed loli had finally found a good friend.

These past few days, I had been busy dealing with the Sister Misakas’ affairs, so we had temporarily put aside our not-so-important Fantasy Master timeline. However, nobody expected the situation, which we thought was gradually subsiding, to suddenly explode overnight.

“Eh?” Upon hearing my sigh, Zuotian Tsuruya immediately showed a surprised expression, “Don’t tell me… you knew about this?”

“Um, sort of,” I said, touching my hair awkwardly. Seeing Tsuruya’s expression quickly turn sour, I hurriedly explained, “I just caught a hint of it before, but then another troublesome situation came up and my attention was diverted. I didn’t expect the Fantasy Master to suddenly break out!”

Upon hearing this explanation, Zuotian Tsuruya’s expression softened. If I had let her know that we had grasped the “plot” but still watched tens of thousands of students fall into comas without acting, this kind-hearted girl would probably have felt quite aggrieved, although it would have been an unintentional oversight on our part.

“So, can you treat those students who’ve fallen into a coma?”

Facing Tsuruya’s eager gaze, I rolled my eyes heavenward, “Isn’t that a silly question? Have you forgotten our identity? Or did you forget your own identity as well?”

If even a few humans in a coma were beyond us, Xyrin Technology might as well face disgrace.

However, curing those students was easy, but not a permanent solution to the problem.

The creator of the Fantasy Master, Kiyama Haruaki, aimed to use the AIM diffusion fields unconsciously emitted by power users to form a wireless network. By linking the brains of tens of thousands of students, he sought to achieve a calculation power nearly equivalent to that of the Tree Diagram Designer, and then use it to find a way to awaken those children who had been asleep for years. To make the “incompatible” human brains become part of this network, Kiyama Haruaki forcibly altered part of the brainwave structures of tens of thousands of students with the “Fantasy Master,” essentially planting countless downloader-type Trojans in their brains. These Trojans worked in tandem in every student’s mind, and it wasn’t as simple as rescuing just a few of them–according to Bubbles’ calculations, these “Trojan programs” had the capability to supplement each other, meaning that unless we deleted the virus from all of the students’ brains simultaneously, they could always re-download from each other via the brain network. The treatment process would likely be endless, and even if we could use our technological advantage to completely destroy this brain network, there was no guarantee that it wouldn’t harm the students’ fragile neural networks.

The most straightforward solution was obviously to create an antivirus software that could spread rapidly within this network, which wouldn’t be difficult for Bubbles. The only trouble was that we didn’t have Kiyama Haruaki’s “original sample.”

The human brain is quite intricate, and although it may not perform as well as the quantum computation core of the Xyrin people, it cannot be fixed with a hammer and chisel either. Without the “original sample,” even Bubbles could only simulate the current brain states of those tens of thousands of students through the crassest methods to develop the antivirus software within a “virtual machine,” which might take a few days–considered lightning fast, but Kiyama Haruaki was probably growing impatient already.

Given these circumstances, we simply chose a strategy of inaction: Kiyama Haruaki was bound to surface sooner or later. We might as well wait and make a grand entry at the last moment. Gundam’s story tells us that the one who always appears at the last moment to bring down the boss is Kira Yamato, while all those who struggle and get their roles stolen are mass-produced Zafts–am I getting my stories crossed again?

And then, on the third morning after the first coma case appeared, the incident finally erupted.

I know this kind of talk sounds absolutely annoying, but the wheels of destiny must be mounted beneath a sixteen-cylinder engine, as Kiyama Haruaki was indeed caught by a violent organization made up of middle school girls. The only difference from the original “plot” was that a certain loli who was supposed to become a rescue mission NPC narrowly escaped disaster…(To be continued. For more, please visit www.NovelFire.net. More chapters, support the author, support genuine reading!)

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