Xyrin Empire
Chapter 385 - Chapter 385 Chapter 385 Annoyance

Chapter 385: Chapter 385: Annoyance Chapter 385: Chapter 385: Annoyance “Regarding the ‘Absolute Ability Plan’ issue with Sawao, or to put it bluntly, what should become of the over ten thousand clone sisters of Mikoto.”

I sipped the coffee in front of me, exhaled a long breath after confirming it hadn’t been spiked with some kind of high-concentration engine fuel, and then leaned back on the sofa and said.

Mikoto immediately looked up, but Yifang beat her to the punch, “Tch, you just want to take that brat away, don’t you? I don’t care where you guys come from or what you’re up to, but if you’re thinking of taking that brat, forget about it!”

Then Mikoto immediately showed a surprised expression, swiftly glancing at the white-haired boy not far away, who had always been seen as her biggest enemy and greatest threat, that person who had kept her steeped in nightmares for so long… had actually said such a thing?

“Alright, alright, it seems you have some sort of prejudice against us,” I said with a resigned wave of my hand, “which is natural. Anyone who’s been bombed by a group army’s firepower for half an hour can’t possibly have a good impression of their attacker, but I think we need to have an open and honest discussion. That incident was merely a small accident, and now, our goal is to protect those girls who were dragged into the experiment–including the ‘brat’ you mentioned.”

Yifang listened to me and fixed us with his murky red eyes for a long time before saying darkly, “A small… accident!? You monsters, human life is really nothing more than a trivial joke to you, isn’t it? You’re not even human! What gives you the right to play the savior now? I don’t care where you’ve hidden those clones, but there’s no way I’m letting go of that brat!”

After two seconds of silence, I suddenly laughed, “I never would have guessed that Yifang, the man of legend, is actually a staunch human protector at heart. Nevertheless, I must reiterate, that day’s event was simply an accident. Visca’s attack on you–was entirely your own doing!”

Not just Yifang, but Mikoto and Tsuruya too, all displayed surprised expressions upon hearing this. The power of a woman’s curiosity blazed fiercely, and both girls showed expressions that screamed they needed to hear the full story. As for the miniature version of Miss Mikoto in the room–she could be ignored.

I looked at Yifang, then at Mikoto, and finally let out a sigh.

This had been Visca’s request, not only to clear up Yifang’s misunderstanding but also to assure Mikoto of her sisters’ future safety and to prove that she had stepped out from that shadow.

“Visca, she is like a victim of an experiment.”

“I’m reluctant to go into the details, but you’ve seen Pandora, haven’t you, Mikoto? Did you notice how much they resemble each other?”

Mikoto nodded, then something clicked, and her expression turned to shock, “I thought they were just twins who looked a lot alike…”

“Visca is a clone of Pandora. She was born even before the Sister Mikoto clones… And, she is the only survivor among the tens of thousands of clones. Yifang, do you think the attack you suffered that day was too much? Do you think my sister was wrong? Let me tell you now, if it weren’t for Tsuruya and her friends’ sake, just for those few words of yours, I would have destroyed this planet!”

The room fell silent for a long time, so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

“Don’t bring this up in front of Visca, even if she says it doesn’t bother her. I don’t want anyone to hurt my sister over such careless, boring reasons.”

Yifang was silent for a while until he finally said somberly, “If you can take good care of that brat, I’ll apologize, or whatever else you want to do, it’s all fine by me.”

Now it was my turn to be shocked–was this guy really Yifang? He hadn’t been replaced by some fantastical creature named Ling Ke Baihezi, had he? That disrespectful, violent, twisted young man, come back to me!!

But this time, I truly changed my view of Yifang. I hadn’t expected Last Order to hold such importance in his eyes, and even more unexpectedly, that he would offer an apology–of course, this had also to do with Visca’s situation. The Absolute Ability Plan had already led him to create a hell with his own hands, and the person who suffered the most in that hell was probably himself.

Mikoto also looked at One-Way Street with a strange gaze, his face completely buried in the shadows of his hair. To her, this boy had always been like a nightmare made flesh, nothing but fear and hatred had ever crossed her mind about him. But now, she felt she might have been misunderstanding something all along.

“We’ll take good care of every Sister Misaka, and you should all know by now that we are not from this world, especially you, One-Way Street. Having seen the power of the Imperial Army, you should have a direct understanding of our strength. With the might of the Imperial Army, protecting them will be quite easy. I could even build them a city of freedom!”

“If that’s the case,” One-Way Street lifted his head from between his bangs to look at me, “then I understand quite well. It’s completely unrealistic to resist you…monsters. If you really can do what you say, then…”

“Hold on, hold on! Why don’t you ask for Misaka’s opinion! Misaka Misaka finally found a chance to cut in, eagerly jumping up to express her own thoughts!”

The miniaturized Misaka, who had been quietly observing from the side, finally found an opportunity to speak. She immediately grabbed onto One-Way Street’s clothing, anxiously hopping up and down and shouting loudly.

“Hey! Let go!” One-Way Street, with an impatient expression, tried to shake off the mini-Misaka clinging to him like a little monkey, but after much flailing, he couldn’t succeed. Her agility was truly astounding, “Let go, you clueless brat! These dimensional travelers are dangerous…”

Damn it! You’re the dimensional traveler, your whole family is from another dimension! How many times has this been now! I could let it slide when Zuotian Tsuruya and the others say it, but you dare say such taboo words in front of me, damn it!

With that, I rose angrily, my expression as still as water. I raised my hand and brought it down–landing on the head of Misaka 20001.

“Listen, little girl, we won’t hurt you…”

Next to me, Tsuruya slid off the couch with a hiss.

Misaka 20001 swiftly slipped out from under my hand, then turned and bowed to me with politeness, her voice tender and cute, “Firstly, Misaka has received a lot and lot of information from the inferior Misakas, as well as this very happy city you’ve prepared for them. Therefore, Misaka Misaka wants to express her very sincere gratitude to you. Misaka Misaka bows politely while saying this seriously, but Misaka Misaka does not wish to leave this person’s side, Misaka Misaka quickly added afterward.”

“Really? Why?”

I voiced my confusion, while One-Way Street across from me wore an unconcerned look on his face, but his ears perked up all at once.

“Because if Misaka Misaka leaves, this person will surely be worried. He is a dunce who is not good at expressing himself, but he fears loneliness more than anyone else. Misaka Misaka is very clear about this, so Misaka Misaka hopes to stay by this person’s side. Otherwise, there will be no one left to keep him company,” Misaka Misaka attempted to mimic the tone of a tragic heroine from a TV drama, but for various reasons, it didn’t seem very effective…

“This little brat…”

One-Way Street hung his head low, his words muffled.

“Idiot… You could just leave, with those people protecting you, nobody could hurt you. It wouldn’t matter what happened to someone like me…”

“You’re making me sound like a villain, forcibly tearing apart the beautiful life between a Lolicon and a Loli…”

I muttered to myself, then immediately received a sharp look from across the way.

“One-Way Street, if you’re willing to accept protection from the Empire, you can come along too. However, before that, we will have to apply a certain level of ‘insurance’ to you. Of course, you’re welcome to maintain your silence, because even if you don’t, no one’s going to listen.”

“You… are you serious? Doing such unnecessary things, you really are all idiots…”

“New Colonial Law, Article One,” I stood up and waved my hand to block One-Way Street’s spiritual energy, then grabbed him with one hand, “Get rid of your stinking attitude, your ticket was never part of our budget.”

A few minutes later, things were smoothly resolved, and Yifang Lolicon was miniaturized by Misaka and taken to visit the “Dimensional Traveler’s Alien Culture Tank” —- speaking of which, does this place really have such dubious stuff? —- and now only three of us were left in the guest room.

“No matter what, I will never forgive that guy.”

That was what Mikoto said after hearing about what had happened.

Of course, that was normal. Human forgiveness has its limits, and even a kind girl like Mikoto, though her pure and bone-deep hatred had subsided, it didn’t mean she could easily forgive One-Way Street, who had killed more than ten thousand of her sisters.

I lifted the coffee cup in front of me and swirled it around and said, “Now you won’t have to see him and get upset, I assure you One-Way Street will stay put on our turf and every Sister will receive the best of care.”

“That’s the only way, then,” Mikoto resignedly nodded her head, “Just how many people do you plan on taking away from this world? Over ten thousand shady clones is one thing, but now even public figures like Level 5? Wouldn’t that cause chaos?”

“Chaos? Of course, a certain Old Fox will become restless, but that’s not a problem, I can handle it.”

I said this nonchalantly, as if stirring up trouble were inevitable since our arrival, the Old Fox had been planning for it, and now we were just tagging along in the mess.

That said, receiving communication from Aresta that afternoon still caught me by surprise. I hadn’t expected the Old Fox’s patience to run out so fast.

Still in that tomb-like, eerie room crisscrossed with lines and equipment, the muted humming, a tube filled with formalin, and a man bound to the tube, seeing Aresta always induced a string of uncontrollable mental comments. In a way, the man before me had a taste that could be considered quite performance-art-like.

Sitting comfortably in the gold-etched dragon chair I stole from Lin Xue, I playfully looked at the tube man: “Aresta, I didn’t expect you to react so quickly. I thought you’d be calmer, maybe continue your sneaky tricks, plotting calculations, and such.”

This time, Aresta’s silence lasted even longer than usual. I guess his silent moments before speaking to me were because he was frantically trying to parse what I was saying. I’m quite clear about my own unreliability, and this magical trait obviously made every conversation with me a bitter experience for Aresta.

“Outsider, your recent actions have indeed caused me a certain sense of crisis, therefore, we should probably have a frank discussion.”

“Alright, alright, frank talk it is. So first off, stop your little tricks. You see, we can’t even talk about that. You and I have no conflict of interest, but you seem always inclined to manipulate things to your will, and I really don’t like that, especially this time–Sylvia’s issue.”

Aresta’s voice sounded completely unfluctuating: “That was indeed a small accident. Not everything is under my control, and having you intervene was a necessity. In fact, I was truly shocked by the outcome where the entire Queen’s Fleet was decimated in your hands in an instant. Such power was indeed beyond my expectations.”

I wasn’t surprised that Aresta was aware of the scene at the time. Despite being millions of miles away, for figures like these Old Monsters, knowing every corner of the world is as easy as counting their fingers. Not just Aresta, probably on the second day after the Queen’s Fleet’s demise, Lola also got the firsthand report, but the former would view us as an even greater uncontrollable threat, while the latter would become more loyal.

Seeing I had no intention of engaging in conversation, Aresta wasn’t awkward, and stated his purpose directly: “Then, since the matter is resolved, could the girl be sent back? She is a resident of Academy City, and it’s time she returned to our protection.”

I raised an eyebrow: “So you’re talking about Silvia. I thought you were going to mention something about One-Way Street.”

“One-Way Street? That Level 5? Are you saying that you’ve taken some sort of action against him recently? Another large-scale attack and hunt?”

“No, I plan to take him in.”

The various instruments and devices around us all buzzed for a moment before gradually quieting down.

“Outsider, I hope you still remember your promise. I merely allowed you to live here, but the condition is not to do anything unnecessary. And now, it seems you’re taking too many actions.”

I said nothing, just quietly watched him until I estimated his patience had run out, then I laughed, “Whatever you say, we will take in both One-Way Street and all the Misaka Clones. You’re well aware of the trouble caused by the Absolute Ability Project. On this matter, I’ve decided to act on my own preferences.”

Aresta didn’t answer me immediately, and I knew he would never agree to this easily. Handing over all the Misaka Clones to us for custody had already touched his bottom line. The Misaka Network is a crucial element for the implementation of the Artificial Heaven Project, and entrusting such an important thing to a group of unidentified Outsiders was already a risky move. Yet, he still chose to agree, because no matter where in the world the Sister Misakas were, the Misaka Network they built would not disappear nor break free from control, unless we killed all the Clones – an obvious impossibility. However, recent incidents of Sister Misakas vanishing from the network likely caught his attention. He might not guess the existence of a “time-space signal blocker,” but he definitely had grown extremely wary of us.

In such a situation, he would regret giving the Misakas to us even without considering handing over One-Way Street — who was, after all, merely a pawn to him.

But after much hesitation, the response that came was beyond my expectations, “Since they are both consequences of the same project, if you’re willing to take him in, I can only agree. After all, it was part of the original agreement.”

I looked at him with surprise, waiting for what he would say next.

Indeed, Aresta then brought up Silvia again, “But I also hope you can transfer the girl you rescued to Academy City’s protective forces soon. I presume you have no reason to keep an ordinary person like her, right?”

“Ordinary person?” There was no way we could give up Silvia. “You really dare say it. We’d already discovered what makes Silvia special – are you surprised? Wondering why we haven’t encountered any trouble? I’ve reminded you countless times not to beat around the bush when communicating with us. It’s pointless!”

“Outsider, your way of doing things is really beyond my understanding – even if the girl is special, it should still be an internal matter for Academy City. You have absolutely no position to intervene…”

“It’s simple. We’ve become curious.”

I spread my hands at Aresta to signal the end of the discussion on this matter, and then I vanished from the room instantly.

Of course, it was another disagreeable meeting.

But I think that Old Fox definitely won’t rest easy. Silvia appears to hold a very important position in his multitude of plans, her value seemingly even greater than One-Way Street’s. In the coming days, it seems necessary to strengthen the security of the research institute.

That is if Aresta would be foolish enough to directly assault the institute.

The season has reached the hottest time in Japan, and despite nearing evening, the dry heat in the air had not diminished at all. Even though I used my spiritual power to alter and dispel some of the heat around me, seeing the listless pedestrians and shop employees at the storefronts in the heat still made one feel irritable from the bottom of their heart.

Irritable, quite irritable, as if something terrible was about to happen. (To be continued. For more information, please visit www.NovelFire.net. More chapters are available. Support the author; support genuine reading!)

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