ICO 301-310 (Patreon)

ICO 301-310

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Chapter 301: Tohyama Kinji is the First to Strike

Tohyama Kinji played in the Internet cafe for seven consecutive days.

He enjoyed incomparable happiness in Minecraft during that time.

At the same time, he also played other games. In Left 4 Dead, he happily fought zombies with the people in the Internet cafe. In League of Legends, he became a noob and was chased and defeated by the opponent's Ex-Machina boss. In Elden Ring, he passionately fought against the Soldiers of Godrick, and in Devil May Cry, he executed floating combos against the monsters.

To be honest, he really felt very happy these days. This simple happiness was something he and his brother had difficulty experiencing when he was a child.

Late at night, Tohyama Kinji put away his fishing rod. He casually poured all the fish in the bucket into the sea, threw away the garbage he had caught, and went to sleep, waiting for school to start the next day.

When he woke up, his childhood sweetheart Hotogi Shirayuki helped him clean up the room and prepared to go to school with him. "Kinji-kun, make sure you bring your weapons."

Tohyama Kinji wanted to emphasize again that he didn't want to be called that, but then he suddenly remembered his conversation with Homura Akemi.

When Homura Akemi helped him kill the Ender Dragon and was about to leave, she asked him the purpose of playing this game out of curiosity.

"Ordinary life? It's really hard to define what is ordinary, and ordinary is different in the eyes of different people. But I think it's okay to nature takes its course . This is what the boss said to me, and I'll pass this sentence on to you."

Back in reality, Tohyama Kinji remembered this sentence.

Let nature takes it's course...

Will there be any girls in his ordinary life who call him so intimately? Probably, right?

Childhood sweethearts are also quite common in the country where he lives. In that case, just nature takes its course.

"Kinji-san, I always feel... you are not quite right today."

"Not right? Maybe I figured something out."

"Could it be that Kinji-san, wuwuwuwu!"

Before she could finish her words, Tohyama Kinji took out an apple from somewhere and blocked Shirayuki's mouth. "Let's go; it's time to go to school. Today is the opening ceremony. It's not good to be late."

Tohyama Kinji felt that what he said made sense. He had already read the email through the new mobile device purchased from the Ex-Machina, so there was no need to read it again on the computer.

Although he wanted to leave Butei High School, if he wanted to transfer normally, he had to meet the school's requirements in terms of grades and tasks. This made Tohyama Kinji want to give up, but he couldn't give up completely.

The journey was plain and dull. Shirayuki was talking about something, and he would reply if he heard something that interested him.

The change in his mentality made him no longer simply pursue an ordinary life, but rather treat his life as an ordinary life. This change also made Tohyama Kinji regain some happiness. This kind of life was really good for him.

When they arrived at the school, the bustling students were greeting each other. Since Tohyama Kinji and Hotogi Shirayuki were not in the same campus, they separated after entering the school.

The opening ceremony mainly consisted of the teachers mumbling something, either making big promises or introducing the new teachers. But while Tohyama Kinji was listening, he suddenly noticed something strange.

The new teacher introducing himself in front of him had an Hp bar on his head? And it was blood-red.

"Hey..."

Tohyama Kinji was stunned for a moment, then became alert.

On TT, he quickly contacted Liu Yuan.

"Boss, let me ask you a question. What does it mean to see an HP bar in real life?"

"A murderer has killed at least one person without resistance or opposition. The deeper the HP bar, the more he has killed. Killings caused by simple battles, accidents, or the continuation of the race are generally not marked. Don't worry; the system may miss it, but it will never make a mistake."

"Then, boss... I met a person with a blood-red HP bar on his head..."

"That's easy; just rush up and beat him up. Oh! If there are many people, you have to take the lead. For example, if you see him abducting children or something, generally, if you make up a few excuses for such a deep HP bar, nine out of ten will be correct, and the remaining one may be part of his plan. And this kind of person will definitely interrupt your ordinary life. If you go up and beat him up, you will be a hero in everyone's eyes. If you don't, there will be endless troubles."

"But in this case... won't my ordinary life be gone?"

At this point, Liu Yuan said seriously: "What you want is an ordinary life—a normal life: studying and normal work. All you think about is what discounted food to buy tonight and what to cook for your children tomorrow. But this ordinary life does not conflict with your own development. I have a trick here: show your strength, show your intelligence, and then say nothing after that. When you say nothing but show strong strength and intelligence, a chain of suspicion will form, and the chain of suspicion will make them stay away from you."

"But I don't have any intelligence about him."

"I won't say anything. You can make up excuses for this kind of people. Nine out of ten can do it, and the remaining one is doing it. Make up nonsense and let your imagination run wild. Finally, defeat him, then pat your butt and leave. When someone asks you, act mysterious. When no one asks you, eat and drink peacefully. There must be someone who thinks you are a strange existence. Just remember, if you meet someone who can hinder you from living an ordinary life, just deal with him."

Tohyama Kinji was not a brainless person, but during this time, not only Liu Yuan's words, but also other people's trust in Liu Yuan, were affecting him. At the same time, many real cases told him that Liu Yuan's words could be believed without question. The boss's words might have problems, but if the problem affected his life, the boss would solve it.

In his opinion, Liu Yuan was like a god. He could give him strength and help him change his life. If this is not god-like, what is?

In fact, he did not believe in any gods, but after contacting Liu Yuan, he began to believe.

Of course, he believed in Liu Yuan, and now there was only one thing to do: for an ordinary life, deal with this situation.

In this case, just go up and confront him. As for the commotion caused, it was not important.

What really moved him and made him act was not the teacher's murder, but Liu Yuan's last words: keeping him would cause endless troubles.

So Tohyama Kinji took off his weapons and equipment. Almost everyone in Butei High School carried weapons. If he wore weapons, he would definitely be stopped by other students and teachers who had weapons and won't be able to reach him.

"This student? What are you going to do?"

Tohyama Kinji's sudden action attracted the attention of all the teachers and students.

Tohyama Kinji took off his clothes and threw his weapons and magazines on the ground in front of everyone. As he threw them, he said, "Teacher Sayonaki-san, I'll call you that for now. Don't you have any thoughts of repentance for what you did?"

"Huh?"

The male teacher with glasses named Tooru Sayonaki asked with a smile, "What are you talking about, student?"

"Hehe, you think I don't have evidence, right? My intelligence organization has obtained all your information! Old man, did you do think no one would know what happened in the basement? Did you kill that person, and did you imprison and use the girls as breeding machines? You let someone impersonate you and made innocent people suffer in prison. Also, don't think I don't know your purpose. Your purpose is us, right? Haha, it seems you are still making the same mistakes. The failures of Britain and the defeat of France did not teach you a lesson. For the girls imprisoned and enslaved by you, for my companions, I will arrest you today."

This was the most heinous thing that Tohyama Kinji could think of, and it could also provoke the most public outrage among his classmates.

After these words were shouted, the scene instantly fell silent.

The girl named Mine Riko looked at Kinji Tohyama in disbelief at that moment.

"What are you talking about?"

The expression on Tooru Sayonaki's face became a little solemn.

The teacher at Butei High School wanted to stop Kinji Tohyama's actions, but a voice stopped him through the intercom mechanism.

He knew Kinji Tohyama very well. Although he was hit hard by the previous incident, his strength and character were trustworthy.

But this teacher, Tooru Sayonaki, was different. He was too clean.

Moreover, Kinji Tohyama had already disarmed himself, and based on his character, he would never kill Sayonaki.

Additionally, the identity of this teacher was indeed a bit problematic. If Kinji Tohyama could deceive him or had any evidence, it could also avoid future dangers.

Since no one would die, it was not a big problem. At most, Kinji Tohyama would receive a more serious punishment later, so he would graduate from Butei High School honestly.

But what if? What if Kinji Tohyama was telling the truth? That would be interesting. In order to avoid this possibility, the teachers of Butei High School were all prepared at this moment.

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Chapter 302: Resident Evil Bazooka vs. Vlad

"Don't dare to admit it? Afraid of being exposed and unable to run away? It doesn't matter. Even if I'm alone, you can't escape. I have accepted the commission from the victim's family. Just surrender. It doesn't matter if you don't surrender. Your old enemy and his descendants are ready."

"Impossible! Jeanne can't be..."

Before he could finish speaking, the entire scene grew even quieter.

When he said it was impossible, many people noticed Sayonaki's expression change.

This was the truth exposed. The most common reaction of a suspect—even if it was only for a moment—was noticed by many students, and the teachers of Butei High School were also ready to act.

"Tohyama Kinji! Come down quickly! This person is very dangerous."

"It doesn't matter; I will take action."

Kinji had gradually come to understand what an ordinary life was. He ate, drank, and had fun normally in life, and he struck hard when he encountered evil.

The Academic Affairs teacher was about to approach, but Kinji waved his hand to stop him.

"Tohyama Kinji! Come down quickly! This person is very dangerous."

"It doesn't matter. I will take action."

"Tohyama Kinji!"

At this moment, Tohyama Kinji's Hysteria mode was activated. This was an obstacle to his ordinary life. Just as Liu Yuan had said, anyone who hindered his ordinary life had to be dealt with. As long as he wasn't killed outright, he would face them head-on.

"Hahaha!"

At this moment, Sayonaki realized he was truly exposed. Everything Tohyama Kinji had made up was something he had done or was doing. There is no perfect crime in the world. Although he had handled things very cleanly, he had no idea if he had truly been deceived and someone contacted Tohyama Kinji.

Given Tohyama Kinji's identity, discovering the truth wasn't impossible. No! If that guy took action, his exposure was inevitable.

What baffled him was why he wanted to expose himself now, but that didn't matter.

As a vampire, Vlad naturally had a way to escape.

His body was expanding, and he was growing stronger. And since this was the opening ceremony, even the teachers here were hesitant to act recklessly.

"Hahaha, since it's exposed, it doesn't matter. Prepare to die!"

No one here knew his intelligence, let alone his weaknesses. And because it was the opening ceremony, no one carried heavy weapons. The strongest weapon available was a pistol—a cricket pistol. How could they possibly kill him?

The scene descended into chaos. Some teachers evacuated students in an orderly manner, while others prepared to leave. However, Kinji Tohyama was faster.

"Ora!!!"

In that moment, he was in an Hysteria mode, concentrating all his strength into a fierce attack aimed at Vlad, who had transformed into a vampire.

Initially, Lan Bao thought Kinji Tohyama must have a well-prepared plan, but upon witnessing that punch, he was shocked.

Not only him, but also Hotogi Shirayuki and Mine Riko, who were spying on Kinji Tohyama from a distance, were taken aback.

Meanwhile, the pink-haired girl outside was still trying to squeeze into the scene.

Then a strange occurrence took place. Vlad, who had originally been mocking was sent flying by Tohyama Kinji's punch. If you looked closely, you'd see that Tohyama Kinji was not using his fist but a square wooden stick.

Vlad was shocked because, at that moment, he felt his body was out of control.

In his Hysteria mode, Tohyama Kinji recalled the experiences of the past few days. His brain recorded every battle and released it perfectly in this state.

"Ola! Ola! Ola! Ola! Ola!"

Tohyama Kinji was not foolish; he knew he couldn't defeat the opponent relying solely on brute force. At that moment, he needed the characteristics from Minecraft. Whatever it took, he had to use them.

"Hahahahaha!"

Vlad, propelled into the air, laughed loudly. The wooden stick struck his body and hurt, but unfortunately, his magical organs couldn't be knocked out at the same time. All his injuries could heal instantly.

"Tohyama Kinji, right? I can make countless mistakes, but you can only afford one. No matter who is outside, you will die today."

"Do you think I don't know your weaknesses?"

"What?"

At that moment, Kinji's brain recalled the introduction of a boss named Tina when he was playing Resident Evil on TT.

"As the saying goes, the more hair, the weaker the fire, and the weaker the door. The stronger the recovery ability of the boss, the more obvious the weakness. Just hit the weakness. Based on my experience, as long as it has that kind of recovery ability, you might be able to kill it by attacking its body from top to bottom and inside to outside. The worst case is that several weaknesses are broken simultaneously within a short period of time. This is also simple; just poke the weapon into the weakness to prevent recovery. If that still doesn't work, use an RPG. Boss battles are very straightforward."

Recalling this, Tohyama Kinji completely understood how to defeat his opponent. It was ironic that in his perception that Vlad had several special symbols on his body, clearly indicating his weaknesses.

After knocking Vlad away once again, Tohyama Kinji shouted, "Who has a blade?"

Mine Riko who had not escaped drew out two katanas. She trembled with fear at the sight of Vlad, but for some reason, when she looked at Tohyama Kinji, who was calm and seemingly enjoying the show, she remembered something.

First, trust your partners! Trust your partners! Trust your partners!!

Riko threw her weapons, and Kinji caught the two katanas with both hands without even turning his head. As he landed and prepared to counterattack, he swung the two blades.

"Light hit! Light hit! Heavy hit!"

However, Vlad did not dodge. He aimed to deliver a fatal blow to Tohyama Kinji despite the pain.

This strike was something Tohyama Kinji could not evade at all, but he had no intention of escaping. After all, compared to the Soldiers of Godrick, this attack was slow and lacked strength. He could counter with the weapons in his hands; he just needed to...

Just as he was about to block, a gunshot rang out in the distance, interrupting Vlad's attack. Vlad's body lost its balance.

"This should also be considered an Guard Break, right? Execution!"

The two katanas pierced two weak points on Vlad's shoulders in an instant.

"Another one!"

Hotogi Shirayuki rushed down, throwing her weapon."Kinji-san!"

Tohyama Kinji caught the weapon and turned to stab it into the weak point on Vlad's chest. When he faced Resident Evil earlier, he had complained about how some bosses in the world were so foolish as to mark their weaknesses on their bodies. Now, he finally realized that bosses often did this.

"Hehe..."

At that moment, Vlad's body began to recover, and he couldn't help but laugh. "You have no means left, right?"

"..."

Tohyama Kinji fell silent as he noticed that when he estimated the weakness just now, the HP bar had dropped by three-quarters in an instant, but because he didn't continue to attack, it was instantly restored. At the same time, all the weapons were scattered around.

"Die! Tohyama Kinji!"

However, this attack did not connect and only stirred up a cloud of dust. Just as the dust began to settle, three gunshots rang out.

"I am a bullet..."

Three bullets struck Vlad's weak points almost simultaneously. With the help of these bullets, Tohyama Kinji seized the opportunity to pick up the weapon again and stab it into Vlad's body. After completing the attack, Tohyama Kinji hid in the cloud of dust.

From observation, Tohyama Kinji realized that when all three weapons were embedded in Vlad's body, he needed about two seconds to recover, which was ample time.

"Same trick? Unfortunately, the same trick won't work on me. I'm back~"

"But unfortunately, it's not the same greeting this time."

Tohyama Kinji took out the RPG—the same RPG from all games of Resident Evil, a replica produced by the Ex-Machinas. It had miraculous effects on monsters transformed from people.

According to Tina's quip: "When someone turns into a monster, guns and grenades may be useless, but RPGs are definitely effective. Even if one shot doesn't kill it, another shot will. If the target is too large, use a corresponding-sized RPG and repeat the process."

Well! Classic Resident Evil strategy.

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Chapter 303: The Ordinary Life That Comes

Vlad saw Kinji Tohyama's figure through the dispersing smoke. When he saw the thick and large barrel, he was shocked.

"What?"

As he was in shock, the RPG fired—not just one shot, but three shots in a row.

Smoke? It didn't matter. Vlad's health bar was like a bright light in the dark, and it could not be blocked by smoke. Especially after entering Hysteria mode, Kinji Tohyama could see the opponent even if he was behind a building.

With one shot, Vlad's health was reduced by more than half.

But it wasn't a big problem. He had bought ten RPGs. Although they were disposable, the advantage was that he didn't need to change the bullets. After use, they would automatically decompose and have no impact on the environment.

When he bought them, the Ex-Machinas were having a big promotion: buy one RPG and get one free, totaling twenty RPGs. The price was discounted, but the power was not.

After firing a shot, Kinji Tohyama paused to see if Vlad's health bar had disappeared. If it didn't disappear or was recovering, he would fire another shot. After firing six shots in total, Vlad's health bar had dwindled to a trace of empty HP bar. After a few seconds, when the HP bar did not recover, he stopped attacking.

The smoke dissipated, revealing Sayonaki lying on the ground, covered in blood.

Vlad was destroyed. With the magic organ, he could indeed revive quickly. He could even recover after resisting one or two RPG explosions. But when more RPGs exploded on him, his weaknesses could be hit simultaneously.

Once the weaknesses were destroyed, Vlad vanished, leaving only his human body, Tooru Sayonaki.

The two had actually fought for a very short time. First, the students had to be evacuated, and second, all the teachers were outside for protection. After all, they were all their own people inside, so how could anything go wrong?

As a result, Sayonaki, the new teacher, was exposed by a few words from Kinji Tohyama. It was okay to expose himself because he hadn't harmed a student yet.

What they noticed was that Kinji Tohyama's expression didn't fluctuate much.

"Huh, it's solved."

"?"

The teachers was stunned. What happened to their student?

"Oh? Teacher, you are here? I killed it, but the human should not be dead yet. He should know a lot of things. Just examine him."

"Leave the rest to us. By the way, about the explosion just now..."

"Explosion? Was there an explosion? It might have been caused by accident."

The teacher didn't say anything but just smiled and shook his head. "Okay, you leave first and leave the rest to us."

"Thank you, teacher. By the way, teacher, I want to take a few days off."

"It's approved. You can rest as long as you want. Just don't cause trouble during this time."

"Thank you, teacher. I won't cause trouble."

No one knows if it's someone's imagination, but Tohyama Kinji felt that after he took action, many troubles in the future appeared to be far away from him. He suddenly felt much more relaxed.

"Kinji-san?"

"Shirayuki."

Looking at the familiar person, he handed her the weapon he had picked up from the smoke. "Sorry, I made your weapon like this."

The entire blade belonging to Hotogi Shirayuki had turned gray, but because of the special material, the blade was still intact after the RPG explosions; however, the handle was a bit damaged.

"It's okay, I'm just glad you're okay."

"Let's leave first! It really hurts, I'm in pain and hungry. Shirayuki, do you have time later? Can we have a meal together?"

"Hey, hey, hey?" Hotogi Shirayuki never expected to be invited, and this tone reminded her of the experience of watching fireworks with him when she was a child.

Neither of them noticed Mine Riko on the other side of the seat. Riko's eyes were fixed on Kinji Tohyama. She really wanted to hug this boy, but she knew she couldn't leave because she was a witness.

Things happened so fast that even she couldn't believe it. The man who tortured her was defeated? And was he defeated in such a short time? Many students at the scene didn't even have time to evacuate.

Although he won, Tohyama Kinji always felt it was strange.

On the TT, he couldn't help asking again.

"Boss... I made a big noise; can I really live an ordinary life?"

"Yes! I won't say it again. The stronger you are, the less people will want to mess with you if you live an ordinary life. Believe it or not, after you finish this beating, there will be no big trouble for at least a month. At most, some people will secretly investigate you, and some girls will pursue you. You can find an Ex-Machina to customize an artificial intelligence that will forge a simple identity for you. I guess no one will bother you at all, except for the end of the world."

"If it's just this level, it really doesn't matter..."

A week ago, he would have felt a headache if this kind of thing had happened. But now, it didn't matter; women would only affect his punching speed and gaming speed.

Only the companions in the game and the boss truly helped him live a good life.

Anyway, the Hysteria mode had become a skill, so there was no need to worry about too many girls turning him into a pervert.

"Great, I can finally live like a normal person."

Recalling his experience in junior high school, he could only think of the word "pain." At the beginning, a girl discovered his ability and used him for a lot of things. But now, no one could use him in Hysteria mode.

Are there many girls? It's not a big problem. Let them live in his own house and cut down two trees to make a crafting table.

Which trees should be cut? He looked at the surrounding green trees.

"Shirayuki, I'm really hungry. Can you help me get some food? I'll wait for you here."

"Okay! Kinji-kun, don't walk around."

"No, my phone is fully charged."

Shirayuki ran off without much doubt, while Tohyama Kinji walked toward the nearest tree. While Tohyama Kinji was thinking, he found himself blocked by a pink-haired loli.

"Hey!"

"I'm so sorry, sorry."

"It's okay. Hey, hey, hey?"

The girl named Aria just wanted to ask Kinji Tohyama what had happened inside. She wanted to go upstream, but she was stopped and couldn't get in. She didn't know his name, but she felt embarrassed when he apologized right away after she had only asked a question. This embarrassment made her forget what to say.

She was going to wait for someone to come out, but no one came for a long time. At the same time, she noticed that the teachers in charge of monitoring seemed to be gone, so she prepared to go up.

When she ran up, she remembered that the man hadn't really bumped into her and didn't need to apologize.

She turned her head and wanted to explain the situation, but Aria's eyes widened. What did she see?

The boy just waved his fist at the green tree, and then the tree turned into a pile of small cubes and fell to the ground. Then this person took all the small cubes away while the girl next to him was not paying attention.

That's fine; she then saw Kinji Tohyama plant a sapling, then sprinkle some white powder, and it turned into a tree?

Is she dreaming?

She rubbed her eyes, and then she found that the boy was looking at her and waving.

"Are you going to silence me?"

"Silence me? What silence? What do you want to silence? I just performed a magic trick. Fun, right?"

"Magic!"

"Well, it's a magic trick prepared to attract girls. Look at your surprised expression. It will definitely work if you perform it for someone I like. Goodbye~"

"Goodbye..."

Aria waved her hand in place. At that moment, she felt that her brain was a little overloaded, and at the same time, she felt... as if she had missed something.

After a while, she knew the truth and had only one thought: Kinji Tohyama was just deceiving her, and she wanted to find Kinji Tohyama to talk to him again!

According to the information she obtained from the school, she found Kinji Tohyama's dormitory, but he was gone.

Where was Kinji Tohyama at this time?

He was under the sea near his dormitory. He built a small house under the sea with his own hands and had enough food and clothing.

Wet? Not at all. If you put a dry sponge in it, you need to put a humidifier in the dry part.

"Great, it turns out that only a house like this can make me feel peaceful. Thank you, boss. Thank you, everyone in the Ex-Machina cluster. Good night!"

He placed a few pieces of glass on the roof so he could look up at the sea when he went to sleep. Because the opening ceremony that day was too chaotic, the first day of school was extended to a week off. He could happily continue to mess around for a week. And he also took a leave of absence, so he had a month to mess around.

He suddenly had an idea. If he continued to mess around like this, could he do this once every month and then take a month off? He would be able to get by Butei High School quickly. But he soon realized one thing: with this level of internet surfing, he would soon run out of money. He had to find some formal channels to make some money.

According to the internet café guide, it seemed that being a trader could earn him money for surfing the internet and eating and drinking every day...

At the same time, Tohyama Kinji was still pondering whether he should tell Shirayuki about this. In the past, due to his own reasons, he had to keep his distance to avoid doing something stupid, but this time...

"Forget it."

Tohyama Kinji stood up. He felt that there was no need to hide this. Anyway, Hotogi Shirayuki came to his room every day, so he would tell her about his secret hut.

But when he returned to his dormitory and prepared to invite his childhood sweetheart, he fell into deep thought.

Why were there three girls in his room?

In addition to his childhood sweetheart, and Mine Riko, he recognized the remaining pink-haired girl, whom he had met in the afternoon, but why was she so angry?

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Chapter 304: Kinji Tohyama: Will I Lend Money to Someone Who Is Unable to Repay?

In Kinji Tohyama's room, Hotogi Shirayuki, Mine Riko, and Aria looked at each other.

All three of them came to Kinji Tohyama's room with different purposes.

If there were only two people, Hotogi Shirayuki would fight 80% of the time, with the remaining 20% being the possibility that the fight was over.

But now there are three people, forming a three-kingdom situation. Hotogi Shirayuki feels that she is Cao Cao in this three-kingdom scenario, having a significant advantage, while Aria can be considered Liu Bei, the weakest of the three kingdoms.

"What are you doing?"

"Kinji-san~"

"Kinji~"

He could understand Shirayuki rushing over, but Riko... they had some cooperation and were classmates, yet she didn’t leave the scene but threw her weapon up at the first moment.

Although he didn't know why the detective department would bring double swords, it played a significant role at the critical moment anyway. The rocket launcher eventually destroyed the other person's sword, so it made sense for the other person to come and entertain him. But this pink-haired loli...

"Hello, my name is Kanzaki H. Aria. I have something I want you to help investigate."

After Tohyama Kinji left, she obtained specific information through her intelligence network. At the opening ceremony, Tohyama Kinji saw through Vlad's identity and successfully defeated him.

The impact of doing so is that her mother's sentence can be reduced by ninety-nine years.

This gave Aria hope, and her intuition told her that Tohyama Kinji could definitely save her mother. She would do anything if it meant saving her mother.

"Investigate? Sure."

Aria was a little surprised by Tohyama Kinji's straightforwardness. "Then let's act quickly."

"No, no, no."

Tohyama Kinji looked at the girl in front of him calmly and said, "Before we investigate, I need to know what I want to do, what results you want to achieve, and how much money you can pay."

"Money..."

Aria opened her mouth and finally began to explain the situation. "Mom is a very gentle person, but she was framed..."

Tohyama Kinji switched to Hysteria mode, his brain working frantically. Vlad's arrest shortened the sentence, and some people Aria had arrested could also help reduce her mother's sentence.

These scattered clues appeared like a frame-up at first glance, but combined with what the vampire named Vlad had done and what she described, Tohyama Kinji guessed something.

"Kinji-san."

Hotogi Shirayuki wanted to say something but, seeing Tohyama Kinji's serious expression, she closed her mouth.

There are only two possibilities for such a situation. The first is that Aria's mother really did something wrong, and the second is that her mother's identity is not simple and must be related to some organization, and she is being protected in this way and what not.

No matter which possibility is true, it is impossible to directly reduce the sentence.

Unless the secret she knows is not a secret or all the people related to her are dead.

Tohyama Kinji also guessed this possibility. Why did Aria's mother's sentence get reduced after she arrested people and solved Vlad herself? This may be the reason.

"If that's the case..."

Aria asked excitedly, "Did you agree?"

"I agreed, but there's a condition."

"What?"

"For every year I help reduce your mother's sentence, you have to give me $100,000. And you need to pay at least $5 million as a deposit before I'll do it. The deadline is one day." Originally, Tohyama Kinji wanted to be kind and charge 100,000 yen. But for some reason, when he thought about the money, an unpleasant feeling rushed straight to his head, and the yen turned into dollars.

"Huh?"

Aria was dumbfounded when she heard the number. Even after the sentence was reduced, there were still more than 600 years remaining. Rounding it up to 600 years, that’s $100,000 a year, $1 million a decade, and $60 million for 600 years.

Her family is indeed rich, but she doesn't manage the money, and their condition has not been very good in recent years. It's easy to take out 500,000 yen, but it's a bit difficult to come up with $500,000. What’s more, it’s $100,000 for just one year of reduction, and even if calculated for the 500-year sentence, it still amounts to $50 million, which she really doesn't have.

The most important thing is not just the money, but the fact that the assets in her hands cannot be converted into US dollars so quickly. Even more critical is that this is $5 million, and it needs to be provided within one day.

She can't do it alone.

"I'm sorry... I... can't do it."

Tears filled Aria's eyes at that moment. Her intuition told her that if she didn’t get help from Tohyama Kinji, her mother might never get out of this situation.

If it was before, he would have definitely been unable to bear the crying of girls, but since his Hysteria mode is controllable, he wouldn't feel anything if a girl cried in front of him for a day and a night—unless it was someone he cared about.

"It's expensive? I think with your or your mother's means, it should be easy to make $100,000 a year, right? Then I would only be making this little money for every year of sentence reduction. In fact, I would be the one losing out. I'm spending a lot."

Hotogi Shirayuki showed a puzzled expression. She knew Kinji's expenses best; there were no large expenditures except for daily food and equipment costs.

Kinji looked at the crying girl and sighed: "If you had agreed decisively, I could have regarded it as you being willing to do anything for your mother, and I would have lent you this money to help you solve the problem temporarily. But your hesitation proves that you are not worth investing in. By the way, I have another piece of news for you: I know the identity of the Butei killer. If you agree, I will arrest her immediately. She can at least reduce your mother's sentence by 100 years. If you don't agree, you may never find the Butei killer in your life. After all, her direct superior is the guy from today."

This statement completely shattered Aria's last line of defense. She knew that if the Butei killer chose to hide, her mother's sins would never be washed away in this life.

"Why?"

Aria's voice was a little hoarse.

Mine Riko, on the side, looked at Kinji Tohyama in shock. Was it possible he knew everything from her expression and tone?

In fact, Kinji Tohyama didn’t know anything. It was just that after using riddles and ambiguous words to make people expose themselves today, he felt that this method seemed very effective. Besides, Liu Yuan had mentioned that the HP bar man’s deeds could be fabricated, so it was possible that the Butei killer was also created by its subordinates?

As for not being able to find them? He wasn't worried at all. He had already calculated that if he really couldn’t find anyone, he would directly give the deposit and 40% of the future collection to the Ex-Machina. According to the customers in the Internet café, the ending of inviting an Ex-Machina in the normal world was very easy, though the price was relatively high.

However, what he said was also true. If Aria could completely sacrifice everything, including herself, then he would temporarily abandon the idea of ordinary life and help the girl in front of him solve her problem. After all, this situation proves that she values feelings and would even do anything for them.

But it’s a pity that Aria hesitated. No! She didn't hesitate; she just cried. There was no maneuvering, no spirit of complete self-sacrifice, and she didn’t even do any basic thinking or guessing.

Maybe she wasn’t a person who didn't value feelings, but her performance made Tohyama Kinji think she didn't, leading him to believe that investing in her wouldn’t bring him any returns.

Let’s not talk about outsiders; let’s talk about Mine Riko. Although they are just ordinary classmates, every time she helps him buy games, whether out of true love or false, she is willing to treat him to a meal without hesitation. Riko can be counted on, but Aria cannot.

At the same time, his intuition told him that he might be completely hurt by this girl in the future.

Thinking of this, Tohyama Kinji directly said, "Will you lend money to someone who has no ability to repay?"

Aria's body trembled; she wanted to say something but couldn't find the words. She wanted to turn around and leave, but at the moment she was about to do so, her intuition told her that if she left, she would completely lose the opportunity to save her mother.

"I have the ability. I have the ability to repay my debts."

In reality, Aria had nothing. In her family, she was excluded—not because of talent, but because of her personality...

"Really?"

Tohyama Kinji smiled. "Then sign a contract with me to prove that you have the ability! If you agree to become a member of my team in the future, you must be able to work for me in all aspects when I make a request. Then I can give you a significant discount on this money: only $10,000 for each year of reduced sentence.

Don't worry; I will only let you do what a Butei would do, and there will be absolutely no life-threatening situations."

The contract was provided by the guests of the Internet café. The ultimate source of this contract was Madoka, but Madoka handed the publicity work to others.

The contract has absolute binding force. If it is treated like a debt that is not repaid, the Law of Cycle will not act while the debtor is alive. However, upon their death, their soul will be recovered by the Law of Cycle and will work at about five times the average annual income of their nationality until all debts are paid off.

However, to avoid contract abuse, the Law of Cycle will personally supervise each contract when it is officially signed, and supervision from the gods can still be trusted.

---

Chapter 305: Riko Blew Herself Up, and Kinji's Friends Passed

Softhearted? Not really. But Aria herself is very valuable. According to the information he obtained, Aria is a serious S-rank martial arts detective.

Just as Liu Yuan mentioned before, by creating a chain of suspicion, he make others doubt him. Because of that suspicion, they dare not act against him at will. In this situation, in his ordinary life, no one would dare to take action.

With strong strength and an organization that resembles a riddle man, if he can easily win over S-rank martial arts detectives and eliminate a group of guys under the pretext of helping Aria rescue her mother, he will definitely be feared by others. The only outcomes of fear are either being eliminated or remaining stagnant.

Given the connections he has in the Internet café and the power he gained, the other party probably won't be foolish enough to eliminate me; they will likely choose to remain inactive. If he can stay inactive, won't that allow him to live an ordinary life?

'According to my calculations, if I'm lucky, I should be able to use Aria to gain enough prestige within a year. In fact, if I stay in the Internet café for half a year, my power can guarantee my ordinary life in this world. This way, I can live a carefree life every day... wouldn't that be easy?'

Aria didn’t hesitate this time; she signed the contract directly. She thought it was just a standard paper contract, but the moment she pressed her fingerprint, she looked at Tohyama Kinji in disbelief.

"You don’t have any questions now, right? Don't worry; I will help you resolve your mother’s issue. But please don’t bother me with unnecessary matters in the next ten days. Come, wipe your tears."

At that moment, Tohyama Kinji felt neither sad nor happy, just a sense of relief. It appears that an ordinary life was getting closer to him.

After Aria left, she felt nervous. Although the contract wouldn’t force her to do anything unethical, she couldn’t help but think of some strange things she "knew" after leaving.

Aria's departure left the room in silence.

"Kinji-san... you...?"

Hotogi Shirayuki looked at Tohyama Kinji with a complicated expression, sensing that he appeared a little different than before.

"Shirayuki, do you think I'm no longer myself?"

"No, I just feel like you've changed a lot, Jin."

"Because I've been through a lot lately, and I've come to understand one thing."

"What’s that?"

"The more I escape, the further I drift from my daily life. To live an ordinary life, I have to eliminate all potential threats. I'm no longer ordinary. If I want to live an ordinary life, I have to remove some obstacles."

On the contrary, Mine Riko couldn’t help but applaud at that moment: "Kinji is so handsome! Hehe~ Kinji, let me share some good news with you!"

"You want to say that you are also one of the murderers who framed Aria's mother, right?"

Tohyama Kinji was initially joking. After all, they were classmates; it was impossible. But given the tension he had just experienced, he suddenly became expressionless. As a result, when he said this with a straight face, Mine Riko felt relieved.

"That's right... Kinji, since you know his identity, it’s normal for you to know mine. I am Mine Riko Lupin IV, a descendant of Lupin."

At this moment, Tohyama Kinji’s expression, which had been about to relax, became tense again, with no emotional fluctuations, as if everything was within his expectations.

However, he truly knew nothing, and nine out of ten of the words he had just said to Aria were ambiguous nonsense. Only the last contract used a little special power to reassure Aria.

But he really didn’t expect Riko to directly reveal her identity.

He switched back to Hysteria mode, his brain working rapidly. Combining her words, he said lightly, "Yes! I already know. I just didn’t expect you to say it out loud. Tell me, what do you want?"

"I... want you!"

"Me?"

"Hmmm!"

Riko leaned closer to Tohyama Kinji and whispered, "You can make Holmes’ descendants suffer; you can save Riko. You are Riko's hero. If it’s Kinji, anything is fine."

"Really?"

"Really, anything."

Hotogi Shirayuki on the side was almost furious. Just when she was about to sink the woman in front of her into Tokyo Bay, Tohyama Kinji made a stopping gesture, and she halted obediently.

Tohyama Kinji inhaled the sweet fragrance of the girl next to him. This honey-like scent was irresistible to ordinary men, but now Tohyama Kinji was no longer an ordinary person.

"Really?" Tohyama Kinji confirmed again.

"Really. I can do it even if it’s... **."

"Very good."

A smile appeared on Tohyama Kinji's face. He took out a drone from Rainbow Six Siege from his trouser pocket.

"Then help me sell this."

"Huh?"

Looking at the black gadget in Tohyama Kinji’s hand, she was stunned.

"This is a detection drone, small and exquisite, with monitoring and jumping functions. I believe you can help me sell it for a good price."

"Huh?"

Mine Riko was dumbfounded, and then Kinji continued, "Also, I’ll leave the matter regarding Aria to you. And don’t transfer the money; I want cash. If you don’t have cash, gold will do."

"Huh..."

"I’ll buy games for you every day in the future."

"Really?"

"You talk as if I haven't helped you before."

"Hehe~ Kinji is the best."

"Stop!"

Tohyama Kinji pressed Riko's head down. "Don’t think you can use my Hysteria to influence me. Now my Syndrome has become controllable with the help of the boss."

"In other words... your help to me is out of your sincerity?"

"Everything I do is out of my sincerity."

"Thank you!"

Riko ran out with the machine, while Shirayuki looked at Tohyama Kinji in shock.

The developments in the situation were completely beyond Riko's expectations. As she walked out of the room, she looked at the remote control and drone in her hands and recalled the scene when Tohyama Kinji was speaking in her ear; her face turned completely red.

On the other side, Tohyama Kinji felt an inexplicable sense of happiness. He hadn’t expected Aria to come up with the money. In this case, he could only sell some items from the Internet café to cover the loss and use the funds to surf the Internet.

This Rainbow Six-style drone made by the Ex-Machina was perfect for sale. Whether for the equipment department, the assault department, or even for school deliveries, it could fetch a good price. Being a dealer could make one rich.

As for Riko’s identity being exposed? That was bound to happen. But with such advanced technology, combined with her previous performance and the chain of suspicion, those involved wouldn’t dare to act recklessly.

They wouldn’t be sure who had made this weapon. A student? Don’t be ridiculous. While small remote control equipment is common, can it jump at such a small size? Could a student make it?

If he is targeted by a mysterious organization in the future, he has a plan to invite a real boss to help him out.

Who should he invite?

After thinking for a moment, he settled on a suitable candidate: Accelerator.

Accelerator is a super-powered individual from a place called Academy City. The two had met four days ago when he noticed Accelerator enjoying a drink while surfing the Internet in an Internet café. Although the drinks there were a little pricey, the taste was top-notch and worth it.

However, every time he saw Accelerator online, he never ordered anything. Out of kindness, he bought an extra bottle of coffee and placed it on Accelerator's table.

"Huh?"

"This is your treat."

"Do you look down on me?"

"No, I just think you're a good person."

"I am... a good person?"

"Yeah, a good person."

Tohyama Kinji felt that this boy, who looked younger than him, was only evil on the surface but had a good heart. The two didn’t communicate much after that, but the next day, Accelerator returned the gesture by putting a bottle of coffee on Tohyama Kinji's table.

"This is for you."

"Thank you."

"Call me if you need anything."

"Okay."

After that, the two got along well. After all, they were both boys and both enjoyed playing games. They started discussing games and eventually talked about life.

Although they had known each other for a short time, they regret that it felt like they had met too late.

Inviting Accelerator was from a friend's perspective. As for doing the work, he had already decided to involve the Ex-Machinas. Reliable Ex-Machinas were praised by people from all walks of life. Plus, he could split the work regarding Aria with the Ex-Machinas at a ratio of 40:60 or even 50:50. The Ex-Machinas in the Internet café were standard workers who were paid for their work. If even the Ex-Machinas couldn't handle it, he still had the boss to fall back on.

Tohyama Kinji just wanted to shout out loud: "Boss!!! You're awesome!!"

---

Chapter 306: One Party Passes Tsundere

In the Internet cafe, Kinji was no longer confused when he came to surf the Internet today, because he was rich now.

The drone from Rainbow Six was sold at a very good price. This money could not change his life in real life, but it could change the life in the Internet cafe.

"Boss! Give me two bottles of Coke, iced, and a steak and sashimi."

"Okay~"

Looking at Kinji Tohyama's slightly proud look, Liu Yuan asked curiously.

"Have you made a lot of money?"

"Ahem, I made a little bit, so I can spend a little more lavishly. By the way, boss, do we have any games here that can help me improve my strength quickly?"

"Improve quickly? Elden Ring, it's easy to pass the game mode with your ability. Or Mugen, whether it's fighting against AI or PK with other players. If you want to practice teamwork, you can bring the person you like to the Internet cafe to play League or Rainbow Six together, and improve all aspects of ability."

"Bring someone... Is it okay?"

To be honest, Tohyama Kinji is now tempted. After experiencing the transformation of the Internet cafe, he is convinced by this place.

"No problem at all. We also hope that customers will recommend our store to people they can trust."

"People who can be trusted?"

At this moment, Tohyama Kinji was silent. He looked around at his circle of people. In addition to Hotogi Shirayuki, only Mine Riko could be trusted.

Forget it, I'll think about it later. Since we are all here, let's have some fun today.

Well! The money used was not the money from the sale of the equipment by Mine Riko, but the money brought by Aria.

Because of the signing of the contract, a 10% discount was given, and the deposit of 500,000 became 50,000. Although it was in US dollars, this money was what Aria could get quickly.

The money from the sale of the equipment was obviously larger, but for some reason, he was happier to spend the money brought by Aria.

Living a gigolo? Not at all. He really helped for the sake of money and a useful person. Mine Riko had already surrendered under his arrangement. He guess Aria will soon receive a notice of her mother's commutation of sentence.

Just when he was preparing to have fun, he found that Accelerator did not come today.

Just when he was confused and wanted to ask, Accelerator walked into the Internet cafe with a bruised face.

"Turn on the computer."

Accelerator sat down next to Tohyama Kinji.

Kinji Tohyama looked at Accelerator and asked worriedly, "What happened?"

"I fought with a man who can eliminate superpowers."

"Was he a winner or a loser?"

"I beat him down, hahahaha! What a jerk, even if he has the ability to eliminate superpowers, so what?"

Laughing, Accelerator shivered because of the pain in his body.

The hedgehog-headed boy's fist was too hard, but fortunately, he had been exercising through vector manipulation and fighting with himself in Elden Ring for a week during this period. His combat experience was not comparable to that of ordinary middle school students, otherwise, he would have lost.

What? Using superpowers to fight long-range?

Accelerator was very disdainful of this behavior. Since the opponent's superpower was a superpower that eliminated superpowers, and the opponent only had close-range attacks. Then long-range attacks were a disdain for himself.

He wanted to be the strongest man in the world, and the strongest not only had superpowers but also fists.

However, Accelerator also found his own shortcomings. Although he had learned a lot of abilities from the Mimic Tear, his fighting ability was too poor.

What was the name of the guy next to him? He forgot, but it didn't matter. If he remembered correctly, this guy was a detective. He had seen him play games well, so he should be a good sparring partner.

"Hey, I found a real-life fighting game called Mugen. Do you want to play it?"

"Okay! I'm happy to play with you, but I may not be able to beat you if you use superpowers."

"No need for superpowers, fight in a manly way."

"Okay!"

So the two of them turned on mugen at the same time, ready for a fist-to-flesh duel between men.

Why was Accelerator beaten? Time had to go back to the dark days of his world.

At night, Accelerator, who returned from the Internet cafe, hummed a song and walked towards the supermarket.

It was only around seven o'clock in the evening, and many children were playing in the Academy City. He saw many elementary school students along the way.

These elementary school students running back and forth made his head buzz.

You said to use superpowers? These little things would hurt you if they touched you, and it would be messy and uncomfortable if you didn't use them.

"Forget it, compared to that guy, your voices don't matter." Accelerator comforted himself, but just as he walked away, the commotion behind him made him turn around subconsciously.

Turning around, a van suddenly stopped in the middle of the group of children, and two masked men in black got out of the car. Each of them grabbed two children and prepared to run away.

"Huh? Human traffickers?" Accelerator was watching the show, and he didn't bother to care about it and was about to leave, but one of the little girls with long black straight hair and a flower hairpin in her hair, who looked like a fifth or sixth grader, opened her mouth and begged for help.

"Save me..."

At this moment, she was also dragged into the car, and then the van drove away.

Accelerator knew without thinking that it must be a company that was on the verge of bankruptcy or abandoned. Whether it was Judgement or the security guards, they would deal with it, and he didn't need to get involved in these messes.

Accelerator walked, but this time he didn't go to the supermarket, but the direction the van just left.

In the laboratory, four children were forced to press on the experimental equipment. They had a strange helmet-like device tied to their heads. This was a special device for complete mental penetration.

There was only one experimenter here, a middle-aged man who looked a little crazy.

"It's almost done. It's almost done. As long as it succeeds, I can..."

"What can I do?"

"Who are you!"

Accelerator's voice interrupted his operation.

"Huh? It doesn't matter who I am, but I know you're gone, which is very important to me."

"Police..."

He wanted to call for help, but unfortunately all the people outside fell down. Accelerator didn't want to kill anyone now, but he didn't like these people, so he crushed all the bones of their limbs. In this city, except for a certain doctor, no one could save them.

As for this madman, Accelerator didn't bother to guess who he was and what he was going to do. He just went up and had a big fight, and the person fainted completely.

"Tsk, you really can't stand a beating."

Turning around, the four children were crying, but the girl who had just asked him for help wiped her tears and said nervously: "Thank you, big brother."

"Huh?"

Accelerator snorted coldly: "I just don't like this guy, I'm not here to save you."

---

Chapter 307: Accelerator: "My Name is Mechanical Tyrannosaurus Rex"

"My name is Saten Ruiko. What's your name, big brother?"

"Me? Mechanical Tyrannosaurus Rex."

This was the name he had heard when chatting with Tohyama Kinji a few days ago.

At that time, Tohyama Kinji said that "mechanical" was cool, and "Tyrannosaurus Rex" was also cool. By analogy, "Mechanical Tyrannosaurus Rex" was the coolest of the cool.

"Liar."

"It doesn't matter."

Accelerator crushed the ropes tied to the children, but looking at the other three crying children, he felt his head buzzing.

"Forget it, I just need to buy something."

Accelerator reached out and touched the heads of the three unconscious children, and they fainted. This coma would not have any impact on their bodies or development, but Accelerator hated to hear the screaming and crying.

Then he carried the three unconscious children on his shoulders.

"Hey, that one over there, can you walk by yourself?” Saten Ruiko wiped her tears and nodded. “No problem, and thank you, Mechanical Tyrannosaurus Rex."

Although it was fake, Saten Ruiko still thanked Accelerator again, solemnly and seriously.

Accelerator did not answer but led the way. He was going to throw these children into a crowded place.

As for trouble? As the No. 1 in Academy City, he did not need to provide any explanation.

The location of this research institute was very hidden, located underground in the corner of the alley behind the mall.

If Accelerator came out of it, it would be fine, but a problem arose. He was carrying three children, both boys and girls, but they looked disheveled. Behind him was a girl who looked like she had just cried and appeared to have been threatened.

This made those who saw it think of a word: pervert.

In the darkness of Academy City, some people protect themselves, some are part of the darkness, and some will hit the darkness hard. Accelerator was hit hard.

He was walking forward when a hedgehog-headed boy in front stopped him.

"Put them down."

"Huh?" Accelerator felt that today was the most confusing time for him in a while. He didn't feel this confused even when he went to the Internet cafe for the first time.

"Get out of the way."

Accelerator ignored him and carried the children away. Facing Kamijou Touma's fist, he directly activated his vector control to rebound the damage from the punch.

He adjusted the damage power. This punch would cause him at most a slight fracture. With the technological level of Academy City, he could recover in a few days.

However, what he didn't expect was that this fist penetrated his superpowers and hit him hard in the face.

"!!!"

He was knocked away, and the three children he was carrying were quickly picked up by Kamijou Touma and carefully placed on the ground.

"Hey, hey, hey?"

Saten Ruiko, who was following Accelerator, was stunned for a moment. She hurriedly shouted, "Big brother is a good person."

"Thank you!"

Kamijou Touma felt his heart soften at this moment. He smiled at Saten Ruiko and rushed forward with his fist raised.

"Damn you, bastard."

If it had been the previous Accelerator, this punch might have knocked him unconscious. But after training with the imitation teardrops and improving his physical fitness through cheating with superpowers, this punch only made him feel pain.

The main reason was that he was careless. He thought that the power of Kamijou Touma's fist would be bounced back, but he was beaten?

"Damn, what kind of superpower?"

"Superpower? I'm sorry, I don't have esper abilities."

"No superpower? Then I will treat it as a power that can eliminate superpowers. Bastard, you are dead today."

Kamijou Touma waved his fist and shouted, "You are dead today."

If it were a fight between hooligans, Kamijou Touma would have turned around and walked away. But seeing a person bullying a child? He couldn't stand it. Especially when he saw three children being carried so roughly, with tears on their faces, his anger immediately flared.

As a human, he knew what to do and what not to do. After his observation, he saw that Accelerator was alone. If there was only one person and he was just a superpower, he was confident of winning.

However, a strange scene occurred. The fallen Accelerator actually rolled up flexibly.

He stood up and punched directly. The two fists met. Originally, Kamijou Touma thought he could win, but he felt a lot of power that crushed him.

Accelerator was too lazy to explain. Kamijou Touma's sense of justice drove the two to fight directly.

The strengthened Accelerator's fists were very hard, and he beat Kamijou Touma back repeatedly. But although Kamijou Touma was young, he was tough. He would run away if he could in a one-on-one or even one-on-many fights. He was also afraid, but no matter how afraid he was, the justice in his heart never dissipated. Instead, the burning determination in his heart became the source of power for his actions.

Yes, he knew that he was unlucky and not an esper, but he also knew that there were things he could do.

Neither of them held back, but fortunately, one had not been strengthened for a long time and the other was not very old.

At the end of the fight, Kamijou Touma lay motionless on the ground, while Accelerator stood up expressionlessly.

Now he felt that all the flesh on his body was painful, but as the No. 1 in Academy City, he had to pretend that nothing had happened, no matter what anyone said.

"Don't fight! Mechanical Tyrannosaurus is not a bad guy. He saved us."

Saten Ruiko's shout not only made Accelerator hold back but also Kamijou Touma.

"Pfft, what's his name?"

Saten Ruiko added, "Mechanical Tyrannosaurus!"

Accelerator stood up expressionlessly, looking at Kamijou Touma, who had no desire to continue fighting, and said bluntly, "You lost."

"Yeah, yeah, I lost."

Kamijou Touma lay on the ground, looking at the dark sky and said, "I'm sorry, I was wrong."

Doubt? He didn't have any. Accelerator's fighting was clean and neat, just a simple fist. The powerful force behind the punch made him feel Accelerator's intention.

Outsiders may not believe it, but Touma could sense other people's hearts through their fist.

Such a hard and powerful fist indicated a loner at first glance. Such a person would not bully the weak, at least that's what he thought.

Accelerator carried the three children away again, but this time there were not one but two followers behind him, one small and one big.

Kamijou Touma kept apologizing and even wanted to treat Accelerator to something, but he had to give up the idea when he found that his wallet was lost.

As soon as the two walked out of the alley, they were surrounded by security guards.

"These guys, leave them to you."

They didn't take action against Accelerator because they received a message from above that he had rescued the people.

But they didn't expect that the No. 1 of Academy City would actually come out in person. But why did his face appear swollen? Seeing that the boy behind him also had a bruised face, they became suspicious.

"He is just an ordinary person."

After saying the last sentence, Accelerator walked away expressionlessly.

Looking at his back, Saten Ruiko summoned up the courage to shout, "My name is Saten Ruiko! Big brother Mechanical Tyrannosaurus must remember me."

But Accelerator staggered after hearing this, and now he regretted making up this name at that time.

---

:

---

Chapter 308: Make Mikoto Misaka lose? 

The security guard named Yomizumi Aiho, standing beside Saten Ruiko, chuckled and said, "He's not called Mechanical Tyrannosaurus Rex; you can call him Accelerator."

Accelerator's real name is unknown, but those who know him are used to calling him that.

"What? He is Accelerator?"

Saten Ruiko didn't say anything, but Kamijou Touma who was standing beside her was shocked.

Who did he beat? Accelerator? But soon, he dismissed the thought. It didn't matter. What mattered was that he knew this person appeared nice, albeit a bit tsundere.

Accelerator bought what he wanted expressionlessly and walked home calmly.

The moment he closed the door, his expression twisted.

"It hurts! It hurts so much! Wryyyy!!!"

He arched his body on the bed like a prawn.

In truth, if he hadn't held back at the beginning, it wouldn't have hurt so much. But the problem was that he had been coldly enduring it until he got home, when the pain finally hit him.

After all, in games, stats reset upon death, and a sip of healing potion would suffice if you won; the pain exists only during the battle.

But reality is different. After being beaten, the pain doesn’t just vanish until the body recovers.

Accelerator had forgotten how long it had been since he had experienced this kind of pain in reality, but fortunately, during that time, he had gained stronger control over his esper powers, allowing him to block the pain slightly.

So, accompanied by discomfort, he waited for the internet café to open.

Thus, Accelerator, who was beaten and swollen, spent the day playing Mugen with Tohyama Kinji. In the process, he directly gave up using his superpowers. The purpose of his battles was to learn fighting skills quickly; Tohyama Kinji's techniques were far more practical than his own. He could even simulate a so-called Hysteria mode.

In just one day, he learned nearly everything Tohyama Kinji knew.

"Yes, if you don't want to kill or subdue someone, you can attack all parts of the body except the vital ones. There was a person in our school's assault department who stabbed someone 29 times during a mission, but he only inflicted flesh wounds. Such attacks can cause extreme pain without endangering life or leaving sequelae. Wait? Why are you using this on me?"

Tohyama Kinji taught him these techniques. In terms of technology and superpowers, Tohyama Kinji's world couldn't compare to Accelerator's.

But when it came to combat skills, Tohyama Kinji had some experience.

However, after Accelerator learned all the techniques, he discarded Tohyama Kinji.

"You are useless."

Accelerator, in a state of apprenticeship, said this expressionlessly, while Kinji Tohyama smiled and replied, "It's over; I was used and then abandoned."

"Humph."

Accelerator didn't say much; he simply tossed a bottle of iced coffee to him. "Thanks."

Hearing Accelerator thank him, Kinji felt very pleased. "Do you want to play League of Legends? You can substitute your own data in that game, and the strong players there are really powerful. I bet your superpowers can be countered by many of them."

"Okay."

So the two of them played League of Legends until closing time.

After shutting the door and returning to his room, only ten minutes had passed in his own world. He glanced at the clock and saw it was almost noon.

Deciding to take a walk to relieve his physical discomfort, Accelerator completely abandoned calculations involving his superpowers. After learning fighting skills from Kinji Tohyama, he felt invincible. He even hoped gangsters would challenge him so he could test his skills.

However, Accelerator didn't waste time; he still used his superpowers to protect important parts of his body. After all, dodging an open attack is easy, but defending against an arrow from the dark is difficult. It’s not shameful to save your life.

Perhaps it was because he had used his superpowers for too long, or perhaps because he had become weaker while learning too many skills, which disrupted his balance—he sprained his ankle.

"…"

Feeling the pain in his ankle, Accelerator stood up calmly and walked home with large strides.

On the way home, someone stopped him. He didn't want to deal with any nonsense, but after listening to the other party's story, he almost laughed out loud.

The man in front of him wanted him to participate in some Absolute Ability Project? To become level 6? This nearly made him burst into laughter.

"Kill the clones 20,000 times?"

"Yes. According to calculations, you can become a Level 6 if you kill Misaka Mikoto 128 times, but there is only one Misaka Mikoto, so we can only use clones. According to our tree diagram calculations, you can become an absolute ability user after using 20,000 different battlefields and fighting."

"Become an invincible existence?"

"Yes! Then you will become an invincible existence."

However, at this moment, Accelerator wore a blank expression and even considered killing the person in front of him. It wasn't that this experiment was so cruel, but it was simply too painful.

"Boring." Accelerator almost laughed himself to death. Having played a few games, he knew very well that there is a fundamental difference between killing 128 bosses and killing 20,000 soldiers. Such deceptive proposals might fool a brainless person, but to fool him?

Wait.

Accelerator felt as if he were scolding himself.

"Please wait a little longer."

However, as the person began to speak again, he suddenly felt the threat of death, surrounded by a circle of white and black feathers. Accelerator turned his back to him and said coldly, "I am not interested in participating in this childish experiment. If you disturb my life again, you will die."

"If you disagree, we can only seek the assistance of Dark Matter."

"Huh?"

Accelerator turned around and looked at the man in front of him. A cruel smile appeared on his face. "I will make you live a life worse than death if you threaten me."

The black and white feathers penetrated the man's body in an instant, avoiding all vital points and stabbing him through the heart.

This was the latest skill he had learned. After injuring someone, the person would only suffer flesh wounds, but the bloody state looked quite frightening.

Accelerator walked away, but after a few steps, he stopped again. This time it was not pain, but a sudden bold idea.

According to his calculations, Misaka Mikoto could theoretically become level 6 if she defeated him hundreds of times. So, if they wanted him to kill Misaka Mikoto to become an absolute ability user, would it not be interesting if he allowed Misaka Mikoto to kill him instead, thus wasting their entire experiment?

At this moment, Accelerator felt a joy bubbling up from the depths of his heart.

This was the happiest moment he had experienced in all these years, and he vowed to turn this joy into reality. So he turned around and headed for Tokiwadai Middle School in the seventh district.

No one knew what he was laughing about, not even a certain Hanged Man, who only knew that Accelerator would disappear for twelve minutes every day, but didn't know what he was up to.

After all, twelve minutes was too short. Even with space ability users to assist, they couldn't disrupt his plan.

Moreover, plans couldn't be implemented step by step; various accidents would inevitably arise. As long as those accidents could achieve his ultimate goal, he didn't care.

---

---

Chapter 309: I'm Just Dropping By, Not Saving You (again)

Accelerator's logic is very simple: he is now very strong, even invincible. However, being invincible is lonely, and one must have a strong opponent.

This minor matter... No, he is not familiar with this person. Although he is not well-acquainted with Railgun, the person earlier actually wanted to use the Railgun's clone, so he would find a way to make the Railgun the strongest under invincibility.

He is very curious about what the Railgun will think when those research institutions make mistakes in their calculations and she becomes aware of them.

Stop these things? No, he just wants to have fun.

Accelerator is resolute in his thoughts as he limps onto the tram to the seventh district.

However, after getting on the tram, Accelerator found himself in an embarrassing situation: he had lost his money. Compared to Kamijou Touma, he was somewhat luckier; he lost money instead of his wallet.

"Forget it, I’ll get some money after getting off the bus."

Accelerator got off when he arrived at the busier streets of the seventh district. Although he is No. 1, it is troublesome to take a bus without money. He hates trouble, especially since he needs money to do other things besides taking the bus.

He limped toward the bank and was about to enter when the alarm rang loudly.

"Huh?"

Accelerator felt that he had encountered many oddities these past two days. He didn’t know who he had offended or what strange things he had stumbled upon. It always seemed as if everything was against him.

In the past, he might have turned around and left. But today, he was angry. No matter who it was, he would take their money.

He stretched out his hand and gently tore the rolling door open, creating a large hole. Just as he moved, a little girl with black hair and a wreath suddenly appeared at the door. At the same time, Accelerator saw a man inside stepping on the wrist of another little girl.

Looking at the wounds on the pink-haired girl, her ankles and abdomen appeared to be severely injured.

"Huh?"

Accelerator peered inside with a puzzled expression. Who was the unlucky person who had infected him with bad luck? Was the bank being robbed? Wait—robbing a bank in Academy City? Is this guy crazy?

Just as he was contemplating this, the man in front of him seemed a little hysterical and threw a steel ball at him.

Just as the steel ball was about to hit Accelerator, an orange-yellow light surged toward it from behind.

With a puzzled expression, Accelerator extended his left hand, pinched the incoming coin that had transformed into an electromagnetic cannon, and threw it directly at the steel ball and the man.

The coin and the steel ball penetrated the man's leg bone, and the high temperature cauterized the wound, preventing any bleeding. The man could only fall to the ground in agony.

"Ah!!!"

The screams and chaos caused many bystanders to cover their eyes, while Shirai Kuroko on the ground looked outside in amazement.

A white-haired man and a brown-haired woman were outside.

She felt a little confused, thinking of something but unable to grasp it. However, she didn’t hesitate, as there were two robbers at the scene.

“Tsk, what a waste of time. Hey, who is responsible for maintaining the machine? Do you know that the ATM is not working?”

"Ah!!!!"

The man on the ground was still shouting, but Accelerator, who had walked over, kicked him in the head, and the man fell silent.

"What are you doing?"

The seriously injured Shirai Kuroko approached the criminal, checked his breathing, and said, "He’s fine; call an ambulance quickly."

"It just affected his bioelectricity. You're making a fuss over it, little girl; you should study hard."

"Humph! I have good grades."

"Oh, not only should you study hard, but you should also take care of this place."

Accelerator completely blocked out the surrounding noise; the chaos was affecting his thinking. Now, he not only wanted to have fun but also needed to strategize how to defeat himself. That’s right—his retribution was the Mimic Tear. For others, they could cheese to defeat their enemies, but he couldn't do that.

Moreover, he disdained running away. He felt uncomfortable if he didn’t beat himself to death.

While he was withdrawing money, he suddenly remembered something: the orange light, the coin, and the electromagnetic gun. This kind of power seems to be only possible with... Miss Railgun, right?

Thinking of this, he put the money he had just withdrawn into his pocket and turned to look around. No one was wearing Tokiwadai uniforms.

Huh! A crowd of police officers had appeared nearby, and some people were whispering.

In the corner, Shirai Kuroko muttered while receiving treatment: "Is that Accelerator? Or do I just feel that Railgun is better?"

Accelerator's display of violence was somewhat inconsistent with the justice that Shirai Kuroko upheld.

Uiharu Kazari beside her said with stars in her eyes, "Thank you for saving us."

Kuroko added, "We were just lucky this time. You! Don’t be so impulsive."

The wounds on her body did not affect any vital parts, and Shirai Kuroko felt better after the doctor’s on-site treatment.

Just when they were chatting, Accelerator walked toward them. "Hey, have you seen Railgun? Do you know where she is?"

Uiharu shook her head, and Shirai Kuroko asked curiously, "What do you want to see her for?"

"We'll talk about how to improve our abilities. Forget it; you wouldn’t understand even if I told you."

Accelerator turned to leave. The most important thing for him was to find Railgun and catch her to the Internet café before the store opened tomorrow. Other things were not important.

But he turned around again and then remembered that he didn’t know the location of Tokiwadai, so he turned back. "Hey, which direction is Tokiwadai?"

"Over there."

"Oh! Thank you."

At this moment, everyone wore surprised expressions.

What did Accelerator just say?

Thank you?

Is this No. 1? He looks arrogant and difficult to get along with, yet he inadvertently displays a very high level of quality?

Speaking of quality, they had to thank Tohyama Kinji. After all, Tohyama Kinji’s demeanor was much better than Accelerator's. The two spent twelve hours together every day, which would influence each other to some extent.

However, as Accelerator left, both Shirai Kuroko and Uiharu Kazari noticed that he seemed to be having difficulty walking.

Shirai Kuroko stood up and shouted, "Hey!"

"Huh?"

Accelerator turned his head again, looking puzzled.

"You twisted your ankle? Do you want to rest for a while?"

"You mean me? Pfft, take care of yourself first."

"Damn it!"

Shirai Kuroko felt that her kindness was taken for granted. She vowed that she would become level 5 no matter what in the future, then teach Accelerator a lesson. But before that, she suddenly remembered something.

It seems she... had never thanked him. Teaching him a lesson could wait; Shirai Kuroko decided she could handle it one at a time.

"Thank you!"

Accelerator paused for a moment and then continued walking.

"Fuck, it hurts so much that I can’t even walk properly."

What? Thank you?

He heard it, but it felt too boring. He hadn’t intended to save anyone. He had merely crippled the person who was blocking his way while he was taking money. He didn’t do it for anyone else or to help anyone.

---

---

Chapter 310: Accelerator: "Your Sister Is Dead, I Did It"

Misaka Mikoto was on her way back to the dormitory.

Just now, she had encountered a bank robbery on the road and fired a shot, but it was blocked by a mysterious esper. She was curious about who this esper was, but she had something to do in the afternoon and no time to delay.

Halfway through her journey, she suddenly felt something brushing against her in the electromagnetic field around her.

"No danger."

Misaka Mikoto turned around and saw the white-haired man who had just grabbed her railgun following her slowly.

"What do you want?"

"Me? Let me tell you something interesting, Railgun."

Misaka Mikoto introduced herself directly: "My name is Misaka Mikoto; you can just call me by my name. Who are you?"

"Me? Accelerator."

"What?"

Misaka Mikoto looked at Accelerator warily, the No. 1 in Academy City, who possessed the esper power of vector manipulation. As an electric user and a Level 5 esper, she knew how overpowered this ability was.

"What do you want with me?"

Challenge her? Impossible; she was two ranks lower than Accelerator. It wouldn't make sense for the first-ranked esper to challenge the third.

Accelerator walked toward Misaka Mikoto slowly.

"Don't come any closer!"

"Hehe."

Accelerator smiled happily, and at that moment, he had walked up to Misaka Mikoto like a child.

"Absolute Ability User Plan."

"?"

"An experimental plan to create a subject through your genes and let me kill 20,000 of them so that I can reach Level 6."

"?"

At that moment, Misaka Mikoto's expression froze, and the schoolbag in her hand fell to the ground.

"What are you... talking about?"

"I said your gene sequence was obtained by someone and used to create clones—20,000 of them—with the purpose of killing. Your sister died, and I did it. Are you happy? Is it exciting?"

"?"

Misaka Mikoto smiled, but her smile was forced: "Hahaha, you're so funny. I didn't expect No. 1 would tell such a cold joke."

"Sigh~ You don't want your clones to be killed by me, do you? There are so many of them, exactly like you, the same age and abilities. But I will kill them one by one. The blood will flow backward, their heads will be crushed, and their limbs will be torn off."

"Ah!!!!"

Accelerator's words seemed to make Misaka Mikoto envision those horrific scenes, and coupled with his tone as if he had truly done it, she began to shake all over.

"It's a joke, right?"

At that moment, the entire power system of District 7 failed, and one line after another short-circuited.

"If you investigate this kind of thing, you'll know, right? A Certain Scientific Railgun."

"What does life mean to you?"

"What does it mean?"

Accelerator walked a few steps forward and said to Misaka Mikoto, with his back to her: "Fun!"

At that moment, Accelerator felt only two words: pleasure.

If he had committed those acts himself, Accelerator might have felt numb and dark.

But at that moment, he felt pure pleasure. Because he had done nothing yet others trembled with rage, looking as if they wanted to kill him but had no way to do so.

Happy—he was really too happy.

He finally understood what those people on TT said.

There was a person named Fujimaru Kaede on TT who once said something he thought was very philosophical.

"What is happiness? Happiness is pretending to have done everything and then angering that person even though you did nothing. When they finally find out the truth and become furious again, their expression is really pleasant."

At that moment, Accelerator admitted that this behavior was indeed pleasurable, and he couldn't help but laugh out loud in delight.

It was just that he didn't notice how terrifying his laughter was at that moment, and Misaka Mikoto beside him was completely terrified by it.

The railgun was fired, but just like last time, Accelerator caught it.

"Is that it? Is that it? Is that it?"

These three words made Misaka Mikoto's defenses collapse, but at that moment, Accelerator turned and said, "Cooperate! Cooperate with me, and I'll promise you anything."

"Anything...?"

"Yes, you don't want your clones to die, right?"

"What can I do?"

"Come to my house at six o'clock tomorrow morning."

"Pervert!"

Accelerator whispered in her ear, "I just like your helpless expression. Ha↗ha↘ha↗ha↘."

No, at that moment, Accelerator felt he was too happy. It would be no fun if he broke the Railgun.

"Actually, except for the Project's details, all of the above are jokes."

"Huh?"

The ups and downs of emotions made Misaka Mikoto's expression a little broken, and she couldn't adjust to her current feelings. It felt as if someone wanted to kill her and then told her soul that it was all a joke before shoving her soul back to resurrect her.

"I hate people who extend their right hands before talking to me. If you come over tonight, I will be happy to help you improve your strength so that you can solve the Absolute Ability Plan."

"Why help me?"

"Huh? Is something wrong with your brain? I said I hate it when they extend their right hands before talking to me, not that I want to help you. Think about it: as a victim, you get to destroy their plan. Their helpless and angry expressions can turn disgust into joy—not to help you."

After speaking, Accelerator walked away, leaving Misaka Mikoto standing still.

When Accelerator walked away, Misaka Mikoto remembered one thing: she didn't know where Accelerator lived, and he hadn't told her the specific address.

"Damn it!!!"

It was still early, so she skipped class that afternoon. She needed to find out whether the Absolute Ability Plan was true and where Accelerator's home address was.

As for Accelerator? He went home very happily, but when he reached the door, he saw a familiar hedgehog head.

The hedgehog head that had beaten him up yesterday.

"Hey."

"Hey? Mechanical Tyrannosaurus?"

"…"

Accelerator suddenly regretted saying that name yesterday, but it didn't matter; the name was just a code name.

"What are you doing?"

"Eggs are on sale at the supermarket here, but when I got here, I found that my money was lost, and I'm looking for it back the same way."

Accelerator asked indifferently, "I'm going to make hot pot. Do you want to come and eat?"

Although they had fought yesterday, he found the hedgehog head pleasing to the eye. In life, being pleasing to the eye is the most important thing.

"Hey? Is that okay?"

"It doesn't matter. It's boring to eat alone."

"Great~"

Although his wallet had been lost again, he was still very happy to have hot pot.

So Accelerator started eating hot pot with Kamijou Touma at home. The base was from Guizhou's special spicy hot pot, which he had obtained from the Internet cafe. It was quite exciting.

Although the two had met and fought because of an accident, the feeling of mutual appreciation after eating hot pot made the two sing songs together.

While the two were eating hot pot and singing, Misaka Mikoto successfully obtained the information Accelerator had mentioned through her ability.

However, when she received the information, she became even angrier. She was not upset with Accelerator but with the behavior of these research institutions. At the same time, she found a very alarming message within the information.

She already had Clone No. 0.

---