Chapter 1764: Chapter 1762: Fooled to the Point of Limping (Bought Homemade Dishes Today)

For Kuroko Shirai, she has been incredibly busy lately, not even touching the ground with her feet.

After uncovering the "Fantasy Manipulator" incident, Kuroko Shirai had been following Fang Zheng’s suggestions to capture those selling the "Fantasy Manipulator." They’ve detained several people and acquired intelligence, yet none could clearly state where the "Fantasy Manipulator" originated. Everyone purchased it from others, as if this "Fantasy Manipulator" just emerged from nowhere.

When Kuroko Shirai returned to the Discipline Committee Branch, it was already dusk.

"Thank you for your hard work, Classmate Shirai."

Seeing Kuroko Shirai return, Hatsuharu quickly greeted her from the computer.

"It’s nothing; today was really exhausting....."

While speaking, Kuroko Shirai stretched her arms.

"I never imagined so many people would use the Fantasy Manipulator and act recklessly. Really, there are quite a few who think they’re great just because they have power."

"But didn’t you catch them all, Classmate Shirai?"

"Thanks to Mr. Fang Zheng’s audio."

Kuroko Shirai glanced at the phone in her hand.

"As long as this audio is played, the abilities gained by those guys almost completely disappear. Even if there are a few LV1 and LV2 opponents, it’s much easier to handle. Ah, by the way......"

Saying this, Kuroko Shirai seemed to remember something and pulled out a stack of files from her pocket, handing them to Arya sitting beside her.

"Miss Kanzaki, this is the shipment data you requested for the recent period."

"Thank you."

Arya took the data and began flipping through the pages while Kuroko Shirai complained dissatisfiedly.

"Honestly, I don’t see how it relates to Phantom Thieves. Many products within Academy City are sold externally, so why do you insist on seeking Academy City?"

"My intuition."

"Intuition...... I don’t think your intuition is particularly accurate."

Mumbling under her breath, Kuroko turned her head. Although she’s not fond of the outside Martial Investigator, the other has at least helped them with many things. While Kuroko is mainly pursuing the matter of the "Fantasy Manipulator," as a Discipline Committee member, she naturally has other duties to attend to.

In fact, tracking and investigating those selling the "Fantasy Manipulator" primarily rely on Arya’s efforts. After all, Martial Investigators frequently pursue stolen goods, drugs, and other illegal merchandise in the outside world. For the S-ranked Martial Investigator Arya, it’s a minor task.

Hence, even if Kuroko doesn’t get along with her, she wouldn’t drive her away now.

Of course, it would be better if she could stop threatening to shoot holes in people. Kuroko still remembers several past tracking incidents where others mocked Arya as an elementary school student, angering her to the point of shooting. It scared Kuroko, considering that despite the many ability users in Academy City, only Guard Officers possess weapons, and ordinary people can’t access firearms.

Yet Arya unhesitatingly drew her gun and scared a few ruffians into submission.

"Ring ring......"

Just then, the phone suddenly rang, and Hatsuharu picked it up, nodding afterwards.

"Yes, I am Hatsuharu...... ah, what? Another incident? Alright, I will inform Classmate Shirai."

"Is it that explosion maniac again?"

Hearing this, Kuroko Shirai frowned, while Hatsuharu, having put down the phone, nodded.

"Yes, this is already the fourth case."

"It’s really a headache......"

Kuroko Shirai shook her head. Since the Fantasy Manipulator appeared, various security incidents have increased, with minor mischiefs like Shigefuku Shouho’s cases and bank robberies like the previous Fire User’s case. Now, even explosion maniacs are appearing......

"This time, the opponent stuffed aluminum cans into dolls causing an explosion......"

"That’s really troublesome......"

"Dolls?"

Upon hearing this, Arya, who was going through the documents, immediately jumped up, while Kuroko Shirai looked at her helplessly.

"Miss Kanzaki, this is a crime committed by an ability user, distinct from your so-called bomb fanatic. Please do not get so excited."

"However, since it involved dolls, isn’t it hard to rule out a copycat?"

"Even if that’s true...... since it’s an ability user, it’s the Discipline Committee’s responsibility, sparing your Martial Investigators from involvement."

Though she said this, Kuroko Shirai found the Fantasy Manipulator’s impact far more troublesome than anticipated. Especially, search in the archives have become unreliable; if you search with the current abilities, you’re unlikely to find the culprit. Many abilities originally at LV1 or LV2 change significantly once elevated to LV3 or above.

Thus, even when searching the archives for similar ability users, it’s challenging to identify the culprit.

Though they reported to the Guard Officers as required, there was inexplicably little response from them. Kuroko Shirai inquired with familiar Guard Officers, who confirmed they too deemed the situation serious, but their superiors hadn’t issued orders to thoroughly investigate this matter, hence they can’t focus their efforts on investigating the "Fantasy Manipulator."

Unlike part-time Discipline Committee members, the Guard Officers earn a paycheck for their work.

Thus, reluctantly, Kuroko Shirai had to investigate herself.

But speaking of which......

"Isn’t that Phantom Thief already committing multiple cases outside? Fixating on Academy City won’t do much good."

Glancing at the TV, Kuroko inquired, bored.

During this period, Lupin IV has been hitting the headlines in various media. The reason is simple: they are actively stealing artifacts from major museums in Japan!

This was a suggestion given by Fang Zheng. According to Riko, Lupin is a chivalrous thief who needs to act righteously. But, in this information age, robbing the rich to aid the poor like their ancestors is clearly impossible. So Fang Zheng gave Riko an idea—to have them steal artifacts that were looted during wartime from major museums and return them to their rightful owners.

Naturally, Riko wholeheartedly agreed, and thus she and Frenda embarked on their journey as chivalrous thieves.

The Tokyo National Museum and the Museum of Fine Arts have fallen victim to their "poisonous hands." The Chinese artifacts inside were all stolen by Riko and returned to their original owners. Riko didn’t care much about this since she was French, after all. What did she care about Japanese thoughts?

Frenda, being Nordic, cared even less.

For Japan, however, this was undoubtedly a great humiliation. They couldn’t possibly start another world war to seize back the artifacts Riko returned, so they posted bounties everywhere to capture Lupin IV... Naturally, this news reached the ears of Academy City.

But as a tech city, Academy City didn’t have any ancient artifacts, so they weren’t worried about being targeted by Lupin IV. They basically stood by watching the show like bystanders.

"My intuition tells me that Lupin IV definitely has something to do with this place!"

However, Arya clearly wouldn’t give up that easily.

"An ability user turning into a thief? That’s not funny at all."

Kuroko clearly wasn’t convinced.

"To escape capture so easily, whatever ability it is, it must be at least LV4 to achieve that. But an LV4 ability user wouldn’t do such a boring thing. And didn’t the news say so? No suspicious traces were left at the scene. This kind of thing, even I couldn’t do it."

"Hmm, having said that, your spatial movement indeed suits the MO of the crime..."

"Wait, are you serious? In that case, Shihou Souki is equally suspicious, right? She’s a mental manipulation expert, you know. If it were her, it wouldn’t be a problem to make the owner hand over the treasures willingly."

"But Classmate Shirai, if it were her, she wouldn’t let them keep their memories, would she?"

At this moment, Hatsuharu smiled and chimed in.

"That’s true..." 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

"Then what about Classmate Misaka?"

"Are you kidding? Sister Dear would never do such shameless things. Although she does have a childish side, always watching childish shows, wearing Guata underwear, and hiding killer bear dolls under her bed, Sister Dear would never commit such shameless crimes!"

If Riko were here, she might just throw down a glove to duel Kuroko.

Of course, they were just joking. The procedures for LV4 and LV5 ability users to leave Academy City were notoriously cumbersome, almost as difficult as going abroad. This is why Kuroko Shirai wasn’t convinced by Arya’s reasoning. With Lupin IV’s range and frequency of activities, if there really was an LV4 or higher ability user involved, just coming and going from Academy City would be a hassle, and there would definitely be some clues left behind.

"Right, since that’s the case, why not ask Mr. Fang Zheng? Maybe he’ll have some good ideas?"

At this moment, Hatsuharu cheerfully offered her suggestion.

In Hatsuharu’s mind, Fang Zheng was a capable person. After all, every time they encountered difficulties, seeking Fang Zheng’s advice would provide some guidance. Since Arya was facing challenges now, Hatsuharu believed that if they sought out Fang Zheng, they might just find a solution.

However, for Fang Zheng...

Are you guys trying to get me killed...

Looking at Arya in front of him, Fang Zheng was all smiles on the outside, but internally, he was cursing.

But this was just as well. Arya staying put in Academy City wasn’t good news for Fang Zheng. He had been planning to wait until Arya left Academy City and then find an opportunity to fight her as "Professor Moriarty" and forcibly take the 312 substance from her body.

But since Arya never left, there wasn’t much he could do. After all, the other party was a martial investigator, and approaching directly would only raise suspicions.

But since Kuroko Shirai had brought her...

Need I say more? Just con her until she’s confused.

"My views align quite closely with Shirai’s."

After listening to Kuroko Shirai’s briefing, Fang Zheng "pretended to think deeply" before giving his answer.

"I’m not very familiar with crime investigations, but science relies on evidence. What we need isn’t just intuition but sufficient evidence and confirmation to make a judgment. If you’re looking to track down Lupin IV, staying in Academy City honestly isn’t a good choice, in my opinion. I think you should gather more evidence, analyze it, and then come to a conclusion."

"I also think Mr. Fang Zheng makes sense."

Kuroko also nodded in agreement while Arya remained silent, but she seemed to have made up her mind in the end.

"I understand, but I won’t give up on this lead."

"Take your time, there’s no rush. The biggest difference between police and criminals is that police can always wait for another chance if they miss one. But if a criminal fails once, there’s no next time."

As he spoke, Fang Zheng glanced at Riko Mine and Frenda pretending to be good children not far away. Both were sitting there silently.

"You do have a point."

Perhaps Fang Zheng’s words had an impact, and Arya seemed to relax considerably, then looked brightly at Fang Zheng.

"Oh, by the way, why don’t you be my assistant? I need a partner right now. How about it?"

"......"

Huh?

Hearing this, Fang Zheng was dumbfounded.

What is this, am I going to catch myself?