The air between Fang Li and Misaka Mikoto suddenly grew cold, a subtle, unspoken distance beginning to form between them.
Mikoto acted as if nothing had happened. She kept eating her hamburger and sipping her cola, her face calm and indifferent, never once letting her eyes drift toward Fang Li again.
Fang Li, on the other hand, said nothing more. He simply looked at her quietly.
He understood.
He knew exactly why Mikoto was suddenly pulling away. It wasn't out of annoyance or anger. It wasn't even for her own safety.
It was for him.
She was distancing herself so that Fang Li wouldn't be dragged into the danger she was facing.
In Academy City, the highest-ranked espers were the seven Level 5s, super-powered individuals who stood at the peak of humanity's evolved potential.
Yet, theoretically, there existed one rank beyond Level 5, a stage known as Level 6.
Those who could reach that state were called "Absolute Espers."
If Level 5 espers were said to be powerful enough to match an army, a Level 6 would be invincible. Their existence could be summarized in one chilling phrase: "A being who reaches the domain of God without becoming one."
To this day, no esper had ever achieved that state.
But precisely because it had never been attained, Academy City's countless researchers and theorists became obsessed with the idea, dedicated to creating a Level 6.
According to their calculations, among the seven Level 5 espers, only one had even the slightest potential to reach that stage.
That person was the Number One in Academy City, the most powerful esper in existence, surpassing even Misaka Mikoto, the Third Ranked Railgun.
However, simulation data showed that if the Number One were to evolve naturally into a Level 6, it would take more than 250 years of development.
Of course, there was another way.
If real-combat growth could be induced, if a battlefield could be prepared under strict control, and his powers developed through life-and-death battles that guided his growth, then the evolution could be accelerated dramatically.
The calculations showed a shocking result: If the Number One fought in 128 specific battlefields, and within those battles, killed the Railgun, the Third Ranked esper, 128 times, he would finally evolve into a Level 6 Absolute Esper.
But such a thing was impossible. There was only one Railgun in the entire world. How could he possibly kill her 128 times?
Because of that limitation, the researchers shifted their attention to a horrifying alternative. They decided to use Misaka Mikoto's own DNA map to create clones, copies of the Railgun herself, and use those clones as disposable experimental material to fuel the Number One's evolution.
However, the mass-produced clones only possessed about 1% of the original's power, roughly equivalent to Level 2 espers.
Thus, after more calculations, the researchers reached a new conclusion: If they could prepare 20,000 battlefields, and produce 20,000 Railgun clones, the same experimental effect could be achieved.
Those clones were collectively referred to as, "The Sisters."
And the experiment itself was named, "The Level 6 Shift Project."
There lay the reason behind Misaka Mikoto's current behavior.
To her, those "Little Sisters" weren't just test subjects. They were her own flesh and blood, true sisters, sharing her face, her voice, her DNA. And those sisters… were being slaughtered, all in the name of an "experiment."
How could she possibly tolerate that?
Yet Mikoto was powerless to stop it. The one carrying out the experiment was none other than Academy City's Number One. According to simulation data, if the Third Ranked Railgun were to fight the First Ranked esper to the death, even with perfect defense, she would die after the 185th exchange.
From Fang Li's perspective, Misaka Mikoto stood no chance of defeating the Number One. As the only person with the potential to ascend to Level 6, his power was on an entirely different level, a gulf so vast it could never be crossed by effort alone.
In a situation like this, where no amount of direct confrontation could possibly change the outcome, Mikoto had only one option left.
Her method was simple but extreme: destroy every research facility connected to the Level 6 Shift Project, and thereby force the experiment to stop.
Of course, that was, without a doubt, a criminal act.
Worse still, what Mikoto was doing was essentially declaring war on Academy City itself. The Board of Directors surely knew about this experiment and had done nothing to stop it, meaning they tacitly approved of it. By trying to end the experiment herself, Misaka Mikoto was directly opposing the Board of Directors and, by extension, the entire city.
That was why she couldn't drag anyone else into it. Why she couldn't ask anyone for help. Not even Shirai Kuroko. Not even Fang Li.
Most likely, just as she'd done on so many nights before, Mikoto would once again go out tonight to destroy another of those research facilities, all for the sake of her Little Sisters.
"Alright then," Mikoto said softly, clapping her hands together after finishing her meal.
"Thanks for the food. I guess I should, "
Before she could even finish, Fang Li interrupted.
"Oh right, let me tell you something interesting."
He smiled casually, as if he'd just remembered a random thought.
"Lately, I've been thinking of expanding Scorpius's territory."
The words froze Mikoto mid-motion.
"Expanding… your territory?" she echoed blankly.
Fang Li nodded with a grin.
"Don't you think, with Scorpius's current strength, we could easily take over not just this area, but all the Armed Level 0 gangs in the entire Seventh School District?"
"And once we've done that, we could move on to the other districts, until the entire underground of Academy City belongs to Scorpius."
He said it so casually, like it was just idle after-dinner chatter.
But the content of that statement was staggering. Around 60% of Academy City's population were Level 0s, people with no powers at all. If even half of those Level 0s belonged to various armed gangs, then uniting them all under Scorpius's banner would make Fang Li's group a force powerful enough to shake the city itself.
As the leader of such a group, Fang Li would possess influence so great it could alarm the Board of Directors.
And yet, he was talking about it like it was nothing more than small talk over burgers and fries.
"You… you idiot…"
Mikoto couldn't just sit there and pretend she hadn't heard that. She slammed her hands on the table and glared at him.
"Doing something like that, aren't you afraid it'll ruin everyone's lives!?"
But Fang Li only tilted his head slightly, his tone perfectly innocent.
"Now, now… why say it like that? I actually think I'd be doing something good, you know?"
He gave her a crooked grin and then spoke the words that made Mikoto freeze.
"At the very least, if every shady corner of Academy City fell under Scorpius's control, then all those underground experiments… wouldn't be able to take place anywhere inside my territory."
That one simple sentence, spoken with a quiet confidence that belied its weight, struck Misaka Mikoto like a bolt of lightning.
She went completely still, as if her mind had been wiped blank in an instant.
(End Of This Chapter)
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