The Mastermind Behind the Scenes? It Didn't Exist!

With a deafening BOOM, accompanied by blazing fire and shockwaves, nearly the entire floor was swept up in the violent explosion. Countless screams rose from the crowd outside the building, which instantly descended into chaos. Standing among them, Ruizi's eyes were filled with worry.

Luo Yifang waved a hand with a cold expression, and the violently surging winds around him immediately blew away the billowing smoke.

"Are you okay, Hatsuharu?!" Misaka Mikoto crouched down anxiously, looking at Hatsuharu, who was still clinging tightly to the child.

"...Huh? Is the explosion over? I... I'm alive?" Hatsuharu opened her tightly shut eyes. The weakness of having survived a disaster washed over her, and she slumped to the ground. "Senior Misaka, thank you!"

"No, I wasn't the one who saved you this time. You should say that guy Luo Yifang saved us." Misaka Mikoto sighed. She had truly been too careless this time. Not only had she failed to save anyone, she had nearly gotten herself killed.

"Huh, was it Senior Yifang again..." Hatsuharu looked around. "But where is he?"

"What? He disappeared again?" Misaka Mikoto snapped back to her senses and realized that Luo Yifang had vanished to who knew where. "That guy, honestly... He left again without saying a word. You got lucky this time. I'm going to deal with that criminal who endangered innocent people first!"

Soon after, Kaikai Hatsuyoshi, who had not yet fled far, was intercepted by Misaka Mikoto and defeated without any ability to fight back. Luo Yifang stood atop a nearby building, watching everything unfold without intervening. After all, Kaikai Hatsuyoshi had completely crossed Misaka Mikoto's bottom line. It was better to let Railgun handle him herself. He turned to Paqi and asked, "Did you know this would happen, which is why you sent me here?"

"If I could predict the future, that'd be great!" Paqi retorted. "It was just a coincidence, a coincidence!"

"Really?" Luo Yifang narrowed his eyes, giving off an extremely dangerous aura. "You had me take Misaka 9982 on a detour all the way to this godforsaken place to buy clothes? Then we just happened to run into [Void Explosion]? And Kamijou Touma just happened not to show up today, while Railgun just happened to fumble and fail to hold onto her coin? Too many coincidences make it an impossible event!"

"But I really didn't know this would happen," Paqi said helplessly. "It really was a coincidence, a coincidence!"

"Yeah, right."

"Hey, don't be like that... Maybe you'll believe me if I put it another way." Paqi cleared her throat. "Actually, I really, truly didn't know something like this would happen. The only thing I knew was that this world's timeline was drawing closer to you."

"What does that mean?"

"To put it simply, Kamijou Touma lost his protagonist halo, and you gained one. Get it now?" Paqi explained. "And your actions may very well change the course of the entire world, just like Kamijou Touma originally did."

"So in the [Void Explosion] incident, I replaced Kamijou Touma, who was originally supposed to come here?" Luo Yifang was still doubtful.

"Wrong. It shouldn't be limited to this one incident. Over time, Kamijou Touma's influence on the world will gradually weaken, while your influence will gradually grow stronger. However, because of Imagine Breaker itself, his ability to affect this world is still greater than anyone else's, apart from yours."

Paqi paused before continuing, "This change is actually beneficial to you. At the very least, stopping the Absolute Ability User Project from here on out won't be so difficult."

Luo Yifang raised an eyebrow. "And how does that work?"

"You've become this world's favored son. No matter the circumstances, things will develop in a direction that benefits you," Paqi said irritably. "It's seriously infuriating. Why does something like this get to happen to you too? There are very few records of this in the [Book of Ten Thousand Worlds]... Replacing the protagonist and becoming the favored son..."

"Don't the protagonists in those transmigration novels count?" Luo Yifang suddenly thought of a rather tricky question.

"It's different." Paqi shook her head. "They usually forcefully replace someone, but yours is far more straightforward. The world just thinks the original guy is unreliable and wants to try someone else."

"Why does it feel like you people are way too casual about this..." Luo Yifang was speechless. So replacing protagonists was popular where they came from? Was it like in novels, where they killed one off and replaced him with another? Hiss... The more he thought about it, the more terrifying it became. Had he been chosen too?

"Is that my fault? (shrugs)"

"What kind of new feature is this meme expression?!" Luo Yifang nearly threw out his back from Paqi's ridiculous reaction image. "First the authorities revoke a protagonist halo, and now you're spamming memes?! Are you even a serious system?!"

"Sorry, we aren't called a system. We're called the [Book of Ten Thousand Worlds]. Trash like systems? Hehe."

Fine. Discussing this sort of thing with her really was asking for trouble. Just as Luo Yifang was about to leave, the phone in his pocket suddenly rang. He took it out and saw that Busu Dixin was calling. "Hello?"

"It seems the lab has found the reason behind the Misaka Sisters' disappearances..."

"Huh? Isn't that a little too efficient? Didn't they only decide to suspend the experiment at noon?!" Luo Yifang thought, What kind of department are you people? With efficiency this high, why lower yourselves by staying in Academy City? You could make it anywhere.

"But they don't seem to have any way to solve the problem of the Sisters who disappeared before," Busu Dixin said, pressing a hand to her temple. What had happened earlier had truly exceeded what she could accept. "There is no mastermind behind the scenes at all!"