Kiyama Harumi in the Crosshairs

In the days that followed, Misaka Shazo abandoned her scientific research.

She picked up two tools— Chaos Calculation Method and matrix analysis—and began studying the Nine Swords General Outline.

With the aid of the most unscientific computing power in the scientific world, Misaka Shazo gradually deciphers the descriptions of change and evolution in the Dugu Nine Swords.

Guided by the Nine Swords General Outline, Misaka Shazo broke through the connection between Electromagnetic Force and weak force, thereby mastering the changes of microscopic particles.

This means she can convert any matter into a strong magnet without Ionization the target.

As Misaka Shazo's research progressed rapidly, "AIM Stalker" continued to ferment and escalate, transforming from an urban legend into a major case taken seriously by the Disciplinary Committee.

After all, in recent crimes in Academy City, whenever a AIM Stalker was involved.

The earliest confession came from a prisoner who was caught in the Void Explosion. During interrogation, he revealed that he had upgraded his abilities using the AIM Stalker.

Moreover, it's two-tiered.

This is simply too outrageous; how could the Judgement possibly believe it?

If it were that easy to increase ability levels, the researchers in Academy City could resign in shame.

They make their living this way, earning high salaries and spending enormous sums of money, yet they can't compete with some random piece of code that appeared out of nowhere. Isn't that a joke?

The confessions of the perpetrators of the Void Explosion were not taken seriously.

However, as more and more people with abilities committed crimes, they confessed after being arrested that they had used the AIM Stalker to increase their ability levels.

The Judgement could no longer ignore this urban legend and carefully reviewed the criminals' ability development records.

Unfortunately, apart from the perpetrator of the Void Explosion Case, there were no prior records of the other individuals, and the investigation stalled.

Just then, Academy City's first bank robbery by an esper occurred.

With the support of Misaka Mikoto's Railgun, all the Level 3 Level 3 criminals were captured. Terrified by the Electromagnetic Cannon's attack, they confessed without any resistance.

Luck, they all have detailed records of their ability development.

In the most recent development records, they are either Level 0 powerless users or Level 1 weak power users, which is the same level as Chiharu Shirai growing on her head. At most, they can light a cigarette, and they are not even as threatening as a stick.

However, at the time of their arrest, they had all reached the level of Lv2 superpower user or Lv3 strong power user.

They also increased their ability levels by using the AIM Stalker.

The facts are clear: the AIM Stalker can indeed raise the level of an Ability User, and can even turn someone without an Ability User into one with special abilities in a short period of time.

The Judgement realized the danger posed by the AIM Stalker.

With the surge in criminals and overwhelming evidence of their dramatic increases in abilities, the Disciplinary Committee shifted its focus to the AIM Stalker.

This thing perfectly embodies the meaning of Academy City's existence.

Given the exceptional ability of the AIM Stalker to develop Esper Powers, it should not be in the hands of a criminal, but rather a powerful tool for the Chairman.

Over 60% of the population in Academy City are Level 1 or lower. If they could all easily become Level 1 Level 1 users, it would not only boost Academy City's strength and reputation but also spread its force field more widely, thus completely defeating the enemies on the Magic Side.

But as the investigation deepened, the Judgement discovered problems.

Those whose abilities were developed by the AIM Stalker all exhibited manic and violent tendencies, seemingly amplifying the darker psychological side of the ability users while enhancing their powers.

This is extremely dangerous.

It's important to understand that in Academy City, ability is the core criterion that determines everything.

Those Lv0 and Lv1 ability users have a very low status and are often bullied by higher-level ability users, so they have long harbored a lot of dark emotions in their hearts.

Since the ability of the AIM Stalker" to amplify the dark side of psychology is not a boon to the Science Side.

After these individuals with low abilities gain power, their Mind Stone become twisted, and their first thought is to take revenge on society and vent their negative emotions from being oppressed.

It's just like Nagato carrying rice in Konoha —let the world feel the pain, feel the pain I suffered, ten times, a hundred times!!

In a repressive society like Japan, such perverts often emerge, transforming from victims to perpetrators, largely due to this kind of mentality.

Just as the Judgement was working hard to find the creators and beneficiaries behind the AIM Stalker and attempting to impose distribution controls, the perpetrator of the Void Explosion Case fell into a coma.

Then, those who used the AIM Stalker fell into the same coma one after another, like Domino.

Not only were there superpowered criminals, but also many ordinary people who hadn't had time to develop their abilities, all lying unconscious in hospital beds.

However, the hospital could not determine the cause of the coma and was unable to resolve the problem of large-scale comas.

Given the danger of the situation, the Judgement of Academy City quickly reached a consensus and risked using the most sophisticated equipment to search for clues from the unconscious prisoner.

After the most careful testing, medical personnel selected a special set of Brainwaves from countless brainwave patterns, which were present and completely consistent in all comatose patients.

This is an extremely suspicious and unusual situation.

Human brainwaves are completely different from fingerprints, and even the same person's brainwaves can vary at different ages. It is impossible for two people to have completely identical brainwaves.

Even twins won't do.

Unless forced by external forces, it is manufactured artificially.

The fact that some users of the AIM Stalker" exhibited identical brainwave patterns suggests that this was a clue left by either the AIM Stalker.

Finding the original owner of these brainwaves will lead to the culprit in the case!

Academy City, touted as a city of the future, possesses the most stringent surveillance system, leaving behind a complete set of biometric information for everyone, including their Mr. Popo from that year.

Shirai Kuroko and Misaka Mikoto went to the Judgement 177th Branch and handed over a specific brainwave diagram to the particularly fierce senior, Gofah Meiwei, who was the technical expert stationed at the branch.

Gofah Meiwei Kofune logs into the Academy City Information Database "Library" and uses a comparison program she wrote herself to filter the data stored in the "Library" in order to find the culprit behind the creation of the AIM Stalker.

This was just a routine attempt; the Judgement didn't have high hopes for it and simply wanted to complete a routine investigation.

But to everyone's surprise, Gofah Meiwei found a brainwave match in the researchers' files—Researcher Kiyama Harumi!

Upon seeing the selected photos of Kiyama Harumi, Shirai Kuroko and Misaka Mikoto, who had come specifically to help, exchanged bewildered glances.

They exclaimed in unison, "How could it be Mr. Kiyama?"

"Huh? You guys know her?"

Gofah Meiwei gave a serious and earnest order, "Regardless of whether you know her or not, and regardless of your relationship with her, Kigan Haruo is now the only suspect, and you need to take him into custody immediately."

Shirai Kuroko and Misaka Mikoto were intimidated by Gofah Meiwei's imposing presence and immediately stood up straight, saying, "Yes!"

Gofah Meiwei!