A Mere Steel Pipe

"The noise just now was...?"

"The timelines of the two worlds are different. I had to adjust the surrounding environment to establish a normal call."

Nagato Yuki's reply. The timelines are different? Jiu Ming immediately felt that the phone's usefulness had greatly diminished. If this was the case, then when he called from other worlds in the future, this situation would definitely occur. He didn't need to worry about the Mysterious Shop, as that place had existed for an unknown amount of time, so it wouldn't be impossible to make a call due to a mere asymmetrical timeline...

Or rather, the Mysterious Shop and other worlds' timelines were always 'symmetrical'.

"I see. I need help right now. I accepted a commission and encountered a very troublesome opponent. Can you help me resolve it? I owe you a favor."

The Girl from another dimension was silent for a while. "Okay."

Jiu Ming breathed a sigh of relief. "Great. Do you have any special way to break through defenses? I encountered a super turtle shell that almost bounced me to death!"

Was he exaggerating a bit?

Well, never mind. As long as the White Hair's turtle shell could be broken, what else did he have to fear?

"Please wait a moment. Manipulating information through the cross-temporal link of the mobile phone is a bit difficult..."

Chaotic noise rang out again. Information manipulation? What was that?

"Searching for a ￥% item #@% carrier..."

The chaotic noise continued for a full ten minutes before Nagato Yuki's fragmented words were intermittently transmitted. Carrier?

Jiu Ming looked around and directly grabbed a hollow steel pipe from a nearby Hospital Bed, one end of which was very sharp.

"Is this okay?"

"...Yes."

He didn't know how she judged the item in Jiu Ming's hand across dimensions, but since it was okay, then it was fine. The steel pipe in Jiu Ming's hand twisted slightly before returning to normal. "Although I can't change its form, it will do."

"Thank you. If you ever need help in the future, I won't hesitate." After thanking her, Jiu Ming looked at the item in his hand.

Name: Steel Pipe

Type: Consumable

Attribute: Defense Breaking

Uses: 3

Quality: Ordinary

Remarks: How could such an attribute appear on a mere broken steel pipe!? This is unscientific!

Convertible Origin Power: 450

"Hmm, it's not ignoring defense. Jiu Ming shook his head. The 'piercing defense' attribute, although similar to ignoring defense, is actually quite different. According to game terms, ignoring defense means your attack is useless no matter how high it is, and the opponent's defense is useless no matter how high it is. But piercing defense... only happens when your attack exceeds the opponent's defense. Otherwise, it's a forced 1 damage or even 0 damage."

"However, this isn't a game. The meaning of piercing defense is closer to breaking armor, just one level higher."

"Please note that because this is information manipulation across time and space, it is very unstable and has limited uses."

As Jiu Ming examined the steel pipe that had already been sealed into a card, Yuki's voice came again, this time as a reminder... limited uses? No wonder this item wasn't classified as a weapon.

But never mind three times, once was enough.

Then the communication was interrupted. Jiu Ming took his phone away and looked at the black screen in disbelief. He pressed the power button... it was out of battery. What was going on? He remembered that the phone's battery was always kept full when he had it. Let alone fifteen minutes of continuous calls, even a hundred and fifty minutes would be fine!

Now the battery was mysteriously completely drained!

Sigh, forget it, as long as the item was obtained. At the same time, Jiu Ming gained a new understanding of Nagato Yuki's vast powers. Cross-dimensional communication was one thing, his phone could do that. But to turn an ordinary object in his hand into an 'enchanted' item with special effects across dimensions was not something an ordinary person could do.

Alas, this debt of gratitude was growing larger and larger.

"While I won't hold you accountable for resting on the Hospital Bed without permission, damaging public property without authorization is your fault." After daybreak, Netherworld Soul Chaser looked helplessly at the short piece of rebar that Jiu Ming had forcibly broken off the Hospital Bed, especially under someone's deliberate manipulation.

The tip of the rebar was a terrifyingly sharp spike, meant to stab someone to death!

"Well, it was an emergency... Okay, I had a nightmare and accidentally broke it off." Jiu Ming shrugged, feeling that it was hard to explain. He could tell that the Frog-faced Doctor was just complaining.

"...Forget it, don't do it next time." Anyone with eyes could see how perfunctory Jiu Ming's excuse was. Could you break off rebar like this by accident? Were you kidding me or challenging the limits of people's intelligence?

"There won't be a next time." The rebar in Jiu Ming's hand spun rapidly, causing the air to whistle slightly. "Ok! This is enough..."

"Enough for what?" Netherworld Soul Chaser looked at the deadly weapon in Jiu Ming's hand. What dangerous thing was he planning to do with it? "I say, with your abilities, you shouldn't need such a 'useless' item, right? Why not throw it away?"

Someone who could forcibly pull this steel pipe off a Hospital Bed with their bare hands, why would they need such a mere ordinary item?

"No, no, no, this thing is not ordinary at all. If people knew the value of this item, they would cry and beg me to sell them this 'non-existent' steel pipe."

The next thing was to see who was more formidable between the God of Law Nagato Yuki from another world and the White Hair with a built-in counter-attack cheat from another world.

It should be the former. After all, upon meeting Nagato Yuki, she gave Jiu Ming a feeling of 'omnipotence'. Moreover, she could locate the Mysterious Shop with just a mobile phone, which was already at the level of teleportation. That White Hair probably couldn't do such a difficult and technical task... the gap was evident here!

Just a mere White Hair!

"..." Netherworld Soul Chaser shook his head, looking at the rebar in Jiu Ming's hand. He felt a palpitation whenever he looked at the sharp tip of the rebar.

"By the way, Doctor, can you tell me something about her original body?"

Jiu Ming glanced at Misaka 1, who was sitting quietly. As his gaze shifted, Misaka 1 seemed to sense it and slowly turned her head, meeting his gaze expressionlessly.

Jiu Ming grinned and looked away. No matter how he looked at it, he couldn't feel at ease...

"I suspect you might be some kind of incompetent intruder, asking about Academy City." Netherworld Soul Chaser shook his head helplessly. "Let's go, we'll talk somewhere else."

A formidable invader? You're not entirely wrong, but he's more like a high-end invader who crossed over from another world. Academy City?

No wonder about ninety percent of the people on the streets here are students. Just a glance, and he saw nearly ten different types of school uniforms!

"Let me tell you, finding that girl's original body is easy. After all, she's ranked third among Academy City's seven espers, the strongest 'Electromaster,' 'Railgun'."

"Hmm... seven people? The Seven? Railgun ranked third among the Seven? Hmm, a seemingly delicate girl like this has such a title? Thinking about Misaka 1's appearance, since she's a clone, her original body must be identical."

"...What are you thinking about."

"Nothing. Then let me ask... the White Hair I met earlier, what rank is he?"

"White Hair? It's wrong to badmouth others behind their backs."

"Alright then, the effeminate guy with white hair and red eyes."

"Hey! That sounds even more exaggerated."

"Tch! I'm not so magnanimous that I'd praise someone behind their back after suffering a loss at their hands." Jiu Ming sneered. In his opinion, that White Hair's mental state needed electroshock therapy!

@Yang Yongxin!

"What's that 'Railgun's' name... Misaka something something? Can she shoot lightning? A human Pikachu?" A certain middle school girl suddenly felt a shiver of revulsion.

"...Considering your efforts for that girl, I won't say much more. I'll go organize some information for you. You can wait here."

The Frog-faced Doctor shook his head. Jiu Ming's conversation was very casual, but his persistent attitude was also quite firm. Ordinary advice was useless. The best approach was to let him complete the commission with Misaka 1.

"By the way, what's the 'commission' between you two? This shouldn't be a commercial secret, right?"

"No, it's just to help her find her original body and meet her."

"Then you should be careful. The school she's in isn't easy to get into," the Frog-faced Doctor kindly reminded Jiu Ming.

"Ha! Infiltrating schools to find people isn't something I've never done before!" Jiu Ming chuckled lightly, indicating he had experience with such tasks!

"I think we should notify the disciplinary committee in advance... no, the security guards would be more appropriate." The Frog-faced Doctor looked conflicted. Saving Misaka 1 was his conviction and duty, but keeping Jiu Ming here was... If not for what he was doing, he would have called the police long ago...

"For ordinary people, it's a matter of an instant for me. Numbers aren't the key. As for espers... the methods used against alien monsters should be applicable."

"Hey, hey! Espers are people too. They're all students, so be careful. I don't want a lot of new patients suddenly appearing here."

"La~ Doctor, if you find it troublesome, I can make sure they don't need to come here... Ha, just kidding. I'm a pacifist." Seeing the twitching expression on the Frog-faced Doctor's mouth, Jiu Ming smiled. "Don't worry, I won't do that."