In the mist of the Pacific Ocean, a massive city that shouldn't exist had appeared.
This news left Haruto a little dumbfounded.
After discovering Anantashesha, Haruto had thought the mist over the Pacific was caused by the eel.
But now, it seemed that wasn't the case.
At least, not entirely.
The information was transmitted into the Foundation's system.
An online O5 council meeting began.
Regarding this unknown ocean city, the SCP Foundation had two options:
They could carry out a destruction strike, completely leveling the area to eliminate the threat.
Or, they could send a group of agents and a Mobile Task Force to enter the city and perform an anomalous contact mission.
And also attempt diplomatic negotiations inside the city.
After a vote, it was decided by a margin of four votes to proceed with an anomalous contact mission.
Mobile Task Force – Black Ball, along with a team of agents, were dispatched to the anomalous area to conduct exploration.
At the same time, Haruto also prepared to go take a look.
The submarine headed toward the anomalous urban region in the Pacific.
After surfacing, Haruto laid eyes on the city.
It was a predominantly white city, surrounded by ocean and white mist in the Pacific.
Skyscrapers rose throughout the city.
Visibly, the technological level of this city far surpassed that of Blue Star society.
At a glance, Haruto could see mass-applied maglev trains running on airborne bridges. And above the city, large aircrafts circling in flight. Just in terms of infrastructure, this city was at least twenty years ahead of Earth's society.
Many scientific results that hadn't even been civilianized in Blue Star were already operational here.
And when a scientific achievement can be used for civilian and large-scale infrastructure...
It means—
That the technology is highly mature and has already been left behind by the military and cutting-edge research fronts.
Looking at this ultra-futuristic city, Megumi couldn't help but exclaim in wonder.
"Looks pretty amazing."
Haruto nodded in agreement.
Although the facilities in the city were certainly far less advanced than the Foundation's tech...
Even so, the Foundation couldn't possibly open up such technology to the public and use it for infrastructure like this city had.
"Come to think of it… This place looks oddly familiar."
Haruto muttered while observing.
At this moment, Megumi removed her bio-exoskeleton diving suit and left the equipment on the submarine.
Then, the submarine sank, temporarily leaving the area.
Since this was a covert anomalous contact mission—
Naturally, they couldn't leave the submarine parked nearby. Otherwise, it would likely be discovered by the city sooner or later.
"Come on, let's stroll around. It's been a while since we went on a date~."
Haruto said, taking Megumi's hand.
Megumi didn't say anything, simply intertwining her fingers with his.
After walking for a while, Haruto and Megumi finally entered the city.
To be honest, this city didn't feel like it was on an island at all. More like a city located in the center of a country on land.
You could tell just by looking at the buildings.
An island city should be built with all kinds of waterproofing features—
Like levees, for example.
But this city had none.
The asphalt roads extended outward from the city and abruptly ended somewhere at the edge of the city.
It looked more like these roads were originally connected to something, rather than ending at the ocean.
And the city's edge was just a ring of barren coastal land, showing no signs of development.
"Judging from this… Could it be the entire city was transported here?"
Megumi speculated.
Though the guess sounded outrageous—
It actually made a lot of sense given the circumstances.
Haruto nodded, just about to say something when his words stopped mid-sentence.
He stared straight ahead.
Megumi followed Haruto's gaze but saw nothing unusual.
Just normal city streets ahead.
There didn't seem to be anything strange.
But Haruto clicked his tongue.
"This city's technology level is even more advanced than we thought. The Mobile Task Force and agents don't even need to sneak in. They've probably already been discovered."
Megumi was stunned.
"Why? Is there something there?"
Haruto nodded and pointed into the air ahead.
"You can't see them, but floating around this city are small detection devices. They're about seventy nanometers in size, shaped like spherical machines with three pairs of needle-like cilia protruding from the sides. They float through the air, and there are a lot of them, probably scattered throughout the city—practically everywhere."
Hearing this, Megumi looked closely at the air.
But it was clear she couldn't see anything.
Unless she used auxiliary equipment.
Still, even if she couldn't see them, just knowing about them—
Made Megumi feel like she was being watched. It felt a bit eerie.
Haruto looked at the familiar city and the many floating surveillance devices.
A sense of déjà vu rose within him.
This setup… seemed like something he'd seen before.
To confirm his suspicions, Haruto pulled Megumi deeper into the city.
Once they entered the streets, people started to appear.
Though they were still near the outskirts and it seemed somewhat remote, the city clearly had a high population density.
Students in school uniforms frequently passed by.
It seemed that in this city, students made up the majority, while working adults were a minority.
Additionally, on the city streets, one could see many patrolling and cleaning robots.
These robots were quite smart—they completed their assigned tasks without interfering with passersby.
Haruto approached what appeared to be a guidance-type robot.
As he and Megumi neared, the robot stopped automatically and asked:
"May I help you?"
At the same time, a holographic panel was projected. Haruto operated the panel and quickly found a map.
A map of the city popped up.
The map labeled various areas by name—
And showed all routes and stops for buses, subways, trams, and monorails.
The city was divided into twenty-three areas.
Labeled as School Districts 1 through 23.
Its area was about one-third the size of Tokyo, but its three-dimensional space utilization far surpassed that of Tokyo.
Moreover, the map marked numerous schools and research institutions.
The whole city seemed to develop around the concept of an academy.
In a corner of the map, Haruto spotted the label:
Academy City.
Seeing this familiar name, Haruto couldn't help but sigh slightly.
So it was Academy City after all.
Earlier, when he saw those floating surveillance devices, he remembered what they were called.
They were the AIM Jammers, exclusive intelligence devices used by Academy City's ruler.
And this city, just as the name suggested, was like one giant school.
Inside the city, there were over a thousand research institutions and numerous academies.
More than 80% of the permanent residents were students.
The remainder were mostly researchers and teachers.
Besides its advanced technology, the most unique thing about Academy City was—
It was a city for studying supernatural abilities.
Most students in Academy City lived in dormitories and received ability development training in their schools.
Abilities were generally acquired through drugs, hypnosis, and electrical stimulation.
There were various ability types, classified by range and power:
Level 0 – No ability
Level 1 – Low ability
Level 2 – Mild ability
Level 3 – Strong ability
Level 4 – Great ability
Level 5 – Super ability
Level 6 – Absolute ability
On the surface, Academy City existed to create a Level 6 Absolute Ability user.
However, that goal was still far off.
Currently, there were only seven Level 5 ability users in Academy City. As for the deeper purpose hidden behind ability development—
Just thinking about it gave Haruto a headache.
Might as well head to the city's core and eliminate its ruler.
Haruto figured that executing that guy might save a lot of trouble.
But before that, he decided to explore the city first. At least to confirm whether this was indeed the city from the anime in his memory.
Patting the guide robot—
Haruto took Megumi's hand and headed toward the train station. Megumi allowed herself to be led, but curiously asked:
"Haruto, are we going to take a train? But I don't think we have any money for this city... right?"
Haruto froze for a second.
Good point!
But maybe they accept Yen?
If not...
Well, that would be a problem!
==============
T/N:
Goddamnn, author be cookin with this Toaru insert.
And-
Yo~
Translator san here.
I just wanted to say 2 bad news and 1 good news, that way they'll cancel out, somewhat XD.
The bad news is, yall remember the fic that LovedOne translated? The Wives of Simulation, that one. Yeahhhh he still did not bring that one back.
kewkk
Good news though is I can translate it. I can pick it up from where was the last chapter he translated and continue on his legacy on finding that masterpiece.
Buttt,(of course theirs a but)
The fic.... I'm afraid to say..... has been dropped by the original author as it hasn't been updated for about a month and a half now. That's the other bad news.
Bro whyyyy
This might be a reason why he did not bring it back up and it frankly didn't help that WN deleted the fic 2 times I think so I couldn't blame him
So now it'll all come down to it if the people wanna read it but I'm frankly hesitant to translate it now cuz of the above mentioned bad news.
That fic aint in free sites as its only available on faloo.
That's all from me.
Xiao~