"I think Teacher Yomikawa is right." This time, Torami Toumi nodded in agreement. "We can't underestimate human malice."
"There's one more thing," Yomikawa Aiho added. "I registered as your guardian these past few days to handle all the paperwork."
It was easier this way, Yomikawa Aiho explained.
Although the decision involved some element of coincidence, since she had become his "guardian," Yomikawa Aiho decided to fulfill the role properly.
"This is the case I personally oversaw," Yomikawa Aiho said seriously. "It's one thing that I failed to capture the real mastermind, but I absolutely cannot fail to protect Wuming-kun's safety."
"In that case..." Lin Wuming no longer hesitated. He extended his hand. "Thank you very much for all your help, Teacher. Please continue to look after me in the future!"
"Uh..." Seeing the plaster cylinder extended towards her, Yomikawa Aiho carefully shook his hand. "Don't mention it. The same goes for me; please take care..."
For some reason, she always felt that when communicating with Lin Wuming, it was less like dealing with a teenager and more like interacting with an adult peer.
With his housing and personal safety issues resolved for the near future, Lin Wuming relaxed considerably and could focus on healing.
While Lin Wuming actively cooperated with treatment in the hospital, trying to recover as quickly as possible, a secret meeting concerning him was unfolding in the underground space of a certain building...
"Let's take a final vote on the disposal plan for subject number '007,'" the middle-aged man chairing the meeting began.
"He now has the name Lin Wuming, has a valid identity, and is under the protection of the Judgment forces," someone immediately said from below. "Furthermore, it's been confirmed that his amnesia is genuine, so why bother going to great lengths for him?"
"Are you suggesting we just let the lab escapee go? What will the other subjects think?" someone immediately countered. "The Judgment forces have been investigating closely lately. If another subject escapes, we're finished!"
"You're the one who messed this up by hiring that idiot killer!" The person who spoke before immediately slammed the table. "If you hadn't rashly hired an amateur for the assassination... if you had chosen to commission a more professional ANBU action, we wouldn't be in this passive situation!"
The middle-aged man chairing the meeting stopped the argument: "Enough. This is not the time to argue. The most important thing is to make a decision."
"Then we can only give up, right?" the attending staff eventually reached a consensus. "He's just an insignificant subject. Without his memory, he poses no further threat to us. There's no need to waste more time and resources on him."
Following the incident, they had already urgently transferred all relevant personnel and facilities for the project overnight. Even if Lin Wuming recovered his memory later, it would be futile.
The middle-aged man frowned: "None of you... have been keeping track of the boy's situation, have you?"
He could confirm that the dozens of researchers sitting below him had genuinely paid no attention to the previously inconspicuous subject "007."
In fact, if the boy hadn't attracted the attention of the Judgment investigation, probably no one here would have cared about the life or death of an experiment subject.
—That includes myself.
The middle-aged man let out a long sigh. The fact that the team leader under him would casually hire a killer on an anonymous website to silence him was ultimately due to not taking Lin Wuming seriously, leading to a half-hearted attempt.
He opened a document: "Everyone, take a look at this."
"What is this now?" someone immediately asked, likely feeling impatient with the meeting.
"Recently updated file data from the Book Bank," the middle-aged man said. "The file for that '007'—Lin Wuming."
"Tsk, what's there to see... Huh!" The previously lackadaisical researchers suddenly widened their eyes.
In the "Superpower" column of the file, it was clearly written: Level 3 "Psychic".
"Level 3, Strong-Level Esper..." a female researcher muttered. "How? Wasn't he a Level 0 Powerless?"
The middle-aged man narrowed his eyes: "I don't know what happened, but one thing is certain—the Book Bank data doesn't lie."
The data in the "Book Bank" might be incomplete, or it might have parts blacked out due to secrecy levels, but it was impossible for false information to appear.
If it appeared in the Book Bank, it was an undeniable fact!
"Could it be..." someone finally spoke up, "that our experiment... was successful?"
To be honest, everyone present had thought of this possibility, but no one had said it so directly.
After all, this experiment project was the common goal everyone was striving for. When personal interests are involved, people naturally become more cautious.
The "Dark May" project aimed to analyze and replicate the Level 5 Top-Level Esper Accelerator's ability, "Vector Manipulation."
—Analyze Accelerator's thought patterns, forcefully implant a portion of them into the test subjects, thereby strengthening their "Personal Reality" and achieving a leap in their superpower growth.
However, the project also carried risks commensurate with the potential rewards. Since it was human experimentation, casualties and sacrifices were unavoidable.
Therefore, those participating in the project were members of the "Sprout Program"—to put it plainly, abandoned orphans. The loss of a few people in this group would not attract attention.
Subject "007" Lin Wuming was one of them, and because he was the oldest, he was considered the one with the least potential and had always been ignored.
Yet, he suddenly became a Level 3 Strong-Level Esper!
How could this not shock and excite the researchers?
It must be noted that, according to "System Scan," the maximum ability level of every person is determined from the start. It is virtually impossible to increase one's ability level through later efforts and ability development...
This was especially true for the children in the "Sprout Program"—if they truly possessed talent, they would have been scouted by schools or professional, legitimate research facilities long ago, and wouldn't have been reduced to being "lab rats."
But conversely, it was precisely because these children from the "Sprout Program" were at Level 0 or Level 1 that the effectiveness of the "Dark May" project could be better demonstrated.
So far, among the hundreds of subjects in the entire project, only one girl successfully broke through the "System Scan," jumping from Level 0 to Level 2. A few others advanced from Level 0 to Level 1.
There were results, but they were very small and didn't meet the researchers' expectations.
If Lin Wuming's superpower level promotion was genuinely due to their experiment, it would undoubtedly be the biggest achievement since the inception of the "Dark May" project!