Dimensional Codex System: I'm really not a cultist!

After exchanging a few simple words, Fang Zheng turned and left, and Feli clearly didn’t think much of her own brother either, following along as she left. Only after watching Fang Zheng go did Kalian finally rein in the smile on his face. He waved his hand to dismiss the others, and when there was no one left in the room but himself, Kalian picked up the communicator on the table and narrowed his eyes to examine it.

Kalian hadn’t told Feli, but in fact not long ago he had received a report from below saying someone had broken into the Engine Room and even made contact with Jernie’s Digital Elf. Of course, as things stood, the other party had only made contact and hadn’t done any damage to the Digital Elf.

But according to the report, the one who broke into the Engine Room and contacted Jernie was the man who’d just been chatting with him. The man had a vibe Kalian couldn’t see through at all, something completely out of place with this world. Not to mention the request he’d made was bizarre as hell...

On top of that, Kalian had never heard of any Mobile City called the Heavenly Dao Palace existing. Why did they come here, and why would they make that kind of request?

Investigate all the Mobile Cities? If they had bad intentions, doing it secretly would be the smart move. Coming out and asking so brazenly like this, doesn’t that make them seem way too suspicious? Or is that just a smokescreen and they actually have some other goal?

Still... it’s not like there’s nothing he can do.

Watching the petals drifting in front of him, Kalian showed a faint smile.

”Then, I’ll be counting on you.”

[Hmph!]

As Kalian’s voice fell, a cold snort suddenly rang out in the otherwise empty room. The next moment, the pink petal floating before him exploded with a ”bang” like a firecracker, blasting Kalian’s face full of dust. The student council president, however, seemed not the least bit bothered, merely giving a wry smile as he picked up a handkerchief to wipe his face and let out a sigh.

Meanwhile, Fang Zheng had been led by Feli to a hotel not far away. According to her, this place was used to receive representatives from other Cities. Since Fang Zheng was here as the representative of the Heavenly Dao Palace, he might as well stay here, plus room and board were free—Fang Zheng certainly wasn’t going to turn that down. With this world turned into such a mess, it was obvious there was no FBI around to fleece him, and he’d just been worrying about where to get money...

Free is always better, of course.

After thanking Feli, Fang Zheng returned to his room, then decisively opened a Teleportation Gate and went back to the First World.

”8848... no, 9527... also wrong, then 9982!”

Once back, the first thing Fang Zheng did was find Misaka 9982.

”May I ask what you need? Misaka asks in a cold tone toward the superior who still can’t remember Misaka’s number.”

”Can’t be helped, your number’s too much of a meme, I forget it every time.”

”What is a ’meme’? Misaka once again raises the question in puzzlement.”

”It’s like a joke. Simply put, people who get it find it hilarious, people who don’t just feel totally lost... Anyway, that’s not important. How’s the prep going for the Apostle Level?”

”Everything’s normal. The Misakas are fully familiar with all the internal operations of the Warship and can enter combat readiness at any time, Misaka answers with full confidence.”

As she spoke, Misaka 9982 raised her head and, expressionless, struck a smug pose.

”Good. I need the Apostle Level and the Paladin to enter battle prep. We’re heading to a new world immediately. That world’s going to be a pain, and we’ll have some places where we need to fight.”

”Understood, Misaka will prepare at once.”

Hearing this, Misaka 9982 quickly drew back her expression, gave Fang Zheng a solemn salute, then turned and jogged off. Fang Zheng just shook his head, then turned again to go find someone else.

Because of how special the Mobile City world was, Fang Zheng decided to bring more people along. There would be no shortage of fights in that world, and relying on himself alone definitely wouldn’t cut it.

So first he summoned Katori, Neflen, and the other Golden Fairies. Once they heard that the place they were going next was a world not much different from their original one, Katori naturally didn’t refuse and quickly nodded her agreement. Fang Zheng then went to find the Priestess of the Goddess and the others, asking them to temporarily take charge of the castle’s defenses.

Originally Fang Zheng had thought about bringing the newly formed ”world” squad along as well, but considering that the Creatures in that world had crazy high defense and that, aside from Musujime Awaki, the rest of that small team didn’t have any special combat ability, they’d just be going there to die. So he left them behind.

As for Academy City... Fang Zheng only called two people.

Misaka Mikoto and Kuroko Shirai.

Misaka Mikoto naturally wasn’t going to say no, especially after Fang Zheng told her, ”This is the sisters’ first battle in the new world.” She immediately volunteered to go, wanting to see what that world was like. As for Kuroko...

”Hey, are you sure this is really okay?”

Watching Kuroko walking ahead, looking around in confusion, Misaka Mikoto lowered her voice and asked Fang Zheng.

”If she sees them, who knows what’ll happen.”

”Just don’t let her see them, that’s all.”

Fang Zheng certainly knew what Misaka Mikoto was referring to. With Kuroko’s personality, if she ever saw that ten-thousand-strong crowd of little sisters, she’d probably snap on the spot and maybe even kidnap one home without a word. Fang Zheng, however, was perfectly calm. Right now all those Little Misakas had already boarded the ship, and unlike the original, they were all wearing Heavenly Dao Palace uniforms now. Coupled with electronic visors and goggles, your average person wouldn’t recognize them.

Of course, doing it like this did make them look a bit like a mechanical army of Clones—though that’s not exactly wrong, is it?

”Um, so just by going through here it’s really another world?”

Staring at the Aura in front of her, Kuroko Shirai was full of disbelief. She frowned, turned around, and looked at Fang Zheng and Misaka Mikoto.

”This isn’t you and Mr. Fang Zheng teaming up to prank me, is it, Sister Dear?”

”Do you think it looks like it?”

”Of course. Normally, stuff like ’another world’ just sounds fake no matter how you spin it. Sister Dear might fall for it, sure, but trying to trick me...... ”

”Kuroko.........!”

Hearing this, Misaka Mikoto’s eyebrow shot up, and crackling arcs of electricity started snapping around her hair. Kuroko hurriedly shut her mouth.

”Ah, but since Sister Dear says so, then even if it’s a sea of blades and flames, Kuroko will follow you to the very end!”

However......

”Is this really another world?”

Looking out past the glass barrier at the vast stretch of barren land, then at the massive wheels beneath her feet that kept turning non-stop, Kuroko couldn’t hide her shock. If she’d still had doubts before, now Kuroko didn’t have a single question left. I mean, come on, a city that can move...... if this existed in her own world, there’s no way Shirai Kuroko could’ve gone her whole life without hearing about it.

Not to mention all the people on the street—still human, sure, but a lot of them seemed like foreigners. Kuroko couldn’t understand a word they were saying, and only after Fang Zheng gave her a wristband could she finally make sense of their language.

”Of course it is. All right, let’s walk. I’ll tell you about this world as we go.”

Fang Zheng led Misaka Mikoto and Shirai Kuroko around the city. After confirming that Shirai Kuroko had accepted reality, he immediately got to the point and laid out the current situation of this world for them in full detail. When Misaka Mikoto and Shirai Kuroko heard that the land of this world had already been exhausted, and people could only survive by living like this, they were both deeply shocked.

In their own world, something like this was pretty much unimaginable.

”Are those Creatures really that strong?”

Railgun was Railgun; after listening to Fang Zheng’s explanation, that was the first thing she thought of.

”Pretty damn strong. You’d be doing great if your Railgun at full power could take out two or three in one shot.”

Fang Zheng wasn’t exaggerating. Those Creatures were tanky as hell. According to that chatty kid from before, normal weapons couldn’t even pierce their shells. Fang Zheng had run some tests himself and found that not only was their defense sky-high, their Regeneration Ability was downright terrifying.

Not that it was surprising. They barely counted as Divine Beasts, after all, influenced by Divine Power—kind of like being irradiated and mutating. Whether that’s good or bad, either way, they’ve definitely mutated......

So when it came to dealing with these Creatures, firepower mattered a lot. Among the people Fang Zheng knew in this world, Misaka Mikoto’s combat power was the highest, and Shirai Kuroko’s escape-and-mobility skills were first-rate. Bringing the two of them along, he wasn’t worried about trouble.

But the others were a different story.

People like Shihou Souki or Frenda—dumping them here would basically just be feeding the bugs.

”Are they really that strong?”

Hearing this, Misaka Mikoto naturally refused to accept it. She was an LV5, after all. Sure, she’d been beaten in fights before, but her opponents had also been human. In Misaka Mikoto’s mind, no matter how strong Creatures were, they were still Creatures, right? No way they could be tougher than people, could they?

”You’ll run into them sooner or later. You’ll know then. Anyway, let me explain how the students are divided here. There’s the Martial Arts Department and the Regular Department. The ones in white uniforms are from the Martial Arts Department. They have a special kind of power, and it’s thanks to that power that they can repel the Creatures’ attacks. The ones in orange uniforms are Regular Department students, just ordinary people.”

”Do the Martial Arts Department students have Ranks or something? Like how our Ability Users are classified?”

Right now Misaka Mikoto was staring at those Martial Arts Department students in white uniforms, eyes shining, while Shirai Kuroko beside her could only helplessly raise a hand to massage her forehead.

”Sister Dear, please don’t get any strange ideas, all right? We’re in another world at the moment, so please don’t cause trouble......”

”I know, okay? It’s not like I said I was going to start something......”

”What the hell did you just say?!”

”What, you wanna fight?!”

Just as the two were talking, suddenly a commotion came from not far away. Everyone looked over to see two students in white uniforms grabbing each other by the collar, looking like they were about to start throwing punches any second.

”Hey, there’s a fight over there!”

Seeing this, Misaka Mikoto’s eyes lit up, but Shirai Kuroko reacted fast and grabbed her in one swift motion.

”Wait, Sister Dear, at a time like this it should be us Discipline Committee Members...... ”

”But Discipline Committee Members are useless in this world, right?”

”Uh......”

Shirai Kuroko instinctively reached for her armband, but Misaka Mikoto’s reminder snapped her back to reality—she wasn’t in Academy City right now—oh, no, more precisely, she wasn’t in the Academy City of her own world......

”Boom!!”

Just then, with a loud bang, the two sides who had been arguing in front of them finally started throwing punches!