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

The flames suddenly erupted.

Tina saw a blaze rushing towards her, instinctively raising her hand to fend it off. However, to Tina’s surprise, she didn’t feel the heat of the flames. When she opened her eyes again, everything before her had completely changed.

Before her was no longer Academy City, but an endless land of ash with bright red lava flowing slowly. Looking up, she could see the asteroid belt and the scarlet sun in the sky, the scorching aura was suffocating.

Upon seeing this scene, the soldiers were also frightened out of their wits.

”What, what is this?”

”What’s going on? What happened exactly!”

”Don’t panic!!”

Seeing her subordinates panicking, Tina clenched her teeth and shouted angrily to stabilize them.

”This is just an illusion! The other side must have used some ability or device to create it, there are no such creatures in this world! Calm down and don’t panic!”

Following Tina’s words, the soldiers gradually calmed down, gripping their guns tightly again and aimed them at Fang Zheng. Tina stared coldly at Fang Zheng and spoke again.

”Though I don’t know what you are using, I advise you to hand over those lab rats. Judging by your appearance, you’re quite a promising researcher. Are you really willing to be buried like this? Why not join us in researching the LV6 project! You should understand what this represents!”

”Represents idiots wanting to go to college without knowing who they are.”

Fang Zheng yawned again, showing no reaction to the black muzzles of the guns facing him.

”Just because of you guys, you think you can make an LV6? Still dreaming, aren’t you? Mokuhara Genki is just an immortal idiot, and you’re no better. I have no interest in dealing with you idiots of the Mokuhara Clan. Just based on what Mokuhara Genki has done, he should’ve died a hundred times over.”

”So what?”

Upon hearing this, Tina’s face turned as cold as ice.

”Don’t you know the true nature of Academy City? All of these students are just lab rats! They are our experimental materials! It is their honor to contribute everything to the greatness of the LV6 project! This is a utilization of waste! Don’t you understand? Compared to these lab rats, truth is what we pursue!”

”Value is different for everyone.”

Fang Zheng shrugged.

”You see, for example, those kids are much more valuable than you in my eyes, whereas you... Meh, no looks, no body, can’t even be used to blow off steam, and you talk to me about value. Fortunately, as you mentioned, utilizing waste is still important. Even residues like you have their uses.”

”What did you say?!”

Upon hearing this, Tina stepped forward angrily, raising the long spear in her hand to aim at Fang Zheng, but before she could say anything more, a soft sound suddenly echoed.

”Kara.”

Tina looked down and saw the ground beneath her feet split open with a tiny crack, slowly rising.

”???”

Before Tina could express her confusion, a white, palm-sized thing suddenly leaped from the soil, lunging onto Tina’s face and tightly gripping her face!

”Mmph---Mmph!!!”

Faced with this sudden attack, Tina frantically waved her hands, trying to remove the creature from her face. But before she could act, she felt something soft and warm slip into her open mouth and down her throat. Tina’s body suddenly trembled, and the next moment, she lost consciousness.

Before Tina lost consciousness, she heard a cacophony of screams...

”......”

She didn’t know how much time had passed, or perhaps no time had passed at all, before Tina slowly woke up. Turning her head to look around, she saw the soldiers she brought lying scattered around, while Fang Zheng still stood there, watching her with his hands behind his back.

”You bastard!”

Tina tore the creature off her face and tossed it aside, raising the long spear in her hand to aim at Fang Zheng.

”What did you do to me!?”

”Utilization of waste.”

Fang Zheng kept his hands behind his back, squinting his eyes at Tina.

”In my view, your sole existence value is this, consider yourself honored. You’re the first woman to become an alien parasite in this world.”

”What are you talking ... Mmph!”

Before Tina could finish speaking, her expression suddenly changed. At this moment, she could feel something within her body constantly colliding, crashing against her insides. She raised the long spear, wanting to attack Fang Zheng, but the intense pain made it impossible for her to hold the customized weapon.

With a ”clang,” the long spear slipped from her hand and clattered to the ground.

”Mmph... Ah... You...!!”

Tyrestina reached out to clutch her chest, glaring venomously at Fang Zheng. She opened her mouth to say something, but the next moment, blood began to flow from her mouth.

Immediately afterward, the armor on Tyrestina’s chest suddenly burst open, and an Alien poked its head out, emitting a piercing scream.

The scene quietly shifted again, and when Fang Zheng returned to the front of the research institute, several dozen Aliens with completely pitch-black bodies had appeared before him.

”Find a place to hide, don’t let anyone see you, wait for my command.”

Fang Zheng issued the order, and the Aliens immediately turned around, vanishing without a trace like an ecstatic Erha.

”Indeed, it’s still necessary to have a bit of your own manpower.”

With hands behind his back, Fang Zheng glanced around the streets and shook his head. Look at them, they can send a group to blockade... Tsk tsk, if my people can’t come over, then I’ll have to produce locally.

But speaking of which, the parasitic traits of Aliens are quite promising. Why not let it parasitize a Level 5 to see if it can inherit the Level 5’s abilities? If it works, it would be nice to promote it throughout the Swarm.

But who to choose? Misaka Mikoto is out of the question, so let’s go with the first one, anyway, they aren’t a good person. I remember the second one is also looking for trouble, oh, and there’s the fourth one... If she doesn’t wise up and continues to bother me, I might as well turn her into an Alien Motherbody, as I recall her abilities seem quite suitable for combat...

Forget it, I’ll deal with whoever I encounter.

With that thought, Fang Zheng brushed off further concerns and turned back into the research institute to sleep.

Tyrestina and her group died silently, without any commotion, and Academy City didn’t react either. After all, Tyrestina had sealed off the roads and used her authority to cut off surveillance around Fang Zheng’s research institute for her ambush, providing him with perfect space for silencing—hm, it’s rather rare to find a victim who thinks and acts this way for their own murderer.

Yet trouble always comes in legions.

”Look, Mr. Fang Zheng!”

Early the next morning, Ruiko came to the research institute, bursting with pride as she showed Fang Zheng a stack of envelopes in her hand.

”What’s this?”

”Cash cards, cash cards, they’re everywhere on the streets now! I heard these cash cards have quite a bit of money on them! Look, I just found so many casually on my way to the research institute this morning.”

”Lucky you, what do you plan to do?”

”Well then, I’ll leave it to Classmate Shirai to keep them safe.”

”Alright.”

Kuroko Shirai reached out and took the cash cards Ruiko handed over.

”Recently, it seems like there’s someone everywhere placing cash cards... In fact, the Discipline Committee Branch has received quite a few reports.”

”Which means it’s deliberate, but what’s the purpose?”

”That’s unknown.”

”Such peculiar people... I really don’t understand why they’re doing this, could it be some sort of fraud trap?”

Saten Reiko casually commented and then looked around.

”Speaking of which, where’s Classmate Misaka? Could she have gone to play with the kitten again?”

”Huh? You mean Sister Dear?”

Kuroko Shirai paused for a moment.

”Sister Dear didn’t come to the research institute today, she said she had some things to take care of.”

”That’s odd... I clearly saw Classmate Misaka coming on the way to the research institute, and I thought she must be heading here.”

It’s not surprising that Saten Reiko said that, as Misaka Mikoto often visits the research institute, though her reasons for coming differ from others. Misaka Mikoto’s primary reason for visiting the research institute is—little kitten.

Indeed, Misaka Mikoto loves cats, but because she’s an Electrokinetic User, her aura scares them away, causing her some distress. Only the little kitten isn’t afraid of her, which is why Misaka Mikoto is completely bewitched by it, spending her free time at the research institute cuddling and rubbing it...

Everyone is well aware of this.

”Maybe you mistook someone else?”

Kuroko Shirai wasn’t particularly concerned, and Saten Reiko nodded as well.

”Possibly, after all, the other person was wearing Tokiwadai’s uniform... They did look quite similar to Classmate Misaka.”

”Strange, does our school have such a student?”

Listening to Kuroko Shirai and Saten Reiko’s conversation, Fang Zheng raised an eyebrow.

It seems something is happening where I haven’t noticed...

Indeed, this is... a bit troublesome.