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The sudden disappearance of one of Tokiwadai Middle School's prized Level 5 espers was a secret that Academy City's hierarchy desperately tried to keep contained.
Yet, within the elite circles, the alarm bells had already rung. Tokiwadai had bypassed standard procedure and gone straight to Anti-Skill, demanding immediate mobilization. Every surveillance camera across the vast city was now being scanned for any sign of Shokuhou Misaki. If their initial efforts failed, Anti-Skill was prepared to escalate the situation, reaching out to the highest administrative levels for permission to tap into satellite surveillance footage.
As long as the Queen of Mental Out remained within the city's boundaries, it was a matter of time, perhaps mere hours, before her location was triangulated.
This ticking clock was exactly what put Fang Li on edge.
"If they find her before I do, my Quest fails instantly," he muttered to himself, the weight of the B-Rank task settling heavily on his shoulders. He was in a direct race against an organization with virtually unlimited access to the city's digital eye.
His primary constraint was the Quest's explicit rule: "The participant cannot utilize any ability exceeding the limits granted by the Main God's Dimension in this world." Any power beyond that of a baseline non-esper, a Level 0, would be grounds for immediate failure.
"Seriously, how am I supposed to find one specific girl in a city of millions?" The sheer scope of the search was maddening. He was stripped of his usual advantages, forced to rely on luck against the formidable resources of Anti-Skill and their digital network, which included live surveillance and, potentially, orbital imagery.
This Quest was not just difficult; it was a near-impossible needle-in-a-haystack challenge for a constrained participant. And simply locating her was only half the battle. He also had to resolve whatever incident had caused the strongest mind/psychic-type esper to vanish. Her absence wasn't likely a simple runaway case; something serious must have transpired.
"Well, it is a B-Rank Quest… it was never going to be easy."
Despite the daunting odds, Fang Li knew he had to try. He exited his dorm room and stepped out onto the bustling streets of Academy City, the urban sprawl humming with activity.
"Hey, did you hear? There's a concert going on in the School Garden district. They say the singer is explosively beautiful, and her voice is so good, it's like she's singing you right into a dream!"
"Yeah, I heard! That new rookie sensation, right?"
"I've seen her. She's gorgeous, but it's a shame she's just a Level 0."
"Well, duh. If she wasn't a Level 0, who'd choose the path of a singer in a city like this?"
"True enough…"
These scattered fragments of conversation drifted to Fang Li's ears. He heard them not once, but repeatedly, an unmistakable echo throughout the city's noise. He nodded thoughtfully. In the span of just a few days, Sylvia's name, the other Main God's participant, was already being spoken by random passersby. Her rise in the idol world was progressing far more smoothly than even she had predicted.
"At this rate, she might be performing globally even sooner than we imagined…" Fang Li let out a faint sigh. "I really need to pick up the pace myself."
He had his own list of priorities: gathering intel on the Magic Path originals and advancing his own Side Quest. "In that sense, I'm still trailing behind Sylvia."
Sylvia had chosen the idol route for her Main Quest I, not by rushing in, but by thoughtfully securing a proper contract with a capable management company.
"Maybe I should build a better infrastructure," he mused. He needed more channels, perhaps an information network, a few reliable recruits. Not only would this drastically improve intelligence gathering, but in situations like the current crisis, he would have active search assistance. Everything would become smoother.
"I'll think about the specifics later…"
With that lingering thought, Fang Li continued his seemingly aimless walk, his mind a whirlwind of strategy.
Walking without a specific destination, relying entirely on the statistical anomaly of coincidence, felt like the purest form of gambling.
Just pure, unadulterated luck.
Aside from this desperate hope, Fang Li had no other options, not while constrained by the Quest rules.
"Please, Main God's Dimension, don't crank up the difficulty too much. It's only a B-Rank Quest, and the base completion rate is just ten percent anyway. If I can't even find the person, how am I supposed to complete anything?"
Perhaps the elusive Main God truly heard Fang Li's silent, weary complaint…
Because in the very next second, Fang Li's footsteps slammed to a halt.
He stared ahead, his expression a mixture of profound disbelief and dawning realization.
"No way…" he breathed out softly.
A short distance away, the warm, comforting light of a dessert shop spilled out onto the street.
In the window, a dazzling array of artfully crafted cakes and pastries sat on display, looking like delicate, edible treasures.
And directly in front of that glowing display case stood a girl.
She was leaning forward, her face pressed close to the glass, her attention raptly focused on a particular cake inside.
"Mmm…" A soft, thoughtful sound escaped her lips as she pressed a finger to her mouth, maintaining her posture. She looked, for all the world, like a young child utterly transfixed by a treat she desperately wanted but couldn't reach. Her wide, starry eyes gleamed with pure, sweet desire.
To the casual passerby, she was simply a cute girl admiring sweets.
But Fang Li's sharp instincts, coupled with the critical intelligence he possessed, told him otherwise.
Though her appearance differed noticeably from the mature figure he knew, Fang Li knew with absolute certainty that this adorable girl, with her honey-colored, long hair, dressed in the unmistakable uniform of Tokiwadai Middle School, complete with white spiderweb-pattern gloves and matching over-knee socks…
This was the person both he and the entirety of Anti-Skill were desperately hunting for.
One of Academy City's seven Level 5 espers, the one known as the Queen of Mental Out, Shokuhou Misaki.
However…
"So this is what Tokiwadai's Queen looked like… a year before the story even begins?"
The girl in front of him stood barely 150 centimeters tall. Her figure was undeniably petite and delicate. Despite her best, almost charmingly awkward efforts to project maturity in her posture and dress, she was unmistakably just a thirteen or fourteen-year-old girl.
Fang Li's memory painted a very different picture: an elegant, alluring young woman with a voluptuous figure that was the envy of high schoolers, a true queen in every sense of the word.
In other words…
"The Tokiwadai Queen… she hasn't finished growing yet?" Fang Li couldn't help the small, wry smile that tugged at his lips, a mix of amusement and professional disbelief. The most powerful psychic in the city was currently preoccupied with dessert.
Shaking off the surprise, he started to walk toward her.
"Hm?"
At that moment, Shokuhou Misaki must have sensed his approach. She turned her head, her honey-colored hair swaying, and looked up at him.
The next instant, Fang Li was directly in her line of sight.
She blinked her bright, star-like eyes a few times, then tilted her head in an expression of utterly adorable confusion.
And before Fang Li could even open his mouth to begin his cautious approach, she spoke first.
"Do you know me?" she asked, her voice soft but direct.
Then, with an unnerving degree of familiarity, she stepped closer, reached out, and tugged lightly on his sleeve. She pointed a gloved finger at the elaborate cake inside the display case.
"If you do know me," she declared, her eyes still sparkling with desire, "then buy me that cake!"
"Huh?"
Fang Li froze, completely derailed.
He watched the girl insistently tugging at his arm, her gaze glued to the confectionary like a drooling child who'd just spotted their favorite toy. A deep, comical doubt surfaced in his mind.
"This person… is really Tokiwadai's Queen? The mighty Shokuhou Misaki?"
(End Of This Chapter)