Chapter 961: Network of Connections

“This is a war!”

Facing Lin Wuming’s outrageous statement, the three Guard Teachers standing at the door were speechless. The current situation had indeed exceeded their expectations.

Moreover, the three of them were there to understand the situation, not to demand explanations.

Just as they had said, Lin Wuming had never ordered Anti-Skill to do anything; it was just that their goals were consistent, so cooperation was the most reasonable and normal behavior.

Realizing the seriousness of the problem, the Guard Teachers could no longer stay and immediately turned to leave.

Soon after, almost all the Guards at headquarters were dispatched, vowing to arrest all suspects as quickly as possible.

When it comes to apprehending criminal suspects, Anti-Skill is the most professional. Especially with detailed intelligence, Anti-Skill’s operational efficiency has improved even further.

Moreover, Anti-Skill arrests suspects regardless of their difficulty level, and they don't care if there's a bounty. All “criminals” are within their arrest scope!

This is also why Lin Wuming believed that the final bounty he would pay would only be around ten million yen.

Because many targets would be intercepted by Anti-Skill and Judgment; and the number of people truly caught by the Armed Unskilled Group and ultimately exchanged for bounties… would not be too many.

Lin Wuming’s true purpose was merely to have the Armed Unskilled Group, scattered throughout Academy City, act as an auxiliary to Anti-Skill and Judgment.

Theoretically, the Armed Unskilled Group and Anti-Skill are more like cat and mouse, not exactly hostile, but close enough. However, under Lin Wuming’s operation, the two sides actually formed a rather “perfect” coordination.

To be precise, Anti-Skill and the Armed Unskilled Group were just doing their own things. The two sides were clearly distinct and did not interfere with each other. It was already good that no conflicts arose due to bounties, let alone “cooperation.”

However, objectively, with one being orthodox and the other unorthodox, one primary and the other auxiliary, after each doing what they were good at in their respective fields, they truly achieved a result where one plus one was greater than two.

The Dark Side Organization was in a similar situation. Under Lin Wuming and their mediation, it formed a linkage with other organizational forces, fully leveraging the strength of the Dark Side Organization.

During this process, all Lin Wuming did was watch the big screen in this conference room and constantly make calls, or ask Kogawa Meiwei and Misaka Mikoto beside him to make calls…

It was through this most basic method that the “network of connections” was built. Lin Wuming achieved this feat by himself.

What Huangquanchuan Aisui had just said—mobilizing almost all violent agencies in Academy City and bringing them under control.

But in all fairness, the method Lin Wuming adopted was only slightly better than “communicating by shouting.”

Commanding a war through phone calls… it's obvious that the efficiency wouldn't be very high.

Fortunately, the situation on the enemy's side wasn't much better.

Although Lin Wuming treated them as an entire “army,” the reality was that among these thousands of suspects, most were lone wolves or small groups of only a few people.

The only organized force was the rebellious Dark Side Organization “Block.”

Their only common ground seemed to be just “acting today.”

Their cooperation… it should be said that there was no concept of “cooperation” at all. In fact, because they were “peers,” mutual obstruction and even internal conflict were the norm.

It was precisely because of this that Lin Wuming’s plan could be implemented so smoothly.

As time passed, Lin Wuming, who was in the conference room, became increasingly silent.

This “war” to “clear out invaders” proceeded very smoothly. At first, they frequently needed to make calls to contact corresponding Personnel and organizations, deploy troops, or coordinate conflicts.

But as time passed, the various factions in Academy City also figured out some ways and could more freely cooperate with other forces.

Coupled with the decreasing number of target suspects, Lin Wuming and his team became idle.

Lin Wuming sat in a chair in the center of the room, looking up at the large screen, and no one knew what he was thinking.

At the entrance of the conference room, representatives from Anti-Skill, Judgment, and even the Dark Side Organization and the Armed Unskilled Group silently watched Lin Wuming.

For a moment, no one broke the silence.

Until Haruue Erii’s voice echoed through the loudspeakers in the conference room.

“Real-time data update! The current number of suspects is—zero!” Haruue Erii clapped and cheered, “Congratulations, Senior Wuming, all suspects have been apprehended! We won this war!”

“…”

Whether it was an illusion or not, those present seemed to feel Lin Wuming sigh, as if he was still dissatisfied with the result.

Then he quickly returned to his usual calm state, nodded, and said, “You’ve worked hard, Haruue.”

“Not at all, Senior Wuming, you are the one who truly worked hard,” Haruue Erii shook her head and said.

“I didn’t work hard,” Lin Wuming said with some disdain, “I was just constantly making calls the whole time, and I couldn’t even leave this conference room—what’s so hard about that?”

Those familiar with Lin Wuming knew that in the past, when encountering such cases, Lin Wuming would often personally go out and defeat enemies himself.

But this time, he chose to stay behind the scenes and command, leaving the task of charging into battle to others…

“But this is truly amazing!” a Guard Teacher exclaimed, “To quell a massive disturbance spread throughout the entire city without leaving the house… such a thing is unheard of. Even Chairman, I’m afraid, would find it difficult to do something like this, wouldn’t he?”

—Senior Wuming, this time you are truly going to become famous.

Shokuhou Misaki had also arrived at the conference room entrance at some point.

Through the crowd, Shokuhou Misaki did not rush to squeeze in but directly transmitted her words to Lin Wuming’s mind across the space.

—Actually, I was already here. But seeing Senior Wuming looking busy, I didn’t rush in to disturb him.

During this time, Shokuhou Misaki was not idle either. She first found the arrested suspects according to the original plan and collected intelligence from their minds.

Because she knew Lin Wuming very well, Shokuhou Misaki understood his intentions with just one glance.

Shokuhou Misaki knew that apart from her Shokuhou Faction, she couldn't provide more help to Lin Wuming in terms of “connections.”

So she simply acted according to the original plan, which could also provide a reference for Lin Wuming from another perspective.

Facts proved that Lin Wuming’s plan was very successful—this conclusion could be drawn by looking at the continuous stream of suspects being sent to the headquarters prison.

Thanks to so many “samples,” Shokuhou Misaki also gained a lot.

—Senior Wuming, let me give you the conclusion first.

Shokuhou Misaki played with her remote control, looking at Lin Wuming through the crowd, their eyes meeting.

—The possibility you were hoping for, Senior Wuming… doesn’t exist.

—Is that so… as expected…

Although his expression showed no flaws, Shokuhou Misaki, who knew him well, could still feel the deep disappointment in Lin Wuming’s heart.

This “great disturbance” that swept across the entire Academy City surprisingly had no true “mastermind,” or “big boss,” so to speak!