Experimental Subject No. 007 had actually appeared in the secret space on Basement Level Two.
The instant he saw the target that needed to be apprehended, the security team leader raised the shotgun in his hands without a moment's hesitation and issued the order to attack.
At the same time, however, a trace of confusion flashed through his mind—
How did the target end up here? The man beside him… wasn't that the Section Chief? And what was going on with him? Where were the other experimental subjects from the residential area?
But during a mission, such thoughts were nothing more than distractions to be eliminated.
The security team leader was prepared to pull the trigger.
At that very moment, he felt a sudden heat on the back of his hand.
A pale-yellow blade pierced straight through his palm, slicing cleanly through his right index finger—and the shotgun's trigger along with it.
At some point, the blonde, emerald green-eyed girl had already charged into their formation.
Torahachi Toumi's swordplay was fast and precise. Almost the instant the enemies assumed combat stances, the firearms of the four men in the front row were destroyed.
Along with them, their palms and fingers were destroyed as well.
Before their screams could even escape, Kobayashi launched his own attack.
With perfect coordination, Kobayashi used his psychic power to seize the four enemies in the back row. Faced with close-range firearms, he didn't dare hold back—he directly snapped their arms.
Once the threat was neutralized, Kobayashi went on to "finish them off" one by one—grabbing their heads and smashing them against the floor or the wall, making sure they lost consciousness and wouldn't be waking up anytime soon.
Since he'd never actually knocked anyone out before, to ensure the effect, Kobayashi smashed each of them several times.
"That's way too brutal," Toumi couldn't help complaining as she watched. "It'd be kinder to just give them a clean death with one slash."
"If we can avoid killing people, it's better not to," Kobayashi replied, still sticking to his principles.
He then grabbed an enemy who had accidentally been knocked awake and hit him a few more times, ensuring he completely passed out.
Watching this unfold, the Section Chief felt that both of them were equally terrifying.
After dealing with this squad of armed guards, Kobayashi glanced through the doorway behind them—only to find not a laboratory as he'd expected, but a straight passage leading further down.
"Past the corridor, there's another door. Beyond that is the training ground," Section Chief Hayashiki volunteered without needing to be pressed.
Kobayashi nodded. "Go find the access card."
After hesitating for a moment, the Section Chief said, "Actually, what you really need is the security team leader's fingerprint and retinal scan. Without those, even with his card, you can't open the door—it'll just trigger the alarm."
"Which one is the team leader?" Kobayashi couldn't be bothered to argue about the earlier omission. "Point him out."
The overwhelming strength that Kobayashi and Torahachi Toumi had displayed finally broke Section Chief Hayashiki's resistance. He no longer dared hope for anything more—his only wish was to survive.
Cooperation was clearly the wisest choice.
Using his psychic power, Kobayashi propped up the unconscious security team leader and took the lead.
Sure enough, they successfully opened the final door and entered the deepest part of the building—the training ground.
There were far more people inside than Kobayashi had expected.
In addition to over thirty researchers in white lab coats clustered together, there were also fifty or sixty fully armed security personnel positioned throughout the area, each carrying at least shotgun-grade weaponry.
—No wonder there'd been so little defense upstairs. They'd all been concentrated here.
Kobayashi pondered this calmly.
Their sudden appearance clearly caught everyone inside off guard.
A middle-aged man in a white coat broke away from the group and started toward the entrance. When he saw Kobayashi and the others come in, his eyes went wide, and he froze in place like a statue.
Only after a moment did he finally react.
The security team leader, who had returned alone, collapsed to the ground like a broken doll, limp and lifeless.
"…!" Pointing at the boy in the wheelchair, the middle-aged man let out an incoherent shriek, too agitated to form words.
But that was enough.
Already on full alert, the armed guards pulled their triggers in unison, pouring firepower toward the doorway.
Faster than them, of course, were Kobayashi and Toumi, who had long since prepared for battle.
Amid the screams, the Section Chief was forcibly dragged in front of the wheelchair, using his own body to shield Kobayashi from the bullets.
Toumi, accustomed to battlefields filled with gunfire, immediately crouched down and took cover behind the wheelchair.
Section Chief Hayashiki was struck by more than one round and screamed in agony.
As a suppression unit, the guards were equipped with non-lethal ammunition. Their shotguns fired soft beanbag rounds—unlikely to kill unless vital areas were hit.
Even so, the pain was unavoidable. In fact, this special ammunition was designed specifically to maximize pain on impact.
After taking just three hits, the Section Chief passed out from the pain. Only Kobayashi's psychic power kept him upright, allowing him to continue serving dutifully as a human shield.
But no matter how selfless his "sacrifice," the guards were spread across the entire training ground. One person couldn't block every bullet.
Unsurprisingly, Kobayashi once again entered "bullet time."
Shotguns firing non-lethal rounds weren't especially fast to begin with, so even at close range, Kobayashi had ample time—at least from his perspective—to deal with the storm of bullets.
He released his psychic power in all directions, subtly adjusting the trajectories of every threatening round with minimal force.
There was no need to expend excessive energy—he only needed to divert the bullets away from himself, Torahachi Toumi, and the two girls lying on the ground.
It was only now, with the convenience of bullet time, that Kobayashi could clearly take in the situation inside the training ground.
Armed guards—excluding the already-unconscious team leader—numbered fifty-six. Researchers in white coats—excluding the human shield Section Chief Hayashiki—numbered thirty-six.
These were all the enemies.
As for the two girls lying on the ground—
The black-haired girl with a bob cut was likely Gang Rin. She was crying uncontrollably, but appeared uninjured. However, her mental state was extremely unstable. As a fellow esper, Kobayashi could sense the psychic power within her, restlessly surging, as if on the verge of erupting at any moment.
The other girl—a blonde—was in far worse condition.
She was sprawled on the ground… or more precisely, lying in a pool of blood. Her beautiful golden hair was soaked crimson, her limbs twitching uncontrollably, as though she had suffered intense electric shocks.
She was almost certainly Ryūgō Chika—the girl who died in the original storyline. Even now, she was barely clinging to life.
Kobayashi thought that if he'd arrived even a little later, all he could have done would be to collect her body.
Shifting his gaze forward, he saw a male researcher gripping a stun gun. Between its electrodes, arcs of electricity crackled violently. The hem of his white coat was stained with unmistakable flecks of red.
—So he was the direct culprit.
(End of Chapter)
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