“Professor Kagawa?”
The young man leaning against the doorframe slowly finished the last bite of his apple, then casually tossed the core precisely into a trash can three meters away. “I’m asking you—these gentlemen, do they think they’re heroes?”
The air in the laboratory suddenly froze.
Kagawa Hideyuki was the first to react. He suppressed the surprise in his eyes and quickly stepped forward, reaching out to try and stop the uninvited guest: “Sir, this is an important private research facility of the school. Entry is not permitted without authorization.
Please immediately…”
Before he could finish, Kagawa’s movements stiffened.
Because the young man, with his weary expression, was unhurriedly pulling out a dark blue booklet from his jacket’s inner pocket, casually flashing it before him.
The cold gleam of a police badge was exceptionally dazzling under the laboratory’s stark white overhead lights.
Kagawa Hideyuki’s pupils suddenly contracted behind his spectacles, and his Adam’s apple involuntarily rolled up and down.
Private research facility?
This reason instantly became pale and powerless in the face of the other party’s identity.
You Hong ignored Kagawa’s lapse, nudging his shoulder and easily sliding past the stiffened professor into the laboratory.
He walked around like a curious tourist, strolling to the huge floor-to-ceiling mirror surrounded by various precision instruments, his gaze sweeping over the lingering abnormal energy ripples that hadn’t completely subsided.
“Tsk tsk, a grand undertaking,” he said. He stretched out a finger, its tip mere millimeters from the sensors flashing red and green lights, almost touching them.
“Hey! Don’t touch that!” Tojo Satoru’s face darkened, and he instinctively moved to rush over and stop him.
“Tojo!” Kagawa Hideyuki suddenly barked, grabbing Tojo Satoru’s arm tightly with such force that the latter stumbled a step.
Kagawa’s gaze was fixed on You Hong, his voice dry and tense: “Officer… what exactly is your purpose?”
Nakamura So also struggled to get up from the ground, his face a mix of pain and surprise.
You Hong finally stopped, right beside the main control panel piled with complex charts.
He casually dragged over a swivel chair and unceremoniously plopped down, the chair’s back groaning under the strain.
He even crossed his legs, his boot tip swaying idly, his posture as casual as if he were in his own living room.
“Purpose?”
You Hong raised an eyebrow, his gaze sweeping over the ashen-faced Tojo Satoru, then past the wary Kagawa Hideyuki, finally lingering for a moment on Nakamura So, the corner of his mouth curving into a cold smile,
“What else could it be? Of course, it’s about the Mirror World.”
“The Mirror World?!” Tojo Satoru blurted out, then realized his slip of the tongue, his face growing even more grim.
Kagawa Hideyuki’s breathing also paused for a moment, his face instantly turning pale, clearly not expecting the police’s knowledge of this forbidden Domain to be so profound.
But You Hong didn’t give them time to process their shock.
He leaned forward slightly, elbows resting on his knees, his eyes suddenly sharpening, piercing Kagawa Hideyuki like a scalpel, and in a flat tone, he dropped a second bomb:
“We don’t just know about the Mirror World,”
You Hong’s voice wasn’t loud, but it was as clear as ice cracking, “We also know that you have not only successfully developed a set of pseudo-Rider armor that can enter and ‘fight’…”
His gaze slowly swept over the main control panel, which had just been operating but was now utterly silent, and over Nakamura So, who was slumped on the ground beside it, still showing faint energy traces from the armor’s deconstruction.
“We also know that the ultimate goal of your armor and that so-called ‘plan’…”
You Hong’s gaze suddenly locked onto Professor Kagawa’s suddenly widened pupils, enunciating each word, crystal clear:
“Is Kanzaki Yui.”
“What did you say?!”
Nakamura So’s roar echoed through the laboratory like thunder, like a completely enraged beast, rushing towards You Hong with a furious Aura! “Who the Hell are you?! Where did you learn that?!”
“Nakamura So! Stop it!” Kagawa Hideyuki practically screamed, using all his strength to once again tightly hug Nakamura So’s waist, dragging him back.
Veins bulged on his forehead, his previous scholarly demeanor completely gone, replaced only by horror and the panic of having all his cards seen through.
He stared intently at You Hong, his voice hoarse and distorted from extreme shock and tension: “You… who exactly are you?! Who told you?!”
“Does it matter who I am?”
You Hong sneered, finally rising from the chair, his movements unhurried.
He didn’t even look at the furiously struggling Nakamura So, walking directly to the main control panel and casually pushing aside several thick, inconvenient energy cables, which dropped to the floor with a “clatter.”
“What matters is, you three.”
You Hong turned around, his back to the mirror that led to Hell, his hands in his jacket pockets, his gaze like a cold searchlight, sweeping over the three men before him, each with a different expression.
His tone suddenly rose, carrying undisguised questioning and an almost absurd mockery:
“You know that the monsters in the Mirror World are killing people! Devouring the lives of innocents. Since you have the ability to create such a ‘toy’ that can enter…”
You Hong’s finger suddenly pointed at the residual energy traces on Nakamura So, then at the large mirror.
“Why don’t you use this power for the Righteous Path? Why don’t you cooperate with the police to eliminate those monsters? To protect ordinary people?”
His gaze finally settled on Kagawa Hideyuki’s face, his voice cold:
“Instead, you painstakingly plot to trouble, target, and even kill a young girl named Kanzaki Yui?”
“Just because she is Shiro Kanzaki’s sister?”
“Just because everything Shiro Kanzaki did was for her?”
You Hong’s lips curled into an extremely sarcastic arc, “Is this the ‘hero’s path’ you’ve chosen? To sacrifice an innocent girl’s blood to commemorate your ridiculous revenge plan?”
The laboratory was deathly silent.
Only Tojo Satoru’s heavy breathing, like a broken bellows, and Nakamura So’s suppressed, pained coughs could be heard.
Kagawa Hideyuki opened his mouth, wanting to explain something, but found that all his words seemed so pale and powerless under the other party’s all-seeing and core-hitting questions.
He looked at the young police officer before him; though the man wore a simple jacket, standing there, he seemed to exude an invisible pressure.
You Hong took a step forward, his leather shoes creaking faintly on the scattered wires on the floor.
He looked at the three men before him, their disguises peeled away, appearing exceptionally disheveled, and slowly raised his hand, pointing to the huge mirror surface that had consumed countless efforts, symbolizing a door of power and revenge.
“Let me guess your confidence?”
You Hong’s tone suddenly became extremely flippant, carrying an undisguised, condescending mockery:
“You wouldn’t actually think… that with this pile you’ve cobbled together—”
He deliberately drew out his words, his gaze sweeping over the expensive instruments with their flashing fault indicator lights, over Nakamura So slumped on the ground unable to stand, and finally resting on Kagawa Hideyuki’s distraught face.
Word by word, like an Icicle Spear falling:
“—of scrap metal, you can deal with Shiro Kanzaki, right?”