Chapter 1

In the Land of Wano, New Tokyo.

Now under the rule of the Celestial World Government, this place is also known as "Academy City."

The train sped through the tunnel.

A whooshing wind sounded in his ears.

In the slightly crowded carriage of the Hanzomon Line, passengers holding onto the handrails swayed gently. A high school-aged boy, like the other "smartphone zombies" around him, stared at his phone, occasionally looking up to glance around. His gaze inadvertently swept over the window in front of him.

In the dark tunnel, the bright interior lights made the window glass particularly reflective, reflecting the image of a 16-17-year-old boy. Under the black hoodie, his figure appeared thin and frail, his pale face suggesting long-term malnutrition. However, the features under his slightly long, slanted bangs were strikingly handsome, a Tokyo heartthrob no matter where he went.

Tōnohara glanced at his reflection in the window, his gaze drifting to the side, passing over a pair of "lovers" reflected in the glass.

The man was probably in his forties, his attire suggesting a position above section chief in a company. Despite his early baldness, he exuded an air of a capable and elite professional.

The girl beside him was much younger, in her early twenties, with an innocent look like a fledgling bird just starting her career. In the crowded carriage, she clung to the middle-aged man, appearing very much like a small bird by his side.

This age gap...

It's either a gold digger or an extramarital affair.

True love?

Sorry, New Tokyo doesn't believe in "tears."

...

The camera on the phone lifted slightly,

Aiming at the window.

Focusing...

Tōnohara lightly touched the virtual shutter button on the screen.

In the next second, without the usual flash or shutter sound, the image was already frozen on his screen.

It had to be said that the custom high-definition phone provided by the detective agency was so clear that even taking a photo of a reflection in the train window was sharp, with no unremovable flash or sound.

Tōnohara took several photos in succession, then lowered his head inconspicuously, continuing to be a "smartphone zombie" on the train.

However, he sighed inwardly, his face showing a hint of helplessness.

There was no way, it wasn't that Tōnohara had a penchant for偷拍, but everything was for the sake of living.

Living in Tokyo is tough.

Even in New Tokyo, it's the same.

In Tōnohara's mind, the phone call he received half an hour ago, after school, while on duty as a part-time discipline committee member in this area, floated up helplessly.

In the call, the unscrupulous uncle who provided him with accommodation for his studies in New Tokyo shattered Tōnohara's "dignity" with just a half-month rent reduction, forcing him to take on this so-called "big job."

The detective agency run by that unscrupulous uncle, which Tōnohara thought might go bankrupt at any time, probably received the largest job, which was an extramarital affair investigation.

Indeed, the middle-aged man Tōnohara had just secretly photographed on his phone was the male lead in this extramarital affair investigation—his wife suspected him of having an affair and had commissioned the Shinagawa Detective Agency to gather evidence for a divorce in court.

Coincidentally...

A week ago, this man had also commissioned the Shinagawa Detective Agency to investigate his wife. After obtaining the evidence, he saw the different men his wife had been cheating with in the photos... and various gadgets he had never seen before...

He cried his heart out.

He never thought that a week later, he himself would become the main character.

Tōnohara clicked the shutter again.

...

The train sped through one station after another, stopping, opening and closing doors, with people getting on and off, then roaring into the seemingly endless dark tunnel.

Suddenly, the image on the LCD screen on the train wall, which was playing an advertisement, changed to show a girl with messy hair, wearing somewhat dirty and tattered clothes. The most striking feature was her silver-white short hair and the pair of milky white cat ears on the sides of her head, which looked a bit like the ears of a British Shorthair cat.

If it were half a year ago, when Tōnohara first arrived in this world, he might have doubted whether those ears were fake, catering to some LSPs' strange catgirl fetish.

Now, he no longer had such doubts.

After spending half a year understanding the history of this world, Tōnohara guessed that this should be a catgirl... no, a cat woman, a "Celestial" cat woman. Judging by her eyes and appearance, she might even be a cat woman with impure blood—her ancestors were likely the offspring of the mixed marriages between "Celestials" and humans implemented by the Celestial World Government over 500 years ago to maintain their rule and abolish racial segregation.

"Wow! Stole 80 million yen worth of jewelry?"

"Is the cat woman a Celestial cat?"

"Hah, I told you, those Celestials are no good."

"Shh! Keep it down! Be careful not to be overheard by the Celestial Government's Judgment Department."

"..."

Listening to the whispers of the passengers around him on the train, Tōnohara squinted his eyes and scanned the bulletin issued by the Metropolitan Police Department of New Tokyo.

Theft?

Being wanted?

The narrator on TV said that a private club, a jewelry and jade store in the 13th district of New Tokyo, commonly known as the "wealthy district" of Setagaya, was burglarized. The male owner of the club reported that he was bewitched and unknowingly led the cat woman thief into his four-story villa's jewelry store.

When he came to his senses, he found that at least 80 million yen worth of jewelry and jade had been stolen.

The police bulletin also specifically warned: The cat woman thief is likely a psychic ability user. Citizens who assist in the capture are advised to be cautious.

An ability user?

Tōnohara was not surprised by this.

In this world, New Tokyo in the Land of Wano is also known as "Academy City." It has four renowned ability user schools and research institutes for ability fruits. The proportion of ability users in the city is the highest in the country.

To his shame, Tōnohara, a high school student who had been reincarnated into this world, is one of these ability users—a low-level ability user at the 2nd rank, 1st stage, with an ability called [Shadow Flash], a speed-type ability. Currently, he can only create one shadow when he exerts himself fully. It is said that when his ability reaches its peak, he can create four super-fast real shadows in battle, forming an array.

This is called the Instant Prison Shadow Killing Array!

Well, it sounds middle-schoolish and powerful.

In reality, in the talent ability sequence of this world, [Shadow Flash] is a gray ordinary ability ranked 98th, far from the green excellent abilities ranked between 72nd and 36th.

Even if he improves his strength through hard work, the gap with the blue high-risk abilities ranked between 36th and 20th is still difficult to bridge.

Compared to the most elite ability users in this world, who sit in one place on the continent or dominate the four seas, with purple epic abilities ranked between 20th and 10th, the gap is even greater, a chasm that cannot be bridged by hard work alone.

As for the top ten orange world-destroying abilities, they have never appeared in the main historical records of over a thousand years.

Tōnohara is currently at the 2nd rank, 1st stage. Ability users have nine ranks and five stages. Reaching the 4th rank makes one a super ability user, and above the 6th rank, one is among the few absolute ability users in the world.

However, the ability sequence determines the initial value and growth limit of the ability, i.e., the highest rank it can reach. For gray-sequence ability users like Tōnohara, advancing in rank is like climbing a steep mountain, with each step a challenge. Many ability users with lower sequence numbers can only stay in the lower ranks for their entire lives.

It is said that for ability users with lower sequence numbers to make a comeback, their abilities must be growth-oriented, allowing them to achieve a rare second awakening and break the constraints of the ability sequence—i.e., to advance from a lower-level ability to a higher-level ability within the same category.

Unfortunately, such cases of ability sequence advancement are extremely rare in the thousand years of Celestial Government rule, and for most ordinary super ability users, it is almost a "miracle" that is impossible to achieve.

Tōnohara was at the 2nd rank, 1st stage when he arrived in this world half a year ago, and he is still at the 2nd rank, 1st stage after more than half a year. If he cannot meet the academic test standards next year, he will likely be persuaded to leave school, unable to be held back for a third time.

Just thinking about it makes his head hurt.

It doesn't conform to the穿越者定律at all...

Sigh, for now, let's just deal with the half-month rent...

...

After the train arrived at Kanda Station, the middle-aged man, as expected, sent the seemingly innocent female subordinate home. At the building entrance, one enthusiastically invited the other, who half-heartedly resisted, and then they went up together in a默契manner.

At the vending machine downstairs, Tōnohara, leaning against it, sipped a can of hot coffee, watching the scene unfold, pondering when to go up and gather evidence based on the middle-aged man's progress...

Unexpectedly, after a short while,

A shadow moved under the dim yellow light in the hallway.

Hmm? So soon?

Tōnohara's face was strange, and his mouth opened slightly in the next second.

The cold autumn wind blew back and forth.

A middle-aged man, bruised and swollen, wearing only a pink boxer brief, with a dazed and disoriented look, gradually appeared in the dim hallway, holding a loose, empty wallet.

The sound of a young man's scolding, "Dare to molest my girlfriend," "This time, I'll let you off because you paid, be careful!" could still be faintly heard from the stairs behind him.

Ah, this?

What the heck is going on?

Could it be a honey trap?

...

I'm so stupid!

Really!

When Akagi Takuto walked down the stairs and stepped onto the ground, his mind was dazed, and his body almost fell, staggering towards the bus stop on the street.

Thinking he had found the heartbeat of youth, he never expected it to almost cause a heart attack.

The scene upstairs flashed in his mind...

The originally gentle and innocent girl, when a blond youth burst in to catch her in the act, suddenly seemed to change, her lips curling in a mocking smile, her eyes glancing at his pathetic figure, hands on his head, crouching on the ground...

In an instant, the last bit of warmth in Akagi Takuto's heart was completely lost.

What a sin!!

...

Behind the bus stop.

Tōnohara watched as Akagi Takuto, after silently dressing, buried his head in his knees, hands on his head, with sparse hair showing through the gaps. One could imagine the "painful mask" on his face.

Tonight's events were likely the last straw, completely breaking the middle-aged man. He probably couldn't go home and continue to pretend in front of his wife, maintaining a marriage already full of cracks.

Working hard, reaching middle age, and then finding oneself with nowhere to go and no one to rely on...

Life is tough for men in New Tokyo!

Tōnohara, who had not entered marriage in his previous life and was still a high school student in this life, found the middle-aged man's plight somewhat pitiful but could not empathize on a deeper level.

After following him all night, Tōnohara was weighing the money in his wallet, considering whether to buy the dejected middle-aged man a hot drink from the vending machine.

At this moment, a bus with yellow headlights drove around the corner from a nearby street.

Clang!

A bottle of the cheapest hot drink fell from the vending machine.

Tōnohara bent down to pick it up, just as he was about to turn around,

He suddenly noticed a small figure jump out of the front door of the bus, wearing a black hoodie similar to his, a short skirt, tights, and long boots, a typical street girl outfit in the Land of Wano.

However,

Tōnohara's pupils suddenly constricted.

If he wasn't mistaken, in the night, he clearly saw a flash of silver-white short hair and a pair of short cat ears on the girl's head.

In the next moment, the girl pulled up the hood of her black hoodie.

Under the dim yellow streetlights at the bus stop, there was only a middle-aged man sitting with his head in his hands and a small girl who had just gotten off the bus—what Tōnohara had just seen seemed to be an illusion.

What's going on?

He was a bit skeptical, but then he saw the small girl at the bus stop suddenly approach Akagi Takuto.

Could it be a preserved feature of the streets of the Land of Wano?

Tōnohara, holding a coffee and a hot drink, was stunned for two seconds, then silently took a few steps back into the darkness, deciding to observe the situation.

He thought that after tonight's shock, the middle-aged man probably wouldn't be interested in women for a while.

...

At the bus stop.

Akagi Takuto, sensing the approaching footsteps, lifted his head with a dejected look, but his whole body suddenly trembled, staring blankly, unable to look away.

Ah, this?

Tōnohara was stunned.

Are women really that attractive?

However, in the next second, he noticed something was off.

Under the black hoodie, the girl's face was unclear, but a strange red light flashed—suddenly, the dejected middle-aged man, who had been sitting on the bench, stood up like a puppet.

Then, the girl turned and walked towards the subway station.

The middle-aged man, without a word, followed her like a zombie, as if they were familiar—anyone who wasn't closely watching, like Tōnohara, would hardly notice anything unusual.

Watching their backs,

Tōnohara's eyebrows furrowed slightly.

Suddenly, he recalled the police bulletin he saw on the train, and the silver-white short hair and pointed ears he thought he saw in the night...

And the strange scene in front of him.

Could this be the cat woman thief from the theft case?

At this moment, the first thing that came to Tōnohara's mind was the reward amount on the police bulletin.

For information providers:

A reward of 400,000 yen after verification and capture.

After all, the average monthly salary for a white-collar worker in New Tokyo is around 300,000 yen.

Rents in the area range from 50,000 to 100,000 yen per month, with Tōnohara's place being cheaper at 48,000 yen, plus living expenses of around 150,000 yen per month.

In other words, if he could assist the police in capturing this cat woman, he could solve his living expenses for more than two months, and occasionally go out for a meal to improve his diet.

The middle-aged man had already had a tough night, so even if Tōnohara wasn't tempted by the reward (though he was indeed tempted), he should still act as a concerned citizen.

He immediately took out his phone and called the police.

The police, upon hearing his description, immediately took it seriously, asking Tōnohara to keep his phone on for location tracking, and said that the local police station and the Metropolitan Police Department's Third Investigation Team would soon arrive at the scene.

At the end, they emphasized that he should not take any rash actions, as the suspect's mental abilities were still unknown, to prevent alarming her or causing unnecessary danger.

Tōnohara wouldn't have acted rashly even if they hadn't said that.

Being a hero requires the corresponding strength.

Even as a [Shadow Flash] ability user, his 2nd rank, 1st stage ability was not enough to handle the situation.

As for Tōnohara, although he had been working part-time as a street discipline committee member, it was just an extracurricular task assigned by the Minami Chōjō Super Ability High School, counted towards the final grade points... well, perhaps there was also an intention for the ability school to show goodwill to the city government and ordinary citizens.

If compared, it would be like a neighborhood security guard, all looking tall and strong, but they are "image positions." If they were to fight crime like