Lin Wuming turned his head to look back, suspecting he had just imagined things.
"What's wrong?" the nurse behind him asked.
"Ah… nothing," Lin Wuming shook his head and sat upright again.
At the moment, both his arms and legs were wrapped in plaster casts. He could barely move at all, so getting around depended entirely on others.
That said, he wasn't particularly worried about his injuries.
Aside from the doctors' assurances, the main reason was that he had awakened what he believed to be "inner energy." With inner energy reinforcing his body, wouldn't healing be a trivial matter?
The only thing that bothered him slightly was that this "inner energy" felt… strange.
After more than a day of adapting and experimenting, Lin Wuming realized that this power didn't quite match the settings he had imagined.
Of course, it might simply be that he lacked knowledge about meridians and acupoints, and therefore hadn't grasped the essentials yet.
Still, one thing was clear—external release of inner energy had become extremely smooth. Smooth to an abnormal degree.
To Lin Wuming, this "inner energy" didn't feel like a force meant for direct combat at all. Instead, it felt more like one—or many—invisible hands, able to move objects according to his will, or be used for offense and defense.
For example, whenever he wanted to drink water, the cup on the bedside table would float shakily up to his mouth. The same happened when he wanted food or any other object.
It almost gave him the illusion that his hands weren't injured at all.
—Could this be the legendary Dragon-Grasping Art or Crane-Controlling Technique?
His imagination ran wild. At the same time, he quietly considered asking the doctors here for some basic guidance. After all, judging from appearances, the world he had transmigrated into seemed to be one where martial arts were universal, so acquiring some foundational knowledge shouldn't be difficult.
This wasn't an unfounded guess.
The white-haired boy he had encountered during the fall yesterday clearly gave off the aura of a top-tier expert.
And the girl sharing the same ward with him showed no surprise at all when she saw him retrieving objects from afar. Her expression was calm, as if she were completely used to it.
That only strengthened Lin Wuming's conclusion.
Maybe this girl was also a martial arts expert.
At this point, Lin Wuming felt that everyone looked like a master.
Perhaps he could ask her for advice first.
Before transmigrating, Lin Wang had already been in his early thirties, but this new body was only thirteen or fourteen years old—he even looked younger than the girl in the next bed. Asking a "senior" for guidance should be perfectly normal, right?
"Uh… miss?" Lin Wuming cautiously tried to strike up a conversation.
The blonde girl shot him a glare. Her emerald-green eyes flashed with sharp hostility, like blades meant to pierce straight through him.
Overwhelmed by her sheer presence, Lin Wuming's first attempt at conversation ended in complete failure.
Only after getting a clear look at her face did Lin Wuming realize where he had gone wrong.
Judging from her facial structure and features, this blonde, blue-eyed mixed-race girl could indeed be called a beauty. The problem was—
Several deep, crisscrossing scars covered her face, almost destroying the entire right half of it.
Earlier, her hair had concealed them, and Lin Wuming had been too focused on "cultivating his inner energy" to notice.
Calling a girl like this "miss" or "beauty" would likely sound more like mockery than praise.
In this situation, apologizing would only make things worse.
Feeling awkward, Lin Wuming could only lie back down on his bed in embarrassment.
"Idiot," came an unrestrained comment from the neighboring bed.
"Tigerbee, you shouldn't bully your roommate," a voice said as the door opened.
"Doctor Sakurai," the blonde girl—Tigerbee Toumi—said coolly, "I wasn't bullying him."
"It was my poor choice of words. I sincerely apologize," Lin Wuming seized the chance to apologize, then turned his gaze toward the doctor.
The person who had entered was a woman overflowing with maternal warmth. Even her loose white coat couldn't hide her impressive curves.
Lin Wuming's eyes were naturally drawn there, before locking onto the name badge on her chest.
He didn't see the "Sakurai" name Tigerbee had mentioned.
Instead, the badge read: Hutou Bu.
As names went—especially for a beautiful woman—it was rather… strange.
But Lin Wuming's focus wasn't really on that.
He suddenly realized a detail he had completely overlooked during the past two days since transmigrating.
—Japanese!
The smaller text beneath the name, listing her position and information, was written in Japanese.
Thinking back carefully, Japanese writing seemed to be everywhere—in the hospital, and even on the streets yesterday.
—And come to think of it… everything I've been saying and hearing is Japanese too!
A modern wuxia world… in Japan?
"Are you thirsty, Wuming-kun?" Doctor Sakurai came over and asked gently. "Would you like some water? Or do you need the restroom? Hmm? Tigerbee, did you feed him water already?"
She looked at the now-empty cup with some surprise.
"As if I'd ever do that," Tigerbee Toumi replied. "That was his own superpower. Some kind of psychic ability, I guess."
"Superpower? Psychic ability?" Lin Wuming shot upright in bed. "What does that mean?"
"Oh, I see!" Doctor Sakurai said, suddenly understanding. "I did hear the other doctors mention it."
Noticing the confusion on his face, she explained gently, "Wuming-kun, you might not know yet. Although you experienced an unfortunate accident, you were also blessed in disguise—your Esper power awakened."
"Esper power…" Lin Wuming repeated, still looking incredulous.
"Our preliminary judgment is that you're a telekinetic, someone who manipulates psychic force," Doctor Sakurai continued. "Your strength is around Level 3. A more precise evaluation will be conducted once your injuries stabilize in a couple of days. But don't worry—your level won't be lower than this. That means you're at least a Strong Ability User, and you might even reach Level 4, a Great Ability User. Congratulations, Wuming-kun!"
"Level 3… Strong Ability. Level 4… Great Ability…"
There were enough keywords now.
Finally, Lin Wuming realized that he hadn't transmigrated into some modern urban wuxia world at all, but—
"Academy City?"
Doctor Sakurai nodded. "You know our Academy City system, right? Once you're officially registered as a Level 3, your monthly stipend will be quite generous. You'll never have to worry about going back to your old life again."
Lin Wuming nodded blankly.
No wonder his "inner energy" felt so strange. It wasn't inner energy at all—it was telekinesis, an Esper power.
With that in mind, all the odd details suddenly made sense. Psychic abilities were incredibly versatile—perfectly capable of acting as invisible hands.
A moment later, Lin Wuming nearly jumped out of bed again.
"Wait—then that 'starry-eyed' girl yesterday was Shokuhou Misaki, wasn't she?!"
In that instant, countless thoughts raced through his mind.
First—his identity as a transmigrator was doomed to be exposed!
But then he reconsidered.
So what?
Even if he said it out loud, how many people would actually believe him?
Besides, Shokuhou Misaki was on the "good" side. Even if she learned some of his secrets, it wouldn't really matter… or rather, there was no helping it.
If Chairman Aleister or the mad scientists of the Kihara family ever learned about his origins, that would be true disaster.
Compared to some vague modern wuxia world, Academy City was actually a far more familiar environment for Lin Wuming.
He didn't need to stir up chaos with a transmigrator's foreknowledge. Just living quietly and safely wouldn't be difficult at all.
Not to mention—according to what he learned from Doctor Sakurai, a Level 3 Esper received a monthly stipend of 100,000 to 200,000 yen. More than enough to live alone comfortably!
For someone who had once been a veteran corporate wage slave, was there any better environment for a peaceful, laid-back life?
While chatting with Doctor Sakurai, Lin Wuming had already begun sketching out his future plans.
Lie flat.
Lie flat all the way through the main storyline of A Certain Magical Index, and enjoy his second life peacefully and quietly.
As for making full use of his transmigration to accomplish something grand…
Sadly, Lin Wuming couldn't muster the motivation.
Having been tempered by society—or, more bluntly, having been a full-fledged corporate drone—he had long since passed his chuunibyou phase. Saving the world or living a regret-free youth no longer suited someone with the mentality of a "psychological senior citizen" like him.
Of course, if this really were a wuxia world, that would be another story.
After all, a man's dream of martial arts never truly dies.
After chatting for a while longer, Doctor Sakurai called Tigerbee Toumi and left the ward together.
Or rather, Tigerbee Toumi was the doctor's primary patient—Lin Wuming was just being looked after incidentally.
Lin Wuming didn't mind.
Lying back on the bed, he enthusiastically continued experimenting with his telekinesis.
With all four limbs immobilized, this classic Esper ability was nothing short of perfect. It could completely replace arms and legs, allowing him to move freely like a normal person.
Perhaps it was a transmigrator's standard cheat ability, but Lin Wuming mastered his power very quickly.
After more than half an hour of training, he could even lift his own body with telekinesis, achieving levitation.
"If I'd mastered this yesterday, I wouldn't have fallen so badly…" he muttered.
He wasn't sure how strong a standard Level 3 telekinetic was, but after testing it himself, he found that lifting half a ton was effortless.
As for pushing further—
Unfortunately, there was nothing heavier in the ward to test with.
So Lin Wuming forgot about the pain in his body, used telekinesis to move himself into the wheelchair beside the bed, and then pushed himself out of the ward using telekinesis.
He planned to go to the restroom. With telekinesis, it was much more convenient—and far less awkward than asking for help.
Thankfully, language and writing weren't an issue, so finding the restroom was easy.
But when Lin Wuming came back out and saw the hospital floor—rows of nearly identical wards stretching in every direction—he froze.
"…Which room was mine again?"
(End of Chapter)