As a weirdo, I like being a Kamen Rider.

Inside the ZECT base command center, a cold, metallic sheen filled the entire space.

Various precision instruments operate at high speed, emitting regular "beep beep" sounds.

Several researchers dressed in white lab coats gathered around the core control console, their fingers flying across the keyboard, their faces filled with barely suppressed excitement.

The lead researcher turned around abruptly and bowed deeply to Captain Jet, who was standing not far away.

His voice trembled with excitement: "Captain! The time-lapse system is fully debugged!"

"All parameters have met expectations. As long as the system is activated, all Rider System acceleration states can be forcibly stopped—even Kabuto King can be instantly suppressed!"

Captain Jet stood at the boundary between shadow and light, a sinister ecstasy flashing in his one-eyed eye.

His previously taut jawline relaxed slightly, and a ferocious yet gleeful smile slowly crept onto his lips.

He raised his hand to stroke his single eye, and the hatred that had been building up for years became even clearer.

"Great! That's wonderful!"

His voice carried a long-suppressed obsession and resentment.

"After so much preparation, the plan to capture Kabuto King can finally begin! This time, I will definitely not let him go!"

Shin, standing to the side, clenched his fists. Looking at Captain Jet's ferocious expression, images of Kabuto protecting the citizens and fighting against the Zerg kept flashing through his mind. His lips moved, but the words of advice that were about to come out were swallowed back down.

He knew the captain's temper all too well. At this moment, the captain was already blinded by hatred, and any rebuttal would only provoke a more terrible rage.

Xin lowered her eyelids, concealing the resentment and helplessness in her eyes, and stood silently in place, saying no more.

Captain Jet glanced at him, a hint of impatience flashing in his eyes, but he didn't ask any further questions. He raised his hand and gave a deep order into the communicator: "All Jet team members, assemble! Move out! Target—King Kabuto!"

A unified response came immediately from the other end of the communicator, and hurried footsteps echoed throughout the base as the team members quickly assembled, ready to go.

Meanwhile, inside the Paradise House Oden shop on the street corner.

Wearing a clean apron, Mayu skillfully served bowls of steaming oden to the guests, a gentle smile on her face.

Grandma slowly wiped the dishes behind the counter, watching her busy granddaughter with eyes full of doting affection.

The shop is filled with the fresh aroma of radishes, eggs, and tofu buns.

The unexpected happened without warning.

"Bang!"

The glass door of the small shop was smashed open, shards flying everywhere. Two dark green figures darted in, their hard shells gleaming coldly, and thick saliva dripping from their mouthparts—they were two strange insects that had not yet molted.

The customers screamed in fright and jumped up to flee, plunging the once bustling shop into chaos.

"Mayu, hide quickly!" Grandma's expression changed, and she quickly got up, wanting to protect Mayu behind her.

The two alien insects had a clear target; their sharp claws whistled through the air as they pounced on the unsuspecting grandmother.

Mayu's pupils constricted, her heart pounded wildly, and a piercing scream burst from her throat.

At this critical moment, a green light suddenly exploded from her body, her body twisted violently, and her original delicate girlish appearance vanished instantly.

Instead, there was a strange insect that was entirely green with transparent wings, its wings flapping with a sharp wind.

Before the two alien insects could react, Zhenyou flapped his wings, and two streams of green energy shot out, accurately striking the two alien insects.

"Bang! Bang!"

With two muffled thuds, the two unmolted alien insects were instantly blown to pieces.

Mayu hovered in mid-air, looking down at her monstrous hands and transparent wings, and froze instantly.

She could clearly feel the changes in her body, that unfamiliar power surging within her, but this monstrous appearance plunged her into extreme fear.

"No...don't..."

Mayu let out a desperate scream and subconsciously activated Time Ascension. Her figure instantly became illusory, turning into a green afterimage. She rushed out of Paradise House in a panic and disappeared into the depths of the streets and alleys.

"Mayu! Mayu!"

Grandma reached out and desperately called out in the direction where Mayu had disappeared, her voice choked with sobs and anxiety, but the green afterimage did not stop at all and had already vanished without a trace.

The old man stood there, looking at the empty doorway, tears welling up in his cloudy eyes, but he didn't say anything more. He just slowly turned around and began to silently tidy up the mess inside the shop.

Just then, Lin Chen, Tsukasa Kadoya, and Hikari Natsumi rushed over.

The three of them had agreed last night to come and visit Mayu and her grandmother today, and to discuss how to help Kabuto escape the Accelerated World. However, they did not expect to witness the scene just now when they arrived at the door.

They clearly witnessed Mayu transform into a Worm and flee in panic, and Tsukasa Kadoya instinctively wanted to chase after her.

"Wait a minute." Hikari Natsumi reached out and grabbed him, her gaze falling on her grandmother who was tidying up the shop by herself. "Let's check on Grandma first; she can't manage all this by herself."

Lin Chen nodded without saying a word and walked into the messy little shop first.

Upon hearing Hikari Natsumi's words, Tsukasa Kadoya stopped and followed the two into the store to help tidy up the scattered dishes and clean up the broken pieces on the floor.

The shop was quiet except for the rustling sound of things being packed up.

As Hikari wiped the table, she couldn't help but exclaim in disbelief, "I never imagined... that Mayu was also an alien insect."

Hearing her words, Grandma paused in her actions, slowly raised her head, looked at her calmly, and said indifferently, "So what if it's a strange insect?"

Tsukasa Kadoya stopped what he was doing, raised an eyebrow, and said, "You knew she was a Worm all along, didn't you?"

He felt something was wrong with the old woman from the beginning. His granddaughter suddenly turning into a strange insect would have caused anyone to panic and search everywhere, but the grandmother was unusually calm and even had the mood to clean up the mess.

Lin Chen squatted on the ground, cleaning up the glass shards, still without saying a word.

Grandma picked up a clean rag and continued wiping the counter, her voice gentle yet firm: "Whether she's a freak or not, she's still my granddaughter."

"Just like our family's oden, it's filled with the aroma of broth."

One sentence silenced all three of them.

Yes, identity is never the standard for defining a person; family ties and love are the most touching bonds.

The group said no more and quickened their pace, silently helping the grandmother tidy up the mess in the shop. They sat with the old woman for a while before getting up to say goodbye.

On the other side, Kabuto was being harassed by Jet's team members.

Captain Jet and his team relentlessly attacked Kabuto, unleashing a barrage of bullets and energy beams at him.

However, the speed of the King of Armor was too fast. He dodged nimbly and soon found an opportunity. With a sharp slash, he forced Captain Jet back. In a flash, he got rid of the Jet team members and sped towards Paradise House. He could sense that Mayu was in danger.

But he hadn't run far when he was forced to stop by intense gunfire. A pale blue figure blocked his way.

Kaito Daiki, transformed into the final rider, toyed with the Diend Driver in his hand, his eyes greedily fixed on Kabuto: "Kabuto, hand over your Time-Up system."

Kabuto-sensei didn't have time to waste arguing with him and turned to walk away from him.

Seeing this, Kaito Daiki stopped talking, raised his Diend gun, inserted two cards, and shouted in a deep voice, "Final Form Ride! Kuuga! Ixa!"

Two beams of light exploded simultaneously, and Kamen Rider Emperor and Kamen Rider Ixa appeared on either side of Kabuto, wielding guns and launching a fierce attack on Kabuto.

The Heavenly Emperor, flying in mid-air, and Ixa below continuously fired dense bullets, creating a pincer attack that completely blocked Kabuto's escape route.

Kabuto had no choice but to fight.

The battle lasted for a long time. Kabuto gradually figured out the rhythm of the two attacks. Taking advantage of the gap, he went directly behind the Kaito tree and attacked quickly with his short blade.

"Bang!"

Kaito Daiki's transformation was abruptly canceled by the rapid attack.

Kabuto-sensei didn't stop; he turned around and was about to continue running towards Paradise House.

Kaito Daiki watched Kabuto's retreating figure and murmured, "The Ascendancy System, it's truly amazing... I will definitely get you!"

At this moment, Mayu was hiding in a secluded alley, huddled in a corner, trembling all over.

She had already deactivated her insect form and returned to her human appearance, but the image of herself looking like a monster kept replaying in her mind, and fear overwhelmed her like a tidal wave.

"I'm a monster... I'm actually an alien insect..." She hugged her knees, feeling utterly lost.

A familiar figure appeared at the alley entrance. Captain Jet walked over slowly, a fake smile on his face. His face, which looked exactly like Mayu's brother's, now appeared particularly ferocious.

Mayu looked up abruptly, and the moment she saw him, she trembled, instinctively wanting to back away, her eyes filled with wariness and fear: "You...you're an alien insect! I won't be fooled by you again!"

Captain Jet stopped, chuckled, and said coldly, "It seems you already know the truth."

"But so what if you know? Do you think you can escape?"

Mayu gritted her teeth, wanting to resist, but her strength seemed so insignificant in front of Captain Jet, and it was completely futile.

"Let me go! You monster!" Mayu cried desperately, but could only watch helplessly as Captain Jet led her toward the ZECT base.

Inside the ZECT base, Shin watched as Captain Jet led Mayu in, utterly puzzled.

"Captain, who is this little girl?"

Captain Jet gave him a cold glance, raised his hand to signal his men to tie Mayu to the metal frame, and said in a sinister tone: "She is the bait to capture Kabuto King."

"As long as she's there, Kabuto King will definitely come knocking on my door. Then, I can use the Time-Reduction System to capture him completely!"

"No way!" Shin, unable to contain himself any longer, shouted, "King Kabuto has helped us so much! He's been fighting the Zerg and protecting the citizens, why do we have to arrest him?"

"Besides, how can we exploit an innocent little girl? This is absolutely not something we, Jett, should be doing!"

Captain Jet had long been annoyed by Shin's constant rebuttals, and upon hearing these words, his eyes instantly blazed with anger, and he punched Shin in the stomach.

Xin lay curled up on the ground, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth.

Meanwhile, Lin Chen, Kadoya Tsukasa, and Hikari Natsumi had returned to the Hikari Photo Studio.

The living room was silent. The three of them sat on the sofa, and no one spoke for a moment.

Just then, the door of the photo studio was suddenly pushed open. Xin staggered, clutching his abdomen, blood still lingering at the corner of his mouth, breathing rapidly, and his face was frighteningly pale.

"Decade...please...help me..." Shin leaned against the door frame, panting heavily, his voice weak but urgent.

Guang Xiahai quickly stood up and helped him up, her face full of worry: "Shin, what happened to you? How did you get so badly hurt?"

Shin shook his head, not having time to explain his injuries, and hurriedly told the three of them everything about Captain Jet's plan, Mayu's capture as bait, and his injuries.

"Kabuto is so fast, how could he possibly succeed?" Tsukasa Kadoya said.

The new system once again mentioned the time-lapse system.

"I see, I understand now." Thinking of Captain Jet's Worm identity and hearing about the time-lapse system targeting the Knights, Tsukasa Kadoya understood everything.

They went straight out, and Lin Chen followed.

Onodera stayed behind with Hikari Natsumi to take care of the injured Shin.