As a weirdo, I like being a Kamen Rider.

Chapter 68 The Shocking News from the Archives

During the break, Lin Chen suddenly spoke, his tone tinged with confusion.

"Glacier, why are you pushing yourself so hard?"

Hikawa Makoto was taken aback.

"I learned from Hojo that your family is quite well-off. Why did you become a G3 uniform wearer?" Lin Chen's voice was calm. "You could die in the next battle at any moment. Faced with the power of unknown life forms, G3..."

The armor is just a thin sheet of iron. Your hand-to-hand combat skills, your badge, the people you protected—none of it can stop an attack. You know perfectly well it might be pointless.

Bingchuan Cheng remained silent for a long time. So long that Lin Chen thought he wouldn't answer, so long that only their breathing could be heard in the fighting room.

"—I wasn't the first person to wear this armor."

His voice was very soft.

"His name is Koji Kono. He was my classmate at police academy. He always ranked first in every subject at the academy."

Everyone says he will be the Metropolitan Police Department's future ace.

Lin Chen didn't speak, but listened quietly.

"On the day of the G3 system's first combat test, he was the one standing inside the armor. I—was just on the perimeter guard."

We all thought it was just a routine test, that the most advanced armor could overcome anything. But the G3's performance was far inferior to the Unknown. I watched with my own eyes as the rhinoceros beetle, an unknown life form, shattered the G3's armor, and watched it die right before my eyes.

He paused, each word seeming to be squeezed out from between his teeth.

"I could only watch helplessly as he was torn apart by the unknown life form, and there was nothing I could do. I never want to experience that feeling of powerlessness and despair again."

Bingchuan Cheng clenched his fist.

"So from that day on, I submitted an application to the Metropolitan Police Department to become the second G3 uniformed officer. Chief Ozawa disagreed, saying that my physical condition was far inferior to Kono's and that she didn't want to create another victim. I didn't argue with her. I just got up at four in the morning every day, ran ten kilometers, and then trained here until I couldn't lift my arms anymore."

It wasn't that I wanted to prove her wrong; I was just thinking, "I need to become stronger."

He raised his right hand and gently tapped his chest with his knuckles—where the G3 armor breastplate still bore the marks from the last battle.

"You're right. G3 is just a thin layer of iron, which could be destroyed in the next battle at any time. But Kono didn't even have a chance to properly wear that thin layer of iron. I must walk the path he didn't finish. Otherwise, what is the point of his death?"

"So, you're asking me why I work so hard?"

He raised his head, his eyes showing no provocation, only pure honesty.

"Because this armor never belonged to me alone from the beginning. His life and my responsibility are both etched here. I don't want others to lose what I've lost. At least not while I can still stand."

Lin Chen remained silent for a long time. Longer than Bingchuan Cheng's previous silence. He looked at Bingchuan Cheng, his gaze scrutinizing.

He looked down at his palms.

"Get up when you've rested enough."

His voice remained calm, but it was slightly softer than before.

"Your lower body issues haven't been fully resolved yet."

In the afternoon, Lin Chen was given a task by Ozawa Orange: to help organize the archives. For Lin Chen, this was also an opportunity to better understand the unknown changes that might occur in the world.

The archives exuded a musty, old-fashioned atmosphere, like a thin veil, carrying the scent of paper dust and ink. The blinds sliced ​​the afternoon sunlight into long, thin strips, which fell on the files Lin Chen had spread out. In the interplay of light and shadow, the cold words seemed particularly glaring.

His fingertips traced through files marked "Unknown attack," the causes of death all the same—impregnated by a wall, buried in a tree hole, or sudden organ arrest without external injury.

Sumiko Ozawa's task was to organize all the recent attack cases and see if they could find a pattern in the attacks on humans by unknown life forms. Lin Chen was aware of this, and he planned to naturally share the information he had gathered with G3.

He had initially thought that Agito's absence was just a slight deviation in the timeline until the blue-covered file marked "Not an Unknown Attack - Questionable" came into view.

Nobuyuki Kazatani, 45, a professor of religious studies at the University of Tokyo, died two years ago in his study at home.

The name flashed through Lin Chen's memory—in the original Agito story, this man was the father of the female protagonist, Kazetani Mana, a scholar who researched superpowers, and the starting point of the entire Agito story.

He opened the file: it stated that the doors and windows were intact, there were no signs of a struggle at the scene, and the deceased showed no signs of poisoning. The forensic doctor's conclusion was acute heart failure. In the scene photos, Nobuyuki Kazatani sat upright at his desk, holding a pen, his expression perfectly calm. His open notebook was filled with formulas and symbols, except for the last dozen or so pages which had been torn out.

He knew the truth about Nobuyuki Kazetani's death—the murderer was Setsuna Sawaki, Nobuyuki Kazetani's disciple and the first person in the world to awaken the Agito power. In the moment her power went out of control, she used her superpower to kill her mentor remotely, and afterwards, filled with guilt and fear, she chose to commit suicide. However, the location of Nobuyuki Kazetani's death differed from his memory.

Continue scrolling down.

Sawaki Yukina, 23 years old, a graduate student at the University of Tokyo, and a student of Kazetani Nobuyuki. She died two years ago in mid-March after falling from the top floor of the library.

The record was equally concise: no suicidal motive, no abnormal warning signs, no suicide note, and her roommate's testimony that she had been studying normally and was in a stable mood the night before.

The only suspicious point is that she burned all her notes the night before she committed suicide.

Lin Chen closed his eyes.

It's consistent with the original work, yet it exudes an inexplicable eeriness. The time, cause of death, and behavioral logic are all perfectly aligned, as if someone followed the script but quietly altered the most crucial ending.

The search continued, the fingers moving faster and faster, the file boxes rattling as they were pushed. Fifteen minutes later, the third death record appeared:

Shoichi Tsugami, 33 years old, unemployed, died at the same time as Setsuna Sawaki, both by jumping off a building.

It follows the original trajectory without any deviation.

Lin Chen breathed a sigh of relief and continued flipping through the files, preparing to confirm the situation of Kazatani Mako and Misugi's family—but the name of the next file made his blood almost freeze.

Tetsuya Sawaki.

The inheritor of the power of light, the true vessel of Agito, the core of the Dawn Incident, was supposed to become the protagonist of Kamen Rider Agito in this world.

Cause of death: The Tianliang luxury cruise ship sank.

Lin Chen abruptly pulled out the file, his breathing quickening instantly. His gaze was fixed on the accident description, and he read it word by word:

A year ago, the luxury cruise ship Dawn sank in Tokyo Bay, carrying 32 people including passengers and crew.

Cause of the accident: Unknown. Survivors recounted that an unidentified bright light suddenly appeared during the voyage, followed by a violent explosion of the ship.

Rescue: Patrol officer Cheng Bingchuan arrived at the scene immediately and single-handedly rescued all 31 survivors.

Death: Only 1 person, whose body was found alone on the shore.

Name: Tetsuya Sawaki, age 23.

The protagonist — is dead.

Lin Chen's mind went blank.

The Dawn Incident was the beginning of everything: the White God descended, granting Tetsuya Sawaki the power of light; the Water God launched a surprise attack; Sawaki transformed, was defeated, and lost his memory, drifting to the Misugi family home, where he lived as Shoichi Tsugami, eventually becoming Agito, the protector of humanity. But in this world, 31 out of 32 people survived; only one must survive…

Tetsuya Sawaki, who had to become Agito, is dead.

Moreover, he died alone on the shore, the cause of death unknown, as if he had been deliberately singled out and erased.

He continued flipping through the files, and the next one made him realize that something was seriously wrong with the world. Kazetani Mana, 17 years old, was Yoshihiko Misugi's adopted daughter and died in a car accident at an intersection six months ago.

The adoptive father, Yoshihiko Misugi, insisted that it was an "attack by an unknown entity" and was diagnosed with delusions. His testimony was only reinstated after subsequent attacks by unknown life forms, but the case has made no progress.

In the original work, Kazetani Mana possessed extrasensory perception and could see the flow of light. She was Agito's most important bond and guide, but she also died.

Lin Chen leaned back in his chair and took a deep breath.

Nobuyuki Kazatani (Light Power Researcher) → Setsuna Sawaki (First Agito) → Tetsuya Sawaki (Official Agito) → Mana Kazatani (Esperor/Light Power Resonator).

This complete chain, which carried humanity's resistance against the dark forces and its evolution into Agito, was severed from its root in this world, leaving not a single one behind.

Before he could even sort out his thoughts, he heard footsteps at the door.

"Are you looking at these old cases?"

Lin Chen looked up and saw Ozawa Sumiko standing at the door of the archives room, holding a stack of new documents. Her white coat was stained with a little oil, and her eyes showed fatigue, but her gaze was still as sharp as ever. She walked straight in, placed the documents on the corner of the table, pulled over a wooden chair and sat down opposite her. Her gaze swept over the four death files spread out on the table, and her brows furrowed slightly.

"I reviewed all of these when I took over the G3 project, and spent half a year going over them over and over again." She pointed to Nobuyuki Kazatani's file. "Professor Kazatani's notes were torn up when he died, and Setsuna Sawaki burned all the documents before she died. Both of them died cleanly, leaving no trace. Later, Shoichi Tsugami and Mana Kazatani, even stranger, were all people directly related to Nobuyuki Kazatani. Within two years, they all died without exception."

"I initially suspected it was the work of Unknown," Sumiko Ozawa sighed, her voice filled with confusion and helplessness. "But I don't understand why Unknown would target a professor, a student, an unemployed man, and a high school student in a series of attacks."

Lin Chen lowered his eyes and gently tapped the table with his fingertips.

Sumiko Ozawa didn't understand, but he did.

What happened earlier could be considered an accident, but the deaths of Sawaki Tetsuya and Kazetani Mana were precisely targeted and killed by the Unknown using the power of light. It seems that Tsugami Shoichi was not resurrected by the power of darkness in this world, otherwise he wouldn't have watched the inheritors of the power of light die one after another.

"The power of light," he said softly, his voice low but clear enough.

"What?" Ozawa Sumiko didn't hear clearly and leaned forward slightly.

"The Dawn Incident, superpowers, Agito, the power of darkness, the source of the Venerable—all the serial deaths revolve around this." Lin Chen raised his head, making no attempt to conceal the truth he could ascertain, and calmly stated what he knew. "Kazeya Nobuyuki's research wasn't religious studies, but superpowers, that is, the power of light; Sawaki Yukina was the first person to awaken superpowers, but she lost control, accidentally killed her mentor, and then committed suicide; Sawaki Tetsuya was her younger brother, the chosen inheritor of the power of light on the Dawn, who was supposed to become the one to fight against the Unknown; Kazeya Mana possesses superpowers, can sense the power of light, and is the next to awaken."

He paused, noticing the growing surprise in Sumiko Ozawa's eyes, and continued, "They didn't die in an accident; they were deliberately eliminated. Everyone who could awaken the power of light, everyone who could become Agito, is an Unknown target."

Sumiko Ozawa remained silent for a long time, so long that only the sound of her breathing could be heard in the archives.

How do you know all this?

She was a scientist who believed in data, evidence, and logical chains. Lin Chen's explanation—superpowers, the power of light, targeted elimination—sounded like the most absurd urban legend. But looking at the series of perfectly sealed death records on the table, and at Lin Chen's calm and seemingly fabricated gaze, the doubt in her heart involuntarily began to waver.

"I can't draw conclusions based solely on your words." She finally stood up, her tone still serious, "but the coincidences in these cases are beyond the realm of reason."

She picked up the intercom and dialed the First Investigation Division's hotline directly: "Hojo, it's me. Here's a direction: reinvestigate the cases of Nobuyuki Kazatani's death and Setsuna Sawaki's suicide two years ago, along with all the data on the crew of the Ryogoku crash a year ago. I need the whereabouts, health status, and contacts of all survivors over the past year, with a focus on investigating Nobuyuki Kazatani's research before his death."

A slightly impatient response came from Hojo Toru on the other end of the phone, and Ozawa Sumiko interrupted directly: "This isn't a request, it's a joint investigation order for Project G3, the highest priority. I need a preliminary report by tomorrow morning."

After hanging up the phone, she looked at Lin Chen: "I had him verify it. Whether what you said is true or false, these cases must be reinvestigated."

Lin Chen nodded slightly, not surprised.

Sumiko Ozawa is not a stubborn person; she simply respects science and procedures. It's okay if people don't believe it; as long as she's willing to investigate, the truth will eventually come to light. One day, 31 survivors were identified as key targets for the Unknown cleanup operation.

His fingertips traced the death file of Tetsuya Sawaki.

Thank you all for your monthly tickets and recommendation votes! Without further ado, here's three extra chapters in a row, updating promptly at 8 PM tonight!