As a weirdo, I like being a Kamen Rider.

Chapter 77 The Death of Ashihara Ryo

When Lin Chen arrived at the beach, the morning mist over Tokyo Bay had not yet dissipated.

The salty sea breeze, carrying icy moisture, pounded against the jagged black rocks on the reef beach, producing a muffled groan.

Lin Chen rode his old Honda CB400 through the fog, the tires rolling over the wet gravel road, splashing up a string of water droplets mixed with mud and sand.

He took off his helmet, and the stray hairs on his forehead were dampened by the mist and stuck to his brow.

"Mr. Lin Chen, you've arrived."

Hikawa Makoto's voice came through. He was wearing the standard combat uniform of the G3 team, with two police cars and a G3 armored personnel carrier parked behind him. Hojo Toru leaned against the hood of a police car, his hands in his pockets, his jaw taut and hard. Several police officers in protective suits were surrounding something in the middle of the rocky beach, moving so quietly as if afraid of disturbing the dead.

Lin Chen hung his helmet on the handlebars and strode over. The rocks beneath his feet were slippery and cold, stained with dark brown blood, stretching all the way to the area cordoned off by police tape. He lifted the yellow tape and stopped.

It was a mangled corpse.

Where two distinctive thorns should have stood proudly on his back, only a broken stump remained, the cut still scabbed with blood. His left arm was twisted unnaturally, the bone protruding from his flesh, his left hand half-extended, fingertips scraping against the rocks, leaving several deep, bloody scratches that exposed bone. Most shockingly, there was a large, penetrating hole in his chest.

Even in this state, Lin Chen still recognized him at a glance.

Kamen Rider Gills. Ryo Ashihara.

His pupils contracted slightly, and his hand unconsciously pressed towards the belt at his waist, which was hidden by his coat.

Yama's face remained expressionless, except for a very slight bob in his Adam's apple. He had imagined countless scenarios of finding Ashihara Ryo: perhaps he would stumble upon him hunting the Unknown in some dark alley, perhaps they would brush past each other in the dense forests of the Hachioji Mountains, or perhaps he would come to him on his own initiative and ask him about the truth of the power of light.

He never imagined it would turn out like this.

This lonely knight, cursed by the power of light, this man who hunted monsters alone in the darkness, ultimately died in such a tragic manner on this deserted rocky beach.

"The deceased has been preliminarily identified as Ryo Ashihara, the missing student from Johoku University." Toru Hojo's voice broke the silence, his tone as cold as ice, devoid of any emotion. "Furthermore, an energy reaction consistent with the unidentified life form Ozawa mentioned earlier was detected at the scene. It seems to be him."

Hikawa Makoto crouched down and carefully parted the seaweed next to the corpse, his voice low and deep: "His physical condition is very poor."

Look at this skin; it's not damage from fighting, it's spontaneous cell death. And his bones are much more fragile than normal, like he's aged decades prematurely.

Lin Chen didn't speak. He squatted down, his gaze falling on Wei Yuanliang's face. That once gloomy and stubborn face was now twisted and deformed. Only those tightly closed eyes, even in death, still exuded a fierce and unyielding spirit.

He remembered what Miho Kato had said at the convenience store, the little boy with the green big brother drawing, and the fleeting green figure in the Hachioji mountains. That knight who bore all the pain and loneliness alone, risking his life to protect strangers, was dead.

"There's something here!"

A police officer's voice came from not far away. Lin Chen looked up sharply and saw the officer squatting next to a huge rock, reaching into a crevice in the rock and pulling out something wrapped tightly in a waterproof cloth.

Hikawa Makoto immediately went over and took the package. The tarpaulin was wrinkled from being soaked in seawater, but he didn't untangle it. He put it directly into an evidence bag, quickly wrote down the number and the time of discovery with a marker, and handed it to the evidence officer next to him: "Seal it well, take it back to base, and prioritize its processing."

Just as the officers were carefully lifting Ashihara Ryo's body, a rusty swimming medal fell out of the body's pocket and rolled to Lin Chen's feet.

Lin Chen bent down and picked up the medal. It was engraved with "National University Swimming Championships 100m Freestyle Champion" and dated last year.

He gripped the medal tightly, the coolness of the metal seeping into his heart through his palm.

Half an hour later, the G3 armored personnel carrier slowly drove away from the rocky beach in Tokyo Bay. Lin Chen sat in the passenger seat, clutching the cold medal in his hand, his gaze fixed on the rapidly receding coastline outside the window. The morning mist gradually dissipated, the sun rose from the sea, and golden sunlight spilled onto the shimmering water.

But this beautiful sea swallowed up the last bit of warmth from that lonely knight.

When they returned to the G3 underground base, Sumiko Ozawa was already waiting for them at the entrance of the autopsy room with the forensic team. She was wearing a white coat, her hair was casually tied back, and her face was devoid of its usual playful smile; her eyes were unusually serious.

"Give me the body." She took the body bag from the officer, then tossed another sealed bag to Takahiro Omuro beside her. "Take this diary to the technical team. Prioritize drying and handwriting restoration. Give me a scanned copy within half an hour. Meet in the conference room in three hours; I'll give you the results."

Lin Chen stood there, watching Takahiro Omuro hurriedly run towards the technical team with a sealed bag, without saying a word.

Bingchuan Cheng patted him on the shoulder: "Mr. Lin Chen, why don't you go to the conference room and rest for a bit? I'll go and work on the on-site investigation report."

As the crowd dispersed, the door to the dissection room slowly closed, and the indicator light turned red. Lin Chen stood in the corridor, staring at the closed door, feeling as if a thousand-pound stone was pressing down on his heart.

He knew what Ashihara Ryo's death meant.

The last person in the world capable of evolving into an Agito has also died.

The remaining survivors, oblivious to their fate, awaited their destiny in the darkness.

When no one was around, Lin Chen made a decision: he wanted to see if he could revive Ashihara Ryo.

Ryo Ashihara's body lay on the autopsy table, covered with a white sheet.

Lin Chen walked to the dissection table and slowly lifted the white sheet. Looking at the distorted face, in the blind spot of the monitor, the Orphnoch form appeared, and life energy factors began to be transmitted into Ashihara Ryo's body.

Just as the life energy was about to touch Ashihara Ryo's corpse.

"boom--!"

A blinding golden light suddenly erupted from Ashihara Ryo's body, like a burning flame, instantly devouring Lin Chen's life energy. Lin Chen felt a piercing pain in his palm, as if he had been burned by a red-hot iron. He quickly pulled his hand back, his palm already scorched red and covered with blisters.

The golden light danced on the autopsy table for a few seconds before slowly dissipating. Ashihara Ryo's body remained lying there, unchanged.

Lin Chen looked at his burned palm, his face instantly turning ashen.

He remembered.

In another parallel world of Agito, he was also burned by the power of light within Ashikaga Shoichi's body.

Orphnoch is a product of death, while Agito is the inheritor of the power of light. These two forces are incompatible; his life energy not only cannot revive Ashihara Ryo, but will instead be completely burned away by the remaining power of light within him.

Lin Chen leaned against the cold wall. Looking at his still throbbing hands, he felt an unprecedented sense of powerlessness.

The last bit of light that was actively burning was extinguished.

Lin Chen wiped the blood from his palm with his sleeve, straightened his clothes, and went outside.

Just as he reached the conference room door, he bumped into Bingchuan Cheng. He was holding a stack of documents and, upon seeing Lin Chen, paused, then said, "Mr. Lin Chen, where have you been? I've been looking for you for ages. Director Xiaoze is all set and waiting for you."

""

"It's nothing, I just went for some fresh air," Lin Chen said casually, hiding his injured hand behind his back.

Bingchuan Cheng had no doubts, nodded, and pushed open the conference room door.