As a weirdo, I like being a Kamen Rider.

Chapter 84 The Duality of Human Nature

The rising sun pierced through the haze over Tokyo, but it couldn't illuminate the rubble and congealed bloodstains piled up on the streets.

Seventy-two hours have passed since Genshu Kurago exposed the truth about human experimentation to the world.

Over these three days, the social order of the Japanese archipelago collapsed completely at a visible speed, like a paper structure torn apart by a gale.

The Metropolitan Police Department's badge was trampled into the mud by angry citizens, and every carefully worded statement from the government only attracted more and more angry shouts and protests.

Countless people took to the streets, demanding the public trial of all those involved in the case. Those who unexpectedly awakened superpowers in the aftermath of the experiment became the sharpest and most uncontrollable blades in this chaos.

Those who gained power went down two completely opposite paths.

Some choose to be candles in the darkness.

Yuko Nakamura, 24, is an emergency room nurse at Tokyo Metropolitan Hospital. She awakens her healing abilities on the second day after the chaos erupts.

From that moment on, she never stepped out of the hospital again. Her hands could soothe almost any external wound and even barely slow down the progression of internal organ failure, but every time her abilities were activated, her body would become a little more transparent.

At this moment, her hands were almost completely transparent, as thin as a cicada's wing, with blue veins and white finger bones clearly visible under her skin.

"Nurse Nakamura! Please save my child!" A mother covered in blood, holding a barely breathing boy in her arms, knelt down in front of her with a thud, her forehead hitting the cold cement floor hard, leaving a bloody red mark.

Yuko Nakamura didn't speak, but simply bent down slightly and gently placed her transparent hands on the boy's gruesome wound on his abdomen.

A soft white light flowed from her palm, and the previously turned-out skin visibly closed and healed. A few minutes later, the boy stopped groaning in pain, his eyelashes fluttered, and he fell into a deep sleep.

"Thank you! Thank you!" The mother sobbed uncontrollably, kowtowing repeatedly to her.

Yuko Nakamura shook her head, swayed, and leaned wearily against the wall behind her, her vision blurring.

The nurse beside her quickly reached out to support her, her voice filled with anxiety: "Nakamura! You need to rest! You've been working for thirty-six hours straight; if you keep going like this, you'll lose control!"

"It's alright." She forced a pale smile, her voice soft. "There are still many people waiting for me." With that, she pushed away her colleague's hand and turned to walk towards the next ward, which was crowded with wounded patients.

Kenta Tanaka, an ordinary deliveryman.

When chaos erupted, he awakened extraordinary strength, easily lifting a fully loaded heavy truck with just one hand.

Unlike others who stayed indoors and sought only to protect themselves, he drove his old truck, marked with faded delivery logos, weaving through the broken streets of Tokyo.

Braving gunfire and danger, he delivered food, medicine, and fresh water to survivors in various locations, repeatedly venturing into the fire-bound areas to safely evacuate trapped civilians.

The old truck was covered with countless scratches and glaring bullet holes. Each mark was a testament to his honor in escaping death from thugs and looters and saving lives.

"Mr. Tanaka, thank you so much! Without you, we in this building probably wouldn't have made it through."

An elderly man with white hair accepted the bread and bottled water, his cloudy eyes welling up with tears.

"You are welcome."

Kenta Tanaka scratched his head, a simple, honest smile on his face.

"I still have several supplies to deliver, so I'll take my leave now."

He turned and jumped into the driver's seat, starting the engine. The back of the truck was piled high with all sorts of supplies, and in the corner huddled a little girl, clutching an orange kitten tightly in her arms. He had risked his life to rescue her from a burning apartment building half an hour earlier.

Others, however, turned their superpowers into weapons.

They looted supermarkets and banks, bullied women and children, and proclaimed themselves gods of the new world, believing that power was the passport to do whatever they wanted.

Gunfire, explosions, and cries echoed day and night. The once-international metropolis was reduced to a blood-soaked inferno.

Lin Chen and his G3 team tirelessly patrolled the streets, stopping out-of-control superpowered individuals. But they numbered only three hundred, while the number of awakened individuals in Tokyo had exceeded ten thousand. Their efforts were futile; every day they walked a tightrope.

Hikawa Makoto's G3-X armor has undergone countless disassembly and repairs. Its silver-gray shell is covered with scratches and dents left by battles, and many places are still covered with dried bloodstains.

Hojo Toru's police uniform was already torn and tattered, and a deep wound on his left arm, revealing bone, was conspicuously visible. It was caused three days ago by a superhuman wielding a sharp blade, and it has not yet healed.

Takahiro Omuro remained stationed in the main control room day and night, monitoring the energy fluctuation signals of the entire city and providing real-time intelligence to the frontline team. His eyes were bloodshot, and he had not closed them for four whole days.

Sumiko Ozawa took full charge of the daily operations of the G3 base. She transformed the original training base into a temporary shelter, taking in more than two hundred elderly people, women and children who had no ability to protect themselves, as well as dozens of law-abiding awakeners like Yuko Nakamura and Kenta Tanaka, who upheld their original intentions and protected the world.

The base was running out of supplies, with food and medicine lasting only a week, and manpower was also extremely scarce. Yet she never uttered a single complaint, remaining calm and composed, and methodically coordinating all affairs.

That afternoon, Lin Chen and Hikawa Makoto were patrolling Shinjuku. They had just stopped a robbery targeting a convenience store, arrested three superhumans, and were preparing to return to base to replenish their ammunition.

Just then, the communicator on Lin Chen's waist suddenly beeped urgently. Takahiro Omuro's voice came through, filled with barely concealed anger and anxiety: "Lin Chen! Hikawa! Emergency! The Third Orphanage in Nerima Ward has been attacked! Three psychics are robbing it and have injured several teachers and children!"

"We're coming right away!" Lin Chen's eyes instantly turned as cold as knives.

The two immediately jumped onto the G3-X motorcycle, its engine roaring deafeningly, tires screeching as it sped off towards Nerima Ward. Along the way, they saw that most of the buildings on both sides of the street were burned down, leaving only charred frames; abandoned cars and unburied corpses littered the roadside. The air was thick with the nauseating stench of gunpowder and blood.

A dozen minutes later, they arrived at their destination. From afar, they could see the three-story orphanage burning fiercely, billowing black smoke like a black dragon shooting straight into the sky. In the courtyard, three superhumans dressed in strange costumes were chasing and beating the unarmed teachers and children. The children's heart-wrenching cries pierced through the flames and thick smoke, piercing their eardrums.

"Stop!" Hikawa Makoto shouted, picked up the assault rifle equipped with his armor, and pulled the trigger at the superpowered person closest to the children.

The bullet whistled towards its target, but was stopped the instant it touched the target's body by a layer of earth-yellow energy barrier. The earth-type superpowered individual slowly turned his head, saw Lin Chen and Bingchuan Cheng, and a ferocious smile appeared on his face: "Yo, G3 team's lackeys are here. Perfect, let's take care of them all at once, saves us the trouble of going back to find you."

The other two superpowered individuals also stopped what they were doing and slowly approached. One had orange-red flames dancing at his fingertips, while the other was surrounded by countless sharp steel fragments. Their eyes were filled with cruelty and mockery, as if they were looking at two lambs to the slaughter.

"You scum!" Hikawa Makoto's voice boomed through the helmet's megaphone, trembling slightly with rage. "You don't even spare children! Do you have any humanity left?"

"A child?" The earth-elemental superpowered individual scoffed, spitting. "In this new world, only the strong have the right to live. The weak are destined to be eliminated!"

Before he finished speaking, he suddenly waved his hand, and the ground beneath his feet suddenly cracked open, with countless sharp stone spikes bursting out of the soil like the fangs of a venomous snake, fiercely stabbing towards Lin Chen and Bingchuan Cheng.

Hikawa Makoto immediately activated the thrusters on the back of his armor, launching himself into the air and dodging the fatal attack. He adjusted his posture in mid-air and fired his rifle repeatedly at the earth-type psychic. At the same time, Lin Chen drew his alloy katana from his waist, his figure flashing as he pounced on the fire-type psychic like a ghost.

The battle erupted instantly.

Just then, a thin figure suddenly rushed out of the burning building. It was a boy who looked only sixteen or seventeen years old, wearing a faded school uniform, his face covered in cigarette ash and sweat. His eyes burned with fierce anger, and his hands were also engulfed in flames.

"You're not allowed to hurt them!" the boy shouted, like an enraged little lion, and pounced on the steel-type superpowered individual without regard for anything else.

His fire abilities were weak; he could barely even light a piece of paper. Yet, he attacked like a madman, using his frail body to block a shard of steel that the steel-type psychic had shot at the children.

"Where did this brat come from!" the steel-type psychic roared, slamming a punch into the boy's chest.

The boy was sent flying like a kite with a broken string, crashing heavily to the ground and spitting out a mouthful of blood. But he simply wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand, gritted his teeth, struggled to get up from the ground, and charged at the steel-type superpowered user again.

"You're asking for death!" A murderous glint flashed in the eyes of the steel-type superpowered individual. He raised his right hand, and countless sharp steel spikes gathered around him, shooting towards the boy like a rainstorm.

Just then, the boy suddenly smiled. He glanced back at the children who were hiding behind their teacher, trembling with fear, and a bright, pure smile appeared on his face. Then, he suddenly spread his arms wide, and flames erupted from his entire body without reservation, enveloping him in a dazzling fireball.

"I won't let you hurt them!"

With the last ounce of strength in his body, the boy let out his final scream and lunged at the steel-type psychic. The massive fireball enveloped the steel-type psychic, emitting a sizzling sound as it burned.

"No—!" The steel-type superpowered user let out a shrill scream.

Immediately afterwards, a deafening explosion rang out.

The fireball exploded with a deafening roar, and the scorching shockwave swept across the entire courtyard, scattering debris everywhere. Lin Chen and Bingchuan Cheng quickly shielded their faces with their arms, trying to protect themselves from the onslaught of heat.

When they opened their eyes again, all that remained was a charred ruin.

The boy and the steel-type superpowered individual both disappeared, leaving behind only a large crater more than three meters in diameter on the ground, with wisps of smoke still rising from the bottom of the crater.

The remaining two superpowered individuals were stunned by the sudden explosion, standing frozen in place, unsure of what to do. Lin Chen and Bingchuan Cheng seized the opportunity, quickly rushing forward and subduing them with a few punches and kicks.

The battle is over.

The courtyard was a mess. The orphanage building had been burned to the ground, and the air was filled with the smell of burning.

The teachers, holding the still-shaken children, sat on the ground and wept uncontrollably.

Lin Chen walked to the large pit, slowly squatted down, and picked up a charred fragment of a school uniform. A faint warmth still lingered on the fragment.

He looked up at the sky. The setting sun had dyed the entire sky a shocking blood red.

Hikawa Makoto stood beside him and took off his helmet. His face was expressionless, but his usually resolute eyes were now filled with an indescribable sorrow.

"What's his name?" Lin Chen asked.

A young female teacher approached, wiped away her tears, and said in a choked voice, "His name is Shota, and he's a child from our orphanage. His parents died in a car accident last year, and he was sent here. He's usually very introverted and doesn't like to talk, but he's incredibly kind and always secretly helps other children. Today—today is his seventh birthday."

""

Lin Chen fell silent.

He had seen many people with great power, and many people called heroes. But this boy named Shota was the one who shocked him the most. He didn't have world-destroying power, nor did he have extraordinary intelligence; he was just an ordinary child. Yet, when danger came, he used his most precious life to protect those who were weaker than him.

The sun gradually sank below the horizon, and darkness enveloped the entire city like a tide. Distant flames still burned, and sporadic gunshots and explosions still echoed in the air.

Order has completely collapsed, and darkness is devouring everything. But Lin Chen knows that as long as there are people like Shota Sato, Yuko Nakamura, and Kenta Tanaka, as long as there are people willing to use their strength to protect others, then hope will never be extinguished.

He stood up, dusted himself off, and looked towards the G3 base. There, more than two hundred people needed their protection.

"Let's go," Lin Chen said.

Hikawa Makoto nodded and put his helmet back on.

The two turned and walked to the motorcycle, starting the engine. The motorcycle's headlights pierced the deep night as it sped towards the G3 base.