Kamen Rider Zi-O, Dimensional Descent

As a result, everyone took notice.

Yan Ming did not deactivate his transformation and looked directly in the direction of the explosion.

…it seemed as if a bright white light flashed up.

"Then, that shouldn't be the effect of our competition just now, right?"

"No, I know what happened over there, but it has nothing to do with our sparring."

As Yan Ming spoke, he nodded to Gates and Wozniak, signaling them to go ahead.

"Don't worry... I'll handle these things."

Volume 5, A Certain Magical Index: Chapter 211 A Coincidental Reunion

Yan Ming and his group have always been known for their rapid movement.

And that was indeed the case... Accompanied by a silvery curtain, the three of them appeared in front of a school district in Academy City.

This is the 23rd school district.

The school district here is very small, actually only one bus stop, and there's basically nowhere for people to stay.

But it was precisely from this place that a series of phenomena, like explosions of white light, came from all around.

Are you sure this is the place?

Standing in front of the school district, Gates looked at the scene before him with some confusion.

There was nothing there; looking into the distance, all that could be seen was a lifeless, gray earth.

However, there were many people gathered at the entrance of this school district.

People were crowding at the entrance, and no one could officially enter the school district. There were many security personnel guarding the area, so it seemed like entry was prohibited.

Yan Ming glanced around briefly, then walked over to one of the girls watching.

"This place is really crowded."

"Huh? Ah...that's true."

"Do you know what's going on over there? I think something bad has happened. Was it an explosion? Could it be a terrorist attack? There are so many guards around the entrance."

"Huh? Don't you know? This is the 23rd school district, of course everyone is prohibited from entering."

"What's going on with the smoke in the distance, and what looks like an explosion?"

"Hmm... I'm not too sure either, but I heard from everyone that it seems like terrorists have gotten inside."

Terrorists?

"With so many security personnel guarding the area, how could terrorists still get in? And this place is so narrow, even if they did, what could their purpose be?"

"Um... I heard there's an underground engineering research institute in the 23rd school district. I don't know if those people came here for that, and frankly, I'm not sure if there are any terrorists involved!"

"That's really...a rather frightening thing."

Nodding as he did so, Yan Ming casually bought two bottles of soda from a nearby vending machine, handing one of them to the girl in front of him.

"Thank you so much for helping me. Here, have a bottle of soda."

"Um... if you don't mind, I think we could consider exchanging contact information?"

"Huh? Really? You don't think I'm trying to pick you up, do you? No, no, I'm just a little curious about these strange and unusual things!"

"Actually, I'm quite interested in strange tales and urban legends, and that's why I..."

Gates was completely stunned by what he saw.

In less than three minutes, Yan Ming had extracted so much information from a girl he had never met before and didn't know at all, and... he actually got her contact information, including her phone number, Instagram, and Line!

Seeing Yan Ming walk over with a calm expression, Gates almost couldn't catch his breath.

"You...you weren't switched at birth? Are you still the Shilun Yanming I know?!"

"These are very common communication methods, modern social communication theories, psychology, and simple applications."

"Then, what about the phone number that girl gave you? Does that count as intelligence too?!"

"I deleted them all, and the numbers I gave her were all fake numbers, fake numbers specifically prepared to extract information from others without arousing suspicion. Anyway, there's no way I'll ever see that girl again."

In other words, that playboy-like demeanor he just displayed was entirely... something Yan Ming forced himself to put on through his own methods?

Can you imagine someone who is normally cold and rarely speaks a word suddenly transforming into a playboy, a winner in life, to obtain all sorts of information and intelligence from a girl, and then so readily deleting all of that girl's contact information afterward?!

"Hey, I have a question for you... haven't you ever thought about getting a girlfriend or anything?"

Why are you suddenly asking that?

"What I'm saying is, look at how smoothly you were doing just now, uh... I think finding a girl to date shouldn't be too difficult for you, right?"

"That would be meaningless to me, and it wouldn't improve my combat power or intelligence, so what benefit would I get from doing it?"

"No way—I mean, how could dating possibly improve combat skills or intelligence! You're still thinking about these things at a time like this?! Seriously..."

It's hard to believe that this man named Shilun Yanming has such excellent social skills but doesn't seem to want to use them at all. One might think he's just unpopular... but it turns out it's entirely his own choice.

But thinking about it, what kind of girl could possibly be worthy of such a weirdo with such a personality?

As Gates pondered this, he followed Yan Ming back to Woz's side.

Woz looked at them with a somewhat surprised expression.

"...Are you two alright?"

"It's alright, I just never imagined there were such extraordinary people in this world..."

"...??"

Wozniak could only look blank at Gates's statement.

"Has this kid taken the wrong medicine?"

————————————————————

Using the intelligence obtained by Yan Ming, they used the Aurora Veil's abilities to directly enter the research institute that was off-limits.

Just as the girl said, this research institute was indeed located in the deepest underground facility.

And the scale... is truly enormous.

It appears that some kind of computer that calculates particles has been placed here, but that's not their main concern.

Inside this underground research institute, Yan Ming and his team discovered countless figures imprisoned within.

They were a group of children.

The children were tied to the ground and blindfolded by a group of terrorists who had guns pointed at them, seemingly ready to pull the trigger at any moment.

"It really was a terrorist attack..."

"So many children were arrested, so young, and these guys pointed guns at them... This could cause them lifelong psychological trauma!"

"A bunch of despicable scum...!"

While Gates and Woz were furious, Yan Ming calmly looked at them.

"Leave it to me."

"You? What are you going to do?"

"Defeat those terrorists and rescue all the children. Don't worry, it won't take a second."

"That's true... but I still hope you'll be careful, my Demon King."

Both of them were well aware of how capable Yan Ming was, so they didn't say anything more.

So Yan Ming took out his own watch face.

In an instant, the time of those designated people stopped.

The children, kneeling on the ground, thought they were going to be shot... but they weren't. Instead, the cloth wrapped around their eyes was removed.

And there was a stranger standing in front of them...

"Who are you?"

"Are they like these people... here to kill us?"

"Please...can you...let us go..."

When the children cried and begged Yan Ming, Yan Ming did not say a word.

He simply took their hands quietly and pulled them safely to Gates and Woz's side.

So now—

It's time to settle the accounts.

Bang! In an instant, time resumed its flow.

"how…?"

Several terrorists, armed with guns, stared blankly at the scene before them, for all the children had vanished.

Instead, another person stood before them.

"Who...who are you?! How did you get here?!"

He didn't speak.

The man simply stared at them calmly, with an almost frighteningly calm gaze.

"hateful--!!"

As if unable to control his fear, countless terrorists opened fire on him.

However—an unbelievable scene unfolded.

All the bullets that were intended to hit the man remained on his skin and dissipated into the air like dust.

The terrorists were all dumbfounded, and the next instant—the other party was already in front of a criminal.

Bang——! !

The children saw nothing, but heard a sharp gunshot.

Then… the nightmare began.

"You, you bastard—you monster! What are you?!"

"Have you ever thought about how those innocent children, whose heads you have ruthlessly pointed at and who are about to be killed, feel when they are enduring this nameless fear? Have you considered that?"

"Don't come any closer...don't come any closer! You monster, don't even think about it!!!"

It was an indescribable wail of pain, a scene more terrifying than purgatory.

The children were shielded by Gates and Woz, and they didn't know what was happening, only one thing.

They... were saved.

The person who saved them was the older brother with black hair.

After everything was over, there were no corpses, no survivors, only a young man who walked over completely unharmed, without even a drop of blood on him.

"careful!"

Just as the children were about to thank him, they cried out in astonishment.

boom!!

The ceiling behind them was instantly shattered.

What fell from that side was an enormous shadow.

Driven armor.

It was clearly a powered armor controlled by someone, who was probably one of the terrorists.

It descended from the sky, its massive mechanical arm smashing directly down on Yan Ming's head.

But Yan Ming didn't care at all.

And just as he stood calmly in place, about to be hit by the falling object under the children's astonished gazes—

puff-

The white wings instantly disintegrated the massive drive armor in front of them.