Kamen Rider ZZZ from the American comic book world

"Let's go first." Leon stood up and wiped the rain off his face. "You have school tomorrow, so you shouldn't stay outside for too long."

The two returned to the car. Although the front of the Porsche was damaged, the engine was still running normally.

"Does that car need repairs?" Li Ai asked.

"If there's a chance, we'll just get a new one." Lyon started the car and slowly drove away from the scene, heading towards Queens.

Silence returned to the carriage. Li Ai occasionally glanced behind her in the rearview mirror, wary that the unidentified creature might reappear.

Some time later, the black Porsche stopped downstairs at Li Ai's residence.

“We’re here.” Leon turned to Li Ai. “Go upstairs. Remember to lock the doors and windows before you sleep, and write down my phone number…”

"Okay." Li Ai pushed open the car door and walked into the house.

Lyon sat in the car, watching the lights in the house come on one by one until a warm glow shone from the second-floor window. Only then did he start the car, and the black Porsche slowly drove away from the neighborhood, disappearing into the rainy night.

.....................

After returning to his room, Li Ai did not rest immediately; he still had to complete his daily training.

Perhaps as the number of battles increased, his potential was also unleashed. Now, his warm-up involves a 550-kilogram bench press, and his time for a 1,000-meter sprint has reached 1 minute and 50 seconds, which is already far beyond the world record.

His self-healing and resilience have not yet been tested, but he doesn't need to wear gloves when hitting the punching bag now; he can just use his fists to punch directly.

After smashing another sandbag, Li Ai took out her ZZZ phone and searched for potentially useful information.

Humanoid features, scales, claws... these elements combined ultimately point to an urban legend: the Lizard Man.

This urban legend dates back to the last century, when a creature that was half human and half lizard was sighted in the swamps of South Carolina, America. Witnesses claimed that the creature was fast enough to catch up with a car and that its claws could tear open car doors. Large hunting dogs owned by nearby residents also died overnight.

Discussions about reptilians continue to rage online, with numerous posts on social media containing both factual and fictional accounts.

However, Li Ai had read about lizard people in "The Illustrated Guide to Mysterious Creatures of the Americas" and knew that they were mysterious creatures that humans had not yet discovered but had always lived on Earth. They usually lived in underground water systems and mostly relied on eating fish and aquatic plants to survive, and could even eat human garbage.

These native reptilians are actually very peaceful, with groups rarely exceeding five individuals. The only problem is the language barrier; only a small number of individuals are aggressive.

But the 'lizardman' creature can actually be created using scientific methods.

For example, Dr. Kurt Connors, who is currently working at Osborne, was once a top surgeon and later became a military medic, but during a mission, their camp was attacked and Connors lost his right arm in the explosion.

Dr. Connors, who lost his right arm, could no longer work as a doctor, but he did not give up. Instead, after returning to the United States, he changed careers and became an expert specializing in cross-species genetics and limb regeneration.

According to Li Ai's memory, Connors, under pressure from Osborn's higher-ups, injected himself with the unfinished lizard serum in a state of extreme anxiety. This caused him to mutate into a half-human, half-lizard monster, resulting in a split personality. He even felt that this was a form of evolution and wanted to turn all the city's citizens into lizard people.

But Li Ai felt something was wrong. Peter was still in junior high school. How could Dr. Connors have mutated? Could it be that the higher-ups at Osborn were pushing him so hard?

Thinking of this, Li Ai began searching for information about Kurt Connors and discovered that the doctor had a lecture tomorrow at a university where registration was not required, and the time was half an hour after his classes ended the next afternoon.

"He can still give speeches, which indirectly proves that his intelligence is not a problem. We need to go to the scene to verify whether he has mutated." Li Ai confirmed the plan for tomorrow, then went to exercise again before going back to bed.

Two and a half seconds later, Li Ai randomly entered someone's dream.

After opening her eyes again, Li Ai changed into a firefighter's uniform. Her mission was to rescue a pet cat from the sewers.

He also has a white female firefighter partner, so it would be easy for the two 'firefighters' to find the cat in the sewers.

The two of them went deep into the sewers together. Just when Li Ai thought there was nothing special about this dream, a roar made him alert.

'Roar! '

A strange roar came from around the corner ahead. The two men shone their headlamps in that direction and saw a two-meter-tall creature covered in black scales, with a tail trailing behind it. Its six sharp claws, which were visible in total, gleamed under the headlamps. It looked very much like the lizardman that Li Ai had seen not long ago, except that the color of its scales was different.

"Back off!" Li Ai shouted softly, and then, with a thought, the impact capsule appeared out of thin air in his hand.

The black-scaled lizardman roared and sped through the sewers at the speed of a cheetah, reaching Li Ai in just a few breaths.

But then, a voice rang out.

【Impact!】

Li Ai twirled the capsule in his hand, strengthening the muscles beneath his firefighter uniform. With a single punch, he sent the Blackscale Lizardman flying, smashing through the sewer wall before dying.

Chapter 59 Sheriff George's heart skipped a beat.

After killing the Blackscale Lizardman with a single punch, Li Ai, sensing someone calling her, left the dream of female firefighter Dena.

In the blink of an eye, Li Ai arrived at the rooftop of a building. A breeze was blowing, and the sun was shining brightly overhead. He stood with his back to the light and spoke to George Stacy in the center of the rooftop:

"It seems you really enjoy meeting in places like this."

"You've finally arrived." Upon seeing Li Ai, George Stacy breathed a sigh of relief and said proactively:

“There have been several missing persons cases in the city recently, and I can sense that this is beyond the scope of the NYPD’s handling.”

"Tell me more," Li Ai pressed.

“Early this morning, two officers on patrol discovered a house with its front door open but no lights on. When they entered the house, they found only a few bloodstains and dog hair scattered in the backyard,” George Stacy said in a low voice.

Upon hearing this, Li Ai frowned slightly, "Are there any clues at the scene of the crime?"

"Our men found claw marks on a wall. Judging from the shape, the creature probably had three claws. It was swift and could take a life silently," George Stacy sighed, feeling utterly helpless.

"This afternoon, our people were still investigating inside the house when a fire suddenly broke out, interrupting our investigation."

Even talking about it here sends chills down George Stacy's spine.

If that creature could hinder the NYPD's investigation, wouldn't that mean that from the moment they put up the cordon, there was an unseen eye watching them?

A mysterious creature with three sharp claws... Li Ai has roughly determined that the NYPD has encountered a lizardman.

"Sheriff, you've probably encountered a lizardman, and a highly aggressive one at that."

Upon hearing this, Sheriff George's heart skipped a beat.

"Lizard people? Aren't those creatures from urban legends?" George was very puzzled.

“They do exist in this world, but they are extremely rare,” Li Ai explained, then offered another possibility.

"But there's also a possibility that a company created uncontrollable mutants, and I need time to investigate the suspects."

“I don’t want to see either of those possibilities.” Sheriff George looked pained. He took a deep breath, calmed himself down, and entrusted the matter to Li Ai.

"ZZZ, I'm leaving this matter to you."

“I will,” Li Ai replied, and at the same time, he felt that the dream was giving him some feedback.

Then, the dream ended, and Li Ai woke up in reality.

..............................

After school in the afternoon

Li Ai went to Dr. Connors's lecture to find out if he had become Dr. Lizard.

"Students, today we're going to talk about cross-species gene transplantation..."

Dr. Connors was giving a lecture in a large lecture hall. There weren't many people there. Li Ai found a corner to sit down and then secretly took out her ZZZ pass and scanned it against Dr. Connors on the podium.

The information scanned by the pass was synchronized to the red control panel. Li Ai looked at Dr. Connors' physical characteristics on the screen, which were no different from those of an ordinary person, and confirmed that the other party was not Dr. Lizard.

The likelihood of certain aggressive lizard-like individuals causing trouble in New York City increases significantly.

Dr. Connors spoke for about an hour. After he finished, Li Ai left. He found a fast food restaurant to eat at and then went into a small alley.

The lizardmen had found themselves a very good hiding place.

The New York sewer system was built over a hundred years ago and has undergone numerous renovations since then. Moreover, the construction standards have been constantly changing, so even if you brought together designers from all over the world, they might still be at a loss.

Fortunately, the drainage system design drawings were kept, and in recent years, electronic files have also been made online. For Li Ai, it was simply a matter of hacking into a few more websites.

He first used the characteristics of the door-shaped hanging device to remove the ZZZ sensor and changed the action mode to 'search'.

[Scanning the sewer system]

Upon receiving the command, a red light flashed across the core of the ZZZ sensor, resembling the unfolding of an arthropod's mechanical leg.

Li Ai moved the manhole cover to create an opening large enough for the ZZZ sensor to pass through, then put it back in place and left.

The ZZZ phone and sensors work together; information scanned in the sewer is transmitted to the phone in real time and presented in a holographic projection model.

After hacking into some websites, Li Ai downloaded the design drawings of the sewage system and compared them with the real-time scans from the sensors.

New York's sewage system is responsible for the daily water needs of millions of people, making it a massive system. Even with excellent sensors, it still requires sufficient time to process the data.

As soon as Li Ai stepped out of the alley, she saw a maintenance vehicle parked next to the well. Workers had put up red and blue warning tape and placed ice cream buckets to prevent anyone from stepping into the well.

Just as he was about to leave, a man in orange overalls suddenly poked his head out of the well. He looked terrified, as if he had seen something horrifying.

Curious, Li Ai put down his camera and ran toward the wellhead under repair. When he arrived, the first worker had already climbed out, and the second worker, who looked terrified, had also poked half his body out.

But suddenly, it was as if something was pulling the second worker from below, and his body, which had been sticking out of the ground, suddenly fell.

"Grab my hand!" a voice came from beside him, and the worker, who was being grabbed by something, hurriedly grasped at this lifeline.

Li Ai grabbed the worker's hand and began to struggle with the unknown creature below. The muscles under his clothes tensed slightly. After a brief stalemate, the creature below seemed to receive a signal and hurriedly stopped moving, running towards the depths of the sewer.

Two repairmen, who had survived the ordeal, sat on the ground, panting heavily, their eyes filled with terror. The worker Li Ai had rescued was the first to react and said to him:

"I really... thank you so much, I... don't know how to repay you."

The man was so frightened he could barely speak. Seeing his state, Li Ai simply squatted down, aligning their eyes to create a sense of equality and make it easier to bridge the gap. She asked:

What did you just encounter in the sewers?

“A giant lizard!” Another repairman spread his arms wide, describing what he had seen in the sewer workshop. “Those lizards were bigger than people! And there was more than one; they chased after anyone they saw!”

"Old Sam, who went missing a few days ago, must have been kidnapped by them!" the worker rescued by Li Ai said in a daze.

"That legend is true! There are lizardmen in the city's sewers! They're coming to replace humans!"

Chapter 60 The Lizardmen of the Sewers

The two repairmen were clearly frightened, and their words were somewhat incoherent.

"If there's nothing else, I'll be going now," Li Ai said, then stood up.

The worker, whose life had been saved by Li Ai, also stood up and extended his hand, inviting her, "Well, I should buy you a drink as a way of repaying my benefactor."

"Being a good person in your life is the best way to repay me."

Li Ai smiled, then hurriedly left the place, quickly found a secluded alley, changed her equipment, and rushed into the sewers.

The air in the sewer was damp and foul-smelling, sewage flowed slowly around my feet, and water dripped from above, making hollow echoes in the pipes.

At this moment, the ZZZ sensor detected a heat source moving rapidly in the sewer. Li Ai realized that it was his target, so he used his ZZZ phone to remotely change the task, allowing the sensor to track the target undetected, while he followed closely behind.

As he ventured deeper into the sewer system, the main passageway gradually narrowed, and the brickwork on the walls became increasingly rough, presenting Li Ai with some challenges in these early-built areas.

But the sensors brought some good news.

The heat source signal eventually stopped at a node that had been abandoned for many years, and four other heat sources appeared next to it.

Li Ai tiptoed around to the top of the pipes in the pump room and peered down through the gaps in the iron fence.

Four black-scaled lizardmen were looking down, tearing at something with their sharp claws, making a teeth-grinding chewing sound.

Among them was a large lizardman who was nearly three meters tall, a whole head taller than the average individual. Its muscles were even more ferocious and terrifying. Its vital parts were covered with a row of thick bone plates like those of an ankylosaur, with sharp edges like knives. At the end of its tail was a bony tail hammer covered with sharp bone spikes.

This large lizardwoman was clearly the leader of the tribe. She swept her cold gaze over her kind, let out a hoarse roar, and then spoke in English.

"There isn't enough food. I need more food to reproduce."

The other four smaller black-scaled lizardmen flicked their forked tongues and hissed, as if they were complaining.

The black-scaled lizard leader didn't want to hear this. It swung its tail, its bony tail hammering a dent in the sewer wall, and then warned:

"I don't want to hear that. I want to see more food. The five of us are the key to reclaiming the land! Those monkeys on the ground don't deserve sunlight, food, and water. The land should be ours!"

Hiding in the shadows, Li Ai recalled the descriptions of the lizard people's characteristics in the books.

A lizardman tribe can have no more than five members. The strongest one is the leader and the 'queen' responsible for reproduction, while the others simultaneously serve as workers, warriors, and husbands.

The characteristics do match, but right now there's only one thing troubling Li Ai.

Why does this leader speak human language?

"We will break the rules, lay the first eggs here, never to be separated again, and then keep increasing our numbers until one day in the future we launch an attack on the ground."

The black-scaled lizard leader is planning their future.

Hearing this, Li Ai decided not to give them a chance.

Even protected animals that attack humans need to be dealt with, let alone these treacherous creatures.