Kamen Rider ZZZ from the American comic book world

After leaving the photography team's private classroom, Li Ai first returned home and went to the operations room.

He reread the news article about the perpetrator's family suing the police officer, and after identifying the media outlet and reporter who published the news, he began preparing for the next phase of his investigation.

The media outlet was located near Times Square. The reporter's name was Sean Bowman, an unknown junior reporter who had been working in journalism for many years without winning any awards. Lately, he had been focusing on Hollywood celebrity gossip.

After dark, Li Ai quickly arrived at Times Square using the teleportation function in the operations room. He found the office contracted by the media company and observed the interior environment through the floor-to-ceiling windows.

The office was pitch black, with a few scattered documents and photos on the desk and two surveillance cameras hanging on the wall.

He arrived at the door and began to examine the electronic lock that was flashing red.

The electronic lock actually made things easier for Li Ai. He operated it himself, and the red light immediately turned green. The internal structure rotated, and the lock was opened.

He gently pushed open the door with his toes, and after entering the office, he first found the computer connected to the surveillance cameras and used yesterday's surveillance footage to overwrite what he was about to do.

After quickly locating 'Sean Bowman's' desk, Li Ai focused on the mainframe.

Ten years have passed since that incident, and the paper documents may have been destroyed long ago. We can only hope that the reporter did not delete the electronic files.

ZZZ's phone hacked into the host computer, and a progress bar appeared on the screen. As the progress bar reached 100%, the files on the computer were already in Li Ai's hands without her knowing.

After doing all this, Li Ai left the office and erased all traces, as if nothing had ever happened.

Back in the operations room, he began searching for useful intelligence.

Few documents from ten years ago remain; only a few photos and documents, and a few audio recordings.

After filtering based on the detailed timeline of the incidents, only one recording was found to be related to the bombing and kidnapping case.

"Now it's time for the audition, Mr. Frank Skriner, we can begin."

“Okay, Mr. Sean Bowman, I’m going to tell you about the NYPD’s dark secrets. In last month’s mall kidnapping case, their officers made the wrong choice because their own family members were taken hostage, which led to the loss of a life.”

"That person is your brother, right?"

"Yes, according to my investigation, George Stacy found that his family had been left inside the mall, so he killed my brother even though he could have made a non-lethal choice."

"But Mr. Scolina, your brother had already threatened to extort money from City Hall with a bomb. Whatever the NYPD did was within their rights, wasn't it?"

"Then what about my brother's life? If you don't report this, I'll personally seek justice for him!"

"Sir, please calm down. I'm just a reporter on a meager salary, not an NYPD employee."

Chapter 13 Explosion

The recording is filled with Frank Skriner's emotional outpouring, and even after many years, listeners can still feel the helplessness of that young reporter.

This kind of person is too difficult to deal with, and Frank Skriner showed a strong desire for revenge, his tone full of resentment.

"What an unreasonable guy." Li Ai listened to the recording with a dark expression. He put down ZZZ's phone and rubbed his temples while reasoning.

If it were that unreasonable guy seeking revenge, Deputy Director George Stacy might recall what happened ten years ago.

Thinking of this, Li Ai suddenly had a flash of inspiration. He then began to search for the criminals who survived the kidnapping case ten years ago. Because they were stopped in time and no hostages were injured, their sentences were all less than ten years.

The criminal with the longest prison sentence was also released in the first half of the year. They were scattered across various states in the United States and would not normally have had the chance to reunite.

However, according to the information Li Ai found, all of these criminals are now dead, and the incidents all occurred within this year.

Car accidents, mine explosions, engineering accidents... the ways to die are varied and bizarre, but there are always traces of explosions at the accident scene.

Most of the city police departments where those criminals worked closed the cases hastily, without providing further information.

“What a crazy guy.” Li Ai frowned slightly, instinctively feeling that this incident was inextricably linked to Frank Skriner.

He searched for the name on his ZZZ phone and found a person in the American citizen database whose information matched perfectly.

Frank Scorina, a resident of New Mexico with a junior high school education, whose parents were sentenced to 20 years in prison for selling illegal drugs, lived with his older brother. He obtained a visa to Brazil in 1999, after which there was no further information about him. Even his passport photo is from ten years ago, and he may have already changed his identity.

This person has a much higher probability of turning to crime than the average person, and there is a nearly ten-year gap in his life, during which time it is unknown what he did abroad.

If this person is the mastermind behind all the murders, then things are not so simple. It is no simple matter for someone who has been away from America for nearly ten years to kill multiple released criminals in the country by means of explosives.

"Could it be superpowers? Or have they joined some big organization?" Li Ai boldly speculated.

There are no mutants in his world, but that doesn't mean there are no superpowered individuals. Humans with the potential can still develop their latent superpowers through various means.

Li Ai quickly summarized the existing clues and then fell asleep quickly, because she had already entered George Stacy's dream yesterday and remembered which door corresponded to George Stacy's dream.

After entering George Stacy's dream, Li Ai changed into a police uniform. He looked up at the electronic screen on the wall and found that the time was today, and his identity was a new civilian police officer responsible for transmitting intelligence.

"Add everything that's useful." Li Ai held a document in her hand, and with a thought, the document added sections related to Frank Skorina.

He took the document to the deputy director's office, placed it on George Stacy's desk, and said to the haggard-looking middle-aged man before him:

"Chief George, here are the documents you need."

"understood."

George rubbed the bridge of his nose, his face seemingly clouded with an unshakeable gloom. He managed to control his agitation and began to examine the documents.

Li Ai glanced around and saw a letter on the desk.

I will light a similar flame in that place and wait for you, George Stacy. I hope you will make a better choice tomorrow.

The letter was printed directly, making it impossible to examine the handwriting. It was clearly a threatening letter, which is common in some serial murder cases.

Dreams are a projection of real-life experiences, and this letter likely exists in reality as well, reflecting George Stacy's anxieties.

"Frank Skriner, a relative of the thug I killed?"

The intelligence awakened long-dormant memories, and George couldn't help but recall the shopping mall kidnapping case from ten years ago.

In his dream, he couldn't help but think in this direction.

If it's that guy's relatives trying to get revenge, then 'that place' in the letter refers to the shopping mall where the kidnapping occurred, and the flames probably refer to a bomb. Could it be that they want to recreate what happened back then?

"He's going to kidnap my family?!" George Stacy jumped to her feet, as if she had been shocked by something, and even the dream world seemed to be shaking violently.

This is a sign that the dreamer is about to wake up. Finally, Li Ai gives him strong suggestions in the dream, making him more convinced of what happened in the dream.

As George Stacy fully regained consciousness, Li Ai also woke up. The alarm clock on the wall showed that it was already the next morning.

"It's time to go."

On her way to school, Li Ai noticed that there were more NYPD patrols than yesterday, and even some people with bad behavior were being handcuffed on the spot, which seemed to be arranged by Deputy Chief George Stacy.

This not only protected his daughter, who was still in middle school, but also indirectly deterred Frank Skorina, who had not yet shown his face.

While at school, Li Ai was using her ZZZ phone to monitor the NYPD's internal channels, trying to determine if anything suspicious had happened at the mall.

However, he didn't hear any useful information from the NYPD's internal channels until after school, but the NYPD had indeed deployed plainclothes officers at the mall to search for the suspect.

Li Ai personally went to the shopping mall, a four-story building brightly lit and teeming with people.

He walked around the mall several times, checking the interior of the building for any hidden bombs. However, there was only some inconspicuous dust and powder in those places. Even after blowing away the dust and checking the floor, no explosives were found.

After that, in order to avoid being mistaken for a suspicious person by plainclothes officers, he hid in the restroom and used his ZZZ phone to hack into the mall's surveillance system, so that even if Li Ai was hiding, she could still observe most of the area.

The surveillance cameras didn't cover everything, but they allowed him to see the main exits and the underground parking lot.

As time passed, the mall entered its evening rush hour, and the number of people increased.

This would make the investigation difficult, and the NYPD clearly failed to obtain a lockdown order, most likely due to insufficient evidence. After all, George Stacy is currently only one of the deputy directors and her words carry little weight; otherwise, the entire mall would have been locked down.

As Li Ai watched the time grow later and the number of people in the mall gradually decrease, and just when she was about to think that the other party would not make a move, a series of explosions rang out.

Rumbling--

Explosions occurred at all entrances and exits of the mall, and a large amount of rubble rolled down, forming an obstacle at the entrances and exits. However, for some reason, the rubble did not completely block the way, and the people inside the mall still had a chance to survive.

"How's the situation with Team B? Have you found any explosives over there?"

"Team B replied that they found no explosives or firearms."

"Team C is the same. We've checked the east gate ten times, but we haven't found any explosives."

"There are injuries in Group D."

"Damn it, where did this explosive come from?"

The NYPD's internal channels were awakened by the explosion. The mall was in chaos due to the explosion, the lights went out, and the remaining tourists groped and screamed in the dark.

"Stay in a safe place and don't show your face until things get better," Li Ai reminded the passerby he had rescued, then stood by the glass railing to observe the situation in the mall's first-floor lobby.

At this moment, some guests realized there was still a chance to escape and prepared to squeeze out through the gap. Just when they thought they could escape, several ordinary-looking "guests" suddenly convulsed, their heads exploded, and a large amount of bright red muscle tissue reassembled into "head shapes" and extended a large number of tentacles with sharp bone spurs.

Chapter 14 Mission: Stop the Bomber

The green emergency lights came on, and in the dim light, the people could see those hideous figures.

"Aaaaaah! There's a monster!"

Screams erupted from the crowd. The people, seeing this monster for the first time, were even more terrified and fled in panic.

call out!

A series of whooshing sounds filled the air as the monsters swung their bone blades, forcing the fleeing civilians into one place.

George Stacy, covered in soot from the explosion, also witnessed the scene. Memories from ten years ago flooded back, and he knew he was responsible for the incident. So he went to the center of the hall and shouted at the 'culprit' hiding in the shadows:

"Frank Skriner, I know you've been plotting all this, and I know you're here to get revenge on me. If you're going to take revenge, take it out on me. Don't drag ordinary people into this!"

"Hahaha, Sheriff, you're still as 'honest' as ever." A voice came from multiple directions. Frank Skorina didn't show himself directly but hid in the shadows, trying to use the public as leverage.

"Although I don't know why my bomb didn't destroy all the exits and almost let a few little mice escape, it doesn't stop me from playing the rest of the game."

"What exactly do you want?" George Stacy wanted to stall for time and create an opportunity for the other plainclothes officers. As long as they could catch that guy, they could resolve the matter.

"I've already said I'll let you experience the same thing that happened back then. Just pick any one of those people and make them reenact what happened back then, and I'll let you go. It's a life for a life, isn't that fair?"

The kidnapping case ended with the killing of Frank Skriner's brother.

If this were to be completely repeated, then an innocent person would have to be driven to their death.

Regardless of whether that guy was telling the truth or not, George Stacy simply couldn't bring himself to force an innocent person to their death.

“If you don’t do it, my partners won’t be so polite. You don’t think they’ll be willing to negotiate, do you? You may have protected your own family, but you can’t protect theirs.”

Frank Skriner kept urging him on.

Meanwhile, Li Ai had just rescued two or three people in dire straits, and handed over the rest of the rescue work to the plainclothes police officers, while he went to find Frank.

The sounds weren't coming from the mall's loudspeakers; he could tell that directly by hearing. He found the nearest sound source and discovered a simple device consisting of a megaphone and a walkie-talkie glued together.

"What an annoying guy." Li Ai used his ZZZ phone to stick it to the walkie-talkie and began to trace the source of the signal in reverse.

That guy has been plotting revenge for ten years, trying to prove that his brother's death was due to George Stacy's selfish motives. He's probably hiding somewhere in the mall watching this 'show' unfold.

Li Ai's guess was correct.

Frank Skriner had been plotting revenge for so many years that his mind was already twisted. He stood in the shadows on the third floor, watching his enemy struggle.

For ten years, he went abroad and became a mercenary. During a mission, he came into contact with a mysterious organization that promised him enough power.

The thought that his 'enemy' had already risen to a high position made him readily accept the human modification experiment, which gave him the superpower to turn his body dander into bombs. These dander bombs could not be detected by conventional means as long as they were not detonated.

The explosion just now was caused by Frank Skriner scattering skin flakes, which he had ground into dust, in the mall beforehand and then detonating them at what he considered an appropriate time. However, due to some unintentional actions, the explosive power did not reach the expected level.

Frank Scoriner looked at the hesitant George Stacy, pressed the remote control in his hand, and a monster suddenly went berserk, its tentacles lashing out and injuring several people.

"Hurry up and act. This is just a small warning. If you make any more moves, I'll do something even more eye-catching."

After saying this, Frank Scoriner put down the remote control in his hand, but he heard a faint whooshing sound. He turned his head and saw a motorcycle speeding towards him.

Who could drive a motorcycle here? The thought had barely crossed his mind when he was hit and thrown into the air by the motorcycle.

The motorcycle crashed through the glass railing, causing him to fall heavily onto the floor of the mall lobby.

The motorcycle landed right behind, and a figure got off the motorcycle.

The man was wearing a motorcycle helmet, a white shirt and tactical suspenders on his upper body, with a strange piece of equipment hanging on his chest, and combat pants and black boots on his lower body.

His outfit made him look like a secret agent straight out of a sci-fi action movie, and then the group of tentacle monsters attacked him.

"Who are you?" Deputy Director George was startled by the sudden appearance of this mysterious person.

“That’s not important, officer,” Li Ai replied as she moved among the tentacle monsters.

After pinpointing the enemy's location, he set up a makeshift operations room in a nearby door, mounted the Code Zero Eclipse, and caught the enemy off guard.

Frank Skrinar, who had been hurled away by the Code Zero Eroder, got up from the ground, his face cracking like dry earth, revealing body tissue resembling an insect's exoskeleton. He shouted in Li Ai's direction:

"Who are you?! Why are you stopping me?"