Am I a Kamen Rider or the real young master who was switched at birth?

When Ye Yang came out of Song Zhiming's courtyard, it was already getting dark.

Night falls faster in the Black Forest than outside. The dark canopy swallows up the last rays of daylight, leaving only a few old streetlights casting a dim yellow glow on the telephone poles along the entire alley.

Ye Yang leaned against the osmanthus tree outside the courtyard wall, tapping absently on the black-covered thread-bound notebook in his arms, his eyes fixed on the half-open wooden door at the end of the alley.

Long Aotian came out a few minutes later than him. He and Lin Ying had just found the proper medicinal herbs listed on their master's list in the pharmacy.

As he was leaving, his long hair got caught on the string of animal bone wind chimes on the door frame, pulling out several strands.

He walked over to Ye Yang while rubbing his scalp, and frowned slightly when he saw that Ye Yang had an unfamiliar notebook in his hand.

"Brother Ye Yang, what have you discovered?"

Ye Yang did not answer immediately.

He looked around; the alley was quiet, and he could faintly hear the laughter of several children chasing and playing at the town entrance in the distance.

Warm yellow light shone from the windows across the street; everything seemed perfectly normal.

He pulled his hand out of his pocket, clutching the black-covered notebook.

There were no words on the cover, only a dark mark that had been repeatedly rubbed until it shone.

He shoved the notebook into Long Aotian's hand.

"Evidence of a crime."

Long Aotian took the notebook and opened it to the first page.

As he looked at it, his expression began to change.

When he turned to a certain page in the middle, his finger stopped, he paused for a while, and then he read that page again.

After reading it, he pursed his lips into a thin line, then closed the notebook without saying a word.

Lin Ying stood next to Long Aotian, tiptoeing to look into his hands.

Long Aotian was very tall, and she was only up to his shoulder, so she could only see the cover of the black notebook in his hand.

She tiptoed several times, her light gray eyes fixed on the laptop, like a cat trying to reach for cat food on a high shelf.

Ye Yang watched her tiptoe several times, and finally couldn't help but nudge Long Aotian's arm with his elbow: "Have you finished reading? If you have, show it to others too."

Long Aotian snapped out of his daze, said "Oh," and handed the notebook to Lin Ying.

Lin Ying took it with both hands, then took two steps back and leaned against the trunk of an osmanthus tree, turning the pages one by one in the dim light of the street lamp.

After Ye Yang waited for her to turn a few pages, he began to explain the most important content in the notebook, one point at a time.

"This diary belongs to Song Zhiming. It clearly states that he once came into contact with the poison techniques of the Silent Beast while gathering herbs."

"The venom seeped into his body through the wound on his hand, and from that day on, his body started acting strangely. His fingernails fell off piece by piece, the blood vessels under his skin became darker and darker, and his lungs began to rot."

"In order to survive, he began to study how to transplant the cells of the Silent Beast into people and use their regenerative abilities to repair his own necrotic organs."

He paused for a moment, then lowered his voice by half an octave.

"Most importantly, a person's name appears in this book. Can you guess who it is?"

Long Aotian looked up at him, and Lin Ying also stopped turning the page.

"It's that idiot Shen Yunzhou," Ye Yang said, somewhat agitated.

Lin Ying almost dropped the notebook in her hand.

She gripped the cover tightly again, her knuckles turning slightly white, and a rare hint of coldness flashed in her light gray eyes under the dim streetlights.

Shen Yunzhou, the one who cast a curse on her older sister, the one who attacked them with the Silent Beast in the hospital.

His reach actually extended to this remote town, and even to their master's junior apprentice.

"Is Shen Yunzhou the one who opposes the Dragon King Palace at every turn?" Long Aotian's brows furrowed even deeper.

As the master of the Dragon King Palace, he was certainly familiar with this name.

Although he had never directly confronted Shen Yunzhou, his subordinates had reported more than once that someone was secretly sabotaging the Dragon King Palace's operations.

"That's right. However, there are still many details that are not explicitly stated in this book. For example, how exactly did Shen Yunzhou contact Song Zhiming, and what other hidden agents did he plant in the Black Forest? This diary stopped recently, and the later events are not written."

Ye Yang took the notebook from Lin Ying and put it back in his pocket.

Long Aotian crossed his arms and tapped his chin lightly with his fingers.

"What should we do then? Shall we investigate? The people in town must know something—that woman surnamed Feng, and that missing Chen Bing. We can start from the outside and find more evidence before—"

Ye Yang interrupted him directly, "What's there to investigate? Just ask the person in question, isn't that enough?"

Long Aotian and Lin Ying blinked at the same time and looked at him.

Long Aotian tilted his head, and Lin Ying also tilted her head slightly; their expressions were surprisingly identical at that moment.

"What are you doing? We have a witness. That woman sits under the big tree at the entrance of town every day; she's living evidence. We also have physical evidence. Every page of this diary is in his own handwriting; he can't deny it."

Ye Yang spread his hands and pointed at Lin Ying, "Besides, Lin Ying, aren't you an Awakened? A registered student at the Federal First Military Academy, how many credits does it take to arrest a criminal suspect involved in illegal human experimentation? If your second sister knew, she would definitely yell, 'Why didn't you include me?'"

Lin Ying thought about it seriously for a moment, then nodded vigorously.

Long Aotian crossed his arms, his brows slightly furrowed, then his lips moved, and he said in a serious tone:

"Isn't this inappropriate? After all, he is our senior uncle. Although Master is usually unreliable, he has always had deep feelings for his fellow disciples."

"If we arrest our martial uncle directly, how will we explain it to our master? And in terms of seniority, shouldn't we—"

"Pah!" Ye Yang spat on the grass next to him, then pointed towards Song Zhiming's courtyard at the other end of the alley.

"He's practically turned people into zombies, and he calls himself a 'junior uncle'? Have you ever seen a junior uncle use living people for silent beast fusion experiments? Have you ever seen a junior uncle collude with Shen Yunzhou?"

Lin Ying gently tugged at Ye Yang's sleeve, looked up at him, her light gray eyes filled with curiosity: "What is—a zombie?"

Ye Yang's righteous indignation was interrupted by her soft question.

He turned to look at Lin Ying's serious face, smiled helplessly, and said, "I'll tell you when we get back. It's like—something that's dead but still moves, like a walking corpse."

Lin Ying thought for a moment, then nodded gently and let out a soft "Oh".

Long Aotian was still hesitating.

His fingers tapped faster on his chin, his brows furrowed so deeply they could trap a mosquito, and he muttered something about "seniority," "discipline rules," "master might be angry," and "maybe I should write a letter to ask master first."

Seeing his indecisive appearance, Ye Yang took a deep breath.

He raised his right hand, then bent his middle finger and flicked it cleanly and decisively at Long Aotian's forehead.

The crisp sound was exceptionally clear in the quiet alley, and Long Aotian was jolted backward.

He covered his forehead, looking somewhat aggrieved, his long hair disheveled, with a few stray strands sticking to his face.

"If we don't act now, when will we?"

After Ye Yang finished speaking, he turned and left.

He clutched the black diary in one hand and clenched his fist in the other. He took quick, large strides, and the fallen leaves under the osmanthus tree were whipped up by the wind he created, swirling several times on the ground.

He stepped out of the osmanthus tree's shade, strode across the bluestone path in the courtyard, and arrived at the main house's entrance.

The wooden door to the main room was closed, with a sliver of warm yellow light shining through the crack. It was quiet inside, and you could faintly hear the soft clinking of teacups on the table.

He raised his right foot and kicked the door open.

The wooden door slammed against the wall and bounced, making a loud noise.

Song Zhiming was sitting at his desk, holding a freshly brewed cup of hot tea, with steam rising from the surface.

He sat upright and serenely, the collar of his long gown neatly fastened, an open medical book lay on his desk, and beside him were his reading glasses and a Duan inkstone.

He heard the door being kicked open, and his hand holding the teacup paused slightly.

Then he looked up at Ye Yang at the door, a gentle smile appearing on his face.

"Nephew—have you found the medicinal herbs? I've also prepared some for you; they're all on the left-hand cabinet in the pharmacy. See if you're missing anything."

Ye Yang tucked the diary under his armpit, then rolled up his sleeves, revealing his two well-defined forearms.

He stood at the doorway, the light shining from behind him, casting a long, straight shadow on Song Zhiming.

"Go to hell! You old bastard—you actually tried to harm people!" His voice echoed throughout the courtyard.

Long Aotian rushed up from behind, grabbed Ye Yang's arm, and said quickly and urgently, "Calm down—calm down! Brother Ye Yang! Let's talk this out—he's an elder after all—"

While pulling Ye Yang along, he forced a polite smile at Song Zhiming.

Song Zhizhi blinked and finally put down the cup of tea in his hand.

He slowly stood up from the chair, took two steps back, and leaned his back against the medicine cabinet.

Long Aotian turned around to face Song Zhiming, then clasped his hands together and bowed slightly.

His long hair slipped down his shoulders, covering half his face, but it couldn't hide the deep confusion and heartache in his eyes.

"Uncle-Master—why do you go against the will of Heaven and do this—" Before he could finish speaking, a hand reached out from the side and pushed him aside.

Ye Yang stood in front of Song Zhiming, holding up the black diary in his hand, the cover reflecting a dark luster under the light.

He pointed his other finger at Song Zhiming's nose and said in a loud voice:

"You old geezer! I know everything you've done! The Silent Beast Fusion Experiment, the Living Human Corpse Refining, colluding with Shen Yunzhou... it's all written clearly in this diary! Now we have both witnesses and physical evidence. I advise you to obediently turn yourself in and not go looking for trouble!"

Song Zhiming remained silent for several seconds.

He looked at the diary in Ye Yang's hand, and then at Lin Ying behind Ye Yang, who was already in a fighting stance.

Then he lowered his head and coughed a few times.

The coughing was more violent than ever before; he covered his mouth with one hand and braced himself against the edge of the desk with the other.

After coughing, he wiped the corner of his mouth with a handkerchief and then stuffed it back into his sleeve.

He raised his head, and three silver needles silently slid out from the sleeve of his long robe with his right hand.

The needle tip flashed three extremely thin and cold streaks of light under the lamp.

With a flick of his wrist, three silver needles shot out in a triangular formation.

One bullet aimed straight for Ye Yang's throat, another for Lin Ying's shoulder, and yet another was aimed at Long Aotian's knee.

Ye Yang didn't even try to dodge.

He raised his hand, making a half-circle in front of him, the edge of his palm precisely cutting into the side of the three silver needles.

The three silver lights simultaneously veered off course and clattered three times, embedding themselves in the wall beside them.

The tip of the silver needle was still trembling slightly.

Ye Yang withdrew his hand and took out the Decade Driver from his waist.

A magenta glow began to swirl around the drive, casting a half-red, half-black glow on the cover of the black diary.

He pressed the driver against his waist, and the belt snapped shut automatically.

"Since you are ruthless—don't blame me for being unjust."