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

Ye Yang had traveled the road to Kowloon City many times.

The engine of the Machine X Decade roared low on the suburban highway, its magenta body leaving a flowing trail of light in the afternoon sun.

This road is usually not busy with traffic, and there are large areas of windbreak forests and occasional passing farmland on both sides, but today Ye Yang gripped the handlebars a little tighter than usual.

Hai Dong Daiki sat sideways in the back seat, one hand casually resting on Ye Yang's shoulder, the other hand idly turning the Diend drive.

He looked down at the magenta motorcycle speeding beneath him. The knight's crest on the side of the motorcycle reflected a faint silver luster in the sunlight, and the signal receiver on the front of the motorcycle flickered slightly with the engine speed.

A smile that only he understood crept onto his lips as he spoke, his tone a mixture of teasing and nostalgia:

"Wow, Ye Yang, where did you get this Mechanical Decade? You know, this is Shi's exclusive vehicle. When I traveled through time with him, he treasured it like it was the most precious thing, and he wouldn't even let me touch it. But you, you just rode it right away."

Ye Yang's voice was muffled by the wind, but his smugness was undisguised: "What's wrong? Feeling sad? A Kamen Rider can't be without a motorcycle—it's a pity that some riders, despite being Kamen Riders, don't have their own exclusive ride."

He slowed down slightly, turned his head slightly, and added in an extremely smug tone, "Between the two of us, guess who doesn't have a motorcycle?"

Hai Dong paused for a moment as he twirled the Diend driver.

The smile on his lips froze for several seconds, then he let out a cold, extremely defiant snort, gritting his teeth as he said:

"I don't need a motorcycle—I can reach any destination I want directly with a time veil. Any coordinate in the entire universe, if I want to go, I'll be there in the next second."

"You can't do it—you probably don't have that ability yet, right? Your Decade armor can switch forms, but you're still too green to traverse dimensional barriers."

Ye Yang's lips twitched, but he didn't refute. He really wasn't good at it. Crossing dimensional barriers was one of the core abilities of the Decade Knights, but he didn't even know how to trigger it actively. His previous journeys from one world to another were all passive.

He was silent for a moment, then turned his head and asked in a somewhat unwilling tone:

"So how exactly did you unlock this ability? Teach me, please. The form switching I can use right now is basically all done with cards. There's no instruction manual for this dimensional barrier thing."

Hai Dong's smile returned. He twirled the Diend Driver between his fingers, then pointed the gun upwards and said in a meaningful tone:

"Ah—this is my secret skill, I don't teach it to outsiders. If you want to learn, that's fine, but if you give me a diamond about the size of the Star of Africa as tuition, I might consider teaching you."

Ye Yang glanced back at him with disdain, then thought of something illogical.

He frowned slightly, slowed down a bit more, and looked back at Haidong:

"Wait a minute—if you have a time veil that can instantly transport you to your destination, why don't you just use your ability to send us all to Kowloon City? Why go through all this trouble? I'll ride you on my motorcycle, and the older sisters will follow in a car. Is your 'any coordinate in the entire universe' claim just bragging?"

Hai Dong's expression finally changed slightly. He put down the Diend driver and held it in his hand, his gaze passing over the windbreaks on both sides of the road, looking towards the low-rise buildings that were faintly visible on the distant horizon.

"No—the energy fluctuations in the Kowloon City area are too chaotic. I've been trying to activate the Time Veil since the outskirts of the city, at least several times, and the navigation coordinates keep jumping around."

"There's something beneath Kowloon City interfering with the stability of the surrounding dimensions. This is the first time I've encountered something like this in all the worlds I've traveled through. Either there's something huge down there, or someone has installed some kind of interference device specifically designed to disrupt dimensional travel."

Ye Yang frowned slightly. He recalled that once in Qin Buwen's courtyard in Kowloon City, his master had said that Kowloon City was a "place where dragons and tigers hide", but he had never mentioned what was underground.

If even a dimensional traveler like Hai Dong, who has traversed hundreds of worlds, feels that the energy field of Kowloon City is off, then the problem may be much more serious than he previously thought.

He twisted the throttle down a little more, and the speed of the Mechanical Decade increased again.

In the SUV behind, Lin Yumin gripped the steering wheel with both hands, her gaze fixed intently on the taillights of Ye Yang's motorcycle on the road ahead.

Lin Ying sat in the back right seat, her hands neatly placed on her knees, but her gaze was fixed on the motorcycle in front of her through the windshield.

Her light gray eyes looked particularly focused in the afternoon sunlight.

Lin Xingran turned to the side from the passenger seat, followed Lin Ying's gaze, and then a very mischievous smile appeared on her face.

She nudged the woman driving with her elbow and said in a low voice:

"Big sister, look—Lin Ying is unhappy. Ye Yang didn't take Lin Ying with him on his motorcycle, but instead took Hai Dong Da Shu. She was quite happy when Ye Yang took Lin Ying to school last time, but today the back seat has a different person, and look at her expression, like she's lost something."

Lin Ying seemed to be bounced off something, immediately releasing her grip on her skirt, placing her hands on her knees, and retorting in a tone that tried hard to remain calm:

"I—I didn't! I was just—just looking at the road. Second sister, don't talk nonsense—what do I have to be unhappy about—Hai Dong Da Shu was just sitting in the back seat—it's not a big deal."

Lin Yumin glanced at her younger sister in the back seat through the rearview mirror. The sister was trying hard to remain calm, but her ears were already bright red. A faint smile appeared on her lips.

She spoke in that tone that Lin Ying knew all too well, saying simply, "I'm really unhappy."

Lin Ying's face instantly changed from light pink to the color of a boiled shrimp.

She lunged forward, burying her face behind her older sister's driver's seat, revealing only her two bright red ears and a small section of silver-white hair.

Her voice came from the back of the seat in a muffled tone, carrying a soft, yielding quality, as if she had given up all resistance after all her little schemes had been exposed:

"I—no! I'm just—I'm just worried—that guy Hai Dong Da Shu never tells the truth. What if he sneaks up on Ye Yang when we're not paying attention? Last time at Zhaixing Pavilion, he pointed a gun at Ye Yang's head—so—I have to keep an eye on him—it's not because I'm unhappy—it's a tactical necessity—Big sister, don't just focus on driving—you keep an eye on things for me too—"

Lin Xingran and Lin Yumin nodded almost simultaneously, saying in unison in a tone as if coaxing a child, "Okay."

Lin Xingran added, "You're keeping an eye on the big tree in the back row, and I'm keeping an eye on you and the big tree in the front row—our Lin family's security setup is very comprehensive today."

Lin Ying buried her face even deeper, letting out a muffled groan that was somewhere between shame and resignation. She suddenly realized that wearing this shirt today was a mistake; the color was too eye-catching, and there was nowhere to hide when she blushed.

Just as Lin Ying was trying to cool her face down by leaning back in her seat, the Mechanical Decade in front of her suddenly slowed down.

Ye Yang raised his head, his gaze sweeping over the tall, lush plane trees on both sides of the road.

It's too quiet. Unnaturally quiet. There are no birdsong, no insect chirping, and even the sound of the wind rustling through the leaves seems to have been sucked away by something.

Before he could reply, Hai Dong's hushed voice came from the back seat: "Something's wrong—there's an enemy. Be careful!"

Almost at the same instant Hai Dong finished speaking, a sharp pain, as if steel needles were simultaneously piercing both temples, exploded in their minds without warning.

Ye Yang subconsciously looked down to press his belt, while Lin Yumin gritted her teeth and desperately tried to keep the steering wheel steady. The SUV wobbled along the road, carving an S-shaped trajectory, and almost overturned into the roadside ditch.

A gasp came from Lin Xingran in the carriage. Lin Ying, who was in the back seat, also gripped the handrails tightly with both hands, but her eyes were still fixed on the magenta motorcycle in front of her.

Hai Dong flipped off the Mechanical Decade, bracing himself with one hand to stabilize his center of gravity, and used an extremely smooth tactical roll to dissipate the inertia.

He held the Diend Driver up to his face, his voice instantly switching to battle mode: "Transform quickly. Once transformed, the armor will isolate nerve interference, which will make things much better."

Ye Yang also got off the vehicle. He gritted his teeth, took out the Decade Rider's riding card from the card box, inserted the card into his belt, and pushed the handlebars together.

Hai Dong stood next to him, holding the Diend driver to his chest.

The two cards were inserted into their respective slots almost simultaneously, and both drives burst forth with dazzling energy.

"Henshin!"

"Henshin!"

"KamenRide—Decade!"

"KamenRide—Diend!"

Two beams of light exploded simultaneously in the middle of the road. The Decade's magenta armor reflected a cold metallic luster in the sunlight, and its emerald green compound eyes suddenly lit up the moment the helmet took shape.

The final rider's blue-green armor had its own unique slenderness and sharpness, and the muzzle of the Diend Driver still had the extremely fine light particles that had overflowed during the transformation.

The two stood back to back in the middle of the road, their transformed armor shielding them from most of the headache they had just experienced.

Diqi turned around and quickly walked to Lin Yumin's car.

The SUV's front bumper had hit the roadside guardrail during the sudden braking, the hood was slightly raised, and the radiator was emitting very fine white smoke.

Lin Yumin gripped the steering wheel with both hands, her knuckles turning slightly white, but her expression remained reassuringly calm.

"How are you feeling? Are you injured? That mental attack just now—it was very strong. It should be from an Awakened One, not a Silent Beast. The source should be nearby."

Lin Ying sat in the back row and shook her head to indicate that she was fine.

Her light gray eyes looked out the car window, her gaze quickly sweeping across the road behind Decade.

She said in a soft voice, "Did you notice—that mental attack just now had a much weaker effect on the three of us than on you? It's not because we have stronger resistance, it's because the target wasn't us."

Lin Yumin waved her hand, loosened her grip on the steering wheel, and stretched her wrists, a hint of displeasure in her voice:

"It's alright, much better now. But that last swerve really came too suddenly. I almost rolled over on the road I know best, which made me very uncomfortable. And the angle at which my hood was raised will probably cost a lot to repair."

Lin Xingran pushed open the car door and got out. Rubbing her temples, she said in a tone that was both angry and confused, "What just happened? I feel like my head is going to split open! Was someone attacking us with mental energy?"

"That feeling—it was like someone was drilling into my ear! I almost lost control of my temper! And that SUV of yours, I just saw it spin several times on the road, I thought we were going to die!"

The final rider stood at the front of the road, holding the Diend Driver in his hand, its blue compound eyes slowly scanning the windbreaks on both sides of the road behind the helmet grille.

His voice no longer held the teasing tone he had when arguing with Ye Yang; instead, it carried a rare air of caution.

"It's them—the guys I fought before. The psychic who can interfere with consciousness, that defensive hunk, and the speed-type female sniper. All three of them are nearby. I just shook them off, and I didn't expect to run into them again so soon."

Imperial Knight walked to his side, standing shoulder to shoulder with him as they looked out at the quiet windbreak forest. "Those guys you fought earlier? You said they were the ones who broke that fake crystal core, and that they could go toe-to-toe with you. What's their background?"

Suddenly, a hand covered in silver metallic armor reached out from behind Decade.

Five slender but strong fingers rested gently on his right shoulder armor, the fingertips tapping lightly twice on the magenta armor.

Then a soft female voice came from very close behind Decade.

"You guessed right, little brother. It was really fun fighting that guy in the blue armor last time—his marksmanship was pretty good, but he just couldn't hit me. The two of you standing together look quite good."

The Imperial Knight reacted extremely quickly. The instant that hand touched his shoulder armor, he slammed his right elbow backward, simultaneously rotating his body and reaching behind him with his left hand.

But his elbow struck only air, and his left hand grasped only a faint silver energy particle that was dissipating.

The woman was no longer behind him.

The spot where I was standing was empty, with only a few fallen leaves swirling in the wind on the ground.

Standing beside Decade, Final Rider suddenly looked up, his blue compound eyes locking onto the sky directly above the road. "Ye Yang, look up!"

The asphalt road in the middle of the highway was completely shrouded in a huge shadow that seemed to be falling at high speed from mid-air.

The figure was enormous. He held his arms in front of him, his body curled up like a heavy cannonball, and he hurtled straight toward the location where Decade and the three Lin sisters were, like an iron ball thrown from a catapult.

With a push of his feet, the Imperial Knight launched himself to the left, his boots leaving two magenta energy trails on the asphalt.

Lin Yumin grabbed Lin Ying's wrist and tumbled to the right. The two rolled into the roadside ditch, their dark blue school uniforms covered in grass clippings and mud.

Lin Xingran did a backflip, and at the same time, a ball of orange-red flames exploded beneath her feet, pushing her several meters backward.

The next second, the massive figure crashed heavily onto Lin Yumin's SUV.

A deafening metallic clang echoed across the empty highway, shattering car windows into countless tiny crystals in the shockwave, which, illuminated by the afternoon sun, resembled a sudden shower of diamonds.

The roof of the SUV was completely dented, all four tires burst at the same time, and the frame emitted a piercing metallic groan.

Smoke and dust spread outwards from the impact center, and the figure that had just crashed down slowly straightened up in the smoke.

His physique was a full size larger than that of a typical strength-type Awakener, with broad shoulders like a city gate. His entire body was covered in dark brown heavy armor, and the muscles on his arms bulged layer by layer beneath the armor, with every vein slowly writhing within the blood vessels.

He stood in the center of the wreckage of the off-road vehicle, his feet resting on the completely collapsed roof. The sunlight behind him was largely blocked by his massive body, casting a powerful shadow on the ground.

He raised his head, his gaze sweeping over Decade and Final Knight, before speaking in a low voice, "They can't leave."

Lin Yumin stood at the edge of the drainage ditch, looking down at her SUV that had been smashed into a pancake, and then looking up at the giant man who was standing on the roof of the car, panting heavily.

Her expression remained unchanged, calm as ever, but Ye Yang could hear the suppressed rage in her next extremely calm words.

"That's my favorite car to drive. The engine in that car is specially supplied by the Han family; there's no other one like it on the market."

Immediately afterwards, the windbreaks on both sides of the road suddenly began to move on their own.

The trees that were originally neatly arranged on both sides of the road seemed to have been grabbed by an invisible giant hand, and their roots made a dull snapping sound as they were pulled out of the soil.

One after another, large trees leaned towards the center of the road from both sides, their branches intertwining in the air to form a wooden tunnel that was constantly narrowing.

At the same time, the wreckage of the crushed SUV suddenly rose into the air, as if it had been peeled off the ground by some unseen force. The entire vehicle was suspended in mid-air, with engine oil and coolant still dripping from the bottom.

Then, it was casually flung into the air by that force, tumbling several times before crashing heavily into the farmland beside the road with a dull thud, sending dirt and broken glass flying everywhere.

In mid-air, a man wearing a dark gray trench coat was silently suspended there.

His collar stood up high, fluttering in the high-altitude airflow, and his fingertips gleamed with a faint silvery-white light.

He calmly looked down at the few tiny figures on the highway below, as if watching a game of chess that had nothing to do with him.

Decade and Finale stood side by side on the road, with the three Hayashi sisters behind them, who were readjusting their formation.

Lin Yumin had already pulled Lin Ying out of the drainage ditch. Lin Xingran lit a ball of orange-red flame in each hand, the tail of the flames dancing restlessly at his fingertips, ready to engage in battle at any moment.

Daiki Kaito twirled the Diend Driver between his fingertips, then aimed the gun forward again.

He said in a low voice, with a hint of helpless complaint:

"Sigh—it's them again. Ye Yang, let me tell you, that guy flying in the sky is the most troublesome—he can control the movement of objects and interfere with your consciousness. That big guy is incredibly tough; normal attacks can't break his defense at all, and he can even withstand my ultimate move. That woman is as slippery as an eel; she teleports, slashes once, and then disappears. You'd better choose one first."

Decade drew the Chariot Blade from his waist, the blade drawing a cold, silvery-white arc in the sunlight.

He pointed the tip of his sword at the giant armored man slowly walking down from the wreckage of the off-road vehicle, and then at the silent gray figure in mid-air.

Then he calmly said, "No need to choose. All three of them can come at me together, and I also have help on my side. My sister is a national champion, the number one in fire control, and an S-rank ice-type, plus you, Haidong. We're five against three, so the advantage is on my side."