As a weirdo, I like being a Kamen Rider

Lin Chen looked at the two people he hadn't seen for a long time with a faint smile on his face.

Upon seeing the newcomers, Shotaro and Philip's eyes lit up with surprise. "Lin Chen! You're finally back!"

Shotaro immediately jumped up from the sofa, rushed over and gave Lin Chen a firm hug, his tone full of emotion: "Where have you been all this time? You've disappeared for so long without a single word!"

Lin Chen just looked at him quietly without saying a word.

Where did you go? Don't you have any idea what happened?

Back when Shotaro was carrying out the world expulsion, he took the easy way out and didn't do any screening, kicking all the outsiders out of the W world in one fell swoop. He and Tsukasa Kadoya were completely innocent victims, driven out of the world for no reason, and unable to go back to their homes.

Feeling a little embarrassed by Lin Chen's quiet stare, Shotaro scratched the back of his head, looking guilty.

He knew he was in the wrong. He had been negligent. He thought that once he drove away the outsiders, he would be done. He didn't expect to send Lin Chen and Kadoya Tsukasa away as well. He thought the two would come back soon, but they disappeared without a trace for so long.

There was an awkward silence for a couple of seconds before Shotaro quickly changed the subject: "Ahem, let's not talk about that. You suddenly came back, is there something you need to take care of?"

"I suppose so," Lin Chen nodded calmly. "But I don't need to take any action. I just need to wait here. Earth's consciousness has already gone to handle the follow-up issues, so I've come back to rest for a while."

There's no need to worry about the Faiz world. Snail Orpheus has been arranged to stay quietly in a hotel suite, with former president Hanagata backing him up. Moreover, the Faiz belt has returned to Inui Takumi's hands, so there shouldn't be any major problems in the short term.

Philip concluded: "In other words, your main purpose in coming back this time is to rest and stay temporarily."

"Pretty much." Lin Chen smiled and asked, "Tell me, what happened in Fengdu after I left? We agreed that the two worlds would merge, but now everything in Fengdu looks exactly the same as before, with no signs of merging at all."

Upon hearing this, Shotaro immediately became interested, pulled Lin Chen back to sit on the sofa, and began to recount the changes that had occurred during this period.

Since the fear was completely eradicated, Wind City has entered a recovery period. Fortunately, the fear was a purely informational threat and did not damage the city's buildings and infrastructure, so the hardware damage to Wind City was not severe.

The only regret is for the ordinary people who died in the terror and disaster. W had already reached an extremely high level of combat power and wanted to gather the remaining information of the dead to try to resurrect them. However, all the information of the dead was completely swallowed up by the concept of fear, leaving no trace. In the end, he had to give up.

After the disaster, Terui Ryu took charge of the Metropolitan Police Department and immediately stabilized public order. Subsequently, the medical, fire, and public service systems were gradually restarted, and Fukuto's recovery speed far exceeded everyone's expectations.

Actually, the recovery wouldn't have been so quick originally. Earth's memory originally planned to erase all memories of fear from everyone in the city, making the event disappear completely and no one remember it.

But W firmly disagreed.

Forgetting the pain may seem easy, but it is actually the greatest irresponsibility. In the end, W chose the safest but also the most troublesome method: to gradually release everyone's memories, allowing them to slowly accept the past disaster.

This is precisely why many people still suffer from lingering effects. For example, the client who forgot his keys and became paranoid this morning was overly sensitive due to lingering psychological effects.

As for the fusion of the two worlds, it did not adopt a crude physical fusion method, but instead created a completely new two-layer world structure.

One layer is the real world, and the other is the network data world. Fengdu happens to be the core of the intersection between the two worlds.

Those who died unexpectedly in real-world disasters have their information fully recorded in the data world, giving them a new lease on life in the data dimension. Meanwhile, the residents of the data world can freely enter and exit the real world to live and move about, relying on the simulated bodies developed by Digal Corporation.

Lin Chen's eyes were opened after hearing this.

Digal Corporation, formerly the Sonozaki family, once caused countless disasters with the Gaia Memory, but has now completely transformed into a civilian enterprise. Thinking about it, it's not surprising. The current president is Sherrard, and no one in the entire Sonozaki family hates the Gaia Memory more than her. It's perfectly normal for her to dedicate herself to developing civilian technology and benefiting the people.

“However, the stability is only on the surface.” Shotaro’s tone changed, his face darkened, and he revealed the hidden danger, “There is still a big problem that has not been resolved—the Foundation X.”

In the final battle, Foundation X barely appeared, but secretly controlled the research and production line of Gaia Memory, lying in wait in the shadows.

Given W's strength back then, he should have been able to easily wipe out Consortium X, but no matter how he investigated, he couldn't find their hideout or any trace of them; they seemed to have vanished into thin air.

Lin Chen found this quite normal. Like Dai-Shocker, Foundation X was a trans-world level villainous organization, so it wasn't surprising that they possessed such methods.

In addition to that, there's another upsetting thing.

Eternal's Eternal! Maximum Drive! destroyed all Gaia Memories below T2 level. However, when W unleashed his full power and shattered the Ultimate Memories, the rules were also broken, and those T1 Memories that should have been disabled slowly regained their usability.

As a result, hidden dangers arise.

Saeko Sonozaki, who was supposed to be permanently imprisoned, escaped by restarting the Nazca Memory with the help of Foundation X. As a result of this, Kirihiko Sonozaki, who was originally convicted, was released on bail early and is now searching for Saeko and Foundation X alone, but there has been no news of them to this day.

Just as the two were chatting about their recent situations, Shotaro's Stag Phone suddenly rang.

After the call connected, Akiko chattered on and on, her words coming out too fast and incoherently, making it impossible to explain what had happened. The next second, Terui Ryu's voice came through the phone.

"Zuo, something's happened. There's a dopant causing trouble, a genetic dopant. I didn't bring the Accel Drive, and I'm stuck in the downtown cinema. You need to come and handle this right away."

After hanging up the call, Shotaro sighed and said helplessly, "This is outrageous. In the other timeline, Akiko and I were trapped, but in this timeline, it's Ryu and Akiko who are trapped."

Lin Chen was a little puzzled: "You all knew this kind of accident would happen, so how come you still couldn't avoid it?"

Shotaro picked up the helmet from the sofa, his tone serious yet helpless: "We can anticipate risks, but we can't preemptively subdue or kill someone just because they have the potential to commit a crime. The bottom line for detectives and police is to only punish crimes that have already been committed, not to pre-judge crimes."

After saying that, Shotaro didn't delay any longer. He put on his helmet, turned around, and rushed out of the agency to the movie theater to deal with the dopant incident.

Only Lin Chen and Philip remained inside.

Philip's eyes suddenly lit up, as if he remembered something, and he looked at Lin Chen: "Lin Jun, come with me for a moment, I have something good to show you."

After saying that, he turned around and walked towards the base inside the firm.

Chapter 186 I Want to Be the President

Following Philip into the firm's internal base, the dimly lit space was illuminated only by a few overhead lights. In the center of the base stood a large machine, completely wrapped in a thick black tarpaulin, its square shape clearly indicating it was a large piece of machinery.

Philip strode forward, grabbed both sides of the rain cover and ripped it off. The entire black cloth slid down the fuselage, revealing the cold, hard metallic texture. It was the jet glider that Lin Chen had left in Wind City, but this heavy vehicle was completely different from what he remembered.

The entire car is made of matte charcoal black Thor metal, with a cold, mechanical luster that flows continuously under the lights. Two dark gold tiger stripes follow the smooth lines of the body, winding from the front to the engine area at the rear, exuding a domineering presence.

The originally smooth and flat photon shielding device was removed and replaced with two forward-protruding bionic saber-tooth ramming horns, which looked ferocious and impactful. The originally sleek and streamlined body was also much wider and thicker, looking as if it had been forcibly fattened up, losing its former lightness and gaining a more ferocious look of a heavy armored vehicle.

Lin Chen stared at the drastically changed motorcycle in front of him, his lips twitching, his tone full of uncertainty: "This...is this really my Jet Glide?"

Philip instinctively avoided Lin Chen's gaze, a hint of embarrassment on his face, and remained silent for a long time.

Seeing his evasive look, Lin Chen sighed and rubbed his forehead: "You're not going to just take it apart and study it, are you?"

"I'm just curious about its construction," Philip explained quietly. "After all, it's so interesting that it can travel at high speeds on the ground and fly in the air. But don't worry, I've prepared compensation and upgraded it with a bunch of new features. First, its defensive capabilities. The rigidity of the body now is enough to easily crush the original Glider. In addition, I've also added an underwater combat module."

As soon as he finished speaking, Philip pressed the blue button on the control lever. A series of clicking sounds of mechanical gears meshing rang out, and the wide body quickly contracted and reassembled, transforming into a sleek underwater shuttle in just a few seconds.

Lin Chen scanned the modified mech and quickly noticed something amiss: the missile launchers that originally adorned the sides of the fuselage had completely disappeared. He glanced at the guilty-looking Philip, who immediately turned his head away, avoiding eye contact.

"This is my first time doing a modification experiment too," Philip muttered. "Shotaro is keeping a tight rein on the Tough Guy and won't let me touch it at all, so I can only practice on your Glider."

"Fine, the missile is gone, it's gone." Lin Chen said, both amused and exasperated.

“Although the missile launcher can’t be put back, I have another surprise for you.” As if remembering something, Philip reached into the storage cabinet next to him and took out a brand new memory chip, which was engraved with a striking letter M.

Lin Chen looked at the memory chip with a mixture of amusement and exasperation: "You're not going to give me a metal memory chip as compensation, are you? Does Shotaro know about this?"

“It’s not Metal, it’s Machine,” Philip quickly explained. “This is a brand new memory I developed myself. Its ability is to give ordinary machines life consciousness. Consider it an apology gift for my unauthorized modification of your motorcycle.”

Lin Chen took the memory chip and casually put it in his pocket, saying indifferently, "I forgive you. Speaking of which, why are you suddenly so interested in mechanical life forms?"

“I found some old information in the Earth Memory Database. A doctor proposed the idea of ​​using mechanical life forms to replace humans in high-risk jobs. I thought this idea was very valuable for research, so I tried to conduct an experiment,” Philip answered truthfully.

Lin Chen felt like he'd heard this concept before in some knight world, but couldn't quite place it.

Philip suddenly stopped smiling and earnestly reminded her, "However, there is one thing you must be careful about. The mechanical life form created by this Machine Memory is still essentially a hybrid and is easily influenced by the external environment. The core program I set for it is only learning. If the people around it are kind and law-abiding, it will grow in a positive direction; if it is exposed to violence and malice for a long time, it will easily develop a dark consciousness."

Lin Chen was stunned. Wasn't this the most primitive form of artificial intelligence? He secretly became wary. This memory absolutely could not be used carelessly. If a mechanical consciousness similar to Ark were to be born, the trouble would be immense.

As the two were talking, footsteps came from the base entrance. Shotaro Hidari pushed the door open and walked in, holding a Gaia Memory engraved with the letter G in his hand. His expression was relaxed, showing no signs of fatigue after the intense battle.

Lin Chen was a little curious: "How come you solved the gene dopant problem without transforming this time?"

Shotaro placed the memory on the table and slowly recounted the whole story: "The reason that gene-doping incident was so dangerous was because the museum was behind it. But in this world, the museum has long since been destroyed."

At that time, Akiko and Terui Ryu took turns to comfort the user, Kawai Toru. This guy was inherently insecure and timid, and he relied on his genetic memory to force others to recognize his film creations. In essence, he was just afraid to face his inner grievances.

After figuring things out, he voluntarily handed over the memory, mustered the courage to find Ai Nijimura, and poured out all his pent-up grievances and his original passion for filmmaking. The matter naturally ended peacefully.

Just then, the evolutionary memory in Lin Chen's pocket suddenly began to heat up. He took it out and saw a massive influx of information flooding into his mind. The Earth's memory had found a way to break the Orphnoch's sandification destiny.

After carefully reviewing the entire plan, Lin Chen was not satisfied. It wasn't that the solution had flaws; quite the opposite, the method was too perfect, capable of completely saving all Orphnochs from annihilation.

He immediately asked the other party to prepare another flawed improvement plan, but the other party was full of doubts and could not understand why they would leave the optimal solution unused and deliberately leave the shortcomings, and why they would take a detour when there was a good shortcut.

Lin Chen knew that arguing with the original consciousness would be pointless, so he simply stopped dwelling on it, turned to Philip beside him, and said with a smile, "Philip, I have a brand new commission here. Are you interested in taking it?"

Faiz World's luxurious penthouse suites.

Snail Orpheus lounged on a soft recliner, his eyes half-closed in contentment. Since following Lin Chen, he no longer had to wander aimlessly, suffering from hunger and cold. This was the most peaceful and comfortable period of his life since becoming an Orpheus.

The door was pushed open, and the tense Snail Orpheus immediately stood up. Only after seeing that it was Lin Chen who entered did her heart finally relax. She bowed respectfully and said, "My lord, you are back."

Lin Chen casually tossed the black briefcase onto the coffee table in the living room, plopped down in the armchair, and asked casually, "How long have I been gone?"

"It's been almost a week," Snail Orpheus answered honestly, not daring to hide anything even though she didn't understand why the adults would ask such a question.

"A week...?" Lin Chen rubbed his throbbing temples, feeling utterly helpless.

There is never a unified standard for the flow of time in different knight worlds. Although he had stayed in the W world for quite a while, according to Hikari Natsumi, it had only been less than a month since they parted ways. After being unexpectedly expelled from the W world, he only stopped by the Agito world for a bowl of noodles and stayed in the Faiz world for two days, and more than a month had passed in the W world. This time, he only stayed in Fuuto for three days, but a whole week had passed in Faiz.

"Has Hanagata come by in person during this time?" Lin Chen continued to ask.

“He didn’t visit in person, but he arranged for one of his men to be stationed at the hotel and told me that I could contact him directly if I encountered any trouble.”

"Go and call that person over," Lin Chen instructed calmly.

In a Japanese-style garden deep in the mountains.

The room was bathed in warm yellow light. Hanagata picked up the sake bottle and filled Lin Chen's sake cup with warm sake, saying politely, "Lin Chen-kun, are you comfortable with your accommodation at the hotel? You must have come to see me specifically for something important."

"President Hanagata, I'll cut to the chase. Thank you for your thoughtful arrangements these past few days." Lin Chen picked up his wine glass and took a sip. "I don't have a perfect solution to completely save all the Orphnochs, but I do have a modified method with limitations. I wonder if you'd be willing to trust me."

After saying that, Lin Chen pushed the black briefcase next to him to the center of the table, gesturing for the other person to open it and take a look.

Hanagata originally only wanted to keep an eye on Lin Chen and stop him when the unawakened king in this other world began to devour Orphnoch. To his delight, Lin Chen had been staying in the hotel and not going out for the past few days.

With a mix of trepidation and excitement, I opened the box. Inside, there was no high-tech equipment, only a stack of papers covered with densely written formulas.

Hanagata, who was knowledgeable in scientific research, understood the value of the information after scanning a few lines, and her breathing became rapid: "This is...?"

“That’s right, and of course you should also be able to see that this plan still has considerable flaws.” Lin Chen took a sip of sake, confirming Hanagata’s doubts.

“I understand. Even with its flaws, it is still the hope of our race.” Hanagata could not hide his excitement. “With this information, I can mobilize all my manpower and resources to fully assist you in hunting down the King of Orphnoch. If you need any other support from me, just let me know.”

"I want to take the position of president of Smart Brain." Lin Chen had already thought of a solution to the problem of Orphnochs like the snail Orphnoch, which was also Philip's suggestion after Philip completed the incomplete method.

The order to execute the Orphnochs that did not attack humans was issued by the new president of Smart Brain. Wouldn't it be easier to solve this by becoming the president of Smart Brain? It would kill two birds with one stone. He could easily order the Orphnochs to stop attacking humans altogether.

Moreover, he already had the leverage to become the president of Smart Brain.

After a brief discussion, Hanagata, overjoyed, agreed without hesitation.

After Lin Chen left the secluded mountain courtyard, Hanagata sat alone at the low table, slowly sipping several cups of sake. In the empty living room, the figure of the shrine maiden named Yako appeared before him. She sat down in the spot where Lin Chen had just been.

You seem very happy.