As a weirdo, I like being a Kamen Rider

Inside the president's office on the top floor, the image of the petrified Orpheus still lingered in Lin Chen's mind. The King of Orpheus had appeared.

The king's host can only be born in children who survive major disasters, and now we must first locate this child.

He raised his hand and pressed the intercom on the table, summoning Smart Lady.

The office door opened, and Smart Lady walked to the desk, waiting for Lin Chen's instructions.

Lin Chen didn't mince words and directly gave the order to immediately mobilize all the company's resources to retrieve all the files on major accidents such as fires, collapses, car accidents, and explosions in the past few days, and to screen all the information on children who survived alone in the disasters, regardless of age or address, leaving no clue unchecked.

Smart Lady readily accepted the order.

Several hours later, a stack of paper files was delivered to the office, densely packed with the identities, home addresses, details of the accidents, and recent life trajectories of more than a dozen surviving children from various places. Lin Chen did not delay for a moment, immediately activating the dimensional barrier and checking each name on the list one by one.

Not far from each surviving child, Lin Chen would silently release his senses to carefully examine whether there was any unusual or faint aura hidden within the child's body.

From young children as young as four or five to teenagers, everyone's body was perfectly clean, without the slightest abnormality.

After several hours of travel, Lin Chen returned to the president's office with a heart full of doubts. Night had already enveloped the city outside the window, and neon lights covered the horizon.

He picked up all the files on the table and carefully reviewed them, making sure he hadn't missed a single record. Then he pressed the communicator to summon Smart Lady back to the office.

Smart Lady pushed open the door and entered, noticing the somber atmosphere inside. She stood quietly with her head down. Lin Chen looked up at her: "Is all the information on children who survived major accidents recently here? Are there any minor accidents that were missed or not registered, or orphans who were taken in by private welfare institutions and not entered into the system?"

Smart Lady lowered her head slightly: "Don't worry, President. We have accessed and retrieved all the accident records from the city's police stations, emergency centers, welfare homes, and community streets. The surviving children registered in the system are only those on the list. There are no omissions. The data is absolutely complete and without any missing information."

Having received a definitive answer, Lin Chen's confusion only deepened. The presence of Orpheus, petrified by the King, clearly indicated the existence of a host, yet after thoroughly investigating all children who met the birth criteria, they found nothing; the trail had completely gone cold.

He paused for a moment, then waved his hand gently, saying in a flat tone: "Thank you for your hard work. Go down and wait for further instructions. I will notify you if there are any new investigation needs."

Smart Lady bowed and tiptoed out of the office. Lin Chen stood alone by the floor-to-ceiling window, gazing at the endless stream of cars below. The once clear clues had vanished, and Murakami, Clover, and that mysterious shrine maiden were lurking in the shadows, waiting for their chance to strike. The current situation was far more complicated than he had anticipated.

Not long after, he sat back down in the large leather seat and reached into his pocket to take out the luminous white evolution memory.

Pressing the memory switch with my fingertip releases a soft white light that envelops me.

His vision distorted and shifted, and the next second Lin Chen's figure appeared in that pure white consciousness space. In the boundless void, countless data streams flowed slowly like a galaxy, and the humanoid consciousness phantom he used to communicate with slowly condensed before him.

"Help me retrieve the memories of this world. The keywords are: King of Orphnoch, sleepwalking, devouring, a child who narrowly escaped death." Lin Chen got straight to the point, without any unnecessary pleasantries.

A cold, mechanical female voice rang out from the humanoid phantom: "Received, retrieving local world's underlying data."

As soon as the words were spoken, the data stream in the entire space surged wildly. "Search complete. No valid clues related to the target were found."

Lin Chen frowned: "Can't it be detected? Is some crucial information missing?"

Earth's subconscious explained the reason: "The main consciousness of the body is rooted in the W world, which belongs to another independent spacetime. I do not have complete access to the underlying layers of that world, and can only read the surface basic data."

The information you encountered about the Golden Fruit from outsiders is a deep-seated memory within the local world's barrier, inaccessible.

Lin Chen silently took a step forward. "Is there any other way to forcibly break through the barrier and obtain the data?"

The phantom shook its head slightly: "A forced invasion would tear apart the connection between the consciousnesses of the two worlds, which would be a losing proposition. You and I would likely be forcibly expelled from this world, so I don't recommend that you do it. The assistance I can provide in this world has reached its limit."

After hearing His explanation, Lin Chen exhaled a breath of stale air and stopped insisting on continuing the search. Since this path was blocked, he could only look for other breakthroughs.

The white light receded. Lin Chen's consciousness returned to his body.

The next day, in the Smart Brain office, Lin Chen was still thinking about how to track down Wang's whereabouts, and a method had already taken shape in his mind.

Just then, his emergency communication device rang, the piercing ring breaking the silence of the room.

Lin Chen's expression was solemn. This was a dedicated communication line for the Leo cavalry squad he had formed with the Leo cavalry belt that Hanagata had handed over. They would not contact him unless there was a specific reason.

After the communication was connected, the operator, with a trembling voice, delivered the devastating news: "President, something terrible has happened! A Leo cavalry squad that was out suppressing the evil deeds of Orphnoch has been completely wiped out!"

Lin Chen's heart sank, and he asked in a deep voice, "What are the specific details?"

"The bodies of the entire squad have been found. Everyone... everyone has turned into stone statues, even their belts have been destroyed." The operator's voice was filled with fear. Lin Chen hung up the communication and, without any delay, opened the dimensional barrier and rushed directly to the scene of the incident.

On the empty ground of the abandoned factory on the outskirts of the city, the police tape had already been put up, and a deathly silence permeated the surroundings.

When Lin Chen arrived, Hanagata was already standing in the center of the scene, his brows furrowed as he stared at the sight before him. Following his gaze, several stone statues of various shapes were scattered around, representing the missing members of the Leo cavalry squad.

Judging from their posture, their belts were destroyed in an instant, and their life energy was completely devoured.

They remained in firing stances, their faces frozen in vigilance. Beside the cavalry squad's statue lay another statue with dyed yellow hair, dressed in exaggerated, flamboyant attire, its hair standing on end and a defiant smile playing on its lips. Clearly, this was the Orphnoch who was being hunted down and continued to wreak havoc.

“It is the King.” Hanagata spoke first, his voice low and solemn. “Right now, he is hunting his own kind everywhere, absorbing their life energy. It seems that it won’t be long before he is fully awakened.”

Lin Chen walked slowly to a stone statue of a cavalryman and gently touched the cold, hard stone surface with his fingers.

"Call the team contact person over. I need to know the exact time this team was involved in the incident," Lin Chen straightened up and instructed the people accompanying him.

The contact person didn't dare to delay and immediately retrieved the team's action recorder and location data. They quickly summarized the information and reported it: "Boss, the team set off at 3 PM yesterday, arrived at this abandoned factory around 4 PM, and sent their last communication at 4:23 PM, saying that they had brought the situation under control. After that, they completely lost contact. I originally thought that their encirclement had failed and that they were still pursuing their target."

I still couldn't get in touch with them this morning, and that's when I found out something had happened. Based on researchers' deductions of evidence at the scene, the time of the murder was likely between 4:30 and 5:00 PM yesterday.

Hanagata stood to the side, her eyes full of doubt, and couldn't help but ask, "President Lin Chen, you specifically asked about the time of the incident. Did you discover something?"

Upon hearing this, Lin Chen did not answer directly, but simply shook his head slightly. The next second, he raised his hand and waved it in front of him, and the dimensional wall unfolded, like a transparent light curtain connecting to the unknown space.

"Let's go, Mr. Hanagata, let's go and find out the true identity of this mysterious King of Orphnoch." Lin Chen turned to Hanagata, his tone calm.

Having said that, he stepped into the dimensional barrier, his figure swallowed by the light screen. Hanagata stared at the dimensional barrier before him. He knew this was Lin Chen's unique spatial teleportation technique, but how could Lin Chen have locked onto the King's whereabouts with just a few questions?

Hanagata didn't have time to think much. Suppressing her doubts, she quickly followed Lin Chen's footsteps and stepped into that mysterious dimensional barrier.

...

Inside the abandoned factory on the outskirts of the city, a damp, musty smell permeated the rusty steel frames, and the puddles on the ground splashed loudly underfoot.

Unlike ordinary mass-produced troops, this six-man Leo cavalry elite squad is a special force formed by Smart Brain to deal with high-level Orphnochs and maintain order in its territory.

The squad advanced steadily in a fan shape. Their standard brass armor, specially reinforced, gleamed with a cold, hard sheen in the dim light. Six modified annihilation rifles locked onto the target in the center of the factory.

An orphinus that had previously been indiscriminately injuring people in the neighborhood and fled here.

The monster was covered in grayish-white soft armor, and its two thin tentacles trembled incessantly. It had intended to use the complex terrain of the factory to hide, but it did not expect that the elite team was equipped with an upgraded tracking system. As soon as it appeared, it was surrounded and there was no possibility of escape.

"All personnel charge up, suppressive fire, avoid the slime spray range!" the squad leader ordered in a deep voice. Before his words were finished, six pale blue energy bullets blasted out with a sharp whistling sound, landing on the ground beside the slug Orphnoch, exploding into splashes of water and rubble, forming an energy barrier that blocked its movement route.

The slug Orphino was so frightened that it secreted a highly corrosive grayish-white mucus, attempting to use the mucus to hinder the pursuit and corrode the equipment.

The armor of ordinary Leo cavalrymen was no match for this slime, but this elite squad was prepared. The two in the front row quickly activated the anti-corrosion reinforcement layer on the surface of their armor—a unique modification for the elite squad, designed specifically to deal with various corrosive Orphino.

The splattering slime made a sizzling corrosion sound as it landed on the reinforced layer. Although it did not completely slide off, the reinforced layer firmly resisted it, leaving only faint corrosion marks and causing no substantial damage to the armor.

"Flank from both sides, cut off their retreat, and be careful to avoid attacks!" the squad leader ordered again. The two cavalrymen immediately turned sideways and circled around, their movements swift and fluid.

Instead of using melee weapons rashly, they used modified annihilation rifles to suppress it with burst fire, forcing it to retreat repeatedly and completely trapping it in a blind spot in the factory.

The slug Orphnoch tried to break through the encirclement, but was slammed into the torso by the modified alloy gun butts of the front-line cavalry.

The immense force struck, causing it to collapse to the ground. "Control it, prepare to finish it off!" The squad leader leaped forward, and the remaining cavalry immediately surrounded it, drawing their modified alloy short blades.

The entire battle lasted only a few minutes, and it was already nearing its end. The slug Orphnoch lay trembling on the ground, its eyes filled with fear, its previous arrogance completely gone.

He reverted to his former "emo" youth style.

"Seal off the scene, report to headquarters. The target has been suppressed, awaiting further instructions." The squad leader raised his hand and pressed the armored communicator to synchronize the situation on the scene with Smart Brain headquarters.

Just as the cavalry squad lowered their guard, something unexpected happened.

Chapter 224 Mysterious Youth

While the cavalry squad waited for headquarters' response, a young man slowly emerged from the shadows of piled-up scrap steel behind the factory.

The man, wearing an open black and white checkered shirt over a black T-shirt printed with letters, with his black hair hanging down his forehead, stood relaxed in the middle of the flooded factory, his gaze indifferently falling on the blond youth who was surrounded by six people and slumped on the ground.

The captain of the Leo cavalry squad tensed up, instinctively gripping the alloy short blade at his waist. His gaze, hidden beneath his helmet, was fixed on the unfamiliar young man. He demanded in a deep voice, "Who are you? This area is completely sealed off. All unauthorized personnel must leave immediately!"

But the black-haired youth seemed not to hear the captain's question. His eyelids were half-closed, and his face showed no emotion. He remained silent from beginning to end, neither retreating nor moving forward. He simply stood quietly at the edge of the steel's shadow.

The remaining cavalrymen immediately turned their annihilation rifles, half-pointing the muzzles at the young man who had suddenly barged in, and the atmosphere suddenly became tense. Seeing that the man remained silent, the squad leader's vigilance grew, and he raised his voice again, warning, "This is my last warning to you. State your identity immediately, or we will have to take you into custody!"

The young man remained silent, only slightly raising his chin, his gaze falling on the trembling slug Orphnoch on the ground.

An indescribable, chilling sense of oppression silently emanated from him, enveloping the entire abandoned factory.

A faint emerald green halo suddenly appeared around the young man, slowly gathering and stretching in front of him, gradually condensing into a tall, semi-transparent figure.

It was an Orphnoch body that shone with a translucent green light. Its outline was complete and clear, and its surface was like frosted glass, with a mixture of solid and void. Its limbs and torso were covered with layers of insect-shaped hard armor plates. Its head had a pair of sharp, upward-pointing horns, and the empty eye sockets under the mask emitted a faint, cold green light. A belt with intricate carvings was wrapped around its waist.

The green phantom hovered half a foot off the ground, its body seemingly about to dissipate into the air at any moment.

The six Leo cavalrymen tensed up, their relaxed posture vanishing instantly. They raised their modified annihilation rifles, aiming the muzzles at the green phantom, their hearts filled with intense vigilance. They had already sensed the strange aura of the black-haired youth, and now that he had directly summoned his own Ophir phantom, the sense of danger instantly multiplied several times over.

The squad leader stepped forward, blocking the other team members, and warned in a deep voice: "State your identity and purpose, or we will launch an attack directly."

The yellow-haired slug Orpheus, sprawled on the ground, stared at the green, insect-shaped phantom, trembling uncontrollably, and instinctively curled up.

The green phantom floated silently, its empty eye sockets slowly sweeping over the row of fully armed Leo cavalrymen in front of it.

A moment later, its arms, covered with layers of insect armor, slowly rose upwards, the movement slow yet carrying an irresistible sense of oppression.

As the arms were raised into the air, dozens of slender yet resilient emerald green tentacles suddenly sprouted from the tips of the phantom's ten fingers. The tentacles, with their surfaces shimmering with a lustrous green light, stretched out as if alive, sweeping towards the knight's belts around the waists of the group.

It's sizzling!

A series of sharp, cracking sounds erupted within the factory. The moment the tentacles brushed against the belt, the brass-colored surface of the knight's armor vanished rapidly.

Caught off guard, the cavalrymen looked down in astonishment at their empty waists and abdomens. Before they could even react to the reason for the armor's disappearance, countless green tentacles changed direction and, like greedy vines, fiercely stabbed into their bodies, piercing through their flesh and taking root deep inside.

The yellow-haired slug Orphino, sprawled in the corner, also did not escape its fate.

The tentacles frantically drained the vital energy from within, and a continuous stream of shimmering light flowed back into the green phantom's body. Everyone's muscles stiffened uncontrollably, their skin rapidly lost its color, and their life force was visibly drained away.

The surface of the human body, deprived of life energy, begins to mineralize rapidly. Grayish-white stone-like patterns spread along the skin, and bones and muscles are transformed into hard rock, permanently sealing away the terrified struggles of those who died.

The green phantom retracted all its tentacles, its emerald green light intensifying. Having absorbed a massive amount of life energy, its body became much more solid, and its previously translucent outline lost some of its ethereal quality. It returned to the youth's body.

Seven frozen stone statues stood silently on the ground, all was deathly still. The black-haired youth lowered his eyes and swept them over the mess, his gaze lingering briefly on the cold stone bodies before he clenched his fists.

Without glancing at the scene again, he turned around and walked slowly towards the factory exit, wading through the puddles. A damp wind blew in through the open door, ruffling his open plaid shirt. Inside the factory, only stone statues and abandoned steel frames remained, a deathly silence.

The young man's figure completely disappeared outside the factory gate. The next second, Lin Chen and Hanagata emerged from their hiding place, having witnessed everything that had happened in the factory.

Hanagata stared in the direction the young man had gone, his brows furrowed tightly. His long-held belief crumbled. He turned to look at Lin Chen beside him, his voice filled with disbelief: "This is completely wrong."

All the ancient texts I found, and the witch's prophecies, clearly state that the host of the King of Orphnoch can only be born into the body of a child who survives a major catastrophe. But the person just now was clearly an adult; nothing is right.

As soon as he finished speaking, Hanagata suddenly came to his senses and belatedly realized that the two of them had arrived at the point in time when Leo's team was destroyed. His pupils suddenly contracted, and he looked at Lin Chen with a shocked expression: "You actually have the power to travel through time freely? This ability is really too incredible."

After his initial amazement, a question arose in his mind, and he asked with a hint of doubt, "Since you possess such power and are so strong, why didn't you stop that young man from slaughtering the Leo cavalry? If you had intervened in time, those six elite warriors and that slug Orphnoch wouldn't have ended up petrified to death."

Lin Chen's expression was somber as he slowly spoke: "Don't forget why we came to this point in time. You're a researcher too; you should know more about the grandfather paradox than I do."