As a weirdo, I like being a Kamen Rider

But it was precisely these outliers who kept Kiba and the other two from completely siding with the Orphnochs. Remembering how these three always talked about wanting to continue living as humans in his own world, Lin Chen couldn't help but shake his head.

Impossible. It's not that simple. Perhaps a small portion of humanity can accept them, but the vast majority will still ostracize them.

Seeing the three people's backs, Lin Chen seemed to have thought of something and followed them.

The three walked to a secluded corner of the base camp where no one was around. There were piles of discarded steel bars and old steel plates, and it was usually quiet because no one came here.

As soon as she stopped, Haitang kicked a discarded metal barrel next to her with a loud bang, and shouted in frustration, "Damn it, this is so annoying! These humans are so awful! Every time the camp is in danger, we help them out, but in the blink of an eye they treat us like thieves, never saying a kind word, all they ever say is 'monster'."

He got angrier and angrier as he spoke, and kicked the iron bucket again, sending it rolling a long way. "It's like feeding a dog with good intentions."

Yuka stood to the side and sighed softly, saying nothing, her eyes lowered, filled with disappointment.

Kiba leaned against the cold wall, looking up at the gray sky, his voice calm, "Stop complaining. This is normal."

"Normal? You call this normal?" Haitang stared at him, as if she couldn't believe those words came out of his mouth.

“In the eyes of humans, we are no different from those murderous Orphnochs.” Kiba withdrew his gaze and looked at Kaidou. “We look the same, and we are essentially the same. It’s only natural that they fear us and hate us.”

Lin Chen, who was quietly approaching from not far away, paused for a moment upon hearing this, somewhat surprised.

So Kiba Yuji knew everything all along? He originally thought that the ideal of peaceful coexistence with humans was just Kiba Yuji being too naive and wishful thinking. Now, hearing this, he realized that this guy clearly knew everything—he knew about humanity's hostility, he knew that this path was incredibly difficult, yet he still clung to this idea. It turns out he was just a stubborn idealist.

Kiba continued, "I believe that one day, the Orphnochs and humans will be able to live in peace."

Hearing him say that, Lin Chen couldn't help but interject, "Impossible. You're really naive."

Upon hearing the sound, the three of them turned around abruptly and saw Lin Chen walking slowly towards them from behind, his hands in his pockets and an indifferent expression on his face.

The sudden appearance of strangers, especially the odd-looking individual they had already noticed, immediately put them on alert. Kiba took a step forward, instinctively shielding Yuka and Kaidou behind him, and looked at Lin Chen, asking in a low voice, "Who are you? What are you doing following us?"

Lin Chen didn't answer his question, but instead asked, "Have you ever been to the zoo?"

Kiba paused for a moment, not understanding what he meant, but still nodded.

Seeing him nod, Lin Chen continued, "There are so few humans left now, scattered around, not much different from animals in a zoo." His tone was calm, but his words were deeply hurtful. "Besides, in the eyes of the Orphnochs, wouldn't they consider humans as equals? When humans still dominated society, the Orphnochs regarded them as inferior beings, let alone now?"

Hearing Lin Chen's words, Kiba lowered his head and fell into deep thought. Lin Chen's words had directly shattered his illusions. It wasn't that he hadn't thought about this issue, but rather that he hadn't wanted to delve into it further.

"Hey, who are you?" Haitang came out from behind the wood yard, pointed at Lin Chen and shouted, "What nonsense are you spouting? It's very impolite to eavesdrop on other people's conversations."

"Haitang." Jiehua tugged at his arm, signaling him not to be so impulsive.

Lin Chen only glanced at Haitang. He knew Haitang's personality all too well; she was a typical talker who would always find something to say to you, whether she was right or wrong. Arguing with her was a waste of time.

Seeing that Kiba kept his head down and didn't answer, Lin Chen didn't mind; this wasn't his main reason for following him anyway. He changed the subject and asked the question that concerned him most, "I'm asking you, do you know Qian Qiao?"

"skillful?"

Hearing Lin Chen's question, Kiba snapped out of his reverie, looked at Lin Chen, and frowned. "Do you have something to ask Qiao? What's your relationship with him?"

"We have no relationship. I just wanted to see him," Lin Chen said calmly.

"Is that so?" Kiba opened his mouth, but a look of grief appeared on his face. He remained silent for several seconds before slowly saying, "Then you're too late. Takumi is already dead."

Chapter 250 The Dead Inui Takumi

Dead? Upon hearing Yuji Kiba say that Takumi Inui was dead, Lin Chen's brows furrowed, but he quickly relaxed.

"So what if he's dead?" he thought to himself. The protagonist's death wasn't a big deal; after all, it wasn't the first time he'd encountered a world like this. It was just another Bad End variant of the same storyline.

only……

"Qian Qiao is dead, so who has the Faiz belt now?" Lin Chen looked at them and then asked.

The three exchanged a glance and shook their heads. They knew, of course, who had the Faiz belt, but they didn't want to tell Lin Chen, this stranger.

Lin Chen also noticed their ulterior motives, but didn't say anything more: "Why is the entire resistance camp in such a miserable state even with Faiz around? It's not like they lack the strength to fight back. Plus, I've seen Caesar before; the combat power of two knights should be enough to make their lives quite comfortable."

Hearing Lin Chen say this, Kiba shook his head and said, "There are no more users. Since Takumi's death, no human has been able to transform using the Faiz belt. Even the most physically gifted individuals have failed."

Lin Chen wasn't surprised by the result at all. The Faiz belt wasn't made for ordinary people; only Orphnochs or those with Orphnoch factors could be fitted with it. It would be a bad thing if ordinary humans could use it.

It seems that Takumi Inui of this world hid himself quite well. His identity as an Orphnoch was never discovered until his death. Otherwise, they would have realized long ago that there could not be another human who could become a suitable candidate for the Faiz belt.

Alright, let's not talk about this anymore. Lin Chen waved his hand and looked at the three of them: "Now, could you three please tell me what's going on with this world? How did it get into this state?"

Actually, he didn't have to go through all this trouble; it's infuriating to even think about it.

What kind of weird trial did Toma organize? He had no idea what it was. He originally planned to have the Earth consciousness in his evolved memory directly organize the information about this world for him, saving him the trouble of figuring it out slowly.

As a result, the Earth consciousness directly rejected the request, saying that Douzhen had regulations prohibiting providing Lin Chen with extraordinary assistance in these trial worlds.

Lin Chen was speechless at the time, but he also extracted two key points from those words:

First, these trial worlds indicate that there are several more worlds to come that must follow the rules of Douzhen.

Secondly, there's the issue of providing assistance beyond the standard. What constitutes "beyond the standard"? Directly providing all the information is considered beyond the standard, but what about offering a few pointers? There's no clear standard to define it.

But complaints aside, things still need to be done. Since there's no way to cheat, we'll just have to find out for ourselves.

Although the three members of Kiba were wary of Lin Chen, seeing that he didn't seem to have any ill intentions, they hesitated for a moment, and then took turns explaining the general situation of the world to Lin Chen.

Lin Chen stood there listening, his expression slowly shifting from calm to one of utter disbelief. Were the higher-ups at Orphnoch in this world out of their minds?

This operation is truly a mystery. Orphnochs are originally formed from the death of humans; it's unclear how they obtained a technology capable of consistently converting humans into Orphnochs. Suddenly launching a full-scale attack, with Takumi Inui sacrificing himself in the battle, and humanity essentially wiped out.

It sounds like a nouveau riche getting a huge sum of money and starting to squander it recklessly, but there's only so much humanity left. What will happen to the newborn Orphnochs? He had no idea that Orphnochs were capable of reproduction.

Or have these guys found a way to make Orphnoch immortal, or some other way to create the next generation? But that doesn't make sense; in Kiba's words, there's no information about the king in this world.

Immortality can be temporarily set aside. Thinking of this, I couldn't help but interject with a question: "Does Smart Brain already possess the technology to allow Orphnochs to reproduce?"

The three shook their heads, indicating that they had never heard of it.

"Who exactly are you?" After answering Lin Chen's question about reproduction, Kiba frowned and looked at Lin Chen, his doubts deepening. "Whether it's the human settlements or the Orphnochs, they all basically know about these things. How come you seem to know nothing about them?"

Hearing Kiba's question, Lin Chen looked at him and said, "Me? I'm just a passerby."

His words were clearly just a perfunctory response, and Kiba, of course, didn't believe him and wanted to ask further.

Just then, a shout suddenly came from afar, calling out the name of the timber yard. The voice slowly grew closer, accompanied by panting, indicating that the person had run quite a distance.

Lin Chen looked in the direction of the sound and saw a short-haired man in a gray work uniform running towards him with a kind smile on his face. Oh, it's Keitaro, Lin Chen recognized him at a glance. His good-natured demeanor left a deep impression.

"Great, I've finally found you!" Keitaro ran up to him, panting for a while before straightening up. "I've been looking for you since yesterday, Mr. Kiba. What happened these past two days? You haven't come. Just now, if someone hadn't reminded me, I would have thought you wouldn't come today either."

"It's you, Keitaro." Kiba's expression softened when he saw him, then he frowned again. "What do you want with me? But you'd better not get too close to us, lest you get into trouble. I'm sure you've heard about what happened at the market earlier; the people in the camp have a lot of complaints about us."

"Hey, what's the big deal?" Keitaro waved his hand, looking completely unconcerned. "I don't care what others say. I just know you guys are my friends. Never mind that, here's something for you."

As he spoke, he took out a chip about half the size of his palm from his work clothes pocket and handed it to the lumberyard worker.

Kiba looked at the chip and recognized it immediately; it was something Smart Brain employees used to transmit information. "Who gave you this?" he asked.

"I don't know either." Keitaro scratched his head, looking completely honest. "Yesterday, a guy in a suit came to me and asked me to give this to you, so I accepted it."

Kiba took the chip from Keitaro and, without bothering to hide it from Lin Chen standing next to him, pulled out his own phone from his pocket.

He inserted the chip directly into the slot on the side of the phone. The next second, the phone screen lit up, displaying a pre-recorded video.

On the screen appeared a Smart Lady in a blue uniform with impeccable makeup. She smiled sweetly at the camera, her voice cloyingly sweet: "Long time no see, Kokiba. Did you miss me?"

She started with a simple greeting, then cut to the chase without further ado, telling Kiba to come to Smartbrain headquarters if he had some free time. The president had something to discuss with him.

After saying that, she pouted at the camera and blew a kiss, coaxing Kiba to make sure she kept the appointment.

The voice was so sweet that Lin Chen couldn't help but get goosebumps. The video ended there, and the screen went dark.

"Tch, what the hell?" Haitang couldn't help but roll her eyes. "Who knows what these guys are up to now. Kiba, let me tell you, you absolutely mustn't go. Who knows what those Orphnochs in Smart Brain are up to? Going there will definitely not bring any good. They might just be trying to lure us there so they can just execute us."

Lin Chen listened from the side and, unusually, agreed with Haitang. Indeed, what good could Smart Brain possibly have for Kiba and the other two Orphnoch traitors?

In another world, these three were chased like stray dogs by Clover, sent by Murakami Kyoji, and had to hide all over the world. If he hadn't taken Murakami Kyoji's place and ordered the pursuit to stop, the grass on their graves would be taller than a person.

So he chimed in, "He's right. I advise you not to go either. I know Smartbrain better than you do; you'll most likely end up in a bad situation if you go."

It was only then that Keitaro noticed the stranger standing next to Kiba and the other two. He looked Lin Chen up and down, noticing his neat clothes and composed demeanor, unlike the perpetually gloomy people in the rebel camp. He instinctively looked at Kiba: "Kiba, is this also an Orphnoch who is friendly to humans like you?"

"No." Lin Chen shook his head before Kiba could answer, stating bluntly, "I am human."

"Huh? A human?" Keitaro was completely stunned, staring at Lin Chen several times with wide eyes. It wasn't that humans couldn't dress neatly, but this kind of demeanor was just not in line with theirs at all. So he couldn't help but mutter to himself, "This is really rare."

However, he wasn't the type to pry, so he quickly smiled and extended his hand to Lin Chen: "Hello, I'm Kikuchi Keitaro, the logistics manager of this base."

"Lin Chen." Lin Chen said his name and shook hands with him.

"Oh dear, I have something to do, I almost forgot." Keitaro slapped his forehead, as if he remembered something, and said, "I have some other things to do, so I won't bother you any longer. Mr. Lin Chen, if you need any help, just go to the logistics department and find me. I'm usually there during the day."

After saying goodbye to Kiba and the other two, he hurriedly turned and ran away.

As Lin Chen watched Qi Taro's departing figure, his fingers unconsciously touched his chin, and he began to ponder.

Takumi Inui of this world is dead, and it's unlikely that the person currently in charge of the belts would simply hand them over to a complete stranger, an Orphnoch.

Nobody can use the Faiz belt, so we can't just leave it to collect dust, can we?

A thought suddenly popped into his head: since the original Takumi is gone, could he create a new one? Find someone to fill Faiz's position and truly utilize the belt. And Keitaro seemed like a good fit.

The argument among the Kiba trio quickly interrupted Lin Chen's thoughts.

In the end, Yuji Kiba unilaterally decided to make a trip to the Smart Brain headquarters.

He knew this trip would be dangerous, so he advised Haitang and Jiehua not to go with him this time. But how could Haitang and Jiehua let him go alone like that?

Seeing this, Lin Chen couldn't help but speak up, suggesting that if they were going tomorrow, they might as well take him along, as he also had something he wanted to discuss with Smart Brain.

Of course, this wasn't an excuse to brush off the three of them, Kiba. He genuinely had something to attend to. The Smart Lady had previously reported that he was a vital treasure of the Orphnochs, and they were willing to exchange half the lives of the Orphnochs for him.

He wanted to figure out what information these guys had gotten from him.

Chapter 251 Murakami, who works in the underworld

The next day at dawn, Lin Chen set off with the three from Kiba.

Haitang's mouth never stopped the whole way, repeating the same few sentences over and over: "Honestly, why do we have to go? Those Orphnochs at Smart Brain are full of bad intentions, what good could come of inviting us?"

Yuji Kiba walked ahead with a frown, not saying a word, but his slightly tense back betrayed his nervousness. Yuka Nagata followed quietly behind, occasionally glancing back at Lin Chen.

Before long, the Smart Brain headquarters campus came into view. It was rush hour, and the entrance to the campus was bustling with people, with office workers in suits hurrying by, looking no different from normal human society.

Lin Chen couldn't help but wonder, wouldn't it be a good thing if the whole world were made of Orphnoch?

But he quickly dismissed the idea. The Orphnoch genetic defect meant they were destined to be nothing more than a fleeting phenomenon.