I want to become a Kamen Rider

In the previous twenty years, the Earth's population had only decreased by 30%. After the meteorite fell, the Earth's population was reduced to only 30% in just one year.

All right and wrong, all truth and falsehood, all past grievances and old grudges become insignificant in the face of the word "destruction".

In 2035 AD, Australia sank.

In 2037 AD, the Americas sank.

The colossal meteorite seen in orbit during the previous Azure Island Knights Council meeting was the culprit behind the sinking of Australia.

It wasn't even because the other side intentionally caused the Australian plate to collapse; it was simply that the other side landed there and chose to fight against humanity there. In that battle, humanity paid the price of 1,452 artificial knights and 200 contracted knights... barely managing to hold off Magita.

Finally, on Kyubey's advice, all the antimatter bombs seized from the dark organizations such as Destro and Deepsea Shocker were used to detonate the moon, determine its trajectory, and cause Earth's largest satellite to fall to Earth.

The target is Magita.

That scene was nothing short of the sky falling.

Fan Kang still remembers that scene: the sky lost its color, all the birds fell to the ground, and the water in the lake began to boil because... the atmosphere had been damaged.

On that day, Magita died, the moon disappeared, and the total human population decreased by another 20%. Kyubey was very satisfied, probably because countless people witnessed the most desperate thing that day.

It wasn't because he was a hero that he needed to become stronger for others, or that he wouldn't be confused or doubtful. Rather, he clearly understood the consequences of confusion and self-doubt if he couldn't become stronger. In less than a year, he wiped out most of the enemy forces, faced the "End of Evolution," traversed more than a hundred worlds, and finally returned here.

Without a chance to catch their breath or rest, the monster that humanity paid for with the moon and countless lives has reappeared.

What method does he have this time? The Emperor Stone in his hand? The Emperor Stone can no longer support him to defeat Magita like the original Spirit Stone did; it will most likely shatter at the beginning of the battle.

This time, whether he wanted to or not, no matter how unwilling he was, he had to try to rely on the power of humanity itself.

Wu Tina's voice came from beside him, carrying a hint of the chill of a rainy night. She tilted her small face up, her bright golden eyes shining especially brightly in the shadow of the umbrella, looking at him earnestly:

"Hey, Minister, I've been thinking about something."

"?"

"Do you think our world might actually be a game, the kind where the game designers fill in the numbers with their feet, and the numbers are inflated to an unbelievable degree?"

Fan Kang paused for a moment, gazing at the raindrops dripping from the edge of the umbrella, and then nodded slightly.

"Probably."

Hearing such news, she was still able to utter a complaint, instead of being so desperate and shocked as the other knights that she couldn't utter a word. Perhaps Hiiragi Tina is an unexpected girl with a big heart.

She suddenly released her grip on the boy's clothes and, like a fawn breaking free of its restraints, dashed into the rain ahead.

The cold rain soaked her hair and clothes. She turned abruptly, tilted her head back, and let the rain wash over her face. Fine droplets rolled down her delicate jawline, flowing freely across her lovely profile.

For a moment, it was impossible to tell whether the water that kept falling was cold rain or scalding tears.

"A monster a thousand meters tall, even Ultraman couldn't beat it."

"It's hard to say, but most Ultraman would be in trouble if they came."

Fan Kang held up his umbrella and slowly walked up to her, then covered her head with the umbrella again, shielding her from the cold rain.

"Then, Minister, can you beat him?"

"Now, we can't beat them."

The girl's body seemed to stiffen for a moment, then she suddenly reached out and grabbed Fan Kang's hand that was holding the umbrella handle tightly, her knuckles turning white, as if it were her last lifeline.

"So, is humanity really going to be doomed? Should I make a wish list and write down a hundred things I want to do with the minister?"

"Currently, none of the technologies known to be in the world can stop that creature in outer space, and if that creature comes to land, even if all the contract knights are mobilized, there is no way to defeat it."

This is why humanity chose to sacrifice the moon last time.

"However, the fact that humanity has been utterly defeated, that humanity has been helpless, that humanity has been unable to do anything, does not mean that we are truly without any way out."

Fan Kang let her hold his hand, and with his other hand, he took off his coat and gently draped it over her rain-soaked body. His movements were meticulous and tender. Then, he raised his hand and carefully, little by little, wiped away the rain-soaked streaks on her face with his fingertips.

"Hey, I have a question for you, Maitina. Who are those people who fight against Kamen Riders?"

"Dark organizations, villains who want to destroy the world... wait, Minister, what do you mean?!"

The cold rain wove a dense net outside the umbrella, and the light from the streetlights stretched the intertwined shadows of the two people on the wet ground.

In the pouring rain, the boy revealed a chilling smile:

"We still have Shocker to rely on."

Chapter 120 Aren't we going to do it today? (9K)

Fan Kang suddenly opened his eyes. In the midst of his reverie, his nostrils first caught the unique fresh scent of grass trampled by the earth, mixed with the scent of soil. This was followed by a deafening sound wave, crashing against his eardrums like a real ocean tide.

"Tamamo Cross! Charge—!"

"Go! Go! Go, Little Chestnut Hat!"

He looked down, clutching a stack of beautifully printed slips of paper in his hand, the edges slightly damp with sweat. They were horse racing tickets. His gaze swept over them, and he saw the signature "Toyokawa Ko" printed on them, the handwriting flamboyant and domineering, completely different from his reserved and restrained style.

"Tsk."

Fan Kang let out a soft, impatient sound from deep in his throat.

He's having another dream.

Moreover, he was certain that someone was plotting against him, which was why he was having this dream.

The time-traveling princess I saw in my dream the night before last was just showing him a record of a past timeline. The feeling of watching historical footage through frosted glass is what a dream should be like, but everything in front of me is too real.

Whether it's the slight burning sensation of the sun on your skin, the colorful hair of the female racehorses fluttering on the track in the distance, the supple ponytails swinging as they run at high speed, the spittle spraying from the enthusiastic spectators chanting "Tamamo Cross" beside you, or even the rough paper texture and smell of ink on your race ticket—it all feels incredibly real.

Since he had been reborn before, it wasn't unacceptable for him to travel through time again. If it weren't for the fact that he had supposedly "visited" this world and that the signature "Toyokawa Ko" on the horse racing ticket was recorded in his diary, he probably would have really thought that he had accidentally wandered into another world and had already begun to try to mobilize the power of the Emperor Stone to find his way home.

However, I can't feel it.

In this dream, he could not sense the presence of the Emperor Stone, so everything before him could only be a dream woven by humans. If the weaver was malicious, the Emperor Stone would help him wake up.

His gaze returned to the grassland. The figures running and racing possessed both the graceful physique of humans and the agile features of horses—their tails swaying, their ears moving nimbly, exuding a beauty of power and speed.

Fan Kang stroked his chin, his eyes filled with amusement.

According to the first diary, which may not be authentic, this was the first world he visited after starting his journey.

In this world, a young man named Fan Kang, with his silver tongue, successfully "conquered" the young lady of the Fengchuan financial group, Fengchuan Xiangzi, achieving a stunning reversal of social class—marrying into the wealthy family, changing his name to "Fengchuan Kang," and living a life of extravagance, debauchery, and being kept by a rich woman... If it weren't for the fact that the "Fengchuan Kang" mentioned in the diary stepped forward at the last moment, proving that he was not just a gigolo, out of a subtle sense of jealousy, Fan Kang wouldn't even want to admit that the guy was him.

In this world, there are four things that are different from his original world. First, there is no Godzilla here, which is good news. Second, in this world, he is married to Ms. Toyokawa and becomes a gigolo, without having to worry about the world's peril. In short, jealousy makes him look ferocious. Third, an evil company called Nozama Pharmaceuticals will cause a major disaster a few years after his death in this world. The story of that uncle who loves to eat raw eggs, namely Kamen Rider Amazon, will begin at that time. Fourth, there are these girls running in front of him.

They are called racehorse girls, and it is said that they are inhabited by the souls of famous horses. Toyokawa Ko is quite interested in this, and it is said that he has even taken the trainer exam and plans to become a trainer who can have close contact with racehorse girls after receiving permission from Miss Toyokawa.

Fan Kang raised his hands. These hands were long, fair, with well-defined knuckles, and well-maintained, without a trace of calluses or scars from long hours of wielding a sword or throwing punches. These were definitely not his battle-worn hands; these were the pampered hands of "Fengchuan Kang."

Toyokawa is obsessed with horse racing and horse girls, but Fan Kang is not very interested in it.

The betting ticket in his hand seemed to mock his predicament. Since the dream had no end in sight and he had already spent the money, he simply took out his phone, oblivious to everyone around him, while the spectators held their breath and cheered for the final sprint.

He immediately downloaded a mobile game called "King of Cards." Since it was a dream, he didn't care about Toyokawa's data usage or wallet balance, and casually assembled a deck.

"Luckily, he's a naive kid who dares to play a second-tier competitive deck like Hero in this terrible card game environment."

There's not much to say about playing the card king. At the start, I got to go first and establish a surfing position with the Inspector, then set up four red trap cards.

A one-sided crushing victory; the match couldn't even be described as a stomp on noobs.

After thirteen rounds without losing a single match, the kid on the other side with the famous horse girl [Emperor] Lu Duo's symbolic avatar sent another challenge. After Fan Kang yawned and tormented the opponent all morning, he finally couldn't help but type a sarcastic remark.

Fan Kang is a very gentle person in real life, but he couldn't help but feel a little uncomfortable with the opponent's deck, which was obviously built for the sake of looking cool and self-satisfaction without regard for the win rate, and the amazing five-for-one exchange.

[A Kamen Rider with 30 years of training: Are you even capable, kid? At this rate, you won't win a single game!]

[The Emperor is the Strongest: You're making me really angry (╬◣д◢)]

[A Kamen Rider with 30 years of practice: It's a deck build that's even worse than a regular trash deck. In the president's words, it's like a third-rate trash card player leading a fourth-rate trash deck.]

I've heard that some people's personalities change drastically when they go online in the virtual world, and they become sarcastic and bitter. Fan Kang doesn't know if he counts, but he finds that chatting with popular memes is a way to relieve stress.

He didn't mean any harm; he was just using popular internet memes online, so there's no problem.

Besides, this is just a dream, so what's wrong with being a little arrogant?

If this is a dream woven by Cupid for him, then that guy will most likely amplify some of his negative emotions in the dream in order to achieve certain goals. So, in the end, it's all someone else's fault, and it's definitely not his true nature being revealed in the dream.

The Emperor is the strongest: ...

[A Kamen Rider with 30 years of training: In the world of games, the strong certainly have the right to judge the weak~]

[The emperor is the strongest: Shouldn't a person be both gentle and powerful to be considered strong?]

[A Kamen Rider with thirty years of training: You're right, of course you shouldn't do this in real life, but this is a game, the strong should humiliate the weak!]

[The Emperor is the Strongest: Damn it, let's settle this in real life!]

[A Kamen Rider with thirty years of training: ???]

Is this a challenge to a fight in person?

Interesting. The man on the other side of the screen adjusted Toyokawa Kou's non-prescription glasses, which he wore purely as decoration when he went to JRA during the day, and smiled slightly.

After exchanging a few more greetings, especially after Fan Kang launched into a scathing critique of the current state of the horse racing industry...

【The Emperor is the Strongest: Trash, you'd better get to the Emperor's statue at the JRA entrance early this afternoon and wash your neck clean while you wait (▼皿▼＃)】

[Kamen Rider with 30 years of training: Great, I happen to have something to do this afternoon and need to go to JRA too (smile.jpg)]

JRA stands for Japan Central Horse Racing Association.

Fan Kang definitely had no intention of going to JRA; that was Toyokawa Kang's itinerary.

If I remember correctly, in later history, Nozama Pharmaceuticals collected data from Uma Musume in order to create lysogenic cells, although according to the diary, the story of that world should have been settled by now.

But Fan Kang, who had begun to doubt his past self, wanted to verify history from multiple sources. If the weaver of this dream could create such a realistic dream, then many details must have been copied from real time and space.

The dispute had begun, and Fan Kang was a completely different person online and in real life. The Kamen Rider, upholding martial ethics in reality, didn't want to bring the online verbal sparring into the real world, especially since the other party was likely just an impulsive kid. So, the very next second after typing "Okay," he decided: to stand them up.

Just kidding, how could I possibly bully a little girl in a dream? Bullying someone younger is such a thing.

As afternoon approached, the dream remained vivid. Fan Kang went out, intending only to secretly check on the embarrassing situation of the guy with the ID "[The Emperor is the Strongest]" being stood up before going to take care of his own business.

But when he finally arrived at the Rudol symbol statue at the entrance of JRA, he found that standing next to the statue was a small female horse that did not look mature yet. A tuft of white hair suddenly appeared in her shiny brown hair, indicating that she had changed into a set of casual clothes that were easy to fight in. Her eyebrows and eyes were quite similar to the famous Rudol symbol.

Fan Kang wasn't sure at first, but when he saw the veins bulging on Xiao Ma Niang's pink fists from anger and received a urging text message from her on his phone, he realized that this Xiao Ma Niang was the netizen with the ID "[Emperor is the Strongest]" who had challenged him to a fight offline.

Without a doubt, if Toyokawa Kou were to get into a fight with such a small horse girl at the JRA's gate, his career as a trainer would probably be over.

If this is just a dream, why would he care about Toyokawa's trainer career? And even if it's not a dream, Toyokawa's life or death shouldn't concern him.

[A Kamen Rider with 30 years of training: Something came up, I can't come.]

The Emperor is the strongest: _〆('Д｀)]

[A Kamen Rider with 30 years of training: Go ahead and call me a coward o(≧口≦)o]

The Emperor is the strongest: ...

After typing several ellipses, the other party sent this message.

[The Emperor is the Strongest: He's already here, right? I can see you! ┌('_ゝ` )┐]

When Fan Kang, who wasn't particularly wary, looked up from his phone, he met the gaze of the girl named Xiao Ma, who had been glancing around after sending the message.

"..."

"..."

The little horse girl locked onto him with her brown eyes, a sneer spreading across her lips that was anything but friendly, even carrying a hint of "I've finally caught you."

'I've been tricked...'

His excellent decision-making speed and reasoning ability allowed him to trick him so easily. Even though we don't know his specific talents and physical qualities, he is a genius to some extent just by looking at it.

Are all the racehorse girls in the central area monsters of this caliber?

If Uma Musume has such a strong physique, wouldn't it be perfect for her to become a Kamen Rider?

Unfortunately, Toyokawa Kou's world doesn't need horse girls to act as knights, and his world doesn't have horse girls.

"Now, what should we do? Oh, she's actually charging straight at me. Is she thinking of fulfilling the fight we agreed on online? What a courageous little girl."

Fan Kang stroked his chin, standing at a considerable distance from the Rudolf symbol statue, observing the every move of the amusing little racehorse girl.

From beginning to end, he viewed the trouble caused by playing online games and stomping noobs with a condescending attitude.