Kamen Rider ZZZ from the American comic book world

"Sure," he readily agreed, then suggested, "Since we're in a dream, how about you learn something else?"

"What will you study?" Nancy asked curiously.

"Fight," Li Ai said seriously.

If Nancy comes to New York to find him in the future, she will most likely be involved in supernatural events. Even if she doesn't have the opportunity to go to the front line, she should at least have the ability to protect herself.

Upon hearing this, Nancy remained silent for a moment, her thoughts drifting back to the time when the two of them were being chased by Freddy.

If only I could have helped him back then… she thought to herself, then nodded and readily agreed:

“Great! My dad usually just lets me shoot frisbees with a shotgun. I’ve been wanting to try something else for a while now.”

"I will teach you everything I can," Li Ai said with relief. He snapped his fingers, and the surrounding mahogany bookshelves and walls were pulled away by a tremendous force. The floor beneath their feet turned into cement, and a set of human-shaped targets appeared in the distance.

The pistol appeared in Nancy's palm. She stroked the polymer grip and remarked:

"You have a better control over your dreams, at least I can't change my environment as fast as you."

"With more practice, you can still improve." Li Ai put goggles and earmuffs on Nancy, and then began to instruct her on how to hold the gun.

"First, stand firmly, and try to keep the web of your hand on the top edge of the back plate so that your hand is in contact with the axis of the gun. Make sure you don't grip it too low, otherwise the recoil will be borne entirely by your wrist, and the muzzle will rise very high."

"I understand." Nancy adjusted her breathing and, following Li Ai's advice, adjusted her grip before pulling the trigger.

The two people, who were in different places, reunited in this new way and enjoyed it very much.

Chapter 21 Closure of the Weapons Department

Ring ring ring————

The alarm clock pulled Li Ai out of his dream world. He raised his hand to turn off the ringing, then crawled out of bed, washed up, changed into clean and tidy clothes, and went downstairs to the dining room.

Breakfast was still steak and pasta, but today someone had prepared it for him and put it on the table.

"Hurry up and eat your special growth meal." Ida had already finished breakfast and was waiting for Li Ai in the living room.

"Okay." Li Ai finished her breakfast quickly, then patted her stomach. "I'm still a little hungry. I feel like I could eat another bowl."

"Looks like food expenses will have to go up again." Ada shook her head, not surprised, then waved her hand in greeting.

"Put the bowls in the sink first, and wash them when you get back."

After Li Ai did as instructed, the two went to get in the car and leave.

But just as the car reached the road, they saw a pickup truck that had broken down; it belonged to their neighbor, Parker.

Ben Parker is in the process of making emergency repairs. He is a mechanical engineer and has the skills to fix cars, but it will take time.

Peter Parker, standing nearby, seemed a little anxious.

"Uncle Ben, is the car still not fixed?" Peter gripped the strap of his backpack tightly, his lips pursed nervously, and asked worriedly.

"I feel like I'm going to be late."

Uncle Ben glanced at his watch; it would take him at least an hour to fix the pickup truck, which would make Peter late. He looked around nervously, hoping someone could help.

Just then, a black sedan came into his view. Ben Parker recognized it as his new neighbor's car, but for his nephew's sake, he quickly stepped forward and knocked on the window before the car sped up.

Seeing this, Ada rolled down her window and calmly asked, "Mr. Parker, do you need any help?"

"My car suddenly broke down and won't be fixed anytime soon, so I'd like to ask you to give my nephew a ride. He and your child take the same route to school," Uncle Ben said sincerely.

Li Ai remembered that her uncle had also wanted to give him a ride, so she offered, "Let him come then. It'll be good for him to have someone to chat with on the way."

"Thank you so much!" Uncle Ben said with a delighted expression, then quickly gestured for Peter to get in the car.

“Come quickly, Peter, don’t keep our neighbors waiting too long.”

The car door opened, and Peter, who was a little shy, sat in the back with Li Ai. He sat upright, looking very reserved.

Peter's parents have passed away, and he has been raised by his uncle and aunt since he can remember. He is also introverted, which makes him look like a typical bookworm.

Such people generally don't have many friends in American schools.

"Peter, do you have any friends at school?" Li Ai asked casually in the car.

Peter sized up the high school student who was only a few years older than him, thought for a moment, and said:

“There’s only one, his name is Harry, but he doesn’t come to school every day. He told me he’s going to see a doctor.”

“Harry? His last name is Potter?” Li Ai tried to ease the tension with this joke.

There are indeed many literary works in this world that he remembers, including the novel Harry Potter, which ended last year, and DC Comics.

“His last name is Osborn, but he says I’m more like Harry Potter,” Peter quickly corrected, visibly relaxing after his friend was mentioned.

Upon hearing this, Li Ai smiled slightly and teased, "But you don't need to deal with the black magic senior."

“But I want to receive an acceptance letter from Hogwarts,” Peter said wistfully. “I also love Percy Jackson and The Chronicles of Narnia. I wish I could go on adventures like them.”

"Your experience will be no worse than theirs in the future..." Li Ai wanted to say that, but Peter was still just a middle school student, and becoming Spider-Man would be something he did at least in high school.

Uncle Ben might be in some danger, because Peter became Spider-Man precisely because his carelessness and mistakes led to Uncle Ben's death. That's why there's the saying, "With great power comes great responsibility."

As for Uncle Ben's death? Li Ai had a good impression of the uncle who had invited him for a ride on their second meeting, and he had no intention of sitting idly by.

“Then let’s take their courage in the story as an example,” Li Ai said with a smile.

At that moment, the car slowly came to a stop. Peter had arrived at his junior high school. He didn't have time to think too much, but he liked the sentence very much.

Especially this feeling of being affirmed.

"Thank you, I'll remember that." Peter waved to Li Ai.

The vehicle then started again and headed towards Zhongcheng High School. When they were almost at the school, Ada handed a business card to Li Ai.

"You can come to my workplace after school in the afternoon."

The business card had an address written on it. Li Ai joked, "Mom, your fake identity is really convincing."

"It's not entirely fake. I do have real skills in psychotherapy, otherwise I wouldn't be able to get such a big case," Ada explained, then said:

"Class is about to start, don't be late."

"Okay." Li Ai nodded, then slung her newly decorated backpack over her shoulder and headed into the school to begin her day on campus.

Today's first class was taught by Professor Ashley Graham. Her classes always made Li Ai worry that there were snipers outside the window, and even suspected that there were Secret Service agents protecting the president's family on campus.

This situation will likely continue until President Graham leaves office, at which point the security level for the former president's family will be lowered to some extent.

President Graham took office in 2001 and began his second term in 2005. After his second term ended, he was no longer eligible to serve as president.

The election for the next president has actually already ended, and the successor is a white man named Adam Benford, unlike the black president who took office in 2009 in Li Ai's previous life.

After forcing herself to finish half a day of classes, Li Ai ate lunch at a restaurant.

Today's main dish was a bit better; it was spaghetti with tomato meat sauce, and I also had some cola to drink, so I definitely didn't lack calories.

Several televisions were hanging in the restaurant, which occasionally showed entertainment programs, but today they were interrupted by a live broadcast of a press conference.

The live stream focused on a middle-aged man whose arm was restrained and who was eating a cheeseburger. Although he was wearing a bespoke suit, his face was covered with many wounds.

The man sat on the ground, using the podium as a backrest, and the reporters and other participants also squatted down to be at the same height as him.

“I couldn’t say goodbye to my dad, nor could I see him one last time. I have some questions I want to ask him, such as how he felt about the company’s actions, whether he had any doubts, whether he was conflicted, or whether he was just like the people in the documentary…” He spoke to the camera, but his voice grew heavier and heavier until he changed the subject and started talking about something else.

“I witnessed young people being killed in that place, killed by the weapons I manufactured—weapons meant to protect them. I realized I had done many terrible things, but I am now sober. I now realize I can do more than just make explosives. Therefore, I will shut down Stark Industries’ weapons manufacturing division, effective immediately!”

Chapter 22 Tony Stark

The live stream signal was suddenly cut off, and a shampoo advertisement was forcibly played.

Li Ai put down her cutlery, got up and left the restaurant without changing her expression.

The man who just spoke on TV is Tony Stark, a genius who could debug circuit boards at the age of four, assemble engines at the age of six, and graduated from MIT at the age of seventeen.

But before Tony took over Stark Industries, his father Howard Stark died in a car accident, and Stark Industries was temporarily handed over to Obadiah Stan, his father's former partner.

At the age of 21, Tony became chairman of Stark Industries in accordance with his father's will, and created many technologies that were able to change the battlefield environment.

With the support of various advanced technologies he created, Stark Industries has become the strongest military industrial company in the US market.

Shutting down the weapons division with just one sentence from him is tantamount to removing Stark Industries' strongest leg, and the stock price will definitely plummet.

This also signaled to Li Ai that an even more chaotic era was about to begin.

Since there was still some time before class, he simply went to the library, found a quiet, secluded corner, and took out his ZZZ phone to start browsing messages.

Thanks to the speed of modern media dissemination, news of Tony's unilateral decision to shut down the weapons division had already spread, and no matter how hard Stark Industries' public relations department tried, it was to no avail.

In order to sell their products to customers, they used to portray Tony as an undisputed genius within the group, to the point that every word he uttered represented the group's direction.

But now it has become the most devastating boomerang blow to Stark Industries.

Seeing that it was almost time for class, Li Ai put away her phone, got up, and went to the classroom to complete her afternoon lessons.

Today is Friday, and he will have two days off. He plans to finish his photography group project and try to get as many credits as possible.

After finishing her afternoon classes, Li Ai found a commercial building by following the address on the business card, took the elevator to the tenth floor, and found a door with a sign that read "Psychological Clinic".

He pushed open the wooden door made of soundproofing material and entered the fresh and simply decorated interior.

The interior is decorated mainly in off-white and light yellow. The round chandelier on the ceiling emits a soft white light, the green plants are arranged in a regular pattern, the walls are decorated with simple art paintings, and there is a bookshelf on the left side of the entrance.

There was no one at the front desk, but soft music was playing from a speaker.

"you are?"

A female voice rang out from the waiting area next to the bookshelves. A woman in a suit and skirt, with her blonde hair tied in a ponytail, looking like a business elite, was looking at Li Ai and asking the Asian boy:

"Are you also here to see Dr. Scott?"

Scott is a false surname on Ida's documents, but the surname also comes from Ida's biological father, Leon S. Kennedy, where the full 'S' is Scott.

Kennedy is mostly an Irish surname in America, so it would seem strange for an Asian mother and son to use it.

“I’m not here for a medical consultation,” Li Ai waved her hand, denying it. “The Dr. Scott you’re talking about is my mother. My name is Li Ai Scott.”

"So you're her child." The blonde woman nodded, stood up from the sofa, and said to Li Ai:

"Please don't tell anyone that we've been here."

Li Ai was a little confused by what he heard, because he had never seen this blonde woman before.

The blonde woman's appearance was only average, but her features were neat and delicate, and she had some freckles on her face, making her quite recognizable.

Combining these elements, he did recall someone.

Pepper Potts, Tony Stark's personal assistant, will become the CEO of Stark Industries at Tony's behest.

“I know the rules of the psychotherapy industry, ma’am,” Li Ai said with a smile.

Psychotherapy is a private matter, and many patients do not want outsiders to know about these things, so it is necessary for psychologists to keep it confidential.

Meanwhile, in a completely soundproof treatment room, Tony, who had recently returned from abroad, was receiving psychological treatment.

This was an itinerary arranged by his assistant, Pepper. Tony wanted to refuse because he didn't think he had post-traumatic stress disorder.

On the contrary, Tony felt very good about himself.

“Doctor, I think we can end this conversation now. You just need to say some nice things to my assistant and reassure her.” Tony said, holding a cheeseburger.

Upon hearing this, Ada simply smiled and said softly, "Mr. Stark, that's what everyone who comes here says. In reality, you've already done something impulsive because of some unpleasant experiences."

This refers to Tony's announcement of the closure of the weapons division.

"That wasn't a joke I made offhand; I did it with a very serious attitude." Tony lowered his head, his thoughts drifting back to the days he was held captive by terrorists.

The terrorists forced him to manufacture Jericho missiles, and all of their weapons were produced by Stark Industries, from bullets and gun parts to assault rifles, rocket launchers, and heavy machine guns—everything bore the Stark Industries logo.

In the cave, he and another scholar named Ethan created steel armor and a miniature arc reactor in order to survive. Ethan even told Tony that he would reunite with his family after they got out.

In the end, Ethan died at the hands of terrorists while trying to buy Tony time. Tony also learned from them that Ethan's family members had already died because of the terrorists.

Perhaps those terrorists were even using weapons manufactured by Stark Industries at the time.

Tony once believed his weapons could be used to protect the world, but reality gave him a harsh slap in the face.

The more he believed that weapons could bring peace to the world in the past, the more he now loathes his past self.

“My weapons have caused a lot of damage to this world, Doctor,” Tony said.

"So you think closing the weapons department will make you feel better?" Ada asked.