Kamen Rider ZZZ from the American comic book world

Li Ai slashed the stalker's chest again, ripping it open so that wisps of gray smoke drifted out.

At that moment, Li Ai seemed to see mutilated figures waving at him before disappearing into the night.

Among them was the eyeless boy he saw in his psychic dream.

These are the souls imprisoned within the bodies of the Stalkers. Li Ai instantly understood this, throwing all restraint to the back of his mind, leaving only one thought in his head.

kill!

Completely absorbed in killing the stalker, Li Ai couldn't hear anything. With each additional strike he made, a soul would be freed.

With his fighting spirit soaring, Li Ai took the impact capsule from the driver, slammed it into the groove of the Dream Eater Claw, and then pulled the trigger on the handle.

In an instant, the blade of the Dream Eater's Claw was filled with red light, energy surging, waiting for the moment to explode.

Li Ai gritted his teeth and roared, his Dream-Eating Claws instantly piercing the stalker's skull. The violent impact surged through the latter's body, destroying every cell.

The slashing didn't end so quickly. Li Ai gripped the hilt tightly with both hands, continuing to pull the sword, slowly and precisely destroying the stalker's physical structure.

【Breakam Slash!】(Dream Eater Slash!)

With a cold, mechanical sound, the stalker's body was vertically split in two, and the energy that had been destroying his body found an outlet, finally transforming into a beam of red light that shot straight into the sky.

In a daze, Li Ai found that the surroundings had turned pale, and thousands of people were walking towards him.

These people came from different eras, spoke different languages, and their clothing became increasingly archaic and their figures increasingly blurred as time went on. But in the end, they all gently patted Li Ai on the shoulder to express their gratitude.

When Li Ai came to his senses, the downpour had stopped, and a ray of bright moonlight shone through the dark clouds onto him.

The demon has been slain and his remains are gone; there's no need for him to remain here.

........................

Shortly after

Ashley and another female teacher arrived at Jessica's room with a first-aid kit. They removed the dart that had pierced Jessica's palm and began to treat her wound.

"This thing looks like it's made of human skin and bones, doesn't it?" The female teacher who was helping her carefully examined the material of the dart, and her hand trembled, causing the dart to fall directly to the ground.

"Get me some bandages." Ashley only had eyes for her injured student. Just as she was about to stop the bleeding for the unconscious Jessica, a sudden green light interrupted her actions.

"Has that monster returned?" another female teacher asked worriedly.

The two looked around warily, only to find that the wall that had been smashed by the stalker had been restored to its original state under the green light, and even Jessica's wounds had been healed without leaving a scar.

In the blink of an eye, the hotel seemed as if nothing had happened, with only the human bone darts and bullet casings on the floor telling outsiders that a battle had recently taken place there.

Jessica, now fully recovered, opened her eyes, sat up slightly, and recounted the events of the past few days to Ashley:

"Teacher, I think I saw a strange guy break down the wall, rush into this room, pick me up, and then you and another person shot and saved me. It felt like a dream, but the beginning was so scary..."

“That wasn’t a dream,” Ashley said, her feelings complicated.

The strange man who broke into the hotel reminded Ashley of her experience in Wolf Valley. As for the mysterious gunman who entered the room before her... she felt that the gun in his hand looked familiar.

"Not a dream? Then what is it?"

Jessica touched her forehead in confusion and found that even the scratches from the falling rocks that afternoon had disappeared. These successive events made her mind a little confused, and she even started to have wild thoughts.

"Teacher, I wasn't tricked into using illegal drugs, was I? It feels like everything that happened today was a hallucination."

Jessica's voice trembled with a hint of tears, indicating that she was well aware of the dangers of those illegal drugs.

Ashley gently stroked Jessica's hair and softly comforted her:

"You didn't encounter any evil things, you just experienced something that ordinary people can't understand for a while. Trust me, you are safe now and no one will hurt you."

Chapter 53 First Contact

As time ticked by, the teachers and students in the hotel lobby had differing opinions. Some thought they were safe, while others held the opposite view.

Only after a green light swept across the hall and repaired the damaged door did someone cheer:

"I've seen this before! ZZZ used this ability to repair all the damage after defeating the steel monster on the highway!"

"You mean the lunatic who drove the truck into the hotel has been dealt with?!" someone asked.

"I was on that highway at the time, and I saw ZZZ blow the monster up with my own eyes! He must have solved the problem before using that ability!"

The man patted his chest and said confidently.

After that sound, the atmosphere in the hall became less heavy. Flynn sat with the other people who had been playing board games with him, and he slapped his forehead, blaming himself:

"Please don't let my problems cause him to lose to that madman..."

Flynn was referring to 'Kamen Rider ZZZ', but people in New York City generally prefer to just call him ZZZ.

These words reached Li Ai's ears as she arrived in the hotel lobby.

After dealing with the stalkers, Li Ai returned to the hotel unnoticed. He put the Code Zero Eclipse and other equipment back into the operations room, changed back into the clothes he had worn when he set off that afternoon, and went to the lobby to look for people, as if nothing had happened.

He even tampered with the hotel's internal surveillance footage to minimize the risk of leaks.

"Has that monster gone far?" Li Ai asked Flynn as if she knew nothing about the matter.

Although only those who were in the lobby on the first floor at the time witnessed the battle, the huge commotion caused by the stalker's attack was audible to everyone in the entire building.

“That was terrifying!” Flynn described what he had just seen with his own eyes.

Listening to her temporary roommate's story, Li Ai looked surprised and lied through her teeth:

"I hid in my room after hearing those terrifying noises, and only came downstairs to check the situation now."

"You must have been incredibly brave to go downstairs to check the situation," Flynn said, gesturing wildly as he described the danger he had encountered.

"Let me tell you, there were two catapult spears hidden in that truck up ahead, and they were aimed straight at my head and heart. It was terrifying! Luckily, ZZZ saved me..."

This guy's mouth was like a floodgate, chattering on and on, completely unaware that his savior was right in front of him. Every three sentences, he would praise ZZZ, leaving Li Ai, the person in question, speechless for a while.

The noise in the hall only subsided when the teachers leading the teams from several schools appeared and addressed everyone.

"Students, we have contacted our respective schools and received notification of the next steps..."

Just when the students thought the trip was going to be canceled, the teachers brought unexpected news.

"The off-campus trip will proceed as planned. Tomorrow morning, professionals will come to the hotel to randomly select people for questioning. Please don't be nervous and prepare yourselves mentally. Dinner will be delivered later, and a compensation payment of $500 will be mailed to each student's home."

Upon hearing this, the students began to whisper among themselves, not only because the school was going to continue the trip after such an incident, but also because of the $500 compensation.

But Li Ai felt that things were not that simple.

How could the school and insurance company so easily hand over the money? And what about the professionals who would provide them with psychological counseling...? Li Ai already had her suspicions.

....................................

the next day, early morning

All the students and faculty members at the hotel had their schedules temporarily cancelled. Several SUVs with the yellow 'FBI' logo were parked outside the hotel. A group of uniformed people got out of the vehicles. They were fully equipped, and some of them were scanning the interior of the hotel with instruments.

Most people were confined to their rooms, with only a few being taken away for questioning.

The conversation took place within the hotel; the FBI agents found several rooms on the first floor, set them up simply, and used them as interrogation rooms.

Li Ai was called by name by two 'FBI agents' and eventually led into a room.

There was a table in the room with a camera set up next to it, and two uniformed 'FBI agents' were sitting behind the table waiting for him.

“Sit down, child. We won’t hurt you. We just want to know what happened last night,” an agent said. His voice was gentle and his demeanor refined, like an English gentleman straight out of a movie.

Li Ai sat opposite the two men and asked, "What do you want to ask me?"

"No rush. According to the rules, you need to know our names first," the refined-looking man said.

“I am FBI Agent Phil Coulson, and this is my partner, Sitwell, who is responsible for recording the conversation.”

S.H.I.E.L.D. and Hydra have joined forces? Li Ai looked at the two rather familiar faces in front of him and recalled some memories.

Phil Coulson, an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., is a huge fan of Captain America.

Sitwell, ostensibly a member of S.H.I.E.L.D., but Li Ai remembers that the second Captain America movie revealed him to be a member of Hydra.

Li Ai was not surprised by the appearance of S.H.I.E.L.D., and after spending the whole night, he had already prepared his explanation.

“When it happened last night, I was hiding in my room. I did hear gunshots, but as for eyewitness accounts? I didn’t see anything.”

The people hiding in the room at the time gave similar accounts to Li Ai.

The incident happened so suddenly that many people were afraid to go out and check, and all they heard were the sounds of impact and gunfire.

Only those in the lobby on the first floor saw two figures fighting in the rain. After the truck left the lobby, no one saw the two figures again.

But in the end, no one, regardless of who they were, saw how the battle ended.

Phil Cole, disguised as an FBI agent from S.H.I.E.L.D., smiled gently and said:

"Thank you for your cooperation, Li Ai. The compensation will be mailed to your home address. Please check your mailbox."

"You can leave now. There's breakfast prepared in the lobby. You can get some if you're hungry," Sitwell said, having finished recording.

"Ok."

Upon hearing this, Li Ai got up and left the room, leaving only Coulson and Sitwell there.

Sitwell adjusted his glasses, glanced at his work, and said numbly:

"The descriptions from more than a dozen people are largely consistent, and the clues that these students can provide are limited."

"Ask a few more questions and then we'll end the conversation and focus all our manpower on surveying the location where the high-intensity energy finally erupted." Coulson also felt that these students didn't know the truth and that asking them further would be pointless, so he changed course.

Chapter 54 Parents' Love (Seeking monthly votes and continued reading)

First floor corridor

As Li Ai was leaving, she ran into Ashley, who was coming out of another room.

"Teacher, is your conversation over too?" Li Ai asked casually.

“Yes, they asked me a few more questions because I brought a gun on the field trip,” Ashley smiled at the students.

"Don't worry, I won't leave Midtown High School because of this. At most, I'll have to write a self-criticism and a guarantee, and they won't let me carry a gun to work."

Ashley told Li Ai not to worry about her job, and that even if she had to do it all over again, she would still draw her gun to save the students.

As they spoke, the two arrived at the lobby, where the insulated boxes containing breakfast were located not far away.

"Looks like being the daughter of a former president is actually quite useful," Li Ai joked.

When the student mentioned her past identity, Ashley smiled knowingly and made a joke.

"Okay, the former president's daughter wants you to bring her a breakfast."

“No problem.” Li Ai opened the insulated box and took out two pre-made sandwiches and a box of milk.

Ashley reached out to take the breakfast and said, "Thank you."

"Small things."

Li Ai looked at the sandwich in her hand and felt that it wasn't enough. Unfortunately, there was a sign next to the insulated box that said each person could only take one. If she wanted to eat something else, she would have to spend money to buy it from the vending machine.

"By the way, the afternoon schedule remains the same. Go back and get some rest," Ashley reminded her.

“Okay.” Li Ai nodded and then returned to her room.

At this moment, several 'guests' appeared in the room. They sat on the floor and formed a circle.

“Hey, wanna play a game?” Flynn raised his hand, letting Li Ai see his striking red hair.

Seeing this, Li Ai glanced at everyone and asked, "Is it still the 'Werewolf of Miller's Hollow' that you mentioned last night?"

“That’s right.” Flynn nodded, then invited again, “Want to come along?”

“Sure,” Li Ai agreed and joined the game.

...........................

Meanwhile, in a secluded but elegantly decorated bar in Brooklyn, New York City.

Pubs don't usually open in the morning when there are fewer customers, but in this pub, a woman in a long red dress was swirling a glass of wine behind the bar.

The room was dimly lit, and a record player played soft, melodious music until it was interrupted by the sound of a door being pushed open.

A handsome man in a collared bomber jacket strode into the building, went straight to the bar, and looked at the woman in the red dress who had invited him, asking:

"Four years have passed since the Wolf Valley incident, and you're only now thinking of contacting me?"