Kamen Rider ZZZ from the American comic book world

Li Ai had no desire to answer that question; he simply couldn't stand the guy's behavior.

"My mission is to stop the bomb maniac."

He dodged a tentacle by sidestepping it, while simultaneously loading the previously acquired transformation capsule into the driver.

[Transform!]

Awaken! Awaken! Awaken!

A rhythmic, synthesized mechanical voice filled everyone's ears. Li Ai turned the capsule on her chest and shouted:

"Henshin!"

Good morning! Rider! Z·Z·Z! Transform!

The black and red mist, centered on the ZZZ Driver, rapidly spread throughout Li Ai's body, reorganizing and strengthening it.

“Kill him!” Frank Scoriner shouted.

The monsters simultaneously swung their tentacles, forming an inescapable net. Bone blades, capable of tearing through iron, sliced ​​through the black and red mist, yet failed to harm Li Ai in the slightest.

The dark red mist gathered, condensing into a form slightly different from the impact shape.

The transformed form is based on the impact form, but with the addition of red bio-armor on the limbs and a slight reduction in muscle mass, making it look more agile.

Although both belong to the flesh system, the Impact Capsule specializes in enhancing athletic ability, while the Deformation Capsule focuses on improving 'plasticity,' allowing the user's limbs to be stretched and deformed at will like rubber.

Upon transforming into this form, Li Ai's first impression was that his strength was not as great as in his impact form, but he instinctively felt that his limbs could undergo wondrous changes.

At this moment, the monsters pounced again, surrounding Li Ai from different angles, trying to cut off all his escape routes.

His enhanced dynamic vision captured the movement trajectories of the tentacle-like bone blades. He clenched his right fist and swung it horizontally. The range of this strike was originally limited, but the arm suddenly extended. Li Ai turned his body, and his scythe-like arm knocked all the monsters to the ground.

"Who exactly do you belong to? How do you come to have such power?"

Frank Skrinar, who had already shed his human disguise, was utterly bewildered. His clothes were torn apart by his mutated flesh, his body was covered by a chitinous carapace, a pair of moth wings grew from his back, and his limbs became thin and hard, making him look like a monster.

After killing those monsters with a single blow, Li Ai turned to look at the 'Moth Monster' and said in a calm tone:

"I do not belong to any power; I act only according to my own will."

Chapter 15 The One Who Walks Through Dreams

Frank Skriner's eyes swept over the mysterious man before him with the sharpness of a viper.

He didn't care who the person in front of him was or which faction was behind him; all he knew was that this person was preventing him from taking revenge.

"Want to stop me? You'll have to see if you have the ability."

Frank Skriner's wings flapped rapidly, but instead of making him fly, they caused a lot of scales to fall off due to friction.

These scales drifted to various places with the movement of indoor air.

Poisonous powder? As Li Ai guessed, she shaped her right hand into a fan shape, trying to blow away the powdery substance.

Just as his hand, which had transformed into a fan, began to turn, and just as the wind was about to blow the scales up to higher levels, the scales suddenly began to glow and generate heat.

Li Ai sensed something was wrong. With a flick of her right hand, she transformed the fan into a tarpaulin, covering most of the scales and leaving only a small portion exposed to the air.

The next moment, a series of explosions rang out, and the flames briefly illuminated the dimly lit mall lobby.

Li Ai's right hand returned to its original state. He had taken most of the damage from the explosion, and his right arm was covered with a layer of black ash.

"How does the explosive powder taste?" Frank Skriner asked smugly, watching the scene unfold.

"So you used this ability to blow up the mall's entrances and exits," Li Ai asked the half-human, half-insect figure.

"So, you turned yourself into this just to use this ability for 'revenge'? Don't you think it's ugly?"

“Ugly? This pose is more beautiful to me than anything else,” Frank Skriner exclaimed, raptly.

"Compared to those unevolved monkeys you protect, my posture is the true posture of a higher species!"

Frank Skriner excommunicated himself.

Faced with these outrageous words, Li Ai simply shook off the layer of black ash, then said to the 'exploding moth monster' in front of him:

"How pathetic, but in that case, I won't have any psychological burden."

After saying that, he stomped his foot and shot out, his fist smashing towards the exploding moth monster without hesitation.

A mocking glint appeared in the eyes of the Exploding Moth Monster. A layer of slime seeped from the gaps between its knuckles. It injected explosive energy into the slime to make its punches more powerful.

The fists collided, and another explosion rang out. The flames evenly heated the Exploding Moth Monster's skin. Facing the heatwave, it confidently declared:

"You dare to fight me in close combat? You're asking for death!"

Suddenly, a huge fist emerged from the explosion and smashed directly into the face of the Exploding Moth Monster.

With a soft 'crack', spiderweb-like cracks appeared on the face of the Exploding Moth Monster.

"Why did the explosion have no effect at all?!" the Exploding Moth Monster exclaimed in surprise.

The next moment, Li Ai's left hand transformed into a warhammer and smashed it toward the waist of the exploding moth monster.

The Exploding Moth Monster felt as if he had been hit by a truck and thrown backward. He forced himself to use the impact force from the scale bomb on his back to barely stabilize himself.

However, before he could launch another attack, a fist came flying at him. He crossed his arms, ready to defend, but the fist suddenly sprouted spikes, bypassed the Exploding Moth Monster's defenses, and pierced its exoskeleton.

The spikes grew horizontally inside the Exploding Moth Monster's body, making it difficult for it to break free. At the same time, Li Ai swung her arm, throwing it to a more open area before returning her arm to its original state.

Boom—

The Exploding Moth Monster was slammed to the ground, marble tiles shattered, and rubble flew everywhere. It stood up again, trying to use its enhanced compound eyes, which resembled those of an insect, to track its opponent's movements.

Its wings rubbed together rapidly, turning into scales in the blink of an eye. With a wave of its hand, it created a gust of wind, sending the scales, infused with all its explosive energy, drifting towards Li Ai.

"Enjoy this scale bomb that can destroy even the Twin Towers!" the Exploding Moth Monster roared, the scales coalescing into a trembling sphere containing the destructive power to turn the mall to ashes.

Looking at the sphere containing a high-energy reaction, Li Ai raised his hand and turned the capsule on the driver.

[Transform!]

With a mechanical sound, the energy channels on his body lit up red, his arms grew larger than a car, and his hands, with their five fingers together, transformed into two giant 'ladles'.

He used his right hand, which had transformed into a 'spoon,' to slap the exploding ball of light, sending it flying back to the exploding moth monster.

"What?!" The Exploding Moth Monster looked horrified.

But if that ball of light explodes, the entire shopping mall will still be razed to the ground.

Therefore, Li Ai used two 'spoons' to completely wrap the Exploding Moth Monster, allowing it to bear most of the damage and preventing the explosion from spreading.

boom!

A piercing buzzing sound emanated from the 'spoon', even shattering the nearby floor tiles.

Li Ai's hands separated and then returned to their original position, as smoke from the explosion filled the air.

"Handling explosions is a required course for special agents," he said, looking at the figure staggering through the smoke.

The Exploding Moth Monster's carapace is reinforced, giving it special resistance to explosive damage, which is why it can survive.

【Impact!】

Li Ai removed the transformation capsule and replaced it with the impact capsule. The red armor on her limbs disappeared, and her muscles became full again.

He repeatedly pressed the driver's switch, triggering the ultimate attack. The power of the shock capsule was used to strengthen his body and flowed entirely to his right leg.

The Exploding Moth Monster had just regained its footing when it heard a whooshing sound in its ear.

A flying knee strike sent the Exploding Moth Monster crashing to the ground again. It rolled several times before finally managing to get up, only to be knocked dizzy by a high kick.

Two '7' symbols appeared on its body, and the fear of death surged into its heart. It raised its hands and begged for mercy:

"Don't kill me! Don't you want to know who modified me? Just spare my life and I'll tell you everything!"

【ImpactVanish! Z·Z·Z!】(Impact Vanish! Z·Z·Z!)

The response to the exploding moth monster was that figure leaping into the sky.

The figure transformed into a red meteor, kicking through the body of the Exploding Moth Monster before landing steadily and standing proudly on the ground.

"Mission accomplished."

The third '7' appears, and the three '7's are connected together. A scratch appears below, and together they form the 'ZZZ' logo.

boom--

The impact shattered the Exploding Moth Monster's body into pieces, leaving huge 'ZZZ' letters on the wall.

In the crowd, a black-haired girl with a camera snapped out of her daze and quickly switched camera modes, trying to capture this heroic figure in a photograph.

The click of the camera shutter drew Deputy Chief George Stacy's attention to Li Ai. He felt the mysterious figure in front of him looked somewhat familiar, so he stepped forward and asked:

"Sir, who exactly are you?"

"I am Kamen Rider ZZZ, a person who moves in the night and walks through dreams."

Chapter 16 Dream-Eating Claws

After saying this, Li Ai mounted the Code Zero Corruptor, turned the handlebars, and the vehicle shot off like an arrow.

Faced with the exit blocked by rubble from the explosion, he simply bent down slightly to get close to the Code Zero Corruptor, and then continued to speed up.

Boom—

With a loud bang, the Code Zero Eclipse smashed through the rubble, opening a path to the outside world.

Outside the mall, the commotion from the earlier explosion attracted an NYPD helicopter. Two searchlights were shone on the exit, but they only saw a blurry shadow flash by.

The Zero Eclipses were too fast for them to track. After leaving the mall, Li Ai randomly found a parking lot and used a toilet door as a temporary entrance to quickly return to the operations room.

The black mist surged, the transformation was deactivated at that moment, and the driver and capsule on his chest disappeared as well.

Li Ai took off his helmet and got out of the vehicle. He stretched and then went to the upper level of the operations room, where he sat on the swivel chair behind the desk to review the suspicious points that had arisen in this incident.

Those tentacle monsters, and the bio-modifications exhibited by Frank Skorina, all looked somewhat familiar to him.

Those 'tentacle monsters' in particular reminded him of the 'Prakka parasites' that appeared in the Wolf Valley incident in 2004.

After invading the human body, the Plaka parasite attaches itself to the spine and nerves, eventually completely replacing the human's will. The parasite inherits some of the host's memories and behaviors from their previous life, but essentially becomes a different organism.

There are many types of this parasite. The ones in the mall are probably the common subordinate type, characterized by low intelligence and unconditional obedience to the commands of the dominant type.

The 'Cult of Light' entrenched in Wolf Valley originally intended to first use this parasite to control Ashley, then secretly control the current president, and gradually expand its reach to ultimately achieve its plan of indirectly controlling the world.

But the plan was ultimately thwarted, and the island where the Plaka parasite was discovered was also on the verge of destruction in the explosion.

However, the Plaka parasites did not completely disappear. Instead, they fell into the hands of an organization even more terrifying than the Church of Light, and many improved versions emerged.

Frank Skriner, driven by a thirst for revenge, likely became a test subject for a certain faction's technology.

Moreover, this world is even more chaotic, with more and stronger ambitious and madmen than in the original Resident Evil world.

“Wesker? Simmons? Ross? Hydra?” Li Ai thought of several names in one breath.

In his memory, there are many people who can do this kind of thing, so it is difficult to identify a target in a short period of time.

He shook his head, made a note of the 'suspected modification of the Plaka parasite by some organization', and then went to the gashapon machine.

Regardless of which organization is behind this, 'power' is a necessity.

Li Ai also received some feedback from the Dream Power through this incident, and she planned to transform it into a combat force that would give people peace of mind.

"Let me see my luck today." He took a deep breath, then twisted his fingers four times in a row, only stopping when he felt clearly tired.

Four gray-white spheres were placed on the table.

These spheres are not dream capsules that can change shape, but that doesn't mean the dream power was wasted.

The boy picked up a sphere, spun its shell, and amidst the surge of white light, the sphere in his hand transformed into a green camera.

The camera is small in size, and an adult male can hold it with one hand, yet it has a shooting accuracy far exceeding that of devices of the same era.

As a product of the power of dreams, this camera can also be brought into dreams, bringing the information captured in dreams into reality.

"What's next..." He picked up another sphere, spun it, and got a small spider-shaped robot.

This spider-like robot can climb walls and ceilings and observe designated areas through sensors. It is a multi-functional device that integrates alertness, scanning, monitoring, and analysis.

Then he spun the third sphere and obtained an item that looked like an ID card.

These three items form a complete set of spy equipment. The first two are a ZZZ camera and a ZZZ sensor, and the third is called a ZZZ pass.