The disadvantages brought by the Hollows were obvious, but they also brought more benefits, namely Aether, a type of energy produced only within Hollows. This energy was widely used in modern cities. The ground beneath New Eridu was filled with pipes for transporting Aether. Almost all the equipment in this city was maintained by Aether. This was also why New Eridu had a huge Hollow called Hollow Zero [Limbo] right next to it. Certain departments in this city were like diligent worker bees, continuously pouring into the Hollow to excavate the Aether within to supply the city.
The person who built New Eridu here was definitely a bold genius, or perhaps a complete madman. Old Eridu was destroyed by the sudden appearance of the Hollow [Limbo]. To build a new city right next to it was like challenging the terrifying Hollow Zero.
However, the prosperity of New Eridu was also inseparable from [Limbo]. Imagine, in a world where Hollows could appear suddenly, nowhere was safe. A city might have just been built, only to be swallowed by a Hollow the next second. Residents would be displaced, and after losing their productivity, they would starve. But only New Eridu, this city, was even more bustling and prosperous than the city Mo Xuan had lived in before. Its rapid development to the top of this world was due to the development of technology to use Aether, and the endless Aether resources within [Limbo].
In Mo Xuan's view, Aether was almost like quantum mechanics. Anyway, anything that science couldn't explain could be explained by Aether. He had heard all this from the uncle at the coffee shop downstairs. Well, calling him an uncle might not be right. He was a robot that could make coffee, and a robot with self-awareness at that. In the culturally rich New Eridu, you could always see robots walking around, each with unique skills. Mo Xuan wouldn't be surprised if a machine crisis broke out one day.
Mo Xuan had come to such a dangerous world and was originally prepared to just give up and wait for death. However, on his first night here, when he was suffering from insomnia at four in the morning, a light shone into his world, opening a new door for him.
Mo Xuan still couldn't forget the scene. A thing called a Rider Belt, along with the Kabuto Zecter, fell before him. He first rubbed his eyes and found that he hadn't seen wrong. But he was also somewhat relieved. At least the belts he had bought by scrimping and saving were accompanying him in a strange way. As for why they were his, he knew from the scratch on the Kabuto Zecter. One touch, and he knew it was his.
Since his private property had returned, of course Mo Xuan had to play with it to his heart's content. In the middle of the night, he stood in the dimly lit room, put the belt on his waist, struck the same pose as the tokusatsu protagonist, and shouted those two words with powerful force.
"Hen—shin!"
As the Kabuto Zecter was inserted into the slot of the belt, hexagonal modules extended from the top and bottom of the belt. In an instant, Mo Xuan transformed into Kamen Rider Kabuto.
At that time, Mo Xuan looked down at his armor-covered hands and the suit below his waist, and he was not okay. He had bought a fake... no, he had bought the real thing!
Mo Xuan stumbled to the mirror and looked at himself. He had completely transformed into the Kamen Rider Kabuto from his memory. The Rider's specs quickly surfaced in his mind. The upper body was covered in armor that could perfectly defend against even a 2.4-meter composite reinforced destructive penetrating round. He had immense strength, able to lift a 25-ton object with one hand for an extended period. His body contained highly compressed oxygen, allowing him to move freely at an altitude of 5,000 meters for 10 hours. He was a superman with maxed-out survivability.
"Walking the path of heaven, to rule over everything."
Mo Xuan subconsciously recited the famous catchphrase. The immense power from the Rider Belt made him feel clearly that if he were to go on a rampage, he could probably destroy his residential area of Sixth Street at an extremely fast speed. But after gaining this power, he didn't do that. Instead, he pondered why this power had fallen into his hands.
The belts he bought had come to life. For now, he'd just explain it with quantum mechanics. Their appearance couldn't be without reason. Mo Xuan thought hard for a while before he thought of the Hollows and Ethereals, these things that threatened humanity. Weren't they just like the villains in the Kamen Rider worldview? The power of a Rider was born to protect humanity. So, as someone who had inherited the Rider's soul, what could he do for the people of this world?
The answer was, of course, yes. If Mo Xuan wanted, he could throw the belt out the window right now and leave it for some fated person, while he himself hid like a coward until the end of the world. But as a tokusatsu fan, the Rider's soul was deeply imprinted in his heart. Before, he didn't have the chance. Now that the chance was delivered to his hands, if he didn't seize it, would he still be a man?
Mo Xuan could responsibly say that every tokusatsu fan has imagined the scene of transforming and becoming a hero. Even if it meant risking their life every time, that was the line between being a hero for a moment and a coward for a lifetime. If coming to this world was a new life, Mo Xuan would absolutely seize this opportunity.
Mo Xuan didn't know yet how dangerous the Ethereals of this world were, but he felt that he could probably cut a swath through a large area with the power of Kabuto alone. But then his mind would wander. Where had the other belts he bought gone? Had they come to life too?
Thinking further, Mo Xuan didn't dare to imagine. Some of the belts corresponded to Riders who were on a world-destroying level. He wouldn't be surprised if one came and kicked Hollow Zero into oblivion. The power scaling of the Riders had long since become broken, and he, of course, also had the corresponding belts.
Mo Xuan didn't think too much. After learning how to de-transform, he played with it in front of the mirror again. After the Kabuto Zecter expressed its protest, Mo Xuan knew that it now had its own consciousness and was no longer a toy. Its body had been greatly enhanced. Now, let alone being dropped on the ground, even if you tied TNT to it and blew it up twice, it would still be shiny and new.
Satisfied, Mo Xuan went to sleep hugging the Rider Belt and the Kabuto Zecter. The next day, he accepted his identity as a police academy student. Now it seemed this identity wasn't given to him randomly but was very important. If he wanted to become a Rider who protected humanity, the best place to go was, of course, the Public Security Bureau. The officers there often entered Hollows to fight Ethereals and could also obtain first-hand information about the Hollows.
After that, all of Mo Xuan's actions were aimed at joining the Public Security Bureau. With his experience as a mature office worker, it wasn't difficult to operate. And on the second day he came to this world, he encountered his second belt and also figured out the pattern of the belts' appearance.
Every day at four in the morning, the belt in his hand would suddenly disappear and be replaced by another belt. He couldn't choose the belt by his own willpower, which meant he could randomly get a world-destroying Rider belt, or he could get a belt that was... harder to evaluate.
I'm talking about you, Banjou Ryuga.
Mo Xuan's second belt was the Build Driver and two sets of transformation devices: the Cross-Z Dragon and the Dragon Fullbottle. When he got this whole set of jobber gear, he was not okay.
Mo Xuan stared at the belt for a long time. Was it strong? In terms of stats, Kamen Rider Cross-Z was certainly strong. A punch power of 27.6 tons, a kick power of 33.7 tons. But why did he always lose? After thinking about it, it probably came down to that saying—You don't even know how to drive it, so what's the point of talking about its performance?
Then Mo Xuan realized that this saying applied perfectly to himself. People who suddenly obtained a Rider belt in tokusatsu were either mutated themselves or had already trained to have a powerful physique and combat experience. If you had neither of these... you actually wouldn't die a horrible death. After all, Rider belts have a beginner's protection period. As long as you didn't encounter a big boss in the starting village, even a deadbeat who struggled to carry a bucket of water could still one-punch the grunts and put a pained expression on the monsters' faces with the amplification of tens of tons of punching power.
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