The day after Kiana had settled into Mei's home...
The next day, at the D City Police Station.
"Hmm..." Mei took her hand off the machine, then turned to Kiana beside her.
"Alright, Miss Kiana, now you have a legal identity."
With that, Mei handed Kiana the ID card she had prepared.
Kiana took the ID card and looked at it for a moment before saying with gratitude:
"I can't believe it was so easy to get an identity... Thank you, Ms. Mei."
"You don't have to be so formal..." Mei said, scratching her head, then asked:
"I'm sorry if this is a bit forward, but how do you transform? Or rather... what exactly is the principle behind your transformation ability?"
Hearing this, Kiana looked down in thought, then rummaged in her sleeve as if searching for something.
"Is it gone... I guess that's to be expected..."
"What's gone?" Mei asked with concern, naturally realizing that what Kiana was looking for was related to her transformation ability.
"It's nothing... It's not really that important, but I need to ask you a favor. It's about my transformation ability."
Hearing the seriousness in Kiana's tone, Mei's expression immediately became solemn. She spoke slowly and deliberately:
"Go ahead. As long as it's within my power, I'll help you."
Mei's imagination ran wild: various materials, many valuable items, and so on...
But in reality...
"Actually... could you help me buy some snacks? Any kind of snacks will do."
"Eh...?" Mei looked at her in disbelief. She had imagined all kinds of requirements for Kiana's transformation:
Like using two cards where the numbers must add up to ten, or needing to make a contract with some powerful creature...
But she never expected it to be this simple.
Out of professional habit, Mei asked tentatively:
"Is... this really related to your transformation ability?"
"Yep!" Kiana nodded firmly.
"Alright then," Mei said with a Black line on her forehead.
'As expected, for a non-human's transformation principle, I shouldn't use human thinking to speculate...'
Mei thought to herself, then changed into casual clothes and turned to Kiana, who was sitting obediently behind her waiting.
"Do you want to come with me? After all, it's snacks for you..."
"Really? Thank you!" Upon hearing this, Kiana's eyes immediately lit up.
The two then left the police station and headed to D City's shopping mall.
Meanwhile, at the ERP base...
"Hey, Dongshan, look at this," Meizhen pointed to the news on the computer screen and said to her bearded male colleague.
"Let me see..." Dongshan leaned over and focused intently on the news on the screen.
"All the reports are about that Black Knight from that time..." Dongshan murmured, then continued.
"This news actually hits the mark. We really do need to be concerned about whether this person is friend or foe..."
Meizhen spoke up from the side:
"TA has been fighting the异能兽 (yìnéng shòu -异能 monsters). Even if, worst case, TA doesn't belong to any of the Light and Shadow Armor warriors, according to the principle that 'the enemy of my enemy is my friend,' I don't think TA would be hostile to us."
Dongshan then smiled, turned to pour himself a cup of tea, and stared thoughtfully at another Light and Shadow Stone in the base—the Wood Shadow Stone.
The blue stone flickered faintly, and the beast mark of the Wind Eagle Armor suddenly appeared in Dongshan's mind.
Gradually, an image formed in his mind of an armor with a wheel hanging from its shoulder, wielding a sword connected to its hand to thrust at others.
Then he murmured the name of that armor:
"Wind Eagle Armor..."
"?" Meizhen also noticed something was wrong.
"Dongshan, what's wrong? Are you feeling unwell?"
Hearing this, Dongshan came back to his senses.
"Nothing... just a bit dizzy."
Meanwhile, on the streets...
"Huff... huff..." Wu Qidong was running as fast as he could, the satchel on his back bouncing as he went, as if escaping from something.
Before he knew it, he reached a crossroads. He stopped for a moment, looked left and right, then dashed down one of the roads. He hid beside a car, watching the intersection ahead in fear.
From the intersection emerged a humanoid monster completely green, covered in thorns, and wielding a spiked club.
[刺木兽 (Cìmù Shòu - Thorned Wood Beast)]
After making sure he hadn't been spotted, he took off in another direction, only to run straight into another异能兽 (yìnéng shòu -异能 monster).
[蚱蜢兽 (Zhàměng Shòu - Grasshopper Beast)]
So, he retreated in fear back to his original position, looking left and right.
There was no way out for him...
Then, as if suddenly remembering something, he quickly took out his phone and dialed the emergency number.
"Officer, the yìnéng shòu is right next to me, please come quickly..."
At that moment, a portable radio in Mei's clothes while she was shopping in the supermarket suddenly crackled to life.
"We've just received a report from a citizen. We've found that a yìnéng shòu is attempting to attack a member of the public, located at..."
Hearing this, Mei didn't hesitate. She immediately grabbed Kiana, who was holding a paid-for snack and about to put it in her mouth, and started running at full speed.
Kiana: So dizzyyyyyyy～～～
Meanwhile, on Wu Qidong's side...
Just as he was caught in a dilemma, he noticed that a wine bottle stacked on top of the car he was using for cover was starting to wobble precariously.
Then, the wine bottle fell.
Seeing this, Wu Qidong quickly caught it, but before he could breathe a sigh of relief, another bottle fell.
"Bang!"
This time it hit the ground hard and shattered into pieces.
The two nearby yìnéng shòu naturally heard the noise and slowly approached Wu Qidong.
"Don't come near..." His voice trembled with intense fear.
Then, he fearfully raised his arms to shield his eyes.
Next, he heard a loud bang.
But...
He didn't feel the pain he expected.
"?" Wu Qidong opened his eyes in confusion, and the scene that met his eyes left him in disbelief.
The Evil参兽 (Èshēn Shòu) that had been chasing him earlier was now standing in front of him, protecting him.
What's going on?
What Wu Qidong didn't notice was that the Evil参兽 (Èshēn Shòu) protecting him now no longer had the red eyes it had when it was chasing him.
Instead, they were a gentle blue.
"Huff—made it," Kiana breathed a sigh of relief.
"So how did you manage to release that variant monster that was turned into a card?" Mei asked.
"Uh... I don't know. There was a voice in my head, like an old grandpa, who told me how to do it," Kiana replied.
"..." Mei fell silent.
"Never mind. Anyway, let's transform," Kiana said, opening the bag of snacks and taking out a pack of cucumber-flavored "悲事薯片" (Bēishì Chips). After easily finishing the chips, as the crispy, fresh flavor spread in her mouth, many small "饱藏" (bǎocáng) emerged from Kiana's stomach area.
Like citizens of the Land of the Rising Sun greeting their shogun, the chips extended little hands from their bodies and jumped up and down.
"Eat cucumber chips! Eat cucumber chips!" (We can never repay Kiana's kindness—let's repay her恩情!)
Then, Kiana took one of the 饱藏 (bǎocáng) and said softly to it:
"Please."
She opened her stomach compartment and inserted it.
[薯片 (chips)]
[Eat the chips]
Then, she turned the handle.
As a plastic bag covered Kiana along with the cucumber-flavored chips pouring out of her stomach compartment, a golden light flashed in Kiana's eyes, and that classic line was shouted once again:
"HENSHIN!"
She pressed the button.
"Wow—"
With the cry of the cucumber chip 饱藏 (bǎocáng), the chips transformed into armor and equipped themselves onto Kiana's body.
As twin blades appeared in Kiana's hands, the Dark Yellow with Green Stripes Cucumber Chip Form—Bitter Gabu—revealed itself.
(PS: In addition to the above description, the cucumber chip form also has a skirt made of potato chips—you know what I mean, right?)
[Crunch crunch crunch]
[Cucumber chips]
[Fresh and crispy!]
Watching Kiana's transformation with her own eyes, Mei murmured with deep feeling:
"Next time I must let her try instant noodles."
(PS: Mei's official character setting states that her favorite food is instant noodles.)
"Two-sword style..." Kiana said, testing the weight of the twin blades in her hands before swinging them at the Thorned Wood Beast and Grasshopper Beast.
On the other side, Xiao Song, who had just prepared to drive his car to ram the yìnéng shòu and save the person, was also somewhat stunned at the sight.
"I must not have slept well..."
He actually saw the Black Knight teaming up with the yìnéng shòu that had been previously defeated to fight two new yìnéng shòu.