In Fuuto: Starting as a Kamen Rider 01

Page 148

He had expected to see a puppet company completely corrupted by some mysterious force, where everyone was brainwashed and controlled, like an empty shell.

However, the scene before him took him by surprise.

The entire office was bright and clean, filled with the simple yet efficient aesthetic unique to futuristic technology.

Sunlight streamed through the huge floor-to-ceiling windows, casting long streaks of light across the floor.

The only sound in the air was the faint hum of the equipment running.

All the employees, the artificial intelligences known as "Humagears," were carrying out their work in an orderly manner in their respective positions.

Their movements were precise and efficient, and their eyes were calm and focused.

Everything seemed so...normal.

It's so normal it's almost unbelievable.

What chilled him even more was that the moment he stepped into the office, he could feel countless subtle scanning beams sweeping over him.

That's the company's security system.

However, they merely identify and record, without issuing the slightest alarm.

It was as if he wasn't an intruder who had suddenly barged in.

Instead, he was a distinguished guest who had already been registered.

His gaze finally settled on the man.

The target of this trip—Su Chen.

He was sitting leisurely on the leather sofa in the reception area, holding a cup of freshly brewed black tea in his hand. The rising steam blurred part of the contours of his face.

He sat there quietly, as if he had anticipated his arrival, or even had been waiting for a long time.

"Welcome, Mr. Kadoya Tsukasa, the destroyer of the world."

Su Chen smiled, looked up at him, and gestured for him to sit down.

This title, this attitude.

Looking at the man before him who was unusually calm, Tsukasa Kadoya, for the first time in his life, slowly put away his cynical expression.

His eyes held a genuine, unprecedented solemnity.

He could sense that the man in front of him was very strong.

That's not simply a matter of powerful combat strength that can be quantified.

Rather, it is a more fundamental, higher-level, terrifyingly powerful force that seems to manipulate the laws of the world, people's hearts, and even destiny at will, making it completely unfathomable.

"It seems you knew I was coming all along."

Tsukasa Kadoya slowly walked to the sofa opposite him and sat down. His body seemed relaxed, but in reality, every muscle was ready to explode at any moment.

“I not only knew you were coming.”

Su Chen poured a cup of rich-colored black tea into the empty glass in front of him and said with a smile.

"I also know the purpose of your trip."

He paused, calmly meeting Tsukasa Kadoya's probing gaze, and continued speaking.

"And...your future journey."

These words struck Tsukasa Kadoya's heart like a heavy hammer.

His pupils shrank.

Su Chen put down the teapot and said something that even Tsukasa Kadoya found somewhat unbelievable.

"Don't worry, I have no ill intentions towards your world."

"Quite the opposite."

Su Chen's lips curled into a meaningful smile.

"Someday in the future, perhaps... I can still provide you with some necessary assistance."

This declaration, brimming with absolute confidence and even a touch of goodwill, completely silenced Tsukasa Kadoya, who had come with the intention of confronting him.

He discovered that he, the "destroyer of the world," seemed to have encountered someone even more powerful than himself...

It needs to be even more "mysterious," and even more beyond the comprehension of common sense.

Faced with Su Chen's mysterious attitude, which was full of goodwill yet revealed "I have already seen through everything," even Tsukasa Kadoya, who had traveled to countless worlds and seen all kinds of grand scenes, was momentarily at a loss for words.

This man was like a bottomless vortex, easily swallowing up any attempt to probe him, leaving not even a ripple.

Su Chen seemed to have noticed his predicament as well.

He smiled and gently tapped the Japanese shogi board, meticulously carved from precious ebony, on the coffee table between them with his long, slender fingers.

The chessboard, bathed in the afternoon sunlight, gleamed with a warm and profound luster, as if bearing witness to endless years and wisdom.

"Can you play chess?"

Su Chen's voice was soft, yet it carried an undeniable penetrating power, striking directly at Tsukasa Kadoya's heartstrings.

Tsukasa Kadoya paused for a moment.

For the first time, his eyes, which always held a hint of playfulness and unruliness, truly focused on the chessboard before him.

Then, his signature smile, which seemed to hold everything in its own hands, reappeared on his face.

"I know a little bit."

This answer was full of Tsukasa Kadoya's unique pride and nonchalance.

"That's good."

Su Chen nodded in satisfaction, taking out the cold and heavy chess pieces one by one from the chess box and arranging them properly.

"I prefer to communicate on the chessboard rather than using words to probe each other."

His words were undoubtedly directed at Tsukasa Kadoya.

Words can be used to deceive.

But the moves in chess are the truest reflection of a person's thoughts and soul.

The words fell.

Su Chen plays black and goes first.

He picked up a small "infantryman" and, without the slightest hesitation, gently pushed it forward one space.

"Snapped."

A crisp, faint sound of a piece being placed was unusually clear in the extremely quiet office.

It was an incredibly ordinary, even mediocre, start.

However, in Tsukasa Kadoya's eyes, this move was full of indescribable aggression and a desire for control.

That tiny pawn, like a nail, was firmly wedged into the center of the entire chessboard.

It was declaring that from this moment on, the rhythm of this game would be entirely controlled by him, Su Chen.

Tsukasa Kadoya stared at the infantryman, his eyes narrowing slightly.

He knew that this seemingly ordinary game of chess was by no means a pastime.

This is a silent clash of minds between two of the most brilliant minds, a clash of worldviews and styles of doing things.

He also picked up an infantry unit, but his movements were different from Su Chen's steady and casual. He stood firmly in front of Su Chen's minion wave.

Defense.

That is, a counterattack.

For a moment, the entire office fell completely silent.

The air seemed to freeze, save for the rhythmic, crisp "tap, tap" of the chess pieces landing on the board.

Su Chen's chess style, just like him, is bold and unrestrained, full of calculation and strategy.

Every step he took seemed to be building a huge, incredibly sophisticated network.

Seemingly unrelated moves, seemingly careless sacrifices, can always transform into the most deadly moves at the most crucial moment, from the most unexpected angles, trapping the opponent's pieces firmly in the layers of traps they have already set up.

That's his style of doing things.

The whole world is the chessboard, and all living beings are the chess pieces.

The seemingly random arrangement actually meant that all possibilities and all outcomes were firmly in her own hands.

Kadoya Tsukasa's playing style, on the other hand, is the complete opposite extreme.

His chess style is full of boundless imagination, unrestrained and completely disregards any established rules or common sense.

He would sometimes use "horn movement" to take a bizarre and inconceivable route, forcibly exchanging a crucial "golden general" from Su Chen in a way that was almost self-destructive.

At other times, it would drive its "flying car" like a lone army, charging straight in and striking at the heart of the enemy, completely ignoring its own already riddled and fragile rear defenses.

Every step he took was destructive.

Every move he makes is fraught with uncertainty.

He seemed to be declaring to Su Chen in this resolute, suicidal way:

I am the rule-breaker.

Any ingenious plan, any perfect trap, is meaningless in the face of my absolute "destruction"!

Every move made on the chessboard.

Each exchange of tiles.

Every shift in offense and defense.

They seemed to be two different worlds, with different ideologies, and the highest level of thought, engaging in fierce, silent collisions and probing.

Su Chen wants to "control" everything.

He wanted to bring all the chaos into the perfect order he had created.

Tsukasa Kadoya, on the other hand, wants to "destroy" everything.