“Your account balance: 37.5 yuan.”
You Hong's thumb swiped across the phone screen, and the message that popped up at the top of the screen was like a needle, precisely piercing his last bit of fantasy.
His name is You Hong, a fresh graduate who just finished university.
Just as the news says now, graduation means unemployment, and even though it had been over a month since he graduated, he still hadn't found a job.
As for going home to rely on his parents?
He didn't have parents at all, so how could he rely on them!
“Ah~ I'm going to die. If I can't find a job soon, I really won't be able to make ends meet.”
He buried his face deeper into the pillow, trying to use the darkness to block out the reality of his rumbling stomach.
Ding!
His phone made a sound. You Hong raised his head and picked up his phone to look.
It turned out to be an interview notification.
“Heh, a salary of 1300, two days off per month. Who on earth would do a job like that?!”
You Hong cried out, but the only thing that responded to him in the room was the creaking sound of an old fan barely clinging to life.
“Of course, it's me.”
You Hong gave a self-deprecating laugh, then got out of bed and started to wash up.
A moment later, the neatly dressed You Hong picked up the backpack on the table and walked out.
Locking the door, he closed his eyes and looked up, intending to feel the dazzling morning sun, but felt nothing.
“Hmm? Strange, isn't it a Sunny Day today? Why is there no sun?”
He slowly opened his eyes, and what came into view was a red truck getting closer and closer!
“No way…”
This sudden red truck made You Hong freeze in place, only able to watch the behemoth approach.
“This is the eighth floor!”
You Hong let out a helpless cry.
Boom!!
A brand new You Hong paste was created.
…
Consciousness was sinking.
A strange sensation swept over You Hong's entire body, and then memories began to revive.
He suddenly stood up from the ground, roaring, “How do you drive?!”
But the only response he got was silence.
“What the hell is going on?” He rubbed his dazed head, looking around in confusion.
Tall buildings, neon flashing signs… Wait, why did those words look so awkward?
It seemed like they were written backward?
“Sushi… Izakaya… Ano…” You Hong's pupils constricted slightly. “Japanese? Was I hit and flown to Japan?!”
The thought made him dizzy.
He looked down to check himself.
His clothes were intact, and even his backpack was still hanging properly on his shoulder, as if the tragic eight-story car crash earlier was just an absurd dream.
But the surrounding silence quickly washed away the sense of absurdity.
This was… Tokyo? Some bustling commercial district? But why was there no one?!
The shop lights were on, the vending machine screens were flickering, and even the engine of a car on the roadside was still slightly warm… But there was just no one.
A cold, eerie feeling crawled up his spine.
Absolute dead silence, with only his own heavy breathing and his heart pounding like a drum.
“Hey! Is anyone there?!” He tried to shout, his voice sounding particularly harsh in the empty street, and then it was swallowed by an even greater silence.
Buzz—!
Without warning, a sharp ringing in his ears suddenly pierced his eardrums, hurting him so much that he stumbled.
Immediately after, an indescribable feeling of weakness instantly appeared in his body.
“Ugh…” He looked down in horror at his hand.
The tip of his right index finger, a small piece of skin, was silently decomposing and scattering like ashes blown away by the wind, turning into fine gray powder.
“Holy crap! Holy crap crap crap—!!!” You Hong's Soul Flying Away and Spirit Scattering, desperately shaking his hand, trying to stop this terrifying “weathering.”
But it was useless! That feeling of decomposition spread rapidly, from his fingertip to his palm, his wrist… The speed wasn't fast, but it brought an irresistible despair.
“Am I… am I going to dissolve?! What kind of hellish place is this?!” The shadow of death had never been so clear and eerie.
Just then!
A scorching burning sensation suddenly came from his waist.
“Hiss—!” You Hong cried out in pain, subconsciously looking down.
A white and gold metal belt, without any warning, appeared out of thin air on his waist.
It glowed faintly, and the scorching temperature was not harmful; instead, it instantly curbed the disintegration of his Physical Body.
“This… This is?!” You Hong's eyes widened suddenly, and he incredulously touched the cool metal feel of the belt.
As a seasoned tokusatsu fan, he was too familiar with this iconic structure.
“V-Buckle?! Kamen Rider Ryuki's transformation belt?!”
The immense shock instantly overwhelmed his fear, replaced by ecstasy, “Holy crap! I Transmigration to the Ryuki world?! So this is the Mirror World!”
To become a Kamen Rider!
This was the ultimate dream of countless chuunibyou teenagers!
The despair of being on the verge of “turning to ashes” was instantly thrown to the back of his mind.
He even wanted to put his hands on his hips and laugh a few times.
This was not a loss!
Although he was hit by a car at the beginning, he had a genuine Bandai-licensed belt.
However, extreme joy always turns to sorrow as scheduled.
Click… Click… Click…
A grinding sound came from the depths of a dark alley not far away.
You Hong's ecstatic smile froze on his face.
He slowly turned his head.
Two monsters, like humanoid spiders, were slowly crawling out of the shadows at the alley's entrance.
They had spider-like bodies, covered in cold armor that seemed to be a mixture of metal and carapace. Eight crimson compound eyes gleamed with cruel light in the dimness, and their huge mouthparts opened and closed, emitting a hair-raising hiss.
Mirror Monsters! And two of them!
“Gulp…” You Hong swallowed with difficulty, his newly risen ambition instantly kicked into an ice cave by reality.
“Sure enough, to become a Kamen Rider, sacrificing a spider monster is a traditional art, isn't it?!”
He frantically complained in his mind while forcing himself to calm down.
Run!
This thought was incredibly clear!
He wasn't a hot-headed youth who would rush in blindly.
What good was a belt?!
Without a card deck, how would he transform?
He wasn't some ruthless person who could fight monsters with his Physical Body.
Almost as soon as the thought arose, You Hong's body had already moved.
He suddenly lunged to the side, rolling clumsily behind a car.
Bang!
The spot where he had just stood was easily pierced by a spider monster's sharp limb, sending gravel flying from the concrete ground!
“Hiss-ha—!” Another spider monster let out a piercing shriek, and a sticky spider silk shot out from its abdomen, covering the car where You Hong was hiding like a net!
“Damn it!” You Hong's scalp tingled as he scrambled out of the car's cover.
Sizzle—!
The spider silk stuck to the car body, instantly making a corrosive sound and emitting white smoke!
Cold sweat instantly drenched his back.
Too dangerous! This was not something he could fight against! His adrenaline spiked to the limit, and his brain worked at an unprecedented speed.
Scanning the environment, looking for any available obstacles—trash cans, fire hydrants, narrow alley entrances…
He kept frantically fleeing down the empty street.
The two spider monsters pursued relentlessly; their speed was extremely fast, and each swing of their claws carried a deadly threat.
You Hong, relying on his small stature and use of obstacles, narrowly avoided attacks again and again, but the consumption of his stamina and reaction time was immense.
“Hoo… hoo… This can't go on…” You Hong's lungs burned, and he gasped for air behind a newsstand, sweat blurring his vision.
He glanced at his belt, the cold metal still silent. “Where are the cards? Where's the beginner's gift package?! If they don't come soon, I'm going to be G-ed!”
Boom! The metal frame of the newsstand was torn apart by a giant claw, fragments flying past his cheek, leaving a trail of blood.
The other spider monster blocked his retreat, its crimson compound eyes Lock-On him, its huge mouthparts open, sticky saliva dripping.
A fatal attack was about to land.
Nowhere to run!
Despair, like a cold tide, instantly engulfed You Hong.
He leaned against the cold wall, watching the increasingly close, grotesque mouthparts, his mind a blank.
To die right after Transmigration?
And in such a humiliating way?
Just at this critical moment.
A sacred voice, as if directly in his Soul, rang out:
“Interesting.”
Immediately after, he felt a heavy, hard object appear out of thin air in his tightly clenched right hand!
He subconsciously looked down.
A white and gold metal card deck lay quietly in his hand, which was covered in sweat and dust.
In the center of the card deck, a cross-wheel-shaped symbol emitting a faint white-gold glow was clearly visible.
“This… This is… my card deck?!” Ecstasy instantly ignited his pupils. “This symbol is?!”
There was no time to ponder how this “heavenly soldier” came to be, nor to wonder about the source of that “interesting” sound.
The two Mirror Monsters' fatal attacks were already upon him!
“I'll risk it!” You Hong's eyes instantly became incredibly sharp.
The instinct for survival and the desire for power overwhelmed everything.
He suddenly aimed the card deck in his hand at the shop's glass display window, which was as smooth as a mirror!
“Transform—!!!”